Legalized Marijuana and Law Enforcement Essay

Marijuana is the most common illicit drug all over the world including the United States. It is derived from the leaves, flowers, seeds and stem of cannabis sativa. THC, tetrahyrocannabinol is the main active component of marijuana. The drug can either be smoked or mixed with foods and beverages. In the streets, marijuana is commonly known as the herb, pot, ganja among other names. There are many side effects, both short term and long term effects associated with abuse of marijuana. However, marijuana has also been used medically in hospitals. Legalization of marijuana in the United States has always attracted a heated debate. It is important to note that marijuana was not discovered yesterday. For the centuries in which the herb has been used, it has been completely legal. It is estimated that marijuana has been illegal for less than one percent the period man has used it. The drug is known to have been in use as early as 7000 BC but it was made illegal in the United States in the 20th century. A: History of marijuana The history of marijuana laws in the United States is very interesting. The first law relating to marijuana or cannabis sativa to be enacted in the modern day America was in 1619 in Jamestown in Virginia. For many years, the plant had been in use for various functions such as food, incense, rope among others. It is also interesting to note that the first law related to the herb was a ‘must grow’ law that required all farmers in the colony to grow the crop. A farmer could be taken to jail or punished for failing to grow the crop due to it shortage in the region in the 18th century. The must grow laws were therefore in place for more than two centuries. The government encouraged the farmers to plant the crop due to its importance among the military requirements. However, it is important to note that although the plant was critical in the 17th and 18th century, to an extent of it being used as a legal tender, the public was not aware of its uses as a recreational drug until the early 20th century (Inciardi, 1990). In the mid 19th century, over two thousand acres of land in the United States was under cannabis sativa plantations. The herb was mainly grown for use in the textile industry. However, the situation changed in the early 20th century due to the large influx of immigrants from Central America especially Mexico. This influx was triggered by the Mexican revolution in the early 20th century. Tension was generated between the small scale farmers and the plantation owners due to the availability of cheap labor from Mexican Americans. The situation was made worse by the fast changing world in the after math of the First World War and the event of the great depression. The increased tension as well as the high number of immigrants from South and Central America made resources scarce and the quality of life in American cities deteriorated significantly. It is important to note that when the immigrants from Mexico arrived in the United States, smoking of marijuana for recreation was common in Mexico but it was unheard among the American population. Consequently, the Mexicans brought with them the herb as well as the smoking habit. These Mexican immigrants introduced smoking of marijuana in the United States which resulted into the first law prohibiting marijuana in California (Inciardi, 1990). Other than the Mexican immigrants use of marijuana prompting the first law prohibiting preparation of hemp, there were other factors that influenced the enactment of the new law. Most important was the use of the drug by Mormons who had been sent to the Central American country in the early 20th century. The Mormons came back with marijuana and they were already using it. The churches reaction to this may have had a big influence in the enactment of the first anti marijuana laws in California. Consequently, various states including Texas, Wyoming, Washington, and Oregon among other states had laws limiting the use of marijuana in the early 1920s. Most importantly, the laws were designed to specifically target the Mexican immigrants who were well known to use the drug (Inciardi, 1990). Compared to other states, the eastern states did not have a large number of Mexican immigrants but the problem of marijuana was evident in the states too. Analysts have argued that the drug was introduced by Latin Americans and African Americans jazz musicians. Marijuana is believed to have traveled across the eastern states such as Chicago, Harlem and New Orleans. Abuse of marijuana was part of the jazz music performance scenes. Racism was also an important factor in the enactment of the anti marijuana laws where the white extremists argued that the herb gave the Negroes and the Latin Americans the courage to face the whites. During the same period, there were rumors in the public that the immigrants as well as the African Americans were influencing young whites including children into taking the drug. This was the origin of the ‘assassin’ stories of professional killers under the influence of marijuana. In the 1930s, the use of marijuana in the United States was associated with violent behaviors as a result of these stories (Inciardi, 1990). As early as mid 1920s, the United States supported international conventions that regulated marijuana in the form of the Indian hemp. These conventions included the international opium convention which prohibited exports of Indian hemp to countries and states in which marijuana use was illegal. The convention also required proper documentations that approved the importation of marijuana to such countries if it was meant for medical use. However, the convention did not affect other cabanas products such as fiber which were widely produced in Europe and the United States. It was believed that the Indian hemp contained higher levels of THC compared to the European hemp which was mainly grown for use in the textile industry (Inciardi, 1990). The first anti marijuana federal law in the United States was the uniform states narcotic acts whose first draft was introduced in 1925 and the final draft was ready seven years later. This new law sought to introduce uniform anti narcotic laws throughout the United States. Following the enactment of this law, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was created which encouraged the adopting on uniform regulations. By mid 1930s all the states had adopted some laws that regulated the production, distribution and use of cannabis products. The establishment of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930 increased the concern over the increased use of cannabis in the American population. The bureau was headed by Anslinger, one of the most celebrated anti narcotic crusaders in the American history, who argued that marijuana was responsible for the increased violent crimes in the society and irrational acts. The bureau used both the print media as well as the first developing film industry to spread propaganda against the use of cannabis (Inciardi, 1990). The Geneva trafficking convention of 1936 is also an important convention in the legal history of marijuana. Led by head of Federal Bureau of Narcotic, Anslinger, the United States government tried to influence the world society to criminalize all activities involved in the production, processing, distribution and use of cannabis and opium in the world unless it is for scientific or medical reasons. However, the proposal was rejected and only trafficking of the drug remains illegal internationally. The signatory governments were expected to establish systems within their criminal justice systems to punish individuals involved in trafficking of prohibited drugs in their countries. Due to the failed attempts by the American government to influence the international community, the officials did not sign the treaty terming it too weak to deal with the problem at hand (Inciardi, 1990). The marijuana tax acts of 1937 are considered to be the most significant law towards the legalization of marijuana in the United States. The act was penned by Anslinger and sponsored by Robert Doughton. The principle purpose of the bill was to completely destroy the production, distribution and use of cannabis products in the United States terminating it illegal drug businesses. The act also specified penalties to which individuals found in possession of the drug were to be subjected to. Those found guilty of cannabis related offences were subjected to a five years sentence or could be fined up to two thousand dollars. This was all aimed at increasing the risks involved in the illegal business. The act was however opposed by a large number of Americans including the American Medical Association who argued that the act imposed tax on medical personnel using cannabis as a prescribed drug. The act also limited and taxed the production and sale of cannabis meant for medical use. Other than the new acts being enacted, the association proposed that the Harrison Narcotics Tax Acts could have been strengthened to deal with the emerging problem of marijuana abuse (Bertram, 1996). Since then, the federal government has continuously increased its vigilance in dealing with marijuana among other drugs in the country. Marijuana in the United States is today controlled by the controlled substance act which is contained in the comprehensive drug abuse prevention and control act that was enacted in 1970 as an appeal to the marijuana tax act of 1937. However, the act does not distinguish between marijuana meant for medical use or recreation purpose and prohibits possession, production and distribution of large quantities of the drug. Consequently, the federal laws treat marijuana like any other illegal drug with no medical value. Marijuana is therefore treated in the same way as cocaine and heroine. All the controlled substances under the federal are placed in a schedule according to their properties which includes risk of abuse and potential uses in medicine. In the controlled substance act, marijuana is not considered to have any medical value and is rated as a highly addictive substance and therefore placed under schedule 1 drug. Although doctors can use the first amendment to recommend its use in treatments, under the current federal regulations, prescribing marijuana is illegal (Gray, 2001). The Drug Enforcement Administration was also established to enforce federal anti narcotic laws in the country. The DEA has over the years taken a lot of interests in the production and use of medical marijuana. Moreover, the agency has targeted specific individuals involved in illegal drugs production and distribution. This mainly includes the minority races, African Americans and Latino Americans, who have been found to fall victims of illegal drugs abuse. Consequently, the war on drugs has resulted into accusation of institutional racism and racial profiling where the anti narcotic laws were designed to target the minority races. This issue continues to attract debate in the country while the American correctional facilities and the criminal justice systems in general is overwhelmed by the large number of drug related criminal cases (Musto & Korsmeyer, 1996). Although in many cases the drug enforcement administration leave alone cases involving medical use of marijuana, the federal laws have punitive penalties against individuals found in possession of marijuana for whatever reason. The drug is considered dangerous, illegal and with no medical use. For this reason, the courts maintain that an individual cannot defend himself on the basis of medical use when convicted of marijuana related cases. However, in many cases, defense attorneys have always raised the issues during trials. Sentencing is also an important legal aspect of marijuana in the United States. An accused can either be subjected to the federal sentencing guidelines created in 1987 or the mandatory minimum sentence created in the late 1980s. In the federal sentencing guidelines, an individual accused of marijuana related crimes is sentenced based on his criminal record. Under these guidelines, not all marijuana related crimes offenders are subjected to a jail term. However, they are all eligible for imprisonment. The guidelines require that the convicted individual should serve at least 85 percent of the jail term. The length of the jail term is determined by the amount of marijuana the individual is accused of being in possession. Low level crimes can result into a sentence of between one month and one year probation even in cases where multiple convictions are reported. For example, under the guidelines possession of one kilogram of marijuana attracts an alternative sentence of 6-12 months probation while two and half kilograms and no past record attracts not less than six months imprisonment and up to two three years incase of prior record of drug crimes with no alternative sentence. Although the judges continue to be influenced by these federal guidelines in imposing sentences, they are no longer mandatory. However, they are supposed to be advisory to ensure uniformity in sentencing (Bonnie & Whitebread, 1999). Cases involving marijuana are also subject to the minimum mandatory sentencing laws. The sentences mainly target individuals accused of possession of huge amounts of drugs. For example, the minimum mandatory sentence for an individual found guilty of possessing one hundred kilograms of marijuana or cultivating one hundred plants of cannabis is five years if he has no drug related crime record and ten years if otherwise. One thousand kilograms of plants attract ten years imprisonment with no prior record, twenty years with prior record and life imprisonment in case of multiple drug offences. Therefore, drug users and traffickers always avoid possessing one hundred or more kilograms of marijuana at any time to avoid the minimum mandatory sentence of five years (Gray, 2001). Medical Effects of Marijuana The effects of marijuana on the user have attracted a lot of attention in the past few years. There are a good number of studies that are still on going on the negative as well as positive effects of marijuana use on human body. It is important to note that the use of marijuana for recreation purposes has not been widely pronounced in the past as compared to other drugs. While narcotic use dates back to over a century, the use of marijuana has not been very prevalent in the general society until the last three or so decades. Consequently, the long term effects of marijuana abuse have not been very well documented although there are substantial and reasonable hypothesis that have been proposed. It is also important to note that arguably, marijuana has been considered to be among the safest illegal drugs such as heroine and cocaine. It has also been argued to be safer than some legal drugs such as tobacco and alcohol. Moreover, it has been confirmed to have pharmacological characteristic and consequently been used as a therapeutic drug for many years. It has been used in treatment of people suffering from chronic pain, Aids, cancer and other terminal diseases. Research is also being carried out to validate the alleged applicability in treatment of mental conditions such as anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder (Gruber et al, 2003). While looking at the negative impacts of marijuana on the user, it is also important to note that when used in moderation, marijuana does not have as many harmful effects as alcohol and tobacco. The social and economic impacts on marijuana could also reduce significantly if the use of marijuana is controlled. However, this is not possible when its use is illegal. No cases of accidents on the roads have been reported as a result of influence of marijuana despite it being the most abused drug in the United States. Moreover, although the health complication associated with alcohol and tobacco has been confirmed, very few have been confirmed in relation to marijuana. Reports on harmfulness of marijuana on the user have been inconclusive and mare hypothesis some of which are contradictory. Short term effects The active component in marijuana, THC, is responsible for the short term effects of marijuana experienced by the user. The main short term effects of the drug are as a result of its effects on the central nervous system. THC is known to bind to the protein receptor nerve cells in the brain. After binding, the chemical propagate a chemical reaction in the nervous system and produces the short term effects of the drug. One of the most immediate effects of these chemical reactions is restraining the user’s memory as well as learning abilities. After using the drug, the individual feels relaxed and may be very talkative. Other pleasant effects of marijuana use include lifting the moods, feeling relaxed and a change in the state of consciousness. This is why marijuana users claim to feel more enlightened and philosophical when they are high. These short term effects on the user plateau after thirty minutes to one hour and subsidies there after. However, there are evidences of some of the effects lasting for several days or weeks (Moore, et al, 2007). Other short term effects of marijuana include increase in appetite, dryness in the mouth, impaired logical thinking and slow reaction time. Intoxication with marijuana is also associated with nausea, occasional confusion, increased anxiety and agitation, increased heartbeat, loss of memory and paranoia or hallucinations. Marijuana users have also been found to have bloodspots in their eyes, inconsistent time perception and increased inability to carry out tasks that require concentration such as operating a machine or driving. The individual may also suffer from loss of motivation and decreased cognitive abilities making it difficult to learn or acquire new information. In general, the individual’s ability to learn, remember, make informed judgments, think critically, solve problems, communicate effectively and form concepts is impaired when he is high. Studies indicate that the risk of heart attack increase by more than four fold immediately after an individual has smoked marijuana. This is because the heart rate can increase with up to a hundred percent after using the drug which can be maintained for up to three hours. The increased risk of heart attack is also as a result of the changes in the heart rhythms. This risk increases with age and vulnerability to heart diseases (Gruber et al, 2003). Long term effects While the long term effects of marijuana are under investigation and therefore not well known, there is no doubt that long term use of marijuana have detrimental effects on the user’s health as well as social life. The insufficient information on long term use of marijuana is due to the fact that the drug has not been very common to many societies in the world until recently. There is no doubt that when marijuana smokers are compared to cigarette smokers, marijuana smokers consume much less cannabis compared to the tobacco consumed by cigarette smokers. However, this does not mean that marijuana smoking has insignificant long term effects compared to cigarette smoking and therefore should not be ignored. Recent studies have found out that there are more hydrocarbons that have potential carcinogenic effects in marijuana compared to tobacco. Moreover, marijuana smokers may be more exposed to these compounds than tobacco smokers because marijuana is deeply inhaled and the smoke is held for a longer time in the lungs compared to tobacco. This exposes the delicate tissues in the lungs to more carcinogenic compounds increasing the risk of cancer (Mittleman et al, 2001). Studies have indicated that marijuana use increase the risk of cancers such a cancer of the head and neck by up to three times. It has also been confirmed to have a significant contribution in the development of cancers that have traditionally been associated with tobacco smoking. Marijuana smoke is believed to have up to three times as much tar as in tobacco smoke. Moreover, it has over twice the number of potential carcinogenic compounds when compared to tobacco smoke. Logically, this suggests that marijuana smoking has a significant increase in the risk of development of cancerous cells leading to lung cancer. However, scientific research is underway to confirm these hypotheses. Other than marijuana being a recent drug among the wider population compared to other drugs, scientific research on its long term effects has been hindered by the small sample that is available due to punitive anti marijuana laws in many parts of the world. For examples, most of marijuana perennial users are still too young to have developed cancer. However, although there is no prove, long term marijuana users need to reconsider the risks associated with the drug (Hashibe, et al, 2006). The effects of long term use of marijuana in animals’ immune systems are well known. The immune system plays a vital role in protecting the body against harmful microorganisms. Research in animals indicates that the marijuana has a significant effect on the T cells, especially in the lungs. Although this has not been confirmed in human beings, there is no doubt that it affects the user’s immune systems because the animals’ immune system is similar to that of human beings. While it is expected that marijuana smokers too have similar respiratory system problems as tobacco smokers, it has been observed that majority of these problems are more frequent among marijuana smokers. They are more frequently attacked by chest colds, coughs, production of phlegm, and obstruction of airways and higher risk of lungs infections. This is possible due to the effect of the drug on the T cells and thus immune systems in the lungs (Tashkin, 2005). The long term effects of marijuana on the users reproductive system is not in doubt. This is more serious considering the fact that marijuana is one of the most abused drugs among young people in the United States. The active compound in marijuana has been known to have adverse effects on various parts of the central nervous system including areas that are responsible for controlling sexual hormones and growth. Consequently, long term use of marijuana has been found to reduce the level of testosterone and other sex hormones in male. In some cases, it has been associated with increased femininity due to distortion of the hormone system. It can also lead to infertility, reduced sperm count and increased abnormality in sperm cells. Significant cases of infertility in males has for this reason been linked to long term use of marijuana. The drug has been seen to have similar effects in females by altering the hormonal systems leading to irregular menstrual cycles. However, the alteration can be reversed but it may take time. It has also been found to negatively affect unborn babies who are born with an impaired nervous system. This results into children with poor learning abilities, hormonal irregularities, lack of attention and abnormal reactions to different stimulus such as sound and light (Moore, et al, 2007). Long term use of marijuana is also associated with mental disorders. One of the greatest negative effects of marijuana use in an individual is its addictive effects. The ability of the drug user to develop dependency on the drug has always been the main argument used to support prohibition of marijuana use. However, other mental disorders have been associated with long term use of marijuana. They include toxic psychosis which may reach acute levels, panic attacks, increased aggressiveness which the user is unable to control, flashbacks and delusions, paranoia and hallucinations as well as some cases of acute depression. Marijuana has also been suggested to trigger other serious mental conditions such as schizophrenia. These effects of the drug on the mental health of an individual have been the point of contention between pros and cons of therapeutic use of marijuana in terminally ill patients (Moore, et al, 2007). What are the legal guidelines and state statutes of some of the states that have legalized marijuana? The federal and states’ laws in the United States varies in relation to medical marijuana. According to the controlled substance act, the federal systems do not recognize the medical properties of marijuana. However, prosecuting patients or medical practitioner for using marijuana for therapeutic procedures is not a priority in the federal legal systems. The federal legal systems recognizes the fact that caregivers may be compelled to use medical marijuana in certain medical cases which is allowed in some states. Fourteen states have so far legalized medical marijuana use within their jurisdiction while others gives police or judge discretion to allow significant reduction in the punishment given to marijuana users for medical reasons. One of the most published states in relation to medical marijuana is California where the drug is distributed through dispensaries. It is estimated that medical marijuana industry in California was worth two billion dollars in 2008 which attracted over one hundred million dollars in tax (DPA, 2010). Despite majority of Americans and civil society organizations in America supporting legislation of medical marijuana, the federal government has always rejected the proposals. In 2005, the Supreme Court made a ruling confirming that a patient can be prosecuted in the federal court for using marijuana and medical reasons cannot be used as a defense. This law applies even in states that have legalized medical marijuana. Consequently, on several occasions, dispensaries distributing medical marijuana such as in California have been raided by federal officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration. The ruling by the Supreme Court provided an excellent opportunity for the amendment of the law to protect patients and medical marijuana legislatures in different states but the bill was once more rejected by congress (DPA, 2010). . Despite the congress rejecting the proposal to amend the law and legalize medical marijuana, the high court ruling had insignificant effects on the states’ medical marijuana laws. The court did not have the power to overturn or exercise authority over the states legislations. It is important to note that about 99 percent of marijuana related arrests are done at the states level which makes it possible for legislation in the states to protect patients and caregivers. The state laws can afford to effectively remove all penalties against individuals accused of growing, processing, distributing or possessing marijuana for medical reasons. Other states have not legalized medical marijuana but have symbolic legislatures that legally protect the patient in the state legal systems (DPA, 2010). From a wide range of contentious issues relating to drug policies in the United States, medical marijuana has received the greatest public support. The American population is skewed towards legalization of medical marijuana despite the federal government rejecting such proposals. Scientific studies have confirmed the medical value of marijuana in patients with serious terminal diseases such as cancer, Aids, epilepsy and chronic pain among others. There is also documented evidence of marijuana use in treating variety of illnesses in the ancient world. The most comprehensive study relating to medical marijuana was carried out in 1999 by the institute of medicine which concluded that marijuana has potent in the management of conditions such as loss of appetite, anxiety and chronic pain. Various professional bodies and organizations such as the American Public Health Association, the Aids Action Council and the National Association of Attorney Generals have deliberated on legal access to medical marijuana for patients with certain medical conditions. The American population has favored the abolishment of laws prohibiting production, distribution and use of medical marijuana at the state and federal level. Voters from various states have over the years passed ballot initiatives to push for legalization of medical marijuana. Over seventy percent of voters throughout the United States support the proposal to have legal marijuana available to medical practitioners for prescriptions (Cassidy, 2002). The point of contention on the legality of medical marijuana has been whether the benefit accrued is less than the risk involved. There have been many arguments on possible shortcoming upon legislation of medical marijuana. For example, questions have been raised on whether patients under marijuana prescription would be allowed to drive while under the influence of the drug, how to control the quantity the patient uses, the issue of addiction and medical marijuana getting into the wrong hands. However, it seems that this is not the main concern of the federal government. The main reason why the federal government has been opposed to legalization of marijuana for any reason is based on the Drug Enforcement Administration description of marijuana. DEA maintains that marijuana has no medical value and is a highly addictive substance with adverse effects on the body such as compromising the immune systems and triggering the development of cancer. The government has ignored some research that has confirmed the medical benefits on marijuana (Cassidy, 2002). Consequences on Law Enforcement What difficulties would Law Enforcement Officers encounter if marijuana was legalized? Legalization of marijuana is likely to bring about many challenges to the law enforcement structures. This is due to the interdependence of illegal drug markets where almost all narcotics go hand in hand. Although some people have argued that marijuana is safer compared to other illegal as well as some legal drugs, its legalization will in no doubt be a stepping stone drug. It will open up production, distribution and use of other harder drugs which will be problematic to law enforcement. Research indicates that progressive use of marijuana eventually leads the user to harder drugs. Because marijuana is considered a harmless drug, it is used for experimentation by potential hard drugs abusers. After a while, the user turns to other drugs. This will be worse if marijuana is made legal. More people will be introduced to it because of its legality and in the long run, the law enforcement will have a difficulty in dealing with a much bigger problem of harder drugs (Husak & Marneffe, 2005). The law enforcement agencies in the United States have enough drug related problems to deal with. The system ought to have learnt a good lesson from the legality of drugs such as alcohol. Road carnage as a result of driving under influence of alcohol is among the top killers in the United States. The law enforcement has always had a problem dealing with underage drinking and aggressive behaviors associated with alcoholism. Legalizing another drug means added problems. The dangers associated with stone driving will increase significantly. It is therefore wrong to legalize marijuana because it amounts to a victimless crime. There are many crimes that are associated with marijuana use such as violence and aggressiveness. Punitive penalties to deter irresponsible drinking have proved unworkable which suggests that it will be difficult to control marijuana use if legalized. A device can be used to detect drivers under the influence of alcohol, but this may not be possible when the driver is driving high. There is no doubt that legislation of marijuana will increase crime and burden in law enforcement (Husak & Marneffe, 2005). Arresting individuals found in possession of marijuana and other drugs reduces the likelihood of such individuals committing crimes. Drug addicts have been associated with minor and serious crimes such as shoplifting, theft and other property crimes to pay for their habits. Legalization of marijuana means that there will be more of these drug users in the streets and neighborhoods. These individuals are more likely to commit more serious crimes since the law enforcers are not obliged to get them out of the streets. Moreover, majority of murderers, rapists and robbers have been found to be drug addicts. By incarcerating these individuals for possession of drugs, they are incapacitated from committing such serious crimes. Common sense dictates prevention is better than dealing with the resultant problem. If there is reason to incarcerate potential murderers,

