Market Research †Butteroil

Brief Synopsis of Alfreshco Butterroil Butterroil is an anhydrous milk-based product consisting of dairy fat at its purest form. This product consists of different types of lipids having varying melting points, which makes the products multi-purpose. Notably, Alfreshco Butteroil is a unique product as it can be used in a variety of food processing practices in both homes and industries.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Market Research – Butteroil specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For instance, the butter can be combined with powdered milk to produce fresh milk, while it can also be used in chocolate manufacturing. As a result, Alfreshco Butteroil brand products can be described as multipurpose since it can be used in baking, roasting and applying on bread like margarine. It has been revealed that, the main products of anhydrous milk fat are anhydrous Butteroil, Butteroil and anhydrous milk fat. More so, thi s product was revealed to have enticing smell and taste of buttery scent. Since the product is manufactured in its natural form, it has been found useful in both industrial and home food processing activities. In bakery industries, Alfreshco Butteroil products have been found to be a major ingredient in manufacturing of confectionary and ice creams. As it has been revealed, this product has been revealed to have high nutritive value, capable of providing individuals with their daily energy requirement sustainably. As a result, its popularity in the market lies on its ability to meet the needs of its users largely. Marketing Issues Facing Butteroil Products Since Alfreshco Butteroil products have been made naturally without additives, their demand in the market has been increasing significantly. Considering that this product has various purposes both in homes and industries in food processing practices, Alfreshco Butteroil has been a great success in the market. However, this product has been revealed to go bad within short period, making it less reliable once stored for some time. More specifically the products are less durable, which poses great threat for this product’s popularity in the near future. As a result, this product has been revealed to be in danger of lacking enough market, especially with the rising competition in the contemporary markets (Armstrong and Kotler 23). The aspect of the product of having the capacity to be employed in various applications with regard to various temperatures enhances its wider usage capacity. Having special nutrients recommendable to the people of all ages, this product has the opportunity to thrive better in the market. Since it is suitable to both children and adults, the product has a wider market base, despite it being targeted to young children.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Lenscold (49) consid ers the ability of a product to meet the requirements of a wider customer base as an opportunity for its potential future demand. On this basis, there is a potential future for the market of this product, as it has the opportunity to be purchased by all age groups due to its high nutritive value. Positioning of Alfreshco Butteroil Brand As it has been revealed, Alfreshco Butteroil products have been credible product in the market due to its reportedly high nutritive value and multi-purpose nature. Particularly, Alfreshco Butteroil products have been found to be more effective than other competing brands like Canola oil among others. Since this product is cholesterol free and has less fat saturation than other butter products, it has been most liked by many people (Armstrong and Kotler 41). Basically, one of the main competitive advantages of this product is that, on top of its refreshing butter aroma, Alfreshco Butteroil offers its users with a wider variety of uses. On this basis, this product has been found quite useful both homes and industrial in various food processing products. Through being multi-dimensional in its growth ways, the company of this product has enhanced its prosperity in the market. According to Luther (98), it is quite essential for corporations to combine four product-markets, called Ansoff’s matrix, as shown in the diagram below. Existing Products New Products Existing Markets Market Penetration Product Development New Markets Market Development Diversification As the product seeks to increase its market share through expansion, its focus on large customer base can be described as an appropriate strategy to enhance its growth. As it has been observed, product development has been done in this brand since wider varieties of products under the same brand. With regard to Armstrong and Kotler (54), if firms wish to introduce new products in the already established market segments, they would be required to do product dive rsification. As it has been observed in the Alfreshco Butteroil, its popularity in the market has been attributed to its uniqueness and product differentiation under the same brand. Factors Contributing to the Success of Alfreshco Butteroil Brand As it has been observed, this product is meant for wide range of customers. With its applicability in home and industrial food processing practices, the target market for this product seems to be food manufacturers and homes. Having its nutrients recommended to all age groups, this product has wider range of customers as it is not confined to age groups or lifestyles.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Market Research – Butteroil specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Being a multi-purpose product, it popularity in the market seems promising due to its naturalness and enticing nature to its customers (Armstrong and Kotler 43). The reason to believe that this product is s uperior amongst its competitors has been facilitated by its ability to be replaced by all its substitutes for a variety of food processing processes. Having the potential to entice its customers by being multipurpose and uniqueness reinforces its positive attitude of the customers towards it (Luther 35). More so, the frames of references for this product are strategically enhancing its success in the market. Since this brand competes with other products used for cooking, its efficient-nature in cooking reinforced by other added advantages enhances its higher relevance to the customers. As it has been observed, natural and healthy nature of Alfresco Butteroil facilitates its high demand in the market, as it is perceived as a unique product amongst its competitors. According to Lenscold (74), the ability of a product to have added advantages lacking in its competitors forms the basis for its ultimate success in the market. Particularly, the benefit differences between this product and its competitors forms a string basis for its success in the market. Conclusion As it has been observed, Alfreshco Butteroil is a product having the potential to thrive well in the market due to its various competitive advantages. Being a multi-purpose commodity, Alfreshco Butteroil has been highly useful in homes and industries due to its ability to replace all other substitutes in cooking. As a result, this product has largely been competitive in the market due to its uniqueness and superiority in terms of usage for various purposes. However, this product seems to lack the ability to stay for long under room temperatures, unless confined in freezing conditions. This is the main weakness identified for this product.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Works Cited Armstrong, Gregory and Kotler, Patrick. Successful Marketing Techniques. New York:   Prentice Hall Publishers, 2010. Lenscold, Jackson. Marketing ROI: The Path to Campaign, Customer and Corporate  Profitability. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers, 2003. Luther, Wycliffe. The Marketing Plan: How to Prepare and Implement it. New York: Prentice Hall, 2010. This report on Market Research – Butteroil was written and submitted by user Kody D. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

SickleCell Anemia essays

SickleCell Anemia essays Hemoglobin, an oxygen carrying protein in blood, is sometime altered in people causing interruptions in the circulation of blood. This is known as Sickle-Cell Anemia. In the United States, Sickle-Cell Anemia is found mostly in blacks. About 1 in 400 blacks in the United States have the disorder. In Africa, and parts of the Middle East, Sickle-Cell Anemia can be found, not just in the United States. In infants, it only takes about 6 months after birth for symptoms of Sickle-Cell Anemia to appear. These symptoms include the following: swelling of hands and feet; and enlargement of heart and abdomen. Sexual maturation may be delayed in the adolescence stage of life. Later in life, leg ulcers and infections can occur due to blood flow disturbance caused by the Sickle-Cell Anemia gets its name from the sickle, a sharp, crescent- shaped tool. When a person has Sick-Cell Anemia, their red blood cells change in shape due to the altered hemoglobin in the blood. When the oxygen in the blood cells is reduced for any reason, the cells become oddly shaped. They are shaped like a sickle. This blood disease is inherited from the parents, much like other traits. The gene for Sickle-Cell Anemia is codominant with the gene for normal blood hemoglobin. When the heterozygous form occurs, that person is said to be a Sickle-Call Carrier. He or she has the gene for the Sickle-Cell Anemia, but does not show the symptoms of the disorder. Sickle-Cell carriers are partially resistant to Malaria. ...

How instrumental are parents in the development of their children Essay

How instrumental are parents in the development of their children - Essay Example The extent to which this is the case, though, continues to be a source of vigorous contention as each side argues that the personality is shaped more by one influence than the other. While the argument that genetics plays a significant role in the development of a personality, it seems clear that the parents play a much greater role in establishing the tools and skills the child will need to function within their particular society. The idea that nurturing plays a more significant role in the development of a child is found in these children’s increased ability to function in society as adults thanks to what they learned from their parents’ actions. From birth, parents play a large role in the life of the child, teaching the child everything they will need to know to function within the society in which the parents find themselves. Through consistent close contact with the child, the parent is able to instill their own ideas, beliefs, practices and behaviors in the child while providing the child with the socialization skills he or she will need for interaction with others. As the first and most persistent contact, the relationship with the parent is thus the starting point from which all children enter the world. According to Jerome Kagan of Harvard University, â€Å"Parents who regularly talk and read to their children usually produce children with the largest vocabularies, the highest intellig ence scores, and the best academic grades †¦ Parents who reason with their children while making requests for obedience usually end up with more civil children† (101). The importance of this association is further highlighted in studies that have been conducted on young orphans who have undergone periods of neglect or privation as a result of their family tragedy. When these children were placed in nurturing homes, they were often able to overcome their early

Marxism as a major ideology in the 21st century Essay

Marxism as a major ideology in the 21st century - Essay Example The mere fact that the beginning of the Marxism was 1848, when Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published the Communist Manifesto, speaks for itself: it was a different time. And the current XXI century is not the XIX century, and, if Marxism was not to gain a foothold in the minds of people in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, then this will not happen in the twenty-first century. And such notorious Marxist terms and phrases as â€Å"the proletariat†, â€Å"Rent†, â€Å"world revolution†, â€Å"communism - a bright future for all mankind† are can not often be heard even at rallies and demonstrations organized by the Communists at the present time. We know that in the twentieth century the ideology of Marxism was adopted by the Soviet Union, some countries of Eastern Europe, China, Mongolia, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and Cuba. Lots of aforementioned countries still remain the supporters of Marxism nowadays. Even in the most developed capitalist co untries there are always some Communist Parties. With all respect to certain postulates and the noble ideas of Marxist philosophy, our contemporary society can not possibly accept Marxism as a whole, so the given ideology is unlikely to return as a major ideology in the twenty first century. Let us take, for example, such a doctrine of Karl Marx, as his famous theory of surplus value. Marxists believe that under capitalism a great part of the produced surplus value is given to the capital, which inevitably leads to an increasing stratification of society and the growth of class struggle.... Marxists believe that under capitalism a great part of the produced surplus value is given to the capital, which inevitably leads to an increasing stratification of society and the growth of class struggle (â€Å"Karl Marx – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy†). In accordance with this postulate (and the inevitable growth of the class struggle), it is possible to make a conclusion that sooner or later the global economic crisis and revolution will occur. Besides, ultimately the means of production, sooner or later will move to the workers and peasants. Thereafter, in accordance with the following Marxist postulate, productivity growth will sooner or later lead to the fact that human capabilities will outstrip human needs, thus, social wealth will flow an endless stream, comes communism. Under these circumstances, the postulate that â€Å"material existence of any person ultimately determines his or her consciousness† will work. Thus, we can run to the conclusion that each person will receive material benefits according to needs. And all the people will automatically become happy. An era of universal happiness will come. That what is said about the strengthening of the class struggle in the Manifesto of Communist Party, â€Å"Over the past few decades, the history of industry and commerce was nothing but the history of the revolt of modern productive forces against modern conditions of production, against the property relations that are the conditions for the existence of the bourgeoisie and its rule. It suffices to mention the commercial crises that, coming back from time to time, call into question the existence of the entire bourgeois society ... The growing competition among the bourgeois, and the resulting commercial

