When states fail, and U.S. intervention is called upon, a clear understanding of the scope of the failure should be the initial point of discussion. As such, information must be gleaned in order to accurately assess the nature of the failed state, its level of permanence, and the conceived success rate of the operation.
U.S. military involvement within a fragile state can take on several roles, primarily in terms of repairing the fracture, impeding the conflict, and easing human suffering. Operational commanders, therefore, must determine the extent to which these roles will be executed while planning to assist a fragile state.
U. S Commanders in Failed States
One objective of U.S. commanders involved in failed states operations would be to “fix” the underlying issue creating the fracture. In terms of difficulty, this objective appears most lofty for several reasons. First, a complete fix of a fragile state requires intervention during the earliest stages of the crisis. This may be inopportune. Second, this intervention can be costly and time-consuming, requiring a lengthy military presence in the fragile country in order to fully accomplish the repair.
Third, the chances of sustaining a long-term remedy must be acutely considered before the commitment of time and manpower are allocated for this cause. It is suggested that thorough intelligence capabilities be engaged to effectively assess the stage of fragility in a given state. If, for example, the state is in such disrepair that U.S. efforts to establish a workable plan for governmental restructuring is improbably, then operational command decisions may warrant an alternative strategy for the region.
If command determines that a failed states “fix” is not attainable, U.S. forces can be used in fragile states to impede further conflicts. Although deterring conflict is an important objective in an insurgency operation and may not solve the issue immediately, it does lay the groundwork for potential repair of the failed states in terms of a peacekeeping effort during governmental restructuring efforts. The accurate assessment of strategic needs would aid command operations in choosing the appropriate combination of repair and defense objectives for the region in question.
Although repair objectives may be long term, defense and humanitarian objectives are considered limited objectives due to their stop-gap nature. Providing aid to at-risk individuals in fragile states can ease human suffering and can facilitate transport of needed supplies to vulnerable individuals in the region. Although these efforts are admirable and certainly in need, they are limited at best and will not resolve the situation in the long term.
In fact, these interventions may be counterproductive in some instances. For example, in order to disperse these supplies, U.S. military forces may have to engage with failed states leadership which, in turn, may falsely represent their government as a legitimate regime. In addition, U.S. aid may be used to the advantage of the insurgents as they intervene in the disbursement of food, water, and supplies to those they manipulate.
This was seen most recently in Somalia, where Islamic insurgents refused to allow U.S. humanitarian aid to reach starving Somalians experiencing acute drought conditions. As a result, operational commanders must weigh the climate of the region in which humanitarian assistance is needed in order to effectively determine the appropriate strategy for proving relief in fragile and failed states.
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1. • Any legal considerations on social security during your field education experience that you may have had to address or that you might address
2.• An explanation of potential challenges in adhering to legal considerations during your field education experience
I concur with my colleague’s sentiments with regards to social security legal considerations. It’s true that all social security laws must be adhered to avoid possible legal implications of violation. It is even more complicated when serving a client who is legally mandated to have a representative payee. More importantly, many clients do not understand their rights and responsibilities under the social security law (Laureate Education, 2013).
This is challenging when clients pose legal questions since we have to refer them back to social security legal experts. In fact, I should think that the role of helping clients find adequate housing can be a challenging one considering the logistical, financial and legal issues involved. Considering the high attachment that people attach to homes, it can be a daunting task to try to help a client in deciding with regards to a choice of where to live. Notwithstanding the financial aspects, people have other factors for preferring to live in certain neighborhoods and not others.
Therefore my view is that besides the information and the advisory part, it is a challenging endeavor given the emotional aspects involved in choosing a home. It’s even worse when you have to help a family due to multiple conflicting preferences and interests of individual family members. Another legal challenge could arise when assisting a client who has a representative or interpreter given the legal implications involved particularly when information provided turns out to be inaccurate (ASS, 2013).
In my experience, I have learned that most people do not understand the legal requirement on full disclosure of all medical treatment sources and especially for people with disability. Thus there is a need for clients to be allowed to have a legal expert to guide them through the social security application process.
Social Security Retirement Benefits
In addition to Social Security’s retirement benefits, workers earn life insurance and SSDI protection by making payroll tax contributions:
About 96 percent of people aged 20-49 who worked in jobs covered in 2019 have earned life insurance protection .
For a young worker with average earnings, a spouse, and two children, that’s equivalent to a life insurance policy with a face value of over $725,000 in 2018, according to actuaries.
About 89 percent of people aged 21-64 who worked in covered employment in 2019 are insured in case of severe disability.
References
Administration, S. S. (2013). Social Security programs in the United States. Social Security Bulletin, 56(13), 3–82.
National Appliance Inc Logistics Case Analysis. According to Marchet, Melacini, Perotti, & Tappia (2016), correlations exist between organizational internationalization choices and logistics operations.
Logistics Case Analysis
National Appliance Inc Logistics Case Analysis
According to Marchet, Melacini, Perotti, & Tappia (2016), correlations exist between organizational internationalization choices and logistics operations. Expressly, the authors point out that logistics serve as crucial enablers for company internationalization, which further contributes to a significant increase in logistics network complexity. Today, society is characterized by an increased demand for flexibility and speed, which require organizations to understand that their logistics strategy serves as a vital aspect of the overall operations and further contributes to achieving corporate objectives (Marchet, Melacini, Perotti, & Tappia, 2016).
In this case, National Appliance Inc has been operational for the past 35 years. During the past 15 years, they have experienced increased growth in their share of the products due to the provision of high-quality products at lower prices. This growth has been coupled with vertical integration in the company’s supply and marketing channels. Nonetheless, the company’s expansion into an international market, Paris, is characterized by various strengths and limitations, especially in logistics planning.
More precisely, the strengths associated with Mr. Reard’s international transportation plan include vast experience and considerable expertise in domestic transport management and logistics. These essential components have been acquired through the company’s successful transportation of their products domestically for the past 15 years, contributing to a significant reduction of transportation costs (Li & Sun, 2014).
Additionally, the plan formulated by Mr. Reard portrays strength based on the control and close monitoring of transportation activities via trucks, which allow him to remain in close contact with the drivers. As a result, this strategy fosters increased flexibility in services and the employment rate for many drivers. Besides, potential delays in truck transportation can be quickly addressed than other modes of transportation. Simultaneously, shipment of goods internationally from New Jersey to LeHavre, France, could significantly reduce transportation costs for the company compared to airplanes (Cook, 2016).
Conversely, Mr. Reard’s plan is characterized by several weaknesses that include a considerable distance between the United States and Paris. If the products are transported via shipping, they will take at least four weeks to reach the destination. As a result, the costs incurred during this period would significantly increase the lead times, ultimately affecting its price. Specifically, transportation of the finished products from the different plants, Memphis, Minneapolis, and Omaha, would significantly increase the costs and contribute to long lead times (Cook, 2016).
Besides, hiring an international transportation manager to take charge of Paris operations would lead to increased costs as he/she would demand a high salary. These shortcomings are coupled with the fact that Mr. Reard and his staff lack the necessary international experience and may thus be ill-equipped to prepare the plan.
An alternative plan that should be presented to Ms. Jameson entails:
Establishing a central hub between the three plants to facilitate management and assortment of the products and direct dispatched to New Jersey port to minimize the transportation costs and ensuring quality
Use rail transportation as the most reliable, timely, less costly, and risky mode in Europe for bulk products
Shift to shipment of the products from New Jersey to LeHavre, France, coupled with the relevant insurance before dispatching of the goods
Avoid hiring a transportation manager since it is not elaborately established whether doing business with the Paris distributor is on a contractual or regular basis
Engagement management in laying out the operational terms between the Paris distributor and National Appliance Inc
Visual Representation
Logistics visual representation
National Appliance Inc Logistics Case Analysis Conclusion
As a justification for the strategy applied in Mr. Reard’s case, the international transportation plan formulated above focuses on cost reduction and the maintenance of quality and timely delivery of the company products to the end-user. Essentially, the central hub established will play a pivotal role in ensuring accuracy through the assortment and management of the products before they are dispatched to the New Jersey/New York plant.
This way, the lead time will be significantly reduced, and the goods meant for transportation to Paris will be readily available, fostering timely delivery to the final consumer. Nevertheless, this strategy harbors some shortcomings based on risks and losses associated with railway transportation. Additionally, in case of potential delays, accidents, or power outages, monitoring the transportation of goods becomes a challenge and can deter other sectors of the logistics and transportation process. Contrastingly, using trucks to transport goods may be effective but take more time.
References
Cook, T. A. (2016). Managing growth and expansion into global markets: logistics, transportation, and distribution. CRC Press.