Ojt reaction paper Essay

A. Objectives: General To obtain knowledge in the real situation of the environment of chosen field and acquire experiences that can be used when we become an engineer. Specific  Students will adjust to working, and they will gain invaluable experience that they can take with them as they move forward with future careers and education. To apply the theories and computations that they have learned from the school. It also helps the students to acquire relevant knowledge and skills by performing in actual work setting. To prepare the students in the real life situation of the profession being chosen. B. SCHEDULE/TIMETABLE: C. AREAS OF TRAINING: Training on Estimate Training on Site Inspectioning Training on Punchlisting Training on Supervision of the construction works D. REFERENCE MATERIALS: Simplified Construction Estimate by: Max B. Fajardo Jr. (Third Edition) Planning and Designer’s Handbook by: Max B. Fajardo Jr. (Third Edition) Strength of Materials by: Andrew Pytel and Ferdinand L. Singer (Fourth Edition) VI. PERSONAL EVALUATION OF THE TRAINING PROGRAM 1. Significant Achievements . I have learned many things that supposed to do in site constructing interior layout of the building, like how to do punch listing, inspection of the material to be used in ceiling because there are different acoustic board that is to be used in every part of the room, and doing as-built plan. Those are what I have done in my internship that I consider my achievement in my internship because even though I have encountered difficulties in doing it, I finished the work given to me. 2. Technical skills and new technology learned Since I am in a company that focused on renovation and interior layout I was not able to encounter new technologies rather more on technical skills, just like learning new command in operating auto-cad, doing sketch-up, and as-built plan. And estimating an architectural and structural plan. 3. Equipment, machinery testing apparatus, etc., handled I was not able to handle machinery testing apparatus since I am more on technical works. 4. Experiences with the company personnel Involved in the training My first day as intern is not that easy, mixed with excitement and unexplainable fear, it is my first time to enter the reality of our chosen field. At first, our supervisor oriented me on what to do and exposed to other employees as well. As the days pass by, I learned to adapt new things with this kind of environment. All the staff and engineers are approachable so I can ask them things that I want to know. 5. Strong points Good communication and supervising skills are my strong points. I can handle labourers with different attitudes. 6. Weak points and suggested solutions One of my weak points is that I don’t have the confident of doing things on my own, I always relay to my co-intern because I’m afraid to commit mistakes and be punished. But then as I already adapted to the flow of the work I have learned to do my task on my own. Recommendations: Potential of the company as a training ground During my stay at the company as intern, I can say that it has a potential to be a training ground for an aspiring engineers. There are things that are not taught in school that they taught us, and the thing is that they it is not just based on some book but they actually taught us of what is really happening in an actual situation based on their experience. They gave me task that is related to my course. Suggestions for the improvement of the training program With regards to the training program, I suggest to have a website or e-mail where in we are able to send a day to day or weekly report online. This is for the students to have an easy way of sending and compiling of their day to day activity. In addition, it also help the coordinator to monitor the students under the on the job training programs. Advise to future On-the-Job Trainees As an advice for those who are going to take their On-the-job training, be more attentive to what the trainee is teaching, it might not be necessary for now as a student but as you go along or after you graduated and start to work you can use the knowledge you have obtain during your training.

Legal memo

We filed a complaint last month in trial court alleging that there was negligence on the part of the store. We were seeking an award for damages. In the answer to the complaint the store alleges that Samaritan Smith had a duty to avoid the spill, and was unable to fulfill that duty because she was distracted by her misbehaving child. The store claims that her being distracted makes her equally at fault for the Injuries sustained in her trip and fall accident.Statement of Facts: While shopping at the local grocery store with her young son, Samaritan Smith lipped on clear, gel shampoo that had spilled Into the Isle. The fall resulted In a broken hip, requiring an overnight stay at the hospital as well as several months of physical therapy. The grocery store Indicated that although they complete hourly Isle clearance checks they were unaware of the spill. Issues: 1. Was the store negligent for not providing an environment free from hazards? 2.Is Samaritan Smith partially responsible for her injuries based on her not keeping proper lookout and not avoiding the spill? 3. Based on the Comparative Fault Act, can Samaritan Smith recover for her injuries? BRIEF ANSWERS: 1. In Indiana the owner oaf business or store is required to take reasonable measures to keep their property in a reasonably safe condition for persons who will be using the property. 2. Samaritan Smith does have a responsibility to maintain her own personal safety. 3. Based on the Comparative Fault Act, can Samaritan Smith recover for her injuries? Applicable Statue: 1.â€Å"A Claimant is barred from recovery if the Claimant's introductory fault is greater than the fault of all persons whose fault proximately contribute to the claimant's damages†. The amount awarded is reduced and possibly eliminated based on the level of claimant's fault found. Legal memo By cathedral The store claims that her being distracted makes her equally at fault for the injuries slipped on clear, gel shampoo that had spi lled into the isle. The fall resulted in a physical therapy. The grocery store indicated that although they complete hourly isle Legal Memo I chose to say contributory negligence because we cannot deny that cases of beer were not properly secured In our vehicle, proving that It was some percentage of our own default. ‘The plaintiff shall be barred from recovering damages if the Trier of fact finds that the contributory fault on the part of the plaintiff is more than 50% of the proximate cause of the Injury or damage for which recovery is sought. Illinois State Statute 735 ILLS 5/2-1116(c) (2011). Thus we must provide proof that the plaintiff, Mr..King contributed at least 51% of the negligence. A similar case would be Attainment v Modern Industries, INC. 960 F. Ad 692; 1992 U. S. App. LEXIS 6205. This case Involved a collision between a truck (Defendant, Modern Industries) and a person (Attainment). Attainment died due to his Injuries resulting from the accident. The decedent's mother brought a wrongful death slut against Modern Industries. Attainment was found to be 51% at fault thus the claim against Modern Indus tries was denied.Attainment's actions before he collided with Modern Industries are what led to the accident In the first place. An example of one of Attainment's contribution to the accident Is: â€Å"No person shall open the door of a vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless and until It Is reasonably safe to do so, and can be done without Interfering with the movement of other traffic, nor shall any person leave a door open on the side of a vehicle available to moving traffic or a period of time longer than necessary to load or unload passengers. Ill. Rev. Stats. 1989, chi. 95 1/2, par. 11-1407. Legal Memo PAP 10 By Jeroboams that cases of beer were not properly secured in our vehicle, proving that it was some percentage of our own default. â€Å"The plaintiff shall be barred from recovering is more than 50% of the proximate cause of the injury or damage for which recovery U. S. App. LEXIS 6205. This case involved a collision between a truck (Defendant, Modern Ind ustries) and a person (Attainment).Attainment died due to his injuries resulting from the accident. The decedent's mother brought a wrongful death suit Modern Industries are what led to the accident in the first place. An example of one of Attainment's contribution to the accident is: â€Å"No person shall open the door of a vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so, and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic, nor