REPORT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

REPORT - Essay Example Whilst at the time the Market Oracle forecast was for growth for 2008 of between 1% and 1.3%. Now some 7 months into the year, and a series of adjustments later the mainstream forecasters are starting to come around to our forecast for 2008.† (Walayat, 2008) The above statistics clearly shows that the current crisis is more serious than anticipated. Even most of the expert economists were failed to predict the current crisis and hence most of the organizations could not take any precautionary measures to tackle it. ‘As per British chamber of commerce unemployment may cross more than 3 million as Britains manufacturers, retailers and service industries feel the full effects of the downturn. Most of the economists now think that the current recess may be worse than that happened in 1990s. The UK economy may be lessened by as much as 2.9%, which may result in the risk of deflation this year. (Inman, 2009) Real estate sector is one of the most affected areas in Britain also like most of the other countries because of the current crisis. The house prices have almost reached an all time low in the recent past. Archer predicted house prices would fall another 15%, while Capital Economics said it could be as much as 20% as the cost of the average home headed for a 50% fall from its peak in the summer of 2007. (Inman, 2009) Most of the organizations are now searching for organizational strategies and change management theories to survive during these dipping economic period. They are now studying the external environment, analyzing their organization’s competitive advantages, implementing new strategies, changing the existing management styles, studying organizational culture and efficiency to counter the problems caused by the current recession. The famous British economist, Herbert Spencer, who first coined the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ to summarize Darwin’s revolutionary

