Critically Evaluate the Management Model of Baumol

Under the traditional economic understanding, it is always assumed that profit maximization is treated as the main goal or objective for businesses, subject to perfect knowledge, single entity and rational logic. However, as illustrated by the principal-agency problem, managers do not usually make rational decision entirely like owners who take company interest as their sole basis for their decisions. Past examples have shown that managers do take their own personal goals and satisfactions as consideration in their decision-making. In addition, information gathering is not always perfect as managers do make decision by relying solely on the implicit knowledge gained from past experiences, without referencing to the macro-economic environment and the current market changes. Combining all these factors, it is therefore understandable that businesses do not always work toward profit maximization, at least in the short term, and other objectives like financial objective, market share, executive power, etc. do involve in business decision making. However, as pointed out by various academics (Baumol, 1962; Marris, 1964; Williamson, 1963), profit maximization does not always serve as the only correct objective for a firm, especially at various phrases of the business on a timeline scale. A point-in-hand is Baumol model. As an alternative to profit maximization model, Baumol model works on the correlation between price and output decision with the objective of maximizing sales revenue, subjected to minimum profit constraint by shareholders. In profit maximization model, profit is maximized at the output where Marginal Revenue (MR) is equaled to Marginal Cost (MC) whereas Baumol Model emphasizes on maximizing sales revenue (TR) and may miss the MC = MR point to achieve its goal. This model argues that businesses try to maximize sales revenues rather than profits with the possible motives such as growing or sustaining market share, to fill up spare capacity, discourage new entrants, management performance and etc. In addition, Baumol model provides a platform to understand some of the pricing strategies adopted by certain industries, which usually share common characteristics of having huge sunk cost and low variable cost. In such industries where fixed cost or sunk cost takes up a huge part of the total cost, producing a single unit and its maximum allowable output (without expanding its capacity in the short term) does not have any significant impact to the total cost. In such instances, profit maximization model is neither practical nor feasible as a focus of the model relies on seeking the output point where MC=MR. In the case of Walt Disney, the operational cost does not differ much whether there is one patronage or maximum allowable patronages as a theme park has to be fully functional during its operation hours, which render the MC at zero or near zero level. The objective of the company to seek sales revenue maximization for the day rather than focusing its effort to achieve the output point where MC=MR to maximize its profit does make sense. This explains the two-part pricing strategy adopted by Walt Disney where a fix initialization fee per entry is charged and allows the patronage to have as many free rides as they wish. Another example is the telecommunication industry, where the initial investment/fixed cost (for example launching the satellite and setting up the infrastructure) is huge, and the variable cost per call is insignificant to the total cost. In such industry, firms will focus on maximizing sales revenue (with constraints to maximum capacity/output) by using strategies like price discrimination strategy. In this strategy, the firms charge a different unit price to peak and off-peak hours, as there is plenty of spare capacity at off-peak hours. Since MC of output is low, any additional revenue that can be generated from this surplus capacity will be profit to the firms. As such instance, it is rational for telecommunication industrial to adopt sales maximization model like Baumol. In addition, as short term capacity is always constraint and limited, telecommunication industries would not want to experience loss sales due to their inability to meet customer demand, especially during peak hour usage. As service providers, consistent and frequent service failure could prove to be fatal in term of their survival and their long-term brand reputation. Therefore it would make sense for telecommunication firms to divert the peak-hours traffic into non-peak hours by using a price discrimination strategy which segments the users based upon their willingness and abilities to pay. For instance, business-users are willing to pay higher price for peak-hours usage due to their inelastic demand whereas in contrast, leisure-users’ demand is elastic and are willing to make call during off-peak hours in return for lower price. By adopting the price discrimination strategy, telecommunication firms are able to maximize sales revenue during peak and off-peak hours by balancing the air-time traffic based upon different market segment of users. At this point, it is also noticeable that one of the characteristics of Baumol firms lies in the perishable products/services offered which cannot be inventoried. The loss sale of the day on the unutilized capacity/outputs is an opportunity cost to the firms. Baumol model