Just Take Away Their Guns by James Wilson Essay

Just Take Away Their Guns by James Wilson - Essay Example This paper illustrates that Wilson assumes various rhetorical choices to explain how the removal of the illegal use of guns must be the focus of the government. In the article, he employs logos or logical appeal with persuasive facts that are likely to appeal to an American audience majority of whom is security conscious and by his own admission, they are likely to control the gun control laws but they are not sure they are going to be effective. In this case, Wilson begins by stating that creation of tougher gun control laws is not an effective method of dealing with illegal possession of firearms. Legal restraint of citizens to possess guns has little effect in dealing with the illegal use of firearms. Many guns are stolen, borrowed, or attained through private purchases and therefore, the government gun laws would be ineffective. Wilson succeeds in selling this particular idea to the readers because, from a logical perspective, he has statistically proven that the guns used in cri me are guns acquired by illegal means which the new laws are not going to have any effect on. By so doing, he has managed to effectively prove that the new laws are redundant and misguided since they will be unlikely to address the problem at hand. Wilson further uses exemplification and appeals to expert opinions, to clarify the importance of ensuring that the public can access guns legally without limitations. Gun control supporters largely disregard the need for self-defense among the citizens citing that the government can provide this necessity. However, Wilson cites Gary Kleck, a criminologist who has conducted research, indicating that every year guns are fired for self-defense purposes more than a million times what the police use. This research, therefore, indicates that the numbers of citizens that defend themselves with guns are more than the number of arrests that occur for violent crimes. Wilson provides an example to show the legitimacy of self-defense that discourages criminal activity. It is evident from the National Crime Survey that citizens that defend themselves with guns are less likely to suffer a loss of property or be harmed than those that do not. Further, statistics indicate criminals are scared of victims with guns in many instances. Wilson adopts the definition rhetoric choice in helping the reader understand the importance of government efforts in seizing illegal firearms. He defines the word â€Å"frisk† as parting down an individual’s outer garments, which occurs during a physical search. Frisk is an important part of the operation that law enforcement agencies must be encouraged to adapt to remove illegal guns from the public. It is thus unequivocal that the government’s effort to search for illegal firearms from criminals is more important than disarming the citizens. This is because the main problem is caused by criminals in the procession of illegal weapons as opposed to law-abiding citizens who have obta ined guns for their own safety. Rhetorical Situation Due to the increased rate of gun violence, there is an urgency that has motivated exigency in the article is created by the call for tougher laws to restrict people from acquiring firearms legally.

Does CCTV reduce crime Critically discuss Essay

Does CCTV reduce crime Critically discuss - Essay Example There exist such measures, which have proved to be very useful for personal security. Some of the widely used methods of private security include security alarms, door obstacles, fences, and closed circuit televisions. Hess (2009, p.3) asserts, â€Å"Private security meets the needs of individuals, businesses, institutions and organizations that require more protection than is offered by public police officers†. Before going into the discussion regarding crime reduction/ prevention and using closed circuit televisions to effectively reduce the crime rate, let us get a better understanding of what crime prevention actually is. Crime prevention is an attempt to either prevent the crimes or decrease the level of criminal acts in any specific area or a country. Hayes (1997) found that crime prevention involves design and deploying of protective people, processes, and strategies. These strategies are implemented in various judicial and extra judicial settings. The main goal of any crime prevention strategy is not only to secure the lives and properties of the public but also to eliminate those reasons, which act as the root cause for any sort of unlawful activity. Crime prevention is extremely important for the safety and security of the public. Reducing the risk of victimization is one of the basic objectives of crime prevention. Tilley (2005) found that crime prevention means to reduce the cri me rate and event disorders through implementation of effective crime prevention strategies. Crime rate decreases in a country when the government of that country takes appropriate steps to prevent or reduce the risk of victimization by reducing the crime opportunities for the criminals. If we want to reduce the level of crime rate, we must implement a well-planned crime prevention strategy. Citizens of a country should not just rely on the services provided by the public police. They should also take proper security

Effective Project Control Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Effective Project Control - Assignment Example According to Fox (2010), the implications of applying strategic guidelines to define the procedure of project management are relevant with reference to examining various methods through which a particular project can be organized. For example, models such as PERT are critical in exploring and assessing the efficacy of applying alternative options in cases where the original plan has failed to generate desired consequences. Moreover, Fox (2010) also notes that such facilities also provide managers with the ability to control the project in a more effective manner by integrating standard guidelines. In accordance with this understanding the most important element to ensuring effective control can be labeled as the determination of a critical path and the management of time constraints for meeting outlined goals and aims. The recognition of a critical path as a factor in effective project control essentially aims to align the gap between expected and achieved project times calculated on as per the entirety of the project (Fox, 2010). Consequently, the succeeding factor of consideration is linked with exploring the operational demands of the project; these elements are marked by outlining various factors including the suggested organization and allocation of resources and materials in addition with the prioritizing operations and activities. Integral concepts in effective project control and management comprise of understanding the significance of time management and scheduling (Lewis, 2004). However, in the realm of the controlling element of project management, it is fundamental to identify specific activities and operational aspects of the work so as to explore the potential of resources and assign them to respective projects. According to Lewis (2004), the estimation of cumulative resource allocation and the assignment of each factor is important

Your book identifies five factors that contribute to the growth of Essay

Your book identifies five factors that contribute to the growth of tourism. Discuss these trends and how they have become more relevant or less relevant in our current world situation - Essay Example Since the dual income family trend is increasing, the demand for tourism destinations is also increasing. The latter will increase the supply of tourism in the next few decades, which is good for the tourism industry. Unlike a few decades ago, travel has become more dynamic. Travel options for the disabled, the elderly and the able bodied has been increasingly receiving attention. As welfare associations pressure, air companies support disabled travelling amenities and they provide traveling options for the elderly. Improving travelling conditions is important to the tourism industry since the market range increases exponentially (Silva & Howard, 2006). Tourism industries nowadays accommodate all people interested in visiting different sites due to good travel amenities. It involves commissioning a company to cater for all the tour needs of related tourists. The company picks the site, caters for accommodation and organizes the activities. All the latter activities are done at a lower price, and they attract more tourists (Silva & Howard, 2006). Package tours help save money hence their relevance in the current world and economy is evident. Most people relate to the internet due to evolution of technology. It is easier to pick tourism sites and book the means of travel out of the comfort of one’s home. Eliminating the stress associated with queuing and doing things manually in a digital world makes the internet a relevant aspect in the current world (Silva & Howard, 2006). It is an aspect that almost everybody can associate with and maneuver, hence it will be relevant for a long time to

Literature review and evaluation of the evidence Essay

Literature review and evaluation of the evidence - Essay Example With the patient as the â€Å"unit of analysis,† comparing the feedback-2 period with baseline, the proportion of patients who received any promoted strategy increased from 0.7% to 45.6% (P Pouzeratte et al (2001) reported that thoracic epidural analgesia was more effective with bupivacaine than with ropivacaine when these two local anesthetics are used in a mixture with sufentanil after major abdominal surgery and ropivacaine alone was less effective than ropivacaine in combination with sufentanil. Intensity of post-operative pain was assessed with a reliable and valid Visual Analogue Scale. The study was planned well with a prospective double blind design. In order to assess the tolerability and efficacy of a single dose of paracetamol solution infused intravenously (1g) compared with those of a single dose of Propacetamol (2g) in patients with moderate to severe pain after minor gynecologic surgery, a randomized, double blind, active controlled, 2-parallel group study was performed by Marty et al (2005). The study concluded that a single dose of IV-Paracetamol infusion was associated with better local tolerability, simlar analgesic efficacy, and greater patient satisfaction compared with a single bioequivalent dose of Propacetamol in patients with moderate to severe pain after minor gynecologic surgery. Charghi et al (2003) examined the hypothesis that pain treatment with patient controlled analgesia (PCA) using iv morphine is a suitable and safe alternative to epidural analgesia in morbidly obese patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery. They concluded that PCA with iv morphine is an acceptable strategy for pain management in obese patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery. Mujadi (2006) in a prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical trial reported that preoperative gabapentin decreased pain scores and postoperative morphine consumption in patients following thyroid surgery. Reuben (2000) evaluated the analgesic efficacy of administering a single preoperative dose of celecoxib or rofecoxib for spinal fusion surgery. The study found that rofecoxib demonstrated an extended analgesic effect that lasted throughout the 24-h study. The morphine dose required was significantly less in five of the six time intervals in the rofecoxib group compared with the celecoxib group. Rockeymann (1997)compared the costs, quality of analgesia, and side effects of postoperative patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) with bupivacaine/ sufentanil versus an epidural bolus (BOLUS) of clonidine/morphine in 68 patients with pancreatic surgery. An epidural clonidine/ morphine bolus technique resulted in inferior analgesia, more side effects, and comparable costs compared with a bupivacaine / sufentanil patient controlled

Etihad towers hotel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Etihad towers hotel - Essay Example For instance, the majority of these rooms range from forty to sixty square meters, while others are designed to have a space ranging from ninety two to nine hundred and eighty square meters. These specially designed rooms are referred to as Royal Etihad Suite and they are situated at the sixtieth floor of the Etihad Towers. Other features of the hotel include 199 residences that are serviced; in fact, this are meant for customers that are available for longer stays (Jumeirah, 2013). The hotel has variety of restaurants and lounges which provide customers with extensive alternatives for cookery temptations, which are located at the sixty third floors to the beach; this cookery offers entire day dinning and Lebanese restaurants and veranda seating. The hotel has an executive lounge, which offers food and beverages, internet lounge, shower suits, and a business center, which is fitted with four meeting rooms situated at level forty five (Jumeirah, 2013). The hotel offers a conference ce nter, which is completely equipped with ballroom; in fact, it has a capacity that can accommodate up to 1400 delegates. There are thirteen meeting rooms and pre-functions spaces that offer sea view, while on the other hand, the hotel offers leisure time through Talise Spa in fourteen treatment suits, Rasoul chamber, and hammam (Jumeirah, 2013). There are extensive gyms fitted with sophisticated equipments, while its other side offers a landscape of oasis pools, gardens and private beach; in fact, section in this part offer retail therapy at superb Etihad Towers boutiques. SWOT Analysis of Etihad Towers Hotel Strengths Jumeirah hotel derives advantages due to its location, since it is accessible to customers from the air port city shopping malls and central business district area. Furthermore, the hotel has been benefiting from increasing demand of rooms due to absence of other hotels of its class. There are numerous features offered by this hotel to customers and they make a signifi cant contribution to the strengths of the hotel (Landman, 2010). Some of these features are unique and cannot be provided by their competitors; for instance, application of technology in their services has earned them a competitive advantage in the market. The other source of strength is increased foreign investment, whereby this has led to increased number of business men taking business trips to UAE and they seek accommodation from this hotel; in fact, this number includes government officials from other countries. In this case, all these customers find this hotel to be in a convenient location due to its proximity to central business district and government offices. Weakness The hotel is highly dependent on its geographical location, whereby they are expecting to attract customers from the nearby central business district and shopping mall, and air port. Therefore this can lead to lack of strategies that can enable them target and venture into new market; in fact, they are confin ed into to a single market which leads to increased vulnerability in case there is economic recession (Landman, 2010). The hotel has commenced operating recently; thus, it has not acquired substantial brand equity and client base in the area (Management Study Guide, 2012). Opportunities There are

Marketing Plan for Coca-Cola Co Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing Plan for Coca-Cola Co - Term Paper Example To create awareness about a healthy lifestyle should be the focus of its strategy and the sales would automatically follow. Regular monitoring is essential to know where the strategy is moving. 1. Company History Started in 1886, Coke was marketed as a tonic containing extracts of cocaine and caffeine-rich kola nut until 1905 (Bellis 2011). As the popularity of soda fountain declined, the company released the â€Å"New Coke† formula in 1985. Today more than one billion drinks of Coke are consumer every day. In 125 years of its existence the company has developed more than 160 low and no calories drinks in its range of products (The Coca-Cola Company 2010). It currently has more than 500 brands and is available in more than 200 countries across the world. Coke now plans to launch an energy drink in the UK market and since the market is already saturated, it has to evaluate the market characteristics, which would help the company to formulate the marketing strategy. 2. Environme ntal Analysis 2.1 Economic Analysis The UK is one of the most globalized countries and its economy is the sixth-largest economy in the world. The UK has a GDP of 1.353 Euro or 23.300 Euro per inhabitant, which is the European average (Senior Watch n.d.). The UK has the opportunity to invest at the national as well as the individual level. The UK economy is just recovering and hence even short-term tax imposed on soft and energy drinks could jeopardise the fragile economy recovery (BSDA 2011). The food and drink sector represents over 15% of manufacturing turnover and employment (IfM 2010). Its output was not affected even during the recession. The weekly earnings of people employed in this sector are above average and the job tenure is over nine years; the sector has only 6% temporary workers. 2.2 Social Analysis The wealth of an individual elderly person in UK is high (Senior Watch n.d.). The education level of the people is also high in UK. Obesity levels are very high in UK. Almo st two in every adult in the UK are overweight. The quality of food and drink, as well as the sedentary lifestyle has been identified as the reasons for overweight in UK (EMIS 2008). UK soft drinks consumption has gone up by 4% since 2009 as per chart shown in Appendix A. People are keen to include daily exercises and workout because of this the health and energy drinks market has high growth potential. 2.3 Political analysis The UK does not have a President and historically most British governments are composed of ministers from a single political party although at times there is a small opposition party (Darlington 2011). Generally the UK enjoys high political stability and hence the regulations for sectors such as food and drinks sector would not change drastically. The three parts of the UK have their own local administration and responsibilities. 2.4 Legal and regulatory analysis Since soft drinks contain high caffeine levels and since their popularity is growing, the BSDA (Bri tish Soft Drinks Association) has released a code of practice stating how the drinks should be labeled and marketed so that consumers have all the information. The labels are also expected to carry the statement, â€Å"Not suitable for children, pregnant women and persons sensitive to caffeine†