Causes of High Labour Turnover

Causes of High Labour Turnover Abstract â€Å"Employee turnover† is the term which is a big concern for many organisations in the UK and worldwide. Although there has been a lot of research and studies which were conducted on this topic, most of these studies and research focused on the causes of the labour turnover and little or no focus has been made on examining the effects and advising different strategies which can be used by the managers within their organisation to make sure that they dont loose their employee. The purpose of this research is to explore the possible reasons for the high level of labour turnover in the company X and to explore the perceptions of the managers of the company X on the strategic management of labour turnover within their organisation and also to suggest few recommendations to the managers and the organisation on how to handle this situation. Most of the theories and procedures discussed in this report will someway or the other suggests us on how to approach this situation of high labour turnover in the company X. Introduction Organisations need labour to function and these days organisations are quickly realizing that employees are their major source of competitive advantage to succeed in this highly competitive world. This notion applies equally to almost any organisation in the world. For an organisation to succeed it has to manage it resources effectively. When an employee leaves the organisation it not only has an impact on the organisation but also on the employee and wider society (Mobley, 1982). These impacts can be both positive and negative (Mobley, 1982; Hom and Griffeth, 1995), and a greater knowledge of the evolution of labour turnover can improve the extent to which organisations and employees within organisations can control these effects (Dalton et al., 1981). These days organisations invest a lot on their employees in terms of training and development, maintaining, and retaining them within their organisation. So, there is a need for the managers to lessen the employee turnover rates within their organisations. This research will look in to the company X, which is a part of the large retail outlet group. For the reasons of ethics the name of the company will not be revealed at any part of this report and will be referred throughout as company X. Company X is a part of large retail outlet with stores which are spread throughout the UK and worldwide. The business sector in which the company X is operating has a high level of competition and the company X is constantly thriving to maintain their competitive advantage in their sector and gain a huge amount of market share. The company X operates in a highly competitive environment, it has to continuously deal with the demands and expectations of the customers which is in turn very stressful for the employees in the company X. This high competition, high demands and high expectation creates a hard environment in the company X and which in turn will affect the employees. The North-East branches of the company X are being focused on this study. The company X has 6 branches in the North-East, each of the branches has a manager, 8 to 10 customer service employees (depending on the location of the branch), and 1 director. The director of the company was consulted regarding the research study and was asked whether there were any areas of concerns within the company which he wanted researching. As the director was working there for a quite long time, he was in a very good position to answer to this question. The director was aware of the reasons why his staff was leaving, but he wanted to know whether the present staff still had the same concerns. The director also wanted to know the possible ways in which these concerns could be resolved in order to retain his current staff. The director was fully aware that the turnover levels of the company had a negative impact on his present staff. The times of employee turnover resulted in longer hours for some staff members which affected the present staff both physically and psychologically because they have to now work for long hours. This was followed during the time when there was training for the new staff. The existing staff had to increase their workload during the times of training the new staff and this in turn affected the level of customer service provided by them. The director noticed that during this period some of their staff was demoralized and were asking for time offs which would further have more impact on the other staff. The hiring and training of new staff seem to have settled this problem. However there is some extent of discontent among the staff of company X regarding the company. Aims of the Study The main aim of this research is to assess the reasons for high labour turnover in UK and particularly in the organisation which I have chosen. Research Objectives: What are the reasons for high labour turnover in company X? How is this issue managed and addressed by the management of the company X? What does the staff and managers think about this problem of high labour turnover in their organisation? Try to suggest solutions in order to reduce the labour turn over in the company X. Literature Review Labour turnover According to Adams (1993) labour turnover is the rate at which staffs leave an organisation and are replaced by new employees. Too high a labour turnover rate may mean that there is something unsatisfactory about working for the organisation and that action therefore would need to be taken†. There are different kinds of methods in which we can measure the labour turnover. The term â€Å"turnover† is defined by Prince (1997) as: the ratio of number of organisational members who have left during the period being considered divided by the average number of people in that organisation during that period. The labour turnover index is the traditional method to measure the labour turnover. This method is a most common method because of the simplicity of usage and to understand. Causes of labour turnover There was a lot of research carried out by academics in the past to answer the question of what makes the employees to leave organisations (for ex, Beck, 2001; Kramer et al., 1995; Saks, 1996). There has been a lot of inconsistency in the findings of the academics which may be because of the variety of employed incorporated by the academics. There is no single or universal reason for why people leave the organisation. The reasons may be different from one organisation to other and from one person to another (Ongori, 2007), people may quit organisation because they might not be getting what they were expecting from the organisation or they might leave the organisation because of personal reasons such as family responsibilities or problems in personal relationships, nevertheless, all these factors have an impact on the employee and the organisation in which he is working. According to Firth et al., (2004), the strain associated with job, a variety of aspects that advance to job associated strain, absence of dedication with in the organisations; and job related frustrations make employee to quit the organisations. This apparently marks that these are particular decisions which makes an individual to leave the organisation. These days there are few jobs which are very stressful such as customer service jobs or a sales job which involves the employees to work both physically and mentally and this will have an adverse impact on the employee which might lead to turnover. Manu et al., (2004) argues that economic factors may be one of the reasons why employees leave organisations. They further argued that economic model can be used to predict the labour turnover in the market. One other reason for the labour turnover might be expectation of promotion or advancement of wages within the employee (Ongori, 2004). Employees working within an organisation might expect a promotion and might be demoralized if he couldnt manage to get a promotion and might lead to turnover, in the same way an employee working for a long time within an organisation might expect a pay rise and will be demoralized and downsized if he couldnt manage to get a pay rise and this might in turn lead to turnover. According to Feaster et al., (1990), to guarantee organisational commitment well-built organisations can provide employees with enhanced option of progression and higher wages. It is evident that huge organisations have many operations, job roles and are spread throughout the country, so there is high possibility that an employee might think about the chances of getting promoted and getting high pay. According to Tor et al., (1997), inadequate data on how to perform a specified job, obscure anticipation of managers, supervisors and peers, uncertainty of performance evaluation procedures, massive job related burdens, and absence of agreement on job duties may cause staff to feel less involved and less satisfied with their jobs, less committed to their organisation, and ultimately exhibit a tendency to quit the organisation. If the employees are not sure of their job role and responsibilities, and if these roles and responsibilities are not clearly mentioned by the management of the organisation, this in turn would lead to the high level of labour turnover within the organisation. Sometimes there arise some factors which are, in part, outside the jurisdiction of the management. These factors may include demise or inability of the employee (Ongori, 2004). Employees are normal human beings and they do grow, mature, and die. So, it is inevitable to control these natural factors. Sometimes due to some internal or external factors highly skilled employees do loose their ability and interest to work, these kind of factors are inevitable and out of control organisations. These factors fall under Voluntary turnover. Other factors have been classified as involuntary turnover factors by Ongori (2004) such as necessity to provide attention to offspring or elderly relatives. Employees do have family and children and often they tend to get deviated from work responsibilities because they are more concerned with their family and children. The employees might even have elderly parent and relatives whom they want to take care of and this might lead to shift of concentration from work and might lead to turnover. On the other hand Simon et al., (2007) argue that these days such factors should not be considered as involuntary turnover because both the regulations of the government and policies of the companies create the opportunities for such staff to return back to their work, or to continue their current work through flexible working or work at home concept. Many organisations these days do provide rehabilitation centers and counseling centers for their employees to take care of their employees. These counseling centers are responsible for handling the psychological aspects of the employee and make sure that they are in good state to work. These days many organisations in UK are providing return to work training for employees who went out for long leaves (for ex such as maternity leave or higher education). This training does help the employee to cope up with the current changes in the organisation and make them ready for work. Zuber (2001) argues that the level of instability of the organisations has an impact on the degree of high turnover. There is a high amount of probability that employees stay within an organisation when there is a foreseeable work environment and vice versa. In companies where there exists a high level of inefficiency there was also high level of labour turnover (Alexander et al., 1994). It is obvious as a human being when an employee suspects that his organisation is not stable anymore or if he suspects that there is going to redundancy within the organisation he might leave the job due to the feeling of insecurity on the other hand when the employee feels like that the organisation is stable he would not bother about quitting his present job. Therefore, in the cases of unstable organisations, employees are more likely to leave the organisation and try to join the more stable organisation, because people normally think that more stable organisations will provide them with more opportunity to advance in their career. According to Labov (1997), organisations with a good communication system have lower or less labour turnover because employees have a strong need to be informed. The employees are always eager to know whats going on within their organisation and a good communication system will keep them informed continuously so that they know whats going on in the organisation, so when an employee is not sure about whats going on within his organisation he might be in a panic state and might lead to turnover. Magner et al., (1996) observed that employees feel at ease to stay longer, in positions where they are involved in some level of decision making process that is employees should fully understand about the issues that affect their working atmosphere. When there is no level of empowerment involved in the organisation for an employee, if the employee has always nee to follow the written rules and never has given an opportunity to think beyond his job he might be demoralized and might lead to turnover. Costly et al. (1987) argues that a heavy labour turnover may mean down-and-out personnel policies, bad recruitment policies, unfavorable supervisory practices, fruitless grievance procedures, or lack of motivation. All these factors tend to heavy labour turnover in the sense that there is no acceptable management practices and policies on personnel matters hence employees are not recruited scientifically, promotions of employees are not based on spelled out policies, no grievance procedures in place and thus employees decides to quit. Griffeth et al. (2000) noted that pay and pay-related aspects have a decent effect on turnover. Their analysis also included studies that examined the relationship between pay, a persons performance and turnover. They concluded that when high performers are not handled and rewarded properly, they quit. If jobs provide sufficient financial incentives then employees are more likely to remain within the organisation and vice versa. There are also other factors which make employees to quit from organisations and these are poor hiring practices, managerial style, lack of recognition, lack of competitive compensation system in the organisation and toxic workplace environment (Abassi et al. 2000). When a person with less or no competencies is hired for a job which require a higher level of competency, knowledge and skill it is more likely that this person would quit or would be sacked from his job because of the inability and inefficiency, this is a result of poor recruitment strategy or poor hiring practices. In the same way people always compare what they get with other people of the same position and if they sense that they are not being paid well or under paid they might leave their current job for a better paid job, this is the result of lack of competitive compensation system within the organisation. The management style plays a crucial role in turnover; if the employee is not handled properly or not managed properly the employee may not give his best and in turn will be demoralized and might quit his job. According to CIPD (2007) the main reason why people leave their present job is that they look for high paying job or for a chance of promotion. The survey conducted by CIPD states that this was the reason for 68% of the employees leaving organisations. The survey also stated that 38% of employees quit their job for a change of career and other reasons included family commitments, health problems, amount of work load, timings, and difficulties with their colleagues at work place. It is evident from the survey findings that people continuously look for better opportunities, better pay and better position, so if an organisation fails to provide them then they might be attracted to the competition and lead to turnover. It is evident that a lot of people leave because of unsatisfactory pay levels, even though with the introduction of the minimum wage rule employees are still not satisfied with their wages because this minimum wage rule is only applicable for those jobs which are to paid hourly and not for the jobs which are paid annually. Taylor (2000) tried to explore whether there is a relationship between pension scheme and turnover. He states that the relationship between turnover and pension scheme is not high, however, he also stated that While pension schemes are frequently perceived to play a role both in the attraction of staff to an organisation and in reducing employee turnover, it is on the later that most attention has been focused in public research. Now-a-days people are not expecting a job for life unlike olden days. These days it is evident that people are mostly looking for transferable skills that they can apply in other jobs. However, some people prefer to stick to one job and one company many people try to move from one company to other in search of better jobs and opportunities. Labour turnover in UK The big issue the organisations within UK are facing these days is labour turnover. According to CIPD (2007) survey labour turnover rates and the cost of labour turnover are at an all time high. The surveys states that the labour turnover rate in 2006 was 18.3% and in 2007 was 18.1% which is almost the same, i.e., turnover is not under control and is affecting the organisations at the same pace, it is interesting to compare the findings of 2005 and 2007, where in 2005 the labour turnover rate was 15.7 and in 2007 it was 18.1%, so we can observe that there is a rapid growth in the labour turnover rates which is alarming to the UK organisations. The survey also reported that the private sector had a highest rate of labour turnover which was around 22.6%. The CIPD (2007) survey shows that change of career was deemed to be the most common reason for voluntary turnover. Around 52% of turnover was due to change of career. Other reasons included promotion outside the organisations (47%), level of pay (39%) and lack of career development opportunities (39%). These survey findings strongly support the views of the academics like Zuber (2001), Alexander et al (2004), Simon et al (2007), and Labov (1997) who continuously argued these reasons for the turnover of employees. So it is evident that the empirical studies and the views of academics do match when it comes to the reasons for why employees leave organisations. The survey conducted by CIPD in 2000 stated that the wholesale and retail trade has the highest turnover in the UK – at 56% the wholesale and retail trade lead the turnover table. The following is a graph which shows the turnover figures in the retail industry in UK during the year 1998-2000, which is broken down by the occupational class. Looking at the graph clearly states that there has been an increase in labour turnover of the administrative jobs during the year 2000. Even though the findings of sales jobs are encouraging it is observed that turnover rate of managers is the same during the year 1998 and 2000. This is alarming because it is hard and costly to find and replace a managerial position (IPD, 1997). The findings of routine, operative and sales jobs are very encouraging as it shows that the turnover rates are gradually decreasing year by year from 1998 to 2000. This is may be due to the reason that employees working in these positions are getting used to their work environment and are less likely to leave their present job, because these kinds of job roles have less or few opportunities to change careers and get promoted outside the organisation. However it is noticeable that replacing these types of jobs would be easy when compared to that of managerial position and administrative jobs, but it would cause some sort of disruptions and would also cost for the organisations to replace them. Costs for organisations The Charted institute of personnel management (CIPD) stated that it would cost around 3500 pounds per employee every time someone leaves the organisation; this was in the year 2004. In 2006 the costs of labour turnover was around 7,750 pounds per job leaver. The figure is almost doubled and it is alarming to the organisations. Organisations with high labour turnover rates not only suffer financially but also psychologically, because of the staff leaving the organisation there will a loss of customer service and this results in hiring new employees and training them who are having less experience. And during this period the organisation has to compromise on a lot of aspects of it functions. There might be also an increase in the level of risk of accidents in organisations where work is involved in risky areas. ACAS states that if labour turnover is excessive it can indicate management problems. These management problems have actually been identified as one of the reasons why employees were leaving the company X. The survey done by IPD (Institute of Personnel Development) in 1997 estimated that it takes an average of 10 weeks for an organisation to fill up a sales vacancy, and it costs around 3,640 pounds for the organisation to find and replace each sales person who left the organisation. The survey also mentioned that though people at managerial positions are less likely to quit an organisation, they cost much more to replace. The survey states that it would take around 13 weeks for an organisation to find and replace a managerial position and would cost around 5,008 pounds per person. However, ACAS does agree that high labour turnover can be expensive, and the actual costs are very difficult to estimate. They further stated that the costs also add up the expenses of advertising, recruiting and training, together with the cost of associated management and supervisory time. It also states that higher costs can be incurred through unnecessarily high staffing level and overtime payment, lost or delayed production, interruptions to flow of work, increased production costs, scrap levels and risk of accidents to inexperienced workers, long-term worker becoming unsettled and leaving, low morale resulting low productivity, damage to the organisations local reputation. However, some research findings oppose the statement that labour turnover has a negative impact for organisations. Some academics (for ex Jovanovic, 1979) states that employees who are less suitable for a particular job quit the job earlier and hence there is a notion that labour turnover does improve organisation performance as employees of poor worker job matches leaves and that vacancy can be filled by a employee with good worker job matches and this will in turn increase the organisations performance. This statement can further be supported by the survey which is done by CIPD in 2000 which states that around 55.5% of organisations experienced minor negative effects of labour turnover, around 26.9% of organisations experienced no effect at all and around 4.8% of organisations have experienced a positive effect due to the labour turnover. Different strategies and approaches to control and minimize turnover There is no one strategy or approach which when used by an organisation can reduce or control the turnover rate. This is because the reasons vary from person to person and organisation to organisation (Ongori, 2004). So it is evident that in order to reduce the turnover the organisations first need to understand turnover. Dalton et al., (1987) (Cited in Abelson, 1987) stated that for an organisation to completely understand the reasons for turnover it needs to differentiate avoidable and unavoidable turnover. Avoidable reasons might include employees leaving their current job to find a better job with better pay and working conditions else where. Unavoidable reasons are not under organisations control. These might include an employee moving from current location to another location, or leaving to fulfill family responsibilities. So it is evident that organisations need to identify voluntary turnover within their organisations and take necessary actions to manage turnover. Research does suggest that it is crucial for an organisation to look and analyze both the quantitative and qualitative information relating to turnover within their organisation (IDS, 2004). Quantitative information is required because it will help the organisation to record, measure and compare its turnover levels. Qualitative information is also important because with this the organisations can understand the reasons why the employees left the organisations and take measures to overcome them. According to CIPD (2004), it crucial that organisations have an understanding of their turnover rates and how it would affect its performance and effectiveness. Armstrong (2001) states that in order for organisations to improve their retention rates they need to analyze the number of employees who are leaving and the reasons why they leave. So it is crucial for an organisation to have established methods to investigate why people are leaving. The following is a graph which shows the various methods used by the organisations to investigate why people are leaving. It is evident from the graph that most of the organisations (90%) use exit interviews to investigate why people are leaving, but it is questionable whether these data collected is used to their full potential. Ongori (2004) suggest that in order to reduce turnover organisations need to provide empowerment to employees. This approach would motivate employee and the employee feels as a part of the organisation and would not quit his job because of the responsibilities. But on the other hand this approach is not applicable to all types of jobs. This approach might work in managerial and administrative jobs but may not hold good for routine and sales