Explain interconnectivity of infrastructures (e.g., airlines and the power grid) with specific examples. Do interconnectivities increase the vulnerability of major infrastructures?
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For this Case Assignment, you are to answer the following:
1.Explain interconnectivity of infrastructures (e.g., airlines and the power grid) with specific examples. Do interconnectivities increase the vulnerability of major infrastructures?
2.Should a CIP management model be centralized, decentralized, or a combination? Propose a relevant management practice model that supports your position.
3.Comment on critical infrastructures in your town, state, or area of deployment. Number, Type(s)? How protected?
Length: This Case Assignment should be at least 3 pages not counting the title page and references.
References: At least two references should be included from academic sources listed below. (e.g. peer-reviewed journal articles). Required readings are included. Quoted material should not exceed 10% of the total paper (since the focus of these assignments is critical thinking).
Use subheadings to help organize the overall paper.
Explain interconnectivity of infrastructures (e.g., airlines and the power grid) with specific examples. Do interconnectivities increase the vulnerability of major infrastructures?
Infrastructure, when viewed as a facility, system, or function providing foundation for reputation, way of life and economic vitality, then its importance to a community cannot be over-emphasized. It enhances the quality of life to the community such that its incapacitation is felt by the majority, if not all. Given this importance, its security and protection becomes critical to the community who enjoy its benefits. Over time, development of a particular infrastructure becomes dependent on the development of another. Development of airline industry is dependent on the development of the airports and the inter-dependent service provision industries, who in turn rely on the power supply industry who rely on the power generation industry, who in turn rely on the parks and forestry services to protect the water catchment areas. The interdependence has led to interconnectedness as communities seek more efficient and reliable supply of the various benefits.
Water supply and power generation will be interconnected given they share the same asset (Dam). Thus when viewed from this perspective, the interconnectedness of the infrastructure will ultimately increase their vulnerability. Individually, this may not be as pronounced as when viewed as one (collectively). In the past few years instances of attempted attacks of critical infrastructure has increased significantly. This has resulted in the security community raising its consciousness of the risks associated with critical infrastructure (O’Connor, 2010). The spread of the cyber weapon “Stuxnet” exhibits this clearly. Stuxnet changed forever the way military battle are fought and won. It allowed an actor who deployed Stuxnet could easily cause serious damages to entire populations.
Q: Should a CIP management model be centralized, decentralized, or a combination? Propose a relevant management practice model that supports your position.
There are arguments for and against the centralized, decentralized, and a combination. However, the combination management model is especially ideal for CIP given the agencies that have overlapping responsibilities in the attainment of protection of critical infrastructure. As stated earlier, infrastructure especially the critical ones, pose a significant threat and thus expose protection agencies to unique challenges in safeguarding them. The Combination model appreciates that it remains the responsibility of the government to set goals on the protection of critical infrastructure. The implementation and attainment of these goals falls to the private-sector. Whereas the private sector could be knowledgeable and adequately equipped to deal with certain vulnerability, it may not take action as a result of the cost associated with the reduction of the vulnerability. The government thus comes in to offer incentives that will make the private sector take up vulnerability reduction measures (Suter, 2007).
When viewed in isolation, the cost of reducing vulnerabilities outweighs the benefit of reduced risk from terrorism attacks as well as from natural and other disasters for an individual infrastructure project. However, due to the interconnectedness, the risk of failure of one infrastructure becomes so enormous that it becomes critical. When it becomes critical, the management of its security becomes heightened. A combination CIP management model will consist of all proactive activities that seek to protect indispensable physical asset, systems (more so cyber and communication systems) and people, which relies on a decision making process that is both reliable and systematic to aid leaders determine exactly what needs protection, when, where and how. The pro-activity of the management model will be best exhibited in the pro-activity in management of emergencies, which will go beyond normal security and defensive postures. Thus with the combination management model, one will be able to identify the critical infrastructure, determine the threat against those infrastructures, analyze the vulnerabilities of threatened infrastructure, assess the risk of degrading or loss of a critical infrastructure and apply countermeasure where risk is identifies and determined to be unacceptable. The model realizing that CIP does not rely on unique intelligence collection but rather unique intelligence integration functions. The model thus guarantees ease of access to information but more importantly guarantees access to specific analytical methods, which can be used to assess vulnerabilities and conduct individual infrastructure risk analysis (The National Strategy for Homeland Security, 2007).
Q: Comment on critical infrastructures in your town, state, or area of deployment. Number, Type(s)? How protected?
My hometown has infrastructure that supports the quality of life of some 15,000 inhabitants. The water treatment works overlooks the town so that water is supplied to homes via gravitational pull. There is a power plant where the river that feeds the dam that supplies the town with water drains the dam. The power generated is enough to meet the entire local requirement. Both this critical facilities are not adequately protected. This could be because of the feeling of rural America that one gets in our town. Access to both facilities is unimpeded and anyone can go up to the dam that provides drinking water to the town. Should a terrorist want to harm my town, they could easily introduce a poisonous substance to the drinking water of the town or even blow up the dams barriers there by flooding my entire town.
Summary of Adam Smith’s view in ‘The Wealth of Nations’
Summary of Adam Smith’s view in ‘The Wealth of Nations’
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Please write at undergraduate level.
Summarise Adam Smith’s views in The Wealth of Nations. Your discussion should include an account of the notion of the “invisible hand” and Smith’s view of the appropriate role of government. Your essay may also include a summary of the alternatives to the free market that were explored in the twentieth century, and some of the difficulties they encountered.
Please gather information from the following readings:
Notes on Smith
Extract from The Wealth of Nations
Notes on History of Economics
They will be added as files to the order.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Smith was one of the writers of the 20th century who were the pioneers in shedding light on how the economic system operates in wealth creation in any particular environment. By the 20th century, the three main options that were available to for a country to organize themselves were communism, the free market, and the mixed market economies (Smith, 2014). Among these options, the free market was the most prevalent system. However, the great depression of 1930s, the two world wars, and the vast gulf between the rich and the poor are some of the factors that made people lose faith in the free market system. However, China and Russia decided to embrace communism as opposed to the free market and mixed market system. The shortcoming of communism is that it becomes too complicated, since it becomes hard to be organized by the central authority when it grows large (Allen, 2011). However, mixed market economy becomes attractive from the sense that it can easily be organized by the central authority and there is no limit by which the market can grow. In addition, the free market system makes it possible to process large volumes of information that can effectively be used by the central authority to manage and grow their economy from all the sectors. According to Smith (2011), the mixed economy developed in Britain was problematic in the sense that people could not easily innovate and create wealth. Therefore, the living standards deteriorated and people began to protest and demonstrate against the government. Similarly, the mixed economy practiced in the United States became complex and costly to implement due to high taxation and slow means of operations. Due to complexity and problems that came with the mixed economy and communism, most countries were left with no option but to practice free market system. However, the free market system has been accused of widening the gap between the rich and the poor as is suspected to be one of the causes of the great depression and the First World War.
In his book The Wealth of Nations, Smith disputes the common belief that natural resources are the common factor responsible for creating the wealth of a country. Smith argues his case by purporting that not all nations with abundant natural resources are rich and not all countries that lack natural resources are poor. Therefore, natural resources by themselves do not create wealth and neither are they necessary for sustainable wealth creation. Since natural resources are not responsible for wealth creation in a country, Smith argues that trade is responsible for wealth creation. According to Smith (2014), trade is responsible for wealth creation through voluntary buying and selling between two parties. Through this exchange, both sides benefit in that their welfare is increased. What hold good at the level of individuals also holds good at the level of the companies since trade increases the welfare of both participants, whether they are individuals or entire nation.
With regards to the highly adopted free market system, Smith asserts that there exists an invisible hand that determines how it operates. According to Smith, this invisible and is perhaps the hand of God. The Godly invisible hand of the free market system automatically tunes people to operate with the benefit of others. The visible market in the free system may be misleading but it gives some insights on how the system operates. In this case, a trader will employ the most appropriate resources to produce the goods and services needed by their customers (Smith, 2014). Therefore, all businesses tend to produce high quality goods and services needed by their clients as they attempt to increase their sales. In return, the buyers will be able to receive high quality services at competitive prices. Consequently, people will tend to buy more of what they need, leading to wealth creation at the individual level and national level. The public will thus be able to receive high quality goods and services motivated by their own self-interest. According to Smith, free market support free choices that are supported by an invisible hand to bring about the use of resources and natural skills with the aim of supporting the whole community. Free market also enables people to work in an area of natural advantage by choosing what suits his lifestyle. Smith is of the view that the invisible hand of the free market ensures that resource and talents are utilized in a manner that brings maximum at the individual level and national level. These choices that are freely made at a personal level through the invisible hand maximize the use of human skills and natural resources.