Media Bias in War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Media Bias in War - Essay Example The media – which include print and electronic means of communication such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio and the internet – are not immune from such overarching impact of war. In particular, when their own people, ethnic groups, and countries are involved in the war, war reporters and media organizations can hardly remain unbiased unless they are prepared to be called unpatriotic and get demonized Actually, war affects media organizations and their war reporters more than many other segments of warring societies. War reporters have to gather news from the dangerous frontlines where many them lose their lives every year at the hand of one or the other party to war. If a reporter is killed by one side deliberately or accidently, media organizations and the public, out of spontaneous human instinct, often blame the killers and their side and project them in a bad light. Even when a war has not directly affected reporters and media outlets in such fashion, it influences them directly or indirectly in so many other ways. For instance, the death or deployment of a relative or friend in the frontline and disruption of their own plans, like a much-coveted trip, due to war might dilute the neutrality of reporters. When war affects individuals personally, their first instinctive reaction would be to blame the party that they perceive guilty of starting the war and causing them hardships. So much so that human beings blame the boulder when they stumble on it and hurt themselves rather that blaming themselves for not taking caution to avoid hitting it. Besides, so many other factors also often influence reporters and dilute their objectivity and neutrality. Such factors include personal links, philosophical conviction, media organizations’ mission and motto, cultural connections, geographical proximity, conditions in which reporting is done, sympathy for the underdog, etc. Individual reporters, due to their personal links to one of the pa rties to war or ethical and philosophical conviction, might have their own angles and biases to view a war or the parties engaged in it. For instance, one of the parties to war could be their ancestral country that occupies a special place in their heart. Reporters might also have a soft corner for one country more than other because of their experience or because of what they have read or been told by seniors and friends. Philosophically, they could innately be pro-war or anti-war. An anti-war reporter would begin by blaming the party that has started the war, even though there might have been sufficient underlying provocation from the other party. Confronted with the duty of war reporting, reporters’ first instinct would be to apply their ingrained bias based on their links, acquired wisdom and conviction and assign the blame on the perceived bad guy. Even the most dedicated and honest journalist cannot be free from these elements of bias in war reporting. Rational decision s of individual war reporters and other media players collectively put out lies, half-truths and disinformation that encourages war and discourages conflict resolution (Russ-Mohl). This explains why different reporters come up with different narratives for the same event. Such differences might also occur due to the motto, mission and orientation of media organization

Marketing evaluate of online gambling in Indonesia Essay Example for Free

Marketing evaluate of online gambling in Indonesia Essay Introduction Developing our company business of online gambling enter to new market –Indonesia due to more and more competitors share market of China now, otherwise, the Chinese government crackdown illegal online gambling website from end of 2009 to now, so we must be to reduce the business risk and look for other potential new market to do the business and make sure company business stable development. The article will be introduce gambling, online gambling history, business environment and relation of market analysis of China, also guide to know currently status of online gambling and trend in China market. For new Southeast Asia market, why need to go to Indonesia and isn’t others country, its every important question for us to know. We will be chose two markets of Southeast Asia countries as Thailand and Malaysia making comparisons with the new market as Indonesia. Before comparisons, also we should be known about Thailand, Malaysia market, how about those country business environment, and online market analysis. According with result from comparisons, we will get the answer in below review about why choose Indonesia to do business of online gambling, and SWOT analysis about doing business in Indonesia. After that, also have formulate market strategic about what’s the best way to go to do business, and how to developing business in Indonesia as market resource, campaign, and local agent of online gambling etc. After Analysis Indonesia market and compare with other Southeast Asia country, we also need to know how to enter Indonesia market of doing business and develop the business Statement of the problem What is the market value of Indonesia for doing business of online gambling? Indonesia is the third largest populated country in Asia after China and India, have enough resource in internet circumstance, economy and marketing resource to do business. Otherwise, Indonesia is the worlds most populous Muslim country, with about 90% of its 237 million citizens practicing Islam, Under Islam, gambling of all kinds is strictly prohibited, but gambling often continues as an important part of life of some Muslims. Revenue is major value for a firm; Indonesia lost around $320Million by illegal in 2009, its more than others Southeast Asia. Follow the economy growth, Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy and has delivered consistently high annual growth exceeding 6% in both 2007 and 2008. Growth of between 2% and 4. 5% is expected in 2009. The market will generate more and more revenue in the future. What are the aspects of value analysis for new market? For the paper will do the analysis of Existing market as China, Malaysia and Thailand about environment analysis, market analysis, and currently status, after analysis different between Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, we got know value of Indonesia market. Others, to develop business in the new market, we also need to do competitors analysis, customer analysis and 4p analysis to know our company advantage and disadvantage. Existing market analysis China market- Environment analysis According to the latest figures from CNNIC, the number of Internet users in China rose to 420 million at the end of June, 2010, an increase of almost 36 million users in the first six months of year 2010 and including 115. 1 million users in the rural areas. The current Internet penetration rate in China is 31. 6% acording to Internet World Stats statistics. YEAR| Users| Population| % Pen. | Usage Source| 2000| 22,500,000| 1,288,307,100| 1. 7 %| ITU| 2001| 33,700,000| 1,288,307,100| 2. 6 %| ITU| 2002| 59,100,000| 1,288,307,100| 4. 6 %| ITU| 2003| 69,000,000| 1,288,307,100| 5. 4 %| CNNIC| 2004| 94,000,000| 1,288,307,100| 7. 3 %| CNNIC| 2005| 103,000,000| 1,289,664,808| 7. 9 %| CNNIC| 2006| 137,000,000| 1,317,431,495| 10. 4 %| CNNIC| 2007| 162,000,000| 1,317,431,495| 12. 3 %| CNNIC| 2008| 253,000,000| 1,330,044,605| 19. 0 %| CNNIC| 2009| 384,000,000| 1,338,612,968| 28. 7 %| CNNIC| 2010| 420,000,000| 1,330,141,295| 31. 6 %| CNNIC|. Mature netizens take a larger percentage in the age structure of the Chinese Internet users than before, and those above the age of 30 accounts for 41% of the total. At the same time, the educational background and income level of the Chinese netizens has lowered. The time period spent in the use of the Internet by Chinese netizens continues to increase and reached an average of 19. 8 hours per week per user. China Market analysis According to China Internet Market 2009 Q2 Report, the market size of China Internet in Q2 2009 is 16. 76 billion Yuan, having increased 17% compared to last quarter with a 22. 2% increase compared to Q2 in 2008. Also China is the worlds biggest online gaming market. According to the director of the Chinese development firm, Sino, Richard Li, the Chinese gambling market turns over $100 billion, 95 percent illegally. Just like Western countries, China needs to fund social services for its aged population, so pragmatism, rather than intolerance for bourgeouis entertainment, is triumphing. Current status and trends of online gambling in China After Germany world cup, more and more online gambling companies enter to China. In end of 2006, just have around 20 companies in China market, until 2010, have more than 100 companies, the competitor increase fourfold. The market share reduces compare with before. Otherwise, we know the only forms of legal gambling in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are the two government lotteries: the Welfare Lottery and the Sports Lottery. These are is very popular in China. From end of 2009 to now, the Chinese government strengthen promote Chinese lotteries, and crackdown illegal online gambling website and closed around 300 website. Lead Chinas lottery market has generated RMB69. 4 billion in profits around in 2010 alone. Even so, the revenues generated by illegal gambling operations in mainland PRC are estimated to be 10-20 times larger than the combined revenues from both legal lotteries Trends of Online gambling in China These indicators tend to imply that gambling is socially acceptable in China, and that Chinas enforcement policy extends only to unsanctioned casino operators, not to the citizens actually playing. Recently there have been signs that change is imminent, and that we may soon see the birth of Chinese legislation that governs online casinos in China. Ultimately the reasons come down to money. The last decade has seen an unprecedented level of economic development in China, such that there are now far more wealthy Chinese than ever before and these people are clearly gambling, whether they have to travel to Macau or beyond. Regulating the industry would allow the Chinese government to keep a larger portion of that growth capital inside China through licensing fees and through taxation. In the meantime, however, Chinese gambling fans continue to break the law whenever they visit an online casino. Malaysia Market Environment analysis. In Malaysia, it may come as a surprise to many that the Malaysia has one of the highest internet penetrations in the world, with 65. 7% of its population going online. It is fast catching up with America, which has over 74% of its population online. There are 16 million internet users in Malaysia. YEAR| Users| Population| % Pen. | Usage Source| 2000| 3,700,000| 24,645,600| 15. 0 %| ITU| 2005| 10,040,000| 26,500,699| 37. 9 %| C. I. Almanac| 2006| 11,016,000| 28,294,120| 38. 9 %| ITU| 2007| 13,528,200| 28,294,120| 47. 8 %| MCMC| 2008| 15,868,000| 25,274,133| 62. 8 %| MCMC|. 2009| 16,902,600| 25,715,819| 65. 7 %| ITU| 2010| 16,902,600| 26,160,256| 64. 6 %| ITU| Malaysia Economic Analysis The country’s rich natural resources ensure sound developments in agriculture, forestry and mining. Economic growth is also attributed to its border with the Strait of Malacca which is an important international shipping crossroad, which promotes the country’s international trade. Malaysia’s well developed manufacturing sector produces a diverse range of goods. The first three quarters of 2009, however, witnessed steep decline in the country’s economic growth. Volume of exports reduced drastically due to reduced consumer goods demand globally. The situation, however, improved somewhat in the Q4FY09. The Tenth Malaysia Plan is all set to be introduced in June 2010. Malaysia Market analysis As for casino gambling in Malaysia, there are very few options. The country has only one legal casino, and though it is large and very complete, it is the only place where Malaysians can legally play table games and card games in the country. This has lead to a problem with underground gambling dens and sports betting shops that the Malaysian government is currently working to solve. Before July 2009, online gambling is legal, and most of online gambling company get the operate license in Malaysia. After the 6 July 2009, The Malaysia government cancelled the entire license and does not offer licenses to open internet gambling sites. And also takes some measures to ensure that Malaysian players do not use foreign internet gambling sites. Also, Malaysian banks are not supposed to authorize transfers to or from online gambling websites. This rule is very loosely followed, however, and there is still a number of banking methods open to Malaysian players who want to gamble online. In fact, some of the bigger online gambling websites that are hosted in other countries even offer their services in Malay, letting players make the best of their internet gambling experience. Current status of online gambling in Malaysia Malaysian gambling laws forbid all forms of sports betting except for horse racing, and online gambling in all forms is equally prohibited. But online gambling sites in Malaysia has proven been most popular in the Sarawak region, where visitors are 48 more likely to visit. Sarawak stands out from other Barisan Nasional and even other Malaysian states in that the regional government disapproves the federal government’s moves to legalize online gambling. And most of gamblers go to there for online gambling. Thailand Market Environment analysis The population of Thailand is now 66. 4 million, about 10 million of whom live in the capital city of Bangkok. Thais form the majority, though the area has historically been a migratory crossroads, and thus strains of Mon, Khmer, Burmese, Lao, Malay, Indian and most strongly, Chinese stock produce a degree of ethnic diversity. Integration is such, however, that culturally and socially there is enormous unity. YEAR| Users| Population| % Pen. | GDP p. c. *| Usage Source| 2000| 2,300,000| 61,528,000| 3,7%| US$ N/A| ITU| 2007| 8,465,800| 67,249,456| 12. 6%| US$ 3,759| ITU| 2009| 16,100,000| 65,998,436| 24. 4%| US$ 3,940| ITU| 2010| 17,486,400| 66,404,688| 26. 3%| US$ 4,403| ITU| According to estimates of United Nations Population Information Network, the population of Thailand would be about 74 million in the year 2050. Until 2010s, total have 17. 4million internet user have 26. 3% population used Thailand Market analysis The primary form of legal gambling in Thailand is the national lottery. It was started in 2003, mostly because a large underground lottery system was already operating and the government felt the best way to drive it out was to create an officially sanctioned lottery system. But even the legal lottery is not immune from illegal activities in 2006 the prime minister and other government officials were accused of skimming more than $1 billion from state lottery revenues. Online gambling in Thailand is also forbidden. The Thai government does not provide licenses that would allow internet gambling websites to be hosted in Thailand. In fact, they have never even considered allowing for online gambling in Thailand since land-based gambling is mostly forbidden. In spite of the ban on internet gambling the Thai government does very little to prevent players from using foreign online gambling sites. These websites are hosted in different countries, places where the Thai government has no jurisdiction. This means there is little they can do to prevent players in Thailand from using them. There are many online gambling sites that accept Thai players, though few are available in Thai. Current status of online gambling in Thailand Online gambling continues to permeate all countries and cultures, despite governments persistent efforts to outlaw the practice. Thailand is the latest country to find increasing numbers of citizens wagering online. If individuals running illegal sites are identified, the Thai Anti-Money Laundering Office will freeze any assets and arrest and prosecute those deemed culpable. Gambling in Thailand is highly illegal, but base on DSI data reveals at least 10,000 subscribers to suspected gambling sites. Soccer wagering has become an increasingly popular form of play, particularly among younger gamblers. The appeal of gambling online continues to grow worldwide, and the most logical reaction of government is to tax the hobby and enjoy a steady new revenue source, rather than waste funds fighting a battle that is unwinnable. Indonesia Market Environment analysis Indonesia is the third largest populated country in Asia after China and India. also is Southeast Asia’s largest economy and has delivered consistently high annual growth exceeding 6% in both 2007 and 2008. Growth of between 2% and 4. 5% is expected in 2009. The consumer market continues to grow in the world’s fourth-largest country. There are more than 237 million citizens, 50% of whom are under the age of 30. GDP per person exceeds its ASEAN neighbors such the Philippines and Indonesia has a GDP per person three times that of Vietnam. Indonesia is a thriving democracy with significant regional autonomy Indonesia is a market-based economy but the government plays a significant role in the countrys economy with 160 government-owned enterprises. Indonesias GDP per capita ranks fifth after Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Thailand. Indonesias GDP was US$258. 3 billion with a GDP per capita of US$1,193 in 2004. Indonesias real GDP grew at an average of 4. 6% annually from 2000 to 2004 driven by domestic consumption accounting for nearly three-quarters of Indonesias GDP Current status of online gambling in Indonesia According to Indonesian gambling laws all forms of gambling are illegal and prohibited. Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim country and about 90% of its 237 million inhabitants ardently practice Islam. Gambling of all kinds is strictly prohibited by Islam. According to statistics, however, there are 23. 7 million residents who don’t practice Islam and many of them have found ways to gamble. Illegal gambling is prevalent throughout Indonesia. Dense population and police corruption have allowed illegal casinos to operate without regards to the Islamic ban on gambling. That’s the reason for many of the online gambling company go in to Indonesia market. In additional this country is a biggest country compare with other Southeast Asia country. Compare analysis with other Southeast Asia country. Population Indonesia is the third largest populated country in Asia after China and India. Also is Southeast Asia’s largest economy and has delivered consistently high annual growth exceeding 6% in both 2007 and 2008. Growth of between 2% and 4. 5% is expected in 2009. The consumer market continues to grow in the world’s fourth-largest country. Indonesia is a market-based economy but the government plays a significant role in the countrys economy with 160 government-owned enterprises. Indonesias GDP per capita ranks fifth after Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Thailand. Internet user. With 30 million Internet users as of the end of 2009, Indonesia is the 5th largest Internet market in Asia (after China, Japan, India, and South Korea). The number of Internet users in Indonesia is growing really fast (the highest growth among Asia countries after China), especially the number of users who use their mobile phone to access the Internet. In five years, about more than half of the Indonesian population or 150 million people are projected to have access to the Internet (most of them through their mobile phone). Compared to the population (not Internet users) of Singapore (4.8 million), Malaysia (27 million), South Korea (48. 6 million). Thailand (67 million), Vietnam (86 million), and Philippine (90 million), it is clear that the number of Internet users in Indonesia will be significantly higher than the number of Internet users in those countries. Usage of Internet Internet users in Indonesia spend about 17. 2 hours online per month According to a survey conducted by Nielsen Indonesia, most Indonesians use the Internet for checking email (42%), reading newspaper (39%), searching for information about products or services (29%), reading magazines (27%), and chatting (23%). A study by comScore shows only 50% of Indonesian Internet users do online shopping and they spend only 1% on their online time for shopping. Clearly, online shopping is still not the main reason for Indonesians to go online. While Indonesians are still cautious in using the Internet for shopping, there are very enthusiastic to online social networking. 28 million Indonesians have account(s) with Facebook, making them the 3rd largest Facebook users in the world. As of June 2010, Indonesians also produced the 3rd highest number of tweets in the world. It is not surprising at all that 87% of Indonesians does social networking and they spend 32. 6% of their online time or 5. 8 hours per month in websites such as Facebook and Twitter Most Internet users (84. 2%) in Indonesia use Search to find information they are looking for. The average number of Searches per user is 91. 4. 80% of Indonesian Internet users uses Google to do their Search. Above data is higher than others Southeast Asia country. Considering its high economic and Internet user growths, Indonesia has a great potential for Internet business. However, it would not be easy to win in this industry due to online gambling is specially industry in Indonesia. External analysis- Conclusion Considering its high economic and Internet user growths, Indonesia has a greater potential for Internet business compare others Southeast Asia. Moreover, the Internet business there is still in a very early stage with a limited number of local players and products/services offered. However, it would not be easy to win in this industry. Unsophisticated payment infrastructure and conventional mind-set of its people will become the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs and investors who want to explore Indonesia’s untapped potential in Internet business. The general message is that entrepreneurs and investors with long time horizons should look at Internet business in Indonesia as an alternative worth considering depending on the nature of the investment and the risk tolerance of the entrepreneur or investor. Internal analysis-Customer Behavior analysis Common Casino games of Indonesian Members play. * Baccarat * Blackjack * Sic Bo Current Indonesia Members’ Behavior Following table is current Indonesia members’ behavior of deposit and wager, the data is base on my current company data. Indonesia Business Performance Annual stake generated: â‚ ¬ 14. 3 Million and revenue generated â‚ ¬ 657, 000(third higher than others Southeast Asia) Competitor analysis-4P analysis For now total have 4 major competitors doing business in Indonesia market Analysis above the data, doing online gambling business in Indonesia, should offer more competiveness product and promotion to attract new customer due to the current Indonesia member generated revenue is higher than existing market, additional the External analysis, new market as Indonesia has a greater potential for Internet business. References * Rocky Fu (August 2009)China Internet Market Size in Q2 2009 * Internetworldstats(July 2010) China ecommerce and Internet Market Report * casinolistings(2009)The future of gambling in China * Casino King David Information as thing, Gambling History in China * Gamingzion (2007) Information as thing. Gambling in China * Economy watch(2010) Malaysia Economy * Tom B. (2010) Information as thing. Chinese Law Enforcement Rounding Up Illegal Online Gambling Operators * Michael F. (2010) Information as thing. Journal of the China Arrests 3,430 with Online Gambling Ties * Asiaplace (2009) Information as thing. Malaysia Cracks Down on Internet Gambling * KEN NG, Klang(2009) Information as thing, Legalise online gambling * Cyrildason(2010) Information as thing, Sports Betting in Malaysia * Brian M. (2010)Online Gambling in Malaysia Most Popular in Sarawak * TomWeston (2008)Online Gambling Grows in Popularity in Thailand * CoolFounders (2010) A broader look at Indonesia startups and internet Business prospects * MR. SUNDERASAN(Oct 2009) PESTEL analysis of Indonesia * Water stone (2010) Indonesia online 2010.