jobs. Causes of High Labour Turnover Causes of High Labour Turnover Abstract â€Å"Employee turnover† is the term which is a big concern for many organisations in the UK and worldwide. Although there has been a lot of research and studies which were conducted on this topic, most of these studies and research focused on the causes of the labour turnover and little or no focus has been made on examining the effects and advising different strategies which can be used by the managers within their organisation to make sure that they dont loose their employee. The purpose of this research is to explore the possible reasons for the high level of labour turnover in the company X and to explore the perceptions of the managers of the company X on the strategic management of labour turnover within their organisation and also to suggest few recommendations to the managers and the organisation on how to handle this situation. Most of the theories and procedures discussed in this report will someway or the other suggests us on how to approach this situation of high labour turnover in the company X. Introduction Organisations need labour to function and these days organisations are quickly realizing that employees are their major source of competitive advantage to succeed in this highly competitive world. This notion applies equally to almost any organisation in the world. For an organisation to succeed it has to manage it resources effectively. When an employee leaves the organisation it not only has an impact on the organisation but also on the employee and wider society (Mobley, 1982). These impacts can be both positive and negative (Mobley, 1982; Hom and Griffeth, 1995), and a greater knowledge of the evolution of labour turnover can improve the extent to which organisations and employees within organisations can control these effects (Dalton et al., 1981). These days organisations invest a lot on their employees in terms of training and development, maintaining, and retaining them within their organisation. So, there is a need for the managers to lessen the employee turnover rates within their organisations. This research will look in to the company X, which is a part of the large retail outlet group. For the reasons of ethics the name of the company will not be revealed at any part of this report and will be referred throughout as company X. Company X is a part of large retail outlet with stores which are spread throughout the UK and worldwide. The business sector in which the company X is operating has a high level of competition and the company X is constantly thriving to maintain their competitive advantage in their sector and gain a huge amount of market share. The company X operates in a highly competitive environment, it has to continuously deal with the demands and expectations of the customers which is in turn very stressful for the employees in the company X. This high competition, high demands and high expectation creates a hard environment in the company X and which in turn will affect the employees. The North-East branches of the company X are being focused on this study. The company X has 6 branches in the North-East, each of the branches has a manager, 8 to 10 customer service employees (depending on the location of the branch), and 1 director. The director of the company was consulted regarding the research study and was asked whether there were any areas of concerns within the company which he wanted researching. As the director was working there for a quite long time, he was in a very good position to answer to this question. The director was aware of the reasons why his staff was leaving, but he wanted to know whether the present staff still had the same concerns. The director also wanted to know the possible ways in which these concerns could be resolved in order to retain his current staff. The director was fully aware that the turnover levels of the company had a negative impact on his present staff. The times of employee turnover resulted in longer hours for some staff members which affected the present staff both physically and psychologically because they have to now work for long hours. This was followed during the time when there was training for the new staff. The existing staff had to increase their workload during the times of training the new staff and this in turn affected the level of customer service provided by them. The director noticed that during this period some of their staff was demoralized and were asking for time offs which would further have more impact on the other staff. The hiring and training of new staff seem to have settled this problem. However there is some extent of discontent among the staff of company X regarding the company. Aims of the Study The main aim of this research is to assess the reasons for high labour turnover in UK and particularly in the organisation which I have chosen. Research Objectives: What are the reasons for high labour turnover in company X? How is this issue managed and addressed by the management of the company X? What does the staff and managers think about this problem of high labour turnover in their organisation? Try to suggest solutions in order to reduce the labour turn over in the company X. Literature Review Labour turnover According to Adams (1993) labour turnover is the rate at which staffs leave an organisation and are replaced by new employees. Too high a labour turnover rate may mean that there is something unsatisfactory about working for the organisation and that action therefore would need to be taken†. There are different kinds of methods in which we can measure the labour turnover. The term â€Å"turnover† is defined by Prince (1997) as: the ratio of number of organisational members who have left during the period being considered divided by the average number of people in that organisation during that period. The labour turnover index is the traditional method to measure the labour turnover. This method is a most common method because of the simplicity of usage and to understand. Causes of labour turnover There was a lot of research carried out by academics in the past to answer the question of what makes the employees to leave organisations (for ex, Beck, 2001; Kramer et al., 1995; Saks, 1996). There has been a lot of inconsistency in the findings of the academics which may be because of the variety of employed incorporated by the academics. There is no single or universal reason for why people leave the organisation. The reasons may be different from one organisation to other and from one person to another (Ongori, 2007), people may quit organisation because they might not be getting what they were expecting from the organisation or they might leave the organisation because of personal reasons such as family responsibilities or problems in personal relationships, nevertheless, all these factors have an impact on the employee and the organisation in which he is working. According to Firth et al., (2004), the strain associated with job, a variety of aspects that advance to job associated strain, absence of dedication with in the organisations; and job related frustrations make employee to quit the organisations. This apparently marks that these are particular decisions which makes an individual to leave the organisation. These days there are few jobs which are very stressful such as customer service jobs or a sales job which involves the employees to work both physically and mentally and this will have an adverse impact on the employee which might lead to turnover. Manu et al., (2004) argues that economic factors may be one of the reasons why employees leave organisations. They further argued that economic model can be used to predict the labour turnover in the market. One other reason for the labour turnover might be expectation of promotion or advancement of wages within the employee (Ongori, 2004). Employees working within an organisation might expect a promotion and might be demoralized if he couldnt manage to get a promotion and might lead to turnover, in the same way an employee working for a long time within an organisation might expect a pay rise and will be demoralized and downsized if he couldnt manage to get a pay rise and this might in turn lead to turnover. According to Feaster et al., (1990), to guarantee organisational commitment well-built organisations can provide employees with enhanced option of progression and higher wages. It is evident that huge organisations have many operations, job roles and are spread throughout the country, so there is high possibility that an employee might think about the chances of getting promoted and getting high pay. According to Tor et al., (1997), inadequate data on how to perform a specified job, obscure anticipation of managers, supervisors and peers, uncertainty of performance evaluation procedures, massive job related burdens, and absence of agreement on job duties may cause staff to feel less involved and less satisfied with their jobs, less committed to their organisation, and ultimately exhibit a tendency to quit the organisation. If the employees are not sure of their job role and responsibilities, and if these roles and responsibilities are not clearly mentioned by the management of the organisation, this in turn would lead to the high level of labour turnover within the organisation. Sometimes there arise some factors which are, in part, outside the jurisdiction of the management. These factors may include demise or inability of the employee (Ongori, 2004). Employees are normal human beings and they do grow, mature, and die. So, it is inevitable to control these natural factors. Sometimes due to some internal or external factors highly skilled employees do loose their ability and interest to work, these kind of factors are inevitable and out of control organisations. These factors fall under Voluntary turnover. Other factors have been classified as involuntary turnover factors by Ongori (2004) such as necessity to provide attention to offspring or elderly relatives. Employees do have family and children and often they tend to get deviated from work responsibilities because they are more concerned with their family and children. The employees might even have elderly parent and relatives whom they want to take care of and this might lead to shift of concentration from work and might lead to turnover. On the other hand Simon et al., (2007) argue that these days such factors should not be considered as involuntary turnover because both the regulations of the government and policies of the companies create the opportunities for such staff to return back to their work, or to continue their current work through flexible working or work at home concept. Many organisations these days do provide rehabilitation centers and counseling centers for their employees to take care of their employees. These counseling centers are responsible for handling the psychological aspects of the employee and make sure that they are in good state to work. These days many organisations in UK are providing return to work training for employees who went out for long leaves (for ex such as maternity leave or higher education). This training does help the employee to cope up with the current changes in the organisation and make them ready for work. Zuber (2001) argues that the level of instability of the organisations has an impact on the degree of high turnover. There is a high amount of probability that employees stay within an organisation when there is a foreseeable work environment and vice versa. In companies where there exists a high level of inefficiency there was also high level of labour turnover (Alexander et al., 1994). It is obvious as a human being when an employee suspects that his organisation is not stable anymore or if he suspects that there is going to redundancy within the organisation he might leave the job due to the feeling of insecurity on the other hand when the employee feels like that the organisation is stable he would not bother about quitting his present job. Therefore, in the cases of unstable organisations, employees are more likely to leave the organisation and try to join the more stable organisation, because people normally think that more stable organisations will provide them with more opportunity to advance in their career. According to Labov (1997), organisations with a good communication system have lower or less labour turnover because employees have a strong need to be informed. The employees are always eager to know whats going on within their organisation and a good communication system will keep them informed continuously so that they know whats going on in the organisation, so when an employee is not sure about whats going on within his organisation he might be in a panic state and might lead to turnover. Magner et al., (1996) observed that employees feel at ease to stay longer, in positions where they are involved in some level of decision making process that is employees should fully understand about the issues that affect their working atmosphere. When there is no level of empowerment involved in the organisation for an employee, if the employee has always nee to follow the written rules and never has given an opportunity to think beyond his job he might be demoralized and might lead to turnover. Costly et al. (1987) argues that a heavy labour turnover may mean down-and-out personnel policies, bad recruitment policies, unfavorable supervisory practices, fruitless grievance procedures, or lack of motivation. All these factors tend to heavy labour turnover in the sense that there is no acceptable management practices and policies on personnel matters hence employees are not recruited scientifically, promotions of employees are not based on spelled out policies, no grievance procedures in place and thus employees decides to quit. Griffeth et al. (2000) noted that pay and pay-related aspects have a decent effect on turnover. Their analysis also included studies that examined the relationship between pay, a persons performance and turnover. They concluded that when high performers are not handled and rewarded properly, they quit. If jobs provide sufficient financial incentives then employees are more likely to remain within the organisation and vice versa. There are also other factors which make employees to quit from organisations and these are poor hiring practices, managerial style, lack of recognition, lack of competitive compensation system in the organisation and toxic workplace environment (Abassi et al. 2000). When a person with less or no competencies is hired for a job which require a higher level of competency, knowledge and skill it is more likely that this person would quit or would be sacked from his job because of the inability and inefficiency, this is a result of poor recruitment strategy or poor hiring practices. In the same way people always compare what they get with other people of the same position and if they sense that they are not being paid well or under paid they might leave their current job for a better paid job, this is the result of lack of competitive compensation system within the organisation. The management style plays a crucial role in turnover; if the employee is not handled properly or not managed properly the employee may not give his best and in turn will be demoralized and might quit his job. According to CIPD (2007) the main reason why people leave their present job is that they look for high paying job or for a chance of promotion. The survey conducted by CIPD states that this was the reason for 68% of the employees leaving organisations. The survey also stated that 38% of employees quit their job for a change of career and other reasons included family commitments, health problems, amount of work load, timings, and difficulties with their colleagues at work place. It is evident from the survey findings that people continuously look for better opportunities, better pay and better position, so if an organisation fails to provide them then they might be attracted to the competition and lead to turnover. It is evident that a lot of people leave because of unsatisfactory pay levels, even though with the introduction of the minimum wage rule employees are still not satisfied with their wages because this minimum wage rule is only applicable for those jobs which are to paid hourly and not for the jobs which are paid annually. Taylor (2000) tried to explore whether there is a relationship between pension scheme and turnover. He states that the relationship between turnover and pension scheme is not high, however, he also stated that While pension schemes are frequently perceived to play a role both in the attraction of staff to an organisation and in reducing employee turnover, it is on the later that most attention has been focused in public research. Now-a-days people are not expecting a job for life unlike olden days. These days it is evident that people are mostly looking for transferable skills that they can apply in other jobs. However, some people prefer to stick to one job and one company many people try to move from one company to other in search of better jobs and opportunities. Labour turnover in UK The big issue the organisations within UK are facing these days is labour turnover. According to CIPD (2007) survey labour turnover rates and the cost of labour turnover are at an all time high. The surveys states that the labour turnover rate in 2006 was 18.3% and in 2007 was 18.1% which is almost the same, i.e., turnover is not under control and is affecting the organisations at the same pace, it is interesting to compare the findings of 2005 and 2007, where in 2005 the labour turnover rate was 15.7 and in 2007 it was 18.1%, so we can observe that there is a rapid growth in the labour turnover rates which is alarming to the UK organisations. The survey also reported that the private sector had a highest rate of labour turnover which was around 22.6%. The CIPD (2007) survey shows that change of career was deemed to be the most common reason for voluntary turnover. Around 52% of turnover was due to change of career. Other reasons included promotion outside the organisations (47%), level of pay (39%) and lack of career development opportunities (39%). These survey findings strongly support the views of the academics like Zuber (2001), Alexander et al (2004), Simon et al (2007), and Labov (1997) who continuously argued these reasons for the turnover of employees. So it is evident that the empirical studies and the views of academics do match when it comes to the reasons for why employees leave organisations. The survey conducted by CIPD in 2000 stated that the wholesale and retail trade has the highest turnover in the UK – at 56% the wholesale and retail trade lead the turnover table. The following is a graph which shows the turnover figures in the retail industry in UK during the year 1998-2000, which is broken down by the occupational class. Looking at the graph clearly states that there has been an increase in labour turnover of the administrative jobs during the year 2000. Even though the findings of sales jobs are encouraging it is observed that turnover rate of managers is the same during the year 1998 and 2000. This is alarming because it is hard and costly to find and replace a managerial position (IPD, 1997). The findings of routine, operative and sales jobs are very encouraging as it shows that the turnover rates are gradually decreasing year by year from 1998 to 2000. This is may be due to the reason that employees working in these positions are getting used to their work environment and are less likely to leave their present job, because these kinds of job roles have less or few opportunities to change careers and get promoted outside the organisation. However it is noticeable that replacing these types of jobs would be easy when compared to that of managerial position and administrative jobs, but it would cause some sort of disruptions and would also cost for the organisations to replace them. Costs for organisations The Charted institute of personnel management (CIPD) stated that it would cost around 3500 pounds per employee every time someone leaves the organisation; this was in the year 2004. In 2006 the costs of labour turnover was around 7,750 pounds per job leaver. The figure is almost doubled and it is alarming to the organisations. Organisations with high labour turnover rates not only suffer financially but also psychologically, because of the staff leaving the organisation there will a loss of customer service and this results in hiring new employees and training them who are having less experience. And during this period the organisation has to compromise on a lot of aspects of it functions. There might be also an increase in the level of risk of accidents in organisations where work is involved in risky areas. ACAS states that if labour turnover is excessive it can indicate management problems. These management problems have actually been identified as one of the reasons why employees were leaving the company X. The survey done by IPD (Institute of Personnel Development) in 1997 estimated that it takes an average of 10 weeks for an organisation to fill up a sales vacancy, and it costs around 3,640 pounds for the organisation to find and replace each sales person who left the organisation. The survey also mentioned that though people at managerial positions are less likely to quit an organisation, they cost much more to replace. The survey states that it would take around 13 weeks for an organisation to find and replace a managerial position and would cost around 5,008 pounds per person. However, ACAS does agree that high labour turnover can be expensive, and the actual costs are very difficult to estimate. They further stated that the costs also add up the expenses of advertising, recruiting and training, together with the cost of associated management and supervisory time. It also states that higher costs can be incurred through unnecessarily high staffing level and overtime payment, lost or delayed production, interruptions to flow of work, increased production costs, scrap levels and risk of accidents to inexperienced workers, long-term worker becoming unsettled and leaving, low morale resulting low productivity, damage to the organisations local reputation. However, some research findings oppose the statement that labour turnover has a negative impact for organisations. Some academics (for ex Jovanovic, 1979) states that employees who are less suitable for a particular job quit the job earlier and hence there is a notion that labour turnover does improve organisation performance as employees of poor worker job matches leaves and that vacancy can be filled by a employee with good worker job matches and this will in turn increase the organisations performance. This statement can further be supported by the survey which is done by CIPD in 2000 which states that around 55.5% of organisations experienced minor negative effects of labour turnover, around 26.9% of organisations experienced no effect at all and around 4.8% of organisations have experienced a positive effect due to the labour turnover. Different strategies and approaches to control and minimize turnover There is no one strategy or approach which when used by an organisation can reduce or control the turnover rate. This is because the reasons vary from person to person and organisation to organisation (Ongori, 2004). So it is evident that in order to reduce the turnover the organisations first need to understand turnover. Dalton et al., (1987) (Cited in Abelson, 1987) stated that for an organisation to completely understand the reasons for turnover it needs to differentiate avoidable and unavoidable turnover. Avoidable reasons might include employees leaving their current job to find a better job with better pay and working conditions else where. Unavoidable reasons are not under organisations control. These might include an employee moving from current location to another location, or leaving to fulfill family responsibilities. So it is evident that organisations need to identify voluntary turnover within their organisations and take necessary actions to manage turnover. Research does suggest that it is crucial for an organisation to look and analyze both the quantitative and qualitative information relating to turnover within their organisation (IDS, 2004). Quantitative information is required because it will help the organisation to record, measure and compare its turnover levels. Qualitative information is also important because with this the organisations can understand the reasons why the employees left the organisations and take measures to overcome them. According to CIPD (2004), it crucial that organisations have an understanding of their turnover rates and how it would affect its performance and effectiveness. Armstrong (2001) states that in order for organisations to improve their retention rates they need to analyze the number of employees who are leaving and the reasons why they leave. So it is crucial for an organisation to have established methods to investigate why people are leaving. The following is a graph which shows the various methods used by the organisations to investigate why people are leaving. It is evident from the graph that most of the organisations (90%) use exit interviews to investigate why people are leaving, but it is questionable whether these data collected is used to their full potential. Ongori (2004) suggest that in order to reduce turnover organisations need to provide empowerment to employees. This approach would motivate employee and the employee feels as a part of the organisation and would not quit his job because of the responsibilities. But on the other hand this approach is not applicable to all types of jobs. This approach might work in managerial and administrative jobs but may not hold good for routine and sales jobs.

