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Urban Emergency Room
You are an acute care nurse practitioner who works in an urban emergency room (ER). You see many people who come to the ER who have overdosed (OD) on heroin. Emergency medical services personnel may administer a drug that might reverse the overdose such as naloxone (Narcan). You may see three ODs during each 12-hour shift; some of these patients are admitted to the hospital, and others are sent home with a consultation for psychiatric follow-up. You are becoming hardened to the issue and have begun to question what you can do to address this epidemic.
You hear that the state health director is convening a task force. List four actions you can take to be invited to participate in this task force.
Which other healthcare professionals should be included in the task force?
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Toxicological effects of a chemical
Describe a time when you were concerned about the possible toxicological effects of a chemical. For example, a child digesting a dangerous chemical or pharmaceutical product, an actual chemical you worked with that touched your skin or you inhaled, etc. Why were you concerned about this chemical’s toxicology profile?
Chemicals can be toxic because they can harm us when they enter or contact the body. Exposure to a toxic substance such as gasoline can affect your health. Since drinking gasoline can cause burns, vomiting, diarrhea and, in very large amounts, drowsiness or death, it is toxic.
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ATSDR’s Toxic Substances Portal
Go to the chemical classifications section of the ATSDR’s Toxic Substances Portal. Have you ever been exposed to one of these chemicals? If so, how did it happen? Did it cause any symptoms? If you have not, which chemical do you feel is the most dangerous that you would try to protect your friends and family from exposure?
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is a federal public health agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The agency focuses on minimizing human health risks associated with exposure to hazardous substances. It works closely with other federal, state, and local agencies; tribal governments; local communities; and healthcare providers. Its mission is to “Serve the public through responsive public health actions to promote healthy and safe environments and prevent harmful exposures.” ATSDR was created as an advisory, nonregulatory agency by the Superfund legislation and was formally organized in 1985.
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Use of household products for the purpose of getting high
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Use of household products for the purpose of getting high
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, many common household products are used for the purpose of getting high, especially by children and adolescents. Many of these chemicals include gases used as propellants. Based on your opinion, should we ban these chemicals and only deal with organic types of cleaners like mild soaps, lemon juice, etc.?
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The Use of Diamond in Engineering
Introduction
Traditionally, the classification of ceramics is done on the premise that they are materials made of clay. However, due to the expansion of the field of ceramics, nowadays they can be defined as non-metallic, inorganic materials that are treated by heat when being processed or used (Marinescu, Tönshoff & Inasaki, 2010; Moore, 2012; Pierson, 2013). As a result, they tend to be hard, brittle and inert and have covalent or ionic bonding.
According to Neves & Nazaré (2011) diamond fits this description of ceramics by meeting all of the outlined criteria. Diamond is purely made of carbon atoms that are crystallised to form a cubic structure whereby the linkage between each carbon atom is through a rigid and strong chemical bond to other four carbon atoms. Harlow (2008) states that until the 1950s, the availability of diamond was in quantities that were relatively small and at prices that were fairly high.
However, these challenges prompted the development of new methods and technologies for making synthetic diamonds, which has led to various new diamond-based products with diverse applications in engineering (Marinescu, Tönshoff & Inasaki, 2010).
The use of diamond in engineering has been attributed to its unique combination of properties, such as highest thermal conductivity and hardness among any other material that is known, a large optical band gap, high electrical resistivity, a high transmission, low adhesion and friction, good resistance to corrosion as well as a thermal expansion coefficient that is extremely low (Prelas, Popovici & Bigelow, 2008; Yarnell, 2014). As a result, these properties have made diamond to be among the most desirable industrial material in a broad range of uses or applications in chemical, electrical, thermal, optical, and mechanical engineering.
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According to Feldman & Robins (2011) in most cases of the usage of diamond in engineering, the surface of a diamond element or component must have a superior finish, usually in terms of surface roughness ranging within measures of nanometres. Nevertheless, as a result of its chemical inertness and extreme hardness, the process of polishing diamond and its subsequent composites has always been sophisticated and lengthy (Chen & Zhang, 2013; Rastogi & Hack, 2014).
According to Field (2012) the use of diamond as an engineering material has been evident a wide range of industries such as car manufacturing, aerospace, oil and gas as well as mining among many other customised uses or applications in engineering. Due to diamond’s thermal conductivity, wear resistance and extreme hardness it has actually become an ideal choice material for use in engineering for extreme applications and conditions (Servin, Quinoga & Padilla, 2013).
Based on the title of the essay, the method chosen to tackle the essay was to complete it as a written survey of the existing information in the form of a concise report. In order to complete the report for this basic survey, the existing information concerning the use of diamond in engineering including a brief background history, materials sources and selection, existing materials and technology, current and state of the art uses or applications of diamond in engineering as well as suggestions for future developments.
Sources of Diamond
Nowadays, diamond is usually found from a number of sources mainly in form of natural or synthetic diamond. The main sources or methods of synthesising diamond are discussed below as follows:
Natural diamond: According to Chen & Zhang (2013) each year across the globe there are 20 tonnes of naturally occurring diamond which are mined. Almost a half of this quantity is of industrial quality, while the other half is of gem quality (Chen & Zhang, 2013).
Single crystal synthetic diamond: Efforts towards creation of diamond in a synthetic manner can be traced back many years and have led to commercial availability of gemstone quality diamond by treating carbon-based materials with high pressure and high temperature (Field, 2012; Yarnell, 2014). According to Welbourn (2006) every year there are approximately 90 tonnes of diamond produced using the high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) method.
For instance, the production of most of the industrial quality diamond is usually from graphite at temperatures of 1400 to 1600°C and pressures of 4.5 to 6.0 GPa with the assistance of a transition metal catalyst that is always molten (Prelas, Popovici & Bigelow, 2008). The diamond produced through this method is usually cheaper compared to natural diamond (Moore, 2012; Pierson, 2013; Welbourn, 2006).
Polycrystalline diamond (PCD): According to Sexton & Cooley (2009) this type of diamond is usually formed by cementing grains of diamond together under conditions of high pressure and high temperature where the used bonding agent is a metal or by sintering utilising Boron Carbide as an aid for the sintering.
PCD is usually superior compared to natural diamond in a number of ways including its high wear resistance, isotropic characteristics as well as cost effectiveness. Welbourn (2006) notes that PCD addresses many weaknesses of natural diamond such as high cost, high variability, uneven wear, and large cleavage planes.
Vapour phase deposition diamond: This type of diamond is in the form of thin diamond films and is produced through both physical vapour phase deposition (PVD) and chemical vapour deposition (CVD). According to Koizumi, Nebel & Nesladek (2008) every year about 10 tonnes of diamond films are produced through vapour phase deposition. However, compared to naturally occurring diamond their cost is higher by above four times, even though despite their high cost their application can be economically justified due to the fact that, irrespective of their usage in thin film form they usually result to significant differences in component properties (Koizumi, Nebel & Nesladek, 2008).
Moreover, the availability of low-pressure and high-temperature conditions through CVD has enabled diamond coatings to be grown using a gas-feed mixture of methane and hydrogen. In addition, there can be tailor made growth conditions to enable production of nano- or microcrystalline dopants and morphology such as the addition of boron to induce conductivity (May, 2010, Pan & Kani, 2005; Stallcup & Perez, 2011).
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Key Properties of Diamond
The actual uses or applications of diamond in engineering are attributed to its key properties which provide a desirable combination of mechanical, physical and chemical properties as discussed below:
Extreme Hardness: Diamond is without any doubts the hardest material that is known by man surpassing other comparatively hard materials such as steel, silicon carbide, tungsten carbide, and silicon nitride (Prelas, Popovici & Bigelow, 2008). In fact, this property makes it ideal use in engineering applications requiring greater durability and toughness (Yarnell, 2014).
For PCD and CVD or PVD, this hardness is attributable to diamond-to-diamond particles that are sintered in a structure that is coherent through a HPHT process as well as random orientation of diamond-to-diamond bonds for the purpose of eliminating weak planes thereby preventing tool cracking (Welbourn, 2006).
Resistance to Harsh Environments: According to Feldman & Robins (2011) diamond material is significantly resistant to erosive and corrosive environments and also it is resistant to corrosion from all bases and acids, which makes it easy to operate in any process or chemical fluid environment. Through the combination of hardness and fracture toughness for improved durability, diamond handles loads of extremely high capacities (Harlow, 2008; Prelas, Popovici & Bigelow, 2008; Yarnell, 2014). As a result, it usually offers coefficient of friction that is significantly lower compared to that of Teflon, steel and tungsten carbide (Moore, 2012).
Long Life and Low Wear: Harlow (2008) states that diamond is a super-hard engineering material appropriate for use in environments that are significantly abrasive thereby making it ideal for producing drilling as well as cutting tool material. Also, due to its coefficient of friction which is considerably low, diamond has superior wear resistance which is attributed to its ultra-long tool life as well as higher fracture toughness compared to silicon carbide and silicon nitride (Coelho et al., 2012; Yarnell, 2014).
