The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 36

Damon was the first to move, which didn't surprise Elena. His leather jacket scorched, long burns running across his face and arms, he staggered past the others through the fire and threw open the garage door. Outside, thunder rumbled overhead and a heavy rain was fal ing. Despite the rain, the garage was burning ferociously, flames licking their way up the sides of the smal building and across the roof. As they al stumbled outside, Meredith, coughing, turned her face up to the rain. Matt and Alaric supported Mrs. Flowers and placed her in the driver's seat of her car. Elena held her hands out, letting the driving rain wash away the soot and soothe her burns. The rest of her friends mil ed around not far from the burning garage, stil stunned. â€Å"Oh, Damon,† said Bonnie. She paused to cough and wheeze for a few seconds, then leaned careful y toward Damon, avoiding his injuries, and kissed him on the cheek. â€Å"I'm so happy you came back.† â€Å"Thank you, redbird,† Damon said, patting her on the back. â€Å"Excuse me for a second; I need to take care of something.† He stepped away and caught Elena by the hand. In the distance came the wail of sirens, signaling the advance of fire trucks and police cars drawn by the fire. Damon pul ed Elena toward the dark shadows under a tree near the house. â€Å"Come on,† he said. â€Å"You need blood now.† He felt his throat with charred fingers, then drew a fingernail against one of his veins. His leather jacket was practical y destroyed, just rags and ashes hanging from him, and the long burns on his face and body were stil red and raw-looking, but already better than they had been a few minutes before. â€Å"I could do that,† said Stefan, approaching them and leaning against the wal of the house. He looked tired and bedraggled, but his injuries, too, were already healing. â€Å"Elena's always welcome to my blood.† â€Å"You can definitely pitch in. But that's a bad injury she's got,† said Damon matter-of-factly, â€Å"and you don't have the Power to heal it right now.† Elena had been trying not to look at her right hand. Although she couldn't real y move it, it didn't hurt much anymore. Which was probably a bad sign, actual y. Did that mean the nerve endings were dead? A quick, anxious glance down at her hand made her stomach churn. Even that tiny glimpse showed her horribly blackened and reddened flesh and peeling skin and – God – she thought she'd seen a glimpse of bone beneath the flesh. She let out a low, involuntary whimper. â€Å"Drink,† said Damon impatiently. â€Å"Let me fix it before they come and drag you off to the burn unit.† Elena stil hesitated, and Damon sighed and turned to Stefan again. â€Å"Look,† he said, his voice softening, â€Å"it's not always about Power. Sometimes the blood is just about taking care of someone.† â€Å"I know that,† Stefan replied, blinking tiredly at him. â€Å"I just wasn't sure that you did.† Damon's mouth twisted in a wry smile. â€Å"I'm an old man, little brother,† he said. â€Å"I know a lot of things.† He turned back to Elena. â€Å"Drink now,† he insisted, and Stefan smiled reassuringly at her. Elena nodded at Stefan before pushing her mouth tightly against Damon's neck. The second she tasted his blood, Elena became wrapped in warmth and the pain in her hand stopped. She no longer felt the unpleasant cold drumming of the rain on her head and shoulders, the icy trickle of water down her body. She was cozy and safe and loved, and time had stopped just long enough for her to catch her breath. Damon? she thought, and reached out to his mind with hers. He answered her without words, but with a wave of affection and care, of undemanding love. Through the haze, Elena realized there was something new here†¦ When she and Damon had al owed their minds to touch in the past, she had often sensed that Damon had been holding back a part of himself. Or, on the rare occasions when she got past the inner barriers he'd thrown up against intruders, she'd found hurt and rage, a lost child chained to a rock. Now Elena sensed only love and peace as she and Damon melted into each other. When she pul ed back from him at last, it took her a moment to return to the real world. Stefan was no longer next to them. It was raining stil , cold water running through her hair, over her shoulders, down her neck and arms and body. Her hand ached and was stil badly burned, but it had healed to the point of needing ointment and a bandage rather than surgery. A couple of fire trucks and police cars pul ed into the drive, lights blazing, sirens screaming. Closer to the garage, she saw Meredith abruptly drop Stefan's arm, and Elena realized Meredith had been drinking from his wrist. She realized vaguely that she would have been shocked by this only a few hours ago – she would have assumed Meredith would shy away from touching the blood of any vampire, and Stefan had always reserved his blood for Elena as part of the connection only they shared – but she couldn't work up any real emotion about it now. It felt like al the barriers between their group had broken down. Whether this new state of things lasted or not, they were al one for now. They'd seen the worst of one another. They'd told the truth and come out the other side. And now, if Meredith needed to be healed, of course Stefan would give her his blood. It would be the same for any of them. The firemen jumped from their truck and unrol ed the hoses. As they turned their a ttention to putting out the fire, a couple of uniformed police officers and a man who must be the fire marshal walked purposeful y toward Mrs. Flowers, Matt, Alaric, Celia, and Bonnie, al of whom were now huddled in the car. Meredith and Stefan headed toward them, too. â€Å"Why didn't they help her into the house?† Elena wondered aloud suddenly, and Damon turned a blank gaze of surprise on her. â€Å"I have no idea,† he said slowly. â€Å"It never even occurred to me that we could go inside. I guess everyone felt like they should be out here to watch it burn. Make sure the phantom doesn't come out.† â€Å"It's like we were at the end of the world,† she said softly, thinking aloud. â€Å"Even the boardinghouse seemed so far away that it just wasn't part of the picture. Now that other people are here, the world is starting to turn again.† Damon hmmmed noncommittal y. â€Å"We'd better get over there,† he said. â€Å"I think they could use some help.† Mrs. Flowers's voice was raised indignantly, although Elena couldn't make out the words. As she trailed after Damon she smiled to herself: Since when had Damon cared whether anyone, except Elena herself, could use some help? As they got closer, Elena could see that Mrs. Flowers had gotten out of the car and assumed her best expression of dottiness and eccentricity, blue eyes wide, arms akimbo, as Alaric held an umbrel a over her head. â€Å"Young man!† she snapped at the fire marshal. â€Å"What are you trying to imply by asking why my car wasn't parked in the garage? Surely I have every right to distribute my possessions anywhere I like on my own property! What sort of world do we live in where I am penalized, where I am judged for not fol owing conventions? Do you dare to suggest that I might have had some advance knowledge of this fire?† â€Å"Wel , ma'am, it's been known to happen. I'm not suggesting anything, but the matter has to be investigated,† said the fire marshal stolidly. â€Å"What're al these kids doing here?† one of the police officers asked, shooting a glance around. His eyes lingered on Damon's burned leather jacket and the raw skinless patch on Stefan's cheek. â€Å"We're going to need to talk to al of you,† he said. â€Å"Let's start by getting your names and addresses.† Stefan stepped forward and held the officer's eyes with his. â€Å"I'm sure that won't be necessary,† he said softly, compel ingly. Elena could feel him using his Power. â€Å"The garage burned because it was struck by lightning in the storm. No one was here except the old lady in the house and a few of her guests. Everything's so straightforward and simple, there's no need to question anyone.† The officer looked puzzled and then nodded, his face clearing. â€Å"These storms can cause a lot of property damage,† he replied. The fire marshal snorted. â€Å"What are you talking about? Lightning didn't strike anywhere near here.† Stefan shifted his gaze to the fire marshal. â€Å"There's nothing to bother investigating†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But the spel was broken, and now al three men were looking at him with suspicion. Stefan's Power wasn't going to be strong enough to use on al three, Elena realized, and he wouldn't be able to convince even one of them if the men were al together, awakening one another's doubts. Stefan's face was drawn and tired. He had fought a long battle – more than one, actual y. And Stefan was never strong in Power, not when he didn't drink human blood. If he'd been worrying over her and preparing to fight the phantom, it had probably been days since he had had even more than a few swal ows of animal blood. Damon stepped forward. â€Å"Sir?† he said politely. The fire marshal looked at him. â€Å"If I could speak to you privately for a moment, I'm sure we can clear this up.† The marshal frowned but fol owed him to the back porch of the boardinghouse, the second police officer tagging along. Under the porch light, they faced Damon, at first suspicious. Gradual y, as he spoke to them, their shoulders relaxed and they began to nod and smile. Stefan spoke softly to the other officer again. He'd be able to handle influencing one person alone, Elena knew, even in his current state. Meredith and Bonnie had gotten into the backseat of Mrs. Flowers's ancient automobile – so old that Elena suspected it might predate Mrs. Flowers herself – and were deep in conversation, while Alaric and Celia continued to support Mrs. Flowers under the umbrel a as she listened to Stefan's conversation with the police officer, Matt hovering nearby. Elena walked quietly past them and slipped into the back of the car with Bonnie and Meredith. The door shut with a satisfyingly heavy clunk, and the black leather bench seat creaked and groaned under her. Bonnie's red curls were soaked straight, wet tendrils hanging down over her shoulders and sticking to her forehead. Her face was smudged with ash and her eyes were red, but she gave Elena a genuinely happy smile. â€Å"We won,† she said. â€Å"It's gone for good, isn't it? We did it.† Meredith was solemn yet exultant, her gray eyes shining. There was stil a smear of Stefan's blood on her lips, and Elena stifled the urge to wipe it away for her. â€Å"We did win,† Meredith affirmed. â€Å"You both did so amazingly. Bonnie, it was real y smart of you to start casting off jealousies as fast as you could. It kept the phantom off balance. And Elena†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She swal owed. â€Å"Plunging into the fire was so brave of you. How's your hand?† Elena held out her hand and flexed the fingers in front of them. â€Å"The incredible powers of vampire blood,† Elena said lightly. â€Å"Very useful for the aftermath of a battle, right, Meredith?† Meredith flushed at Elena's teasing, then smiled a little. â€Å"I don't know,† she said. â€Å"It seemed sil y not to use al our†¦ advantages. I feel better already.† â€Å"You were terrific, too, Meredith,† Bonnie said. â€Å"You fought like you were dancing. Graceful and strong and beautiful and so supertough, the way you used your stave.† Elena agreed. â€Å"I never could have gotten the rose if you hadn't cut the phantom.† â€Å"I guess we're al terrific,† said Meredith. â€Å"The first meeting of the Robert E. Lee High School Alumni Mutual Admiration Society is now cal ed to order.† â€Å"We'l have to get Matt in and tel him how wonderful he is,† Bonnie said. â€Å"And I guess Stefan also counts as an alum, right? I think now that the world's changed, he might have graduated with us.† She yawned, showing a smal pink tongue like a cat's. â€Å"I'm just worn out.† Elena realized she was, too. It had been a very long day. A very long year since the Salvatore brothers had come to Fel ‘s Church and life had changed forever. She slumped down in the seat and rested her head on Meredith's shoulder. â€Å"Thank you for saving the town again, both of you,† she said sleepily. It seemed important to say it. â€Å"Maybe tomorrow we can start working on normal again.† Meredith laughed a little and hugged them both. â€Å"Nothing can defeat our sisterhood,† she said. â€Å"We're too good for normal.† Her breath hitched. â€Å"When you were both taken by the phantom,† she said quietly, â€Å"I was afraid I had lost you forever. You're my sisters, real y, not just my friends, and I need you. I want you to know that.† â€Å"Absolutely,† Bonnie said, nodding feverishly. Elena reached out for both of them. The three friends squeezed one another tightly in a laughing, slightly tearful group hug. Tomorrow would come, and maybe normal – whatever that was at this point – would come, too. For now, Elena had her true friends. That was a lot. Whatever happened, that would be enough.