Rogers Diffusion and Adoption Research Essay -- Research Papers Techn

Rogers' Diffusion and Adoption Research Why do technology initiatives fail despite their promises and boundless possibilities? From integrating technology in education to introducing technological innovation in agriculture, users acceptance presents a complex set of challenges to innovation diffusion. According to Everett Rogers, one reason why there is so much interest in the diffusion of innovations is because "getting a new idea adopted, even when it has obvious advantages, is very difficult" (Rogers, 1995, p. 1). In the instructional technology field, the rapid advances in information technology urges on the educational reform. This reform created a need for more research in the educational application of technology as well as in the adoption and diffusion of instructional technology. According to Surry (1995), there are three reasons why the study of diffusion theory is beneficial to the field of instructional technology. First, most instructional technologists lack the knowledge of why their products are or are not adopted. Surry (1995) believes a study of diffusion theory could rectify this situation. Second, the field of instructional technology is often associated with the concept of innovations. Surry (1995) suggested that if instructional technologists understand the adoption and diffusion of innovation theory, they will be more prepared to work effectively with potential adopters. Third, Surry (1995) concluded the studies of the diffusion theory could result in developing a system atic model of adoption and diffusion for the instructional technology field. As instructional technologists, not only do we need to create well-designed products, we need to ensure the adoption of these produc... ... instructional technology. In G.J. Anglin (Ed.), Instructional technology: Past, present, and future (2nd ed.). Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. Lefebvre, E. & Lefebvre, L. (1996). Information and telecommunication technologies: The impact of their adoption on small and medium-sized enterprises. Retrieved July 4, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.idrc.ca/books/focus/807/807.html Rogers, E.M. (1995). Diffusion of innovations (4th ed.) New York: The Free Press. Schiffma, S.S. (1991). Instructional systems design: Five view of the field. In G.J. Anglin (Ed.), Instructional technology: Past, present, and future (2nd ed.). Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. Surry, D.W. (1997). Diffusion theory and instructional technology. Retrieved July 6, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwitr/diffusion/index.html