Highest Thermal Conductivity: It is undoubtedly evident that there no other engineering material known with higher thermal conductivity than diamond (Marinescu, Tönshoff & Inasaki, 2010; Wei et al., 2013). This high thermal conductivity is attributed to the reduction of the localisation of temperature extremes that causes material degradation (Wei et al., 2013).
As a result, diamond disperses heat better than comparable engineering materials such as to silicon carbide, steel, silicon nitride, tungsten carbide, and even copper (May, 2010). According to Moore (2012) the low thermal expansion coefficient of diamond is attributed for its excellent use in making heat sinks as well as applications in harsh environments.
In addition, the uses or applications of diamond in engineering are also attributable to some of its other properties such as its high electrical resistivity, broad optical transparency ranging from ultra violet region to infra red region as well as biological compatibility (Harlow, 2008; Prelas, Popovici & Bigelow, 2008; Yarnell, 2014). These properties enable diamond to be applied for specific uses in electrical, optical and medical engineering respectively.
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Furthermore, diamond has some limitations which are attributable to a number of its mechanical and physical properties which are listed in Table 1 shown below. For example, diamond is Meta stable at room pressure and temperature, which makes it to form a black coat upon heating to above 600°C in oxygen and also reverts to graphite upon heating in nitrogen to about 1500°C (Wei et al., 2013).
According to Lee & Novikov (2015) diamond reacts with strong carbide to form metals (i.e. zirconium, tantalum and tungsten), and also it dissolves in chromium, cobalt, nickel, iron, manganese, as well as the platinum group metals. The typical mechanical as well as physical properties of diamond are listed in Table 1 below.
Table 1. Typical mechanical and physical properties for diamond Property Density (g/cm3) 3.50 Young’s Modulus (GPa) 1050 Bend Strength (MPa) 850 Fracture Toughness K1c (MPa.m 0.5) 3.5 Hardness (GPa) 45 Thermal Expansion Coefficient (x 10-6/°C) 1.1 Coefficient of Friction 0.02 Electrical Resistivity (ohm.cm) >1013 Thermal Conductivity (W/mK) 400 Decomposition Temperature in nitrogen (°C) 1500
Present/Current State of the Art Applications or Uses of Diamond in Engineering
The use of diamond and its composites whether CPD, CVD or PVD are closely linked to the extreme physical properties of diamond discussed in previous section. A number of the applications of diamond have already found their way into the marketplace, including some which are more sophisticate such as those concerning applications in electronics, particle detection, optics as well as thermal management.
Until recently, wide-scale usage of diamond in engineering had been hindered by high cost and its availability in small quantities, but this has already been overcome by synthetic production of other forms of diamond including single crystal diamond, CPD, CVD or PVD (May, 2010).
In particular, a wide-scale use of the two superior synthetic composites of diamond such as CVD and PVD was mainly prevented by economic factors until recently because the coating films were typically too expensive in comparison with other alternatives that exist. However, due to the standardisation of higher power deposition reactors, there has been significant reductions in the cost for 1 carat (0.2 g) of CVD and PVD diamond over the past one decade, and this will make the use of both CVD and PVD diamond which have superior physical and mechanical properties much more economically viable, and allow exploitation of their vast array of outstanding physical and mechanical properties in a wide range of engineering uses or applications. Specific uses of diamond in engineering are discussed below:
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Cutting tools
The properties of diamond including extreme hardness and wear resistance, makes it highly appropriate for use to cut tools for machining composite, non-ferrous metals, chip-board and plastics materials (May, 2010). In fact, industrial quality diamond has over the past five decades been used for cutting tools, and until today it remains a useful application in engineering (Moore, 2012).
According to Lee & Novikov (2015) this process involves either gluing the diamond grit to a tool that is suitable (e.g. drill bits, lathe tools, saw blades) or through consolidation of the diamond grit with a binder phase that is suitable (e.g. SiC or Co) to make a tough, durable and hard composite.
Thermal management
Thermal management in heat spreaders, substrates, and heat sinks are some of the uses or applications of diamond in electrical engineering because it uniquely combines high thermal conductivity and electrical insulation (Wei et al., 2013). According to Neves & Nazaré (2011) the use of diamond in electrical engineering include applications such as heat sinks for laser diodes, hybrid circuit packages, small microwave power device, printed circuit boards and integrated circuit substrates. Higher operating speeds are enabled by the use of diamond as devices can be packed more compactly without overheating (Wei et al., 2013).
Optics
Due to the optical properties of diamond, it is beginning to be used in optical components, especially as a protective coating as an infrared window during harsh environments (Mildren & Rabeau, 2013; Zaitsev, 2011). Conventionally, infrared materials within the wavelength range from 8–12 µm (such as ZnSe, ZnS and Ge) are brittle and easily damaged, and a thin layer of CVD diamond film with high durability, transparency, and resistance to thermal shock is ideally used to protect them (Rastogi & Hack, 2014; Servin, Quinoga & Padilla, 2013;Walker, 2009). An example of a diamond coated optical fibre can be seen in figure 1.
Figure 1. A diamond coated optical fibre.
Semiconductor Devices
Diamond has an electronic structure with a wide band gap that makes it to be used as a semiconductor (Pan & Kani, 2005; Yarnell, 2014). However, prior to wide-scale exploitation of diamond coatings in the area of semiconductors there is need to address the concern of how to effectively dope the material as well as the growth of either highly oriented films or a single crystal (Wei et al., 2013).
According to Yarnell (2014) active devices made from boron doped (p-type) films subsequent to growth on diamond substrates operates at temperatures > 500°C in comparison with a maximum temperature of 200°c for gallium arsenide and silicon devices to operate. As a result, the use of diamond and its composites in this area includes high temperature integrated circuits; very high power transistors; radiation hardened integrated circuits as well as piezoelectric devices (Wei et al., 2013).
Electrochemical sensors
According to Prelas, Popovici & Bigelow (2008) doped CVD diamond films have been used for electrochemical uses or applications, particularly in corrosive or harsh environments. When diamond electrodes made through boron-doping CVD diamond films are conducted, a significant potential window in water is observed compared to Pt often to make electrode materials because it dissociates water at electrodes of higher potentials leading to unwanted evolution of oxygen and hydrogen (Pierson, 2013; Wei et al., 2013). For electrodes made from diamond, there is much slower rate of hydrogen gas evolution, allowing the use of much higher electrode potentials (Pierson, 2013).
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Composite reinforcement
There has been fabrication of diamond fibres and wires, which are exceptionally stiff for their weight (Neves & Nazaré, 2011). With increased growth rates to levels that are economically viable, such diamond fibres are used as reinforcement agents in metal matrix composites to allow manufacture of stiffer, stronger and lighter load-bearing structures (Sexton & Cooley, 2009). Two-dimensional diamond fibre and Hollow diamond fibres weaves or matting have already been developed and have been used in engineering as the basis of smart composite structures (Neves & Nazaré, 2011).
Particle detectors
One area where diamond has gained considerable usage, especially the CVD diamond films is as a ‘solar-blind’ detector for high energy particles and ultraviolet (UV) light. Diamond UV detectors with high-performance are in existence and other high energy particles, including neutrons and alpha- and beta-particles can be detected using diamond detectors (Feldman & Robins, 2011). Moreover, since the response of diamond and human tissue to X-rays and gamma rays damage is similar, this means diamond may be used in medical and chemical engineering to measure the dose of radiation exposure (May, 2010).
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Suggestions for Future Research and Developments
Despite minimal attention in the use of diamond in engineering in the past, the past few decades have shown a clear upturn in interest on research and new uses of diamond and its synthetic composites. The existing information indicate that use of diamond in engineering is on the brink tremendous expansion across diverse engineering fields such as quantum computing, catalysis, formation of composites and hard coatings or films, polishing as well as seeding of substrates for CVD diamond growth (Greentree et al., 2006; Wrachtrup & Jelezko, 2006).
In particular, polishing of diamond materials has the potential of providing a state of the art analysis, both experimentally and theoretically concerning most commonly utilised techniques to polish mono or polycrystalline diamond as well as CVD diamond films, including high energy beam, mechanical, thermo-chemical, dynamic friction, chemo-mechanical and other polishing techniques (Greentree et al., 2006; Wrachtrup & Jelezko, 2006). Hence, it is imperative to carry out extensive research on these issues in order to identify specific areas for new developments including coming up with new polishing mechanisms, material removal rate as well as possible modelling through which new uses of diamond and its composites can be highlighted.
Suggestions for future research and developments in the field of polishing of diamond materials will be focused on hard materials development in the field of precision manufacturing. In addition, new innovative and creative ideas on the application of diamond technology in future to develop solid state and vacuum microelectronics, electric power devices, MEMS, sensors and micro-sensors (Wrachtrup & Jelezko, 2006).
This requires more attention to be directed into the research and development micro-devices by conducting modelling, design, development, characterisation, fabrication as well as testing of devices made from diamond. Furthermore, as more interest continue to rise in the field of nanotechnology, the role of nanodiamond (ND) in the future development of quantum computers is imperative for consideration (Lee & Novikov, 2015).
