Alternative Medicine and Conventional medicine

Shahrzad Nikkhah Professor Keafer English 200 29 november 2012 Alternative Medicine Growing up in a family that has been using herbal medicine for years became a motivation for me to further my knowledge of this ancient practice of alternative medicine . The world health organization has announced that about 65 and 80 percent of world’s population uses traditional medicine, since the growing belief is that to get cured of disease you need to get to the root of the problem, and reach beyond the physical body.According to all the research it seems that alternative medicine is more effective , more economical , less invasive and harmful than conventional medicine. While It has been proven that state of mind and body are linked directly , mind body medicine helps in healing the body by changing the person’s attitude which effects the immune endocrine and nervous system, while stressed mind interrupts the functioning of the immune system and causes disease. More and more peo ple are relying on the power of prayers , meditation , and herbal medicine to protect their body from negative effect of stress hormone and proper break down of food in body.It has been shown that alternative medicine has helped many with depression and chronic pain, hypertension, and diabetes. Conventional medicine is a quick fix which prevents the body from stimulating the immune system to fight an infection as in antibiotics which destroys the valuable bacteria that helps with digestion. Since the production of antibodies slows down, it prevents the future healing. CAM ( another name for alternative medicine ) helps promote natural healing process while it has by far less side effects and harm to the other organs resulting in a long term benefit.Due to low cost of CAM higher low income population can afford the health care, while the conventional medicine cost has been on the rise over inflation and wage growth. With the 13 percent of 38 million adults who use CAM in conjunction with conventional medicine in the last year the poorer population with no health insurance has been benefiting from this method of treatment, since herbs is easier to obtain , naturally available and do not to be researched.Although , alternative medicine is not completely reliable to be used on serious illnesses many Americans have turned to alternative practices since they have not seen any positive results from standard medical or surgical treatment or because the traditional treatments are too expensive or dangerous. Most alternative medicine principle is to eradicate the problem from its roots. With serious dedication , discipline , and change of life style alternative medicine is personalized to suit the needs of individual.Works Cited: Grodjesk,Joe. â€Å"Sociology Of Medicine Alternative Medicine. â€Å"customessaymeister, May 5,2001 web. Crisenri. â€Å"Pros and cons of alternative medicine. † page1,June 2008 Diggs, Charles â€Å"Alternative medicine research papp er. † Oct 20,2009 web. Epiro, E. and Nancy Walsh. â€Å"Alternative Medicine–Part Two: Mind Body Medicine–Expanding Health Model. † Patient Care 15 Sept. 1997: 127-145. Smith, Brad. â€Å"Alternative Treatments Gain Acceptance. † Denver Business Journal 18 July 1997: 2B-4B.

English for Specific Purposes

2 The development of ESP The best laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft a-gley. (Robert Burns) From its early beginnings in the 1960s ESP has undergone three main phases of development. It is now in a fourth phase with a fifth phase starting to emerge. We shall describe each of the five phases in greater detail in later chapters, but it will provide a useful perspective to give a brief summary here. It should be pointed out first of all that ESP is not a monolithic universal phenomenon.ESP has developed at different speeds in different countries, and examples of all the approaches we shall describe can be found operating somewhere in the world at the present time. Our summary must, therefore, be very general in its focus. It will be noticeable in the following overview that one area of activity has been particularly important in the development of ESP. This is the area usually known as EST (English for Science and Technology). Swales (1985) in fact uses the development of EST to illu strate the development of ESP in general: ‘With one or two exceptions†¦English for Science and Technology has always set and continues to set the trend in theoretical discussion, in ways of analysing language, and in the variety of actual teaching materials. ‘ We have not restricted our own illustrations to EST in this book, but we still need to acknowledge, as Swales does, the pre-eminent position of EST in the ESP story. 1. The concept of special language: register analysis This stage took place mainly in the 1960s and early 1970s and was associated in particular with the work of Peter Strevens (Haliiday, Mcintosh and Strevens, 1964), Jack Ewer (Ewer and Latorre, 1969) and John Swales (1971).Operating on the basic principle that the English of, say, Electrical Engineering constituted a specific register different from that of, say, Biology or of General English, the aim of the analysis was to identify the grammatical and lexical features of these registers Teachin g materials then took these linguistic features as their syllabus A good example of such a syllabus is that of A Course in Basic Scientific-English by Ewer and Latorre (1969) (see below p. 26). In fact, as Ewer and Latorre's syllabus shows, egister analysis revealed that there was very little that was distinctive in the sentence grammar of Scientific English beyond a tendency to favour particular forms such as the present simple tense, the passive voice and nominal compounds. It did not, for example, reveal any forms that were not found in General English. But we must be wary of making unfair criticism. Although there was an academic interest in the nature of registers of English per se, the main motive behind register analyses such as Ewer and Latorre's was the pedagogic one of making the ESP course more relevant to learners' needs.The aim was to produce a syllabus which gave high priority to the language forms students would meet in their Science studies and in turn would give low priority to forms they would not meet, Ewer and Hughes-Davies (1971), for example, compared the language of the texts their Science students had to read with the language of some widely used school textbooks. They found that the school textbooks neglected some of the language forms commonly found in Science texts, for example, compound nouns, passives, conditionals, anomalous finites (i. e. mod-.! verbs).Their conclusion was that the ESP course should, therefore, give precedence to these forms. 2. Beyond the sentence: rhetorical or discourse or analysis There were, as we shall see, serious flaws in the register analysis-based syllabus, but, as it happened, register analysis as a research procedure was rapidly overtaken by developments in the world of linguistics. Whereas in the first stage of its development, ESP had focussed on language at the sentence level, the second phase of development shifted attention to the level above the sentence, as ESP became closely involved with the emerging field of discourse or rhetorical analysis.The leading lights in this movement were Henry Widdowson in P