Social Media Strategy – Retail Boutique

The Plaid Door – Social Media strategy Goals  : – Awareness – Generate new leads, which will in turn result in paying customers. So your social media strategy will be centered around targeting new prospects and drive them to your website and to the Plaid Door boutique. This would include some very targeted campaigns. – Customer service / Interaction. You want to use Social Media to be able to communicate with your customers much better and to be able to dynamically interact with them on a daily basis in order to really build those relationships.Your strategy here then would be much more about manning your page, instant responses to questions & queries. Target audience  : * Mostly women * Aged between 20 and 55 Social-Media sites  : Facebook / Twitter  / Pinterest Social Media Site #1: Facebook Facebook was created in 2003, and since then it has grown into the largest site for peer-to-peer connection and communication. A Facebook page allows organi zations to garner fans and post updates. It also allows for solid feedback, as fans can â€Å"like† certain posts or they can comment on them in opposition.Organizations can even arrange to have to have their name as part of the Facebook page URL for easy access and recognition. Many nonprofit groups have seen success through hosting contests and posting special information on their pages. Recommendations  : 1. Add Like Box on your website. Like Box is a social plug-in which you add on your website so your visitors are able to like your page directly from your website. They just need to be logged in. Your visitors most likely will like your fan page since they also can stay updated liking your fan page.This is great way to promote your Facebook fan page. 2. Post/tweet about your new Facebook page. You should inform your readers or twitter followers about your new Facebook page. Make post or update about it and tell them why they should join. 3. Reward your fans or make a co ntest. You can reward your fans if they help you promote Facebook fan page. Also you can make a contest and reward those who referred your page to most people. As a reward you can offer some coupons or rebates on  «Ã‚  private shopping night  Ã‚ » You can run â€Å"fans only† contests, so more people tend to join and like your page. . Use Facebook ads. You can spend some money to advertise your page using Facebook advertising marketing tool. Create multiple adverts to help build an audience for your Page. Use the targeting options to show your adverts to only the people you want reach. See which versions of your adverts work best 5. Influence the friends of your fans. Encourage check-ins, participation in events or create an offer to encourage more activity on your Page. When people interact with the content on your Page, their friends are eligible to see the activity.When people do things such as like, comment or check-in to your Page, you can promote those activities to their friends. 6. Connect Twitter and Facebook. You can connect those two social medias using Involver. com so whatever you post on Twitter should be  posted on Facebook page and vice versa. 7. Hold a weekly event. Pick one day or one hour every week and pick one activity to do repeatedly every week, for example a tutorial on how to refashion clothes. Start promoting your event every week to your friends / fans, build up to it on the wall, create a facebook event about it and invite all your friends.Just start slowly and gradually more and more people will hear about it and begin to attend your weekly event. 8. Hold a caption contest. For example on refashioned clothes. 9. Use Facebook’s Questions feature to poll your fans for their opinions. 10. Always respond to likes / comments / shares etc. Your appreciation will encourage engagement. 11. Post photos. Images are one of the biggest activities online. For example you can post photos of some new arrivals clothes, of the P laid Door boutique, people working at the Plaid Door†¦ 12. Ask your likers to â€Å"Suggest to Friends† on a monthly basis.Post a Status Update and send an Update to fans asking them to suggest your page to their Facebook friends. Let them know that they can easily suggest your page by clicking the ‘Suggest to Friends' link just under your Page's image in the left column. Inspiring your Likers to help build your community is one of the easiest ways to quickly grow your supporter base. 13. Get your organization's staff and volunteers involved. Ask those people closest to your nonprofit to support your Facebook page by posting comments and liking your posts. Encourage them to include the Plaid Door social information on their email signature. 4. Post about branded clothes you have. Make it special; encourage people to come check this out so they can get a good deal. 15. Set up a Google Alert for your organization’s name to keep track of what people are saying. Social Media Site #2: Twitter Over the past few years, the popularity of Twitter has exploded. Twitter is essentially a forum to share messages, but these messages have a 140-character limit. Although this might restrict some of the creative opportunities for businesses, there are still ways to push out meaningful information. Recommendations  : 1. Use Hashtags Strategically.Twitter does a great job of grouping topics together through the use of â€Å"hashtags. † A hashtag is symbolized by the â€Å"#† character and it can be put before any word. This hyperlinks the word, and it is then clumped together with similar tweets. Now, there is some science to this. Twitter has a feature on the left-hand side on the screen that lists â€Å"trending topics† for the given geographical region. This is essentially a list of topics that people have hashtagged and are interested in at that time. If an organization can somehow find a way to tie in one of these trending t opics to its tweet, it has a better chance of being seen.This is difficult because the trending topics won't always be totally relevant, but having a creative mind that can make the two messages connect will do wonders for an organization's exposure. 2. Distribute Coupons and Discounts. Twitter is a great platform for distributing special offers and hosting contests. For example, you could tweet about a 30 percent off coupon, but make it applicable only to those who can show that they received the tweet on their computer or phone. Another example: you could host a contest, such as offering a prize to the person who re-tweets the organization the most or recruits the most followers.This allows companies to form more personal relationships with their target demographics. Social Media Site #3: Pinterest Pinterest, which launched in 2010, has grown to more than 10 million users. Every day, people use the website to â€Å"pin† images and videos to their personal pin boards so the y can save and share the things they love. The site gets social when people follow each other and repin or comment on each other’s pins. Pinterest's users tend to be women, and the majority of them are 25 to 54 years old, according to recently released demographic data.Although there are some exceptions, most content on Pinterest falls into stereotypically female niches, including home decor, recipes, crafts and apparel. This corresponds to your target audience. Recommendations  : 1. Add a â€Å"Pin It† Button to Your Organization's Website. By adding a â€Å"Pin It† button to your organization's website, visitors then have the option to pin any of the images from your site on one of their boards. 2. Get the Community Involved. Pinterest is a good way to facilitate community involvement.This ensures that people are actually interacting with their community, and it allows the organization to get to know its customers and donors on a more intimate level. 3. Enc ourage Employees To Pin. Pinterest is far from static. Users are pinning every minute and it can quickly become a challenge for an organization to stay on top of its ball game. In order to make sure that your organization is in front of the competition, you can encourage all workers to open a Pinterest account and create boards. They can then pin images that are relevant to the organization's values and overarching goals.A somewhat lesser known fact is that Pinterest users can actually upload and pin videos as well as still photographs. 4. Create group pinboards and crowdsource?. Create group pinboards and invite other users to pin content to those boards. For example, ask customers to pin pictures of themselves using your products. You also could hold a contest to crowdsource pins. Ask customers to review your business or product on your website and pin a quote from their review to a special contest pinboard. You benefit from more reviews and a pinboard that’s filled with te stimonials. 5. Don’t use pinterest for direct marketing?.Pinterest states that the site should not be used for direct marketing, advertising or sales. Excessive and overt self-promotion is clearly unacceptable, so make sure you’re pinning diverse content, not just pictures of your products. You need to get creative and use Pinterest for indirect marketing. For example, fill pin boards with seasonal items, color coordinated images, gift ideas and so on. 6. Don’t pin anything and everything?. Stay focused, but don’t be afraid to pin interesting content that your target audience would enjoy and that’s at least loosely connected to your business.Such content can help give your brand more personality. For example: You can create boards about hairstyle or home decor or craft, these subject are relevant to your target audience. 7. Give your followers a look at your non-profit from behind the scenes. Pin images that show staff and volunteers working with y our organization, as well as those who benefit from that work. It’s a good idea to show supporters the human faces behind your logo. 8. â€Å"Photo of the Day†. You can create a board where you will pin everyday of photo of an new item in the Plaid Door Boutique. . Create a board with tutorials on how to refashion clothes. 10. Repin/Highlight Other Non-Profits. Like all forms of social media, Pinterest isn’t a place to over-promote. Avoid this is by mixing original pinning with repins of images from other non-profits within your sphere of influence. Users receive an email notification when their images are repinned and they are credited on your repin, which can increase their following. The non-profit you repin may return the favor, allowing Pinterest to become a channel for valuable, non-disruptive cross-promotion.