Second Foundation 19. End of War

QUORISTON, BATTLE OF Fought on 9, 17, 377 F.E. between the forces of the Foundation and those of Lord Stettin of Kalgan, it was the last battle of consequence during the Interregnum†¦ Encyclopedia Galactica Jole Turbor, in his new role of war correspondent, found his bulk incased in a naval uniform, and rather liked it. He enjoyed being back on the air, and some of the fierce helplessness of the futile fight against the Second Foundation left him in the excitement of another sort of fight with substantial ships and ordinary men. To be sure, the Foundation's fight had not been remarkable for victories, but it was still possible to be philosophic about the matter. After six months, the hard core of the Foundation was untouched, and the hard core of the Fleet was still in being. With the new additions since the start of the war, it was almost as strong numerically, and stronger technically, than before the defeat at Ifni. And meanwhile, planetary defenses were being strengthened; the armed forces better trained; administrative efficiency was having some of the water squeezed out of it – and much of the Kalganian's conquering fleet was being wallowed down through the necessity of occupying the â€Å"conquered† territory. At the moment, Turbor was with the Third Fleet in the outer reaches of the Anacreonian sector. In line with his policy of making this a â€Å"little man's war,† he was interviewing Fennel Leemor, Engineer Third Class, volunteer. â€Å"Tell us a little about yourself, sailor,† said Turbor. â€Å"Ain't much to tell,† Leemor shuffled his feet and allowed a faint, bashful smile to cover his face, as though he could see all the millions that undoubtedly could see him at the moment. I'm a Locrian. Got a job in an air-car factory; section head and good pay. I'm married; got two kids, both girls. Say, I couldn't say hello to them, could I – in case they're listening.† â€Å"Go ahead, sailor. The video is all yours.† â€Å"Gosh, thanks.† He burbled, â€Å"Hello, Milla, in case you're listening, I'm fine. Is Sunni all right? And Tomma? I think of you all the time and maybe I'll be back on furlough after we get back to port. I got your food parcel but I'm sending it back. We get our regular mess, but they say the civilians are a little tight. I guess that's all.† â€Å"I'll look her up next time I'm on Locris, sailor, and make sure she's not short of food. O.K.?† The young man smiled broadly and nodded his head. â€Å"Thank you, Mr. Turbor. I'd appreciate that.† â€Å"All right. Suppose you tell us, then – You're a volunteer, aren't you?† â€Å"Sure am. If anyone picks a fight with me, I don't have to wait for anyone to drag me in. I joined up the day I heard about the Hober Mallow.† â€Å"That's a fine spirit. Have you seen much action? I notice â€Å"You're wearing two battle stars.† â€Å"Ptah.† The sailor spat. â€Å"Those weren't battles, they were chases. The Kalganians don't fight, unless they have odds of five to one or better in their favor. Even then they just edge in and try to cut us up ship by ship. Cousin of mine was at Ifni and he was on a ship that got away, the old Ebling Mis. He says it was the same there. They had their Main Fleet against just a wing division of ours, and down to where we only had five ships left, they kept stalking instead of fighting. We got twice as many of their ships at that fight.† â€Å"Then you think we're going to win the war?† â€Å"Sure bet; now that we aren't retreating. Even if things got too bad, that's when I'd expect the Second Foundation to step in. We still got the Seldon Plan – and they know it, too.† Turbor's lips curled a bit. â€Å"You're counting on the Second Foundation, then?† The answer came with honest surprise. â€Å"Well, doesn't everyone?† Junior Officer Tippellum stepped into Turbor's room after the visicast. He shoved a cigarette at the correspondent and knocked his cap back to a perilous balance on the occiput. â€Å"We picked up a prisoner,† he said. â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"Little crazy fellow. Claims to be a neutral – diplomatic immunity, no less. I don't think they know what to do with him. His name's Palvro, Palver, something like that, and he says he's from Trantor. Don't know what in space he's doing in a war zone.† But Turbor had swung to a sitting position on his bunk and the nap he had been about to take was forgotten. He remembered quite well his last interview with Darell, the day after war had been declared and he was shoving off. â€Å"Preem Palver,† he said. It was a statement. Tippellum paused and let the smoke trickle out the sides of his mouth. â€Å"Yeah,† he said, â€Å"how in space did you know?† â€Å"Never mind. Can I see him?† â€Å"Space, I can't say. The old man has him in his own room for questioning. Everyone figures he's a spy.† â€Å"You tell the old man that I know him, if he's who he claims he is. I'II take the responsibility.† Captain Dixyl on the flagship of the Third Fleet watched unremittingly at the Grand Detector. No ship could avoid being a source of subatomic radiation – not even if it were lying an inert mass – and each focal point of such radiation was a little sparkle in the three-dimensional field. Each one of the Foundation's ships were accounted for and no sparkle was left over, now that the little spy who claimed to be a neutral had been picked up. For a while, that outside ship had created a stir in the captain's quarters. The tactics might have needed changing on short notice. As it was- â€Å"Are you sure you have it?† he asked. Commander Cenn nodded. â€Å"I will take my squadron through hyperspace: radius, 10.00 parsecs; theta, 268.52 degrees; phi, 84.15 degrees. Return to origin at 1330. Total absence 11.83 hours.† â€Å"Right. Now we are going to count on pin-point return as regards both space and time. Understand?† â€Å"Yes, captain.† He looked at his wrist watch, â€Å"My ships will be ready by 0140.† â€Å"Good,† said Captain Dixyl. The Kalganian squadron was not within detector range now, but they would be soon. There was independent information to that effect. Without Cenn's squadron the Foundation forces would be badly outnumbered, but the captain was quite confident. Quite confident. Preem Palver looked sadly about him. First at the tall, skinny admiral; then at the others, everyone in uniform; and now at this last one, big and stout, with his collar open and no tie – not like the rest – who said he wanted to speak to him. Jole Turbor was saying: â€Å"I am perfectly aware, admiral, of the serious possibilities involved here, but I tell you that if I can be allowed to speak to him for a few minutes, I may be able to settle the current uncertainty.† â€Å"Is there any reason why you can't question him before me?† Turbor pursed his lips and looked stubborn. â€Å"Admiral,† he said, â€Å"while I have been attached to your ships, the Third Fleet has received an excellent press. You may station men outside the door, if you like, and you may return in five minutes. But, meanwhile, humor me a bit, and your public relations will not suffer. Do you understand me?† He did. Then Turbor in the isolation that followed, turned to Palver, and said, â€Å"Quickly – what is the name of the girl you abducted.† And Palver could simply stare round-eyed, and shake his head. â€Å"No nonsense,† said Turbor. â€Å"If you do not answer, you will be a spy and spies are blasted without trial in war time.† â€Å"Arcadia Darell!† gasped Palver. â€Å"Well! All right, then. Is she safe?† Palver nodded. â€Å"You had better be sure of that, or it won't be well for you.† â€Å"She is in good health, perfectly safe,† said Palver, palely. The admiral returned, â€Å"Well?† â€Å"The man, sir, is not a spy. You may believe what he tells you. I vouch for him.† â€Å"That so?† The admiral frowned. â€Å"Then he represents an agricultural co-operative on Trantor that wants to make a trade treaty with Terminus for the delivery of grains and potatoes. Well, all right, but he can't leave now.† â€Å"Why not?† asked Palver, quickly. â€Å"Because we're in the middle of a battle. After it is over – assuming we're still alive – we'll take you to Terminus.† The Kalganian fleet that spanned through space detected the Foundation ships from an incredible distance and were themselves detected. Like little fireflies in each other's Grand Detectors, they closed in across the emptiness. And the Foundation's admiral frowned and said, â€Å"This must be their main push. Look at the numbers.† Then, â€Å"They won't stand up before us, though; not if Cenn's detachment can be counted on.† Commander Cenn had left hours before – at the first detection of the coming enemy. There was no way of altering the plan now. It worked or it didn't, but the admiral felt quite comfortable. As did the officers. As did the men. Again watch the fireflies. Like a deadly ballet dance, in precise formations, they sparked. The Foundation fleet edged slowly backwards. Hours passed and the fleet veered slowly off, teasing the advancing enemy slightly off course, then more so. In the minds of the dictators of the battle plan, there was a certain volume of space that must be occupied by the Kalganian ships. Out from that volume crept the Foundationers; into it slipped the Kalganians. Those that passed out again were attacked, suddenly and fiercely. Those that stayed within were not touched. It all depended on the reluctance of the ships of Lord Stettin to take the initiative themselves – on their willingness to remain where none attacked. Captain Dixyl stared frigidly at his wrist watch. It was 1310, â€Å"We've got twenty minutes,† he said. The lieutenant at his side nodded tensely, â€Å"It looks all right so far, captain. We've got more than ninety percent of them boxed. If we can keep them that way-â€Å" â€Å"Yes! If-â€Å" The Foundation ships were drifting forward again – very slowly. Not quick enough to urge a Kalganian retreat and just quickly enough to discourage a Kalganian advance. They preferred to wait. And the minutes passed. At 1325, the admiral's buzzer sounded in seventy-five ships of the Foundation's line, and they built up to a maximum acceleration towards the front-plane of the Kalganian fleet, itself three hundred strong. Kalganian shields flared into action, and the vast energy beams flicked out. Every one of the three hundred concentrated in the same direction, towards their mad attackers who bore down relentlessly, uncaringly and- At 1330, fifty ships under Commander Cenn appeared from nowhere, in one single bound through hyperspace to a calculated spot at a calculated time – and were spaced in tearing fury at the unprepared Kalganian rear. The trap worked perfectly. The Kalganians still had numbers on their side, but they were in no mood to count. Their first effort was to escape and the formation once broken was only the more vulnerable, as the enemy ships bumbled into one another's path. After a while, it took on the proportions of a rat hunt. Of three hundred Kalganian ships, the core and pride of their fleet, some sixty or less, many in a state of near-hopeless disrepair, reached Kalgan once more. The Foundation loss was eight ships out of a total of one hundred twenty-five. Preem Palver landed on Terminus at the height of the celebration. He found the furore distracting, but before he left the planet, he had accomplished two things, and received one request. The two things accomplished were: 1) the conclusion of an agreement whereby Palver's co-operative was to deliver twenty shiploads of certain foodstuffs per month for the next year at a war price, without, thanks to the recent battle, a corresponding war risk, and 2) the transfer to Dr. Darell of Arcadia's five short words. For a startled moment, Darell had stared wide-eyed at him, and then he had made his request. It was to carry an answer back to Arcadia. Palver liked it; it was a simple answer and made sense. It was: â€Å"Come back now. There won't be any danger.† Lord Stettin was in raging frustration. To watch his every weapon break in his hands; to feel the firm fabric of his military might part like the rotten thread it suddenly turned out to be – would have turned phlegmaticism itself into flowing lava. And yet he was helpless, and knew it. He hadn't really slept well in weeks. He hadn't shaved in three days. He had canceled all audiences. His admirals were left to themselves and none knew better than the Lord of Kalgan that very little time and no further defeats need elapse before he would have to contend with internal rebellion. Lev Meirus, First Minister, was no help. He stood there, calm and indecently old, with his thin, nervous finger stroking, as always, the wrinkled line from nose to chin. â€Å"Well,† shouted Stettin at him, â€Å"contribute something. We stand here defeated, do you understand? Defeated! And why? I don't know why. There you have it. I don't know why. Do you know why?† â€Å"I think so,† said Meirus, calmly. â€Å"Treason!† The word came out softly, and other words followed as softly. â€Å"You've known of treason, and you've kept quiet. You served the fool I ejected from the First Citizenship and you think you can serve whatever foul rat replaces me. If you have acted so, I will extract your entrails for it and burn them before your living eyes.† Meirus was unmoved. â€Å"I have tried to fill you with my own doubts, not once, but many times. I have dinned it in your ears and you have preferred the advice of others because it stuffed your ego better. Matters have turned out not as I feared, but even worse. If you do not care to listen now, say so, sir, and I shall leave, and, in due course, deal with your successor, whose first act, no doubt, will be to sign a treaty of peace.† Stettin stared at him red-eyed, enormous fists slowly clenching and unclenching. â€Å"Speak, you gray slug. Speak!† â€Å"I have told you often, sir, that you are not the Mule. You may control ships and guns but you cannot control the minds of your subjects. Are you aware, sir, of who it is you are fighting? You fight the Foundation, which is never defeated – the Foundation, which is protected by the Seldon Plan – the Foundation, which is destined to form a new Empire.† â€Å"There is no Plan. No longer. Munn has said so.† â€Å"Then Munn is wrong. And if he were right, what then? You and I, sir, are not the people. The men and women of Kalgan and its subject worlds believe utterly and deeply in the Seldon Plan as do all the inhabitants of this end of the Galaxy. Nearly four hundred years of history teach the fact that the Foundation cannot be beaten. Neither the kingdoms nor the warlords nor the old Galactic Empire itself could do it.† â€Å"The Mule did it.† â€Å"Exactly, and he was beyond calculation – and you are not. What is worse, the people know that you are not. So your ships go into battle fearing defeat in some unknown way. The insubstantial fabric of the Plan hangs over them so that they are cautious and look before they attack and wonder a little too much. While on the other side, that same insubstantial fabric fills the enemy with confidence, removes fear, maintains morale in the face of early defeats. Why not? The Foundation has always been defeated at first and has always won in the end. â€Å"And your own morale, sir? You stand everywhere on enemy territory. Your own dominions have not been invaded; are still not in danger of invasion – yet you are defeated. You don't believe in the possibility, even, of victory, because you know there is none. â€Å"Stoop, then, or you will be beaten to your knees. Stoop voluntarily, and you may save a remnant. You have depended on metal and power and they have sustained you as far as they could. You have ignored mind and morale and they have failed you. Now, take my advice. You have the Foundation man, Homir Munn. Release him. Send him back to Terminus and he will carry your peace offers.† Stettin's teeth ground behind his pale, set lips. But what choice had he? On the first day of the new year, Homir Munn left Kalgan again. More than six months had passed since he had left Terminus and in the interim, a war had raged and faded. He had come alone, but he left escorted. He had come a simple man of private life; he left the unappointed but nevertheless, actual, ambassador of peace. And what had most changed was his early concern over the Second Foundation. He laughed at the thought of that: and pictured in luxuriant detail the final revelation to Dr. Darell, to that energetic, young competent, Anthor, to all of them- He knew. He, Homir Munn, finally knew the truth.