Implementing Theories of Management in an Organisation

Implementing Theories of Management in an Organisation Organizations are a set of people arranged socially to perform and achieve a common goal. These organizations form the essential building blocks of modern society. Such organisations across the globe are constantly evolving and the rate of evolution changes from one country to another. Organisational Behaviour can be best explained as the study of the ways individuals and groups act at work, which also includes the analysis of interrelationships and interaction between individuals and groups with their environments (Cole, 1995). In this essay, I wish to explain certain behavioural practices that had existed in my previous organisation and implement two theories (motivation and organisational culture) to my work situations.   Ã‚   First let me give an insight into my background. I was born and educated in a city called Chennai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in India. I graduated bachelor in Mechanical Engineering in the year 2013. After graduation, I was trying for job placement in various companies. During one of my interviews in a company called ETA General Private Limited, my answers were noticed by a silently observing gentleman who did not participate in the interview process. I had no idea who he was so but after my interview, he spotted me in the waiting room, asked for my CV and after a few minutes of going through it, offered me a job in Dubai. He introduced himself as Mr. HMT, head of a polymer division of ETA group of companies. Now I understood why he was present here, it is because General Air Conditioners is also a part of ETA group. I was surprised but I felt it was a very good offer and didnt want to miss it. Shortly thereafter, I received my offer letter which promised a good salary, decent accommodation and proper working condition. Despite being an engineer, I opted to do a non-engineering job as a sales assistant. Mainly because the salary package was compelling and moreover an opportunity to gain work experience in the Gulf was like a big deal for a fresher. Thus I landed my very first job. Emirates Trading Agency LLC, shortly known as ETA is a major corporate group headquartered in Dubai. ETA is a joint venture between UAEs Al Ghurair group and a South Indian company. ETA provides contracting, manufacturing, construction, property development, commodity trading services, power projects etc (Built on trust, 2017). It has operations in Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, South East Asia, Far East, North Africa, parts of Europe etc. ETA had approximately 70 individual divisions and each division has its own business unit heads. The particular business unit which I had the opportunity to work for is called Green Star Polymer. Green Star Polymer (GSP) was a commodity trading company which is the polymer trading wing of ETA. It was formed in 1998 by ETA to buy and sell polymer cargo all around the world. GSP had a 400,000 sq ft warehouse in Abu Dhabi for processing polymers. It also was doing waster paper business domestically. Mr. HMT was heading all these operations and was the Senior General Manager (SGM) of ETA. He belonged to the family of the Indian partners so he was very influential within ETA. The Arab partner, Al Ghurair, invest money and the Indian partners run the business in ETA. Like most Arab and Asian companies, ETA is also a family run business. So the business unit heads are the Indian partners who predominantly belong to the same family. Around mid-2013, ETA was in a huge liability and there was difference opinion among the Indian Arab partners. To reduce cost, ETA was closing/selling many businesses and sacking several employees. Dozens of lawsuits were also filed between partners. This casted a very bad image on the entire company in the market. There was lot of uncertainty among employees and ultimately Mr. HMT was dismissed and GSP division was closed down in 2015. Mr. HMT began his own business in mid-2015 and I was the only one from GSP that he trusted and employed for his company. Sigmund Freud argued humans are provoked to act by unconscious forces within us. These forces within us make us act in a certain way to achieve a goal. Motivation is the cognitive decision-making process through which goal-directed behaviour is initiated, energized, directed and maintained (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2001). Work Situation I: Moving to Dubai for work was the first time moving away from family and the comfort of my home, so I was nervous and excited about my new venture. When I landed in Dubai, I was received from airport by my HR coordinator who dropped me at my accommodation. When I reached my new home, from the outside, I can easily say this is the oldest apartment I had seen in the brief time I was in Dubai. Inside was not good either. The HR guy handed me the key and left. When entered into the room, I was surprised to see 3 people asleep in 2 double cots with one lower cot left vacant for me. The room was half the size of my room in Chennai and 3 others with one bathroom/toilet to be shared. Anyway, I was tired so badly I went to sleep. Next morning, I had a conversation with my roommates as they informed me the rules of the accommodation, office directions, morning timings for using the single bathroom etc. They all worked for ETA but in different divisions. There was no kitchen or pantry available so food had to be purchased from outside. I soon learned the whole building belonged to ETA and occupied by its staffs and also it had been standing there for more than 35 years which is very old compared to UAE standards. All the staffs had been living in unpleasant conditions. I went to my new office that day. I was introduced to all staffs by the HR coordinator. We exchanged greetings and my immediate boss briefed me about the business activities of GSP and about my job. Later I met with Mr. HMT, who welcomed me to the company and handed my employment contract to me. I was shocked to notice that the contract had much lesser salary than what had been promised. It also stated my visa category as simply sales. No executive, no assistant, nothing. I later found out this category of visa is possibly the lowest, more or less equivalent to a clerk. Practically no company should employ me under that category owing to my qualification. I was even rejected to apply driving license with this visa. But my superiors were quick to convince me this is normal. Even though so much was not right, I still didnt express my disappointments to others (I usually dont). I was instructed to be trained for probation period of 6 months. In the very first week, I also learned GSP staffs are working more than 8 hours even after 6pm. I didnt have a clue so I left promptly at 6pm. My line manager called me one day and enquired about me leaving early. I was puzzled and tried to justify that I dont leave during office hours, but even though he advised me to stay until other staffs leave. Again I soon learned the reason behind it. Mr. HMT arrives office at 11am and stays in office till 8pm. He might need some staffs randomly after 6pm so most of them stayed in office till 8pm even though they arrive at 9am in the morning. No policy for overtime pay in place for staffs. Couple of managers quit their jobs within two months of my recruitment but their vacancies were not filled. So I was also assigned additional responsibilities in operations department as GSP was understaffed. Eventually I recognized I was deprived of all the promises made to me. No proper salary, no decent accommodation and no proper working condition. This is when I lost all hope and was very depressed. I was considering to quit my job and go back to India. Applying Motivation Theory: Abraham Maslow argued the content theory which aims to rectify the confusion between drives and motives. He claims that we have innate needs or motives (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2001). The Fig 1 shows the hierarchy which Maslow framed in detail. Figure 1: Maslows Hierarchy of Needs (Source: Maslow and Lewis, 1987) Physiological needs are to the basic elements to survive for any human being which needs to be satisfied before aspiring for the next need which is social and security. Then comes affiliation needs and self-esteem. If these needs are satisfied, we can feel confident whereas if not, we tend to feel inferior and helpless. Self-actualization is the ultimate goal for any individual (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2001). Recommendations: In my case, I began to feel de-motivated because I was cheated with false promise of better salary, accommodation and decent work condition. What I failed to understand initially was that I already have satisfied physiological and safety/security needs. I earned enough to feed myself and had a safe place to live and work. Secondly, I maintained good relationship with my colleagues and housemates, also made few friends. Moreover, I realised I was more confident in communication and analytics at work than my colleagues. All these factors combined, gave me a self-realisation that I am doing good for my age and the little experience I have gained. It motivated me to push harder. I felt proud and appreciated by Mr. HMT when I achieved the sales target the very first month I was given full responsibility when my boss was on holiday. Organisational Culture is the collective values, traditions and practices that are relatively similar among the employees of an organisation. Culture varies from one organisation to another and it is argued that the culture also affects the performance of an organisation. Therefore it is essential for managers to control organisations culture (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2001). Work Situation II: Although ETA is a MNC, its employees are predominantly South Indians. This is mainly because the South Indian business heads are more comfortable working with people from this region. I was also comfortable learning from those people since I am also a South Indian. But there are certain practices that I cannot agree with them. I noticed most of the employees of GSP were servile to Mr. HMT. It was obvious for me to notice these employees behaviour. They are so obsequious to please Mr. HMT. But I couldnt understand if Mr. HMT is not noticing this or if he is oddly comfortable with it. This behaviour of those employees (including few managers) can be attributed to their expectations to progress in work, pay etc. Some employees even degraded themselves to the level of doing household chores for Mr. HMT. There were even few cases where these managers tried to make me oblige to this custom which I had politely refused to do in multiple instances. This behaviour shocked and disgusted me. When Mr. HMT was dismissed in 2015, none of the so-called loyal employees were willing to join him in his new company. They all wanted to transfer to different divisions within ETA for accumulating end of service gratuity and other reasons. After I and Mr. HMT quit from ETA, I brought this matter to his attention during a casual conversation. He confessed that he knew but was oblivious to it and this culture was prevailing within the organisation since he started working in ETA 27 years ago. His realisation about his employees was already too late. Applying Organization Culture Theory: Edgar Schein argued organisations have three levels of culture as depicted below in fig2. The first level is the surface manifestation of culture where the organisations culture is most visible to its customers, visitors and employees. This may include artefacts, ceremonies, norms etc. Second level are the organisations values which underpins the surface manifestations. Although not visible, individuals could be made aware and it distinguishes one organisation from another. The behaviour of all the employees are guided similarly and given a common direction by the values of the organisation.. These values affect the final level which is the basic assumption, which according to Schein is the culture of the organisation. Assumptions are the behavioural aspects which are preconscious, unseen and taken for granted (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2001). Figure 2: Scheins three levels of culture (Source: Schein, 1985) Recommendations: In case of GSP, many staffs sought benefits by other means, rather than by improving work performance, it also had an impact on the overall performance of the company. This behaviour can be attributed to Scheins theory as basic assumption of ETA employees were less than noble. Since I was new to the company, initially I could only see surface manifestation level of ETA and when I coped up to work with these people, I could clearly see what their basic assumption of working for this organisation was and how their values affected it. As the head of GSP, Mr. HMT needed to have addressed this culture at his level when he had the chance. Moreover it should have been controlled by the senior management of ETA and maintained a healthy culture before it infuriated the Arab partners and the companys reputation was damaged. Better work environment can be achieved by applying organisational theories. All employees are directly affected by whatever is happening in an organisation. It is all attributable to human behaviour. With better understanding of organisational behaviour, managers can effectively influence employee behaviours to do achieve better outcome as discussed in these above scenarios. References Built on trust (2017) Available at: http://www.etaascon.com/ (Accessed: 24 January 2017). Cole, G.A., 1995. Organisational behaviour: Theory and practice. Cengage Learning EMEA. Huczynski, A.A. and Buchanan, D.A. (2001) Organizational behaviour. 4th edn. Harlow, United Kingdom: Pearson Education. Maslow, A. and Lewis, K.J., 1987. Maslows hierarchy of needs. Salenger Incorporated, p.14. Schein, E.H. (1985) Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Analysis of Recruitment in the NHS