is not only applicable to huge/large corporations, but also to small retailers like bakery shop or wet market, which explains the reason why some bakery shops offer a special discount one hour before the shop closed to maximize the revenue. The rationales applied similarly to the low cost carriers (LCC) where price discrimination is used as a strategy to maximize revenue. LCCs sell a cheaper price to early booking passengers and a higher price for last minute passengers to increase the revenue. LCCs used the existence of multiple segments to serve and the opportunity to utilize surplus capacities to generate additional revenue. The adoption of sales revenue maximization model is also used as an effective way of securing additional market share within a regulated market with limited players where market dominance is vital. In related to pricing, add-on product/services like travel insurance, priority boarding and choosing-a-seat are used as bundled offering to the customer to gain extra profit. Firms are willing to earn a smaller profit if it means that they are able to gain a competitive advantage from their rival firms. As an illustration, Fitness club is a good example to elaborate how Baumol model is applied through adopting different pricing strategies. The reasons behind Fitness Club in adopting Baumol model include penetration to new market segments, retaining existing customer and to fill up spare capacity. True Fitness, which is a chained fitness centre, is effectively using Baumol model by offering different pricing strategies to capture different market egments, for instance, offering monthly fees to uncertain-customer and yearly/lifetime membership to certain-customer. Two types of pricing strategies are used by True Fitness to maximum its sales revenue, which are:- i)Two part pricing ( lifetime membership) The company offers a lifetime membership at ? 1. 5K as one-off payment and charges a minimal price of ? 20 yearly as administration/subscription fee. By payi ng a lifetime membership fees as fixed price, the customers are able to enjoy the facilities for life for as low as ? . 67 per month, which no other rivals is able to compete with this low price. As per other industries discussed above, fitness clubs have the similar characteristic like high initial set up cost and low marginal cost to adopt the Baumol model. The company charges an upfront fee to gain maximum consumer surplus and utilizes the yearly subscription fees, which is equaled to the marginal cost/average variable cost, to cover its yearly running costs. In addition, in order to adopt the two-part pricing strategy to maximize sales revenue, the company needs to have a minimum output (also known as critical mass), so that the full consumer surplus can be derived from the fixed fees. For example, if the yearly running cost (without considering the depreciation cost of the initial set up) is ? 200,000, in order to offer a yearly subscription fee of ? 20, the company needs to have a minimum membership of 10,000 in order to reduce the average variable cost/marginal cost to this level. By adopting Baumol model, which gives a higher output with lower price, this is achievable. This pricing strategy is also applicable to other chained-companies where the firms can derive the maximum profit from the fixed fee and use it as capital/investment to set up a new chain store. At the same time, individual chain store is able to run by itself from the revenue derived from the minimal pricing. ii)Price discrimination ( monthly membership vs. lifetime membership) True Fitness segments their customers into certain and uncertain customer by ffering different pricing to monthly and lifetime membership. The club is willing to offer a lower price to customers who are willing to commit, in comparison to uncertain customers. As illustrated in earlier examples, fitness clubs need to fill up spare capacities as any unutilized capacity carried an opportunity cost. With customers’ commitment, they are able to secure their stability in term of both volume and sales revenue. For thos e uncertain customers, the company charges a higher price, which customer willing to pay due to the flexibility and short-term commitment. From the above illustrations, it is apparent that a key characteristic of the Baumol model hinges on the elasticity of demand. As shown, Baumol model uses pricing strategies as a mean to achieve revenue maximization, and is therefore heavily dependent on the price elasticity to achieve the objective of the model If the demand is inelastic, Baumol model will not work as the demand of the product/services will not increase proportionately and therefore the sales revenue will not maximize from the reduction in price. In addition, advertising effect has not been considered in the above examples, which is a common tactic used to increase the inelasticity of demand. The psychological effect of advertising has been proven effective in occupying the mindset of consumers through brand image building, which increase the affiliation of the consumers to certain products/services, thus the inelasticity of the demand. The pointers from the last paragraph are well-illustrated by the Memo 1 example in Baye text book. In this example, it is shown that the price change does not correlate with the demand. By reducing the price from the current, $10. 