Building Sustainable Organizations Analysis

The report discusses the HRM practices in an organization through the case study of a   hospital which is located in Australia with around 400 staff members. The hospital has its unit across the Australia. The case study discusses ineffective HR practices operating in the hospital administration which have contributed to high attrition, grievances, absenteeism and shortage of staff in the organization. The hospital has been reported to have some serious accidents involving patients and staff members. The case then discussed a contrasting view of another hospital that is effectively implementing HRM practices in its administration through employee engagement activities, HR policies, job analysis and recruitment and selection. The hospital has been reported to have great patient services because of its sustainable management practices and policies. The first hospital discussed in the case reflects ineffective HRM practices which have degraded the quality of patient services and have even led to some serious patient accidents. The hospital only has one payroll department which takes care of the salary of the employees and one HR consultant who conducts weekly visits to the hospital. All the responsibilities of an HR manager have been laid down on the middle managers which has overburdened them. The CEO of the hospital has been overlooking the consequences of this activity of overburdening middle managers. This has resulted in work conflicts, staff turnover and absenteeism. The overall quality of the services of the hospital has also degraded. The hospital lacks an effective munication model, which is taken care by an HR manager. Effective munication is required for assigning roles and responsibilities, boosting employee confidence and evaluating performance of the employee. An effective munication holds an organization together through effective policies, employee handbook, meetings and conferences, performance evaluation, employee engagement etc. munication helps to transfer the information from one department to other and thus maintains the flow of information through mails, telephones, meetings, documents, employee record etc (Fielding, 2006). It is the role of an HR to maintain an effective munication in an organization which is not present in the hospital. Employment r elations are also not being properly managed ineffective HR policies. Employment relations are required to hold the employees and have good staff retention in the hospital through developing relation between employee and the hospital through benefits and pensation, appraisal system etc (Gardner & Palmer, 1997). The employee gets frustrated and demotivated due to work conflicts and situation based problems. They need to be motivated by an HR manager through meetings and other activities. The managers are not even aware that these assigned responsibilities are not even part of their job and get frustrated sometimes which creates absenteeism and staff turnover. This overall impacts employee petence through work conflicts and absenteeism which indirectly affects the quality of the services of hospital and leads to disappoint patient. This spoils the image of the hospital and affects the long terms goals and objectives of the organization. A sustainable HRM model is required to improve the quality of the services of the hospital (Wolper, 2004). The CEO of the hospital needs to review the performance of the hospital in order to build a sustainable business model. He needs to understand that an HR consultant is not enough while considering the long term goals and objectives of the organization. The patient care and safety are one of the essential ponents for a successful running hospital which are not as per the norms of a hospital. The severe accidents may increase in the future and may have disastrous consequences on the operational system of hospital. The CEO needs to develop a sustainable HRM model in order to achieve the long term goals and objectives of the hospital (Wolper, 2004). CEO would have to create an effective HR department and ensure proper implementation of the HR policies and practices. He could have a look at the HRM model of other successfully running hospital as mentioned in the case study. The hospital has a proper HR department which has led to quality services to the hospital through its staff retention and employee engagement. Thus, CEO should plan to develop an HRM model in the hospital by considering the following roles and responsibilities of an HR department and should hire an HR manager who could assist him in other recruits for the department. The HR manager is responsible for hiring the suitable employees as per the needs and requirement of the job profile in the organization. Employees are recruited through different channels such as newspaper ads, online ads, networking, telephone etc. It is the responsibility of an HR to use the right channel for selection (Brinkerhoff & Goldsmith, 1992). When a new employee gets hired and joins the organization, he needs to be well versed about the organization and his duties and job role. The HR manager guides and instructs the employee through an induction and training program regarding what he would be expected to do through employee handbook, job description, pany policy manual and training and mentoring. He also checks all the required documents of the employee such as id proof, degrees etc (Brinkerhoff & Goldsmith, 1992). It is the duty of an HR manager to ensure that hospital plies with the rules and regulations of the government through his legal research expertise on hospital. The hospital must abide by the laws as prescribed by the government which may include recruitment contracts with the medical practitioners. Then there are employee contracts which should be very well documented (Brinkerhoff & Goldsmith, 1992). It is the duty of an HR to control and monitor the performance of an employee through employee engagement, resolving work conflict, handling grievances, appraisal system etc. The employee performance is responsible for quality of the services of a hospital. An HR boosts the confidence of employees through different activities and ensures smooth operational activities in an organization (Wolper, 2004). An HR manager is also involved in core team of a hospital and helps in building strategies in alignment with the goals and objectives of the organization. An HR manager acts as an intermediate between the employees and the hospital and thus, helps to resolve employee issues and concerns through proper planning and devising solution (Evans, 1990). Training and development is a very crucial element to develop a sustainable business model in hospital industry. It ensures quality services and equipping the staff with latest technology and practices in the market. It is the duty of an HR to conduct regular training in the hospital such as handling patient effectively, being polite to the patient etc. Thus way training improves the quality standard of a hospital (Savage, Fottler & Khatri, 2010). HR is responsible for running operations of a hospital smoothly and effective administration is the core element of HRM in hospital. The responsibilities may vary from hospital to hospital (Fried, Fottler & Johnson, 2005). Studying the above roles and responsibilities, it can be evaluated that an HR plays a very important role in effective delivery of services and ensuring quality patient care. Further, the report would discuss the ways to develop a sustainable HRM model in a hospital and its consequences. A sustainable HRM model consists of six elements which would be discussed one by one below: HR Management Systems: It ensures that the operational activities are being maintained in an organization through integration of data, staffing and placement and employee support system. The data is helpful is evaluating the performance of the employees and provides employee feedback and coaching and mentoring to the employees if required. This would improve overall work productivity of the hospital through an effective appraisal system and policies and measures (Evans, 1990). Leadership: Employees look for continuous guidance and instructions from their superiors to make sure that their work is in alignment with the goals and objectives of the hospital. HR manager would make sure that the employees are fully aware of their job profile and expected results through intensive planning and organizing. Their involvement in the decision making process ensures that the hospital’s planning, budgeting and organizing considers the issues and concerns raised by the employees. Thus, an HR ensures that there is continuous involvement of stakeholders in the decision making process (Evans, 1990). Partnership: A hospital must ensure that there is proper planning, organizing and optimum utilization of the resources. Partnership is a way to hold the stakeholders and direct them towards a mon goal and objective of the organization (Evans, 1990). Finance: Employees need motivation in order to increase their work productivity which can be ensured through timely incentives and a properly defined salary structure for an employee. The salary package of an employee must be defined in advance so that he is aware about his benefits which may include education, medical, allowances etc (Evans, 1990). Education: Employees look for their career advancement and growth in an organization. Education would motivate them and would also help to increase the work productivity of a hospital (Evans, 1990). Policy: An organization must have effective policies to ensure discipline in the system. An employee must abide by the rules and regulations of an organization so as to align with the goals and objectives of the hospital (Evans, 1990). Thus, a sustainable framework can be ensured through following approaches: A sustainable HRM model would involve four steps which are as follows: Purpose: The purpose is analyse the current situation which can be done through various methods such as taking feedback from the stakeholders, reviewing the records and documents etc. In the case study, CEO must identify the key stakeholders first and then analyse the plete situation through the inputs received from the stakeholders (Savage, Fottler & Khatri, 2010). The process can be carried out through a meeting with the key stakeholders, reviewing the existing HR documents which can be collected from HR consultant and payroll manager. This would help in identifying the root cause of the problem (Savage, Fottler & Khatri, 2010). Purpose: Once the inputs have been received from the previous step, this step would define the actions required to be taken. This would be carried out through prioritizing the actions which are necessary in the current scenario. The planning would involve cost calculation for the implementation of those actions and the consequences the actions would have on the hospital (Savage, Fottler & Khatri, 2010). Purpose: The most critical part of building HRM model is the execution of the planned layout and most of the organizations fail at the execution level. Thus, a leader must ensure that the roles and responsibilities are properly allocated to the respective departments and employees so as to ensure that an effective implementation is being carried out (Savage, Fottler & Khatri, 2010). Thus, the phase would involve planning the execution though funding, allocating the responsibilities and budget planning for the action plan. Purpose: It is very important to measure the success of plan that has been executed and evaluate the process of implementation. Monitoring and controlling helps to determine the milestone achieved and helps in future planning (Savage, Fottler & Khatri, 2010). The process involves analyzing the key stakeholders who would decide the factors for monitoring and evaluating the execution. The roles and responsibilities of the employees must be clearly defined (Savage, Fottler & Khatri, 2010). Developing a sustainable business model for any organization is a challenging task and requires the contribution of all the stakeholders of an organization. But, once the framework is being developed, it would have great results in terms of employee mitment and improve the service quality of the hospital. Effective munication: munication helps in constant flow of information in an organization. An effective munication is required in an organization to keep the employees updated regarding their roles and responsibilities. The HR manager would ensure an effective munication in the organization (Zelles, 2012). Performance Management: Performance management must be evaluated on a regular basis in an organization. Effective HR policies would help to evaluate the performance of an employee (Niles, 2012). Employment Relations: An organization must ensure that the employees are satisfied with their job role to maintain employment relations. An HR manager acts as an intermediate between the organization and the employee to build trust and loyalty among the employees which helps to increase the work productivity (Zelles, 2012). Thus, a sustainable HRM Model is crucial for an organization to ensure employee mitment and quality services. The r mendations for the CEO of the hospital are as follows: The report has analyzed the case study and the measures required to be taken in order to devise a solution for the same. The discussion has involved the steps that CEO needs to consider to build a sustainable HRM Model for his hospital to improve the quality of the services. Most importantly, a sustainable model requires a great leader, HR management systems, effective HR policies and involvement of key stakeholders in the decision making process. Gardner, M & Palmer, G. (1997). Employment Relations:  Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management in Australia. Melbourne: Macmillan Education AU. Dressler, S. (2004). Strategy, Organization and Performance Management:  From Basics to Best Practices. Sydney: Universal-Publishers. Colbert, B.A. &Kurucz E.C. (2007).Three Conceptions of Triple Bottom Line Business Sustainability and the Role for HRM.Pro-Quest, 30(1), 21-29. Brinkerhoff, D.W. & Goldsmith, A.A. (March 1992). Promoting the sustainability of development institutions: A framework for strategy.World Development, 20(3), 369-383. Hahn, T., Pinkse, J., Preuss, L. (March 2015). Tensions in Corporate Sustainability: Towards an Integrative Framework. Journal of Business Ethics. 127(2), 297-316. Savage, G.T., Fottler, M.D. and Khatri, N. (27 July 2010). Strategic Human Resource Management in Health Care. UK: Emerald Group Publishing. Fried, B., Fottler, M.D. and Johnson, J.A. (2005).Human Resources in Healthcare:  Managing for Success. US: Health Administration Press. Evans, D.W. (1990). People, munication and Organisations. London: Pitman. Anthony, R.J. (2009). Organizations, People & Effective munication:  Most Good and Bad Consequences e Down to People and munication. US: UNIV READERS Holbeche, L & Matthews, G. (2012). Engaged:  Unleashing Your Organization's Potential Through Employee Engagement. US: Wiley. Zelles, R. (2012). Methodologies to measure and define Employee Engagement. Germany: GRIN Verlag. Bridger, E. (2014). Employee Engagement. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Macev, W.H., Schneider, B., Barbera, K.M., & Young, S.A. (2011). Employee Engagement:  Tools for Analysis, Practice, and petitive Advantage. London: John Wiley & Sons. Flynn, W.J., Mathis, R.L., Jackson, J.H., & Valentine,S.R. (2015). Healthcare Human Resource Management. US: Cengage Learning. Wolper, L.F. (2004). Health Care Administration:  Planning, Implementing, and Managing Organized Delivery Systems. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Nick, G., Reinhold, G., & Valerie, I. (2005). Managing Health Services. UK: McGraw-Hill Education. Niles, N.J. (2012). Basic Concepts of Health Care Human Resource Management. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Energy consumption and the US Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Energy consumption and the US Economy - Essay Example On the other hand, the support from environmental organizations and public figures has initiated programs of adaptation to changes in infrastructural needs and emissions reduction, which has been efficient so far in handling global warming in America. The public is informed about these policies through media campaigns and social forums where individuals are allowed to air their personal views towards pollution and global warming. QUESTION TWO The energy efficiency and the economy of vehicles fuel produce too many environmental emissions that interfere with the atmosphere. Improvements of these factors, act as a major step to reduction of global warming on earth but with continued use of personal vehicles in America this will lead to increased pollution as a result of emission. Emissions from motor vehicles exhaust form the major component of smog which results in invisibility (Spencer 2008). In addition, motor vehicle emit carbon dioxides to the atmosphere, this is an anthropogenic c ontribution to the development of carbon dioxide accumulation in the environment which is considered by scientist to have major impact on climate change. It is estimated motor vehicles contributes about 22% of the United States artificial carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere with passengers cars contributing about 11% of the 22 % emissions. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates of average passenger car emissions in the United States Component Emission Rate Annual pollution emitted Hydrocarbons 3.0 Â  grams/mile 77.4 pounds Carbon Monoxide 21.9Â  grams/mile 578 pounds NOx 1.4Â  grams/mile 38.5 pounds Carbon Dioxide - Green house gas 0.938 pounds per mile (260Â  g/km) 11,460... The energy efficiency and the economy of vehicles fuel produce too many environmental emissions that interfere with the atmosphere. Improvements of these factors, act as a major step to reduction of global warming on earth but with continued use of personal vehicles in America this will lead to increased pollution as a result of emission. Emissions from motor vehicles exhaust form the major component of smog which results in invisibility (Spencer 2008). In addition, motor vehicle emit carbon dioxides to the atmosphere, this is an anthropogenic contribution to the development of carbon dioxide accumulation in the environment which is considered by scientist to have major impact on climate change. It is estimated motor vehicles contributes about 22% of the United States artificial carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere with passengers cars contributing about 11% of the 22 % emissions.Although global warming will continue indefinitely, what we do makes a tremendous difference about tomorrow. GHG emissions from motor vehicles should be reduced through technological upgrading. According to two researchers Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow, an approach called stabilization wedges, were convenient for this objectives (Houghton et al 2004). The wedges include ways that carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced and held at current levels for the next fifty years. With Reductions of motor vehicle emissions will be a significant step in environmental pollution control and global warming.