A Survey of Information Technologies in Logistics Management

A Survey of Information Technologies in Logistics Management Anil Gurung University of Texas at Arlington Department of Information Systems and Operations Management, College of Business Administration Office: Room 630 Business Building Box 19437 701 S West St. Arlington, Texas 76019-0437 Voice: 817. 272. 3528 Email: [email  protected] edu ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the impact of information technologies (IT) on logistics by conducting a survey of literatures on academic logistics journals and practitioner journals.The literature survey and practice find that third party logistic providers have better opportunity to leverage IT since they need to have interoperable IT systems with their customers. The business philosophy of Just-In-Time (JIT) has also contributed to the impact of IT in logistics. Further, information technologies are identified that has benefited the logistics. Future directions of logistics are discussed. INTRODUCTION The proliferation of information technologie s (IT) and the internet technologies have provided impetus and challenges to the logistics.New technologies present new means to manage the flow of information. IT as a productivity tool can be utilized to both increase the capability and decrease the cost at the same time (Closs et al. , 1997). It has been widely accepted that firms can achieve competitive advantage by cost reduction or differentiation with the proper implementation of IT (Porter & Millar, 1985). Enabled by IT the logistics has become a source of competitive advantage for many firms. Two streams of research are identified that highlights the role of IT in logistics.First stream relates to just-in-time logistics information system (Anderson & Quinn, 1986; Bookbinder & Dilts, 1989; Das & Handfield, 1997; Gomes & Mentzer, 1988; Perry, 1988; Schwarz & Weng, 2000; Spencer, M. S. et al. , 1994; Spencer, M. S. et al. , 1996; Takahashi & Nakamura, 2000; Titone, 1996; Wafa & Yasin, 1996). The other stream is the third party logistics (Lewis & Talalayevsky, 2000; Peters et al. , 1998; Sauvage, 2003; Sink & Langley, 1997; Vaidyanathan, 2005). Importance of IT in logistics has grown to some extent by business philosophy of Just-InTime (JIT) by firms.With the emphasis of firms on JIT, the impact of logistics has grown as it is increasingly recognized as a source of consistent, low lead time, damage free deliveries (Bardi et al. , 1994). In pursuit of competitive advantages, firms outsource their functions which are noncore competencies so that they can focus on their core competencies. A recent survey found that 83 percent of the surveyed Fortune 500 companies reported having at least one contract with a third-party logistics provider (Lieb & Bentz, 2004).Over the years, the use of third-party logistics has been increasing. Similar survey of Fortune 500 companies taken in 1991 had only 38 percent of the respondents reporting the use of third-party logistics provider (Lieb, 1992). The 618 third party logis tic operators attempt to harness the capability of information technology to provide superior services to their customers. The objective of this paper is to study how IT has impacted logistics. To this end, literature review of both leading academic and practitioner logistic journals is conducted.The next section will report the framework of logistics. The following section will analyze the IT enablers in logistics. Then, the implications of ecommerce are discussed followed by a section on future directions for logistics. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE A classification scheme logistics functions provides a meaningful way to study how IT has impacted the various functions of logistics. Previous research in logistics have categorized the use of information systems in logistics in different ways.A system of logistics functions can be divided into following five broad areas (Bowersox, 1974): facility location, transportation, inventory, communication and material movement. Based on the proble m areas that application addresses, seven areas of logistics has been identified as facility location, inventory control, order entry, vehicle scheduling, warehouse layout planning, freight rate retrieval, and product and shipment tracing (Ballou, 1976). Another survey identified five categories as facility location, inventory control, transportation, production scheduling, and total physical distribution (House, 1978).These categories treated each category as individual entities rather than a whole system. Noting this shortcoming, Stenger (1986) proposed another classification consisting of transaction systems, short-term scheduling and inventory replenishment systems, flow planning systems, and network planning and design systems. Expanding on the framework developed by Bowersox, Novack et al (1992) divided logistics function into two categories. The first category refers to physical activities that are required various utilities of customer need.These will include inventory, tran sportation and customer service operations. The second category refers to flow of information or transaction activities that follow or initiate the physical activities. The physical and information flows in logistics function is well-depicted in Figure 1 that shows the categorization of logistics functions as described by Vaidyanathan (2005). As shown in the figure, information flows between logistics function are managed, coordinated and supported by various logistics technologies. 619Inventory and Logistics Management: – Freight Consolidation – Freight Distribution – Shipment Planning – Traffic Management – Inventory Management – Carrier Selection – Order Entry/ Management Information Flow Customer Service: – Freight Payments – Auditing – Order Management – Fulfillment – Help Desk – Carrier Selection – Rate Negotiation Information Flow Warehousing: – Packaging – Product Making – Labeling – Warehousing Material Flow Transportation: – Fleet Management – Cross Docking – Product Return Figure 1: Categorization of Logistics Functions (adapted from Vaidyanathan 2005)IT enablers in Logistics The literature in logistics is full of instances where information technology has been touted as a means to enhance logistics competitiveness (Bowersox, 1974; Closs et al. , 1997; Rabinovich et al. , 1999; Stenger, 1986). Yet there has been few empirical studies that relates logistics information capabilities to logistics competence (Closs et al. , 1997). A popular framework in information systems discipline put forward by Gorry & Morton (1989) place logistics decisions as structured and varying from operational to strategic.The role of logistics information systems as operational and strategic enablers in different areas of the firm’s supply chain has been stated in the literature (Langley et al. , 1988). There has been a shi ft of IT from being an enabler of operational and material handling functions to being an enabler of decision-making and activityplanning functions within the supply chain (La Londe & Auker, 1973). Logistics Information System Logistics Information System (LIS) is the application component of logistics information technology. An effective LIS facilitates the proper information flow between inventory, 20 Information Flow warehousing and transportation to realize the high level of customer service. The ability to optimize the logistics cost and service levels is affected by the LIS of the firm and its partners. Firms that provide better logistics services at a lower cost can have competitive advantage over its competitors (Bardi et al. , 1994). Two classes of LIS has been recognized in the literature (Closs et al. , 1997). Logistics operating systems (LOS) refer to transactional applications such as order entry, order processing, warehousing, and transportation.Logistics planning syst ems (LPS) refer to coordinating applications such as forecasting, inventory management, and distribution requirements planning. EDI Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has successfully enhanced the communication between firms which is essential for logistics. This technology requires firms to have common data formatting and transmission standards or protocols. Such technologies have been employed by companies to coordinate their value chain activities including logistics. Early applications of EDI has been on transmitting vehicle location information by railways to their customers.Other types of logistics information carried by EDI are purchase orders/releases and changes, advanced shipping notices, bills of lading, and invoices. Timely and accurate information is crucial in decision making about complex logistics problems. Japan Airlines (JAL) adopted EDI to manage their complex value chain logistics required for their operations, including procurement and just-in-time delivery of ai rcraft fuel, repair and maintenance aircraft parts, food catering and other customer requirements (Chatfield & Bjorn-Andersen, 1997).The competitive advantage gained by companies employing EDI is cited in the literature. Firms utilizing EDI were better able to fulfill greater number of services to their customers (Rogers et al. , 1992). Bar coding Bar coding is one of the most IT enablers to date and has made significant impact in the practice. Starting in 1960’s some of the earliest implementation of bar codes were in rail road cars. Nowadays it is rampant in anything that needs to be identified and tracked. The different type of bar codes are available, known as symbologies, for different purposes.In practice, most firms prefer to use industry standards rather than proprietary standards for most of their bar codes on their products. By following industry standards, bar codes reduce the complications inherent in the use of multiple standards and thus provides a strong founda tion for integrating the corporate logistics and the supply chain (Closs & Kefeng, 2000). Real-time communications capability The logistics IT capability of real-time communications is essential for maintaining the flow of information.As noted by Dudley & Lasserre (1989), one of the important roles of logistics IT is to substitute information for inventory. To make real-time tracking of goods, logistic information systems of business partners should have real-time communications capability. The business partners require an integrated messaging architecture which exchanges business data while customizing business flows and format transformation. Real-time communications also allows for schedule plans to change in dynamic routing and scheduling system when the vehicles are 621 already out on the road.Any last minute changes in routing and scheduling system or constant tracking has been possible only with real-time communications ability of the respective systems. RFID RFID helps to id entify, track and locate items automatically. The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is expected to increase rapidly in coming years. Often referred to as the next step in the evolution of bar-coding, RFID is growing rapidly in the automatic data capture and identification market (Srivastava, 2004). RFID is not a new technology, in fact, its use dates back to 1940’s but only now it is starting to make a significant impact within the supply chain.The growth in use of RFID will be enhanced to some extent by mandates from large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target, and the US Department of Defense, who require their suppliers to adopt this technology within the next few years (Asif & Mandviwalla, 2005). Among the companies that are piloting RFID in their supply chain management prominent ones are WalMart, Procter & Gamble, Coca-cola and Gillette. Although the biggest driver in the popularity of RFID has been supply chain, companies are experimenting in other applicati ons as well.Other applications are theft detection, asset tracking, mobile payments, in-process inventory tracking and luggage tracking. Dell, Seagate, Boeing and Ford are among other companies that are using RFID to track their in-process inventory in manufacturing. An RFID system includes transponders or tags that can identify items ; antennas that allows tags to be interrogated and to respond; and software that controls the RFID equipment, manages the data and interfaces with enterprise applications. RFID has lots of potential to improve the efficiency in the supply chain and reduce waste.For example, efficiency would result from automatic update of inventory system when products with RFID tags are unloaded from trucks into stores. The advantages of RFID over bar coding are as follows: RFID tags can provide longer read distances; store more data; require no direct line of sight between tag and reader; and can collect data from multiple sources simultaneously (Asif & Mandviwalla, 2005). There are some technical and business challenges to overcome before RFID can be ubiquitous. Technical issues include problems of interference, security and accuracy while business issues relate to costs and lack of standards.Another significant business challenge in adopting RFID faced by managers is to work out a business case for the executive board. Early adopters of these technologies are marred by problems such as possible adverse consumer outbursts to perceived invasion of privacy, reliability of the RFID system, and issues related to health, safety and IT integration. IMPLICATION OF ECOMMERCE ON LOGISTICS The growth of ecommerce pose opportunities and challenges for logistics. As internet retailing increases the companies are accepting orders from their clientele across the borders.In many instances the location of clients are not covered by any existing distribution system of the companies. On such occasions the companies have no resort but to turn towards third party logistics operators for physical flow of goods. As for the information flow, the companies need to have capabilities for ecommerce applications. The group of technologies and processes for coordinating logistics information flow has been named e-logistics. An important web 622 technology that facilitates the exchange of business data among logistics business partners across different platforms is extra markup language (XML).For example, UPS is exploiting the power of the web services to streamline its information flows for logistics activities such as RFQ, shipping and tracking. Changing Trends in Logistics Consultants are beginning to take an active part in helping out the shippers select third party logistics operators. Shippers hire consultants to help them align business processes with supply chain strategies. The newly coined term â€Å"4PL† for consultants stands for dominant role that consultants will be taking in managing the resources, the technology and the process es in the supply chain.It is yet to be seen whether the shippers will let the consultants manage all the logistics processes. Instead of handing over the authority to manage the logistics processes to the consulting firms, shippers may choose to develop alliance with the third party logistics operators and maintain the supply chain themselves. The key thing that will allow coordination between shipper firms and the third party logistics will be information technology and management skills to run the supply chain effectively. This implies that firms should also have proper logistic technologies in place to enjoy the full benefits of use of third party logistics.FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS The research directions that are available for researchers in logistics are numerous. Before companies implement new logistic information technologies such as RFID it is important to assess the viability of adopting the technology. What would be the expected benefits? What is the ROI? Researchers can come up with various econometric models to predict the outcomes of adopting logistics technologies. Modeling techniques can be used to assess the scenarios that would be beneficial for adopting new technologies.As companies are entering into ecommerce, better coordinating techniques are required to streamline logistics activities for transactions taking place on the internet. Collaborative technologies for supporting e-logistics would greatly enhance the future logistics. Multi-agent systems (MAS) provide an interesting avenue of research that is applicable for supporting logistics technologies on the internet. Intelligent software agents can be used to assess the bids offered by multiple third-party logistics operators. To support global ecommerce the companies need to have different options for global logistics.The best way to traverse the geographical distribution is through technology. What are the communication channels and technologies that would benefit the company in terms of monitoring and coordination logistics functions? More empirical evidence will be preferred to establish the direct link between organizational performance and logistics information systems. Researchers can seek to examine the complex relationships between logistics technologies and performance from different paradigms and theories. The perspective of organizational learning can be used to evaluate the performance gained by employing logistics information systems. 23 CONCLUSION The objective of this paper was to observe the impact of information technology on the logistics functions. A literature review of the academic and practitioners journals was conducted. The information technologies that have been used to support logistics functions were discussed. It is evident that academic researchers are aware of new technologies in practice such as RFID. Development in technologies offer sources of competitive advantage for companies. Adoption of new technologies provide challenge and o pportunities for the companies.Proper business case and calculation of ROI needs to be done to assess the expected benefits from new technologies. Changing trends in business in terms of ecommerce open new markets for firms for all sizes to expand their market share. Strategic use of information resource would bear results of competitive advantage and thus leading to success stories. The best practices in logistic information technologies need to be adopted by firms in alignment of their strategic goals. Future trends in logistics may prompt companies to rethink their logistics strategies.Firms may choose to use third party logistics in order to focus on their core competencies. However, firms need to have logistics information systems in place that is compatible with the third party operators in order to fully benefit from their services. REFERENCES Anderson, D. L. & Quinn, R. J. 1986, â€Å"The Role of Transportation in Long Supply Line Just-InTime Logistics Channels â€Å", Jou rnal of Business Logistics, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 68-88. Asif, Z. & Mandviwalla, M. 2005, â€Å"Integrating the Supply Chain with RFID: a Technical and Business Analysis†, Communications of the AIS, vol. 15, pp. 393-427. Ballou, R. H. 976, â€Å"Computer Methods in Transportation-Distribution†, Transportation Journal, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 72-85. Bardi, E. J. , Raghunathan, T. S. & Bagchi, P. K. 1994, â€Å"Logistics information systems: The strategic role of top management†, Journal of Business Logistics, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 7185. Bookbinder, J. H. & Dilts, D. M. 1989, â€Å"Logistics Information Systems in a Just-In-Time Environment â€Å", Journal of Business Logistics, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 50-67. Bowersox, D. J. 1974, Logistics Management: A Systems Integration of Physical Distribution Management and Materials Management, Macmillan Publishing, New York, NY.Chatfield, A. T. & Bjorn-Andersen, N. 1997, â€Å"The impact of IOS-enabled business process change on bus iness outcomes: Transformation of the Value Chain of Japan Airlines†, Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 13-40. Closs, D. J. & Kefeng, X. 2000, â€Å"Logistics information technology practice in manufacturing and merchandising firms† An international benchmarking study versus world class logistics firms†, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 30, no. 10, pp. 869-86. 624 Closs, D. J. , Goldsby, T.J. & Clinton, S. R. 1997, â€Å"Information technology influences on world class logistics capability†, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 4-17. Das, A. & Handfield, R. B. 1997, â€Å"Just-in-time and logistics in global sourcing: An empirical study†, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 27, no. 3/4, pp. 244-59. Dudley, L. & Lasserre, P. 1989, â€Å"Information as a Substitute for Inventories â€Å" , European Economic Review, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 67-88. Gomes, R. & Mentzer, J. T. 988, â€Å"A Systems Approach to the Investigation of Just-In-Time â€Å", Journal of Business Logistics, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 71-88. Gorry, G. A. & Morton, M. S. S. 1989, â€Å"A Framework for Management Information Systems†, Sloan Management Review, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 49-61. House, R. G. 1978, â€Å"Computer Models in Distribution Management†, Journal of Business Logistics, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 129-52. La Londe, B. J. & Auker, K. 1973, â€Å"A Survey of Computer Applications and Practices in Transportation and Distribution†, International Journal of Physical Distribution, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 92-301. Langley, C. J. , Carlisle, D. P. , Probst, S. B. , Biggs, D. F. & Cail, R. E. 1988, â€Å"Microcomputers as a Logistics Information Strategy†, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Materials Management, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 11-7. Lewis, I. & Talalayevsky, A. 2000, â⠂¬Å"Third-Party Logistics: Leveraging Information Technology â€Å", Journal of Business Logistics, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 173-85. Lieb, R. C. 1992, â€Å"The use of third-party logistics services by large American manufacturers†, Journal of Business Logistics, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 29-42. Lieb, R. C. & Bentz, B. A. 004, â€Å"The Use of Third-Party Logistics Services by Large American Manufacturers: The 2003 Survey†, Transportation Journal, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 24-33. Novack, R. A. , Rinehart, L. M. & Wells, M. V. 1992, â€Å"Rethinking concept foundations in logistics management†, Journal of Business Logistics, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 233-67. Perry, J. H. 1988, â€Å"Firm Behavior and Operating Performance in Just-In-Time Logistics Channels â€Å", Journal of Business Logistics, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 19-33. Peters, M. J. , Lieb, R. C. & Randall, H. L. 1998, â€Å"The use of third-party logistics services by European industry†, Transport Logistics, vol. , no. 3, p p. 167-79. Porter, M. E. & Millar, V. E. 1985, â€Å"How information gives you competitive advantage†, Harvard Business Review, vol. 63, no. 4, pp. 149-60. Rabinovich, E. , Windle, R. , Dresner, M. & Corsi, T. 1999, â€Å"Outsourcing of integrated logistics functions†, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 353-73. Rogers, D. S. , Daugherty, P. J. & Stank, T. P. 1992, â€Å"Enhancing service responsiveness: the strategic potential of EDI†, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 15-20.Sauvage, T. 2003, â€Å"The relationship between technology and logistics third-party providers†, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 236-53. Schwarz, L. B. & Weng, Z. K. 2000, â€Å"The Design of a JIT Supply Chain: The Effect of Leadtime Uncertainty on Safety Stock â€Å", Journal of Business Logistics, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 231-52. 625 Sink, H. L. & Langley, J. C. J. 1997, â€Å"A managerial framework for the acquisition of third-party logistics services†, Journal of Business Logistics, vol. 18, p. 163. Spencer, M. S. , Dale, S. R. & Patricia, J.D. 1994, â€Å"JIT Systems and External Logistics Suppliers†, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 6074. Spencer, M. S. , Daugherty, P. J. & Rogers, D. S. 1996, â€Å"Logistics support for JIF implementation†, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 701-14. Srivastava, B. 2004, â€Å"Radio frequency ID technology: The next revolution in SCM†, Business Horizons, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 60-8. Stenger, A. J. 1986, â€Å"Information Systems in Logistics Management: Past, Present, and Future†, Transportation Journal, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 5-82. Takahashi, K. & Nakamura, N. 2000, â€Å"Reactive logistics in a JIT environment†, Production Planning & Contro l, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 20-31. Titone, R. 1996, â€Å"Moving Beyond JIT to Logistics Planning†, IIE Solutions, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 22-4. Vaidyanathan, G. 2005, â€Å"A Framework for Evaluating Third-Party Logistics†, Communications of the ACM, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 89-94. Wafa, M. A. & Yasin, M. M. 1996, â€Å"The impact of supplier proximity on JIT success: an informational perspective†, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 23-34. 626