In his book, The Wealth of Nations, Smith highlights the critical role played by the government in developing its economy. The statesman, through his authority, would give directions that should be followed as they employ the capital in producing various goods and services. The government, through its bureaucratic channels controls the millions of free players in the market. However, the government is not in a position to make millions of decisions that affect individual businesses in different parts of the country. In a situation whereby the government is allowed to make decisions for millions of ingle businesses, the decision making would be slow and the quality of goods will be reduced. According to Smith (2014), the government is in charge of gathering all the relevant information and issue instructions in accordance with the gathered information. The role of the government in this case is to provide an enabling environment for all individuals and company to carry out their mandate. However, Smith was very much concerned that a government endowed with so much private responsibility in a free market would be unrealistic. He argues that it would be dangerous to the citizens of a state to hand so much power to the government, as it would derail their effectiveness. In order to provide enabling environment in a free market, Smith believed that the government should protect the country from external attack, provide and enforce the legal framework, and provide the necessary infrastructure for businesses to occur. In providing the legal framework for businesses, the government ought to pass necessary legislation that protects businesses from exploitation and to punish the wrongdoers. Such a government is expected to supply a judicial system of courts, magistrates, and prisons. With respect infrastructure, the government should consider building roads, provide water, public lightning, drainage, among other public essentials that cannot be provided by individuals (Smith, 2013). These necessities enable businesses to run their operations smoothly and to make maximum profits with minimal distraction.
Combine all elements completed in previous weeks (Topics 1-4) into one cohesive evidence-based proposal and share the proposal with a leader in your organization. (Appropriate individuals include unit managers, department directors, clinical supervisors, charge nurses, and clinical educators.)
For information on how to complete the assignment, refer to “Writing Guidelines” and “Exemplar of Evidence-Based Practice.”
Include a title page, abstract, problem statement, conclusion, reference section, and appendices (if tables, graphs, surveys, diagrams, etc. are created from tools required in Topic 4).
Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a grading rubric. Instructors will be using the rubric to grade the assignment; therefore, students should review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the assignment criteria and expectations for successful completion of the assignment.
You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Refer to the directions in the Student Success Center. Only Word documents can be submitted to Turnitin.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Antibiotic Resistance in Treatment of UTIs
Abstract
Infections of the urinary tract are among the most prevalent infectious diseases that are also accompanied by a substantial financial burden on the patient and the entire healthcare system (Grabe et al., 2008). Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) range from these affecting the urinary bladder to those affecting the kidneys. The infections are classified according to the site of infection. These include urethritis (urethra), vaginitis (vagina), pyelonephritis (upper urinary tract), and cystitis (urinary bladder) (Mazulli, 2012). Different pathogenic microbes can be attributed to the condition. These include bacteria from the staphylococcus species such as Staphylococcus saprophyticus, the Klebsiella species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, enterococci bacteria and also from the yeast fungi which is common among women (Mazulli, 2012). However, the main causative agent in the community and hospitals is the bacterium Escherichia coli (E.coli) that is a normal flora in the bowel and accounts for approximately 75 – 95% of UTI cases (A.D.A.M Inc, 1997-2008). Antibiotics are commonly used in the prevention and treatment of UTIs. However, this frequent use of antibiotics has resulted into the development of antibiotic resistance and vaginal and intestinal dysbiosis. This has become problematic in the treatment of UTIs and this paper, therefore, provides evidence of the spread of antibiotic resistance in UTI treatment.
Problem Statement
The treatment and prevention of UTIs has most of the time involved the use of antibiotics as the first-line treatment. This often follows the isolation and culture of the etiological agent to select the appropriate antibiotic for use. However, today there is increasing resistance to most of the antimicrobial agents prescribed for the treatment of UTIs in both community and hospitals settings. This is spreading to even the most potent antimicrobial agents hence the need to establish alternative approaches for treatment.
For example, a study was conducted in India and was aimed at reporting the resistance pattern among the most common uropathogens that were isolated in a tertiary care hospital setting. The focus of this study was on resistance to ciprofloxacin (Mandal, Acharya, Buddhapriya, & Parija, 2010). Nineteen thousand and fifty samples were collected, cultured and the pathogenic microbes isolated. The susceptibility to antibiotic tests were done using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method after noting the clinical and demographic characteristics of each patient. E.coli was isolated and out of the total samples selected 62% were sterile while 26.01% had significant growth (Mandal, Acharya, Buddhapriya, & Parija, 2010).
In addition, 2.3% had insignificant growth, and 9.6% of the samples were contaminated. The ciprofloxacin-resistant E.coli had a strong association with gynecological surgery among the female participants, UTI in adulthood, prior antibiotic use, and uropathy among men and complicated UTI among women (Mandal, Acharya, Buddhapriya, & Parija, 2010). The continuous of ciprofloxacin was, therefore, linked to the development of resistance in males, females, and in-patients. This indicates the need to rationalize the use of antibiotic treatment or most importantly develop alternative approaches.
Trimethoprim and Sulfamethoxazole are often used as a first-line treatment for UTIs. However, there is increasing resistance towards the drug that is resulting to a significant decrease in its use. This antibiotic is an inhibitor of the bacterial folate synthesis that is needed for the synthesis of thymidine hence the synthesis of DNA (Hilbert, 2011). These drugs are administered in a combined ratio of 1:5 (SXT) and the guidelines indicate that it should be avoided where the resistance reaches between 15% – 20% (Gupta et al., 2011).
The North American Urinary Tract Infection Collaborative Alliance (NAUTICA) conducted a study to analyze the development of resistance towards SXT. They used 1,142 Uropathogenic Escherichia coli UPEC isolates from 40 medical centers. The results revealed that 21% of the participants had resistant isolates (Hilbert, 2011). In another study conducted by the Arkansas River Education Service Cooperative (ARESC), a similar result was found and in this case the resistance was higher at 29%. Trimethoprim and Sulfamethoxazole inhibit the enzymes dihydrate folate reductase and dihydropteroate synthetase respectively. The resistance to the drug is mediated by gene transfer of the genes that are responsible for encoding the resistant enzymes (Hilbert, 2011). In a study conducted using 305 UPEC isolates revealed that 66% had encoded a dfr allele that encoded a trimethoprim-resistant dihydtrate folate reductase and 96% had a sul gene encoding for the sulfamethoxazole-resistant dihydropteroate synthetase (Hilbert, 2011). These genes appeared due to the continuous use of SXT, and their presence facilitate the spread of resistance elements among the bacterial population hence the increased resistance.
Finally, there is also the development of resistance to other aetiological agents for UTIs. For example, the Klebsiella species (K. pneumoniae) accounts for approximately 1-6% of the uncomplicated cases of UTIs (Schito et al., 2009). The bacterium is resistant to penicillin and nitrofurantion intrinsically and shows resistance to other common antibiotics used for the treatment of UTIs. Per Schito et al. (2009), a study conducted to establish the resistance of K.pneumoniae indicated 23% resistance to SXT, 21% to cefuroxime, 12% fosfomycin and 6% ciprofloxacin (Schito et al., 2009).
An earlier study by Kahlmeter in 2003 revealed similar results. In the two studies mentioned, the 94-99% of the isolates showed susceptibility to ciprofloxacin and 91-96% were susceptible to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. However, due to the continuous use of the drugs today, there is increasing resistance (Hilbert, 2011). Moreover, K. pneumoniae accounts for 8-11% 0f catheter-associated UTIs (CAUTIs) within the hospital setting (nosocomial infections). In the above studies, 17-21% of isolates from individuals with CAUTIs were resistant to an extended spectrum of cephalosporins while 10% were resistant to carbapenems (Hilbert, 2011). This indicates the growing resistance of UTIs etiological agents to antibiotics and the need for new treatment approaches.
Conclusion
UTIs are among the most common forms infections today. Moreover, their prevalence is also on the rise including among men. Antibiotics have been for a long time the first line of treatment for infectious diseases. Treatment involves the isolation and culturing of isolates to identify the main causative agent. The common cause of UTIs is the bacteria E.coli; however, there are other species of bacteria that can also cause the disease. In the past, antibiotics were effective for UTI treatment, but due to the continuous use of the antibacterial drugs the bacteria are increasingly developing resistance. The resistance is developing as a result of mutations and other processes. The resistance is continuously increasing from the “weaker” forms of antibiotics to even those that were initially thought to be the most efficacious including the development of multiple resistance. Due to the increasing prevalence of UTIs and the resultant rise in resistance to antibiotics, it is imperative that alternative approaches of treatment should be employed.
References
A.D.A.M Inc. (1997-2008). Urinary Tract Infection. 1-4.