50 to $10, the subscribers drops from 881 subscribers to 842, causing the revenue to drop from $9251 to $8240 and therefore a profit drop of $614. 5. (Appendix 1). In reverse, the firm should increase the price to $11. 5 to maximize the revenue at $11282 and a price of $12. 5 to maximize the profit at $4734. One of the reasons is due to the advertising and promotional effort from the company which increases the inelasticity of the demand. Secondly, since a loyal group of subscribers has already been amassed, STARZ network functions more as an add-on product to the existing subscribers. The combination of these two factors explained the reason why sales revenues and profit actually increases with price increases. In addition, from the data on STARZ network (Appendix 1), it is apparent that STARZ network does not share the same characteristics of high fixed cost or excess capacity to apply Baumol model. Instead, it seems like advertising or bundled pricing works better for STARZ network rather then price reduction. Further to the points above, Baumol model players are highly susceptible to the price reaction from their rivals, which could easily result in a price-war especially in an oligopolistic market. The existence of a floor triggering price in Baumol model constrained the players from lowering the price too much which will defeat the purpose of revenue maximization. Thus, it is highly unfavorable for Baumol model players to induce a price-cutting reaction from their rivals when they attempt to lower the price. This explained why certain Baumol model players used â€Å"noise† as disguise to their rivals when lowering the price to achieve revenue maximization. To summarize, long-term profit pursuance remains as the ultimate objective for any business. However, due to dissimilar characteristics of different industries, there are various models that can be used to achieve this long-term objective, which explains why certain firms are willing to sacrifice profit today in exchange for profit tomorrow. As illustrated through various examples in this assignment, the application of the correct model for the right industries and at the correct phrase of the company life-cycle becomes an even more important decision for managers to make. With the understanding and knowledge gained through the detailed analysis and critique of Baumol model, an useful insight to the economic rationale adopted by various industries, like Walt Disney, LCC and telecommunication firms is achieved. Bibliography Mercuro, N. , Haralambos, S. Gerald, W. , 1992. Ownership Structure, Value of the Firm and the Bargaining Power of the Manager. Southern Economic Journal, 59(2), pp. 273-83. Baumol, W. J. , 1996. Prediction and the logic of the Averages Variable Cost Test. Journal of Law and Economics, 39(1), pp. 49 – 72. McNutt, P. A. , 2008, â€Å"Signalling, Strategy & Management Type†, Available at: http://www. patrickmcnutt. com/docs/PatrickMcNutt. com_ebook [Accesses 20 Jan 2009]. Baye, M. R. , 2009 . Managerial Economics and Business Strategy. International ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Conway, L. L. & Craycraft, J. L. , 1974. Sales Maximisation and Oligopoly: A Case Study. Journal of Industrial Economics, 23(2), pp. 81-95. Armstrong, M. & Vickers, J. , 2001. Competitive Price Discrimination. The Rand Journal of Economics, 32(4), pp. 579-605. Oi, W. Y. , 1971. A Disneyland Dilemma: Two-Part Tariffs for a Mickey Mouse Monopoly. The Journal of Economics, 85(1), pp. 77-96. McNutt, P. A.. Management Objectives and Stakeholder Value (Study Guide Unit 1).

A Prayer Fpr My Daughter

A Prayer For My Daughter A Prayer for My Daughter is a poem written by William Butler Yeats in 1919. This poem is a pray-like poem. And it generally tells about the poet's ideas about his daughter who is sleeping at the same time while the poem is being told. Throughout the poem the Yeats reflects that how he wants his daughter's future should be.This essay will analyze the poem under three subtitle: 1- What does this poem mean†, 2- The poetic devices, imagery, rhyming, figures of speech, used in the poem and mood, diction, language, and the structure of the poem, 3- An essay in a feminist point of view titled â€Å"What does the poet want his daughter to become†Ã¢â‚¬  . The poet is watching his infant daughter sleep. In the first stanza he starts with describing the setting of the poem. It is stormy outside, there is a kind of dark and gloomy weather and he prays for her.And he says that he has gloom in his mind and we will understand that what gloom is that in his min d. In the second stanza the poet describes the things while he was praying for his daughter. He walks for an hour and notices the â€Å"sea-wind scream upon the tower†, â€Å"under the arches of the bridge†, â€Å"in the elms above the flooded stream. † They probably represent the dreaming of the human beings and they are decisive. They are all about the present things and they block people from thinking about the future events.The last four lines of the second stanza clearly explain this idea: â€Å"Imagining in excited reverie That the future years had come, Dancing to a frenzied drum, Out of the murderous innocence of the sea. † In the third stanza he prays for her beauty, but not too much. He considers the beauty as a decisive element for choosing the right person to marry. He emphasizes that too much beauty may cause her loose the â€Å"natural kindness† thus that might prevent her from finding