Business Plan Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Business Plan - Term Paper Example Other products include the production of irrigation equipments, Co2 detectors as well as bottles. Eco plastic and mould company concentrates in the manufacture of plastic products. It has been in operation in Taiwan for the lasts 12 years. In developing this business plan, the company wishes to introduce a new production unit. Recent technological advancement has ensured that manufactures of plastic use materials economically. Therefore, Eco- plastic and Mould Company provides new plastic containers that replace traditional metal containers. For the last 50 years, metallic containers have been important feature in industries. However, metallic containers are prone rust, require painting, and are difficult to recycle. With this in mind, the company provides drums with same structural strength but of plastic material (Luo, 2014). On the other hand, plastics have an ability to take various shapes through molding. Since plastic products are rust, proof, able to stand diverse climatic conditions, their use in Taiwan captures a wide market. In Taiwan, plastic products have gained acceptance with diverse consumers. The company uses advanced engineering on polymer to produce high impact materials, long lasting materials. Such engineering advances have made it necessary for the production of industrial drum products. The company enjoys a market opportunity for recycling plastic products. Taiwan’s growing population provides great market opportunity for Econ plastic and Mould Company. On the other hand, the greater Asian market provides a wide market opportunity for the company (Miltenburg, 2005). In terms of competition, Formosa Plastic corp. probably is the most competitive organization in the region. Eco plastic and Mould Company operate in Taiwan and within the Asian region. The company began its operations over 10 years ago. It specializes in producing quality plastic products as well as plastic

Ethical Project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethical Project - Research Paper Example The Rose Revolution is a protest call to the resignation of the former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze in November 23, 2003. It took place after the highly contestable parliamentary elections. The Rose Revolution ended the more than 30 year rule of Eduard Shevardnadze â€Å"as its Soviet-era Communist Party boss and its longest-serving post-independence president†. The protest can be illustrated in the following account of BBC News â€Å"student demonstrators decided to give red roses to the soldiers. Many soldiers laid down their guns. "People were kissing the police and military, it was really spectacular," said Giorgi Kandelaki, a 21-year-old student. "And the roses of course which people had with them, which Misha carried with him into the parliament hall, that was the moment when people said that it was a rose revolution.† (BBC News, May 10, 2005). The Civil disobedience on Arizona Immigration Law was precipitated by the â€Å" The  Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act  (introduced as  Arizona Senate Bill 1070  and thus often referred to simply as  Arizona SB  1070). According to the law, all aliens over the age the 14 who are in the United States for more than 30 days should register with the US governments and carry their documents at all times and making it a misdemeanor for an alien not to carry such documents. The law also allows law enforcers to check such papers upon the suspicion that an individual is an illegal alien. The Arizona Immigration Law has been touted as racist. The law sparked a civil disobedience protest culminating in March 21, 2010 where â€Å"about 100 participants formed a chain of linked arms to stop traffic around the Federal Building†.   16 prominent New Yorkers were arrested whose disgust over the law was released in a press statement as thus â€Å"Our act of civil disobedience is performed

Research Paper on the History of the United States Navy Essay

Research Paper on the History of the United States Navy - Essay Example Thus, it can be said that the US navy does not have any specific origin, but it rather came in to being because of the requirements and political progressions of that time. In the eighteenth century, US navy used the fleet of the ship-of-line in their wars. These ships were beautifully designed keeping in mind all the important aspects of the needs and requirements of the war time. Three vast masts were incorporated in these ships, which towered 200 feet above the surface level of the sea. These ships basically worked on the propulsion of the winds, and they therefore were totally not dependent upon the energy. The ships were easy and comfortable enough to be lived in as long as possible. In the 19th century, when Japan started creating its own ships and battle cruises, the US naval forces started working on the building of new fleet of ships. Every war made the US navy stronger comparatively. Exercise and hardships made the US stand against all the naval forces of the world. In the present time, the US navy is considered to be the best among all the naval forces of the world (Howarth 229). The history of the US navy basically started from 1775 when the war between Lexington and Concord took place. A fleet under the leadership of Captain Abraham Whipple overtook and captured the British tender located in Narragansett Bay. Meanwhile, Congress was recommended to build a Continental Navy to fight against these actions. Washington’s navy, was asked by George Washington to attack the British ships by using Hannah in the action. In response to this action, Continental navy came into existence in the same year. Silas Deane, Christopher Gadsden and John Langdon were the supervisors of this work (Howarth 57). The first action of the Continental navy took place in 1776. The Continental Navy could not survive because its discovery was considered as the worst