Grabe, M., Bishop, M. C., Bjerklund-Johansen, T. E., Botto, H., Çek, M., Lobel, B., et al. (2008). Guidelines on the management of urinary and male genital tract infections. European Association of Urology.
Gupta, K., Hooton, T. M., Naber, K. G., Wullt, B., Colgan, R., Miller, L. G., et al. (2011). International clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of acute uncomplicated cystitis and pyelonephritis in women: A 2010 update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the European Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Clin Infect Dis, 52, e103-120.
Hilbert, D. W. (2011). Antibiotic resistance in urinary tract infections: Current issues and future solutions. In P. Tenke (Ed.), Urinary tract infections (pp. 194-206). InTech.
Mandal, J., Acharya, N. S., Buddhapriya, D., & Parija, S. C. (2010). Antibiotic resistance pattern among common bacterial uropathogens with a special reference to ciprofloxacin resistant Escherichia coli. Indian J Med Res, 136, 842-849.
Mazulli, T. (2012). Diagnosis and Management of Simple and Complicated Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs). Can J Urol., 19 (Suppl 1), 42-48.
Schito, G. C., Naber, K. G., Botto, H., Palou, J., Mazzei, T., Gualco, L., et al. (2009). The ARESC study: an international survey on the antimicrobial resistance of pathogens involved in uncomplicated urinary tract infections. Int J Antimicrob Agents, 32, 407 -413.
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This chapter addresses some of the issues on advantages and disadvantages of this change.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Introduction
Anthropology is the study of the past and the present of human. To comprehend the broad sweep and complexity among cultures across the entire spectrum of human history, anthropologists refer and build upon information from biological and social sciences as well as physical together with humanities sciences, (Anae 2010; p. 229). A significant main concern for all anthropologists regardless of whether they are insiders or outsiders is to find solutions to human problems through knowledge application. Historically, all anthropologists have received training in such areas as: physical/biological anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, linguistics and archaeology. However, due to the frequent integration of perspectives by anthropologists of the several of the mentioned areas in the process of research and professional lives, indigenous and insider anthropologists have their advantages and disadvantages. Comprehending the categories in regard to the actions of people is a significant anthropological research tenet, (Anae 2010; p. 240). This is a concept that need to apply to scientific studies, yet anthropological analysts often ignore the scientific content and hence end up ignoring a fundamental aspect of the conceptual framework in which anthropologists act. This paper analyses, in the context of anthropological change, the advantages and disadvantages of indigenous anthropologists and insider anthropologists.
Anthropologists do believe in the idea that there is unsettled contradiction in regard to being anthropologist and being indigenous. Being involved in anthropological community for a long period of time enhances confidence that this belief is an indication of the general mood that exists in the departments. Generally, anthropologists do believe that being indigenous might be associated with the danger of developing subjective mind, being biased and becoming less scientific. With reference to the indigenous anthropologists of the third world, it is seen as a danger and as a flow being indigenous and this must be avoided by all means. Anthropologists do acknowledge the so called “paradigm-breaking and paradigm-building capacity of Third World perspective”. They therefore recognize the objectives of third world indigenous anthropologists. This renders anthropology less prejudiced against people of the third world by reducing its ethnocentricity as it uses language and paradigms. Hence the general anthropology mood is the one that the indigenous anthropologists of the third world consider a trouble maker and intruder who need discipline. This is supported by the fact that anthropology is seen as a western discipline for western scientists(Kanaaneh, (n.d.).
Advantages of indigenous anthropologists and insider anthropologists
An increasing number of anthropologists are conducting an anthropology of home by conducting researches within their indigenous communities. The main theoretical and methodological contributions for indigenous researchers have emanated from the debates stemming from “native” anthropology, (Kanaaneh 2012; p. 5). Historically, anthropology has been involved with stretching outside the indigenous community of the researcher. However, with the widening circle of ethnographic practices, the native anthropology has now assumed two other labels, which are used interchangeably, namely insider anthropology and indigenous anthropology. The term is insider anthropology is more popular due to the debates and confusion surrounding the “native” and “indigenous” labels. Insider anthropologists can be proposed to be “hybrid anthropologists” because they are anthropologists who remind us that we are all multi-cultural or bi-cultural because we belong to both professional and personal worlds whether at the field or in our households, (Kanaaneh 2012; p. 5). These researchers can track the critical diversities in comprehending and reporting the way the knowledge came to them, which is a process called cultural knowledge location. Native anthropology can be seen as having advanced into insider/indigenous anthropology since the latter can be seen as a reflective form of the former, implying that insider anthropology stretches beyond simply “practicing at home” , (Kanaaneh 2012; p. 5).
Insider/indigenous anthropologists address the concern that there is no need to conduct fieldwork in the first place, if the anthropologic reporting is a rendition that is completely subjective, in which any pattern or order of the results is only from the ingenuity of the interpretations by the researcher, (Geertz, 2006; p. 232). Unlike the ancient native anthropologist, this insider/indigenous anthropologist has a room to express how they feel about the reported findings, just provided that their feelings do not impact on the accuracy of what is reported. The focus is therefore on the empirical observation data, the analytical and descriptive generalizations that can be implied from the respective observations, and the procession by which the derivation of the latter is done from the former, (Geertz, 2006; p. 232). Therefore, insider/indigenous anthropologists are of the orientation that reflects on the method, and provide a projection of what anthropology might be like in the future; whereby they envision even more serious need for scientific methodology research. How revealing and personal insider/indigenous anthropologists become during reporting is much up to the individual anthropologist, because this is more “an anthropology of experience” rather than just “conducting anthropology”. This makes it possible for the insider/indigenous anthropologists to communicate to their audience what they have drawn on for inspiration and information, (Geertz, 2006; p. 232).
The other advantage of insider/indigenous anthropology is that it can incorporate both the emic and etic approaches – these refer to the two forms of field research conducted and the viewpoints attained; from the social group (the subject’s perspective) and from within outside (the observer’s perspective), (Bloch 2011; p. 123). The insider/indigenous anthropologist under the emic approach can investigate how the indigenous people think; their categorization of the world, the behavioral rules, the things that have meaning according to them, and how their imaginations and explanations progress. As well under the etic approach, they can assume a scientist-oriented framework shifting the attention from local categories, observations, interpretations and explanations into the individual anthropologist, (Bloch 2011; p. 123). Still, insider/indigenous anthropologists can possibly eliminate the alleged inherent confusion between these two approaches, and instead of preferring one to the other, they can use them as complements to anthropological research, significantly, in the interest regions regarding the human nature characteristics as well as the function and form of human social structures. With the combination of the two approaches, insider/indigenous anthropologists provide the “richest understanding” of culture or society view. Without a fusion of these there would be a struggle to apply the overarching values of one culture, (Bloch 2011; p. 123).
Disadvantages of insider/indigenous anthropologists
The fact that anthropology has historically comprised of extending beyond the community of the anthropologists brings concern that the new insider/indigenous framework is shifting research sites in the anthropologist’s indigenous community, (Engelke 2012; p. 4). This has raised debates regarding the application of traditional native anthropological methods to the individual’s indigenous community. There are various significant methodological issues in insider/indigenous anthropology comprising of concerns like cultural competence, distance, translation, and the definition of “native”, (Engelke 2012; p. 5). The quite ancient native anthropologists offer critiques to the more evolved anthropological practices of insider/indigenous anthropologists by conflicting the customary position of insiders as objects as well as opposing euro-centrist dominance in academia. Additionally, critiques have been active in voicing the variability of human identity, which implies that every researcher is both an outsider and insider. These are insights that are very crucial to the insider/indigenous anthropologist, and it remains debated that they a fully incorporated into insider/indigenous anthropology, (Engelke 2012; p. 8).
On the religious standpoint, another shortcoming of the insider/indigenous is that if an anthropologist shares the same beliefs with the “natives, any belief at all, there is an implicit anthropology discipline concern, (Bloch 2011; p. 123). The concern is that since the insider/indigenous anthropologist has a room to express how they felt about the reported findings, he/she might be conceding a lot anthropological authority. This is still a major concern despite the argument that human beliefs remain “a cruel possibility” that originates from the denial to acknowledge that an anthropologists research subjects might have knowledge regarding the human condition which is individually valid/applicable to the anthropologist. The challenge to the insider/indigenous anthropologist here is the problem of maintaining a proper distance/ exclusion from the inner lives of the indigenous people, (Bloch 2011; p. 126).