Li, X., & Sun, X. (2014). Operations Management of Logistics and Supply Chain: Issues and Directions. Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/701938
Marchet, G., Melacini, M., Perotti, S., & Tappia, E. (2016). Shaping the international logistics strategy in the internationalisation process. International Journal of Supply Chain and Operations Resilience, 2(1), 72. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijscor.2016.075914
The case has to establish the compensation for traumatic stress as a result of death caused by negligence of a careless driver. The rules are very clear pertaining to this case. The question is whether the driver of the car is answerable to problem of traumatic stress that is being experienced by the three individuals. The other issue is whether the driver owed the victims the duty of care. The tort principles of negligence can therefore be applied in this case since the drivers conduct was that of negligence hence generated traumatic stress and that the illness was not farfetched when we apply the Wagon Mound test.
The rules therefore requires the complainants to have suffered traumatic stress that is easily recognized and if the victim is a secondary complainant, then should have suffered from shock, the traumatic stress should have been foreseen that the complainant would eventually suffer from traumatic stress as a result of the negligence and that the stress can heal if it was as a result of fear of physical injury to himself. The victim ought to prove that the suffering is as a result of traumatic stress. Very minor stresses like grief are not accepted in the court. In most cases the cases that have been listened to include reactive stresses and also stresses after a trauma. The evidence from the expert is also important in order to prove that the complainant has really been affected.
Damages are in general only recoverable where the recognized psychiatric illness was shock-induced. What is required is “a sudden assault on the nervous system or “the sudden appreciation of a horrifying event, which violently agitates the mind .The law does not in general provide recovery for psychiatric illness brought about by an accumulation of more gradual assaults upon the nervous system. A person who has had to cope with the deprivation consequent upon a bereavement,20 a spouse who has been worn down by caring for an injured husband or wife, and a parent made distraught by the wayward conduct of a brain-damaged child are not able to claim for psychiatric illness suffered as a result.
In the case of Hinz and Berry, the court of appeal entertained a case in the award of 40000 Euros as a compensation for psychiatric stresses. Lord Pearson came up with five reasons why he thought the victim was stressed up. One is sorrow and mourning the loss of the husband, worry about the well being of the children, stresses about money due to the death of the sole bread winner, adjusting to a new way of life and also shock as a result of watching the accident happen. Lord stated that only the issue of witnessing the accident take place qualifies to be compensated since the stresses could not have taken place if the victim did not witness the accident happen.
Those who come to rescue the individuals involved in an accident are also protected under the law in case of any injury as a result of drivers negligence. As with the case of Cardozo J in Wagner v International Railway Co. It is stated that when an accident occurs, automatically rescuers have to come. The law therefore protects this type of reaction which is natural. The law states that this form of reaction is very normal. The law therefore protects them so as not to discourage their actions.
In the case of Chadwick v British railway’s the principle equally applied to the traumatic stresses that came after. This application was eventually approved by Lord Wilberforce in Mcloughlin. The extent to which this law applies is illustrated in Rapley V P 6.10 European Ferries.
The victims therefore ought to receive compensation since their lives have completely changed as a result of the traumatic stress/psychiatric stress. The rescues is well protected under the law. Further, the family member is also considered as a beneficiary since they witnessed the accident taking place hence traumatic stress/psychiatric stress.
Psychiatric stress Case Study 2a
The moment one agrees to offer advice to another party, a special relationship is established since he is relied upon for special guidance. The person therefore assumes the responsibility of advice. When a court is determining special relationship, the court will look at whether the complainant relied on the experts opinion, whether the professional knew that the complainant was relying on him for the advice In the case of Hedley Byrne & Co. Ltd. –v- Heller & Partners Ltd [1964] AC465 2 it was okay for the victim to rely on the professional for advice. Under the proximity test the Supreme Court ruled that it is reasonable for the party affected to get compensation
Psychiatric stress on Case Study 2b
In the case of Berg v. General Motors Corp.,57 which was a case touching on the changes in the a pre-tort reform case, the supreme court in the US the Washington Supreme accepted the payment of damages as a result of negligence. In this case, Berg purchased a vessel which eventually did not give him the service. He sued the company thus general motors for selling him a machine which did not work and caused him a lot of economic losses. Berg sued the company for negligence. The court ruled that the manufacturer was not exposed to further law suits since he was protected by the warranty.
The other case on psychiatric stress involves Stuart v. Coldwell Banker Commercial Group who sued builder of Condominium units so as to compensate for the economic losses for causing economic losses. The builder was accused of negligence. The damages were therefore direct thus the cost of repairing the machine. The judges ruled that when negligence results into risky conditions, the purchaser of the product should be compensated in tort even though the buyer only lost money. The decision in Stuart case does not concur with the Tort changes of 1981. However, it goes against the previous court’s decision in Berg v General Motors Corp. thus the court allowed the victim to be paid the profits as a result of the manufacturer’s negligence.
Psychiatric Stress Case Study 2c
The case of voluntarily accepting responsibility outside a formal contract was first heard in the courts in the UK when there was claim for the compensation of an economic loss and also in the decision of the House of Lords in Hedley Byrne v Heller. In this case of psychiatric stress, a court decided that a bank can be found responsible for the information it provided without bearing in mind its usual clients.where it was decided that a Bank can be liable for a negligent information supplied without consideration to a regular client. In the more recent case of Henderson v Merrett Syndicate Ltd12, Lord Goff, in looking for the principle which underlay the decision in Hedley Byrne, referred to passages in the speeches of Lord Morris and Lord Devlin in that case including a passage in the speech of Lord Devlin where he considered the sort of relationship which gave rise to a responsibility towards those who act upon information or advice, and thus created a Duty of Care towards the person so acting. Lord Devlin had said: “From these statements, and from their application in Hedley Byrne, we can derive some understanding of the breadth of the principle underlying the case. We can see that it rests upon a relationship between the parties, which may be general or specific to the particular transaction, and which may or may not be contractual in nature. All of their Lordships spoke in terms of one party having assumed or undertaken a responsibility towards the other.”
In White v Jones13 (see infra) Lord Goff stated again that the Hedley Byrne principle was “founded upon an assumption of responsibility.” In Galoo Ltd (In liq) & Others v Bright Grahame Murray (a firm) and another14 the Court of Appeal set out to identify the difference between the facts there and those in its previous decision in Morgan Crucible Co Plc v Hill Samuel Bank Ltd15, that allowed the recovery of an economic loss. The question was when is an adviser, e.g. in this case, an auditor, in close proximity with a person suffering loss by relying on his negligently false advice or information? The answer given by the Court of Appeal in Galoo was, when the auditor ‘intends’ that the third party, a particular identified person, will rely on it16. Thus the bidder relying on the auditor’s accounts of the target company in Galoo had his claim dismissed, because, although he was personally known to the auditor, it was not ‘intended’ by the latter that he should rely on his accounts. The leading judgment of Glidewell L. J. relied on Lord Denning’s so-called ‘classic statement’ in Chandler v Crane Christmas & Co. 17. The auditor’s ‘intention’ was meant as referring to his knowledge, and willingness, of the reliance of the plaintiff, not any willingness to inflict on him financial injury through such false information. It must be noted here that a professional making a false statement in the course of doing his every day job, on the subject-matter of his expertise, will find it hard to shift a presumption of negligence in the error. The idea of a ‘voluntary assumption of responsibility’ was used to explain the importance of ‘intended reliance’, and in Galoo it was turned into a new concept of a ‘voluntary inter-personal’ relationship, said to fall short of being a contract only because of lack of consideration proceeding from the plaintiff to the defendant in return for the advice or information18. In Coulthard and others v Neville Russell (a firm)19 , the Court of Appeal, in another case concerning the civil liability
Psychiatric stress Case Study 3:
Lena, Rasmus and Martin have a case against Apollon which led to their injuries. The employer’s duty of care law focuses on the responsibility of the employer to protect the employees. The employer has to ensure the working area is safe. The enterprise and Regulatory act 2013 also comes into play. So as to succeed with this case under the common law, the three employees will have to show that the injury was foreseeable and that the common laws which provides for standard care were neglected.
The employers liability and public liability claims covers all cases below 25,000 euros. The law applies to cases involving accidents that occurred before or on July 2013. Section 69 of the enterprise and regulatory changes 2013. According to this act, all accidents which happen from 1 October 2013, the civil liability is not about breach of guidelines at the workplace even the criminal proceedings can be launched.