Windows OS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Windows OS - Essay Example Windows Server 2003 has been built for being a Server for a Internet Service Provider. As for Windows Vista it is a operating system built for home or desktop computers. Windows Server was launched way before the launch of Windows Vista hence the later one is equipped with better technology. Windows Vista is more user friendly as it has been made for home usage but the Windows Server 2003 is made for administrators of a network hence it has a technical user interface. Windows Vista as compared to Windows Server 2003 has more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new Digital Rights Management technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, and the usability of other new features such as User Account Control. All these have gone against it and the Windows Server 2003 leads in this area Apart from all this Windows Server 2003 is more secure comparatively. Windows XP as a client Operating System has been a huge success among LAN and P2P users. The major factor that has made windows XP such a huge success is its user friendliness and the easy user interface it offers. Automatic detection of any hardware plug and play devices without having to install the drivers through a CD has made it even more famous. The windows security system provides much safer Internet browsing and faster speeds to the user. Apart from all this Windows XP is compatible with any latest device and software that is being offered in the market. For example the latest Msn Messenger is compatible with windows XP. Sharing data on LAN becomes easier by the use of Windows XP. Windows XP provides wizards to guide a user during any process whether a user is installing minor software or installing Windows XP itself. Windows XP has enhanced online gaming and gaming on LAN by its special features. Windows XP enables a computer to use its resources

Self Assessment Exercise Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Self Assessment Exercise - Personal Statement Example This accounted to the integrity that I developed as an individual and as a professional. One common factor that I saw in all the mentors whom I was exposed to right from the childhood was their intense respect towards their counterparts. Interestingly, I found them many them being able to respect professionals who even opposed their ideology. This is one core value I always wanted me in me since then and I continuously ensure to live up to this value. In my professional life in running a law firm I consider these core values very important. I believe that a law firm without professional integrity would be a threat to the society and the profession as such. Being a profession with stakeholders ranging from client base to opponents, to respectfully deal with all stakeholders will help me leave a mark in the profession. Eventually, integrity and respect for stakeholders, be it clients or opponents which are my core values will become a brand identity of my law firm. I have had good professional experience as a real estate paralegal. This has exposed me extensively to various legal frameworks and professional systems which exist within the industry. The scope of professional training and qualification as a lawyer has been realized all through my experience being a paralegal. I have understood the gaps in the industry and it is these gaps which I would like to fill in being an entrepreneur. With the technical knowledge acquired from the classes, I have improved this aspiration of starting up a law firm. Liptak (2008) relates entrepreneurship with the person’s freedom and attitude aligned with work. With reference to this approach, I see my entrepreneurial prospects as quite bright. My previous work experience always urged me to be independent and self driven. The learning which I acquired from the work has been seen by me as foundation for my own law firm. Along with this my core values give me right attitude to take

Partners in Health and Zanmi Lasante; Assignment

Partners in Health and Zanmi Lasante; - Assignment Example Organizational culture: Partners in Health, is a nonprofit organization comprising of healthcare workers and professionals who share in its mission statement and goals. Its programs are steered by the board of Trustees (Partners in Health, 2009). Strengths: The strengths of Partners in Health lie in its building of partnerships with like-minded organizations. By using the expertise of the world’s leading academic and medical institutions, it has maximized on its ability (Partners in Health, 2009). Partners: Partners in Health, partners with various organizations like; COPE Project, PACT, Last Mile Health, Project Muso, Possible, and Village Health Works to deliver on its mandate. It gets funding from well-wishers and fund raising (Partners in Health, 2009). Through this examination of PIH, it is evident that there exist disparities in global health especially between the rich and the poor. However, noble and philanthropic individuals like Bill Gates have noted of these disparities and are at the forefront in supporting healthcare projects aimed at helping the poor just like PIH (Herper, 2011). Through his foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he has supported vaccination programs around the world (NEWSFOCUS, 2006). PIH and Bill Gates are examples of efforts geared towards a better, healthier

German Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

German - Essay Example Elie and his father were sent to an attached work camp of the chambers where they worked as labourers. He and his father remained in the camp for close to eight months working under deplorable conditions with torture and cruelty. When the move was being done, Elie’s father had been beaten by the Nazis due to his weak condition. He was suffering from dysentery and starvation, while Eli had been by fellow inmates for his food. Both were thus left behind while others were being marched to Buchenwald. A few weeks later after being sent back to the crematorium, the liberation army rescued them. 2. My personal view of the gas chamber in question is that it had purposely been reconstructed to conceal the truth of what happened in the chamber during the war. There were unanswered questions left during the interview that leaves one with the question of why the museum personnel had been trained to give similar answers to all tourists. When Dr. Cole kept pondering Alicia to tell him whether she personally suspected the chambers having been reconstructed, she referred him to a higher authority, the museum supervisor who was rude at him, who was obviously was not ready to answer his questions, referring him to Piper the Head of Archives who gave him a rather shocking revelation. According to Piper, the gas chamber had been reconstructed after the war, with modifications which were meant to conceal the true picture of the chamber. He acknowledged that it had been reconstructed after the war, meaning that there are things about the chamber that were being hidden from the eyes of the public. The fact that David Irving had been arrested and charged for telling the public that the chambers had been reconstructed and even was fined for his statement leaves a lot to be questioned. The chimney’s theory is no different from that of the chamber. I believe they were initially used as gas chambers to pass in Zyklon B gas to the prisoners inside the chamber.

Dramatic Irony in Sophocle's Oedipus Rex Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dramatic Irony in Sophocle's Oedipus Rex - Essay Example Sophocles’s dramatic irony is shown in Oedipus’s emotions, building up tension and prefiguring the play’s climax. This paper discusses the use of irony in this play and determines exactly what types of irony he employs and the purpose and effect of his usage. Sophocles’s Dramatic Irony The dramatic irony in Oedipus Rex usually exists in lengthy dialogues. Oedipus always witnesses and views occurrences wrongly, and usually refutes that he has, actually, murdered his own father so that he can be wedded to his mother. This issue is initially evident when he staged the murder of the person who took the life of Laios. He paradoxically labels that person a malevolent killer. According to Bloom (2007), as Oedipus became a Thebes’s citizen following the assassination, he thinks that even though he actually murdered someone, he is excluded as a possible accomplice to Laios’s murder. Thinking that his audience is knowledgeable of the play’s clim ax, Sophocles uses that forethought to build different scenarios where in dramatic, as well as verbal, irony serves major purposes. Nevertheless, mentioning each and every irony in the play would be quite tedious, yet exciting. However, due to the vast abundance of irony in the play this paper only discusses the most noticeable among these ironies. Sophocles, by means of irony, successfully evades the humdrum method of narration; hence, even though the spectators are aware of the outcome of the play they are still excited to know its ironies. When Oedipus, for instance, declares his fury over the killer of King Laius in the play’s preface (Hobson 1993, 725):So will I fight on the gods’ side, And on the side of the slain man! ... But my curse be on the one who did this, whether he is alone Or conceals his share in it with others. Let him be free of no misery if he share my house Or sit at my hearth and I have knowledge of it. On myself may it fall, as I have called it down! When the king declares these angry words he has unknowingly proclaimed his own sins, and to the elation of the people presaged future occurrences. This declaration is a typical illustration of verbal irony. In the above passage, Oedipus is actually denouncing himself, not some murderer as the speech is obviously referring to. Another case in point is his address when he responds to the crowd: â€Å"†¦ Because of all these things I will fight for him as I would my own murdered father (Bloom 2007, 23).† The irony rests in this simple declaration, for Oedipus’s father is the assassinated King Laius himself. Sophocles does not limit the type of irony to the verbal form; he broadens the type of irony in a dramatic form as wel l (Hobson 1993). As stated by Bentley (1970), the whole story may be assumed to be an illustration of this since Oedipus is oblivious of his destiny, although the spectators are highly cognizant that the King will eventually become a pauper. The King is actually aware of the predictions but he is not aware that these prophecies are already happening. As proclaimed by Oedipus, he has effectively showed that the predictions are incorrect, yet the spectators are aware that this is not true. The predictions have become a major element of Oedipus’s existence but he remains unaware of it. In his address to the Thebes’s public he avows that he will begin anew and will improve the standard of their living.