This possible future development will be achieved through extensive research and is attributable to the desirable properties of the (N–V) − defect centre, which serves as a single-photon source that is photostable, and allows this centre’s usage as a quantum bit (solid-state room temperature qubit). In particular, significant research is currently in progress to address the properties and structure of the (N–V) − centre, so that it can be used in quantum computing (Greentree et al., 2006; Lee & Novikov, 2015; Wrachtrup & Jelezko, 2006).
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Conclusion
Despite the rapid and significant progress made over the past one decade in the use and application of diamond and its composites in engineering, the matching commercialization of some amazing diamond composite materials such as CVD and PVD diamond films has not been achieved.
However, as the use of diamond and its composites continue to expand due to reducing costs which is attributed to standardisation of production methods; researchers and diamond technology and engineering industry currently emphasise on the development of methods aimed at scaling up the diamond composites synthesis processes as well as reducing synthetic diamond production costs in order to make diamond the preferred engineering material not only due to its superior properties but also because its economically viable.
Considering that the dream of making diamond the ultimate material for use in engineering has not yet been achieved, more research is required to address this challenge. However, diamond and its composites has been used in engineering to develop some devices which have already found their way to the marketplace, such as diamond windows, cutting tools, diamond heat spreaders as well as SAW filters. In the near future, appearance of diamond films is envisaged to be seen in many more applications including electronic devices as well as more specialised applications such as high temperature electronics and flat-panel displays.
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References
Chen, Y. & Zhang, L. (2013). Polishing of Diamond Materials: Mechanisms, Modelling and Implementation. Engineering Materials and Processes Series. New York, NY: Springer.
Coelho, R. T., Yamada, S., Aspinwall, D. K., & Wise, M. L. H. (2012). The application of polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tool materials when drilling and reaming aluminium-based alloys including MMC. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, 35(5), 761–774.
Feldman, A. & Robins, L. H. (2011). Applications of Diamond Films and Related Materials. New York, NY: Elsevier.
Field, J. E. (2012). The Properties of Natural and Synthetic Diamond. London: Academic Press.
Greentree, A. D. et al. (2006). Critical components for diamond-based quantum coherent devices. Journal of Physical Condensation Materials, 18(3), S825–S842.
Rastogi, P. K. & Hack, E. (2014). Optical Methods for Solid Mechanics: A Full-Field Approach. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Servin, M., Quinoga, J. A., & Padilla, M. (2013). Fridge Pattern Analysis for Optical Metrology: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Sexton, T. N. & Cooley, C. H. (2009). Polycrystalline diamond thrust bearings for down-hole oil and gas drilling tools. Wear, 267(3), 1041-1045.
Stallcup, R. E. & Perez, J. M. (2011). Scanning tunnelling microscopy studies of temperature-dependent etching of diamond (100) by atomic hydrogen. Physical Review Letters, 86(15), 3368–3371.
Walker, J. (2009). Optical absorption and luminescence in diamond. Reports on Progress in Physics, 42(10), 1605–1659.
Wei, L., Kuo, P. K., Thomas, R. L., Anthony, T. & Banholzer, W. (2013). Thermal conductivity of isotopically modified single crystal diamond. Physical Review Letters, 70(24), 3764–3767.
Welbourn, C. (2006). Identification of Synthetic Diamonds: Present Status and Future Developments. Gems and Gemmology, 42(3), 34–35.
Wrachtrup, J. & Jelezko, F. (2006). Quantum information processing in diamond. Journal of Physical Condensation Materials, 18(2), S807–S823.
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Deployment of Customer Relationship Management System at BP Plc
Executive Summary
This project is about building a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for BP Plc., a London-based energy company. This corporation has approximately 84,480 workers. The economic value that BP generates every year is $360 billion and its profit in 2014 was $8.07 billion. The new system would help BP to gain competitive advantage with a measurable outcome or improve its operations in some way. The information regarding the project would be collated using qualitative methods.
The project manager will talk to the interviewees face-to-face with a listing of questions. The constraints for this project include technological issues; economic factors; and social factors. The project risks are categorized as follows: schedule, financial, technical, client, and people risks. The outcome of the cost-benefit analysis shows that this project is economically viable and can be pursued. Non-financial benefits of this project include customer loyalty, improved brand image and reputation for BP and increase in employee satisfaction.
Deployment of Customer Relationship Management system at BP Plc
This business report describes an international business project that can be solved by carrying out a short-term project pertaining to digital capabilities at British Petroleum (BP) for global customer communications at this multinational energy company. Firstly, the current situation of the firm is analyzed in order to determine a need for a particular project in this area that would improve BP’s customer relationships management. All in all, the project would help BP to gain competitive advantage with a measurable outcome or improve its operations in some way.
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1.0 Purpose of project
The project’s purpose is to develop a customer relationship management system at BP and deploy it throughout the company. It will store data concerning BP’s clients and their interactions with BP.
1.1 Project Plan and Project Scope
Scope of the project is the part of the project planning which entails determining and documenting a listing of exact project deliverables, goals, deadlines, costs as well as tasks. The scope is essentially what the project would deliver (Lebedeva 2015). In this project, the goal is to make improvements on BP’s Management Information System for global customer communications in order to meet the overall business needs of attaining increased sales as well as competitive advantage. A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system would be built. It would be an information system which would maintain data regarding the company’s clients as well as their interactions with the organization.
2.0 High level analysis of business environment
2.1 Micro and Macro (Internal and External factors)
2.1.1 Porters 5 Forces
Intensity of competition: High – BP operates in a market that is very competitive. Some of the main private sector players which are BP’s competitors include Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Texaco, Total, and Chevron. These main competitors have established presence all over the globe and they employ costly differentiation and branding strategies in their operations. It is notable that low switching costs, high storage and real property costs, low levels of product differentiation and rapid global growth foster more intense rivalry amongst the existing competitors in the gas and oil sector.
Bargaining power of suppliers: High – The suppliers mainly comprise the countries in which the oil and gas company extracts the commodity. These oil-producing countries such as Venezuela, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and other Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC) have a high bargaining power given that they can easily manipulate the oil and gas prices for instance by reducing or increasing the availability of gas and oil (Reckdahl 2015). The OPEC countries establish prices for gas and oil and this affects both the supply as well as price levels.
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Bargaining power of buyers: Medium – There is medium bargaining power of consumers since the cost of switching to other products is high. There is growing demand for oil and gas in the marketplaces particularly in the emerging markets of China and India. There is the growing need for clean, eco-friendly fuels. The oil companies can sell their products to many customers.
Threat of substitute products: Low – At the moment, there are few commercially exploitable substitutes. Non-renewable sources of fuel which may pose a threat to BP’s oil and gas production and retail mainly includes coal. There are also emergent alternative fuels such as wind energy, photovoltaic energy or solar power, nuclear energy, geothermal power as well as other renewable sources of energy although they do not pose a significant threat to BP (Helman 2012).
Threat of new entrants: Low – The likelihood of new players penetrating the oil and gas industry is low thanks to high barriers to entry that discourage other companies from entering this industry. High amount of capital is required to enter this market. New companies may lack the necessary personnel and financial capital essential for operating in the oil and gas industry. There are high exploration and development costs and financial institutions do not provide financing for exploratory activities (Reckdahl 2015).
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2.2 Information research needs
Collecting information from various sources is an essential part of this project. Determining what information would help to effectively execute the project is something that would be done prior to gathering any sort of data. It is notable that wasting time in collating incorrect type of information could set any given project back and cost the organization so much money (Cunningham, Salomone & Wielgus 2015). Collection of information will start only after obtaining a thorough and clear listing of information required for the project.
In this project, helpful information would be gathered by talking to the right individuals. BP’s senior managers and the company’s employees who have worked for BP for over 24 months have extensive experience and they can offer quality information which may be helpful to this project. The information would be gathered using qualitative methods and interviews would be used. The project manager will sit down and talk to the interviewees face-to-face with a listing of questions. The information gathered will help in determining exactly what the client requirements are with regard to the new digital technologies.
2.3 Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholders are basically those entities that could influence the project. The stakeholders of this project are formally tabulated as follows:
Table 1: Stakeholder analysis
Stakeholder
Level of influence or power
Interest in the project / level of involvement
Stakeholder expectations
Actions to meet expectations
1
Client
High
Owner of the project. Controls the financial resources. Makes decisions.
New and improved Management Information System (CRM) for global customer communications to meet overall business needs of attaining increased sales and competitive advantage
Specify requirements for the new/improved system, provide financial resources
2
Regulatory bodies
Medium
Certify the new digital technology deployed at the client organization
Management information system that meets defined standards and regulatory requirements
Approve system if meets standards and satisfies needs of customer
3
Project team
Low
Designs the new digital technology, deploys and implements it at client organization, BP. Project team has specialist skills needed by the project
Execute the project
Complete the project within budget, deliver the required project deliverables, and complete the project by due date
4
Supplier
Low
Supplies the digital technology; the CRM system
Be notified of the client’s expectations regarding the new system
Supply CRM system that meet needs of end-user
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2.4 Constraints Analysis (Internal and External)
Constraints essentially place conditions or limits on the project. Constraints could originate either from internal or external factors. Being able to identify constraints implies that an analysis has been carried out on the proposed project (Rivard & Dupré 2011). The external constraints for this project include the following: technological issues; environmental concerns or issues; economic factors; social factors; and political factors. The internal constraints include predetermined budget; expertise on the specific CRM system to be deployed at BP; hard deadline; resources; legal requirements; and business requirements.