Calibans Nature Essays - Caliban, The Tempest, Ariel, Prospero

Caliban's Nature Essays - Caliban, The Tempest, Ariel, Prospero Caliban's Nature Calibans Nature When looking at Shakespeares The Tempest one can find an underlying themes of civilization verses barbarism. The characters that are created represent symbols of nature, and their actions build their symbolism. Through the actions we get a view of Shakespeares ideas on civilization and the uncivilized, as well of letting the reader form their own opinions. Prospero, the former Duke of Milan, after being removed by his brother, arrives on an island. He frees a spirit named Ariel from a spell and in turn makes the spirit his slave. He also enslaves a native monster named Caliban. These two slaves, Caliban and Ariel represent the theme of nature verses nature. Caliban is considered the illustration of the wild, a beast of nature. During the first meeting, Caliban comes across as very savage and immoral. Prospero, when approaching Calibans lair, says disdainfully, ...[he] never/Yields us kind answer, meaning Caliban never responds with respect. Once Prospero reaches the cave he calls out and Caliban harshly retorts, Theres wood enough within. This short reply reveals the bitterness he feels from leading his life as a slave. This attitude makes Caliban appear to be an valueless servant. There is also an extreme anger on the part of Caliban towards Prospero. When he is requested to come forward, Caliban answers, As wicked dew eer my mother brushed/With ravens feather from unwholesome fen/Drop on you both!...And blister you all oer! Although his actions may be justified they are still considered improper for a servant. Previous to Prosperos arrival on the island, Caliban was his own ruler. His mother, Sycorax, left the island to him. Regardless, Prospero took charge of the island and imprisoned Caliban. ...Thou strokst me...I loved thee... is a portion of a quote that portrays the relationship Caliban felt towards Prospero prior to be enslaved. Prospero was his teacher, he taught Caliban to speak and in return Caliban showed him the island, The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile... Rightfully so Caliban regrets helping Prospero, near the end of his speech he says, Cursed be I that did so! Calibans imprisonment his why he feels this way. However, the attempted rape of Prosperos daughter, Miranda, is the direct cause of the enslavement. This crime appeals to the reader as a good cause for punishment, but Shakespeare also illustrates that Caliban deserves sympathy, instead of disgust. Caliban committed a crime that deserved punishment, but he was not raised in society so therefore did not know what he did wrong. The only way of life he knew was to follow and do what he feels. Caliban does not know right from wrong based on societys standards. Due this aspect there is a degree of sympathy towards Caliban because he is oppressed due to conduct he could not control. Prospero comments, A devil, a born devil, on whose nature/Nurture can never stick... which explains why despite the teachings of Prospero, Caliban reacted on his instincts. Caliban is helpless among the civilized because is a way of life he could never fully understand. Even though Caliban is a man of a nature he should not be considered less honorable than any character from civilization. Citizens of society picture nature as ugly and unrefined, so this is how Shakespeare portrays Caliban, as a hideous beast. His appearance is meant to illustrate the immoral animal nature within him. Despite this immorality, Caliban posses purity and innocence, something that no man of society can claim he has. Caliban does not act to please others, rather his own pleasure is top priority. Shakespeare gives Caliban some fine poetry, ...Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not./Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments... With this quote Caliban states that nature can be equally as charismatic as society. Caliban portrayed as evil, but he is not as soulless as Antonio, Prosperos brother. Antonio is from the civilized world, yet he produces corruption and ugliness far worse than that of Calibans nature. Basically, Caliban behaves disgustingly in the eyes of civilized society. Nevertheless, his background and environment which he grew up in accounts for these actions and justifies them. Shakespeare uses the character of Caliban to represent nature and to show readers that nature is not as bad as it appears to be at face value. Through Caliban readers can gain an understanding of those individuals who were not raised in the same atmospheres we were. With this awareness, a feeling of great sympathy is inflicted on the readers for those who are less