At the heart of anthropologists or ethnographers insider/indigenous approach to research is the paradox of acting as an observer and participant at the same time. The methodological issues presented in regard to insider/indigenous anthropologists regard to the balance of tacit knowledge access versus the ability to maintain objectivity in the final analysis which is notable in the insider/indigenous problem, (Geertz, 2006; p. 232). It is widely argued that while trying to gain greater insider access, the anthropologists forfeit their ability to objectively maintain empirical observance. There is a problem of accessibility and acceptance, and the ability to comprehend the subject which descends from this. In insider/indigenous anthropology, class or gender may for instance interfere or even intersect with other factors of the insider/indigenous status. This demerit can be presented in the broader terms of an epistemological concern of how the insider/indigenous anthropologist can know and, importantly, how he can deal with another’s knowledge. These are among the several significant anthropological concerns on the knowledge possibilities as well as the limits relating to assessment of tacit knowledge, (Geertz, 2006; p. 232).
In summary, anthropologist’s belief that there is unresolved contradiction or “tension” between what it implies being indigenous and being anthropological. Following critiques who have a long-running engagement to the anthropological community, it is noteworthy that this concerning belief, which might be stated explicitly, informs on the overall mood surrounding the discipline, and its associations and departments, (Anae 2010; p. 239). The general native anthropologists feel that the insider/indigenous anthropological approach is subject to subjective, individual biases, or, basically the fact that it is not entirely scientific. In a particular regard to insider/indigenous anthropologists from third world countries, the practice of being insider/indigenous is regarded as both a danger that has to be avoided, and a fault that has to be fixed or even a setback that requires conquering, (Kanaaneh 2012; p. 11). Consequently, the readers of the evaluation done by the anthropologist in regard to ‘anthropologicality’ and ‘sciencitivity’, in the case where it is from a third world insider/indigenous anthropologist, is inevitably an evaluation on the basis: “did this insider/indigenous anthropologist manage to successively avoid the danger by fixing the flaw and conquering the setback of being an insider or indigenous?” it is largely argued in anthropology that the paradigm-building and paradigm-braking capacity of modern day insider/indigenous is hard to acknowledge, because they are of the view that the aim of modern day insider/indigenous anthropologists is to subject anthropology to less subjectivity against the insider/indigenous peoples hence reducing its ethnocentricity in its use of paradigms and language, (Kanaaneh 2012; p. 7).
In the general analysis, there are issues raised by the advantages and disadvantages of the change from a more ancient-based anthropology approach to the more evolved present day insider/indigenous anthropology, (Anae 2010; p. 229). There are various questions that can be raised concerning this change like: what is the outcome when the distinction between the “anthropologist” and the “native” is not clear, and what happens when the “home” turns to “field”? The advantages and disadvantages outlined are concerned with what indigenous/insider politics and perspectives present to the practice of anthropology, and what the practice of anthropology can offer the indigenous community. The point of concern is how the study of culture can be conducted in an environment where insider/indigenous anthropology has familiarized “exotic” and made it possible for “familiar” to exotically exist. Another major issue, regarding the advantages of insider/indigenous anthropologists analyzed, is the manner in which the anthropologists and indigenous community peoples will maintain an indigenous sense in the face of insider/indigenous anthropology.
References
Anae, M 2010. ‘Teu Le VA Toward a native anthropology’ in Special Issue –Genealogies: Articulating indigenous anthropology in/of Oceania. Pacific Studies, 33 (2/3): 222-241.
Bloch, Maurice, 2011.How We Think They Think: Anthropological Approaches to Cognition, Memory, and Literacy Westview Press
Engelke, Matthew, 2012, “The problem of belief: Evans-Pritchard and Victor Turner on “the inner life.”.Anthropology today, 18 (6). pp. 3-8.
Geertz, Clifford, 2006, ‘From the Native’s Point of View’: On the Nature of Anthropological Understanding. In K.H. Basso & H.A. Selby (eds) Meaning in anthropology, pp.231-237. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press
Kanaaneh, M 2012. Indigenous Anthropology: theory and praxis. Dialectical Anthropology 22(1): 1-21
International Organization Making a Difference Essay
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Topic: International Organization Making a Difference
Question/Prompt: The assignment this module/week is to research an international group, NGO, or other similarly situated group and explain how this group is helping to engage an international audience. If this is an area of interest or passion for you that should also be noted.
SAMPLE ANSWER
According to Lee (2008), World Health Organization (WHO) is an affiliate body of the United Nations that is responsible for promoting health related issues throughout the world. It is one of the international bodies that have made a huge impact in promoting healthy living of millions of people across the globe. WHO innovates methods to ensure that birth rates are not falling and also to make sustainable ways in health care systems of different countries. Having a high rapid growing ageing population a lot of health care attention is needed with improvements in the health sector to curb illness from different ailments. This international institution has partnered with several non-governmental institutions around the world to improve the general healthcare of both children and adults. WHO is well known to have provided leadership on matters critical to health and also engaged in a partnership that encourages healthy living among the people. The organization is also known to have built sustainable institutional capacity, catalyzed changes and provided technical support to matters pertaining health, hence have succeeded in address health situations in various countries and finally addressing the health trends. Millennium development goals played an important goal in shaping the WHO’s work by ensuring that there is environmental sustainability and improvement in matters concerning maternal health. Since its inception, this body has engaged its audience in the elimination of smallpox, which used to threaten the lives of millions of people. Currently, the WHO is trying very hard to eliminate diseases such as TB, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and other communicable diseases that threaten the survival of humankind (Lee, 2008). Moreover, the WHO has engaged its audience in dealing with matters related to food security, healthy eating, sexual and reproductive health and substance abuse. WHO addresses the underlying social and economic determinants of health related policies in addition to promoting a healthier environment through the promotion of public policies that pose no threat to the environment. This health agency partners with the World Bank, International Health Partnership, and the various governments to promote their health related agendas.
References
Lee, K. (2008). World Health Organization (Global Institutions). Routledge.
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Approach 1: Capture Your Readers’ Attention:
•Start with an unusual or surprising piece of information about your subject
•Present the information, starting from the least unusual or surprising idea and moving to the most
•Use specific examples, quotations, statistics, and so on to illustrate your topic
•End your paper by restating a unique or surprising aspect of your topic
Approach 2: Question Your Readers
•Begin with a question to help readers see why they might want to read about your topic
•Outline the information, starting with the least significant piece of information and working toward the most important
•Use specific examples, quotations, statistics, and so on to illustrate your topic
•Conclude by answering the questions that you started with
Approach 3: Create a Context:
•Set the stage. What is the situation that your readers may be interested in?
•Broaden your initial explanation with specific details, quotations, and examples so your reader can “see” what you are writing about
•Compare and contrast your subject with another one, to help readers understand the information
•Conclude your paper by reinforcing your reader’s connection to your topic
SAMPLE ANSWER
The Impact of Media on Public Opinion
Media is regarded as the fourth estate for its role in providing information and contributing in opinion formation among its audience. Before going into details on the impact of media on public opinion, let me pose this question. Do you believe that media messages at any time have changed your perception or opinions on any issue? If it has, then it is evident that indeed media has some powers to influence.
The members of the public perceive and have their own opinions and views about certain aspects in the society. However, the media through its messages and opinions or representation of information affects the already formed opinions of the audience. The impacts of messages from media can be higher especially if the audience believes and trusts media as a credible source of information. Some of the reasons that contribute to mass media influence on the public opinion is that the media carry out its own research and report findings from the members of public on their opinions (Lazaroiu 264). Media houses such as CNN, for instance, carry out research to establish the opinions of the audience on various topics. Media furthermore, reports others research and findings as well reports on events, topics, and feelings of groups about them.
Audiences hold their own ideologies as they have distinct belief systems. Ideologies act as constraints when receiving messages from the media. They are able to interpret the messages and form their own opinions. Being able to evaluate messages from a media outlet is determined by various factors such as the interests in the message and the level of education or rather literacy levels (Lazaroiu 265). People with high level of education will not just take in any messages from the media but will dig deeper into the information to ascertain its credibility.
Media has the capacity to form opinions, has the power to shape patterns of feelings, thinking and reacting on certain circumstances, or events as clearly illustrated from the Vietnam War. Media through its depictions of the horrible killings in Vietnam by the American Soldiers made the American citizens to stop supporting their soldiers’ actions. The media portrayals included killings of children and people; something that was very shocking and disturbing. The focus of the Americans shifted on the human activists instead of the soldiers in the Vietnam. On the same not, it is exhibited how negative media portrayal as well impacts on the public opinion. The media in this case affected the opinions and the views of the people through the pictures. Had the media sparingly or concealed some of the acts on ground, the American publics could have not relinquished their support to their soldiers in the USA. Therefore, from the media portrays USA lost in terms of politics and social arena.