2.5 Benchmarks
The new improved CRM at BP should result in the following:
(i) BP should focus more on its relationships with individual customers and suppliers.
(ii) There would be improved customer experience since employees at BP would have access to comprehensive relationship detail anywhere they work to engage with the company’s customers and provide excellent services.
(iii) Users would be able to check order histories instantly in order to comprehend the buying patterns of consumers and identify new opportunities for selling BP’s products (Shanks, Jagielska & Jayaganesh 2010).
(iv) BP would be able to do business wherever by having dependable access to customer, relationship, as well as sales detail needed with the use of CRM app. Some of these benefits have been realized by Chevron, which deployed a new CRM system organization-wide within the last 5 years.
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3.0 Risk Analysis and Control
3.1 Sources/categories of risk
The potential risks for the project fall in the following categories: schedule, financial, technical, client, people, cost and contractual. The project manager will assume total authority of minimizing the chances of occurrence of risks whilst implementing the project. In this project, the risks would be handled by mitigating them. If a risk cannot be avoided, they can be mitigated. This basically implies taking some kind of action which would cause the risk to cause as little harm to the project as possible (Söderlund & Müller 2014).
3.2 Risk assessment
After identifying the possible project risks, they are evaluated basing upon the likelihood that a risk event would crop up and the possible loss associated with the risk. All risks are not the same. Some risk events have a higher chance of happening in comparison to other risk events and the cost of any given risk could differ very much (Huff & Prybutok 2010). Assessing the risk for likelihood of occurrence and the severity or possible loss to the project is an important step in the process of risk management.
ImpactHigh Low
High Likelihood Low
High impact risk and likely to happen Technical People
Low impact risk and likely to happen Technological risks
High impact risk but not likely to happen ScheduleFinancial
Low impact risk but not likely to happen Contractual
Projects risks which are considered as high-impact are the ones that may increase the costs of the project by 10 percent or more. Just a few possible risk events actually meet these criteria. Low impact project risks are the risk events which could increase the costs of the project by less than 10%. It is the high-impact project risk events which the project management team would be focusing on when formulating the project management or mitigation plan. Through risk assessment, the project management team gets to understand the possible risk events which have the greatest likelihood of happening and could cause the greatest negative impact on the project (Hartman & Ashrafi 2010).
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3.3 Risk analysis using Force Field Analysis
Force Field Analysis (FFA) was conceptualized by Kurt Lewin and is commonly employed in change management. This technique facilitates change in an organization as it seeks to understand 2 differing sets of forces: that is, driving forces which foster organizational change and hindering forces that strive to sustain the status quo (Cunningham, Salomone & Wielgus 2015). By methodically taking into account the persons, attitudes, customs, and habits which both hinder and drive the capacity of the company to change to attain its goals, FFA helps in sharpening the findings of the risk assessment process.
In this project, since the objective of BP Plc is to improve its Management Information System (CRM) for global customer communications so as to meet the overall business goals of accomplishing increased sales and gain competitive advantage, the driving forces include competition, scorecard reporting of progress, and monitoring by the company’s management. Examples of restraining forces include insufficient expertise or training to implement and use the system, employee resistance to change, and the lack of meaningful data for measuring results prior to and following implementation of the change.
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3.4 Risk Control/response/management programme
3.4.1 Risk mitigation
The common strategies for mitigating risks are risk transfer, risk reduction, risk sharing and risk avoidance. Each of these techniques of mitigating risks could be effectual in decreasing individual risks as well as the project’s risk profile. It is notable that the risk mitigation plan spells out the approach for mitigating each risk event that was identified as well as the actions which would be taken to eliminate or decrease the risk (Ku 2010).
Mitigating technical risks: when tasks are delegated to individuals in the project team, the technical capability and skill of those people may be overlooked. This will in turn increase the probability of delaying the project and not meeting its deadline. In this project, a delay such as this would be avoided by way of increasing the frequency of communication between the members of the project team and closely monitoring their tasks during execution of the project.
The other alternative entails dividing an intricate task between members of the project team and then delegating every part to one group member. When a complex/difficult technical task is reduced into simple, smaller tasks, the time of implementation might increase but the likelihood of missing the deadline for completion of the task could be managed given that the risk which is involved in the undertaking is diversified amongst many people (Besteiro, de Souza Pinto & Novaski 2015).
Mitigating financial risks: it is not easy to estimate risk factors which are cost-based. The project manager will develop an intuition with regard to decisions so that the decisions which would increase the costs of carrying out a given task could be avoided. The project manager will utilize sophisticated techniques to estimate costs. Some of these techniques include Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)/Critical Path Method (CPM). These could be employed in overseeing how tasks are deployed and to analyze the risks that are involved. The project manager can also employ advanced techniques like Expected Monetary Value which provides an insight on fiscal loss or gain if an event occurs or does not occur.
Mitigating scheduling risks: implementing the right tasks at the correct time will help in lowering the risk of not meeting the deadline of the project. Tasks of the project could be allocated to team members in 2 different ways. First is by calculating the estimated processing time of every task and executing the tasks basing upon the Shortest Processing Time (SPT). The second approach involves defining the due dates for every task and then process them basing upon the Earliest Due Date (EDD).
In essence, the project manager would choose which approach to utilize to schedule tasks and delegate them to the project team members who are associated with the implementation of the project. The Monte Carlo Simulation method is an advanced technique that can be used to decrease the risks whilst scheduling work-based tasks (Huff & Prybutok 2010).
Mitigating people risks: the project team may lose crucial personnel who are important for successful completion of the project. To effectively mitigate this potential risk event, the project management team will sign up new personnel to help implement the project successfully and complete in time and within the specified budget.
Mitigating technological risks: this project entails improving BP’s management information system by deploying a new digital technology that includes a state-of-the-art Customer Relationship Management system. Possible risks are that this new system may have include technological flaws, and the members of the project team may lack familiarity with this new digital technology. To mitigate against this risk event, the project management team would ensure that every project team member is familiar with the CRM system which would be deployed at BP. Furthermore, the project management team will make sure that the procured CRM information system is flawless, perfect and works appropriately.
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3.5 Contingency planning
The risk plan will balance the investment of risk mitigation against the benefits for this project. It is notable that an alternative approach would be developed by the project team. This alternative method would be used to complete the project and accomplish the goal when a particular risk event has occurred which might actually hinder the attainment of the project goal. In essence, these plans are referred to as contingency plans (Parker & Mobey 2010). In this project, the project team would set aside contingency monies for addressing any unforeseen events which may result in an increase in project costs.
These contingency amounts will amount to $72,114. The project manager would manage contingency monies at the project level and will need the project sponsor’s approval prior to using the contingency funds. People risks for instance losing some skilled and proficient project team members who have the required technical expertise to effectively complete the project would be mitigated with a contingency plan which will entail hiring a skilled expert to help implement the project and accomplish the project goals.
Table 2: Contingency budget
Phase of project
Contingency budget
1
System Design
$3,114
2
System creation
$17,000
3
Hardware acquisition
$19,000
4
Implementation
$21,000
5
Testing the CRM system
$7,000
6
Deployment throughout BP
$5,000
Total
$72,114
3.6 Resource reviews and personnel requirements
Resources refer to the items needed to implement the project activities. For this particular project, the resources needed are as follows:
Money/budget – roughly $337,700 would be needed considering that the project would be carried out to integrate all of BP’s Management Information Systems worldwide. This money would be expended on overheads, subcontracting, subsistence and travel, acquiring the most recent CRM system for BP, equipment as well as staff costs.
Time – the project is to be completed within 12 months. If the project manager succeeds in meeting schedule of the project, then this project manager will be very likely to stay within the project budget. For time to be managed effectively, the project management team will detail and prioritize the various project activities.
Equipment and materials: the project manager will ensure that the right equipment is available and at the right time and that it actually operates as it should. The equipment in this project mainly includes computers. Materials comprise an extensive category of requirements for instance utility services like access to the internet, telephone lines, electricity, office space and office materials utilized by the project team members.
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3.7 Personnel Requirements
The most significant resource for this project are the human resources. It would always be important to have the right personnel who possess the required skills. The project management team will ensure that everyone is aware of what is needed to be done in the project, how to do it and when. The staffs would be motivated to take ownership of the project. The key personnel for this project will include administrator, project manager, project staff, project sponsor, and technical advisor.
The Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed (RACI) matrix outlines the business areas which are responsible for project deliverables. Every role is separate and different from other roles, although a single individual could be responsible for several roles. The RACI matrix for this project is as follows:
Table 3: RACI for personnel requirements
Project manager
Project Team members
Client/owner
Sponsor
Technical advisor
Project planning
A
R
R
I
I
Provision of resources
R
C
A
A
C
Development of CRM system
A
R
I
I
C
Content Review
A
R
I
I
R
Usability Testing
A
R
C
I
C
Installation of the CRM system companywide at BP.