Accounting fraud Essay Example for Free

Accounting fraud Essay Accounting fraud can be defined as knowingly falsifying accounting records in order to increase sales revenue and net income. Accounting fraud is committed in corporations by means of showing false information, using funds for illegal purposes or inflate expenses, overstating revenues, understating expenses or overstating the value of corporate assets. All these activities are entirely unethical. Behaving ethically depends on the capability to recongnize the ethical issues and to believe on their existence. This ability to respond ethically at workplace related more to attributes of corporate culture than to attributes of individual employee Individuals often fail to realise their moral obligations at work and by being subject to world’s temptation fails to tread on their set ethical standards and behave unethically. People especially of todays generation are so much engrossed in their own different criterias of their lives that they almost forget to confine themselves to ethical boundaries that is why ethical decisions are always difficult to make and its foundation is based on several factors however if we talk about the decision by considering moral philosophies of a person; that depends on whether the person is making a work-related decision or personal-life decision. See more: Basic Economic problem of Scarcity Essay A person in the business sector might view of the problem by thinking differently beacause of the outside force and under the work pressure. However, the same decision might be unacceptable to him outside the work. The second reason of people changing moral philosophies could be the corporate culture where they work. Rules and personalities of a business culture person eventually effects on the person and exerts pressure to conform to the firm’s culture. Edward Hall (1959), described culture as a silent language, and defines it as â€Å"that part of man’s behavior which he takes for granted, the part he doesn’t think about, since he assumes it is universal or regards it as idiosyncratic.† Geert Hofstede (1993) defined it as â€Å"the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes one group or category of people from another.† (P.489) A culture followed in corporate or on industrial level is known as Meso- culture and every organisation has t heir own set agendas regarding ethics because work ethics plays a pivotal role at work place to rein employees to behave ethically and keeping into account the ethical dimensions. In most of the organizations, there are set rules and policies specifically formulated to make ethical environment. Every  organization has a culture which mainly comes from the side of upper management and the rest of the employees follows the set trends and culture of their own corporate sectors. The culture of the organization varies from organization to organization because of the different perceptions of the chief executive officers (CEO) and the Board of Directors (BOD). Individuals in practical lives tend to take decisions according to their own moral values and set standards however, in business it changes and is quite the other way round. People get pressurised often and take decisions whatever is percieved as right or wrong in their surroundings and also choose on producing the greatest benefits with least harm. Individuals cannot simply enforce their personal perspective, though they are responsible for their actions but the idea of middle- management or entry level employee to have the freedom to take decision on their own at the work place is unrealistic.For example, if an employee can attract more customers by giving bribe to someone in the business, his decision would rely on whether complying with company policy or requirements is an important motivation to the individual or not. So for that purpose, according to Drake and Drake (1988), â€Å" there is a necessity for the development of training programmes to implement corporate values. These programmes must explain the ethical and legal principles to the employees and show practical examples which can be used as a guidance.† (p.111) Thus, the set principles and policies regarding work ethics in an organization and in addition to that the training programs can guide, govern or direct the employees to follow ethics and helps in institutionalizing organizations. According to ethics consultant David Gebler, â€Å" Most unethical behaviour is not done for personal gain, it’s done to meet performance goals†. Mostly people are of the view that individual moral philosophies plays main role for the ethical behaviour in business. Although moral philosophies learned through family, religion and education are important but it is only one factor which helps in decision making; it is not sufficient to prevent ethical misconduct especially in the business sector. Studies show that the reward for meeting performances and the corporate culture are the main drive rs in ethical decision making because the companies have a life of their own and the individuals working in the company are transcended by its corporate culture and with the passage of time, these patterened activities become instituionalized within the  organization. Peer influence also effects to some extent in the decision making; employees can be lulled by each other in making unethical decisions or when facing with ethical dilemmas nonetheless, everything still surrounds around the corporate culture and its strict policies for the ethical behaviour because when the policies will be strict, every employee would strive hard for the performance goal. If I fit myself in a situation where I can easily inflate my account on company’s expenses, I would be swayed by the company’s culture. I might not even think of committing any fraud or inflate the expense on company’s account, if the company is strict in its policies. But at times, it also depends on an individual moral values of a person in taking decision which is transmitted normally from families. According to my vantage point, individual moral development for taking a decision is a secondary factor; what drives first instantly to the person to behave ethically is the corpo rate culture since a company cannot rely on every individual to behave ethically on their own. They cant just stand in front of people and say they want them to have a good attitude and be excited, says Pecos River president Elizabeth Wilson. Taking decision in practical life and in work life differs. People in their work lives are driven by some targets and goals which are triggered in them by the organisation where they work and that effects on their performance. Similarly, when they take decision in their work lives , they are not driven by their own values, the company’s formulated culture effects their decision making. Nevertheless, if a person takes any decision without any concern or reflecting on the ethical dimensions; these sort of misbehaviours are referred to as â€Å"unethical business practices† (eg Garrett et al.,1989; Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2003 ; King, 1986).According to Murphy (1989), â€Å"Ethics should be followed in corporate sectors in the form of corporate creed and ethical code. The former establishes the organisational ethical values whereas the latter is a specific set of guidelines which must be developed in all functional areas of the firm.† To conclude, business ethics plays a pivotal role in developing a corporate culture. Although, all the implementation of principles and ethics is a bit difficult procedure but it impacts on the employees in the organisation in higher degree and rein them from involving in unethical activities. â€Å"It is obvious that in principle individuals are more ethical if a corporation has a written, formal code and  less ethical otherwise.† (Vitell et al.,1993,p.336). Hence, according to Vitell, the idea of a formal written code for ethics works well in corporate sector. In addition, moral values of an individual which are mainly effected by religion, personal cognitive approach, family, beliefs, education et cetera also plays an important role in preventing the employees in taking any unethical decision, however, it is only a secondary factor for an employee has a performance goal in his mind while working and the decision forms according to a corporate culture and the ethics followed in organizations since a company cannot rely on individuals individually to have e thical standards and beliefs. For that purpose , there is a necessity of a corporate culture which work as the main driver to act ethically in a work- place and in situations related to corporate sector. REFERENCES: Arunchand, C H; Ramanathan, Hareesh N. Organizational Culture and Employee Morale: A Public Sector Enterprise Experience, Journal of Strategic Human Resource Management2.1 (2013): 1-8. Mickalowski, Kyle; Mickelson, Mark; Keltgen, Jaciel. â€Å" Apple’s Iphone Launch: A Case Study In Effective Marketing The Business Review, Cambridge9.2(Summer 2008). Retrieved from Proquest Database, viewed 29 September,14 Caulkin, S.: 2002, Good Thinking, Bad Practice, The Observer (7th April), 11 Claver, Enrique; Llopis, Juan; Gasco, Jose L. International Journal of Value Based Management15.2 (2002): 151-163 Drake, B. H.and E. Drake, (1988), â€Å"Ethical and legal aspects of managing corporate culture† California management review 30 (2), 107- 123 Fritzche, D. J.: 1995, Personal Values: Potential Keys to Ethical Decision Making, Journal of Business Ethics 14(11), 909–922. Retrieved from Proquest Database, viewed 5 May,14 Garrett D. E., J. L., Bradford.,R. A. Meyers., J, Becker :1989 Issues Management and Organizational accounts: An analysis of Corporate responses to Accusations of Unethical Business Practices, Journal of Business Ethics 8 (7), 507- 520, Retrieved from Proquest Database, viewed 6 May,14 Geert, H., Bond, M. H., Luk, C. L. (1993). Individual Perceptions of Organizational Cultures. Organization Studies, 14(4), pp. 483-503. Retrieved from Proquest Database, viewed 11 may,14 Hall, E.T. (1959). The Silent Language, New York: Doubleday Lincoln, D., M. M. Pressey and T. Little: 1982, Ethical Beliefs and Personal Values of Top Level Executives, Journal of Business Research (10), 475–487 Murphy Herta A., Effective Business Communication (7th Edition), Herbert W. Hildebrandt , Mc Graw- Hill. Nakano, Chiaki. Asian Business Management, suppl. Special Issue: Japanese Business Society in a Global Age6.2 (Jun 2007): 163-178. The Significance and limitations of Corporate Governance from the perspective of Business Ethics: Towards the Creation of an Ethical Organizational Culture, Retrieved from Proquest Database, viewed on 10 May, 14. Vitell, S. J., et al, (1993), ‘Marketing Norms: The influence of personal moral philosophies and organizational ethical culture’ Journal of the academy of marketing science 21 (4), 331-337, Retrieved from Proquest Database, Viewed on 12 May,14. Yallapragada, RamMohan R.; Roe, C. William; Toma, Alfred G.: Accounting fraud and white collar crimes in the US, Journal of Business Case Studies8.2 (2012): 187. Retrieved from Proquest Database, Viewed on 7 May,14.