Psychiatric stress Case Study 4 a
The judge will calculate the lump sum award for the damage based on the type of damage and also based on the opinion of the expert on the side of the victim. The age of the victim, extent of the damage and also the ability of the claimant to recover quickly in case of an injury. The damage can be compensatory where a person is compensated for breach of agreement, special damages where a victim is paid the money lost, quantum damages where the victim is compensated after proving that the defendant actions caused him to lose money and also the general damages where someone is compensated money for an injury that does not involve money.
The proximate cause involves a case where compensation as a result of damages to the victim is governed by the principles of law. The damages have to be as a result of the accused bad behavior. This principles applies to the recovery of all damages thus contract or tort.
Psychiatric stress Case Study 4b
The common law requires the victim to be paid all the damages at once. This implies that analysis of the losses ought to be done before and during the prosecution of the case. However, this can be challenging since the victim has no room for appeal if the condition of damage worsens. The award can also be too low or too high since so many factors are considered during the determination process. Furthermore, there is the issue of delay since the compensation can only take place after the whole process of prognosis is finalized. The victim should therefore present the case in a timely manner lest he faces challenges of lateness in court. This has to be done once for both the past and future damages. The victim cannot in any case split the case to present it on separate occasions. The best scenario could therefore be for the victim to be paid periodically.
Psychiatric stress Case Study 4c
In order to realize a reasonable award of damages as a result of negligence, the court ought to consider several factors. The most obvious thing is that Tort law is not the same as criminal law. Torts can be caused by negligence or criminal behavior and also cases revolving around tort have very low threshold of prove. The complainant will always get compensation even if the accused person was acquitted in an earlier criminal case. For instance, O.J Simpson was released in a case where he was accused of murder but found to be guilty of tort due to causing death wrongfully.
Punitive damages as a result of psychiatric stress are never given in order to compensate the victim but rather to send a warning to the accused and any other person from repeating the same mistake. Punitive compensation is therefore given to people who were reckless in their actions. In the case of Liebeck v McDonald’s restaurant (1994) an old woman was burnt with tea which led to very serious burns. Lie back tried to plead with McDonald to pay fo the hospital bills but Mc refused. Through scrutiny, it was discovered that McDonald’s coffee caused very severe damages to other clients. The court asked the hotel to pay for the damages. The court gave Lie Back $2.7 as a punitive damage compensation.
The duty of care on psychiatric stress revolves around the case of Mrs Donoghue who was bought ice cream and ginger beer. The ginger however, had some dead snail which had started decomposing. The case was successful and led to the development of the modern law on negligence.
The court also need to look at the damage. The case of Hughes v Lord Advocate [1963] AC 837. The boys went to play in the manhole that had been left after works of excavation. The hole had been closed and covered with some paraffin with a lamp. The boys went with the lamp inside the hole and led to a very serious explosion. The court decided that since the burns were seeable, and the explosion was not foreseeable, the boys ought to be compensated.
Vicarious Liability as pertain psychiatric stress in the case of Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets Plc [2016] UKSC 11. A supermarket employee who worked at the fuel station attacked a customer due to provocation. The customer had insulted the employee using racist terms. The Supreme Court ruled that the supermarket was responsible for the employee’s violent behavior to the client and ruled out the defense argument on psychiatric stress.
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Children and Teens Obesity
Recently, the idea of taking body mass index (BMI) measurements within the school premise for surveillance purposes has gained much attention from school officials, researchers, the media, and legislators. While a considerable number of children across the United States are underweight, a huge number of them are overweight or obese.
According to a survey done by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control, there were about 13.7 million children between 2 and 19 years suffering from obesity in the US (Sliwa, Brener, Lundeen, & Lee, 2019). While some policy makers support the idea of school-based BMI measurement, others do not.
One of the biggest reasons for supporting school-based BMI measurement is because many children are suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease due to overweight and obesity. According to Nihiser et al. (2017), the implementation of school-based BMI measurement will help policy makers to identify the number of children that are underweight, healthy, overweigh, and obese in various schools and apply the necessary measures.
These measures can include ensuring that children that have unhealthy weight have access to specialized diets and exercise while at school. School administrators can also use the generate information to help parents take care of their through proper diets at home.
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Children and Teens Obesity
According to Madsen et al. (2020) some institutions and policy makers feel that schools may not provide the necessary environment to ensure privacy and confidentiality while taking the measurements. Many students are very sensitive about their bodies due to the increase of bullying cases among overweight and obese children.
Policy makers therefore feel that children with unhealthy weights will be subjected to an unhealthy environment. Most parents also feel that they also have the right to be consulted before their child’ body mass index is measured and they also have the right to decline or accept the initiative.
The available data is not conclusive as to whether school-based BMI measurement is effective or not. However, it is recommendable that every school have a supportive and safe environment for children of all body weights.
Children and Teens Obesity
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Nihiser, A. J., Lee, S. M., Wechsler, H., McKenna, M., Odom, E., Reinold, C., … & Grummer‐Strawn, L. (2017). Body mass index measurement in schools. Journal of School Health, 77(10), 651-671.
Sliwa, S. A., Brener, N. D., Lundeen, E. A., & Lee, S. M. (2019). Do schools that screen for body mass index have recommended safeguards in place?. The Journal of School Nursing, 35(4), 299-308.
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Nutrition and physical activity programs
Background
In the United States, the prevalence of obese and overweight children aged 2–5 years has almost grown three times over the past 3 decades. These increased levels are alarming and a call for action because children who deal with overweight challenged when they are less than 5 years are more likely to be obese later in life, which leads to detrimental health complications (Hesketh et al, 2017). This can be accomplished by implementing nutrition and physical activity programs.Current statistics show that over 13.7 million children and teenagers in the United States are struggling with obesity.
Out of these 13.9 percent is among children aged between 2 and 5 years, 18.4 percent aged 11 and 20.6 percent aged between 12 and 19 years. Most of the families that have been affected include low-income families and those from ethnic/racial minority groups though they are disproportionately affected. During the early years of development physical activity and eating a healthy and balanced diet are crucial for optimum health, development as well as growth (Hesketh et al, 2017).
It is evident that unbalanced diets and the lack of physical exercise increases a child’s risk for obesity and other consequent health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Sadly however, the physical exercise and the diet patterns among the preschoolers, particularly those living under or slightly above the poverty line as well as those from racial/ethnic minorities, do not often meet the national standard guidelines.
As such, there is an absolute need to implement effective interventions so as to help in improving the preschoolers’ physical activities and food programs as well as cultivate behaviors that minimize the chances of being obese and the development of related conditions.
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Nutrition and physical activity programs
Making intervention plans for children between the ages 0-5 years is a beneficial strategy as it will help to prevent obesity resulting from poor diets, sedentary life, and physical inactivity. In is crucial that the interventions start before a child enters elementary school. Across the United States, about 11 million children aged 5 and below have enrolled in organized care facilities in an effort to minimize the levels of obesity (Elias, 2018).
Research shows that early care and education programs can be very helpful to families and their children struggling with excess body weight and obesity (Kohl, Fulton, & Caspersen, 2011). Strategies that implement practices and policies relating to sedentary behaviours, physical activity, and nutrition have the potential of influencing the health of toddlers, infants, and preschoolers in a positive way through the programs.
Childcare programs create a valuable opportunity were children and parents can learn about the benefits of physical exercise and balanced diet. Currently, over 70 percent of children whose parents are working late hours are enrolled in childcare programs and spend over 40 hours per week exercising which helps them to burn excess calories.
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Nutrition and physical activity programs
Purpose of the study
There is an alarming number of children in the United States who live in homes where consistent availability of a healthy diets is challenging. Most of them access foods that lead to overweight or obesity while others do not have access to the recommended amount of daily foods and physical exercise. The purpose of this study is to assess child/parental nutrition and physical activity programs within healthcare facilities in the United States. The paper discusses the strategies that can assist healthcare facilities to create and implement successful programs that can address the health and wellness needs of the children and their family members.
Research question
What initiatives are healthcare facilities in the United States implementing to facilitate child/parental nutrition and physical activity programs?
Significance of the study
This paper is important because it will help parents to understand the benefits of proper nutrition and physical exercise which will in turn help children to get healthy stay healthy as well as lead healthier lives. The study also informs healthcare facilities about new exercise and diet programs that are beneficial for parents and their children.
This information is very beneficial because it will help to reduce the increasing number of children who battle over overweight and obesity as well as other condition such as diabetes and blood pressure.
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Methodology
This paper is a qualitative paper that uses secondary materials to summarize recommendations about obesity prevention programs based on reviews from expert guidance from secondary sources such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, and the Institute of Medicine among others.