The Politics of Womens Health

The Politics of Womens Health Introduction Background Women experience more health complications than men. This could be as a result of the multi-diversity of their body functions or the kind of gender treatment that they are exposed to. Women’s bodies are more sensitive and fragile than men’s and therefore, require more care.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Politics of Women’s Health specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More A study on alcoholism for instance, has shown that alcohol presents more complications to female users than to their male counterparts. Women get drunk quicker, get addicted faster and suffer abuse-related consequences sooner than men. Apart from the normal health complications shared between men and women, women suffer increased risk of reproductive problems and a more severe damage to the liver than in men and eventually, earlier deaths from these complications than in men. In addition to these, wo men are prone to increased risk of breast cancer, menstrual disorders, fertility problems and miscarriage in case of pregnancy. Women also suffer most from matters of passion like failed relationships or death of friends or family members. They will develop stress-related complications like ulcers or heart problems easier compared to the men. Of significant importance to this study is the role of society in women’s health. Women are still perceived to be the weaker sex in both the developing and the developed societies. Only the extents and rates differ. Because of this, they get subjected to ill treatment. Some of it is so severe that it affects their health. In most societies for instance, women suffer domestic violence, girls are married off at tender ages and denied equal rights to education. This could be so traumatizing to the child that she develops mental problems or complications during sexual intercourse or delivery because her reproductive organs and system are not fully developed. Purpose of the Research This research aims at finding out the extent to which attention to women’s health is compromised by society and policy decisions. Society here includes men and women, their socialization towards women’s place in society and the role they play in the deprivation of their rights regarding health care. Policy makers include the ruling elite and the subsequent bodies mandated with the role of policy formulations.Advertising Looking for research paper on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Research questions In order to achieve this purpose, the following question will be used to guide the study: how has women’s healthcare been politicized and therefore compromised by society and policy makers and how has gender inequality contributed to this? Methodology The information in this paper has been gathered from secondary sources. These include books an d articles by other writers based on prior research. Only information about the women and their health care and influence by society and gender inequality has been used. The problem of healthcare among women. Women face a big problem in reception of health care. Coupled with this is the fact that they are at more health risk exposure than the men and by the men. Unfortunately, this has been institutionalized by society and policy makers as acceptable. We shall examine this predicament in details. Differences in vulnerability between men and women Previous studies by various groups have shown that women and men differ in their rates of exposure and vulnerability to similar health conditions. A study by the Global Burden of Disease showed that out of 126 health conditions, 68 of them had a 20% discrepancy between men and women. These diseases include HIV, cancers, eye sight diseases, migraine, mental health, muscle and bone strength, nutrition and burns. Some of these conditions are d etermined by biological differences, while a number of others are determined by how society has socialized women and men into gender roles. These gender roles are supported by norms that discriminate on masculinity or femininity. Then power relations take over, according privileges to men, thus affecting the health of women and men altogether. Women are known to be more sensitive to chemicals when exposed than the men. This is because there are differences between the two in absorption, metabolism and excretion of fat soluble chemicals. In the case of antiretroviral, women suffer more side effects like skin rash and liver toxicity. According to Astbury (2002), women are more likely to suffer depression than men. This however, is perceived as a biological consequence and therefore is not given much attention.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Politics of Women’s Health specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Social factors like violence, partner support, overwork and the social experience of motherhood and nurture of children have been discovered to contribute a lot more to depression. These are not biological determinants and therefore, should not be shoved away but rather be given the medical attention they deserve. Society and gender Social stratifies in many communities define people based on who they are on dimensions that they have no control over cannot change. The harm with this kind of stratification is that a group of people in the same classification are slumped together and treated in a given way. This is not because they deserve such treatment, but because they belong to that group which unfortunately, they cannot get out of. This is the situation that women in most societies find themselves in. Typical in almost all societies is that women do not own land. If they do, it is less than for their male counterparts. This translates to wealth and property. They are more burd ened with tasks of care giving, reproduction and ensuring security survival of their families. In return, they are less fed, less educated, more restricted and less paid at work. They have less access to political power and their political participation is limited either directly by the male figures in their lives or indirectly by the amount of responsibilities at their disposal. This way, women are left with few options when confronted with health problems. The kind of medical attention they can receive is usually dictated upon them. At a closer look, one will find that even the biologically determined diseases are supported by gender social determinants. A condition such as blindness, as much as any woman could contact an eye disease, social factors like women’s lesser access to eye care services and caring for children infected with trachoma increases their rates of infection. In the case of HIV, according to Gruskin and Tarantola (24-29), vulnerability results from social , cultural, economic, political and other factors that can increase the degree of infection, less access to health care and support of infected ones. All these put the woman on the receiving end. This is according to Ogden et al (333-342).Advertising Looking for research paper on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Women in the society are seen as objects rather than subjects. They have been socialized to accept this status and many of them shy away from seeking health care. Women’s health conditions are perceived to be normal by the families or the women themselves and therefore do not seek medical attention, according to Lyer (17). Women could be aware of the health concern but choose to keep silent about it for fear of reactions from family and society. For example, women with TB in Vietnam, according to Long et al (p69-81), do not disclose their status for fear of not getting married if people knew of their conditions. When women and their families acknowledge about their health problems, financial berries come in. preferential attention is given to the male counterparts at their expense, even for a non health related issue as noted by Lane (151-182) Most societies exert importance to male children than female. Some go as far as murdering girls at birth. This is a health concern. In parts of East and South Asia where this practice is most inherent, there is now a crisis of female shortage. This drastic decline in sex ratios has led to outlawed practices like kidnapping of women, forced marriages, girl-trafficking and intensified dowry payment that have made the girl child a material possession. The social expectation of what boys should and should not do can be directly linked to the behavior leading to the spread of HIV/AIDS and gender based violence. Men are freer and unsanctioned when it comes to matters of sex. They do not expect to be accountable and responsible to their wives. On the other hand, women are exposed to increased health risks during such rituals as genital mutilation, marriage and child birth. Mutilation and marital rape which are more common in most communities are painful experiences meant to â€Å"humble† the woman and make her feel submissive to the men. With women perceived as objects, especially sex, widowhood is another challen ging time for any woman. The women are subjected to various practices meant to demean and subordinate them. This becomes worse considering that most of these women are immediately disinherited and so lack the capacity to seek medical care. Some of the practices they are subjected to are wife inheritance and ritual cleansing. In some cases, the women are granted conditional access to their homes and property upon fulfillment of these conditions. Policy and inequality in healthcare In the case of HIV/AIDS, we see a fail in the policy sector. Most governments are still conservative in addressing matters of sexuality and tend to shy off from addressing them head on. They should enforce programs that advocate for abstinence and faithfulness or use of the condom. According to Kelly (36), in marriages, many men will refuse to use condoms, even when they engage in risky sex behavior. In most societies (apart from the few western societies) there is no law to protect this woman whose husband is exposing her to STIs and other infections. In return, she will suffer violence for objecting to the needs of her husband. In an effort to end maternal deaths, rape, coercive sex, violence against women and forced early marriages for the girl child, sustained policies and programs must be implemented to change people’s attitudes towards relationships, gender equality, mutual respect and respect of human rights. Promoting gender equality To remedy this situation, a number of initiatives have been adopted by various countries to reduce the effects of gender inequality in health care. In Sweden for instance, gender relations are taken into account in the public, private and voluntary sectors. It has a Division of Gender Equality within the central administration to look into matters of gender equity in service delivery and resource allocation. Gender discrimination is one of the agents of poverty, a major obstacle to sustainable global development. Sweden in return has expres sed an improved system of equality and equity of both genders. This shows that gender mainstreaming has to be institutionalized and effectively implemented. In fact, Sweden’s public health policy is to raise the level of and reduce and reduce inequalities of people’s capability and freedom to choose their lives and pursue their goals. A number of approaches have been put forward. If well implemented, they could help promote the much anticipated equality among the two genders. The essential structural dimensions of gender inequality need to be addressed. This is by transforming the framework of women human rights through effective implementation of laws and policies. Attention should also be given to the access, affordability and availability of health care to women. These services should not be subject to changes during economic reforms. They should be treated as basic and necessary. Women are the backbone in care giving within the family. Because of these, many are ex posed to health dangers from those they care for. Programs should be initiated to involve the men too in the care giving responsibilities. Women need to be engaged in the decision making processes from grassroots to international level so that they can be in a position to voice women’s challenges and sees redress. Gender stereotypes need to be challenged. Boys and men should be included in equality debates so that they can support the cause of gender equality (Greene et al p54). Multilevel strategies can be adopted to change the norms and practices that harm women’s health directly or indirectly. Differential health issues between men and women should be treated differentially. Some biological factors interact with social factors to aggravate these health risks, so there should be policy to address these differences. The social biases that work to increase these risks should be eliminated. Because these social factors occur in social setting, people and communities sho uld be empowered to take these initiatives. These can only be achieved by comprehensive programs to enlighten the people on the importance of such initiatives. Gender Biases in Research The issue of women health crane has not been adequately addressed before and even now. This is because there has been a slow recognition of health issues that affect women in particular. It is only recently that factors like gender violence, menstruation and other characteristics unique to women began being factored in as determinants of women health. There has also been a lack of recognition of the interplay between gender and social factors and the effect they have on women health. Conclusion This research is important in showing the effects of gender inequality on women health. Women ailments have been ignored as normal, resulting from normal pathogens and biological functions. Much insight has not been given therefore, in studying the unique characteristics attributed to these health conditions. This research has shown that women health problems are an inter link between the normal pathogens and consequences of gender inequality manifested through social gender biases and biased policy making institutions. In order to change this system, there needs to be an over haul in the mind set of both the men and women, and societal norms and practices. A gender balanced society needs to be instituted, whereby every one respects and appreciates the other. Besides, the role of women in society has to be appreciated and not looked down upon. Women are the care givers, they are the ones who carry and bring life. For these reasons, they deserve an even better health care as they are at more risks with these core functions that they perform. Astbury, Jill. Mental health: Gender Bias, Social Position, and Depression IN SEN G, G. A., Ãâ€"STLIN P (Ed.), Engendering International Health. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002. Print. Greene, Mehta., Mehta, Monica., Pulerwitz, Julie., Wulf, D., Bankole, Akinrinola. Singh, Simon. Involving Men in Reproductive Health, Contributions to Development Sexual and Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2006. Print. Gruskin, Sofia, Tarantola, Daniel. HIV/AIDS And Human Rights Revisited. Can  HIV AIDS Policy Law Rev, 6, 24-9, 2001 Print. Kelly, Leroy. Polygyny and HIV/AIDS: A Health and Human Rights Approach. Journal for Juridical Science 31, 1-38, 2006. Print. Lane, Mark. The Hierarchy of Resort Examined: Status and Class Differentials as Determinants of Therapy For Eye Disease in the Egyptian Delta. Urban Anthropology 16, 151-182, 1987. Print Long, Christopher., Johansson, Erik., Diwan, Kuldeep, Winkvist, Anna. Fear And Social Isolation as Consequences of Tuberculosis in Vietnam: A Gender Analysis. Health Policy, 58, 69-81, 2001. Print Lyer, Aditi. Gender, Caste and Class in Health: Compounding and Competing Inequalities in Rural Karnataka, India, Division of Public Health. Liverpool: Universit y of Liverpool, 2007. Print Ogden, Jane., Esim, Rail, Grown, Cube. Expanding the Care Continuum for HIV/AIDS: Bringing Careers Into Focus. Health Policy Plan, 21, 333-42, 2006. Print