Do all our actions aim at happiness Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Do all our actions aim at happiness - Thesis Example Even though people long for happiness, it is something that is totally out of their own making with luck adding to their cause. Since happiness does not involve the usage of money, it is something that is derived from within. The inherent feeling of being happy is something that is cherished by people living in different regions of the world. Happiness is usually surrounded with a smile on the face of the person who actually feels that sense of contentment within his fore. This smile depicts how well he is able to translate his happiness into actions that the world around him can see and decipher for their own selves. Moral judgments have long stated that doing good for the society and the people would indeed bring happiness and satisfaction to the individuals who are committed to such a cause. This has been proven with time and much research has been undertaken on these fronts. What has come to the reckoning is the fact that the actions speak up loudly when the talk goes out loud regarding the happiness realm and it is for this reason that happiness is always attached with doing something worthy enough to get the nod of the people at large. But then again, there are some gestures and actions which do not need the approval of the people. They are committed so that success could be attained within the relevant ranks, and hence the reason that happiness is derived from such quarters. What is most fundamental here is an understanding that happiness will seek newer grounds and look to maintain its mind level which was not the case when happiness was not attained by this individual under consideration (Meese, 2007). Happiness is therefore a vital tool to get one started, and thus finds out where he is going wrong and what kind of success would be attained if the actions are corrected in the most realistic sense possible. The need is to comprehend how an individual will mend

Systems Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Systems Project Management - Essay Example Moreover, the mode of data referencing seemed to be difficult and time consuming. Therefore, adoption and implementation of information systems in hospitals will automatically increase the efficiency and effectiveness of data interaction thereby increasing the quality of services offered in the hospital set up. Hospital information systems are massive, integrated system aimed at supporting hospitals’ comprehensive information requirements that include patient, ancillary, and financial management. It should be noted that hospitals have become extremely complex. Moreover, they have large units and departments that need to be administered from a central unit of management as a mean of coordinating care to patients (Velde, 1992; Pg. 342). Therefore, manual data management will be quite cumbersome especially due to the large departments and the ever growing number of patients in these institutions. Thus, the only sure way to help hospitals to become reliable and efficient is to adv ise them to adopt hospital information systems in their patients and data management. The use of information systems will help the hospital to diagnose, manage, and educate relevant stakeholders towards improving their services and practices (Winter and Haux, 2011, Pg. 21). Implementation of information systems in hospitals is inevitable since numerous dominating factors including people, organization, and technology are currently inseparable. Hospitals have currently integrated a series of functions and activities including: Consultation, Disease diagnosis, Providing treatment and treatment facilities, Patients and children immunization, Admission facilities including beds, nursing, and medicine among others. Hospitals also conduct other operational services that include: Recording patients’ information General billing Recording diagnostic information per patient Keeping immunization records per patient or per child Keeping records for various diseases and medicines for cura ble diseases All these activities and services are often done manually, for hospitals that have not adopted the use of information systems. The activity involved in recording such data is hectic in that each patient’s information is often recorded manually and some of the patient’s personal information includes name, age, and gender (Dudeck, 1997; Pg. 261). These information or data are usually stored afresh whenever the patient visits the hospital. Furthermore, bills that are generated from other units and hospital departments are recorded separately and provided to customer of separate bill sheets. At the end of it all, the same bills will be summed up differently and this will be a waste of time and writing resources. All these data often occupy space; therefore, they are usually destroyed after sometimes to provide space for other day data set. The quantity of data or file piles usually hinders doctors from referring to such files as the need may demand. The volume of the files will obviously discourage the doctors; thus, they will resort to gauze work and such actions may be injurious to the patients involved (Schmitz, 1979; Pg. 92). Therefore, the aim of this project is to eliminate of physical data collection, storage, and reference to improve management of both the patients and hospital management. Part one: Scope The scope of this project is to develop and install software that will automate management in

Why Do Firms Become Multinational Enterprises Essay

Why Do Firms Become Multinational Enterprises - Essay Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that the characteristic of MNE is that the company links together its affiliates with a common strategic vision and draws on a common pool of assets, information, human resources, trademarks, and patents. Before making a decision to establish a subsidiary abroad the firm should have the proper reasoning for this strategic decision. There are many different motivating factors or reasons for why firms become multinational enterprises. While some firms might pursue only one reason as priority based on its strategic direction, other firms might be influenced by a multitude of reasons. These reasons are classified into four broad categories. Each of these categories has a subset of reasons and factors, which also should be discussed in greater detail. Below is provided a more detailed overview of these groupings. Very often firms need resources, which are not available or accessible in their home countries. In order to solve t his problem, MNEs are often pursuing a strategy of investing abroad and thus to acquire or gain access to the resources that are either more costly in the home country than in foreign country or are not accessible/available at home country. In order to solve this problem, MNEs are often pursuing a strategy of investing abroad and thus to acquire or gain access to the resources that are either more costly in the home country than in foreign country or are not accessible/available at home country.

The Practical Impacts of the Failure of Rewards Essay

The Practical Impacts of the Failure of Rewards - Essay Example In Blum’s article, the author indicates that rewards may be used as a source of punishment especially when the parents threaten their children of not rewarding them after failure to do a task (2). Rewards may also damage relationships if there is competition towards achieving a prize especially in the office setting, rewards may ignore my ignore the most appropriate reasons, may discourage risk-taking since the end result is certain and may also affect one’s intrinsic motivation since the challenge is faced just for the sake of it (Blum 2-3). With these in mind, the author advocates for collaboration as a way of inspiring motivation, offering meaningful content such as captivating tasks and lastly giving individuals a chance to choose what they want (Blum 3). Alfie Kohn’s article has a major correlation with Public School Kindergarten of 5- 6-year-olds. In the article, the author explains how rewards are a source of good values and even achievement among the learners (Kohn 1). The author also explains how the failure to reward may lead to demotivated learners or even create a classroom of learners that only learn when conditioned towards studying hard simply to get a reward (Kohn 1). From these points, the author is making a good case for the article since he gives both the bad and the positive impacts of rewards on learners. The author bases his arguments on the thoughts of other writers and scholars as referenced in his work. In relation to Public School Kindergarten of 5- 6-year-olds, the article  may be used to explain how teachers use reward to strengthen the behavior of children since a stop of the rewards has been indicated to retrogress the progress of the learners.