Nutrition and physical activity programs
Literature Review
According to Smith et al (2017), healthcare providers as well as organizations should seek to implement more holistic goals in their roles as public health leaders. Specifically, healthcare facilities hold a significant responsibility to the employees, patients and the public as they are expected to be role models as they provide public health and also act as infection control agents and health promotion advocates.
Through the integration of such practices into the health organization’s operations, healthcare institutions and provides can achieve their duties as professional and take advantage of their unique positions to create change in health behaviors. The widespread challenges concerning overweight and obesity have detrimental consequences on mortality and morbidity due to hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypercholesterolemia among other diseases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asserts that across the US, 69.2 percent of adults between the ages of 20 years and above are overweight, 35.9 percent are obese (Rothstein, 2014). More so, 18.0 percent children between the ages of 6 and 11 years and 18.4 percent of teenagers aged 12 to 19 years are obese. The CDC argues that poor diet contributes heavily to obesity and it is very crucial for overweight and obese parents and children to break unhealthy eating habits and to adopt new ones that promote a healthy body.
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Norman, Zeebari, Nyberg, and Elinder (2019) argue that healthcare institutions and providers have the ability and opportunities to play a symbolic and direct role so as to help patients in adopting improved nutrition and better diet by providing healthy food as well as drinks at the institution. Sadly, instead of providing healthy diet options, some healthcare facilities, which include pediatric hospitals, actually allow fast-food restaurants to sell food within their facilities.
For instance, most hospital organizations have restaurants such as McDonald’s, and some facilities have three to four fast-food restaurants. In these restaurants, the chief patrons include workers employed by the healthcare facility and other guests (Rothstein, 2014). It is essential to however provide more tasty and nutritious food to patients and to ensure that the cafeterias are selling healthy food.
A fast-food restaurants symbol in a healthcare facility is vulgar and unmistakable today. With the current alarming levels of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiac diseases hospitals cannot afford offer silent support to the public and encourage patients to eat at fast-food outlets that do not provide healthy food choices.
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According to Rothstein (2014), one does not have to get the full fast-food menu to realize some of the “comfort value” prices offered by some fast-food restaurants. After the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital closed McDonald’s, it opened a food service that provided milkshakes for its pediatric patients. Nonetheless, it is true to say that healthy food option are often more expensive as compared to fast-food restaurants.
As a result, to establish and maintain a healthy food restaurant within the facility will require the hospital additional income and also the number of employees who are low-income workers, patients, and visitors may be significantly subsidized. Most hospitals therefore allow fast-food restaurants so that the can gain more profit (Rothstein, 2014).
However, optimizing profits should not be a justification for establishing fast-food restaurants within a healthcare facility just as it would be unfathomable to install a cigarette machine in the hospitals’ lobby. Over the years Healthcare organizations have been in the forefront and led campaigns to ban smoking on their facilities. It would be recommendable if they also took control of the types of foods and drink sold to the children and parents who visit the hospitals every day with the same leadership valor they showed in cigarette cessation.
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Another leading factor that had contributed to obesity, particularly among children, is the lack of physical exercise. Physical exercise refers to any form of activity that is structured, planned, as well as repetitive. The main aim for exercise is improving as well as maintaining a healthy weight and the components of physical fitness. Exercise can include activities such as body composition, anaerobic and aerobic capacity, strength, muscular endurance, and power, balance, and flexibility all of will in turn help to reduce excessive weight and obesity.
Some of the structured activities that a person can engage in may include conditioning programs to improve muscular strength, running programs to enhance aerobic capacity and lose fat, or stretching programs with an aim of increasing joint flexibility. Exercise activities are divided into resistance exercises that involve the musculoskeletal system and cardiorespiratory exercise that involves the respiratory and cardiovascular system.
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The main purpose for resistance exercises is developing neurological, physiological, and biochemical components in the skeletal muscles while cardiorespiratory exercises take into consideration the dynamics of the whole body particularly in exercises that involve large skeletal muscle mass. According to Floriani and Kennedy (2008), the intensity of resistance and cardiorespiratory exercises are expressed in either relative or absolute terms.
Absolute exercise intensity is expressed in terms of kilocalories or kilojoules and is determined by the total energy expenditure. The decimal system that is internationally agreed upon is 1 calorie=4.18 kilojoules. In essence, a kilojoule refers to a unit of energy that is equivalent to 1000 joules. 1 joule refers to the total amount of energy needed to accelerate a kilogram of mass at the rate of 1m/sec. Kilocalories are a unit of measurement equivalent to 1000 calories.
A calorie refers to the total amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a gram of water by 1 degree Celsius. Relative exercise intensity can be defined as activities that are relative to a person’s maximum capacity to undertake a certain exercise.
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Most healthcare organizations and facilities receive hundreds of clients, patients, visitors, and staff members on a daily basis. Instead of installing video games and television on the hospital walls, the facility can have playground areas as well as gymnasiums that these individuals, particularly employees and their children can use (Rothstein, 2014). Where establishing such a facility is not possible, the hospital can provide opportunities for minimal exercises such as walking grounds and climbing stairs.
In most healthcare institutions across the United States, the only way of reaching various destinations is by using a lift. In some facilities located within multipurpose complexes, it is almost impossible for employees and others to find their way across buildings because the pavements are badly constructed, the lighting is insufficient, or there are structural obstructions (Rothstein, 2014).
Given that healthcare institutions act as employers of millions of healthcare workers across different occupations, they have a responsibility to offer maximum quality and efficient wellness programs that offer weight management programs, smoking cessation, food education programs and other services concerting physical wellness. Healthcare organizations ought to make exercise facilities as well as the workout equipment readily available for all its stakeholders.
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Hospitals such as Jersey City Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, support their healthcare practitioners to achieve healthy lifestyle goals. One of these initiatives included noting the healthy foods and calories that the medical center sells at the hospital cafeteria. According to Bopp (2016), employers should partner with other health organizations to offer Healthy Wellness Programs. It is recommended that these programs should be fun, interactive, engaging, and also accessible online through mobile phones.
The employees should choose activities based on their personal goals and as per recommendations and earn rewards for making positive, healthy choices. The employees should also be encouraged to involve their families in the program, as there is a probability that families focused on health will be more successful. Hospitals and all healthcare centers should emulate the above named hospitals to maintain their employees fit and happy.
In accomplishing this, they should employ several useful initiatives, which may include programs on opium use, exercise programs, and tobacco addiction counseling programs aimed at lowering the risk of cancer, obesity, heart and mental diseases (Tu, O’Connor, Baranowski, & Mâsse, 2017).
They should also offer healthy food options to their employees as well as providing discounted rates at gyms and fitness centers to ensure that their employees do exercises regularly. For healthcare organizations that do not have enough space, particularly in older organizations, the management can make arrangements and partner with other wellness facilities to allow cost-free, convenient, or subsidized-cost access to off-site activities.
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Hospitals also have a responsibility of educating their patients on how to access and make use of various online exercise programs and diet programs found on different websites. In the Internet Age, healthcare facilities should integrate patient education with technological advancements that can help the patients as well as employees to benefit substantially from the information offered online (Daniels, & Hassink, 2015). Given that not all websites are genuine, the healthcare facilities should help the stakeholders to assess the credibility of the evidence provided.
Some of the means that the healthcare facility can use include investigating the credibility of the author and publication of the evidence and assessing whether author is expert in the nutrition and exercise field. Sometimes, individuals with great interest in nutrition and exercise can write articles or open YouTube channels though they do not have any educational background in nutrition or exercise.
These websites may seem very attractive as they promise exponential changes but disappoint exercisers in the long run as they are not based on scientific evidence. The healthcare providers can therefore assist patients dealing with diabetes, obesity, blood pressure, and overweight to examine the evidence provided to support the nutrition choices as the best choices demands one to have some background knowledge about exercise and nutrition.
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It is impossible to blush off the impacts that healthcare practitioners as well as health plans have on the choices that parents make for themselves and their love ones including children. In the present information-loaded world, where individuals bombard daily with health nutritional and exercise messages, it is hard to differentiate credible information from the misleading ones. As such, credible, useful, and evidence-based information is lost in the static and 24-hour news cycle of websites. Educating patients and employees on how to use various exercise and nutritional websites such as BodyFit,
Calorie King, FitnessBlender, Fit Men Cook, and Ace Fitness database will help nurses and other practitioners to provide patient education. The workout plans as well as the nutrition information offered by such websites help with training, fat loss, and cardio training among others. The instructional videos provided in workout website covers over 3,000 exercise activities and help an exerciser to avoid injuries.
The how-to-images provided in the website provides the exerciser with thousands of workout pictures that show them how to do a certain activity with precision even before they begin exercising. The website also provided step-by-step instructions that help an exerciser to do the right thing every time.