Media, through its gatekeepers such as editors, makes the decision on what information the public receives. Such messages or information may influence or override the opinions of the members of the public. The media, therefore, sets the agenda on the issues the members of the public deliberate and discuss on (Lazaroiu 264). For instance, if the gatekeepers decided to concentrate on a specific kind of news, for example, terrorists attack, the members of the public will believe in the messages the media transmits to them. For instance, if the media reports that an attack is carried out by Al-Qaida, members of the public will believe in the information as long as the media keeps on repeating and reporting on the issue even if another terror group carried the attack. This, therefore, means that, media is powerful in influencing the opinion through its framing and that is why it is important that before any information is broadcast or reported to the public, enough evidence is gathered to ensure credibility and as well to upholster the image of the media in the public eye.
Media has the potential of influencing political elections unfairly. Many people that relay on media for accurate information can be mislead to hold contrary position based on information that is not factual. To indicate the sincerity in this argument arose when World Net Daily cautioned members of the public to be vigilant not to be keen in the presidential lection because media had the capability of shaping opinion through skewing the polls.
Media also influences the audience or public opinions as it drives consumers to develop certain consumption/purchasing habits through adverts and promotion of goods and services. People that access to media adverts are highly persuaded to change their purchasing behaviors, as they believe that information transmitted through media is true. Large corporations therefore spend colossal sums of money to run their adverts to accrue high profits from the increased sale of their products after advertisement. A good example is Two and a Half Men show that stared Charlie Sheem who received huge sums of money. The company CBS earned colossal amounts of money in its first quarter courtesy of the show. This therefore, indicates the capability of media to influence the public opinion
In conclusion, the media has a greater potential of influencing the public opinion either negatively or positively. Many people do believe that media messages are true, hence, they believe in the same as illustrated from various events such as Vietnam War and in presidential elections among many others. However, it is important for the public to interrogate media messages they receive to ensure that they are credible and true. This will ensure that they remain objective and sincere.
The Impact of Complex Adaptive Systems
As a teenager beginning a new school, you likely searched for other students who were similar to you to befriend. You may have looked for students with similar backgrounds, interests, hobbies, and academic abilities. It is likely that no one explicitly told you to do this but that you did it naturally. Others did likewise, and groups began to form. As your group began to interact with other groups, rules governing these relationships may also have formed. Again, these relationships were likely not instituted by anyone in formal authority but passed informally among members and between groups. However, some members may have deviated from these informal relationship rules. If the influence of these individuals were strong enough, they could permanently alter the relationships within and between groups.
Those who apply complexity theories suggest that organizations and even entire industries develop in much the same way as individuals or entire organizations pursue individual goals, react to the actions of others, and form relationships. Scholar-practitioners must ask themselves what implications these theories have for those attempting to develop strategy for modern organizations.
To prepare, review this Week’s Learning Resources on complexity theory. Consider the potential impact of a complex adaptive system for the organization you chose for your SSP.
By Day 5 of Week 5, read all of your colleagues’ posts and respond to two colleague’s individually in one of the following ways:
•Critique your colleagues’ analyses of how a small change in a system may lead to large or radical organizational transformation, and offer additional insight from your personal experience or the literature.
•Refute or support your colleagues’ analyses of the potential impact of complex adaptive systems on leadership using an example from your own experience or support from the literature.
•Refute or support your colleagues’ analyses of the potential impact of complex adaptive systems on innovation using an example from your own experience or support from the literature.
•Answer one of the questions posed by your colleagues in their posts.
Colleague post 1 (Geraldine)
The Impact of the Complex Adaptive Systems
Organizational strategic goals is set up by executing the traditional strategic thinking (“Strategy,” 2005). Many attributes exist within the organization that causes the inconsistent, unlink processes, and business units key relation disconnections. CAS acronyms stand for complex adaptive system. CAS defines how corporation classifies innovation, complex as living machine, and growing organization (Lucas, 2004) and describes as organizations compete with other and compete with other organizations in the same trade is a form as a complex system (Stacey, 2011). Scholars describe combination of a number; populations of entities called as agents, each behaves according to the define set of rules (Laureate Education, 2013; as cited by Stacey).
The Impact of Changes within a CAS
Organization carried out many changes by the force of the changing environment and advanced technology. Internal business units within CAS transform due to the communication and collaboration with other business units (Stacey). IBM has undergone many changes and transformed over the past 100 years. For example, the business focus transformed from a hardware product offering to product and services offering. IBM today has been committed as service oriented.
During the revolution, the organizational culture depends on their CM known as changes management to ensure the success of the project deliverables, while the IT industry will make significant transformations over time as well. IBM cultures innovative thinking, with that a great collaboration and communication, this attributes is one key for the technology enhancement and advancement, procedural and processes improvement.
Potential Impact of CAS on Leadership and Innovation
The organization creates innovative thinking culture; leader encourages employees on innovation and management uses technology and skills to advance processes and competitiveness (McCarthy, 2003). New product and services offering is a key differentiating themselves from another industry. IBM and Apple were the major company during the personal computers (PC) era. The product serves the same deliverables, although serves different types of entities. For instance, Apple was more focus with a graphical interface, whereas IBM focuses with a command line interface system. Microsoft dominated the PC operating system and transformed the PC by incorporating IBM, Apple, and other ideas.
Communicating with the agents within the CAS is the key, because if communication does not exist, then innovative thinking and technology advancement would not stimulate for driving the technological growth. Still true today, a greater collaboration and communication is still the key and continuously exercise. CAS more significant today than ever value, an innovation and flexibility must exist to be sustainable.
The question remains on whether the organization measure the results of these interactions attribute aligned with the leadership expectations (Laureate Education). What is the leadership perspective about the system complexity? What is the next big thing for PC? How quickly consumer adapt the advancement of PC? Any advice for IBM, Microsoft, or Apple?
References
Baran, M. (2010). Teaching multi-methodology research courses to doctoral students. International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, 4(1), 19-27. doi:10.5172/mra.2010.4.1.019
Laureate Education (Producer). (2013). Analyzing complex adaptive systems [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu.
McCarthy, I. P. (2003). Technology management–a complex adaptive systems approach. International Journal of Technology Management, 25(8), 728-745. Retrieved from http://beedie.sfu.ca/profiles/IanMcCarthy
Colleague #2 post(Quintin)
The Impact of Complex Adaptive Systems
The field of complex adaptive systems theory (complexity) seeks to understand how order emerges in complex, markets, and social systems. High smith (2013) stated “complex adaptive systems provides an alternative to the linear, reductionist thinking that has ruled scientific thought since the time of Newton.” Complex adaptive systems theory maintains that the structure emerges from the interaction of individuals or a group. Successful business transformation has proven to be a complex issue. Cumming and Norberg (2013) stated, “In Darwin’s theory, it is commonly held that the evolution is a gradual process in which all species go through changes at regular intervals.”
Semetsky (2013) described CAS as a living system, which has several recurring conditions. The critical starting point from which the system enters into a presence at the edge of chaos is Disequilibrium. Semetsky described disequilibrium as being fluidity. Merriam-Webster defined fluidity as “the quality or state of being fluid and the physical property of a substance that enables it to flow.” Keyhani, Lévesque, and Madhok (2013) described disequilibrium as a “state in which old processes and strategies are disrupted.” Presence at the edge is an active state, which is a condition that allows old processes, structures, and customer to yield or try new approaches. Highsmith (2013) explained cultivation of self-organization and emergence are results of distributed intelligence. Systems achieve order because multiple local agents interact and those interactions produce unintended outcomes without the intervention of a central controller. Organizations take on properties and structures that are unexpected because people and groups. The most one can do to change and improve themselves is relative to what the other agents are doing (Bolman & Deal, 2013).
Highsmith (2013) described CAS’s as being characterized by perpetual novelty. In an economy, the agent may be an individual or household. Control of the CAS tends to be highly dispersed. A CAS has many levels of an organization with agents at levels servings as building blocks for agents at a higher level. A group of individual workers will produce a department; a group of departments will form a division, and will continue to build throughout the company and world economy. The systems processes are learning and adapting to changes in the system. The agents continuously throughout the process are exchanging information.
Alcock, Burgess, and Hasan (2013) described CAS’s as fluidly changing collections of distributed interacting components that react to both environmental and to one another. Examples of CAS’s include power grids, the internet, social groups, and human society. Power grid refers to the electrical grid that delivers electricity from suppliers to the consumers. The grid has stations that supply electricity to different areas and equipment. Power travels from the plant to the consumer to use for heating, lighting, sound, and refrigeration. Power failure can cripple plants, firms, airports and many other locations that require power. Power grids that cease to operate can cause broad hardships. Devices that need power can stop operating until powers restored. People can die from extreme cold or excessive heat, and the economy could suffer billions of dollars in damage.