the â€Å"heart-revealing intimacy† and a true friend.Related with the third stanza, the fourth stanza refers to Helen herself, who â€Å"being chosen found life flat and dull,† and also to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who chose her spouse the cripple, Hephaestus. Helen â€Å"had much trouble from a fool†, the fool is Menelaus, the husband of Helen, whom she deserted in favor of Paris. Whereas Aphrodite suffered from â€Å"being fatherless†, hence without a father to guide her, Yeats intends to be a guiding father to his young daughter. The fifth stanza describes the quality that Yeats came to see as at the very heart of civilized life: courtesy.By courtesy he understands a means of being in the world that would protect the best of human dignity, art and emotion. And in his prayer for his daughter he wishes that she will learn to survive with grace and dignity in a world turned horrific. He explains that many men have hopelessly loved beautiful women, and they thought that the women loved them as wel l but they did not. In the sixth stanza he hopes that his daughter will be a â€Å"flourishing hidden tree†, which is not rebel but kind and happy, but contains her happiness within a particular place.And additionally he wants his daughter to be not argumentative and aggressive, or perhaps quite and secure, â€Å"rooted in one dear perpetual place. † When combined with the previous line, the last line clearly defines his hope fro daughter to live in a victorious life â€Å"like a green laurel. † And the linnet also represents that he wants her thoughts to be a guide for a good life for her and her life to be in a good fate. In the seventh stanza he tells about himself a little bit, and we can conclude that he also suffered from love and beauty, but he also emphasize that hatred is drying and destructive.Thus he asserts that hatred is the worst response one can have in the world. He hopes that his daughter will not have such strong opinions which are the forms of hatred. Then he implies that â€Å"an intellectual hatred† is the worst of hatreds. In this stanza he uses an image â€Å"Plenty's horn. † It symbolizes the source of the rich gifts that will be given, served to his daughter. This part of the poem also accuses â€Å"the loveliest woman†, Maud Gonne, because of not using properly the gifts given to her and he hopes that her daughter will use them well and wisely.Ninth stanza serves the ideas of Yeats about hatred and recovering of the world. He supports that a woman can heal herself by getting away from hatred and also the world can be purified by avoiding from hatred and diversions. Thus we can recover the innocence and we can â€Å"be happy still. † In the conclusion stanza he hopes her daughter to be married in ceremony, of which source is the â€Å"horn† again. He uses the ceremony to symbolize the richness of the horn and the power of the â€Å"laurel tree. † POETIC DEVICESOnomatopoeia (the use of words that sound like the thing that they are describing) – howling, scream, spray, choke, scowl, howl Repetition (saying the same thing many times) – in the ninth stanza: self-appeasing, self-delighting, and self-affrighting Alliteration (the use of several words together that begin with the same sound or letter in order to make a special effect) – howling, and half hid, cradle-hood and coverlid, great gloom, sea-wind scream, being made beautiful, like the linnet, live like, linnet from the leaf, hatred driven hence, recovers radical, bellows burst, bridegroom bring, find a friend Assonance (similarity in the vowel sounds of words that are close together in a poem)- walked and prayed, young-hour, such-overmuch, trouble- fool, with-meat, yet-that-played, beauty-very, poor-roved, loved-thought-beloved, hidden-tree, dried-late, linnet-leaf, should-scowl, quarter-bowl, hatred-wares, spreading laurel tree. FIGURES OF SPEECH Metaphor- Ceremony is used for the Plenty's horn, custom is used for the spreading laurel tree, linnet is used for good faith, and laurel is used for having a victorious life Personification- Sea-wind scream-human being, years†¦ dancing-human being, frenzied drum- human being, angry wind- human being, Simile- â€Å"all her thoughts may like the linnet be†, â€Å"may she live like some green laurel† Juxtaposition- â€Å"murderous innocence† Imagery- The â€Å"storm† is representing the dangerous outside forces, may be the future that she will encounter with soon.The â€Å"cradle† is representing his daughter's babyhood. The sea is the source of the wind and logically is the source of â€Å"future years† as well. The â€Å"murderous innocence† is attributed to the sea and represents poet's daughter and the outside world which waits for her. He uses the imagery â€Å"dried† for his mind to explain how the bad ideas are rooted in his mind. And also he uses the â€Å"horn† as ceremony and the â€Å"tree† as custom. LANGUAGE, DICTION, MOOD, STRUCTURE The language used in the poem is like the language used in lectures and also prayer. The word â€Å"may† gives to the poem a pray-like mood. The narrator is the poet's himself, and he tells the poem quite personal.He uses â€Å"I†, â€Å"she†, â€Å"my daughter† to make it personalize. The moods of the stanzas are different than the others. But the first stanza has a frightening atmosphere. In the second stanza he is anxious about what will future bring to her, the third one has the same mood but in here he is careful. In the