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A website such as Calorie King for instance can be used to find nutrition facts on foods from different food chains and supermarkets (Borushek, 2013). This can be helpful for tracking macros and calories. This database incorporates nutritional data from credible brands in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom. The website provides nutritional information and effects regarding breakfast bars and cereals, alcoholic drinks, beverages, breads and cookies, and baked goods.
It also provides information about chocolates and other supplements, cheeses, creams, and yogurts, desserts, and animal protein products. Lastly, there is information about vegetables and fruits, fast foods, fats and sauces, packaged and frozen foods, grain foods, snacks, sugars and syrups (Borushek, 2013). Apart from foods, the website also provides information regarding body mass index (BMI) and how to calculate it.
According to calorie King Website, when the BMI is 25 and above, a person is either overweight or obese and risks conditions such as type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, some cancer forms, and high blood pressure. This site however cautions against the use of BMI because it does not differentiate between muscle and body fat. For instance, in athletes, the BMI can overestimate the body fat due to the muscular build or underestimate body fats in older people who have lost their muscles.
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Nutrition and physical activity programs
Conclusion and recommendation
Conclusively, health organizations that do not offer well-being programs expose their employees and patients to high risks obesity, diabetes, addiction problems, and mental problems among others. Organizations that provided one to two wellbeing programs experience very low rates of employee turnover as compared to companies that implement a minimum of five programs.
When healthcare facilities provide such programs for employees, patients, and other stakeholders, the offer them a channel to relieve stress as well as receive beneficial information regarding how they can take care of themselves as well as their family members. In the 21st century, healthcare workers are expected to learn about new technologies all the time, be innovative and creative, adhere to new policies and regulations, as well as provide patient-centered services.
As a result, these employees become very tired and unavailable emotionally to the point where they lack of empathy for their patients and medical mistakes increase. To overcome these challenges, medial organizations are encouraged to offer wellness programs such as fitness facilities, counseling, educational programs, workshops, and health food programs to ensure that employees reach their intrinsic goals.
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Kohl III, H. W., Fulton, J. E., & Caspersen, C. J. (2011). Assessment of physical activity among children and adolescents: a review and synthesis. Preventive medicine, 31(2), S54-S76.
Norman, Å., Zeebari, Z., Nyberg, G., & Elinder, L. S. (2019). Parental support in promoting children’s health behaviours and preventing overweight and obesity–a long-term follow-up of the cluster-randomised healthy school start study II trial. BMC pediatrics, 19(1), 104.
Smith, T. M., Blaser, C., Geno-Rasmussen, C., Shuell, J., Plumlee, C., Gargano, T., & Yaroch, A. L. (2017). Peer Reviewed: Improving Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies and Practices in Early Care and Education in Three States, 2014–2016. Preventing chronic disease, 14.
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Culture in Change Management
Introduction
The only constant reality in life is change. Change is not only observable on a personal level but also an organizational front. Nonetheless, managing change is a challenging task that it takes effort, energy, training, and time (Hickman & Silva, 2018). Change is also characterized by uncertainty and fear, and therefore most people and organizations prefer to maintain the status quo.
With the Internet Age introduced by the 21st century, maintain the status quo is harmful to business as it puts companies at the risk of losing their competitive advantage as witnessed by various companies such as Levi Strauss & Co., which is a textile company in the United States. Given that change destroys the familiar corporate culture and status quo, managers should be very careful when implementing change because people are inherently resistant to change. Understanding and applying the best change theory helps a company to implement change efficiently.
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Unfortunately, managers in most organizations rarely pay attention to the impacts of culture on organizational change, even when confronting major problems. Often, managers disregard the power of culture in maintaining the status quo as they regard culture as too mushy and soft to address (Kezar, 2011). Other managers think that a company’s culture adjusts itself once the new strategy is in place or feel that the costs for changing the company’s culture are considerably high as well as difficult to achieve.
Others yet, believe that they can avoid addressing their company’s culture until the company has implemented the change, which may include new policies and procedures. What such managers fail to understand is that when change is introduced in an organization, stakeholders, including employees, shareholders, suppliers, and investors, expect an intrusion or a disruption (Kezar, 2011). As such, the culture that these stakeholders are used to fights hard to defeat the change and maintain the status quo. Consequently, significant changes mean more intrusion and more disruption, and therefore, the culture works very hard to defeat the implemented changes.
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Purpose of the Study
As a result of the tremendous change that has come with the Internet Age, the business environment is constantly changing, which makes it important for managers to apply the right systematic strategies in limiting stakeholder resistance towards a positive corporate change process. The main purpose of this research paper is to investigate the significance of an organization’s norms, values, as well as principles in change management. This paper with pay special attention to one of the textile companies in the United States, Levi Strauss.
Significance of the Study
Levi Strauss & Co was among the leading textile companies in the United States. However, today the company experiences significant challenges in maintaining a competitive advantage over other companies such as L Brands, Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch, Co, Coach, Inc., American Eagle Outfitters, Inc., and Urban Outfitters companies among others. This paper is important because it provides useful information on how textile companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. can revolutionize the company through change management strategies while paying special attention to its culture.
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Research Questions
Some of the questions that this paper seeks to answer are:
What value does culture change create for the company and the customers?
Why do people resist change?
What role does culture play in change management, and how can a company limit resistance?
How has globalization created a need for change in the textile industry?
What are the advantages and risks of not making the necessary change?
What theories support the role of culture in change management?
Methodology
This paper investigates the role that corporate culture plays in change management. The methodology that is applied in this research study includes a literature review, interview, and descriptive studies. The materials used in this research paper provide detailed information about the importance of considering culture in change management. The literature review offers supporting evidence that links cultural consideration to successful change management within an organization. The descriptive studies offer information about the best practices during organizational change supported by theories.
The criteria that are used for the inclusion of the articles for both literature review and descriptive studies pay attention to the nature of articles, timeframe, keywords, and search area. The timeframe applied for the secondary resources is within the past 30 years. The nature of the resources used includes business news articles, peer-reviewed articles, and journals. The keywords used include organizational change, corporate culture, change resistance, strategic change management, and culture change.
The search areas include business websites such as the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)and the United States Department of Labor and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The inclusion criterion helps in setting research boundaries for the literature review to ensure that the research paper is focused and the discussion is valid.
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Background information on Levi Strauss & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co. is a privately owned textile firm that was established by Levi Strauss about 164 years in 1853. For many decades, Levi Strauss & Co. was able to effectively compete as a clothing company known globally for Levi’s brand of denim jeans. This company was the first textile corporation to make the first blue jean across the globe, and since 1853, the Levi Strauss & Co. has heavily relied on innovation to come up with new products.
Throughout the 1960s, this company benefited from various U.S movements such as counter-culture groups and campus rebellion groups, which wore jeans as their uniform. During this period, sales doubled, and in three years, the company revenue almost hit $200 million. By 1979, the Levi Strauss & Co. had become the largest clothing industry across the world and had licensed its brand to be used in other products such as socks as well as shoes.
By this time sales had hit $ 2million. Levi Strauss & Co. had ventured in about sixty nations. During the prosperous years, Levi Strauss & Co. had fifty-three production facilities and thirty-two customer service centers in forty-nine nations. Some of these countries included Japan, Europe, South Africa, Argentina, India, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
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Nonetheless, from the beginning of 1980, Levi Strauss & Co. started to experience market difficulties, and although the demand for denim jeans stabilized, its profits flattened. Thus, to enhance distribution, Levi Strauss & Co. reached agreements with marketing companies such as Sears and J.C Penney, but the profits still fell by about 25% (Au, & Ho, 2006). In 1982, the company was forced to shut down nine production plants, which led to layoffs of 2,000 employees globally.
In 1885 Levi Strauss & Co. restructured the company and was taken private in a leveraged buyout for $1.45 billion. The company afterward introduced a successful upscale men’s pants line known as Dockers, which saw that sales increase to $4 billion. Since then, the company invested in adverts, campaigns, and stand-alone jeans boutiques to maintain sales. Despite these endeavors, the company still faces stiff competition from other leading companies across the United States.
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Interview
In an effort to provide the best analysis for the importance of culture in change management, a research interview was conducted with Levi Strauss & Co. CEO Mr. Chip Bergh. Chip Bergh has been the chief executive officer of Levi Strauss & Co. since 2011 and is also a member of the company’s board of directors. As such, the Chip Bergh is well acquitted with the company’s history, market trends in the textile industry, the corporate culture that guides Levi Strauss & Co., challenges faced by the company, and what needs to be done to ensure market competition.
Interviewer: As a textile company, who you say that Levi Strauss & Co. has a competitive advantage in the market today?