Bullock et al. (2014) described how leaders of organizations expect to achieve stability by reducing complexity through codification, solving problems using reductionist rather than holistic thinking, understanding critical cause and linkages, and engaging in complex planning for a world they believe is predictable. Thus, leaders cannot control the future because, in complex systems such as organizations, unpredictable internal dynamics will determine future conditions. Heylighen (2013) described how leaders have learned the importance of interactions, correlation, and unpredictability among individuals. Leaders facilitate communications, but they do not direct communication. The leader allows communication to emerge through linear processes. Involved leaders facilitate development by becoming catalysts for actions, and function as “tags” Tags help speed up specific behaviors by directing attention to what is important and providing meaning to events.
Collins, Fizzanty, and Russell (2013) described that collaboration with other leaders in other areas is important to reduce problems within the organization. Collaborative members suggest that a shift in power relates to change and emergence of new patterns of interactions. Leaders can have available a list of occurrences that can happen and ways to solve the problems. Each leader or agent can have control of their station during any problems within the system. Leaders have to be flexible and recognize change has to occur. The fix used yesterday may not work with the same issue today. Schneider (2012) described leadership as an indirect, catalytic process that facilitates productive self-organization, a movement in which activity reformulates around a common cause.
Examples of CAS include the ecosystems and the biosphere. At the global level, the homeostatic nature of processes crucial to the maintenance of life, especially atmospheric processes which treat the biosphere. Another example of CAS is power companies. Power companies provide power to millions of customer all over the US. When part of the grid goes bad, if not properly corrected, power loss could affect millions of customers. The dispersed and local nature of an autonomous selection process assures continual adaptation.
Leaders cannot predict the future; can leaders use models to give them an idea of what could happen in the complex adaptive systems related to their organization?
A complex system has the ability “to switch between different modes of behavior as the environmental conditions are varied.” It is adaptive. What would be the outcome of a complex adaptive system that makes the incorrect decision/malfunction. Example: Medical equipment used to sustain life.
References:
Alcock, C., Burgess, L., & Hasan, H. (2013). Information systems for the social well-being of
senior Australians in building sustainable information systems (pp. 89-100). New York,
NY: Springer.
Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (2013). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Bullock, J., Colombo, D., Linkov, I., Seager, T., Sweet, D., Tylock, S., & Unrath, U. (2014). Sustainability awareness and expertise: Structuring the cognitive processes for solving wicked problems and achieving an adaptive state. Retrieved from doi: 10.1007/978-94- 007-7161-1_5
Please answer each colleague post individually with three references each !!!!!
SAMPLE ANSWER
The Impact of Complex Adaptive Systems
Colleague One
In response to the post made by the first colleague, Geraldine, I agree with him that each and every organization has strategic goals, which are executed through strategic thinking. Nonetheless, there arises the need to specify that modern organizations have fostered the application of complex adaptive systems by reinforcing their operations. Given the definition of the term Complex Adaptive Systems, which Geraldine notes as being the process of classifying complex living machines and innovations so as to stimulate growth in organizations, the example given on the PC industry adds a different perspective to the argument. This is because even though the industry was shaped by the existence of competitors who impacted on the micro environment through innovations, research and development, it is still appreciated that the slotting in of strategic managers, market researchers and public relation officers facilitated the integration of CAS (Hill & Brown, 2007). In the end, the complexity of the relationship between Apple, IBM and other companies led to a transformation of the industry where currently, companies that were previously specialized in software programming such as Microsoft have ventured into hardware production through mergers and takeovers while hardware producing companies such as IBM have vertically integrated into software programming.
From this example, the impact of CAS is seen as having a neutralizing impact on the growth of the PC industry as all the companies have vertically integrated. This critique moves the argument closer to answering the questions posed by Geraldine asking whether organizations have a way of measuring the results accrued from an interaction of the adaptive systems. The answer to this question is yes. This is because the inauguration of various departments into modern organizations facilitate the identification of key parameters that cause an impact on the adaptive systems (Solvit, 2012). Additionally, the leadership perspective has increased thus necessitating the creation of specific departments to monitor the efficiency of the system. As a result, the next big thing for PC is further vertical integration where companies will be self-sufficient by creating their own software and hardware respectively (Hobbs & Scheepers, 2010). The consumer are very adaptive because the increased competition courtesy of CAS has led to more sophisticated innovations at a relatively low cost. I would advise Apple, Microsoft and IBM to invest more in research and development so as to create more user friendly PCs.
References
Hill, A. & Brown, S. (2007). Strategic profiling: a visual representation of internal strategic fit in service organizations. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 27(12), 1333-1361.
Hobbs, G. & Scheepers, R. (2010). Agility in Information Systems: Enabling Capabilities for the IT Function. Pacific Asia Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 2 (4).
Solvit, S. (2012). Dimensions of War: Understanding War as a Complex Adaptive System. Paris, France: L’Harmattan Press.
Colleague Two
The second colleague (Quintin) acknowledges that the complex adaptive system theory defines the process of attaining order in complex markets and social systems. I support the definition of the theory since it seconds the ideas by Alcock, Burgess & Hasan (2013), who identified that CAS is pertinent in integrating complex business ideas. A critique of this note is that the author identifies more with many disciplines that skip the main logic behind the application of the theory in modern business scenarios. In spite of the scattered ideas, the author acknowledges that CAS is likely to result into distributed intelligence. By so doing, the systems attain order by interacting with the agents and this results into unintended outcome. In my opinion, which is seconded by Bronder and Pritzi, (2012) the central controller guides the reaction of the various stakeholders thus their outcome becomes focused towards using the integrated system to maximize on profitability and returns realized from a business. The process of gaining from applying the CAS theory is advanced by the institution of a learning organization where the employees are motivated into learning new skills that will help in shaping the company into adapting to the new systems. An example of this complex adaptations is seen in the technological advancement of medical equipment and machinery which rises the need for hospitals to create learning environments where their medics can interact with the macro environment through social networks and communication (Holland, 2006). By so doing, a cohesive system is created by borrowing knowledge from other better performing systems.
References
Alcock, C., Burgess, L., & Hasan, H. (2013). Information systems for the social well-being of senior Australians in building sustainable information systems (pp. 89-100). New York: Springer Press.
Bronder, C. & Pritzi, R. (2012). Developing Strategic Alliances: A Conceptual Framework for Successful Co-operation. European Management Journal, 10 (4), pp. 412-421.
Holland, H. (2006). Studying Complex Adaptive Systems. Journal of Systems Science and Complexity, 19 (1), 1-8. http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/41486
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Forensic Issues.
Assume that you are called upon to testify in one of the two case scenarios below on behalf of the nurse-defendant. Outline what evidence is important to preserve – how? Why?
Case Study 1:
Malpractice Action Brought by Yolanda Pinnelas
People Involved in Case:
Yolanda Pinnelas-patient
Betty DePalma, RN, MS-nursing supervisor
Elizabeth Adelman, RN, recovery room nurse
William Brady, M.D., plastic surgeon
Mary Jones, RN-IV insertion
Carol Price, LPN
Jeffery Chambers, RN-staff nurse
Patricia Peters, PharmD-pharmacy
Diana Smith, RN
Susan Post, JD-Risk Manager Amy Green-Quality Assurance Michael Parks, RN, MS, CNS-Education coordinator SAFE-INFUSE-pump Brand X infusion pump Caring Memorial Hospital Facts: The patient, Yolanda Pinellas is a 21-year-old female admitted to Caring Memorial Hospital for chemotherapy. Caring Memorial is a hospital in Upstate New York. Yolanda was a student at Ithaca College and studying to be a music conductor. Yolanda was diagnosed with anal cancer and was to receive Mitomycin for her chemotherapy. Mary Jones, RN inserted the IV on the day shift around 1300, and the patient, Yolanda, was to have Mitomycin administered through the IV. An infusion machine was used for the delivery. The Mitomycin was hung by Jeffrey Chambers, RN and he was assigned to Yolanda. The unit had several very sick patients and was short staffed. Jeffery had worked a double shift the day before and had to double back to cover the evening shift. He was able to go home between shifts and had about 6 hours of sleep before returning. The pharmacy was late in delivering the drug so it was not hung until the evening shift. Patricia Peters, PharmD brought the chemotherapy to the unit. On the evening shift, Carol Price, LPN heard the infusion pump beep several times. She had ignored it as she thought someone else was caring for the patient. Diana Smith, RN was also working the shift and had heard the pump beep several times. She mentioned it to Jeffery. She did not go into the room until about forty-five minutes later. The patient testified that a nurse came in and pressed some buttons and the pump stopped beeping. She was groggy and not sure who the nurse was or what was done. Diana Smith responded to the patient’s call bell and found the IV had dislodged for the patient’s vein. There was no evidence that the Mitomycin had gone into the patient’s tissue. Diana immediately stopped the IV, notified the physician, and provided care to the hand. The documentation in the medical record indicates that there was an infiltration to the IV. The hospital was testing a new IV Infusion pump called SAFE-INFUSE. The supervisory nurse was Betty DePalma, RN. Betty took the pump off the unit. No one made note of the pump’s serial number as there were 6 in the hospital being used. There was also another brand of pumps being used in the hospital. It was called Brand X infusion pump. Betty did not note the name of the pump or serial number. The pump was not isolated or sent to maintenance and eventually the hospital decided not to use SAFE-INFUSE so the loaners were sent back to the company. Betty and Dr. William Brady are the only ones that carry malpractice insurance. The hospital also has malpractice insurance. Two weeks after the event, the patient developed necrosis of the hand and required multiple surgical procedures, skin grafting, and reconstruction. She had permanent loss of function and deformity in her third, fourth, and fifth fingers. The Claimant is alleging that, because of this, she is no longer able to perform as a conductor, for which she was studying. During the procedure for the skin grafting, the plastic surgeon, Dr. William Brady, used a dermatome that resulted in uneven harvesting of tissue and further scarring in the patient’s thigh area where the skin was harvested. The Risk Manger is Susan Post, J.D. who works in collaboration with the Quality Assurance director Amy Green. Amy had noted when doing chart reviews over the last three months prior to this incident that there were issues of short staffing and that many nurses were working double shifts, evenings and nights then coming back and working the evening shift. She was in the process of collecting data from the different units on this observation. She also noted a pattern of using float nurses to several units. Prior to this incident the clinical nurse specialist, Michael Parks, RN, MS, CNS, was consulting with Susan Post and Amy Green about the status of staff education on this unit and what types of resources and training was needed.