A
R
C
C
C
References
Besteiro, É, de Souza Pinto, J, & Novaski, O 2015, ‘Success Factors in Project Management’, Business Management Dynamics, 4, 9, pp. 19-34, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 October 2015.
Cunningham, J, Salomone, J, & Wielgus, N 2015, ‘Project Management Leadership Style: A Team Member Perspective’, International Journal Of Global Business, 8, 2, pp. 27-54, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 October 2015.
Hartman, F, & Ashrafi, R 2010, ‘Project Management in the Information Systems and Information Technologies Industries’, Project Management Journal, 33, 3, p. 5, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 October 2015.
Helman, C 2012, ‘BP is booming (SHHH!)’, Forbes, 189, 8, pp. 106-112, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 October 2015.
Huff, R, & Prybutok, V 2010, ‘Information systems project management decision making: The influence of experience and risk propensity’, Project Management Journal, 39, 2, pp. 34-47, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 October 2015.
Ku, ES 2010, ‘The impact of customer relationship management through implementation of information systems’, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 21, 11, pp. 1085-1102, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 October 2015.
Lebedeva, A 2015, ‘Five Essential Project Management Skills for RM and IG Professionals’, Information Management Journal, 49, 5, pp. 28-33, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 October 2015.
Parker, D., & Mobey, A 2010, Action Research to Explore Perceptions of Risk in Project Management. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management 53(1), 18–32.
Petrevska, R, Poels, G, & Manceski, G 2015, ‘Bridging Operational, Strategic and Project Management Information Systems for Tactical Management Information Provision’, Electronic Journal Of Information Systems Evaluation, 18, 2, pp. 146-158, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 October 2015.
Reckdahl, K 2015, ‘Slimed: BP’S forgotten victims’, Nation, 300, 18, pp. 24-29, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 October 2015.
Rivard, S, & Dupré, R 2011, ‘Information systems project management in PMJ: A brief history’, Project Management Journal, 40, 4, pp. 20-30, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 October 2015.
Shanks, G, Jagielska, I, & Jayaganesh, M 2010, ‘A Framework for Understanding Customer Relationship Management Systems Benefits’, Communications Of The Association For Information Systems, 25, pp. 263-287, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 October 2015.
Söderlund, J, & Müller, R 2014, ‘Project Management and Organization Theory: IRNOP Meets PMJ’, Project Management Journal, 45, 4, pp. 2-6, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 October 2015.
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Bloom Taxonomy
The present health care system dictates that delivery processes integrate various interfaces and patient handoff amid myriad health care practitioners with different levels of educational and professional background. During the timeframe of a four-day hospital stay, a patient might come into contact with 50 different personnel, including doctors, clinicians, technicians, and others. Dynamic clinical practice thus includes many cases where essential information should be correctly communicated.
Team cooperation is critical. When health care specialists are not communicating productively, the safety of a patient is at risk for various reasons: insufficient essential information, mix-up of information, ambiguous orders over the telephone, and ignored adjustments in status. Poor communication leads up to circumstances where medical errors can take place. These mistakes have the capacity to amount in severe injury or surprise patient demise. Medical flaws, particularly those caused by lack of communication, are widespread challenge in today’s health care organizations.
Conventional medical education stresses the significance of a practice that is free from errors, using severe peer pressure to accomplish perfection at the time of diagnosis and treatment. Mistakes are thereby conceived normatively as a harbinger of failure. This situation generates an atmosphere that prohibits the fair, honest assessment of errors needed if organizational learning is to occur.
It is significant to stress that nurturing a team cooperation environment may have problems to solve: extra time, conceived loss of independence, lack of confidence, conflicting ideas, amid others. However, many health care personnel are aware of the poor communication and teamwork, as a consequence of a culture of truncated outcomes that has bloomed in many health care situations (Helmreich and Schaefer, 2009).
Bloom Taxonomy
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According to Irwin, McClelland and Love (2006)communication is the core factor in medical care. In essence communication between physicians and patients is amassing a growing amount of attention with the health care in the U.S. In the last few years descriptive and investigational research has attempted to focus on the communication activities during medical consultations. Nevertheless, the knowledge obtained from these endeavors is restricted. This is likely because amid inter-personal relationships, the physician-patient collaboration is one of the most sophisticated ones.
While advanced technologies could be utilized for medical diagnosis and treatments, interpersonal communication is the key apparatus by which the doctor and the patient trade information (Stiles & Putman, 2007). Particular factors of doctor-patient communication appear to have considerable effect on patients’ attitudes and safety, for instance, contentment with care, positive response to treatment, recall and having knowledge about medical information, dealing with disease, qualify of life, and even condition of health.
Cooperation and communication are particularly essential in the case of a chronic disease, such as a cancer (Fallowfield, Maguire & Baum, 2002). Today, specialists of communication have progressively been focusing on psychological features of cancer. Creating a proper inter-personal cooperation between physicians and patients can be interpreted as a significant function of communication.
Furthermore, proper inter-personal relationship forms the basis for optimum medical care. On the other hand, the significance of a good physician-patient relationship relies on its therapeutic qualities. Another key function of medical communication is supporting the exchange of information between the physician and the patient.
Bloom Taxonomy
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Information can be regarded as a resource brought into the verbal exchange between the two parties. From a medical standpoint, physicians need information to determine the correct diagnosis and treatment strategy. From the patient’s standpoint, two needs have to be accomplished when meeting with the physician: the need to know and understand and the need to experience a sense of being known and understood. To be capable of achieving doctor’s and patient’s needs, both alternate between information-transmission and information- hunting.
Patients have to provide details about their symptoms, physicians’ needs to considerably look out relevant information. At times patients may be inclined to ask for as much information as possible, doctors appear to know patients needs for information. For instance, where cancer is involved, the desire for information is most great. A great number of cancer patients’ discontentment with transmission of information emanates from concordance between views of patients and physicians.
When relaying information to cancer patients about their disease (good or bad), doctors might explain medical information more empirically while patients explain it as a matter of individual relevance. As a consequence, the doctor might experience a satisfying sense that he has offered right and relevant information. The patient conversely might feel he has discovered nothing satisfying. Recent research indicates that about 45 percent of cancer patients have reported that no information has been provided relating to dealing with their disease (Fallowfield et al., 2002), however most patients wanted such information. Doctors must thereby first motivate their clients to exchange their key worries without interruption (Ben-Sira, 2008).
Bloom Taxonomy
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Psychological privacy involves a patient’s capacity to be in charge of active and cognitive inputs and outputs, to think and formulate behaviors, values to establish with whom to share information. Nevertheless, asking delicate questions and divulging confidential information is inevitable if the physician desires to find an effective diagnosis and treatment. The degree to which doctors communicate in a more dynamic, high-regulation style, could be conceived by patients as abuse of their psychological privacy. Physicians’ attitudes during patient examinations are regulated by societal values. It seems that at the time of medical interactions limited privacy is needed.
Constant eye contact, for instance, could be viewed by the patient as excessively intimate for the relationship. Conversely physical privacy can be regarded as a relevant aspect of non-verbal communication and can lead to improved quality of the inter-personal interactions between physicians and patients (Stiles and Putman, 2007). Other result gauges utilized to examine the quality of the physician-patient interaction are patients’ recall and understanding information. As it stands, most patients fail to recall or comprehend what the physician has told them.
Patient compliance is also a broadly utilized result variable and is regarded a measure of the productivity of provider-patient communication. Doctor-patient interaction might have significant outcomes for patient’s health outcomes, thus this relationship can be viewed as a type of social support. Lack of information appears to play a vital function in psychological challenge that can come up during the diagnosis and treatment (Irwin, McClelland & Love, 2006).
Bloom Taxonomy
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References
Ben-Sira.Z. (2008). “Affective and instrumental components in the physician patient relationship: an additional dimension of interaction theory.” Journal of Health Sociological Behavior, 170-185.
Fallowfield. L. J., Hall A., Maguire. G. P. and Baum. M. (2002).“Psychological outcomes of different treatment policies in women with early breast cancer outside a clinical trial.” British Medical Journal, 301- 575.
Irwin W. G., McClelland R. and Love.A. H. G. (2006). “Communication skills training for medical students: an integrated approach.” Medical Education, 387-390.
Stiles. W. B. and Putnam. S. M. (2007).Analysis of verbal and non-verbal behavior in doctor-patient encounters: In Communicating with Medical Patients. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
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Appendix: Interview
I chose to interview a personal acquaintance of mine who happens to be a screenplay enthusiast. I think it is a fantastic occupation path since it balances creativity and professional writing.
1. What are you pursing as an undergraduate student?
I am studying Journalism.
2. How will your undergraduate studies influence your future career?
I am on track to work in the corporate world, probably as an editor
3. When did you first develop interest in screenplay writing?
I like to think when you first write a screen-play and gets positive comments from people who have been in the production scene for some time, you get interest in that moment. It had never occurred to me that this was something I’d be doing as pastime thing.
4. How much experience with screenplay writing do you have?
None as a matter of fact, but I have always been involved with creative writing on the side (for instance, poems and flash stories).