Interviewee: No.
Interviewer: Why is that?
Interviewee: The textile industry has undergone a great deal of change, specifically due to the high levels of competition and global sourcing. More so, the textile and clothing industry is now characterized by significant changes such as high volatility, short product lifecycle, high chances of impulse buying, and low predictability. Additionally, retailers across the world source for their textile supplies from companies that can meet their specific needs in time. This has been a huge setback for the company because it has failed to adopt the necessary strategies for its supply chain.
Interviewer: What do you think is the main hindrance in implementing effective change?
Interviewee: Our corporate culture. Levi Strauss & Co. is largely a bureaucratic corporation, which makes the implementation of change very difficult. Our employees, shareholders, and some managers resist change.
Interviewee: What do you think should be done?
Interviewee: The Company needs to change its supply chain and adopt one that enables it to optimize efficiency, minimize acquisition and delivery time, cut on operations costs, and improve product distribution globally.
Literature Review
According to a report given by OECD, many companies are driven to change because of several reasons today (Rothaermel, 2016). These factors include technology, globalization, market conditions, organizational growth, and poor performance. Whichever the cause, stakeholders in a company will always resist the change, which puts the company at risk because failure to adopt the necessary changes may influence the company’s ability to secure a competitive advantage in the market.
A survey conducted by the SHRM (2007), change resistance is one of the biggest reasons why most corporations fail to change. During change, a company may experience active resistance, passive resistance, or compliance, which is destructive to a company’s endeavors for change. Effective change management out to cultivate enthusiastic support from the stakeholders and to achieve this. The corporate managers have to understand how their corporate culture is affecting the change.
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People simply resist change because it disrupts their “way of doing things,” which can be defined as culture. Notably, culture in change management is a significant component in every firm that all corporate developers and managers in human resource departments must consider when making plans and executing any viable changes within an organization.
Organizational change management refers to a systematic and organized way through which corporations apply their tools, resources, and knowledge in an effort of facilitating change. According to Kneer (2013), change management can be defined as the strategy of systematic and planned chance that is achieved based on how the structure of the organization influences the culture of an organization and stakeholder behaviors.
The endeavor of change management implies that the change process demands proper planning and systematic management. Proper change management facilitates progressive, efficient, and effective implementation of new methods and systems within a firm. Change management also involves a company’s response to external stimuli when it cannot straightforwardly influence factors such as political, social, competitor’s strategies, legislations, technological advancements, and globalization.
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Pfister (2010) asserts that the culture of an organization refers to a shared understanding of a specific group of individuals in a specified context. The shared understanding originates from a set of principles, values, and norms that the individuals deem significant to them and, as such, align their practices towards those particular standards. According to Bhasing (2010), the principles, norms, rituals, and values of a company define its culture.
Typically, organizational culture refers to the profile of a group of individuals within an organizational context in regard to factors like standards, values, and behaviors. In the business world, culture defines the way things are done within a company and entails the fundamental patterns of assumptions that have been working for the company in the past and are considered valuable.
New stakeholders are inducted to embrace them while working with the organization. While change management purposes to take a corporation through various levels of development as stipulated by the goals put in place by a firm, several factors make a huge difference in determining the failure or success of change management tasks.
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Doppelt (2017) argues that people adopt and maintain certain cultures because of their personality, feelings of certainty, fear of failure, the impact of the change, the prevalence of the change, and the perceived loss of power in case of change. When a corporation is comprised of many stakeholders with a low self -concept, they are likely to resist the change because they feel that they may not be able to adjust to the change accordingly and be successful in the new system.
As such, they fight to keep the status quo and culture of the organization. Secondly, change brings feelings of uncertainty. Changes such as mergers make people lose jobs while the company’s revenue may take a turn to the worse. The uncertainty created results to fear and stress because people feel that they may lose control.
Corporations also fail to change because the stakeholders fear failure as they do not know how performance may be affected by a new system. People also resist change because it may impact their lives negatively and only welcome change that is favorable to them. The prevalence of change may also cause change resistance, mainly if it involves key departments. Lastly, people may fear change if it is associated with losing influence with the company.
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According to Hickman & Silva (2018), a flexible organizational culture limits resistance and helps people to adopt changes implemented in a new system easily. Company managers need to understand the relationship between culture and change management. One of the questions that corporate managers ought to ask themselves when orchestrating significant changes is how the existing culture and mindset are similar to the required set of behaviors expected to realize the change.
When the disparity is high, the company is at risk of not realizing its goals. According to Lewin’s Change Management Model proposed by Kurt Lewin in the 1950s, a company should apply three steps to achieve systematic and effective change (Ala et al., 2013). The first step is the Unfreeze stage, where the company prepares for change by purposefully changing the stakeholder’s mindset and behaviors towards a proposed change. During this step, the change managers should focus on breaking the status quo and eliminating fear and uncertainty.
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The second step is to change implementation. During this phase, the company implements a real transition. The success of this stage depends on how well the management creates the vision for change, communicates the change plan, develops a sense of urgency, builds a coalition, engages employees in decision making, and provides support prior and during the transition.
The last step, according to this theory, is refreezing. The company ensures that people embrace and implement new policies and procedures. During this stage, the management tracks the changes to ensure that the organization is stable again. The behaviors, norms, principles, and values of the company must be aligned with the new system.
Discussion
Currently, industries have adopted outcome-based strategies rather than input-based (World Economic Forum, 2015). The success of a 21st industry is measured through its outcome-based targets and its ability to connect with the significant teams across all functions. It is also measured through is the ability to find the right partners to form collaborative platforms and bridges.
With the current demand for speed, the textile company would also need to form meaningful alliances with the transport industries, including road, railway, shipping, and air transport. A collaborative ecosystem will require innovation, flexibility, and efficiency as its core strategic approach.
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These demands make it necessary for companies in the textile industry such as Levi Strauss & Co. as well as others in different sectors to employ the necessary changes to acquire a competitive advantage in the global market. Levi Strauss & Co. need to collaborate with suppliers that can supply raw materials promptly and at a low price. The company needs to access its culture and destroy the current status quo to adopt new supply chains that will be more beneficial to the company.
Conclusion
Conclusively, companies are prone to change due to poor performance, technological advancements, globalization, workforce demographics, organizational growth, and market conditions, among other factors. Nonetheless, regardless of the factor, people will always resist change as it disrupts and intrudes on their status quo. Based on Lewin’s Change management model, a company must systematically plan change around three steps, which include unfreeze, change, and refreeze.
References
Ala, R. D. (2013). Values as Predictors of Attitudes toward Changes. International Journal of Trade and Finance, 4 (5).
Amah, E. (2012). Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness: A Study of the Nigerian Banking Industry. 212 – 229.
Au, K. F., & Ho, D. C. (2006). Electronic commerce and supply chain management: value-adding service for clothing manufacturers. Integrated Manufacturing Systems, 13(4), 247-255.
Bhasing, N. (2010). Change in perception of organizational culture after the merger: The Influence of Motivation, Acceptance, and Knowledge. University of Twente Press.
Doppelt, B. (2017). Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for business, government, and civil society. Routledge.
Hickman, C. R., & Silva, M. A. (2018). Creating excellence: Managing corporate culture, strategy, and change in the new age. Routledge.
Kezar, A. (2011). Understanding and Facilitating Organizational Change in the 21st Century: Recent Research and Conceptualizations: ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, Volume 28, Number 4 (Vol. 155). John Wiley & Sons.
Kneer, C. (2013). Change Management Enhance the Ability to Survive. München GRIN : Verlag GmbH.
Pfister, J. (2010). Managing Organizational Culture for Effective Internal. Berlin: Physica-.
Rothaermel, F. T. (2016). Strategic management: concepts (Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education.
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Business Administration Capstone
Coca-Cola is one of the leading beverage companies across the world. The company operates in over 200 nations and manufactures approximately 3, 900 beverage products which include Sprite, Coke, Fanta, Minute Maid, Diet Coke, Maaza, and Limca among others (The Coca-Cola Company). This paper seeks to explain the internal and external forces that influence Coca-Cola’s operations.
The paper largely examines the social cultural and political/legal segments as they are the most influential part of the general environment. This paper also explores the forces of competition that influence the company, its strengths, opportunities, threats, and weaknesses. Although Coca-Cola faces stiff competition from companies such as Pepsi, its effective market strategy, brand identity, and resources will ensure that the company remains competitive.