Analysis of Recruitment in the NHS CIPD Management Report Utilising E Recruitment Executive Summary This Management report will look at the Recruitment Processes with an NHS Acute Trust and identify if E recruitment can help with the difficulties experienced in the Trust. Alongside a literature review of Recruitment difficulties, Employer Branding, Traditional recruitment and E recruitment, the author has conducted a benchmarking exercise in order to establish best practice in recruitment in local NHS organisations, A Process Mapping exercise to identify current practice and identify any difficulties or hold ups in the current process and a Managers questionnaire to allow the author to identify current perceptions of the recruitment service in the organisation alongside what expectations are. Appendices. Satisfaction Survey Survey results 1.0 Introduction The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust was established in April 2002 and manages hospitals in Oldham, Rochdale, Bury and North Manchester. Serving a population of approximately 800,000, the Trust is one of the largest in the country and had an operating expenditure of over  £425 million in 2006/07. It runs services across five hospital sites: Fairfield General Hospital, Bury; North Manchester General Hospital; The Royal Oldham Hospital; Rochdale Infirmary and Birch Hill Hospital, Rochdale and employs a staff of approximately 10,000. The Trust has four divisions identified as Surgery, Medicine, Women and Childrens, and Diagnostics and Clinical Support. It also has directorates providing support to clinical services including Human Resources, Facilities, Planning, Finance, Information and Management Technology, Modernisation and Performance, Governance and Research and Development. The local economy in which the Trust is situated is strong, with a great deal of competition from local organisations for staff. There is little competition within the NHS for staff, as Pennine is ‘the only Trust in town, in each of the 4 areas. Transport links to the Trust are generally good, although access to some peripheral sites is difficult, and car parking can be a problem, especially at the Royal Oldham site. The Trust is concerned, as many Trusts in the Greater Manchester area are, that many of its nurses will retire within the next five years and it is trying to develop a programme to get people to stay on after the normal retirement age. It also attempts to recruit as many student nurses as possible, but positions for newly qualified staff have been reduced in the last few years due to reconfiguration of services and redeployment to avoid redundancy. The Trust has a lower proportion of nursing staff from ethnic backgrounds than the local population, when comparing the 2001 Census with its workforce data; but the percentage of staff as a whole from ethnic backgrounds is higher, due to the numbers of medical staff from ethnic minorities within the Trust. The Trust works hard to recruit staff from ethnic minorities/deprived backgrounds. It has an Equality and Diversity Team who work to promote diversity within the Trust, supporting proactive recruitment where there is a concentration of individuals from ethnic or disadvantaged backgrounds. There is a central HR function, with designated HR Managers for each division. Restructuring of this model has taken place in recent years. Recruitment is managed from the North Manchester General Hospital site and provides a central function. With a workforce of over 10,000 people, the average monthly cost of recruitment at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is xxxxxx. Added to this is the length of time it takes to place a new employee in post, which is on average 60 days. This estimate is from measured from the advertised positions closing date to offering that position. Recruitment is currently a major issue in the Trust with days lost in the recruitment process costing money and reducing morale and effectiveness. At present the department is receiving a lot of pressure from the rest of the Trust and the reputation of the department is poor. This management report is being undertaken to identify recommendations that will allow the recruitment process to become more efficient and identify whether utilisation of e recruitment is a viable proposal in the Trust and whether its implementation will increase efficiency and save resources. All employers face the challenge of employing the right staff for their organisation and this often falls under a human resource arena. The recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals has been identified as a key challenge facing the NHS (NHS Plan 2002). High on the agenda at local, regional and national levels is the development of strategies and initiatives to attract suitable people to work in the professions, in order to ensure that services are responsive to patient needs. 2.0 Literature Review Recruitment is an extensive subject with many aspects making up the area. A study by Ullman (1966) cited in Breaugh Starke (2000) was one of the first to examine recruitment sources. Finding that new employees who were recruited by means of informal sources (i.e., employee referrals, direct applications) had a lower turnover rate than individuals recruited via formal sources (i.e., newspaper advertisements and employment agencies). Barber (1998) has since concluded that past research has not made a strong case for the importance of source differences. The author is interested in research into the prevalence of the sources used in traditional recruitment, which appears to be research that has not been undertaken significantly. Torrington, Hall and Taylor (2005) identified that employers in the UK recruit over 3 million people each year, in a costly and time consuming exercise to add suitable staff to their organisation. They identify a need to ‘sell jobs to potential employees in order to ensure they can generate an adequate pool of applicants. Organisations are now facing a greater challenge recruiting rather than selecting. (Ployhart 2005) Other researchers having also identified the difficulties organisations have in attracting candidates, identifying selection will only be effective and financially defensible if a sufficient amount of applicants apply to the organisation. (Taylor and Collins, 2000) However according to Barber (1998), It is important that employers do not consider the recruitment process to be completed at this point, It continues during the short listing and interviewing stages and is only deemed as complete when an offer is made. For the purposes of this literature review the author will review thoughts and research on the initial stages of recruitment, that being the attraction of employees and advertisement of vacancies in order to recruit to the organisation, this will allow the author to include the areas of employer branding and e-recruitment in the review. 2.1 Recruitment Difficulties The Audit Commission (2002) has identified that the UK labour market is highly competitive at present with the rate of unemployment at a historically low level. Employers are openly competing harder to attract and retain staff. This is made more difficult, with reports across the country, of recruitment and retention problems affecting local public services, the NHS being no exception. There have been serious concerns about shortages in staff numbers, and fewer young people being attracted to work for the public sector, meaning there is a potential ‘demographic time bomb. It has been identified that 27 per cent of the public sector workforce are now aged 50 or over. (Gulland (2001), Audit Commission (2002)) Recruitment is also expensive, in a recent survey; CIPD (2007) identified the average cost of recruiting a member of staff is  £4,333; however this increases significantly to  £7750 when organisations are also calculating the associated labour turnover. They identified that eighty four percent of organisations have reported difficulties in filling vacancies in 2006, a rise of 2 percent on the previous year. The key challenges faced by organisations in regard to recruitment have been identified from the survey as; attracting and recruiting key staff to the organisation, reducing recruitment costs, enabling the achievement of the organisations strategic goals and addressing skills shortages. CIPD strongly believes that: ‘effective recruitment is central and crucial to the successful day-to-day functioning of any organisation. stating that ‘successful recruitment depends upon finding people with the necessary skills, expertise and qualifications to deliver organisational objectives and the ability to make a positive contribution to the values and aims of the organisation. The Audit Commissions report (2002) also identified there are concerns about ‘skill shortages, not only in terms of ‘basic skill levels in the workforce, but also in key leadership, management and specialist skills that are required. Previous research from the Audit Commission (2001) has showed that, on average, a new employee will perform at only 60 per cent of their productive potential when they are first appointed, only reaching 100 per cent after being in a post for a year. This makes recruitment in these areas and adequate delivery of services even harder to manage. In their extensive report on public service recruitment, the Audit Commission identifies the way the employers can maximise their recruitment practices. They advised: Informed, quick and professional responses to job advertisement enquiries are essential for maximising applications; routine monitoring of recruitment will ensure that recruitment initiatives are driven by the bigger picture rather than just the latest concern; success in addressing diversity issues are to be achieved through efficient, effective targeted recruitment campaigns based on knowledge of the target community; and any initiative to attract a specific group of staff will benefit from being profession-led and in partnership with HR. Audit Commission (2002) Effective recruitment practices and policies are recognised as making a significant contribution to an organisations success, according to Plumbley (1990). He states it is not simply about placing suitable candidates into jobs, but also about building an adept and flexible workforce in order to meet the organisations changing and demanding needs. The first stage of recruitment and selection is to be able to attract an adequate number of appropriate candidates. Prospective employees do not select the organisation they wish to work for on the foundation of job and organisational characteristics such as location, and organisational structure alone. 2.2 Employee Brand The increased competitiveness in the recruitment market has led to organisations spending more time, effort and resources on developing their recruitment brand and expanding the range of advertising methods used, to try and attract quality applicants from as broad and diverse a pool possible. Almost seven in ten organisations describe themselves as having an employer brand according to CIPD (2007), and studies have shown that an organisations reputation and identity is vital in the fight to attract suitable talented applicants into organisations. (Lievens Highhouse, 2003; Cable Turban, 2001). Identifying that in order for the corporate brand to be more successful at attracting suitable candidates there is an importance in promoting and monitoring that brand. (Slaughter, Zickar, Highhouse, Mohr, 2004) Fombrun, (1996) agrees with this stating the reputation of an organisation has been acknowledged as one of the key factors that can affect the probability of potential applicants choosing to apply to work for it. In the same way, organisation reputation has been found to be an important influence on applicants decisions of whether they fit with an organisation and want to join it (Rynes et al., 1991). This researcher has also showed that applicants utilised information on how informative and the ‘recruiter friendliness as an indicator of how an organisation treated its employees. Fombrun (1996) expands this argument to identify that reputation is of particular concern to applicants seeking employment in knowledge-based institutions, such as universities and hospitals, because of the intangibility of the services these organisations provide. Whilst Turban et al. (1998) also found that applicants perceptions of the specific attributes of a post were influenced by their evaluation of the organisation, even if they had been interviewed and were successful. The importance in private/commercial organisations reputation in relation to the recruitment and retention of staff has been well documented in literature, for example: (Turban, 2001) and Cable and Graham (2000), Gray and Ballmer 1998)), there has however been comparatively little consideration on the impact of reputation for public sector organisations. Most people in the course of their life have a need to use the services the NHS provide, some more than others and health is an important issue, not only on a personal level, also in the political arena. The NHS is the UKs largest employer, so many of the UK population are at present working in it, with a great number more many having done so at some point in their lives. In brief, the NHS has a wide range of different stakeholders, who may feel they have a vested interest in the quality; provision of services and ultimately, the reputation. People have varied, and very personal experiences of the NHS and this could mean image and reputation are therefore difficult to manage. The Audit Commission study (2002) study showed that public sector staff thinks that ‘their image in the eyes of the public would discourage potential recruits from entering the NHS. The study analysed a wide sample of the UKs national press to see if the evidence supported this observation. Analysis of the results showed that plenty of stories are told and coverage given to the NHS is extensive. They concur that the picture of public sector work presented to the reading public is often bleak. Of the former public sector workers surveyed, 68 per cent thought that the image of their former profession would discourage people from entering that job. Only 9 per cent thought the opposite and stated that the image would instead encourage people to enter. The NHS is such a well-known organisation that carries out specific roles in society, that when considering a career in the NHS people often have an idea regarding an occupation they would like to pursue. The GTI (2006) conducted a survey to establish the major determinants that influence applicants in their choice of employer. The results show that for 22% of student nurses and doctors, the reputation of a prospective employer (often influenced by media coverage) is a key factor in determining their aspirations. They identify that ‘word of mouth can be damaging to an employers reputation. If employers get things wrong, it can really affect the way they are viewed by potential employees as over half of the survey respondents have shared their bad experiences with their peers. So for some people the images and reputation of the NHS may be crucial to their decision of whether to work for it. 2.3 Traditional Recruitment Methods Traditional recruitment methods are the way in the past, that an organisation announced a job opportunity to the marketplace, through a classified advertisement, a job fair, an external recruiter, or other media. Any candidate who happened to see the announcement would submit his or her CV, ring the company for an application form or submit a letter of interest. Lievens and Harris (2003) have stated that in the past, job searching was a more time-consuming activity. They identified ‘A candidate who wished to apply for a job would need to first locate a suitable job opportunity, which often involved searching through a newspaper or contacting acquaintances. After locating potentially suitable openings, the candidate would typically have to prepare a cover letter, produce a copy of his or her resume, and mail the package with the appropriate postage. Arboledas, Ferrero and Vidal (2001), presented some examples of recruitment methods that organisations have traditionally used. These were identified as newspaper advertisement, faxed/mailed resumes, recruitment agencies or the use of headhunters. Galanaki (2002) similarly identified all these methods and also defines them as ‘traditional recruitment methods. This idea of traditional methods can also be found quoted in numerous HR texts, which have sections dedicated to recruitment and try to identify best recruitment practices. The authors of such texts include Cole (2004), Rayner and Adam Smith, Armstrong (2007) and Mullins (2005). These texts give a useful overview of the concepts of recruitment but again the best practice and evidence of what is most effective is not present. An IDS study in 2006 reported that to maximise their chances of appointing the best candidate, many organisations have utilised a combination of online and traditional approaches. In 2004 Softworld HR and Payroll identified in a study, that 24% of respondents envisaged e-recruitment entirely replacing all traditional methods of advertising in the future, however 76% of the practitioners surveyed, see it as an additional tool to allow the widest possible range of applicants to be accessed. Traditional methods also identify the use of recruitment agencies in the way of recruiting staff. According to an IES study (2005), recruitment agencies remain confident that the growth in e-recruitment technology will not eliminate their role in the process, as many organisations lack the time and expertise to carry out these tasks. Many organisations, especially smaller ones may also lack the technology to carry out their own recruitment online. They state with the low unemployment rate that currently exists, the task of finding quality candidates will remain challenging and this may prompt organisations to continue to use agencies, in particular, for specialised, senior or difficult to fill positions A Demos report (2007) however has identified difficulties in the recruitment business. They point out that the ‘landscape has changed remarkably over the past decade. And identify the recruitment industry has been growing rapidly, and the talent war has led to an increase in outsourcing and much greater efforts being made to reach candidates through on and offline advertising. They identify that recruiters have had to embrace technology, or be left behind. In the 2007 CIPD recruitment and retention survey, it was identified for the first time in the UK; corporate websites have broken even with local newspapers advertisements as the most common method of recruiting candidates. 