Case Study 2:
Wrongful Death by Howard Carpenter on Behalf of Wilma Carpenter,
Deceased People Involved in Case:
Mrs. Wilma Carpenter-patient-deceased
Mr. Howard Carpenter-husband and plaintiff in wrongful death suit
Mrs. Scale, RN, MS-nursing supervisor
Elizabeth Adelman, RN, recovery room nurse
Richard Washington, M.D.-orthopedic surgeon
Judy Gouda, RN, NP
Joseph Alsoff, LPN-post surgical unit nurse
Kelly Wheeler, RN-post surgical unit nurse
David Casler, LRT
Susan Post, JD-Risk Manager Amy Green-Quality Assurance Michael Parks, RN, MS, CNS-education coordinator Caring Memorial Hospital Facts: The plaintiff, Mrs. Carpenter was a 55-year-old woman who underwent a total hip replacement at Caring Memorial Hospital. The physician was Richard Washington, M.D. Dr. Washington is an orthopedic surgeon. His nurse practitioner is Judy Gouda, RN, NP. Dr. Washington reviewed the consent with Mrs. Carpenter prior to surgery. Joseph Alsoff, LPN witnessed the consent, Mr. Carpenter was present. Joseph does not remember the doctor ever mentioning that death could be a result of the surgery. The recovery room nurse is Elizabeth Adelman, R.N. The respiratory therapist is David Casler, LRT. The nurse on the post-surgical unit was Kelly Wheeler, RN. The supervising nurse was Mrs. Scale, RN, MS. The patient had an epidural catheter for a post-operative pain management, following an episode of hypotension in the Recovery Room which was treated with Ephedrine. Judy Gouda made rounds on the patient in the Recovery Room after the hypotensive event and vital signs were stable. The patient, Mrs. Carpenter, was placed on a medical surgical nursing unit with the epidural. The nurse, Kelly, was assigned to the patient and had not worked on that unit before, but had worked in post-acute critical care units. The nurse’s assignment was to provide patient care on the entire floor for that shift. There was also an LPN, Joseph on the unit. It was a busy day on the unit. Mrs. Carpenter was not the only post-operative patient. Kelly assessed the plaintiff upon admission, checked the IVs, asked if the patient was in pain, noted that the patient was responsive and understood where she was and was stable. She then left to care for other patients. The licensed practical nurse, Joseph Alcoff, had been working on the unit for several years. It had been rumored that Joseph was an alcoholic. There was no evidence that he had been drinking on the unit. Approximately an hour after the patient arrived on the unit, she was unable to tolerate respiratory therapy that was ordered, and she became nauseated and vomited. David Casler administered the respiratory therapy. According to Kelly, the registered nurse, ten minutes after the vomiting episode, Joseph Alcoff, the LPN, found the patient blue and unresponsive and called a code. Joseph is the only person other than the physician that carries his own liability insurance. The hospital also has malpractice insurance. The code team responded, along with Kelly, the registered nurse. Mrs. Carpenter was intubated and cardiac resuscitation was initiated. The patient responded to resuscitative efforts and she was transferred to the intensive care unit. Subsequently, Mrs. Carpenter did not do well, was unresponsive, and declared brain dead and taken off the respirator. She did not have a DNR in place. There is a conflict in testimony between Joseph the LPN and Kelly the RN. Joseph indicated that Kelly found the plaintiff to be unresponsive after the vomiting episode and called the code. The time elapsed between the vomiting episode and finding the patient is in dispute. The final diagnosis was anoxia encephalopathy due to the time lapse between CPR being initiated. The patient was eventually extubated, breathed independently for a period of time, and then subsequently expired. The vital signs ordered by the physician were hourly. The hypotensive episode in the recovery room had not been reported to the registered nurse. The Risk Manger is Susan Post, J.D. who works in collaboration with the Quality Assurance director Amy Green. Amy had noted when doing chart reviews over the last three months prior to this incident that the vital signs taken in the recovery room were not charted, not done, or not reported to the units. She was in the process of collecting data from the different units on this observation. She also noted a pattern of using float nurses to several postoperative units. Prior to this incident the clinical nurse specialist, Michael Parks, RN, MS, CNS, was consulting with Susan Post and Amy Green about the status of staff education on these units and what types of resources and training was needed.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Forensic Issues
There are certain evidences I should preserve if I am called upon to testify on behalf of a nurse-defendant in the case of Yolanda Pinnelas. One of the evidence I would protect is the one indicating that the pharmacy delayed in delivering the drug on time. This evidence will be altered with by indicating that the drug was actually delivered on time. The reason why this evidence ought to be protected is that it is against the law to delay to deliver drugs to a patient in un-stabilized condition (Maschi, Bradley & Ward, 2009). This provision is provided in the Patient Care Act which indicates that license of RNs could be revoked if proves that a patient was actually neglected.
Evidence that also requires to be preserved is the evidence that Jeffrey had neglected Yolanda prior to his assignation. This is very critical in court of law as it suggest that there was no close monitoring of Yolanda’s improvement during the treatment. This is against the competency standards of any Registered Nurse (RN). This evidence can be preserved by indicating that, the hospital being understaffed, made Jeffrey to check on other patients who were undergoing the same treatment (Furuse, 2001). This statement will convince the judges that Jeffrey was universal in trying to give all the patients quality services accorded to them.
Delicate evidence that need to be preserved too is the evidence that Betty, the supervisory nurse, did not note the name of the SAFE-INFUSE or its serial number. The problem here is that the pump was neither isolated nor sent for maintenance. If this evidence is presented in the court of law, Betty can be sued due to incompetency. Any medical practitioner is expected to demonstrate competency levels when dealing with patients. To preserve this evidence, it should be indicated that the reason behind using the pump is because the other six infusion pumps were already being used, and there was an urgent need to give Yolanda the intended services.
Doctor William Brady, if evidence is presented in court, can be fired or his license gets revoked. This is because he used dermatome that resulted in uneven harvesting of tissue and further scaring in Yolanda’s thigh area where the skin was harvested. This is against competency standards that indicate that William ignore to verify whether mitomycin had actually entered Yolanda’s body tissue and went ahead with skin grafting (Carroll & Buddenbaum, 2007). This evidence can be preserved by indicating that Dr. William was working guided by the documentation in the medical record that indicated that only infiltration to the IV had happened.
Amy Green, on the other hand, can be sued in court if the evidence attributed to him is presented. The evidence is that she had opted to use floating nurses to counteract the rising nurse-shortage shortage in the facility (Baker, 2005). I will defend Mrs. Green by providing that the use of floating nurses is due to neglect the state government to supply hospitals with more nurses. Therefore, Mrs. Green used floating nurses to reduce the increasing burden attributed to the reduced number of nurses.
Having malpractice insurances can convince the judges that the negligence of the medical officers used in treating Yolanda was because their mistakes were insured. This evidence requires to be protected by indicating that malpractice insurance is only geared to ensure that medical officers work professionally despite being insured. In the concerned hospital, only Betty and William are insured (Furuse, 2001). This evidenced can be preserved by arguing that the malpractice insurance attributed to Betty and William is because they hold very delicate position that is frequented with unavoidable mistakes.