next one he uses classical mythology to express his obsessions. The fifth one is a little bit more confident and hopeful. The sixth one is more cautious and has a negative mood. The seventh is self aware, strong and kind of regretful. And the last three stanzas are written in a happy mood and have hopefulness. The structure of the poem is not complex to analyze.It has 10 stanzas and eight lines each. It was written in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is aabbcddc, and the rhythm is regular. WHAT DOES THE POET WANT HIS DAUGHTER TO BECOME The poem is about William Butler Yeats ideas, and his anxiety about his baby daughter's future and life. He wants his daughter to become a woman who is virtuous, wise. He uses the image of his daughter partly to represent his ideal woman. Most of the images that he uses are parts of the ideal woman he has in his mind or its opposites. He supports that a woman should be â€Å"a flourishing hidden tree†, who is not well-known but beautiful. She shouldn't be anything but â€Å"merry. † Innocence† is beautiful in women, that's why if his daughter keeps her innocence inside and do not abuse it, she will not be affected by the â€Å"wind. † He thinks that too much beauty distorts women, and causes them to destroy the gifts that are given by â€Å"H orn of Plenty† thus he wants his daughter to use the gifts wisely and properly. And he wants his daughter to learn the fact that â€Å"hearts are earned†, and the men, who are deceived by just beauty, will notice their mistake later. He wants her daughter not to have strong opinions like hatred, because he thinks that hatred is the worst thing in the world. He hopes she will marry, and her house will be full of customs.

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Planetary Science Will the Rover lead us to finding life or us humans living on Mars sometime - Research Paper Example In 1971 may on 30th, mariner 9 took off from the earth to Mars on an Atlas Centaur rocket. It managed to arrive there in November the same year and started orbiting round the Red Planet. This was the first greatest achievement by the American manmade spaceship object to rotate around another planet. In this view, human beings had added a manmade satellite to another world. Following the American success, the Soviet Union also sent their two spaceships to Mars. These were Mars two and Mars three which achieved Martian orbit. This marked a constant desire to make more discoveries on the Red Planet and in three weeks, it had become a hotspot scientifically. The orbiting around Mars started changing human perspective about the solar system as a whole2. Spaceship has provided information concerning the family of planets indicating them to be strange and exotic than many people expected. In this regard, mars produced many surprises than any other solar system family. Mariner 9 indicated that Mars poses the biggest canyon and the largest mountain together with ancient streams and riverbeds. These discoveries were made from different sites on the Planet. The findings have been verified and explored in great details. Succeeding probes continue to sustain hopes that scientists might find signs of life on another planet just like the Earth3. Mars is still a fascinating place for humanity after forty years of research although; the investigation has proved to be a rocky business. According to Oxford astronomer, Professor Fred Taylor, Mars exploration story has been a true rollercoaster. Taylor closely worked with Nasa on several missions on Mars. He mentioned that the results of the explorations were different. Other results proved that there exists life on the planet4. On the other hand, some results proved the efforts to find life on the planet to be

Ten Commandments by God Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ten Commandments by God - Essay Example Many religious convictions believe the Ten Commandments form the foundation of morality and ideal behaviour. It becomes not only vital for religious purposes, but also for guiding proper and legal values of the people (Hamilton, 2003). After critical analysis of the Ten Commandments, am still not sure about God’s existence and if given a choice will not follow the ten commands. My opinions may differ from those of Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, inventor, writer and most notably a Christian philosopher. In his arguments, known as ‘Pascal’s wager’, he explains that as finite creatures we will never be able to recognize if God exists. This leads to a situation whereby we must make a wager and come to a decision whether to believe or not to believe in God, more so since the choice is unavoidable (Hamilton, 2003). According to Pascal, if we bet on the existence of God and it turns out to be right, considering that we also decided to follow his commands a nd laws, then the reward will be an eternity of happiness. If it turns out to be a lie, then we will not have lost much, maybe just the indulgence in immoral behaviour. The other argument is that, if we wager against the existence of God, the consequence however positive, would be limited and extremely small compared to what would happen if in fact God existed and one gets condemned into infinite pain (Hamilton, 2003). Therefore, an individual has everything to gain and nothing or little to lose through belief in God. If one does not believe in God’s existence; he or she