2.4 E-recruitment E-Recruitment is identified as ‘the use of Internet technology to make the job of recruiting staff more efficient and effective, when used together with traditional recruitment methods; the benefits derived from e-recruitment can be considerable. (E-recruitment Best Practice Guide 2007) Internet usage in recent years has seen the recruitment process transformed. Online recruitment, internet recruitment, web-based recruiting and e-recruitment are terms used to describe the use of the internet to recruit potential employees, and mediums to conduct other elements of the recruitment process. We will use the terms interchangeably in this report. According to Schreyer McCarter (1998) e-recruitment refers to â€Å"The recruitment process, including placing job advertisements, receiving resumes, and building human resource database with candidates and incumbents E-Recruitment is establishing itself as a significant part of the recruitment strategy in a range of organisations across the UK and the world. This is in addition to becoming a progressively more accepted method for job seekers in searching and applying for jobs. The traditional method of recruitment has been transformed by the appearance of the Internet. In the past few years, the Internet has dramatically changed the face of HR recruitment and the ways organisations think about the recruiting function. There is predicted to be a continued dramatic growth in recruiting and hiring via this medium in future years. (CIPD 2007) A survey by the public appointment service in Ireland in 2006, relating to e-recruitment in Irish organisations, has also identified a high level of current or intended future use of e recruitment, this being identified as an area forming an important part of the Irish recruitment strategy. It would seem that e-recruitment has been implemented in many organisations from small companies to large organisations. These organisations are already using e recruitment to advertise jobs and accept CVs on the Internet, and also to communicate with the applicants by e-mail. In the CIPD Recruitment, retention and turnover 2006 survey it was identified that eighty-four percent of respondents have made greater use of e-mail applications in the last three years. Over seven in ten organisations also said they are actively advertising jobs on their corporate websites and using online recruitment applications. Lievens and Harris (2003) have identified the following methods of using the Internet to attract candidates, acknowledging that approaches are continually changing. †¢ Company websites Advertising posts and providing information to candidates through the company website. The facility to apply online is often also provided. †¢ Job Boards Commercial general purpose recruitment portals, (e.g. Yahoo!, Monster.com) and specific industry job boards. †¢ Online Searching Recruiters searching online sources such as company websites and professional chat sites to identify candidates who may not be actively looking for a position. †¢ Relationship recruiting Using the internet to build and maintain long term relationships with passive candidates, through using internet tools to learn more about web visitors interests and experience and to e-mail regular updates about careers and their fields of interest. Kerrin and Keetley (2005) have suggested that the reasons for many organisations to introduce e recruitment have been recruitment cost reduction, speedier processes, access to a wider pool of applicants and better employer branding. In the CIPD Recruitment, retention and turnover survey 2006,  it was identified that the key drivers for e-recruitment were; reducing recruitment costs (cited by 71%), broadening the selection pool (60%) and increasing the speed of time to hire (47%). It was also noted that : ‘over a third of respondents believed it brought greater flexibility and ease for candidates, and over a quarter believed it strengthened the employer brand. This has been further supported by the IRS Employment review (2007). Reduction in costs E-Recruitment has allowed employers to make reductions in advertising costs and remove their dependency on recruitment agencies. Technology in online recruitment is not expensive and the hours saved in the pre-selection process gives HR staff more time. Administration can be significantly reduced in most organisations. This can prove to be extremely important when recruiting involves high numbers of staff or when receiving high numbers of applications. (DTI 2006, Guertal et al 2007). The IRS 2007 study identified 7 out of 10 organisations say administration is easier to perform when utilising online recruitment services and 8 out 10 identified the e- recruitment process as being substantially cheaper. Cappeli (2001) calculated that ‘it costs only about one-twentieth as much to hire someone online as to hire that same person through †¦ other traditional methods. This can again, be achieved through significantly reducing advertising costs and by reducing recruitment related administration according to Elkington (2005) An IDS HR Study in April 2006 identified how the Internet now plays a significant role in recruitment activities of employers. The report examined the use of corporate and third party recruitment websites and identified they are being used to reduce advertising costs and tap into a more diverse candidate base. They also identified that technology is streamlining the application process with the encouragement of online applications, linking into sophisticated application tracking systems and allowing organisations to measure the success of attraction methods. IDS state that over 70% of adults utilise the Internet, and employers are using this medium to attract and recruit much more frequently. They identify significant cost savings for employers and reduced time taken to fill vacancies, but are keen to point out the wariness of employees in missing out on potential candidates and feel that traditional recruitment media is set to retain and important role, particularly when recruiting locally or hard to fill jobs. This supports reservations held by IRS (2007) who identified that e recruitment was considered unsuitable for certain kinds of vacancies. Grout and Parrin, authors of the book, ‘recruiting excellence agree with the assessment by IDS. In an article for HR Director (2006), they identify that online recruitment can improve efficiency by the reduction in man hours involved in the process, and help employers reach a wider and larger audience of jobseekers. They also recognise that it can be a valuable part of a recruitment process, in addition to traditional press advertising and the use of agencies (DTI, 2005). Kerrin and Keetley (2005) however, have stated, that the full cost savings are often only realised if the whole recruitment process is carried out online, a view supported by a number of authors. (Demos 2007, IRS 2007) Reducing time-to-hire With e-recruitment the time taken to recruit can be reduced by as much as 75% and allow the recruitment of the most appropriate employees more quickly into the organisation. Time is also saved by spending a reduced amount of time tracking, communicating with and screening the applicants. Online recruitment also allows organisations to the share best practice and improves the consistency of recruitment processes across the organisation. The Public Appointments Service survey showed that a reduction in administrative workload (cited by 49% of respondents), and reduced timescales for hiring (cited by 40% of respondents), were key drivers in the decision to implementing e recruitment. Hogg (2000) stresses a shorter recruitment cycle can be gained by the speed at which several steps of the recruitment process are carried out online. Elkington (2005) supports this and has identified that the immediate posting of jobs online and the effortlessness of completing online application forms and e-mailing CVs to an organisation has made these steps much faster. Moving further into the recruitment process, the short-listing process can be accelerated by routinely aligning applications dependent on prearranged criteria (CIPD 2005). Applications can be progressed within minutes rather than weeks, saving both recruiters and job applicants time. Widening Talent Pool Internet tools that enable employers/recruiters to reach a wider pool of potential applicants and to fill positions faster with less cost to the organisation are obviously advantageous in such a competitive environment. Online advertising opens up a wider candidate pool, by providing 24/7 access to job seekers, at local, national and international locations, thus providing a better chance of finding the right candidate (CIPD 2005a). As job seekers become increasingly more web literate and the growth of broadband makes web surfing easier and cheaper (IRS 2005), the potential for e-recruitment to attract wider candidate pools is increasing. Enhancing Employer brand Increased numbers of candidates are expecting to apply directly online and they routinely make judgements about employers based on their recruitment process. To combat this employers are adopting increasingly dynamic e-recruitment solutions to allow them to distinguish themselves from others and to professionally manage the recruitment process. (Willock, 2005; Paton 2006). E-Recruitment enables an organisation to raise its profile to potential applicants and promote itself as innovative and forward looking, allow visitors to the website to leave with a positive experience. Kerrin and Kettley (2003) in their report ‘e-recruitment is it delivering identified a key factor for organisations in their adoption of e-recruitment, is the desire to increase their profile as an employer of choice amongst potential candidates and to promote their image as a progressive organisation. This is supported by 7 out of 10 organisations also agreeing that the use of online recruitment was more likely to improve reputation (IRS 2007) E-Recruitment can help to build the image of a brand. Barrow (2005) recommends that organisations build their brand identity very carefully however; warning of a need to ensure substance is beneath the clever name, logo or design, as employees once appointed will see through the facade. This is further supported by Gray and Balmers (1998) term, ‘routine interactions. They state that outsiders have a place in shaping image and reputation when they interact with organisations; communications are likely to be received with scepticism when they do not match personal experience. CIPD (2005) also demonstrated that more detailed information can be provided on the organisations website than in a newspaper advertisements and in recruitment agency literature, reinforcing the employer brand, improving the corporate image and profile whilst also giving an indication of the organisations culture The use of the Internet allows organisations to pass far more information in a much more dynamic and consistent fashion to candidates than was the case in the past (Lievens and Harris 2003). Applicants therefore have much more information at their disposal before they even decide to apply for a job than in the past. In addition, candidates can easily and quickly search for independent information about organisations from various sources, such as internet search engines and libraries. Therefore, unlike in the past, a candidate may have applied for a job based on practically no information; todays candidate may have reviewed a substantial amount of information about the organisation before choosing to apply. Disadvantages of e-recruitment The CIPD Recruitment, retention and turnover 2006 survey revealed some concerns that e-recruitment could increase the number of unsuitable applicants and that it could act as a barrier to recruiting older workers. A factor which seems to be discouraging some employers from making more use of online recruitment systems, is a concern, over the level of internet access and levels of accomplishment with technology, of their target audiences. While usage of the Internet does vary by social group there is evidence to suggest that recruiting online results in at least as diverse an applicant group as those recruited through traditional methods (McManus M.A., Ferguson M.W. 2003). Searle (2003) would dispute this however stating that participation in online recruitment is skewed towards ‘white males from higher socio-economic groups. A further concern in relation to access is the suitability of online recruitment methods for candidates with disabilitie Analysis of Recruitment in the NHS Analysis of Recruitment in the NHS CIPD Management Report Utilising E Recruitment Executive Summary This Management report will look at the Recruitment Processes with an NHS Acute Trust and identify if E recruitment can help with the difficulties experienced in the Trust. Alongside a literature review of Recruitment difficulties, Employer Branding, Traditional recruitment and E recruitment, the author has conducted a benchmarking exercise in order to establish best practice in recruitment in local NHS organisations, A Process Mapping exercise to identify current practice and identify any difficulties or hold ups in the current process and a Managers questionnaire to allow the author to identify current perceptions of the recruitment service in the organisation alongside what expectations are. Appendices. Satisfaction Survey Survey results 1.0 Introduction The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust was established in April 2002 and manages hospitals in Oldham, Rochdale, Bury and North Manchester. Serving a population of approximately 800,000, the Trust is one of the largest in the country and had an operating expenditure of over  £425 million in 2006/07. It runs services across five hospital sites: Fairfield General Hospital, Bury; North Manchester General Hospital; The Royal Oldham Hospital; Rochdale Infirmary and Birch Hill Hospital, Rochdale and employs a staff of approximately 10,000. The Trust has four divisions identified as Surgery, Medicine, Women and Childrens, and Diagnostics and Clinical Support. It also has directorates providing support to clinical services including Human Resources, Facilities, Planning, Finance, Information and Management Technology, Modernisation and Performance, Governance and Research and Development. The local economy in which the Trust is situated is strong, with a great deal of competition from local organisations for staff. There is little competition within the NHS for staff, as Pennine is ‘the only Trust in town, in each of the 4 areas. Transport links to the Trust are generally good, although access to some peripheral sites is difficult, and car parking can be a problem, especially at the Royal Oldham site. The Trust is concerned, as many Trusts in the Greater Manchester area are, that many of its nurses will retire within the next five years and it is trying to develop a programme to get people to stay on after the normal retirement age. It also attempts to recruit as many student nurses as possible, but positions for newly qualified staff have been reduced in the last few years due to reconfiguration of services and redeployment to avoid redundancy. The Trust has a lower proportion of nursing staff from ethnic backgrounds than the local population, when comparing the 2001 Census with its workforce data; but the percentage of staff as a whole from ethnic backgrounds is higher, due to the numbers of medical staff from ethnic minorities within the Trust. The Trust works hard to recruit staff from ethnic minorities/deprived backgrounds. It has an Equality and Diversity Team who work to promote diversity within the Trust, supporting proactive recruitment where there is a concentration of individuals from ethnic or disadvantaged backgrounds. There is a central HR function, with designated HR Managers for each division. Restructuring of this model has taken place in recent years. Recruitment is managed from the North Manchester General Hospital site and provides a central function. With a workforce of over 10,000 people, the average monthly cost of recruitment at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is xxxxxx. Added to this is the length of time it takes to place a new employee in post, which is on average 60 days. This estimate is from measured from the advertised positions closing date to offering that position. Recruitment is currently a major issue in the Trust with days lost in the recruitment process costing money and reducing morale and effectiveness. At present the department is receiving a lot of pressure from the rest of the Trust and the reputation of the department is poor. This management report is being undertaken to identify recommendations that will allow the recruitment process to become more efficient and identify whether utilisation of e recruitment is a viable proposal in the Trust and whether its implementation will increase efficiency and save resources. All employers face the challenge of employing the right staff for their organisation and this often falls under a human resource arena. The recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals has been identified as a key challenge facing the NHS (NHS Plan 2002). High on the agenda at local, regional and national levels is the development of strategies and initiatives to attract suitable people to work in the professions, in order to ensure that services are responsive to patient needs. 2.0 Literature Review Recruitment is an extensive subject with many aspects making up the area. A study by Ullman (1966) cited in Breaugh Starke (2000) was one of the first to examine recruitment sources. Finding that new employees who were recruited by means of informal sources (i.e., employee referrals, direct applications) had a lower turnover rate than individuals recruited via formal sources (i.e., newspaper advertisements and employment agencies). Barber (1998) has since concluded that past research has not made a strong case for the importance of source differences. The author is interested in research into the prevalence of the sources used in traditional recruitment, which appears to be research that has not been undertaken significantly. Torrington, Hall and Taylor (2005) identified that employers in the UK recruit over 3 million people each year, in a costly and time consuming exercise to add suitable staff to their organisation. They identify a need to ‘sell jobs to potential employees in order to ensure they can generate an adequate pool of applicants. Organisations are now facing a greater challenge recruiting rather than selecting. (Ployhart 2005) Other researchers having also identified the difficulties organisations have in attracting candidates, identifying selection will only be effective and financially defensible if a sufficient amount of applicants apply to the organisation. (Taylor and Collins, 2000) However according to Barber (1998), It is important that employers do not consider the recruitment process to be completed at this point, It continues during the short listing and interviewing stages and is only deemed as complete when an offer is made. For the purposes of this literature review the author will review thoughts and research on the initial stages of recruitment, that being the attraction of employees and advertisement of vacancies in order to recruit to the organisation, this will allow the author to include the areas of employer branding and e-recruitment in the review. 2.1 Recruitment Difficulties The Audit Commission (2002) has identified that the UK labour market is highly competitive at present with the rate of unemployment at a historically low level. Employers are openly competing harder to attract and retain staff. This is made more difficult, with reports across the country, of recruitment and retention problems affecting local public services, the NHS being no exception. There have been serious concerns about shortages in staff numbers, and fewer young people being attracted to work for the public sector, meaning there is a potential ‘demographic time bomb. It has been identified that 27 per cent of the public sector workforce are now aged 50 or over. (Gulland (2001), Audit Commission (2002)) Recruitment is also expensive, in a recent survey; CIPD (2007) identified the average cost of recruiting a member of staff is  £4,333; however this increases significantly to  £7750 when organisations are also calculating the associated labour turnover. They identified that eighty four percent of organisations have reported difficulties in filling vacancies in 2006, a rise of 2 percent on the previous year. The key challenges faced by organisations in regard to recruitment have been identified from the survey as; attracting and recruiting key staff to the organisation, reducing recruitment costs, enabling the achievement of the organisations strategic goals and addressing skills shortages. CIPD strongly believes that: ‘effective recruitment is central and crucial to the successful day-to-day functioning of any organisation. stating that ‘successful recruitment depends upon finding people with the necessary skills, expertise and qualifications to deliver organisational objectives and the ability to make a positive contribution to the values and aims of the organisation. The Audit Commissions report (2002) also identified there are concerns about ‘skill shortages, not only in terms of ‘basic skill levels in the workforce, but also in key leadership, management and specialist skills that are required. Previous research from the Audit Commission (2001) has showed that, on average, a new employee will perform at only 60 per cent of their productive potential when they are first appointed, only reaching 100 per cent after being in a post for a year. This makes recruitment in these areas and adequate delivery of services even harder to manage. In their extensive report on public service recruitment, the Audit Commission identifies the way the employers can maximise their recruitment practices. They advised: Informed, quick and professional responses to job advertisement enquiries are essential for maximising applications; routine monitoring of recruitment will ensure that recruitment initiatives are driven by the bigger picture rather than just the latest concern; success in addressing diversity issues are to be achieved through efficient, effective targeted recruitment campaigns based on knowledge of the target community; and any initiative to attract a specific group of staff will benefit from being profession-led and in partnership with HR. Audit Commission (2002) Effective recruitment practices and policies are recognised as making a significant contribution to an organisations success, according to Plumbley (1990). He states it is not simply about placing suitable candidates into jobs, but also about building an adept and flexible workforce in order to meet the organisations changing and demanding needs. The first stage of recruitment and selection is to be able to attract an adequate number of appropriate candidates. Prospective employees do not select the organisation they wish to work for on the foundation of job and organisational characteristics such as location, and organisational structure alone. 