References
Baker, T. (2005). Reconsidering the Harvard Medical Practice Study conclusions about the validity of medical malpractice claims. J Law Med Ethics.
The Impact of Complex Adaptive Systems
As a teenager beginning a new school, you likely searched for other students who were similar to you to befriend. You may have looked for students with similar backgrounds, interests, hobbies, and academic abilities. It is likely that no one explicitly told you to do this but that you did it naturally. Others did likewise, and groups began to form. As your group began to interact with other groups, rules governing these relationships may also have formed. Again, these relationships were likely not instituted by anyone in formal authority but passed informally among members and between groups. However, some members may have deviated from these informal relationship rules. If the influence of these individuals were strong enough, they could permanently alter the relationships within and between groups.
Those who apply complexity theories suggest that organizations and even entire industries develop in much the same way as individuals or entire organizations pursue individual goals, react to the actions of others, and form relationships. Scholar-practitioners must ask themselves what implications these theories have for those attempting to develop strategy for modern organizations.
To prepare, review this Week’s Learning Resources on complexity theory. Consider the potential impact of a complex adaptive system for the organization you chose for your SSP.
By Day 4 of Week 5, post a 8-9 paragraph analysis of the impact of changes within a complex adaptive system on a transformation in an organization ( Brookside Dairy Company ). Next, explain the potential impact of complex adaptive systems on leadership and innovation within an organization (Brookside Dairy Company ). Use examples of potential changes to the organization to support your response.(Brookside Dairy Company )
Extend the conversation by identifying implications for practice or research, as well as for your own research agenda, where appropriate. Be sure to integrate one or two new related, and engaging, questions that will extend the discussion about your post in constructive ways. Try to think of a question that will engage your peers in critical analysis and thinking about your organization (Brookside Dairy Company ), which may provide insight for your use as you continue preparing your sections of the major Weeks 4 and 7 Sustainable Solutions Paper (SSP) due in this course.
Your analysis should include proper APA citations and adhere to all guidelines of APA style.
******For example the paper should be formatted as such :
A)The Impact of the Complex Adaptive Systems ( which should elaborate on it in general and also discuss/ link it to Brookside Dairy Company !!!
B)The Impact of Changes within a complex adaptive system.( in general) also state couple sentence relating to Brookside dairy company.
C)Potential Impact of Complex Adaptive System on Leadership and Innovation.
note: please also try to link Brookside dairy company (which is the company I choose to do my SSP) to all question in the assignment while still answering it in general!!
SAMPLE ANSWER
Most activities that take place at Brookside Dairy Company forms part of complex adaptive systems with the potential of benefiting the organization in several ways. Complex adaptive systems are not used to predict what will happen rather they are used to think about the world around us and all situations related to their environment (Schwandt & Szabla, 2013). Many natural and artificial systems taking place within Brookside Dairy Company are characterized by apparently complex behaviors that result from interactions of these numerous components.
Since there is a close connection between the systems and their environment, it is easy for systems within accompany to adapt to the changing environment. In the case of Brookside dairy, the connection will be created such that the decisions that are made in the finance department are likely to affect the production department. In this regard, change always seen in the context of co-evolution with all the related systems as opposed to separate and distinct environment. Complex adaptive systems allow distributed control within the organization and this enhances coherence within an organization (Kim & Mackey, 2014). In this case, there is no single centralized control mechanism that governs the system behavior of all the operations taking place within Brookside Company. Moreover, complex adaptive systems promote interrelationships and interaction that facilitate the connectivity of different departments within the same organization. This implies that the decisions and actions within one part of Brookside Dairy Company are likely to affect all other related departments of the company. Complex adaptive systems within an organization have the potential of influencing co-evolution that changes the elements of an organization based on their interactions with one another.
According to Edson (2012), changes within complex adaptive system have the capability of deviating the focus and nature of professional behavior of individuals to a greater extent. Hall and Clark (2010) also argue that the use of complex adaptive system has the possibility of replacing the machines due to their productive means of approaching organizational change. By modeling Brookside Dairy Company structure, and processes on a complex adaptive system adapts to external stimuli through self-organization. Therefore, complex adaptive systems have the potential of achieving improved performance in the organization by supporting learning initiatives. Complex adaptive system provides a framework and a model that helps in the analysis and construction of that helps organizations achieve their objectives (Kim & Mackey, 2014). Over the years, complex adaptive system remains an interesting alternative framework through which to instigate and understand organizational change. Complex adaptive systems promote involvement, good relationships, and good understanding of any given situation within the workplace. Complex adaptive systems provide an alternative paradigm to that of strong and effective leaders managing a passive and resistant workforce change (Edson, 2012).
With regards to innovation, complex adaptive system promotes the energy and creativity of the leadership of a particular organization. Moreover, it promotes innovation and creativity of the leadership of the organization through management conformity. Complex adaptive systems have enabled the leaders of organizations to bring new concepts of self-organizing pattern of behavior across the operation systems. The new patterns of behavior result in the creation of new services and more responsive local needs that promotes the innovation of businesses. Complex adaptive systems enable the leadership of Brookside Dairy Company to form self-directing teams that provide greater opportunities to experiment and innovate as per their line of duties.
References
Edson, M. (2012). A Complex Adaptive Systems View of Resilience in a Project Team. Systems Research & Behavioral Science. Vol. 29 Issue 5, p499-516.
Hall, A & Clark, N. (2010). What do complex adaptive systems look like and what are the implications for innovation policy? Journal of International Development. Vol. 22 Issue 3, p308-324.
Kim, R & Mackey, B. (2014). International environmental law as a complex adaptive system. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law & Economics. Vol. 14 Issue 1,
Identify key Reasons for organisations to hold inventories. What factors may lead an organisation to change the level of inventories that it holds? How could such a decision affect the other elements of working capital?
Providing examples from real companies.
Thank you for your help.
SAMPLE ANSWER
The key decision in most retail and manufacturing industries is how much inventory they should hold. Inventory is by far the largest assets of the business. Furthermore, inventory levels, once established, becomes an important aspect of the business budgeting system. By definition, inventory is the total merchandise that a business has on hand. Inventory is also defined as itemized record or report of the stock that the company or business holds in hand. It includes a list of goods with their respective estimated worth. Making decision on the required inventory level involves establishing a delicate balance between three categories of costs: holding costs, ordering costs, and shortage costs. A company needs not only to hold but also to control its inventories.
The reason for holding inventory may vary significantly depending on the nature of business. The first basic reason for holding inventory is to meet the unexpected demands. Supply and demand chain comes into play here very significantly. Companies know that consumers expect goods whenever they need them. However, they are uncertain about the levels of future demand in the market at any given time. Thereby, businesses hold inventories in order to meet unexpected demands. Business also needs to smoothen the seasonal demands. Markets demands are directly influenced by different seasonal events. For examples, seasonal events such as Christmas and Easter celebrations directly increase the demands of most products. Retail outlets and other businesses need to keep inventories to meet the rising demands during these seasons (Saxena 2009).
Another significant reason for holding inventories is to take advantage of the discount prices. Usually, businesses get discount from manufacturers and suppliers if they buy in large bulk. Discounts are usually given in order to attract and maintain regular customers. It is very helpful for a business to take advantage of price discount by holding large inventories. However, the business does not need to overstock the inventory because it might lead to other failures by the business. Holding inventories also help businesses hedge against price fluctuations. Prices of goods and services often fluctuate due to the action of various market forces. However, by having good and efficient inventory system, the business is able to control the ever-fluctuating market prices.
Irrespective of the nature of business, a company cannot maintain a fixed level of inventory. Of course, a company needs to change the level of inventory that it holds quite often. Many factors may lead to changes in the inventory level. In most cases, company may experience increment in inventory due to late order deliveries, quality problems, unexpectedly increase in demand, and inaccurately forecasted lead-time. These factors are eh major factors that may make the business to change the level of its inventory. The most common one is unexpected changes in demand for goods and services. Businesses make changes to their holding inventory to match the existing level of demand.
Changes in the level of inventory directly affect other elements of working capital. This is because, in any organization, inventory is an important element of the working capital. Practically, proper management of the working capital depends on how the company manages its inventories. Furthermore, as illustrated by Muckstadt and Sapra (2010), holding inventory implies holding the working capital. Therefore, changes in the level of inventory are directly reflected by changes in the level of working capital. For example, if the company increases its level of holding inventory, then it must reduce the level of working capital and vice versa.
References
SAXENA, R. S. (2009). Inventory Management: Controlling In a Fluctuating Demand Environment. New Delhi, Global India Publications.
MUCKSTADT, J. A., & SAPRA, A. (2010). Principles of Inventory Management: When You are Down to Four, Order More. New York, Springer.
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