Taxation in Theory and Practice Assignment Essay

Taxation in Theory and Practice Assignment - Essay Example In addition to that, the Spinney state is in dire need of increasing its revenues. The capital saved by the wealthy individuals can be used to finance the state investment projects (Palil, 2009, p.60). Thus, individuals should be taxed annually depending on their income (GBP) as illustrated in the table below. Income(GBP) % 1-2,440 10 1-37,400 20 37,401-150,000 40 Over 150,000 50 Data source: UK Tax rates 2010-2011(http://www.worldwide-tax.com/uk/uk_taxes_rates.asp) The rate of 10% responds to the income savings of up to 2,440, whilst income dividends below 37,400GBP tax rate is 10%, whereas, income dividend of GBP 37,400-150,000 is taxed at a rate of 32.5%. Finally, those exceeding 150,000GBP should be taxed at a rate of 42.5%. In terms of social security, individuals should be deducted based on their salary. For instance, employers should be deducted a tax rate of 12.8% on salaries above 5,715 GBP, employees at a rate of 11% on salaries of GBP between 5,715-43,875 and an additional of 1% for salaries above GBP of 43,875. On the other hand, self employed should pay a tax rate of 8% for income of 5,715-43,875GBP with an additional of 1% on incomes above GBP 43,875. Corporate tax should be at a rate of 28%. For UK based resident companies, the tax rate should be 21% only if their annual profits are below 300.000GBP. Individual capital gains should be deducted at a tax rate of 18%. The mayor of spinney state should ensure transparency so that no conflict might arise when implementing the tax system. Tax Burden Distribution Regressive tax system is majorly used by numerous states. This implies that the state average rate of tax declines with income. This type of tax system moves taxes burden disproportionately to deprived individuals. In that case, it tends to limit the taxpaying burden on individuals with greater capabilities of paying. This, therefore, is an unjust agenda to the poor individuals with low income levels. Despite their low income levels, they are s upposed to pay the same amount of tax in relation to highly paid individuals. It works effectively in reference to taxes that are fixed regardless of an individual income level. For better illustrations, here is an example to drive the point home. Cigarettes taxation by state and federal is a perfect example of a regressive system. Smokers categorized as low-income pay taxation rates that are higher compared to their counterparts. Despites its limitations, it has its own advantages. The regressive system helps in freeing more investment finances from individual with high incomes. This is because their income greater portion is always saved. Alternatively, a state can employ progressive system of taxation. In this system, the percentage tax paid by an individual increases with income. Thus, the more you earn, the more you pay relieving burden from deprived individuals. For instance, an individual earning 120,000 pounds will pay a tax rate of 12,000 pounds (10% tax rate), whilst one w ith 20,000 will pay a tax of 1,600pounds (8% tax rate). Unlike progressive taxation, regressive taxation operates in a way that tax reduces with income increase. Thus, in progressive tax system, tax paid proportion, increases as income rises. There is no tax that can be proportional as individuals cannot pay the same level and amount of tax. United Kingdom with Different tax rate In the

Super Bowl Ads Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Super Bowl Ads - Assignment Example The commercial of this mega event is a trend setter in the industry due to high cost and quality. The Operah was marketing a jeep. At beginning the product was not clear, it revealed surprises at the end in emotional background. Patriotic emotions were triggered with the help of a very persuasive language. The theme itself was strong enough that it needs not any musical background. Without any music the theme sounds so real and natural. Female narrator suits the theme but the gender change might reduce the impact of the commercial The commercial does not leave a quick impact on a viewer and the Google Trends (Shaughnessy, 2013) shows that there it did not leave any significant impact on the Samsung search uptick. The theme of the commercial is good but it failed to win the viewership of a large segment of the society which may hint the future business, trends and gains. Shaughnessy Haydn (2013). Did Samsungs Superbowl Ad Make A Difference In Its Battle With Apple? . Retrieved from

Morning Java Descriptive Essay Essay Example for Free

Morning Java Descriptive Essay Essay Java Startled by my alarm, I stretch my arm out from under the covers and search frantically in the dark to put an end to the obnoxious sound. I feel around for my lamp and switch it on, keeping my position until my eyes adjust to the light. Before I ever get out of bed, I’m already overwhelmed thinking of my many tasks for the day. When motivation is scarce, there is only one thought that brings me out of my cozy, warm bed and to my feet. Waiting to be made is a fresh, boosting cup of morning coffee. Confronting the seemingly arctic air, I slide my feet into fuzzy, pink slippers and head for the kitchen. I make a quick stop at the thermostat, crank up the heat, then b-line it to the stainless steel coffee pot that used to belong to my Grandmother. Sitting next to the pot is a bright red Folgers can. Holding it up close to my face, I crack open the lid and am instantly delighted with the robust scent of ground coffee beans. Possibly being the only â€Å"me time† of the entire day, the quietness of the early morning combined with the delicious aroma of coffee brewing is greatly treasured. Reaching into the cabinet containing the coffee mugs, I instinctively push through them until my favorite one is spotted. Dulled out yellow with a small chip on the handle, it displays markings from years of the dishwasher’s wear and tear. I pour the steamy drink into the old cup and sip cautiously. No sugar or cream diluting the flavor, I savor the dark coffee and smile with approval. Trusty mug in hand, I sit down to catch a quick glimpse of the morning news. Its warmth cushions the chill I get from the blizzard forecast flashing across the screen. Cold, weary, and fatigued, I sip as fast as I can, urging the rich, caffeinated liquid to hit me as soon as possible. I hear my two year old, sick with the flu, stirring around in his crib. I know it won’t be long from now until he is protesting and ultimately waking my other children. With medicine to be given, breakfast to be made, and children to be dressed, it’s a mystery how I will make it out of the house with my shoes on. But I continue sipping my powerful beverage and before I know it my tiredness fades. Buzzing around the house, I take on the morning tasks with a renewed sense of warmth and liveliness. Knowing without a doubt, this java comes from my ritualistic morning coffee session.

Art history formal analysis Renoir luncheon of the boating party Essay Example for Free

Art history formal analysis Renoir luncheon of the boating party Essay The subject matter of the painting consists of a group of people assembled on an outside deck that has a wooden railing and a red and white striped canopy. The deck is surrounded by marsh grass and some trees with a river visible beyond them. Upon the river a few boats can be seen, one of them a sailboat. In the immediate foreground there’s a square table with a white tablecloth on which rests several empty wine glasses with apparent red wine residue. A few plates are also visible with fluted glasses upon them, discarded morsels of food and silverware can also be seen. A centerpiece dish of fruit composed of Grapes and pears is flanked by several bottles of  red wine. A few discarded white cloth napkins have been casually cast among the dishes. Seated to the left of center at the table in the foreground is a young woman wearing straw hat with a red flowered hat band. She wears a fine black dress with white lace edging at the neck and cuffs, a dark red scarf draped over neck and down the front of the dress. She wears a black choker around her neck. She’s holding a small brown furred dog close to her face from under its forelegs the dog sits upright upon the table facing her. Behind her to the left standing and leaning with his backside against the wooden railing of the deck, his right arm gripping the railing stands a large man, his face in profile as he looks to the right and slightly back. He wears a dome shaped straw hat with the brim curved upwards its edge trimmed in blue. He has close cropped reddish brown hair and has a full beard and mustache of the same color. He wears a white tank top shirt and white pants. To his right along the railing several feet behind the foreground table stands a woman bent forward, her left arm and right elbow resting upon the railing as she faces the table. She wears a straw hat with a blue hat band the brim curved down. Her dresses is off white and trimmed in red that the neck and cuffs. Facing her with his back to the table sits a man wearing a brown suit and a brown and bowler hat. Behind the woman at the railing at the far left corner of the deck facing forward stands a man wearing a brown jacket with a light blue shirt wearing a cap. Facing him standing with his back to the viewer facing left is a man wearing a black overcoat and a black top hat with a beard. In the right foreground seated facing the table on a wooden chair that is turned backward is a man who looks left toward the railing of the deck, his face in profile. He faces the woman seated opposite him who holds the dog. He is wearing a straw hat with a flat top and black hatband its brim turned up at the back. He has brown hair and a light brown short mustache. He wears a white tank top shirt and dark colored pants. His arms rest forward on the reversed chair back; in his right hand he holds a cigarette. To his right seated at the table is a woman wearing a white brimless hat with a few blue stripes. Her dress is blue with white ruffles trimmed in red at the neck and white cuffs. Her hair is brown a small round earring can be seen hanging from her right ear as she looks up and to the  right. Standing behind her over her left shoulder is a man wearing a cream colored jacket with wispy blue stripes. He wears a white shirt and a black cravat. His hair falls over his forehead and is reddish brown. He has a small mustache and a goatee beard. He is leaning over the woman’s shoulder with his hand resting on the back of her chair, looking down at her. Behind him in the background over his left shoulder is a woman standing facing left, with black gloved hands raised to the sides of her face. She wears an ornate black hat with feathers and a black dress. Standing next to her with his arm around her is a man with a straw hat with a red hat band, wearing a red and white striped shirt. He faces forward looking at her intently. To his right stands another man facing the woman he has his arm around. This man has a full beard and wears a black hat. Behind him seated at the back table is a woman in a flowered straw hat who is drinking from a glass, she looks directly out of the picture plane past the table in the foreground at the viewer. A man seated to her left is barely visible in profile and past the shoulder of the man in the cream colored jacket. The entire scene is brightly lit with ambient light from the open sides of the porch the majority of which were enters from the front left of the picture plane. The white tablecloth on the table in the foreground glows with reflected light and the glasses and bottles on the table twinkle in the light. Part IV – Examination of the Art Objects Medium/Technique/Process Used: The medium used is this painting by Renoir is oil on canvas. The work was painted en plein air (outside) utilizing the alla prima (wet on wet) technique and also the classical layering technique of oil painting employed by the old masters. In these processes the first step would require the preparation of a surface on which to apply the oil paint. A linen canvas would be stretched around a wooden frame and tacked into place. The surface of the canvas would then be protected from the acidic qualities of the oil paint by applying layers of rabbit skin glue and chalk known as a ground. Next a primer of white lead paint or glue mixed with chalk â€Å"gesso† is added to provide a base layer for the painting. A rough outline of the scene would then be sketched onto the canvas as a guide for painting. Next the creation of a palette from which to paint from would require selecting the proper pigments. (Eastlake pg.234) For the portions of this work that were painted en plein air in the alla prima technique in the Impressionist style such as the tableware in the foreground Renoir would have used portable tubes of pigmented paint. Other portions that were executed in his studio employed classical oil painting techniques of layering colors and then glazing which creates a lustrous glow and provides the three dimensional quality of modeling. This technique is evident in the modeling of the forearm and the hand holding the cigarette of the man seated at the table in the right foreground. Colors would then be applied to their proper regions according to the sketch starting with the darkest and ending with the lightest, a mosaic upon which the details and highlights could then be painted. Finally upon completion the painting would be sealed with a varnish to protect its surface. (Sanders pg.11) Part V Examination of the Art Objects Composition (its Form Organization): 1. Identify and describe a specific incidence of composition from the list found below: A. Line: Renoir uses a sharp clean line to define the arm of the man seated at the table in the right foreground. The precise outline of the arm adds to the contrast of color between the arm and the man’s white shirt, the white tablecloth, and chair adding perceived depth to the shape of the arm. In contrast Renoir’s use of line in creating the marsh grasses outside the balcony is loose and diffused, giving the grass a perceived movement and depth. B. Shape: The semi circular shape of the awnings scalloped edge is distorted into curving points giving the illusion that the awning is swaying in the breeze adding a sense of movement to the air that is picked up by the grasses beyond it. C. Space: The open space left of center, framed by the two men in white tank tops allows for an unobstructed view of the landscape beyond providing perspective and contrasts the densely populated right side of the picture adding to the intimacy of the assembled group. This open space also directs the viewer gaze to the centerpiece of the table which is the symbolic heart of this painting. D. Color: Applications red are spread about the painting accenting the amorous qualities of the subjects depicted. Most evident in the women in varying profusion and intensity, the color red highlights the garments at the cuffs and necks, in the flowers they wear on their hats, and on their lips. Although more subtle, accents of red are present on the men as blushes to their face or on their lips. The most overtly amorous male in the right to the back wears a shirt and hat both striped with red. The most overtly sexual female seated, at the table in the left foreground has red tracing her neck and an explosion of red in the flower on her hat. Finally the red striped awning with its tong like flaps covers the entire flirtatious scene. E. Texture: Renoir employs variations in color, shadowing, and white highlights to render the textural appearance of the straw hat worn by the man seated at the table in the right foreground. F. Pattern: The diffused lines of blue/green create a layered pattern in the marsh grasses outside the porch rendering the effect of overlapping leaves with combined density. G. Time and Motion: The motion in this painting is imparted by the marsh grasses and awning gently swaying in the breeze. The aspect of time slowly passing is expressed through the sailboats gliding along the river and in the leisurely poses of the subjects along the railing. 2. At the end of this set of paragraphs identify any art elements you think is not found or used in the art objects composition.