2.2 Employee Brand The increased competitiveness in the recruitment market has led to organisations spending more time, effort and resources on developing their recruitment brand and expanding the range of advertising methods used, to try and attract quality applicants from as broad and diverse a pool possible. Almost seven in ten organisations describe themselves as having an employer brand according to CIPD (2007), and studies have shown that an organisations reputation and identity is vital in the fight to attract suitable talented applicants into organisations. (Lievens Highhouse, 2003; Cable Turban, 2001). Identifying that in order for the corporate brand to be more successful at attracting suitable candidates there is an importance in promoting and monitoring that brand. (Slaughter, Zickar, Highhouse, Mohr, 2004) Fombrun, (1996) agrees with this stating the reputation of an organisation has been acknowledged as one of the key factors that can affect the probability of potential applicants choosing to apply to work for it. In the same way, organisation reputation has been found to be an important influence on applicants decisions of whether they fit with an organisation and want to join it (Rynes et al., 1991). This researcher has also showed that applicants utilised information on how informative and the ‘recruiter friendliness as an indicator of how an organisation treated its employees. Fombrun (1996) expands this argument to identify that reputation is of particular concern to applicants seeking employment in knowledge-based institutions, such as universities and hospitals, because of the intangibility of the services these organisations provide. Whilst Turban et al. (1998) also found that applicants perceptions of the specific attributes of a post were influenced by their evaluation of the organisation, even if they had been interviewed and were successful. The importance in private/commercial organisations reputation in relation to the recruitment and retention of staff has been well documented in literature, for example: (Turban, 2001) and Cable and Graham (2000), Gray and Ballmer 1998)), there has however been comparatively little consideration on the impact of reputation for public sector organisations. Most people in the course of their life have a need to use the services the NHS provide, some more than others and health is an important issue, not only on a personal level, also in the political arena. The NHS is the UKs largest employer, so many of the UK population are at present working in it, with a great number more many having done so at some point in their lives. In brief, the NHS has a wide range of different stakeholders, who may feel they have a vested interest in the quality; provision of services and ultimately, the reputation. People have varied, and very personal experiences of the NHS and this could mean image and reputation are therefore difficult to manage. The Audit Commission study (2002) study showed that public sector staff thinks that ‘their image in the eyes of the public would discourage potential recruits from entering the NHS. The study analysed a wide sample of the UKs national press to see if the evidence supported this observation. Analysis of the results showed that plenty of stories are told and coverage given to the NHS is extensive. They concur that the picture of public sector work presented to the reading public is often bleak. Of the former public sector workers surveyed, 68 per cent thought that the image of their former profession would discourage people from entering that job. Only 9 per cent thought the opposite and stated that the image would instead encourage people to enter. The NHS is such a well-known organisation that carries out specific roles in society, that when considering a career in the NHS people often have an idea regarding an occupation they would like to pursue. The GTI (2006) conducted a survey to establish the major determinants that influence applicants in their choice of employer. The results show that for 22% of student nurses and doctors, the reputation of a prospective employer (often influenced by media coverage) is a key factor in determining their aspirations. They identify that ‘word of mouth can be damaging to an employers reputation. If employers get things wrong, it can really affect the way they are viewed by potential employees as over half of the survey respondents have shared their bad experiences with their peers. So for some people the images and reputation of the NHS may be crucial to their decision of whether to work for it. 2.3 Traditional Recruitment Methods Traditional recruitment methods are the way in the past, that an organisation announced a job opportunity to the marketplace, through a classified advertisement, a job fair, an external recruiter, or other media. Any candidate who happened to see the announcement would submit his or her CV, ring the company for an application form or submit a letter of interest. Lievens and Harris (2003) have stated that in the past, job searching was a more time-consuming activity. They identified ‘A candidate who wished to apply for a job would need to first locate a suitable job opportunity, which often involved searching through a newspaper or contacting acquaintances. After locating potentially suitable openings, the candidate would typically have to prepare a cover letter, produce a copy of his or her resume, and mail the package with the appropriate postage. Arboledas, Ferrero and Vidal (2001), presented some examples of recruitment methods that organisations have traditionally used. These were identified as newspaper advertisement, faxed/mailed resumes, recruitment agencies or the use of headhunters. Galanaki (2002) similarly identified all these methods and also defines them as ‘traditional recruitment methods. This idea of traditional methods can also be found quoted in numerous HR texts, which have sections dedicated to recruitment and try to identify best recruitment practices. The authors of such texts include Cole (2004), Rayner and Adam Smith, Armstrong (2007) and Mullins (2005). These texts give a useful overview of the concepts of recruitment but again the best practice and evidence of what is most effective is not present. An IDS study in 2006 reported that to maximise their chances of appointing the best candidate, many organisations have utilised a combination of online and traditional approaches. In 2004 Softworld HR and Payroll identified in a study, that 24% of respondents envisaged e-recruitment entirely replacing all traditional methods of advertising in the future, however 76% of the practitioners surveyed, see it as an additional tool to allow the widest possible range of applicants to be accessed. Traditional methods also identify the use of recruitment agencies in the way of recruiting staff. According to an IES study (2005), recruitment agencies remain confident that the growth in e-recruitment technology will not eliminate their role in the process, as many organisations lack the time and expertise to carry out these tasks. Many organisations, especially smaller ones may also lack the technology to carry out their own recruitment online. They state with the low unemployment rate that currently exists, the task of finding quality candidates will remain challenging and this may prompt organisations to continue to use agencies, in particular, for specialised, senior or difficult to fill positions A Demos report (2007) however has identified difficulties in the recruitment business. They point out that the ‘landscape has changed remarkably over the past decade. And identify the recruitment industry has been growing rapidly, and the talent war has led to an increase in outsourcing and much greater efforts being made to reach candidates through on and offline advertising. They identify that recruiters have had to embrace technology, or be left behind. In the 2007 CIPD recruitment and retention survey, it was identified for the first time in the UK; corporate websites have broken even with local newspapers advertisements as the most common method of recruiting candidates. 2.4 E-recruitment E-Recruitment is identified as ‘the use of Internet technology to make the job of recruiting staff more efficient and effective, when used together with traditional recruitment methods; the benefits derived from e-recruitment can be considerable. (E-recruitment Best Practice Guide 2007) Internet usage in recent years has seen the recruitment process transformed. Online recruitment, internet recruitment, web-based recruiting and e-recruitment are terms used to describe the use of the internet to recruit potential employees, and mediums to conduct other elements of the recruitment process. We will use the terms interchangeably in this report. According to Schreyer McCarter (1998) e-recruitment refers to â€Å"The recruitment process, including placing job advertisements, receiving resumes, and building human resource database with candidates and incumbents E-Recruitment is establishing itself as a significant part of the recruitment strategy in a range of organisations across the UK and the world. This is in addition to becoming a progressively more accepted method for job seekers in searching and applying for jobs. The traditional method of recruitment has been transformed by the appearance of the Internet. In the past few years, the Internet has dramatically changed the face of HR recruitment and the ways organisations think about the recruiting function. There is predicted to be a continued dramatic growth in recruiting and hiring via this medium in future years. (CIPD 2007) A survey by the public appointment service in Ireland in 2006, relating to e-recruitment in Irish organisations, has also identified a high level of current or intended future use of e recruitment, this being identified as an area forming an important part of the Irish recruitment strategy. It would seem that e-recruitment has been implemented in many organisations from small companies to large organisations. These organisations are already using e recruitment to advertise jobs and accept CVs on the Internet, and also to communicate with the applicants by e-mail. In the CIPD Recruitment, retention and turnover 2006 survey it was identified that eighty-four percent of respondents have made greater use of e-mail applications in the last three years. Over seven in ten organisations also said they are actively advertising jobs on their corporate websites and using online recruitment applications. Lievens and Harris (2003) have identified the following methods of using the Internet to attract candidates, acknowledging that approaches are continually changing. †¢ Company websites Advertising posts and providing information to candidates through the company website. The facility to apply online is often also provided. †¢ Job Boards Commercial general purpose recruitment portals, (e.g. Yahoo!, Monster.com) and specific industry job boards. †¢ Online Searching Recruiters searching online sources such as company websites and professional chat sites to identify candidates who may not be actively looking for a position. †¢ Relationship recruiting Using the internet to build and maintain long term relationships with passive candidates, through using internet tools to learn more about web visitors interests and experience and to e-mail regular updates about careers and their fields of interest. Kerrin and Keetley (2005) have suggested that the reasons for many organisations to introduce e recruitment have been recruitment cost reduction, speedier processes, access to a wider pool of applicants and better employer branding. In the CIPD Recruitment, retention and turnover survey 2006,  it was identified that the key drivers for e-recruitment were; reducing recruitment costs (cited by 71%), broadening the selection pool (60%) and increasing the speed of time to hire (47%). It was also noted that : ‘over a third of respondents believed it brought greater flexibility and ease for candidates, and over a quarter believed it strengthened the employer brand. This has been further supported by the IRS Employment review (2007). Reduction in costs E-Recruitment has allowed employers to make reductions in advertising costs and remove their dependency on recruitment agencies. Technology in online recruitment is not expensive and the hours saved in the pre-selection process gives HR staff more time. Administration can be significantly reduced in most organisations. This can prove to be extremely important when recruiting involves high numbers of staff or when receiving high numbers of applications. (DTI 2006, Guertal et al 2007). The IRS 2007 study identified 7 out of 10 organisations say administration is easier to perform when utilising online recruitment services and 8 out 10 identified the e- recruitment process as being substantially cheaper. Cappeli (2001) calculated that ‘it costs only about one-twentieth as much to hire someone online as to hire that same person through †¦ other traditional methods. This can again, be achieved through significantly reducing advertising costs and by reducing recruitment related administration according to Elkington (2005) An IDS HR Study in April 2006 identified how the Internet now plays a significant role in recruitment activities of employers. The report examined the use of corporate and third party recruitment websites and identified they are being used to reduce advertising costs and tap into a more diverse candidate base. They also identified that technology is streamlining the application process with the encouragement of online applications, linking into sophisticated application tracking systems and allowing organisations to measure the success of attraction methods. IDS state that over 70% of adults utilise the Internet, and employers are using this medium to attract and recruit much more frequently. They identify significant cost savings for employers and reduced time taken to fill vacancies, but are keen to point out the wariness of employees in missing out on potential candidates and feel that traditional recruitment media is set to retain and important role, particularly when recruiting locally or hard to fill jobs. This supports reservations held by IRS (2007) who identified that e recruitment was considered unsuitable for certain kinds of vacancies. Grout and Parrin, authors of the book, ‘recruiting excellence agree with the assessment by IDS. In an article for HR Director (2006), they identify that online recruitment can improve efficiency by the reduction in man hours involved in the process, and help employers reach a wider and larger audience of jobseekers. They also recognise that it can be a valuable part of a recruitment process, in addition to traditional press advertising and the use of agencies (DTI, 2005). Kerrin and Keetley (2005) however, have stated, that the full cost savings are often only realised if the whole recruitment process is carried out online, a view supported by a number of authors. (Demos 2007, IRS 2007) Reducing time-to-hire With e-recruitment the time taken to recruit can be reduced by as much as 75% and allow the recruitment of the most appropriate employees more quickly into the organisation. Time is also saved by spending a reduced amount of time tracking, communicating with and screening the applicants. Online recruitment also allows organisations to the share best practice and improves the consistency of recruitment processes across the organisation. The Public Appointments Service survey showed that a reduction in administrative workload (cited by 49% of respondents), and reduced timescales for hiring (cited by 40% of respondents), were key drivers in the decision to implementing e recruitment. Hogg (2000) stresses a shorter recruitment cycle can be gained by the speed at which several steps of the recruitment process are carried out online. Elkington (2005) supports this and has identified that the immediate posting of jobs online and the effortlessness of completing online application forms and e-mailing CVs to an organisation has made these steps much faster. Moving further into the recruitment process, the short-listing process can be accelerated by routinely aligning applications dependent on prearranged criteria (CIPD 2005). Applications can be progressed within minutes rather than weeks, saving both recruiters and job applicants time. Widening Talent Pool Internet tools that enable employers/recruiters to reach a wider pool of potential applicants and to fill positions faster with less cost to the organisation are obviously advantageous in such a competitive environment. Online advertising opens up a wider candidate pool, by providing 24/7 access to job seekers, at local, national and international locations, thus providing a better chance of finding the right candidate (CIPD 2005a). As job seekers become increasingly more web literate and the growth of broadband makes web surfing easier and cheaper (IRS 2005), the potential for e-recruitment to attract wider candidate pools is increasing. Enhancing Employer brand Increased numbers of candidates are expecting to apply directly online and they routinely make judgements about employers based on their recruitment process. To combat this employers are adopting increasingly dynamic e-recruitment solutions to allow them to distinguish themselves from others and to professionally manage the recruitment process. (Willock, 2005; Paton 2006). E-Recruitment enables an organisation to raise its profile to potential applicants and promote itself as innovative and forward looking, allow visitors to the website to leave with a positive experience. Kerrin and Kettley (2003) in their report ‘e-recruitment is it delivering identified a key factor for organisations in their adoption of e-recruitment, is the desire to increase their profile as an employer of choice amongst potential candidates and to promote their image as a progressive organisation. This is supported by 7 out of 10 organisations also agreeing that the use of online recruitment was more likely to improve reputation (IRS 2007) E-Recruitment can help to build the image of a brand. Barrow (2005) recommends that organisations build their brand identity very carefully however; warning of a need to ensure substance is beneath the clever name, logo or design, as employees once appointed will see through the facade. This is further supported by Gray and Balmers (1998) term, ‘routine interactions. They state that outsiders have a place in shaping image and reputation when they interact with organisations; communications are likely to be received with scepticism when they do not match personal experience. CIPD (2005) also demonstrated that more detailed information can be provided on the organisations website than in a newspaper advertisements and in recruitment agency literature, reinforcing the employer brand, improving the corporate image and profile whilst also giving an indication of the organisations culture The use of the Internet allows organisations to pass far more information in a much more dynamic and consistent fashion to candidates than was the case in the past (Lievens and Harris 2003). Applicants therefore have much more information at their disposal before they even decide to apply for a job than in the past. In addition, candidates can easily and quickly search for independent information about organisations from various sources, such as internet search engines and libraries. Therefore, unlike in the past, a candidate may have applied for a job based on practically no information; todays candidate may have reviewed a substantial amount of information about the organisation before choosing to apply. Disadvantages of e-recruitment The CIPD Recruitment, retention and turnover 2006 survey revealed some concerns that e-recruitment could increase the number of unsuitable applicants and that it could act as a barrier to recruiting older workers. A factor which seems to be discouraging some employers from making more use of online recruitment systems, is a concern, over the level of internet access and levels of accomplishment with technology, of their target audiences. While usage of the Internet does vary by social group there is evidence to suggest that recruiting online results in at least as diverse an applicant group as those recruited through traditional methods (McManus M.A., Ferguson M.W. 2003). Searle (2003) would dispute this however stating that participation in online recruitment is skewed towards ‘white males from higher socio-economic groups. A further concern in relation to access is the suitability of online recruitment methods for candidates with disabilitie