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Business Administration Capstone
General Environment
Companies are influenced by different external environments segments that exist within a particular industry. These external segments include technological, sociocultural, economic, demographic, global, and political/legal factors which lie outside an organization’s control. Coca-Cola Company is mostly affected by the social cultural and political/legal segment as they rant the highest in influencing the firm’s daily operations (Frue, 2016). The two segments influence Coca-Cola’s decisions of production as well as profitability.
Sociocultural segment
Recently, most people especially in the developed world have changed their attitude towards carbonated and flavored drinks as they prefer more health drinks such as coffee and fruit juices. These attitudes and lifestyle changes have resulted to a significant decline in the preference of Coca Cola products leading to reduced revenues (Pratap, 2016). The media has also played in a crucial role in changing the perception of people regarding flavored drinks as they are said to be loaded with calories.
This change in attitude has forced the company to introduce new low calorie products such as Diet Coke put they only appeal to a few customers who have chronic conditions such as diabetes (Pratap, 2016). Coca Cola is currently exploring developing countries that still find flavored and carbonated drinks appealing.
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Business Administration Capstone
Political/legal Segment
Some of the political and legal factors that affect Coca-Cola include regulation and government laws that regulate foods and beverage production. For instance, across the United States, Coca-Cola is expected to follow the guidelines implemented by the Foods and Drugs regulatory body (Pratap, 2016). What’s more, the laws and government regulations vary by country.
As such, the company has been under pressure to expose some of its key ingredients as some regulatory bodies Coca Cola does not apply the regulations on some of its drinks. Additionally, the company has been facing legal challenges as it was recently accused of contamination water and poor water management (Pratap, 2016). The fines accrued to these lawsuits have cost the company huge amounts of money.
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Five Forces of Competition
The food and beverage industry has been seeing a significant growth and has become very competitive. The Porter’s five forces of competition include rivalry among existing companies, threat of new entrants, supplier’s bargaining power, threat of substitution, relative power of stakeholders (Hitt et al, 2013).
These forces influence profitability and therefore gaining a good understanding of the forces can helping in guiding the business strategy and increasing Coca-Cola’s competitive advantage (Nyakangi, 2020). Two of the most significant forces of competition that are most likely to affect Coca-Cola include threat of substitutes and competitive rivalry between the existing companies.
Business Administration Capstone
Threat of Substitution
Coca-Cola faces a threat of substitution from other healthy beverages. Some of the include coffee, fruit juices, teas, chocolates, mineral water, and milk. Currently, companies that deal in these beverages such as Nestle, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Kraft Heinz Company, Danone, Asahi Group, and Starbucks among others endlessly put pressure on the company. Although Coca-Cola and Pepsi dominate over 40% of the beverage industry, the current health awareness movements across the world are likely to result to serious threats (Nyakangi, 2020).
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Coca-Cola has been able to address this force by introducing some healthy beverages. Two of them include Coca-Cola Zero and Diet Coke which earned the company more than 40% of its total revenue in the past few years (Jurevicius, 2020). Other drinks that have been seen to be healthy include Minute Maid, Georgia Coffee, Minute Maid Pulpy, Smartwater, and Fuze Tea among a few others which earn the company about US$1 billion. These beverages are able to compete effectively as healthy drinks in the developed countries.
Business Administration Capstone
Rivalry Amongst Existing Competitors
Secondly, Coca-Cola faces high competition from Pepsi which is it main rival in the beverage industry (Pratap, 2017). Pepsi and Coca-Cola have similar market strategies, products, and are almost equal in terms of size. As such, the price competition is very intense given that the product differentiation is low (Pretap, 2017). Another aggressive competitor is Marquee. Its products use the same ingredients as Coca Cola and the taste is almost similar which brings about competition from the company.
To squash the competition, Coca Cola has entered contracts with Pepsi to control the bottling technologies as well as set product prices (Pretap, 2017). This ensured that the two companies remain at the top as they control most of the bottling companies. The contracts also ensure that both companies earn good profits from their products.
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Future Improvements
The company needs to venture into more healthy beverages and food segment. Currently, most nations are fighting against chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. As such, people are encouraged to consume healthy foods and beverages. Coca-Cola needs to explore this segment so as to ensure productivity and profitability. Although Coca-Cola dominates the soft beverage industry it has to contain further competition from other beverage companies. Given that one of the causes of this competition is the health awareness across the world, Coca-Cola needs to explore the possibility of investing more healthy beverages.
The company can achieve this by forming a joint venture with other established companies that deal in fruit juices and hot beverages (Nyakangi, 2020). The parent companies can establish a new child companies that produces high quality fruit juices or hot beverages across the world. The company can use its market influence and its bottling contracts to promote the new beverages. By so doing, the company will ensure it gains profit a huge number of consumers who are health cautious. The company should also consider producing healthy snacks so as to encourage customers to remain loyal to the company.
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Business Administration Capstone
Secondly, to overcome the rivalry between Coca-Cola and Pepsi, the company needs to increase its advertising initiatives in countries such as Latin America, Australia, Cuba, and North Korea. Coca Cola can also support major events and non-profit organizations across Africa, Brazil, Syria, Iran, India, and Afghanistan to increase its market (Baah, & Bohaker, 2015).
These initiatives will increase the advertising power of Coca-Cola as well as improve brand loyalty which will gain the company a competitive advantage over Pepsi. The company also needs to improve its adverts on some of its drinks that are not quite well known. These beverages include minute maid, glaeau vitaminwater, glaceau smart water, gold peak tea, del valle, and powerade among others.
Greatest External Threat
Coca-Cola applies SWOT analysis in monitoring its opportunities and threats. Recently, Coca-Cola has earned a bad reputation and has been termed as an “evil” company with the accusations of dehydrating communities due to overuse of water sources, use of pesticides in water, affecting local agriculture, and mistreating its employees in countries such as Russia, Guatemala, Colombia, and Turkey (Ling, 2017).
These sentiments are a huge threat to the company given that consumers today are only loyal to companies that show social corporate responsibility. This threat is even serious given that companies such as Pepsi have well established water sources that are environmentally friendly. Coca Cola needs to find new sources of water such as digging their boreholes and having several purification plants across nations.
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Greatest Opportunity
Coca-Cola has numerous opportunities that it can explore. The most promising is that the company can explore markets in developing nations given that developed countries are buying more healthy drinks recently (Baah, & Bohaker, 2015). Developing nations still explore soft and carbonated drinks and therefore increasing their market in countries such India that have very hot summers will increase profits.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Some of the greatest strengths that Coca-Cola Company can capitalize on include a vast global presence, its brand equity, best market strategies, and its huge market share. Coca-Cola brands and branches can be found across 200 countries across the globe and its only competition in these countries is Pepsi (The Coca-Cola Company, 2014). Regardless of this competition, Coca-Cola has an upper hand due to its fantastic drinks which include Diet Coke, Sprite, Maaza, Fanta, and Limca.
The company is well known across nations for its unique brand identity. The company can use these strengths to win the loyalty of many more customers across nations. Some of the weaknesses that the company has include stiff competition from Pepsi, low product diversification, lack of health beverages, and poor water management. To overcome the weaknesses, Coca-Cola can invest in the healthy food and beverage segments which will enable it to compete effectively with Pepsi.
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Strategies
The company should pursue new markets in developing countries. In developed nations, the company needs to produce more health drinks that do not increase obesity and people are more sensitive (Business Strategy Hub, 2019). This will enable the company to maintain profits while at the same time marketing its new health beverages in the developed nations.
Resources, Capabilities, and Core competencies.
In terms of core competencies, Coca-Cola is a very competent company that has effective and strategic marketing plans. Coca-Cola is reputed for associating with sports and physical activities. Since the company was founded in 1928, it has been a major supporter for Olympic Games (The Coca-Cola Company, 2019).
The company sponsors international sports such as FIFA world cup, netball, and rugby. This is influential because the sponsorship programs ensure that the company is well marketed and continues to dominate the world in beverage consumption and production as masses use these sports as a source of entertainment.
The company’s capability lies in the fact that the quality and quantity of its products are guaranteed and so are sales. In 2019, the company’s operating revenues were about US$37.27 billion (Bedford, 2020). The company is sure that most of their products will be sold regardless of its challenges. Nonetheless, given that it’s operating revenues were US$ 48.02 and US$46.85 in 2012 and 2013 respectively, there is need to improve the supply chain and strategize its market plans better to reduce this decrease in revenue (Bedford, 2020).
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Lastly, the company’s resources include technological resources, raw materials, and monetary resources. The company partners with bottling companies to come up with unique bottles and bottling procedures. The company in conjunction with Pepsi controls almost all bottling companies enabling the two companies to own the technology.
Business Administration Capstone
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References
Baah, S., & Bohaker, L. 2015. The Coca-Cola Company. Culture, 16, 17.