Analysis of Emergency Healthcare in Nigeria

Analysis of Emergency Healthcare in Nigeria 1.1 Background of Study USAID reported in 2009 that in Nigeria out surveyed 107 healthcare centre, 20% health care givers washed their hand before and after giving injection, 63% receive vaccination, 43% have no training or information on how to dispose waste, 32% use an off-site disposal method, 20% burn waste of theirs in the open hole which burn freely to the air, this shows that we have a long way to go in achieving a stable and good health care environment to start with and making sure our emergency are safe and secured for the patients to come. Also from the report release by the Economic Global Forum, life expectancy rate of the people in Nigeria is on the average as 47% for the female, 46% for the male, this gives an insight to the level of their survival at the emergency unit. In order to improve the chances of survival, there’s need for improvement on the performance level of the emergency for quality of life for both adult and children; the emergency unit of the hospitals is responsible to provide initial urgent treatments for patients with severe form of illness and injuries. Emergency unit was first introduced in the 20th century in response to the need to manage critical illness and acute health emergency situations, it has been observed in Nigeria that most patients about 54 percent end up at the hospital emergency as a last resort after seeking help elsewhere, like from healthcare traditional givers, praying houses, dealers in drugs and so on, due to self acclaimed knowledge, belief and lacking of enlighten and ignorance and sometimes because they cannot afford the bill of the modern healthcare centre as they belief their other options are cheaper. However some of the healthcare centre has their own challenges like inadequate facility and man agement staff which falls the expectation of the patients, because the expectation of an emergency unit is to increase survival chances for accident victims or patients that need urgent attention with acute critical situations, and through the emergency unit, one can have an insight of the equipments, organization and level of man human resources of the healthcare institution, as some emergency department have poor electricity supply nor do they have a standby power supply which has decrease the survival chances of the patients. In Nigeria most of the emergency situations are road accidents usually motor cycle bikes and automobiles cars, heart attack also known as cardiovascular attack, asthmatic challenge, domestically accidents, riot violence and occupational hazards and others in which from this research we will find out seasonal trends and projection to provide the hospital management with a good information and how to improve on their future budget and funding. Observing that road traffic accidents are on the increase and the major cases at the hospital emergency as seen that in Nigeria hospital emergency unit, one of three persons dies and these have claimed more lives since the civil war ( from Time Series Analysis of Emergency Unit ) The emergency management team of the emergency unit exists so as to address issues concerning the healthcare management of the unit which over sees the maintenance and development of the emergency procedures, coordination of staff, ensuring they are qualified and have professional knowledge of the field, adequate supply and maintenance of new age equipments and facilities, proper human resources training and on time attention to patients on arrival at the hospital emergency. It has been observed that time pressure continually increase at the emergency, therefore effectiveness, efficiency and speed have become very important and highly demanded at the emergency unit of the hospitals to eliminate complains of long wait by patients and avoid them leaving before being attended to making them unsatisfied and risk of being expose to more dangers, volume of patients have been lost to about 10 percent because threshold for left before exam (LBE) of 1 percent shows that for every nine patients who LBE due to long wait lines or long time wait and left for another hospitals. Patients dissatisfaction is not all that suffers here but the risk of their survival at critical emergency situations and can be expressed through angry family members over waiting for long, in the case of accidents, patients are not being attended to immediately unless there is a police report about the situation, these situation have result to some patient’s death and eliminated their chances of survival. Fifty percent of the issue of efficiency here is system issue while the other fifty percent is management issues, the five sub-unit of the emergency unit include: Staffing of qualified doctors and nurses Clerical unit staff of cleaners and attendants X-ray and lab unit Chart flow system Patients admission unit The efficiency and speed from this units and there turnaround time determines the performance rating to be high, moderate or low, hence a need to put in place strategies for doing thing better and faster (Clinical practice management 2004) Another task is to include emergency medicine physician who is someone who intervenes to resuscitate and stabilize acute patients that need urgent attention, this person is physician who practice basically at the emergency unit trained to take care of adult and children patients with serious injuries or illness that requires an immediate attention medically, although he/she does not provide a long term care to continual care he/she makes sure emergency patients are stable and at a safe state before referring them to other units of the hospital and sometimes the intensive-care unit. Also the emergency medicine aside general medicine attention include surgery which include surgical sub-specialties, they see a lot of patients, giving them immediate attention and making sure they get continuous medical attention after them at the hospital or discharging them from the hospital if they do not need any further medical observations, then the professional emergency medicine physician, who is believed to have broad knowledge in very important fields like, resuscitation of trauma, cardiac arrest, life support, procedure for surgical situations and managing advance airway problems, amidst other skills needed is the ability to stabilize and resuscitate a patient from a critical situation, manage a difficult anesthesia i.e. difficult airways, attending to dislocated joint and fractured bones, treating a heart attack, ability to stop a nose bleed, vagina bleeding from pregnant patients, conduct, read and interpret x-rays from the radiology (World Health Organization). It is also important to improve on pain management at the emergency because this is one common thing present at the emergency yet it might be difficult to identify pain in some patients and unfortunately there is no test that can prove or disprove a patient’s pain level, more than 60 percent of patients at the emergency have pains symptoms, due to the fact that there is no vivid signs, but can easily be read from the expression of the face, body reactions or language and instinct and guts understanding of the healthcare giver can be useful to validate a patient’s rate of pain, many studies have shown that there is inadequacy to which pain is treated, in most cases it can only be suppress with analgesic after which survey feedback shows about 43 percent of the patients were still in severe or moderate pain and 50 percent of patients show that their post-operative management of pain has proven to be inadequate unfortunately one of the barriers to effective pain management is proper training, even in the medical schools few hours only are dedicating to the study of analgesia while the healthcare givers are expected to pick up these knowledge at the clinical locations during rotations. With the new pain management standards set with some guidelines by the American Pain Society (APS), World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), these have been applied to emergency medicine where healthcare practitioners are asked to ask screening questions to assist in easily identification of patients in pain, these should be assessed and documented, staff with relevant link to the emergency unit should be adequately trained and importantly the patience be involved in decision making of their pain managing situation not forgetting to put in place policies and procedures for effective pain management at the emergency unit (practical pain management) 1.2 Problem Discussion The major challenge of the emergency unit is inadequate implementation of the management emergency system, not adequately or fully manned, making it to lack in complete resources, under qualified or unqualified healthcare staff with improper training and development of their skills. It has been observed that most emergency unit of the hospitals in Nigeria do not have an emergency medicine physician so is professional in the field of emergency, someone that is always readily available to give urgent attention to an acute critical situation, resuscitating the emergency patients and bring them to a point of stability, the presence of an emergency medicine physician eliminate any time wastage in getting the hospital doctors or nurses to attend to the emergency patients. Secondly, just like a need to include an emergency medicine physician, a police protocol officer should be included in the management emergency team (MET) system, because in Nigeria, when there is an accident especially a traffic road accident, the victims are rushed to the hospital emergency unit by witnesses and just kind hearted people and in most cases they are not allowed to sign a consent form to secure the urgent commencement of treatment, and sometimes due to delay to reach out to the victims, a police officer is required to give a police report to guarantee the commencement of treatment, most times the patients die in the process of delay in signing of the consent form for their treatment as most of them are unconscious in the situation, therefore including a police protocol officer means putting a police officer their standby to meet this need and eliminating any time wastage, hence increasing the survival rate of accident victims in the emergency unit. Thirdly inadequate facilities and equipment at the emergency department, most of the equipments are either outdated or faulty and most times absence of the needed equipments. It is very important for an hospital emergency to be well equip with recent high technology machines to meet up with the new age change and demand, so that time wasting can be eliminated and proper healthcare attention given to increase the survival level of the patients, presence of oxygen at all times cannot be over emphasize, but most hospitals in Nigeria do not have this on standby and has become a major challenge and have cause the lost of lives. Lastly, the level of power supply is a challenge and big issue in my country Nigeria, the absence of adequate and uninterrupted power supply to the hospitals has been a big challenge, some patients have lost their lives due to this problem, either in the middle of medical attention the light goes off or there is no light at all to start a treatment, especially those that need presence of light before treatment commencement, the only alternative in this situation is to get a standby generator that can also supply electricity but this is not fully guarantee because it might just break down in the middle of an operation, and have caused the hospital management to increase the medical bills so that they can maintain the extra expense, this can leave the patients with inability to make up for the bill and increase the level of LBE (leave before exam) patients. 1.3 Research Purpose From the above discussed problem, there is need to urgently address the problems associated in Plateau state hospital, as they are faced with all this challenges, and eliminating this challenges means improving a high performing emergency for the hospital emergency management team, increasing the survival rate and decreasing the mortality rate for patients brought to the emergency. The essence of this research to help improve health care performances at the hospital emergencies, in terms of quality healthcare service rendering, adequate and proper emergency equipments, with adequate and well trained health care givers (man power), protocol observations, security presence and general presence of emergency team and it’s necessity, which summarizes the improvement for the MET (Medical Emergency Team) systems of the hospitals, therefore reducing the mortality rates which has been observed to be on a high rate at the emergencies and increasing the survival level of emergency victim s. Most times when accident victims are rushed to the hospital, the medical personnel cannot attend to these patients immediately due to absence of protocol officers to give in their consent or due to the immediate absence of the medical personnel at the emergency because they are attending to some patients within the same hospital, amidst attending to other challenges. The delays to give prompt attention in the process have caused the death rate at the emergency to increase. To attain this, some important questions need to be asked and clarified: What is healthcare givers qualification in Nigeria focusing on the Plateau State hospital? What knowledge, attitude and skills do the healthcare givers have towards emergency situations of the hospital Do the hospital have a first aid box Are the emergency management team staff trained on how to use the first aid box What is the status of the equipments available at the emergency 1.4 Objectives of the Study To have the enlightenment knowledge of the situation currently for the healthcare emergency unit of the plateau state hospital To efficiently know those qualified to be healthcare personnel and their specializations. To understand what and who makes up for the emergency management team and how to improve on the system To identify the modes of practices and how the patients are attended to at the Plateau state hospital emergency. To add knowledge to the operations of the emergency unit of the hospital 1.4 Research Hypotheses The patients are the most vulnerable in the situation of emergency; therefore it is very important to access the knowledge, practice, behaviors and attitudes of the healthcare givers towards making the emergency high performing, for effectiveness and efficiencies of the outcome. Formulating the hypothesis includes: Improving the MET system by including an emergency medicine physician and a police protocol officer, this will strengthen the MET and eliminate a lot of time wastage Training and development of the MET members so that they can improve on there skills Improving on the right attitude for the job for the personnel Putting in the right ethical practices for the emergency unit Improving the equipment of the emergency unit Proper training on how to use this equipments, especially the on new high technology machines Basic first aid training on use of the first aid box at the emergency unit Questionnaires will be distributed to get a surveyed feedback from the patients, their relatives and the healthcare givers (Nurses, doctors and attendant) 1.6 Delimitations My focus here is at the emergency unit of the hospital only; therefore other patients in the hospitals are my delimitations as I will not investigate the performance level nor measures or controls of any other patient survival at the hospital except those at the emergency. 1.7 Outline of Study This research study is divided into five chapters, where chapter one is the general introduction where all the content are discussed, then chapter two which involves the general review of related literature, generally know as literature review, base on the works and research other authors have done in their books, journals and articles on improving the MET system for a high performing emergency unit, chapter three provides an in-depth methodology on the study, by extracting the feedback gotten through the questionnaires shared and reviewed, chapter four where the result gotten from the previous chapter will be analyzed and result be presented from the data followed by discussing the findings. The last chapter is five, showing conclusion base on the findings from the research, through the study, research and questionnaires for further recommendations. 1.8 Operational Definition of Terms Emergency Department: is a department of the hospital responsible for providing urgent medical treatment and specializing in acute care for patients arriving to the hospital due to injuries, attacks, accidents or any casualty requiring an urgent attention Management Emergency Team (MET) System: they are made up of a group of hospital personnel who are responsible to give acute care to patients arriving at the hospital in a capacity of a emergency manager, doctor, nurses, emergency medicine physician, attendants and sub-staff like the cleaners and waste management team. Healthcare Personnel: is someone who has been trained to give healthcare services to the patients, who need them, they can involve professionals Sub-staff: are the supporting staff to the emergency unit, they include the cleaners and waste management team.