Functionalist Perspective on Social Problems

Functionalist Perspective on Social Problems When in a society people agree that there exists a condition that threatens the quality of their lives and their most cherished values, and they also agree that something should be done to remedy it, sociologists say that society has defined that state of affairs as a social problem. Sociologists ask questions about how the problem effects the collectivity rather than the individual aspects of a problem. The main sociological approaches to the study of social problems are the functionalist and conflict perspectives. Functionalism aims at analysing the social and cultural phenomenon in terms of the functions they perform. From this perspective, the main reason for the existence of social problems is that societies are always changing and the failure to adapt successfully to change leads to social problems. Functionalist analysis was prominent in the work of Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer, two of the founding fathers of this discipline and was further developed and refined by Emile Durkheim and more recently by Talcott Parsons. Durkheim is the most important sociological forerunner of modern day functionalism. His description of organic solidarity focussed on the interdependence of roles and lack of self-sufficiency that held people together. According to the functionalist perspective, each part of society is interconnected and contributes to society performing as a whole. If all goes well, the diverse parts of society produce order, equilibrium and performance. If all does not go well, then the different parts of society must adapt themselves to re-establish a new balance, equilibrium and performance. For example, during a financial recession and consequent high rates of unemployment and inflation, state spending on social programs is reduced or eliminated, Schools offer fewer educational programmes and families spend less, so a new social order, steadfastness and productivity occurs. The conflict perspective, which originated primarily out of Karl Marxs writings on class conflicts, presents a picture of society in a different light from the functionalist perspective. While the functionalist perspective focuses on the positive aspects of society that contribute to its stability, the conflict perspective focuses on the antagonistic, disharmonized and ever-changing nature of society. Conflict theorists challenge the existing state of affairs, strenghten social change (even when this means social revolution) and believe affluent and authoritarian people force social order on the destitute and the weak. Capitalism, the economic system which dominates the world today, is based on private ownership of the means of production (manufacturing industry, the raw materials and resources needed for industry and even the seeds necessary for food production) and exploitation of the labour of the working-class. The working-class, with no land or substantial inherited wealth, have no means of supporting themselves and are forced to sell their labour to survive. Capitalists buy this labour power, then get their money back and make profits by selling necessities and other products to the working-class and other classes in society. Critics of the conflict perspective point to its exceedingly negative outlook of society. The theory ultimately accredits charitable efforts, benevolence, democracy, civil rights, and other positive aspects of society to capitalistic motives meant to control the masses, and not to fundamental interests in sustaining society and social order. For generations before the establishment of a welfare state, most poor people who did not earn a living somehow managed to cope. Relying on family and, if necessary, on local charities, they pooled together the resources necessary to maintain a dwelling and prevent starvation. The term Poverty has many definitions and it is often defined as a state of deprivation relative to those standards of living enjoyed by others within the same society e.g. income or consumption poverty, social preclusion, lack of basic needs and relative hardship. The extensive sociological literature on poverty overlaps with that on race, ethnicity, subcultures, the underclass and stratification. The study of poverty is central to any examinations of social inequality, including an analysis of who is destitute and the reasons for their poverty. Although the poor have often been blamed for their poverty, which is seen as the consequence of some form of personal inadequacy such as idleness, most studies attribute the existence of poverty in terms of the social and economic structures of industrialised societies. The Functionalist belief on poverty is based on the assumption that poverty serves a constructive use for society since functionalism is interested in large scale fundamental justifications of social life. Therefore, poverty is studied on a macro level on the basis of the benefits it provides to society as a whole, rather than for the persons who are in poverty. The most influential writer on this aspect is Herbert J. Gans (1971) who suggests that poverty benefits the rich and powerful, who have a statutory interest in preserving poverty. According to Gans, poverty ensures there is always someone in society who needs to perform physically dangerous, temporary, undignified and underpaid work for low wages, which is ultimately better than destitution. Furthermore, without the underpaid in society, many enterprises would be unable to operate as they rely upon under paid workers to ensure their dividend and success. The very existence of poverty provides the rest of society with benchmark against which society can measure itself. In Britain, Peter Townsend played a leading role between 1950, and 1970s in making the public aware of the continuing existence of poverty. According to Townsend individuals, families and groups can be said to be in poverty when they lack the means to obtain the types of food, participate in the activities and have basic living conditions and facilities which are recognized, or at least widely sanctioned or approved, in the societies to which they belong. Their resources are so seriously below those required by the average person or family that they are, in effect, excluded from everyday living ways, customs and activities. In Poverty in the United Kingdom Townsend claims that the existence of class division is the major factor causing poverty; but he also acknowledges that poverty is related to lifestyles. From a conflict perspective, poverty is imposed, reflecting unequal power among social groups, and it will continue to be imposed until those harmed by it manage to force a change. Conflict theory argues that the explanations offered by functionalism theory is part of what sustains poverty, as they conceal its true origins and encourage the poor to accept social arrangements rather than organize to combat them. Marxism attributes poverty to the existence of class divisions in society. Poverty helps to maintain the domination of the bourgeoisie. In the 19th century the recognized explanation of poverty came from Malthuss Essay on Population (1798). Malthus affirmed that population grows faster than production. Increasing poverty is therefore unavoidable; any increase in the standard of living of the poorest classes simply leads to an increase in births or decrease in death rates and the population again presses on food supply. Marx held the Malthusian theory in great disdain. Under capitalism, production grows very rapidly because of continual innovation and the surplus population a group of unemployed living in poverty is not the result of natural population increase, but of the dislocation of workers by labour-saving machinery. The surplus population could all work if the length of the working day were reduced. But employers dont want this, for various reasons. Marxists believe that the capitalist society is constucted by the economy, and this structure needs to be completely reconfigured to be able to eliminate poverty. This would include a revolutionary eradication of capitalism because eventually the situation will progress to a small minority of the bourgeoisie (ruling class) and a pool of cheap labour. Marxists illustrated this by suggesting that institutions in the superstructure, such as the media, abuse of the proletariat, keeping them poor. A fragileness to the Marxists point of view is that it fails to explain why some groups are more inclined to poverty than others, e.g. women and the disabled. According to Marxists, the welfare system is an instrument of the state, which helps to maintain absolute lack of balance of prosperity that see some people living in privation with little possibility of ever really escaping from it. Absolute poverty, also known as subsistence poverty, is the idea that it is possible to create an absolute minimum standard of living required for physical health, this is often called the poverty line. This concept is used in Drewnowski and Scotts level of living index where nutrition is defined in terms of calories and protein, shelter in terms of quality of dwelling and degrees of overcrowding, and health in terms of infant mortality and the quality of available medical facilities. Some sociologists attempt to include measures of education, security, leisure and recreation as basic cultural needs to be added to the notion of subsistence. The theory of relative poverty has mainly replaced that of absolute poverty in sociological research. Relative poverty is measured in terms of judgements by members of a particular society of what is considered as a reasonable and acceptable standard of living. This definition of poverty suggests that the poor in any given society are, in part, defined by their opposite, the rich. A society has a distinctive set of cultural values, and any definition of poverty must include the choices and interests that individuals have in their society. Researchers have linked poverty to several key issues of child welfare. Children from families in poverty experience more emotional and behaviour problems than children from middle and upper class families. Although all children go to school, the background of some puts them academically behind their peers from the beginning. Impoverished students are far more likely to enter school a disadvantaged because they have not had experiences that promote literacy and reading readiness. More than one billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. In total, 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than two dollars per day. Poverty in the developing world, however, goes far beyond income poverty. This entails having to walk more than one mile everyday to collect water and firewood; it means suffering diseases that were annihilated from rich countries decades ago. Every year eleven million children (mostly under the age of five) die from malnutrition and more than six million from completely preventable causes like malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia. A total of 114 million children do not get access to a basic education and 584 million women are illiterate. Social protection systems in Europe are among the most highly developed in the world but still, 16% of Europes population amounting to 79 million people live below the poverty line (set at 60% of their countrys median income) with one European in ten living in a household where nobody has an employment. Children, are more exposed to poverty with 19% amounting to 19 million children living under the threat of poverty. For this reason the European Union has proclaimed 2010 as the European Year For Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion with four main objectives: The fundamental right of persons experiencing poverty and social exclusion to live in dignity and to take an active part in society; Foster commitment by all public and private actors to combat poverty and social exclusion; Encourage cohesion; Promote commitment and practical action of the EU and its Member States to combat poverty and social exclusion, and involve all levels of authority in the pursuit of that aim. Malta does not live in a vacuum and new forms of poverty brought about by social progress as a result of new lifestyles have been very actual. A large number of families are living through difficult times, with children being the innocent victims of their parents and guardians, the authorities or the community at large. Problems created by gambling, usury, alcohol, drug abuse and mental health. The report by the National Family Commission states that relative poverty exits not just financially but also in cases of stigmatised illness, domestic violence and cases where a husband chooses not to work so that he can default on paying maintenance to wife and dependants. More and more international efforts have been organized in recent decades to address the problems of the poorest among us. However, while the world has certainly seen an overall improvement in rates of poverty and poverty-related issues, success has been uneven and hampered by serious setbacks. One devastating disease, such as AIDS, can obliterate the economy of a low-income country and one violent conflict can crush any human development advances that might have been achieved. Can we envisage a society without absolute poverty and relative poverty? In a society without absolute poverty everyone that could work would be employed, there would be little crime, just a great place to live. In a society without relative poverty people would all have the same wealth and there would be no competition to be better then anyone else. This type of society is only possible in the imagination. Poverty survives because it is useful to our society. Societys dirty work could still be carried out without poverty by paying the dirty workers decent wages. If the poor were more affluent they would make less willing clients for upper-class philanthropy. Poverty will only be eliminated when the poor can obtain enough power to make a change in todays society.