5. What are some of your objectives for the future?
Finishing my undergraduate, find a job, get a job, and see what fate throws my way. I have come to discover in life that whatever you make plans, the big guy above somehow has a totally different idea.
6. Would say that screenwriting you will be engaged in as a side project rather than a full time career?
I don’t want to find myself restricting myself at all. My undergraduate will put me up in the corporate world, but this might as well turn into an amazing gig in the future.
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Effect of Chinese Government Policies
Introduction
The essay examines the effect of Chinese government policies when it comes to addressing long-term unemployment, wage inequality, gender discrimination; and inward and outward migration.
Long-term unemployment
Although the economy of China has increased about 2.5 million employment opportunities since the beginning of 2012, almost 4.8 million (3%) individuals were jobless for over 6 months since 2013. Prolonged job loss has become a major challenge for Chinese economy while creating considerable problems for employees, their families, and society. Minimizing long-term unemployment while assisting the affected people, families and communities are essential for policy makers irrespective of their levels.
A robust, healthy and dynamic economy is critical when it comes to addressing prolonged joblessness, however, policies that stimulate continuous growth to seem to be vague. In the case of absence rapid economic development, particular policies can be imperative in assisted that long-term jobless get job opportunities help their families with the effects of prolonging unemployment. Such policies are job training, employee development initiatives (Bidani and Goh, 2004)
A robust economic development can be an appropriate solution to minimizing prolonged joblessness. Long-term unemployment leads to adverse effects on the community. Currently, the majority of Chinese believe that it’s the government’s role to reduce the costs of preventing long-term unemployment (Qiu, 2006).
Effect of Chinese Government Policies
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Nevertheless, the aspect of government role when it comes to combating long-term unemployment presents sharp incongruity amongst economists. While economist activists support the government’s responsibility, non-activists believe that government policies must be avoided. Such disagreements began more than five decades, which presents a vital backdrop for recognizing the enduring debate regarding the effects of government policies in addressing long-term unemployment.
Afterward, the massive and long-term joblessness coupled with industrialized market challenged the classical theory’s predictions. Depression was used to portray a worst recession. The Great Depression in 1929 and lived up to its name, when it started unemployment was about 3.2%, and four years later it rose to 25% while the real GDP reduced by over 25%.
Apparently, classical theory demonstrates that unemployment can be moderate as well as short-term, which a direct inconsistency of reality, that is supply creates Nonetheless, the Keynesian model indicates that long-term employment is a result of demand and supply. Moreover, organizations highlight production decisions based on the degree of estimated demand or anticipated total spending (Galasso, Ravallion, & Salvia 2004).
The more people spend, the higher the output organizations will anticipate selling and manufacturing. Implicitly, supply/productivity act in response to demand- not the opposite, as demonstrated by classical theory. Of great importance is that Keynesian theory shows that the degree of total expenditure can be insufficient to provide job opportunities, and traditional model presents false information about modification of interest rates to combat long-term unemployment.
Effect of Chinese Government Policies
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Government Intervention in long-term unemployment
Because Keynesian theory fails to support the idea that market economics could be used use to prevent long term employment. Keynesian theory shows that the government can use various policies in a bid to leverage aggregate demand (AD) using demand and supply policies.
Demand related Policies
These policies are vital when there is recession leading to prolonged joblessness, for example, the after 1991 and 2008. Some of these policies include;
Fiscal Policy
The Chinese government uses fiscal policy to reduce unemployment through increasing AD and the rate of economic growth. However, this calls for pursuing expansionary monetary policy, which entails reducing taxes while increasing government expenditure. Reduced taxes lead to high disposable income and helps in enhancing consumption in turn contributing to a high AD. As such a high AD leads to increase in real GDP.
If organizations produce more, it leads to greater demand for employees and this reduced demand-scarce joblessness. Moreover, with a high AD as well as a robust economic growth, fewer organizations will be insolvent implying less joblessness. In this regards, the federal government recognizes some of the challenges associated with prolonged job loss while enhancing available services such as boosting employment opportunities, address problems of housing bubbles especially those who prefer to move jobs and assist those that want to low paying jobs.
According to Keynesian theory, in particular during the recession, capital and labor are redundant, for that reason the government must get involved so as to create extra demand so as to minimize long-term unemployment (Galasso, Ravallion, & Salvia 2004).
Nonetheless, this mainly relies on various elements of aggregate demand such as if at all self-assurance is low, reducing taxes cannot lead to growth in client spending since individuals may choose to save. Again, individuals may not spend tax reductions if they are reversed immediately. Fiscal policies are associated with a time lag that attempts to increase government expenditure can take much time to impact changes in aggregate demand. Assuming, that economy is almost full, an increase in aggregate demand can lead to inflation.
Expansionary fiscal policies may only minimize joblessness in the event of productivity gap; in turn it requires high regime borrowing. Eventually, monetary policies can result in crowding cut that is the government increases spending although they reduce spending and thus aggregate demand decreases. Nevertheless, Keynesian theory shows that crowding reduction cannot take place in a case of liquidity gap.
Effect of Chinese Government Policies
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Monetary Policy
With monetary policies, the government reduces the interest rates, which in turn minimizes borrowing costs while encouraging individuals to spend as well as invest. This raises aggregate demand and allows GDP to grow and minimize demand-scare joblessness. Additionally reduced interest rates lead to a decrease in exchange rate making exports extra competitive.
Under certain conditions, low-interest rates can be unproductive in increasing demand. However, monetary policy relies on other elements of aggregate demand. On the other hand, reduced interest rates cannot help increase spending, if financial institutions are not ready to give loans (Lund, 2002).
Supply Side Policies
Supply policies are associated with macroeconomic parameters. Much as supply policies do not increase the overall AD; they aim at overcoming the imperfections in job market and minimize long-term employment as a result of supply factors including structural, frictional and classical or real wage (Qiu, 2007)
On supply side policies, the government uses various policies;
Training and education programs. They purpose to assist the long-term jobless with new skills that allow them to get jobs in upcoming sectors. Nevertheless, in spite of providing training and education initiatives, the jobless can be either unable or not willing to learn new concepts. In any case, this is likely to take a long period to reduce joblessness (State Council PRC 2005).
Job subsidies. Organizations are given tax breaks/ grants due to prolonged unemployment. This is important particularly in giving them self-assurance as well as on job education. Nonetheless, it’s relatively costly while encouraging organizations to substitute existing employees with prolonged joblessness to gain from subsidies.
Effect of Chinese Government Policies
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Wage inequality
China experiences a remarkable growth in the income gap between urban and rural masses. This lies at the center of social unrest in the nation while leading to significant dangers for the leadership of Chinese Communist Party (CCP). While government economic policies have attempted to provide 30-year growth at 30% and improved the lives of more than 600 million from poverty, the frequency of crowd incidents has grown from 8,700 to 180,000 cases in 1993 to 2010 respectively. These disputes entail claims of corruption as well as illegal land seizures by local governments (Appleton et al., 2004).
Government policies
Increasing personal income
The Chinese government has doubled personal income from 2010-20. In addition, it has increased the minimum wage to 40%. Nevertheless, experts are not impressed by such policies since according to official statistics, averages income for migrant employees, a group the is expected to benefit from the wage increase are already enjoying about 50% of the average salary (Knight and Song, 2007).
Liberalizing Interest Rate
The government has liberalized interest rates so as to promote market-based rates and increase the floating range of deposits as well as loans. The objective is to increase payment of interests to savers while helping boost household incomes. This policy is essential particularly for effective regulation of the economy of China to consumption-driven development. In fact, interest rates on deposits have delayed inflation for several decades leading to negative returns for households (Xu and Ximing 2013; Sicular et al., 2008).
Effect of Chinese Government Policies
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Tax Reforms
The government initiated a number of tax reforms such as consumption taxes on luxury products and services (Zhao and Sai 2007). However, it is not clear if the attempt when to negate inequality plan made two years ago. The Chinese government has been slow in implementing a property tax, something that is likely to suitable for ensuring equitable distribution of income. For an extended period, Chinese administration has promised to impose taxes on properties however up to now it has managed to target luxury features in a number of cities. (Li, Chuliang and Sicular, 2013).
Government policies on gender discrimination
The constitution of China highlights the importance of equal treatment of all citizens regardless of their ethnicities, religious practices, gender among others. Furthermore, China has various laws as well as government policies that foster equality, particularly in workplaces. Nevertheless, workplace discrimination is not only pervasive but also extensively practiced by private and government organizations.
Policies that aim at combating gender discrimination are hindered by technical difficulties, ineffective enforcement and conflicting reforms and government policies that seem to foster instead of discouraging gender discrimination (Appleton et al., 2014).
In China discrimination among women is widespread and begins even before they join the labor market. Gender-based quotas and enrollment reforms in higher learning institutions are common, regularly leading to higher performance among women compared to men, in particular, majors such as military and police force. Much as China’s ministry of education defends such practices, they often extend to majors with less association with gender, such as sciences.
Upon graduation, women have a hard time compared to men in getting employment opportunities, particularly in technology and science fields (Brandt, Loren and Thomas 2008). Nonetheless, gender discrimination is rampant low-skilled professions. By and large, male are ideal for white-collar opportunities while sales and clerical jobs are preferred for female.