Haunted Elevators at the University of Maryland :: Urban Legend Myths

Haunted Elevators at the University of Maryland A good urban legend is like a play: so well written and delivered the audience cannot tell if the performers are acting. The legend is carefully crafted to resonate with the audiences’ â€Å"hopes, fears, and anxieties† and the delivery works to suspend their disbelief. One urban legend epitomizes these characteristics. This urban legend was told by an eighteen-year-old African American college student at the University of Maryland. The urban legend dealt with Denton Hall, where he currently lives. The storyteller claimed that one of the dormitory’s early residents was a girl who, due to some kind of calcium deficiency, had an unusually weak bone structure. The storyteller could not recall her name, but indicated that it had just slipped his mind and was on the tip of his tongue. One day, she was going to the dining hall with a friend of hers when she realized she had forgotten her I.D. card. She asked her friend to hold the elevator while she ran back to her room to get it. She was just reaching the elevator with her card when the elevator, having been held open for too long, began buzzing and the doors closed. The girl tried to jump onto the elevator at the last second but the doors closed on her and crushed her. According to the storyteller, some of her â€Å"brain fluid,† c omposed of neurotransmitters and other electrically conductive chemicals, sprayed into the elevators control panel and fried some of the circuitry. From that point on, the elevators in Denton have been on the fritz and break down whenever anyone holds them open for too long. The urban legend was delivered excellently. The storyteller had also selected a perfect time for his performance. He was speaking too a small group of other Maryland students who were waiting for the elevator in Denton. He had enough time to finish his story, because only one of the elevators was working. The storyteller presented the story as if he was simply relating the facts. He did not fill the story with dramatic pauses or extensive efforts to get an emotional response from the audience. If he thought his audience was going to find a part of the story disturbing or unbelievable he qualified it by saying â€Å"Now I thought this was really gross.

legalize :: essays research papers

Cannabis is one of the most widely used drugs throughout the world. The psychoactive constituent of cannabis, delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta 9-THC), produces a myriad of pharmacological effects in animals and humans. Marijuana has been in use for over 4,000 years as a therapeutic and as a recreational drug. It can have both stimulant and sedative properties. In usual intoxicating doses, it produces a sense of well-being, relaxation, a loss of temporal awareness, slowing of thought processes, impairment of short term memory, and a feeling of achieving special insights. At high dosed marijuana can induce panic, toxic delirium, and not often, psychosis. Marijuana is the term used to describe the leaves and flowering tops of the Cannabis sativa plant. Like other herbal medicines, the Cannabis plant plays host to a number of chemicals. The plant houses approximately 460 known compounds. Sixty of these are unique to the Cannabis plant and are called cannabinoids. The primary psychoactive cannabinoid is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) interacts with cannabinoid receptors to trigger dopamine relase from the mesolimbic reward system. Chemically the cannabinoids are classed as terpenoid (terpene-like). These compounds occur as essential oils within many plants and some are involved in vitamin, steroid and pigment formation. There are two known endogenous cannabinoid receptors named CB1 and CB2. CB1 receptors are found primarily in the brain. They are most prevalent in the hippocampus, cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. CB1 receptors in the hippocampus mediate effects on short-term memory. CB2 receptors are also found in the brain, but more so expressed by cells of the immune system, especially B cells. The CB receptor is a G protein mediated receptor that affects primarily calcium and potassium channel activation (Howlett et al, 1995). Both receptors are G protein linked, decrease adenyl cyclase activity, inhibit calcium N channels, and disinhibit potassium channels. Functional changes are most notable in neuronal excitability and neurotransmitter release. Both receptor types selectively bind THC, the active principle in marijuana, and anandamide, an endogenous cannabimimetic eicosanoid (Felder et al, 2000). As was just mentioned, there is also an endogenous cannabinoid system, the brain’s own marijuana, capable of activating these cannabinoid receptors functionally. These endocannabinoids are synthesized by neurons and inactivated by reuptake systems and enzymes in both neurons and glia. Initially, the receptors were considered orphaned receptors meaning that there were no endogenous ligands. Subsequent research turned up two endogenous cannabinoid ligands, anandamide and 2-arachidonylglycerol, that not only bind to the receptors but also mimic many of the biological actions of plant-derived cannabinoids.