Employment Of People With Mental Illness Social Work Essay

Employment Of People With Mental Illness Social Work Essay There is no health without mental health (Ki-Moon, 2010, para.2; World Health Organisation, 2005, p.11) and this is why this topic has become at the heart of many discussions. The World Health Organisation (1948) in WHO (2003), approaches this concept holistically and defines mental health as the balance between all the aspects of life; a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (p.100). Barry Jenkins (2007) add that mental health is an attitude that fosters in the individual a sense of control, hope, optimism and the capacity to build and sustain relationships in the society. Thus, mental health is said to be a measure of how people, organizations, and communities think, feel, and function, individually and collectively (Keyes, 2007, in Mc Collam, Mukkala, OSullivan, Rowe, Stengard, 2008, p.6). For this reason, Phillips (2008) affirms that the well-being and mental well-being, in particular, [are] a new frontier in the fight for social justice in the creation of a society which is fair; communities which offer the individual dignity and respect; the evolution of a people confident in their diversity. Given that mental illness has become the leading cause of disability in the European Community, with more than 130 million people expected to experience some kind of mental illness in their life (EUFAMI, 2004), many nations are acknowledging that they cannot ignore mental health and mental illness in their communities and workplaces anymore. As Gauci (2010) argues, countries that adopt legislations, policies and systems that protect vulnerable citizens, including people with mental illness reflects a society that respects and cares for its people (p.7). Extensive is the research carried out about mental illness, but for a common terminology of the different types of disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has been developed. The DSM-IV states that mental disorders are conceptualized as a clinically significant behavioural or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual and that is associated with present distress (e.g., a painful symptom) or disability (i.e., impairment in one or more important areas of functioning) or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom. (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p.xxxi) Thus, for behaviour to be considered a disorder, it must be originally caused by a behavioural, psychological, or biological dysfunction in the individual (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p.xxxi). Conversely, expectable responses to particular events (e.g. the death of significant other), deviant behaviour (e.g. political, religious, and sexual behaviour), conflicts between the individuals and the society are not mental disorders. These only fall into the latter category when the deviance or conflict is a symptom of a dysfunction in the individual (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p.xxxi), as aforementioned. There is vast spectrum of mental disorders, each having their specific criteria, but for general use, Goldberg Huxley (1992) categorize mental disorders in two ways, namely, common mental illnesses and severe mental illnesses. The former are mostly evident in the community whilst the latter refers to disorders which are more common amongst people who receive mental illness services and thus, contrary to the above, may need special care to convalesce. Goldberg Huxley (1992) add that severe mental illnesses are associated with much greater social disability and are much less likely to resolve spontaneously with time. (p.5) At this point it is important to understand that despite its severity, mental illness does not lead to mental disability, and the two are different from each other. As aforesaid, mental illness impacts a persons behavior and feelings, however, the symptoms can be managed (Inclusion Europe and Mental Health Europe, 2007). On the other hand, mental disability, also known as intellectual disability refers to people who have difficulties in learning and understanding and whose skills in areas such as cognition, language, motor, and social abilities can be permanently impaired (Inclusion Europe and Mental Health Europe, 2007, p.2). Therefore, mental illness is not a disability, but the difficulties derived from the illness, can result in functional disability (Richmond, 2011). Functional disability is defined by the WHO (1976) as disability in which functional limitation and/or impairment is a causative factor, is defined as an existing difficulty in performing one or more activities which, in accordance with the subjects age, sex and normative social role, are generally accepted as essential, basic components of daily living, such as self-care, social relations, and economic activity. (para. 1.2 iii) 2.2 Employment In its simplest definition, work means the exchange of labour for wages (Danto, n.d, p.14). But employment has always had a higher value for humanity. Indeed the Ancient Greeks held that work formed part of the sphere of necessity (Haralambos Holborn, 2004, p.619). Notwithstanding the changes and revolutions that the world went through, work still remained a defining value of our culture (p.12) and this is so because the need to work is deeply rooted in our psychology and social existence (Dante, n.d, p.14). Work can take many forms but its benefits are rather homogenous. Cameron Conley (2010, in Topp, 2010) assert that work is meaningful because it connects individuals to their values and to their community. It is also acknowledged that good working experiences affect the individuals wellbeing and development, leading them to adopt more positive perspectives and attitudes. This is further reinforced by Finch Moxley (2003), who declare that employment offers much promise to people and is fundamental to their development as fully realized human beings (p.10). Underlining all this is the truth that employment is a human right. Hence, all people have the right to work; to free choice of employment; just and favourable conditions of work and protection against unemployment (Article 23, 1948, in United Nations, n.d). In the convention on the rights of persons with Disabilities, the United Nations (2006) accentuate that people who experience disability are also entitled to human rights and f undamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field (Article 2) and discrimination is proscribed, including the failure to provide reasonable accommodations for those who need it. This is sustained by Bassett Llyod (1997) in Bassett, Bassett Llyod (2001), when they claim that involvement in paid employment is a significant life occupation for many people and is a realistic goal for people who have experienced a mental health disorder (para.2). 2.3 The benefits of employment for people experiencing mental illness Therefore, work is not only important to maintain good mental health but also to enhance the improvement of those who are experiencing mental health difficulties. Enabling people to retain or gain employment has a profound effect on more life domains than almost any other medical or social intervention (Boardman, Grove, Perkins Shepherd, 2003,p.467). This is so because employment harbours inclusion, yields a sense of security, happiness and comfort; a sense of living needed for recovery. Recovery from mental illness is a reality nowadays and it has become a goal for many people. Recovery does not mean that symptoms disappear, but it is all about getting on with life beyond the disability (Deegan, 1988). Having experienced it herself, Deegan (1988) adds recovery does not refer to an end product or result. It does not mean that my friend and I were cured. In fact our recovery is marked by an ever-deepening acceptance of our limitations. But now, rather than being an occasion for despair, we find that our personal limitations are the ground from which spring our own unique possibilities (p.56). Work is central to the process of recovery (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2005; HM Government, n.d). This is so because it provides both the financial means for living and also latent benefits. Olsheski Schelat (n.d) assert that employment is beneficial because it provides structures to daily activities, an identity, a sense of achievement, socioeconomic status and a sense of belonging. This is sustained through Hertzbergs theory who believed that work meets human needs in two ways. The acquisition of a salary, the working conditions and interpersonal relationships established at the working site make up the hygiene factors. According to Herzberg, their absence creates dissatisfaction in the individual, but does not lead him to feel satisfied and motivated (Herzberg, 1959, in Gawel, 1997). At this level, any changes towards job performance are only short-lived. Conversely, motivator factors produce long-term positive outcomes which appear to be a consequence of job satisfying events such as appraisals, achievements and advancements (Herzberg, 1959, in Gawel, 1997). Job satisfaction and longer job tenure have been found by Resnick Bond, (n.d) in URBIS (2007) to be co-related. As it is acknowledged above, the benefits of employment for people with mental health difficulties are various, yet the barriers for work are still a reality. In fact, people experiencing mental health difficulties rank low in employment when compared to other disabled groups (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2009; Duncan Peterson, 2007), despite that many of them have the aspirations to work (HM Government, n.d). In addition, Catalano et al (1990) claim that people with mental illness are many often employed in part-time work, characterized by little pay and possible insecurities. The reason behind this is that accessibility of the workplace most often is only associated with the adaptation of the physical environment through the use of various adaptive equipment, and adaptation of the social and emotional environment is often neglected. Accessibility also means opening up the labour market to facilitate participation in the economic activity and social funct ioning. While it is true to say that the illness often acts as an obstacle (Frado, 1993) and may create problems for the employee whilst in employment, but the working environment also lacks the tools to accommodate their interests, abilities and support needs (Bill et al, 2006, in URBIS, 2007, para.4.3.4). Some of the most severe forms of mental illness have their onset in late adolescence and beginning of young adulthood, whilst others strike in middle adulthood. As a matter of fact, both a persons education and working life could be significantly impacted; resulting in fewer credentials which are needed for employability and the disruption of employment for those who are already employed (WHO, n.d, in Richmond Foundation, 2011). Penrose-Wall Bateman (2007) in URBIS (2007) add that people with mental illness may experience a downfall in their confidence, motivation and social skills as a result of the episodic nature of the illness, and as a matter of fact, their employment is understandably disrupted (para.4.3.1). Once again, a persons educational and occupational attainment may be at a disadvantage (Robdale, 2008). Moreover, the level of severity of the illness has been linked to unemployment, with a percentage as high as 85% for people with severe mental illness (Crowther et al 20 01, in Duncan Peterson, 2007). Additionally, the medication used to treat the illness may pose some difficulties for the person whilst on the job. Some of which include drowsiness, tremors, blurred vision, nausea, agitation, bladder problems, dry mouth amongst others (National Institute of Mental Health, 2008). Despite the struggle to cope with the illness, people may also have to deal with bad financial issues that arise when their ability to work is affected. Thus in order to make ends meet, people with mental illness may force themselves back to work before they would have gained their health (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2005). In the light of such delicate situations, Cappe (1999) avows that it is no longer enough to do the right thing, but we must also ensure that we are doing things right. It is no longer sufficient to be a place where people work-the workplace itself must be built around the people and give them the support they need (para.1) A place of work that is built around people is one that welcomes diversity. It signals the enthusiastic acceptance of the value to organizations of workforces that are diverse in terms of gender, age [and] (dis)abilityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Jackson Joshi, 2001, in Arnold, Burnes, Cooper, Patterson, Robertson Silvester, 2005,p.35). Mental illness is no longer a rare condition but it is has become one of the most common causes of disability with the World Health organization claiming that by the year 2020, depression will become the second leading cause of premature death and disability (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2005). In the light of these statistics, employers cannot fail to acknowledge the concepts of mental health and mental illness in their workplace. It is time to do away with the misconceptions that people with mental illness are violent and have low intellectual abilities. To the contrary, they are usually the victims of violence and their intelligence and abilities are not dissimilar to the rest of the populace (Frado, 1993). Many people experiencing mental illness are able to work, want to work and can carry out their job successfully (Cook ODay, 2006). 