Effect of Chinese Government Policies
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According to Becker’s Discrimination Theory, there are various categories of employees including skilled, unskilled, men or women (Becker, 1971). It also involves individuals with undesirable traits and those without non-fiscal considerations on who to recruit. Organizations can reject to recruit from these categories since they wrongly undervalue their economic competence. Organization’s traits are discriminatory not based on their gender rather they are ignorant about their actual power (Wang et al., 2014).
Government reforms
Equal employment
The Chinese government has guaranteed for equal work for men and women. Employment is the foundation of individuals’ livelihood and essential resource that women depend on for subsistence. For many years, the government has encouraged women to start their own business and given them special treatment when it comes to employment training tax breaks.
In addition, the Chinese government has implemented favorable reforms for women including the creation of public-welfare opportunities, the introduction of employment centers, funding special recruitment practices and vocational courses, monitor gender discrimination against employed women and help those primarily laid off to find new opportunities (Wang, et al.,.2014).
Effect of Chinese Government Policies
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Laws and guidelines
While the constitution of China has various statues that highlight on gender equality, they are inadequate when it comes to preventing gender discrimination. Such vagueness and inadequate implementation of reforms mean that gender discrimination cases are not addressed.
Increasing concern and activism about gender discrimination particularly in workplaces in 2000 contributed to the implementation of various policies;
Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women that prohibits sexual harassment
Regulation of Employment for People with Disabilities of 2007 that requires firms to provide at 1.5% of employment positions to disabled people
Convention on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation that requires the administrating to implement broader policy frameworks against gender discrimination in workplaces
On the other hand, these policies continue to be wanting in efficiency, coverage, and management. For example, they depend on local employment centers that are not only overworked but also understaffed to monitor and rollout anti-discrimination policies. Also, because prospective workers are not real workers based on the law, cases of gender discrimination in places of work are never subjected to labor dispute negotiation structure, and the victims should use official court procedures that are expensive and time-consuming.
Employment Promotion Lawwas considered an important tool for addressing gender discrimination in workplaces; however in reality its impact has been muted. Apparently, gender discrimination is prevalent and implementing of anti-discrimination reforms is deficient, despite some development (Zhang et al., 2004).
Effect of Chinese Government Policies
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Nevertheless, the enforcement of laws coupled with activism like Yirenping and the Equity and Justice Initiative and Act Together in Guangdong presents a basis for awareness concerning gender discriminatory practices and importance for additional reforms. The relevance of activism in promoting gender equality in China cannot be overlooked, especially in the application of laws to litigate as well as openly humiliate discriminating firms. In spite of progress further policies are necessary to fight gender discrimination including;
Increasing the coverage of ant-prejudice laws to involve general forms like sexuality, individual beliefs, age, and physical appearance.
Increasing fines charged on firms from 1,000 to 50,000 yuan per instance.
Establishing a government agency responsible for addressing gender discrimination in workplaces. Such a body will be in charge of executing anti-prejudice regulations and suitable structure for investigating and mediating issues related to gender biases.
Inward and outward migration
Migration presents opportunities as well as challenges. Much as well-managed migration can promote welfare in home and destination nations when mismanaged it can threaten social cohesion, safety, and autonomy. Government policies on migration should focus on knowledge however such knowledge should be developed in a way that deals with policy priorities. Chinese internal migrants considerably contribute to the growth of China’s economy for the past three decades, particularly in the initial phase of economic liberalization.
For example, in the early stages, when the country opened to the world, it received about USD 9546.5 million FDI out of which USD 9254.6 million was from inward migrations while USD 292.34 million from the outward (Smart and Hsu, 2004). Simply put, inward migrations have been the primary source of Chinese inward FDI. On the other hand, inward migration is regarded as a vital when it comes to cross-border trade as well as commercial networks, which are in turn viewed as essential parameters for economic integration Zhuang and Wang, 2010
While China has witnessed tremendous growth due to inward and outward migration, demand and supply dynamics trigger to this development leading to urbanization trends. According to neoclassical theory, with inadequate supply and increasing demand for cheap workforce attract immigrants from a country with surplus labor. With regards to China, high demand for workforce in urban regions and other countries is due to to; a) increasing investments in manufacturing industries and b) elderly population coupled with declining rates of fertility.
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Government policies: 2012 law
The law involves combating “three illegal”- unlawful entry, residence or employment in China. In addition, the law increased fines for all crimes related to migration. For example, expired visa from $800 to $10,000 while for detention for same crime increased from 3 to 10 days or 2 months for complicated cases (Zhang, 2003). Nonetheless, this law has not initiated strategies to manage the nation main problem; migrants trapped in China due to expired visas. While visa applications can be supported through housing registration, such registrations require valid travel credentials.
Conclusion
The essay was dedicated to reviewing the effect of Chinese government policies to address long-term unemployment, wage inequality, gender discrimination; and inward and outward migration.
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Race To Bottom Effect
Introduction
Race to bottom phrase describes how the governments in many different places are deregulating most of the business environments across the globe. They are also imposing high taxes to their benefit where they can retain economic activity in their jurisdictions to their benefit while the business men are highly impacted in a negative manner. Race to bottom is a phenomenon that is bound to increase in the presence of increased competition between geographical areas taking place either in the trade and production sector accordingly.
Most of the workers are now exploited in developing countries due to the race to bottom effect and most of the multinational corporations that benefit countries in operation a lot from such workers (Aneel Karnani, 2010). Workers are less paid and on the other side the multinational companies are getting high finances in return for the service they get in exchange of the cheap labour. This research will focus on how globalization has created a “race to the bottom effect” that enables multinational corporations to exploit workers in the developing countries and profit from low labour costs.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) emphasizes the aspect of companies to behaving ethically and stops exploiting their workers to their benefit; since it is an act that is not human. Practical perspective is provided to many of the organization in the developing countries to guarantee good and ethical dealing of stakeholders for their wealth security. It is a CSR responsibility to ensure that all ethical actions are well adhererd to the latter for the sake of helping their workers and their environment.
Ethical behaviour is well advoatced for smooth running of the organisation performance and increased performance. Any organization that works to ensure that corporate rules are well followed will emerge to be successful and stop exploiting its workers and start listening to their views accordingly. In the past, it was difficult to differentiate between the working and operation of the CSR with the individuals working in the organization.
Globalization effect has brought a lot of effects, including the race to the bottom effect that makes some people gain while the rest are suffering due to the rules in operations that do not yield to their needs (Beddewela & Herzig, 2013). There are many gaps that have been created and they are bringing negative impacts to most of the operations of multinational corporations.
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Globalization of the economy
The race to bottom effect experienced in most developing economies lead to an increased interconnection of people, different cultures and increased economies which benefits only a few, but the rest is humiliated (Blowfield, 2013). Economies will tend to rise at the expense of the few who are benefiting, and the rest are suffering from then increased exploitation cases taking place. It is prudent to say that globalization has stimulated growth through the multinational corporations that are investing highly in developing countries.
The investments of foreign investors in developing countries have led to stimulation of the growth in such countries where workers are working hard on such premises to make end meet. The investors are taking advantage of the high number of unemployment citizens whom they can easily exploit and make use of their knowledge at a very cheap cost. They employ them in the corporations in the developing countries and pay them very less amount of money that cannot cater for their needs. It is due to this reason that most of the multinationals corporations like investing in developing countries for the sake of exploiting poor citizens who have no say.
Company drivers for CSR
Under such circumstances, the CSR becomes more useful in making sure that ethical behaviour is followed to the latter to stop the high exploitation by multinational corporations (Blowfield & Murray, 2011). Regulations of the multinational corporations must not be a difficult duty for the governments because; they are out to save their citizens who voted for them to be in political positions. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that CSR rules are followed to the latter by different multinational corporations to stop the high exploitation that is taking place.
The societal pressure from the humiliated citizens makes most of the multinational corporations to adopt the use of CSR for the sake of saving most of the humiliated lives within the society. Use of CSR ensures that all the stakeholders’ needs are well met, and their needs followed because; their presence means a lot in the organization (C-Pedersen, 2015). Embracing the right CSR rules is an ethical act that will help to reduce the exploitation of employes in the organisation.
The corporate social, responsibility requires the businesses to assume their major duties and role that ensures that the world is better than yesterday. The CSR activists demand that the corporations adopt labour, environmental policies, and human rights issues that impact the society positively. Globalization poses a lot of opportunities and challenges for the developing countries and this is the reason as to why most of activities have to be scrutinised. The majority of the businesses have responded to the matter by putting more emphasis on the issue of the corporate accountability and corporate responsibility.
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Organizations responsibilities
Organizations have the Philanthropic responsibilities of ensuring that their workers act as good corporate citizens and that they have behavior that will pay off. Well behaved workers will ensure that they perform their duties as expected and bring the best to the corporation by attaining the set goal. The company is delegated with the duty of ethical responsibilities where it has to do what is expected of it at the right time to attain the desired outcome (Carroll, 1991). Workers who are well treated under a good CSR will tend to perform as required while they who are not given the best will not do their job as required.