Prejudice :: essays research papers

Prejudice By Prejudice people have been around forever. Prejudice goes on everywhere including here at Box Elder Middle School. It is sad people can’t have mutual respect for each other even though we are all different in our own ways. Prejudice can be caused because of various reasons. Religion, ethnic race and social status are examples of causes of prejudice. Sometimes prejudice is caused by how we are raised. Many times parents pass on prejudice beliefs to their children. A lot people raised in the southern part of the country are prejudice against blacks. In the early to mid 1960’s, prejudice was alive and well in the south. Blacks had their own bathrooms and were forced to ride in the back of city busses. It’s hard to believe that was doing on only 40 years ago. A lot of Middle Eastern countries are very prejudice against women. The Civil War was based on prejudice beliefs. The North wanted to keep slavery and the South wanted to abolish slavery. Many blacks were beat, raped and killed just because of the color of their skin. Schools in the 1950’s were segregated. Some students were forced to ride buses for many miles to prevent whites and blacks from attending the same school. Finally segregation was introduced. It caused a lot of problems, including some riots but eventually people learned to live together and I believe it ended up being a good thing for people and out country. Slavery was stopped shortly after the Civil War but it did not stop people from being prejudice. The only way to stop prejudice is to teach all children from a young age to respect all people. Sometimes parents are not the right people to teach their children because they are already set in their ways and will never change. Some people are prejudice because they just don’t know how to act any different or maybe they have never been exposed to different cultures or beliefs. Some people just think they are better than somebody else for no reason at all. Our only chance for a successful society is to get rid of prejudices. This is much easier said than done. Some religious prejudices have been going on for thousands of years. I don’t know if there is any hope for these people. There are some simple things we can do as students and people. It is real simple.

Leadership Behavior and Conflict Management in Small Groups Essay

Small groups of people with common interests often come together to exchange information, collaborate and cooperate in the pursuit of a shared goal. These members have the time and space to meet and share ideas through interaction and participation. When such groups face tough and insurmountable problems it helps to have a visionary leader to help them cooperate and work together as a team (Forsyth, 2006). The study of small groups helps us to understand basic human behavior and how leaders transform groups and resolve conflicts (Hare, 1965). According to Forsyth, Donelson â€Å"Leadership is the process by which an individual guides others in their pursuits, often by organizing, directing, coordinating, supporting and motivating their efforts†. The process of leadership has evolved basically from the need to be organized. We observe similar qualities in the flock of birds that fly across the sky and among the herd of elephants deep in the jungles. But with humans, leadership processes have become as varied and complex as the many research studies that have been conducted. The leadership process is reciprocal, when it is mutually influences the leader and the follower, transactional when both the leaders and followers work together for common goals, transformational when leaders are able to inspire their followers into doing their best, cooperative when members select their leader voluntarily, adaptive when members are motivated to achieving group goals, task oriented when the leader focuses all the activities of the followers towards the achievement of group goals and relationship oriented when the focus is on the interpersonal relationship between group members. (Forsyth, 2006). While leadership processes are varied, the qualities found in leaders are also equally diverse. Though inborn personality traits are helpful in small group settings like being sociable, outgoing and expressive most leadership traits are acquired (Barrick &Mount 1991). Normally leaders tend to be more intelligent than their followers in small groups. But most groups find it difficult to handle leaders with very high intellectual abilities (C. A. Gibb, 1969). On the other hand it is very helpful if a leader is endowed with emotional intelligence and the ability to be flexible to suit the demands of a particular situation (Kenny &Zaccaro, 1983). Research studies have also shown that followers place undue importance to leaders who speak a lot more than necessary, as compared to leaders who are men of few words (Sorrentino & Boutillier, 1975). The intriguing phenomenon of effective leadership has given rise to varying theories. Each of them has their related leadership training program as well. According to Fiedler’s Contingency Theory, a leader’s effectiveness depends on the way he relates to hi followers and in his ability to control situations. Here he specified three factors that influenced the leader’s control; the cohesiveness of the group, the concentration of power in the hands of the leader and whether group goals were structured or not. Using the Least Preferred Worker Scale (LPC), he rated people who were relationship oriented high and those who were task oriented low on the LPC score. The Octants based on this show that the task oriented leaders are effective when situations are highly favorable and unfavorable and relationship oriented leaders are effective in moderate situations (Forsyth, 2006). Fiedler has taken into consideration the good and the bad leader-member relations, the structured and unstructured goals. But groups goals are sometimes partly structured, leaders have average power and there exists fair leader- member relations. This middle range seems more possible and plausible while considering small group situations. In Robert Blake and Jane Mouton’s The Leadership Grid the focus, is again on task and relationship orientation, and they have come up with five different styles of leadership. In the ‘apathetic’ approach the leader has no interest in either achieving goals or improving group relations. The ‘country club’ approach as the name suggests adopts a friendly working atmosphere. While the ‘middle road approach’ has a leader who balances the work done and maintains the morale of the people; the ‘task master’ gets the work done and is less concerned about the feelings of the group members. The ‘team work approach’, is considered the best as its members are committed to their goal and share a feeling of mutual trust and respect (Forsyth, 2006). The style of the leadership depends on the maturity of the group members according to the Situational Leadership Theory given by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard. They emphasize that an effective leader should display four styles of leadership. An effective leader should ‘direct’ the group members when they are inexperienced, ‘coach’ them as their competence level increases, offer ‘support’ when they are moderately mature and ‘delegate’ tasks when they are committed (Forsyth, 2006). Though this approach doesn’t talk about task and relationship orientation it is feasible in small groups. The Leader Member Exchange (LMX) approach is based on how members respond to their leaders. If they value their leader there is a heightened level of efficiency, commitment and loyalty and they become a part of the privileged inner group. The others who do not respond positively form the outer group and continue to do their work. The key to the leader’s effectiveness depends on his capacity to bring all his followers within the inner group (Forsyth, 2006). The Lewin-Lippitt-White study focused on the control the leader had over his group and their level of participation. Under laboratory conditions they studied the effect of shared and unshared power in the context of small groups. Groups with an authoritarian leader reflected greater dependence and showed signs of more conflict, whereas under a democratic leader group members learnt to be more self reliant. The laissez-faire group was added later with a leader who rarely interfered and followers who learnt to make their own decisions. This group wasn’t as cohesive as the democratic style that emerged the best. The group with a democratic leader had the highest group oriented suggestions, more friendly behavior and less critical discontent (Forsyth, 2006). Since power was shared participants felt empowered to make meaningful decisions towards the achievement of a shared goal. This study in fact supports the concept of collective leadership as well. Craig L Pearce & Jay Conger (2003) studied the effectiveness of ‘shared leadership’ when the group was removed from a traditional organizational approach. They found that groups with collective leadership outperformed the leader oriented groups. They were also the most effective in small group situations. Bernard Bass (1997) presented the Theory of Transformational Leadership based on the charisma of the leader to transform his followers. Under the influence of an inspirational leader, group members unite to show increased efficiency in pursuing collective goals. A transformational leader tends to questions old beliefs and leads his followers along paths that are not chartered, setting new trends (Forsyth, 2006). With more emphasis placed on interpersonal relations these leaders are effective in both small and large groups. Being eloquent, a charismatic leader initiates dialogues on issues where differences of opinion arise. Such open minded brain storming sessions would bring about several solutions and the group might end up accepting a hybrid goal where the best ideas have been incorporated. This builds cohesiveness and improves cooperation within the group (Potter, 1996). The charismatic leaders have a reputation of integrity and their followers show a tendency to emulate them. (Eagly, Johannesen- Schmidt & Van Engen, 2003). But charismatic leaders are rare and even these exceptional leaders can get things wrong. Something that seems morally and ethically right for one person may not be so for another. Keeley, 1998). Another question that has fascinated researchers is whether men and women show different leadership behavior and do gender differences influence the process of leadership. Though historical evidence supports the fact that women have been underrepresented in leadership roles, research studies show that gender does not influence the effectiveness of a leader with both sexes displaying a balanced task and relationship orientation (Forsyth, 2006). Both men and women who hold similar positional and resource power show similarities in leadership behavior (Kanter, 1997). Women leaders show a tendency to be more agreeable, open, fair, responsible and increasingly involved in conflict management, whereas men are inclined towards power, influence and skill orientation (Forsyth, Schenker, Leary & McCown, 1985). Thus the sexes differ in the styles of leadership with women adopting transformational and participative approaches, while men are likely to exhibit authoritarian, laissez-faire and transactional styles (Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt & Van Engen, 2003). Conflict management is a major challenge faced by leaders across the world. Conflict is a natural occurrence in competitive group situations. A disagreement over beliefs and actions can lead to a conflict if it is resisted. Through an interaction process analysis Robert Blake and his colleagues observed that group members spent one fifth of their time in making hostile comments. When task achievement became difficult, hostility increased and escalated into a conflict (Forsyth, 2006). The best method to manage conflict would be to have an open debate on the issue (Montana & Charnov, 2000), instead of ignoring or brushing aside conflicts, an effective leader should confront it head on (Davies, Burke, Calbom &Kindler, 1991). The current trend shows that leaders and followers are expected to be in contact 24/7 (Murphy & Riggio). It has in turn given rise to virtual offices, having virtual teams working out of their homes in different parts of the globe. . This increased dependence in information technology has given way to e-leadership (Avolio, Kahai & Dodge, 2000). In the future new leadership trends will be reinvented as business environments keep changing. Traditional power oriented organizations will give way to power sharing ones. Organizations will get decentralized, along with a cooperative use of resources (Forsyth, 2006). Competency then will depend on the leader’s vision of the future, intellectual capacity, strategic thinking, emotional strength and the ability to coordinate and develop human capital (Rivard, 2004). Together with team building and leadership, conflict resolution as a skill will have to be acquired by people interacting in small groups (Gregory &Parry, 2006). It will help them to lead the world that’s growing flatter.