2.4 Stigma But stigma has the power to erode this willingness. As HM Government (n.d) outlines, barriers to employment and sustainability of employment for people experiencing mental health difficulties are also found to be derived from society itself, with stigma acting as one of the major obstructions. Stigma can be described as severe social disapproval due to believed or actual individual characteristics, beliefs or behaviors that are against norms, be they economic, political, cultural or social. It is characterized by a lack of knowledge about mental health, fear, prejudice and discrimination. (Mc Daid, 2008, para.2.1) These are also the prevailing beliefs amongst certain employers, who are still afraid to employ and support people with mental illness (Waghorn Lloyd, 2005, in URBIS, 2007; Canadian Mental Health Association, 2005; Mc Daid, 2011). They may have unwarranted fears and see persons with psychiatric disabilities as unskilled, unproductive, unreliable, violent or unable to handle workplace pressures (Fenton Payne, 2005, p.8). But mental illness does not always encroach with the workers job performance or it may affect the ability to work only for a certain time, during which, some limitations may arise (Frado, 1993). These may include consistent late arrivals or frequent absences, decreased productivity, frequent complaints of fatigue or unexplained pains, difficulty concentrating, working excessive overtime and expressions of strange or grandiose ideas, amongst others (Fenton Payne, 2005, p.7). In view of these limitations, the untrained employer and colleague may fail to recognize men tal illness, and interpret inappropriate behavior negatively, thinking that their work mates are violent, dangerous and erratic (Harnois Gabriel, 2000). This is further manifested in incorrect and discriminating behavior as people with mental illness are often given insulting names, refusals by their colleagues to work with them and not considered for promotions (Fenton Payne, 2005). Just like students who tend to see themselves as bright or dull according to their teachers definition of them, people with mental illness may come to believe that they are truly no good. This negative general idea about mental illness is then often internalized within the individual himself, leading to self-stigma. Self-stigma refers to the negative feelings about oneself; manifesting itself into feelings of hopelessness, difference and unworthiness (Barnes, Duncan Peterson, 2008). As a matter of fact, people with mental illness may not be so willing to try new job tasks, opportunities and promotions (Frado, 1993). The media is said to have a profound effect in all this. As findings indicate, Coverage of mental health issues that was biased, negative, sensationalized, or incorrect was seen as contributing to the negative stereotypes that surround mental illness. These in turn influence the attitudes and behavior of the people who believe them, including people with experience of mental illness. (Barnes et al, 2008, p.60) 2.5 Maintaining employment In the essence of a holistic policy that targets mental illness, Maltese citizens who experience functional disability due to mental illness can in the meantime benefit from the provisions of the Equal Opportunities (Persons with Disability) Act (2000). In the light of this situation, Dr. C. Pace, social policy consultant and lecturer at the University of Malta, divulges that while we clearly and strongly distinguished mental health problems from intellectual or learning disability, I think it would be a disservice to persons with mental health problems if we fail to tell them and society that, in the case of a long-term impairment, they can have specific and important legal rights. (in a personal communication, January 2011, regarding how this was dealt with in a recent project) Therefore, under the provisions of this article, people with a mental illness who exhibit functional disability are to enjoy the protection against discrimination as well as reasonable accommodations in their working environment. It is the latter concept which encapsulates the commitment of employment corporations to create the necessary structures, be them legal, administrative or institutional, which facilitate both employability and adaptability at the place of work for persons with mental illness. As the Transition Strategies, LLC (2010) contend, Although the law prohibits discrimination against mentally disabled persons in the workplace, the economic impact of these numbers is so compelling that regardless of any concerns about disability discrimination lawsuits, employers cannot afford to ignore the problem. Even when a problem worker is fired, the odds are excellent that his or her replacement will be one of the remainingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.The solution? (para.2) In view of these emerging needs, the workforce is pressured to understand that people with mental illness may have certain needs to be met. However this does not imply that their skills and capabilities are of a substandard (Boardman, Grove, Perkins Shepherd, 2003). Employers and colleagues are suggested to increase their knowledge about mental illness and respond with anti-discriminative measures and reasonable adjustments so that people with mental illness can function in the working environment like their colleagues counterparts. Indeed, Frado (1993) claims that the antidote to stigma in the workplace is for the environment to be positive, encouraging and welcoming (p.6). However, there are people whose experience of mental illness does not affect their ability to work (Frado, 1993), and thus may not need help to maintain their job. Accommodation measures are in effect some of the tools which the employer can use to help bring about adjustments to the workplace. An accommodation is any change in the work environment or in the way things are customarily done that enables an individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities, claims the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, (2002, para.2). Research shows that that workers with mental health difficulties does not necessarily cause any excessive burden on the employer (Diksa and Rogers,1996; Tetrick Toney, 2002) but with practical modifications in the social and organizational structure, they can act capably and competently in their work and as contributors to the society (Frado, 1993). Starting a new job may be a stressful experience to people with mental illness (Mc Kee, 1996). This is so because they may be faced with certain challenges and thus may need accommodation to maintain the employment. In fact, Shankar (2005), states that keeping a job is more exigent than obtaining it. This is sustained by a personal disclosure of a person who says that Because of my medication, its really difficult for me to keep to a schedule I mean to get up on time. My employer is happy with my work and as long as I put in my eight hours, she doesnt mind if I dont make it on time every day. This is the first job Ive been able to keep without being fired for lateness. (as cited in Frado,1993, p.15) People experiencing mental illness may find it hard to follow the demands of daily living such as waking up early but a positive and constructive principle like this provides a strong foundation for accommodation. Additional policies include allowing people to work flexible hours or to work at home, enable frequent breaks, allow workers to shift work hours to attend hospital appointments, allow telephone calls to doctors or others for support, and permit a self-paced workload amongst others (Loy, n.d). A working place is not solely run by the manager, but people at different levels constitute different roles and all are important in the running of the company. Thus, even the attitude of the supervisors, colleagues and other staff adds to providing a climate that supports accommodation. Given that people still make negative connotations with mental illness, it is important to address these misconceptions by educating staff and colleagues about these illnesses, its course and consequences. Moreover, supervisors closely working with the employees should be given training on how to improve ones approach and teaching methods. Examples include giving constructive feedback, offering praise and providing direction (Frado, 1993). Nonetheless, in order for the employer to provide such accommodation measures tailored for the specific needs of the employee, people need to disclose about their difficulties but this is not an easy task given the stigma that exists. They may think that the advantages of disclosing about these difficulties are very little compared to the disadvantages and thus they may choose to remain silent. Others may have worked so much to restore their health that they do not want to be categorized as disabled (Frado, 1993). But as Mc Kee (1996) claims, the employee does not necessarily have to give a specific diagnosis of his illness. To the contrary, she suggests people with mental illness to focus on how the disability impacts upon [their] ability to do the job and what positive steps can be taken to accommodate [their] needs (p.7). Such a disclosure can potentially reduce tension whilst increasing support and help on the job. Employing people with mental illness is not only beneficial for t heir health but as the Canadian Mental Health Association, 2005 outlines, it also bring[s] a new perspective to the workplace, and a new level of sensitivity among all employees to one another (p.23). The supported employment scheme is another benchmark in the commitment to provide people with mental illness the necessary services to find and keep employment. It was originally known as the place and train approach which embarked on the idea that people with mental illness shall first be placed in the job and then offered training (EUSE, n.d). The job coach has the imperative role to provide the service users with the necessary support to perform ordinary work requirements such as accompanying them to and from work, training and education of the employee, advocacy, assistive technology, behavioral training skills and other support to make the employment a positive experience both for the employee and the employer (Parent, 2004). The European Union of Supported employment defines this scheme as providing support to people with disabilities or other disadvantaged groups to secure and maintain paid employment in the open labour market (EUSE, n.d, p. 13). Family members and friends may not be able to help in acquiring the skills needed for employment, but they can be a source of support and hope for people with mental illness along their working life experience. These social support networks are described as a nexus of interpersonal ties consisting of family, friends, or other individuals who provide some type of support that leads one to believe that he or she is cared for, loved, valued, and belongs to a network with mutual obligations (Milardo, 1988, in Pernice, 2010, para.2 ). These can aid in making long-term employment a reality (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2005) and recovery a lived-experience (Pernice, 2010). 2.6 The Social Model and Medical Model of disability The measures outlined above are aimed to provide assistance for people with mental illness in finding and retaining employment in the mainstream workforce. However, as aforementioned, difficulties that arise in this scenario are not only a responsibility of the employee, but also of the society at large. Therefore this calls on the need to not view difficulties as the result of the individuals disorder only; as anchored in the medical approach, but to also consider societal factors responsible for difficulties encountered (Mor, 2005). This is the social model of disability which focuses on the complex ways that economic relations, cultural meanings, social practices, and institutional settings participate in the disablement of persons (Mor, 2005, p.22). This shift in locus on the integration of people with mental illness in the society did not happen instantaneously. Although change in the beliefs, perceptions and attitudes towards mental illness seem to be taking a gradual pace, much improvement has been done along the years. Before the means of acquiring knowledge and information increased, people were not educated about mental health. This goes back to few centuries ago when mental illness was thought to be caused by supernatural forces. They were thought to be moonstruck and thus were referred to as lunatic (Pritchard, 2006, p.3). In fact, Mount Carmel Hospital, currently responsible of the rehabilitation of mental illness in Malta, was called the Lunatic Asylum in the 1800s (Savona-Ventura, 2004). These perceptions of madness and possessions lead to the abuse of many people with mental illness. As Cauchi (1999) reported, people with mental illness were beaten and treated badly. People with mental illness were made to believe that they were incurable and insane and were even denied civil rights (Daub, 2006). This is the medical model which rooted in its teachings has the basic ideology that mental illness is just a chemical imbalance or a biological malfunction of the brain (Daub, 2006,p.2). In this period, the mental health practice suggested that people with mental illness who were interested to work should stay away from working in the community. Instead, they were suggested to work in highly protected and isolated settings like the sheltered workshops (Becker Drake, nd). These gave the individual the opportunity to work without having to risk competition and failure experiences which, it was assumed, would occur in normal work environments (Bussone, Cramp, Dakunchak Rosen, 1993,para.2). Activities in this category were meant to shelter persons from normal problems while exposing them to normal task requirements such as time clocks and supervision (Beck er Drake, n,d). But as years passed by, sheltered workshops became less popular because work was demeaning and it offered no prospects since people always remained in an institutional setting (Bussone et al, 1993). Then focus was shifted on teaching people the necessary skills for employability. This was referred to as the train and place approach in which people mental health difficulties were given training in order to find employment. Once trained, they were free to find themselves a job. However this probability was not plausible since the acquisition of the skills alone were not sufficient to gain and maintain employment (EUSE, n.d). The concept of supported employment was the last to be introduced but it is the one which offers much promise to people with mental illness as it emphasizes the need for integration into society and engagement in open paid employment. Whereas before, people with mental illness were only seen in the context of health services, now their strengths are being recognized and are considered to be potential contributors to our society (Frado, 1993). Supported employment schemes and accommodation measures both provide the employee with the opportunity to enjoy a working life that best meets their needs. 2.7 The Current situation It could be that people are no longer beaten and retained due to their illness and sheltered workshops gain less endorsement, yet it is still a struggle for people with mental illness to find and keep jobs. As Gauci, (2010) says, the lack of flexibility at the work place and the stigma and fears, which still exist in our society; most frequently results in the violations of peoples right to work(para.5). Unfortunately, circumstances that defy the rights of persons with mental illness are not always given the prominence that they require (Gauci, 2010). Locally, supported employment services are very limited, even if they proved to be successful. In fact, the Richmond Foundation (2009), in Richmond Foundation (2011) asserts that in the year 2009, a total of twenty six persons with mental illness benefited from this scheme. This service has been unavailable for a period of time but is currently in the process of being re-introduced. Also, the Maltese mental health Act needs to be update d as it continuous to result in the violations of the rights of people experiencing mental illness (Ameen, 2009). To further stress this point, Mc Sween (2002) claims that mental health still receives less government support than general health care (para.1). Indeed, Gauci (2010) avers that it is very basic and superficial when a country has policies and legislation which promote community care when in practice community services are inadequate, scare, uncoordinated, understaffed or staffed by persons who are not trained to deal with persons with mental health difficulties in the community. ( para.4) These support lacking systems are also a major concern to many parents who fear that their children will become unemployed, poor and homeless, with no one to look after them, rotting away and walking around the village looking dirty and alone(Calleja, 2010b, para.16). 2.8 Social work and mental illness Social Work has an imperative role in all this since its core values are crafted to address social problems and challenge social injustices (Johnson Yanca, 2007). Not only should social workers provide people with mental illness with the support and skills needed to help them overcome disadvantage but also seek to transform the society for the benefit of their clients (Payne, 2005). This is so because the social work profession calls on its associates the need to consider the person in environment as sometimes there is a tendency to ignore environmental factors responsible for social problems (Johnson Yanca, 2007, p.60). It is this aspect of social work that moves in line with the social model of disability, as it too takes into consideration the societys attitudes that act as a barrier for people with mental illness to maintain employment. Th