Use of CSR help workers feel appreciated and part of the organization, which they are offering service for (Crane, Matten & Spence, 2014). Employing the use of ethical responsibilities ensures that a company does what is right and fair and in such a case, it does not mistreat it workers no matter what. It values its workers welfare and rewards them to motivate them to keep offering their services and doing their best for the sake of improved performance in the firm. Following of legal responsibly is the duty of all multinational corporations to avoid exploiting workers in the environment in which they are situated.
Embracing legal responsibility means that the multinational corporations adhere to all that is required by the law to undertake its company operations in the country. Following the rules that are set in the law, the multiple corporations will be able to know what is right and wrong; hence, follow what is right to make their working smooth. However, some corporations evade the paying of taxes which is the unlawful act and once they are found guilty in courts, they lose a lot of money paying for their uncouth behaviours.
Adhering to the rules set in operation for the foreign organization a lot of problems are avoided, and it means that the company is bound to humiliate and exploit workers. The multinational corporations are associated with the economic responsibilities where they have to work hard and make sure that they make profits for the benefit of its workers and the government as well. Making of high profits by the corporations means that they will have enough money to pay taxes and pay its workers well under reputable CSR rules. A high profitable corporation will pay high taxes and benefit the government, which will use the money to run its activities and create more jobs for its citizens.
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Code of conduct
CSR has to be well maintained in a supply chain to make sure that the organization adheres to all the required rules of operations and that it cannot exploit workers to its benefit. When CSR is well used in a supply chain, it will mean that fair trade will be transacted, and cases of oppression will be minimal. To ensure that CSR is managed in the supply chain, it is prudent to realize that all the CSR strategies are well aligned with the actual purchasing practice.
A supply chain will be deemed important if it creates value and clarifies all the objectives of obtaining the right steps of development to the organization’s benefit. A good supply chain should ensure that understanding as well as ability is well developed in any multinational corporations for the sake of continuity and better performance of the company. Workers who are better treated will contribute to giving all their efforts for the company success. It is therefore very prudent to reward workers with good pay to retain best brains that will keep the corporation standing for a longer period (Filatotchev & Dotsenko, 2015).
Implementation of the required code in the organization helps to ensure that the multinational corporations do not exploit workers. In some instances, workers tend to be treated badly by the multinationals corporations, which do not yield to right codes of ethics. Supply chain management should ensure that they get feedback of how working is taking place and what ought to be rectified with an immediate effect. Feedback shows that the worker is given a chance to air their views and give a recommendation on what should be done better. Improving working conditions imply that the multi-corporations are concerned with their workers’ welfare.
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Effects of CSR in the supply chain
There are various factors affecting CSR in the supply chain like the goals and values of the multinational corporations which have been set aside to be attained. However, the only problem that might arise in such a case is the incompatible goals that might interfere with the handling of different activities (Crane, Matten, & Spencer, 2014). When goals are conflicting, operations in the organization might be difficult to handle, and performance will be affected negatively.
The importance and complexity of CSR might be a big problem in the operations of the supply chain by the multinational corporations; since, compatibility will tend to be a bother. There is a need to ensure that there is a balance of power that will guarantee knowledge sharing and good management of the workers and organization operations. Workers ought not to be exploited under power balance, but should be given their rights accordingly because; resources are now available to better their working conditions and increased pay.
Multinational Corporations
The multinational corporations are popular as the big business, and they are a very powerful economic power. The world globalization enhances the integration between the MNCs and the developing countries where the capitalist process and major labour division occur due to the high level of competition to increase economies of scale. At present, the MNCs access cheaper labour by exploiting the low-income earners (Garavan & McGuire, 2010). The industries that need low-skilled labour outsource labourer from the developing countries.
The process involves MNC and the SMEs where the MNCs outsource labour from the small and medium enterprises with whom they can easily exploit. With the global revolution in business, the capitalist firms have changed the pattern of operations in order compete competitively. The MNCs have strengthened their power by opting to do mergers and acquisition, which are better ways of dealing with the race to bottom effect.
The MNCs manipulates the supply chain to ensure that efficiency, productivity, performance, and reliability. The supply chain involves high labour requirements in the production process, and the high, labour are located in the developing countries (Gond, Kang & Moon, 2011. Some of the employers in specific industries come across important incentives to infringe labour standards laws. Lack of enough regulations on the labour standards in the developed and developing nations create opportunities that are favourable to the MNCs.
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The big businesses have the ability to improve the labour standards and adhere to the set labour regulations. The political conflicts between the developed and developing countries create an obstacle to the achievement of the effective labour standards governing both nations. The market liberations offer both opportunities and challenges to the developed and developing nations.
During the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1996, the European and US Commissions maintained the labour standards implementation in the human rights centre, but the labour rights and minimum wage missed from the agendas (Goranova & Ryan, 2014). The Asian nations were not comfortable with the whole decision and they resisted any trade links with them since the standards could end up as non-tariff barriers.
The ILO is in charge of overseeing the labour standards the entire world and it is one of the UN organizations. The body is important since it makes resolutions and passes them urging the nations to honour their duties to realize the ILO Fundamental Rights and Principles. The declaration in the ILO involves four major labour rights that involve the abolition of child labour, banned forced labour, the right to collective bargaining and freedom of association and the abolition of discrimination in employment. The labour practices involve realization of the standards, living wages and minimum wages, the occupational safety, and health, and limit the working hours (Karnani, 2009).
MNCs and Developing Countries
The majority of the developing countries do not have laws to look after the set labour rights and at some level the infrastructural and institutional limitations pose challenges in the implementation process. Due to limitations in the implementation process, the labour performance affects the set core standards. The consumer goods industries are labour intensive despite the technological advancement in the developing nations (Lam and Khare, 2010).
The developing countries and the MNCs get controls from the political and economic relationships. Some of the countries can effectively provide good environments to the Foreign Direct Investments for the MNCs. The standard labor effects differ from one developing country to the other.
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The developing countries are attraction to the MNCs; since, the majority of the developing countries has unskilled and low skilled labour who are exploited at all cost by foreign investors. The global competition in the countries with abundant labour like Indonesia modifies the state of features endowments since the production increases and the wages go down.
The goal of the majority of the MNCs is to increase profits and market shares and gain competitiveness (Mamic, 2005). The majority of the developing countries is attractive to the MNCs since they encourage the bargaining power of wages due to the inelasticity of labour supply. The wages decrease in the developing countries that are experiencing trade liberation like the Mexico occurrence with North American Free Trade Agreement.
The presence of cheap labour is a key factor in the growth of the low-skilled businesses. Currently, the majority of the brand shoes and garment are in the developed countries while they carry out production in developing countries. The labour costs are very little of the retail price of the finished goods that sells at high prices 9Porter & Kramer, 2006). The majority of the MNCs motive is to take advantage of the up-and-coming economies in the developing nations.
Moreover, the MNCs aim at expanding their market shares and remain competitive globally. To fulfil the requirement of increased profit production costs need to be minimal. The ever changes in consumer demand need low-cost investment due to the high likelihood of low pricing. To achieve this MNCs prefer to low labour cost through by paying less to the unskilled labourers.
The internal political and economic factors in the developing economies influence wages. Globalization causes integration in the global labour supply chain that raises competition in the export firms that are labour intensive (Prahalad and Hammond, 2002). This overall practice affects and challenges the labour performance in the developing countries. The regional trade unions in the developing countries vary from one region to the other.
The China and India trade unions differ from the African trade unions like that of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. The Trade Unions cannot bring a strong solution to the issue of low wages in the developing countries. The MNCs will always defend their supply chain and fail to address the issue of low wages (Spence & Bourlakis, 2009).
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Shareholders and Investors
The labour standards are a concern that the MNCs need to address to implement positive changes in the developing countries (Bartley, 2007). The motivation to bring in positive impacts comes from the investors and employees among other members who manipulate the supply chain. Research and ethical source state that the MNCs are likely to implement the labour practices and standards now when the external stakeholder pressure them. The MNCs reputations and profitability increase the values of the shareholder (Vo, & Karen Delchet-Cochet, 2013). The shareholders are the main force that can influence the MNCs corporate social responsibilities.
The branded footwear and clothing industries are under pressure due to the presence of bad working conditions and low wage. For example, the Nike experienced negative publicity concerning the working conditions in the factories (Aneel Karnani, 2010). Despite the open letter from the Clean Clothes Campaign Nike defended itself and maintained it did not carry out any unlawful business. The US Securities and Exchange Commission does not fully support the issue of shareholders addressing wages and so shareholder see labour standards like an unsuitable topic to tackle.
Conclusion
The majority of the MNCs do not address the CSR in the developing countries due to the presence of a low implementation of rules and laws. The issue of labour standards is a major concern, especially in the developing countries due to the presence of high unskilled labour and low skilled labour. The MNCs focus on profits increment, market shares expansion, gaining global competitiveness and expanding operations among other factors.
The developing countries focus more on the FDI that comes in because of investments by the MNCs. The high rates of unemployment in the developing countries facilitate exploitation of labourers and presence of bad working conditions like increased working hour.
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