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Reducing nursing alarm fatigue
Introduction
In the healthcare setting, clinical alarm fatigue management failure is often as a result of nursing mistakes relating to complexity of the system. Telemetry technicians as well as nurses are occasionally affected by clinical alarm fatigue which hinders their capability to respond to the clinical alerts in the monitors (Sowan et al, 2015). Often, these practitioners are inundated with a significant number of visual and audio alerts which makes them ignore or fail to see the pertinent clinical alarm.
According to a qualitative research done by Dressler et al (2014), fatigue alarms rate from about 187 alarms per day in a single bed, 88.8% of which are false positives. This high rate has been a nuisance and a distraction in the healthcare setting as they can lead to increased number of mistakes in patient care. They are also a cause of panic and stress to patients who may be trying to rest as well as recover from illnesses and surgeries. Therefore reducing nursing alarm fatigue is much needed in the healthcare setting.
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Problem statement
The rate at which false alarm fatigue go off has remained to be a huge problem for telemetry technicians and nurses in charge of monitoring alarm signals in the telemetry room. These nurses and technicians are faced by a barrage of alarms and alerts during their shifts which makes them ignore the alerts at times. As a result, these practitioners may ignore a true positive alarm that needs immediate action leading to detrimental safety complications on the patient (Sowan et al, 2016).
Purpose of this study
The main aim for this study is to investigate whether healthcare organizations can minimize the amount of fatigue alerts in the telemetry rooms by applying the Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) method. Failure to respond to true actionable alarms has led to serious patient injuries and even deaths in the healthcare setting (Christensen, Dodds, Sauer, & Watts, 2018).
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Significance of the study
This research is important because it informs the healthcare practitioners on how to minimize the severity of non-actionable alerts that nurses and other clinicians face during their shifts. Reducing the number of false positive alarms will create an environment that can improve the practitioner’s awareness of the alarms thus decreasing alarm fatigue (Cho, Kim, Lee, & Cho, 2016)
Research Questions (PICO)
How does an organization’s infrastructure, culture, technology, and practices influence a strong alarm management plan?
How can the elimination of false alarms such as premature ventricular contraction (PVC) and low amplitude GCG complexes lower the number of non-actionable alerts in the telemetry room?
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This qualitative research investigates how the healthcare system can minimize the number of alerts that cause fatigue among nurses as well as telemetry technicians to enhance patient safety. This paper uses peer reviewed papers from credible sources retrieved from databases such as PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE/EBSCO, Proquest, and HEALTH SOURCE/NURSING/ACADEMIC EBSCO.
The key terms that were used in this research includes clinical alarms, alarm fatigue, and physiologic monitor alarms. The timeline for this research was publications that dated from 2012 to 2019. The inclusion criteria for this research study included qualitative and quantitative studies that discussed how to reduce false positives in the telemetry room. A total of 46 research articles were reviewed though only 10 were used as the rest were duplicates or did not include detailed information.
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Reducing nursing alarm fatigue
Results
Srinivasa et al. (2017) and De Vaux et al. (2017) carried out quality improvement projects using the PDSA methodology in an effort of minimizing the severity of false alarms that nurses and technicians are exposed to in a single shift by revisiting the alarm alert typology. While De Vaux et al. (2017) used direct observations based on the alarm codes to develop concepts, Srinivasa et al. (2017) captured data using electronic software tools to capture data.
The two research studies investigated the PVC alarms and asserted that these alarms go off when physiologic monitor peaks irregularities in cardiac rhythms. During the beginning of physiological monitoring, most healthcare practitioners treated PVCs using various interventions or medications. However, recent research shows that cardiac irregularities are basically benign and are not treated.
Nonetheless, even after this discovery the PVCs alarms were not removed from the physiologic monitoring system. These two researchers concluded that PVC alarms should be removed from the physiologic monitoring system to reduce alarm fatigue among the practitioners.
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In their research, Walsh-Irwin and Jurgens (2015) also investigated how the healthcare system can reduce false alarms by adopting better cultures and patient care systems. These researchers carried a research that involved monitoring physiologic alarms before interventions and after the application of certain physiologic monitor leads following improved skin preparation.
Walsh-Irwin and Jurgens (2015) analyzed the collected data before and after the skin care intervention in an effort of determining whether the number of alarms reduced or accelerated. The statistical data that was collected in this research showed that proper skin preparation results to a reduced number of false positive alarms. The healthcare system should therefore adopt cultures that ensure proper skin preparation in patients to reduce the number of false alarms in the telemetry room.
Paine et al. (2016) also carried out a quasi-experimental research to investigate how healthcare organizations can reduce the number of false positive alarms among patients. This research examined topics such as the relationship between nurse response time and alarms exposure, non-actionable and actionable alarm propositions, and important interventions that help in the reduction of false alarms frequency.
This research established that the actionable alarms raged between <1% and 36% across many healthcare organizations in the United States. This research also found that there is a considerable correlation between alert exposures and the time that nurses take to respond to the alarm.
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In another experiment, Pelter, Fidler, and Hu (2016) investigated the probable impacts of a low-amplitude QRA complexes on asystole alarms that are false positives. Low-amplitude QRS complexes occur when limb complexes lead to less than 5-10 millimeters in the precordial leads. This qualitative study involved 82 patients who were observed in a period of 31 days.
The research suggested that there was no significant statistical data to having a false positive asystole alarm when a 12-lead ECG measured QRS complexes that were low amplitude. This experiment demonstrated that the low amplitude QRS complex alarm can be eliminate from the physiologic monitor.
Discussion
The themes that are evident in the above research studies provide insight to the healthcare’s struggles to apply PSDA methods that can manage alarm alerts. The studies establish that most alarms are not actionable and are a source of disruption and fatigue among nurse and therefore there should be active efforts to minimize the number of false positive alarms because they result to alarm desensitization and important alerts can be ignored as a result (Model for Improvement, 2018).
The research studies also establish that modifying alarms to ensure that only actionable physiological changes are recorded is a good of reducing alarm fatigue. Pelter, Fidler, and Hu (2016) clearly show that interventions are also a safe way of reducing the number of non-actionable alarms.
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Conclusion
In essence, alarm fatigue is a huge problem that puts patients in grave danger and a practitioner can ignore an actionable alarm thinking that it is a false positive. As such, adopting a PSDA methodology to reduce the number of false alarms will enhance the opportunities for practitioners to respond to the actionable alarms as well as reduce alarm fatigue. The healthcare organizations should create an environment that provides meaningful information to telemetry room monitors.
Reducing nursing alarm fatigue
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References
Cho, O. M., Kim, H., Lee, Y. W., & Cho, I. (2016). Clinical alarms in intensive care units: Perceived obstacles of alarm management and alarm fatigue in nurses. Healthcare informatics research, 22(1), 46-53.
De Vaux, L., Cooper, D., Knudson, K., Gasperini, M., Rodgerson, K., & Funk, M. (2017). Reduction of nonactionable alarms in medical intensive care. Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology, 51(s2), 58-61.
Dressler, R., Dryer, M. M., Coletti, C., Mahoney, D., & Doorey, A. J. (2014). Altering overuse of cardiac telemetry in non–intensive care unit settings by hardwiring the use of American Heart Association guidelines. JAMA internal medicine, 174(11), 1852-1854.
Paine, C. W., Goel, V. V., Ely, E., Stave, C. D., Stemler, S., Zander, M., & Bonafide, C. P. (2016). Systematic review of physiologic monitor alarm characteristics and pragmatic interventions to reduce alarm frequency. Journal of Hospital Medicine, 11(2), 136-144.
Pelter, M. M., Fidler, R., & Hu, X. (2016). Research: Association of low-amplitude QRSs with false-positive asystole alarms. Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology, 50(5), 329- 335. Srinivasa, E., Mankoo, J., & Kerr, C. (2017). An evidence‐based approach to reducing cardiac telemetry alarm fatigue. Worldviews on Evidence‐Based Nursing, 14(4), 265-273.
Walsh-Irwin, C., & Jurgens, C. Y. (2015). Proper skin preparation and electrode placement decreases alarms on a telemetry unit. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 34(3), 134- 139.
Sowan, A. K., Tarriela, A. F., Gomez, T. M., Reed, C. C., & Rapp, K. M. (2015). Nurses’ perceptions and practices toward clinical alarms in a transplant cardiac intensive care unit: Exploring key issues leading to alarm fatigue. JMIR human factors, 2(1), e3.
Walsh-Irwin, C., & Jurgens, C. Y. (2015). Proper skin preparation and electrode placement decreases alarms on a telemetry unit. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 34(3), 134- 139.
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