has nothing or little to gain but all to lose through not believing in him. Pascal deduces that it would be unwise not to wager for God’s existence. Though there is logic in Pascal’s reasoning and opinion, I belong to a different school of thought. Regarding the commandments, I believe there is much to be argued about them. Following some of these commands from beginning to end is objectionable and I will base my case on three commandments. To begin with, the fourth commandment states that ‘we should remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy’, and is mostly founded on the Jewish culture and history. Just to mention, a look at the number of people who currently refrain from all kinds of chores on Saturday, one may get discouraged, because there is practically none. Since this commandment does not provide room for interpretation, it translates to a situation that demands pardon from any work, especially the Sabbath day (Hamilton, 2003). Imagine of a situation whereby everyone refrained from their normal activities and duties, the consequences could be catastrophic at least. Say all the emergency services, police and the doctors downed their tools for the sake of obeying this commandment. What would happen? There would be massive damage and so many lives would be at risk. Therefore, observing this commandment would lead to serious consequences for everyone. The f ifth commandment states that â€Å"we should honour our father and mother†. This commandment ought to bring out the good aspects in children if used in a positive way. It is ought to strengthen family ties and also contribute in forming a society that is responsible and well structured in terms of morals. The main dilemma though comes about when trying to determine what honour means, and its application to certain aspects. Sometimes the children can have opinions that conflict with their parent’s due to what their parents impose on them. Sometimes obeying parents would mean prohibiting children from having freedom and emotional health, especially if the parents are insisting their children to follow certain relationships or activities that have negative results.

Philosophical Paper on morality and world hunger Essay

Philosophical Paper on morality and world hunger - Essay Example However, as John Arthurs criticism of Singer states â€Å"the moral code it is rational for us to support must be practical; it must actually work† (Timmons 461). Singer and Arthur do not address the reality of world hunger to the average person. How can a person make a more moral choice, if the hunger is not real to them? On the other hand, the issue of world hunger might seem so helpless that most people do not believe it is ‘in our power to prevent’ the inevitable starvation of people in third world countries. In the end, Singer’s position is too self righteous and not an adequate code for an imperfect world. The acceptance of the greater moral evil principle would have radical implications for morality. Singer’s principle is one that many have argued without action for years. Many parents have scolded their children into eating their food by shaming them with ‘many children go to bed hungry’ or ‘children in Africa don’t get enough to eat’. The majority of Americans, with the exception of the extremely poor, could be considered indulgent and spoiled when comparing them with poorer third world countries. In America, Europe, and other advanced countries starvation is not a problem. Not only is starvation not a problem, obesity has become prevalent. This could be considered the result of not doing the morally right thing, if Singer’s principle is the correct path to take. Singer states â€Å"if it is in our power to prevent something [very] bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought morally, to do it† (Timmons 454). If this statement is true, world hunger should no longer exist. Every American, European, and so forth would send money, help, or even volunteer in countries where starvation existed. Then the question would become how much an individual would give to charity? Would ten percent, twenty percent, or even all of their income over necessities be

My Values, Beliefs, Clinical Gestalt with Individuals and Systems Essay Example for Free

My Values, Beliefs, Clinical Gestalt with Individuals and Systems Essay Becoming a successful clinician is like a work in progress, a clinician should never consider it completed. There is always room to learn, to grow, and develop while working in the Human Services field. The knowledge that a clinician learns comes not only from education but also from experiences and time working in the field. Overtime, a clinician can expect to look at his or her own beliefs, values, and experiences as well as family, cultural dynamics, and background. The main reason a person continues to learn and obtain knowledge, is because of the array of clients a clinician sees. In the textbook, I had to complete exercises that discussed our values and beliefs and how they will affect and interact with our professional lives. The values that are in my life affect and make me whom I am. Several values that bounce between my professional and personal life and some that do not. There are also some values that I need to improve on which will help me in both my professional and personal lives My most important values and beliefs are: -Be respectful -Be open-minded -Be trustworthy -Always do my best -Have a big heart -Work hard -Enjoy life However, the most important thing is to make my values and beliefs flexible so that I can view the clients and better assist them. This is not always an easy task to do, but because of my experiences and my education, I continue to make progress. A clinician takes the ability to adapt and be flexible with your own personal beliefs and values. My experiences in life have always revolved around helping things, whether it was people or animals. My parents use to tell me, and showed by old family videos that I was the biggest tomboy and helper around our family farm. From a very young age, I was often found helping my parents on the farm rather than playing with Barbie Dolls. I would do all types of work on the farm such as feed animal, clean the barn, and milk the cows. These items helped either animals or people. Being raised on a dairy farm, encouraged me to work hard. Once I started high school my hard work did not stop at the farm, I got my first job away from working on the dairy farm. I am still employed at the job and once again because of my hard work I have had several promotional experiences within the company. I have always been a hard worker at everything I do and have learned many of my values and beliefs. Another textbook exercise that I completed discussed how my own family and my culture background will affect my ability to respond and connect with clients. I have learned that how I view others and makes me comfortable when working with clients has to do with how and where I was raised. My cultural background can include my education, social behaviors, ideas, and viewpoints. For example, in one of the exercises I was asked how I would feel working with a client who was African American or a client who was gay. All these items are affected by how I was raised, and my cultural background. Society also influences the lives we live and how we view other individuals. Textbook exercises were also completed concerning this. I have learned that society we live in shape, who we are, just like cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and values. Society can be described as the world, and community we live in. One example of society affecting our beliefs is with same sex marriages. This is a very controversial topic of society. For a very long time, society said same sex marriages are not okay, and recently they are becoming accepted. Because society is saying that it is now acceptable, the people in the communities are affected by this and their viewpoints may be altered. While working with clients a clinician needs to keep their cultural backgrounds and society out of their mind. Clinicians will experience working with clients of all types. It is important to remember that each client seen is different even if diagnoses, traits, characteristics, or anything else is similar. No two cases are alike. Clinicians will work with individuals with physical, mental, psychological, emotional, and verbal, and many other types of individuals. My job as a clinician is important. I need to remember that everything that shapes whom I am is important but private and should not be â€Å"worn on my sleeve. † Everything I do in life affects how I am shaped and how I view others. My values, beliefs, experiences, and the society also affect me. Keeping an open mind, and be understanding toward my clients is an important role and I will continue to devolve this in my experiences.

Reducing The Incidences Of Malnutrition Nursing Essay

Reducing The Incidences Of Malnutrition Nursing Essay -Reducing the incidences of malnutrition that often occurs during admission to hospital has been a priority within the nursing care profession for many years. There have been various explanations for this such as lack of staff, patients not able or are unwilling to admit they require assistance, poor use of assessment tools and care pathways. A key factor in the prevalence of patients presenting with malnourishment is the disturbances patients endure during mealtimes, such as ward rounds, non urgent medical interventions, housekeeping activities and visitors. This essay will explore the incidences of malnutrition, and those who are most at risk and the changes that have been made to reduce such incidences. Change management should be regarded as an ongoing process, which requires good communication, planning, positive leadership and cooperation. This essay will endeavor to explore the change management processes, leadership and team management skills used in the implementation of protected mealtimes. It will explore the negative aspects and problems encountered when implementing a change and the ongoing management skills required to maintain such changes. For many patients admitted to hospital, in particular the elderly, malnutrition is a common occurrence. It is the nurses fundamental duty of care to provide patients with the highest of care possible, a major requirement for any human being to survive and live a healthy life is the intake of a healthy nutritious diet, be that by conventional methods or artificial measures suitable for the patients state of health at that time (Royal College of Nursing 2007). Studies into hospital malnutrition show that as many as four out of ten elderly patients admitted to hospital are already malnourished and as a result of a hospital admission as many as six out of ten elderly patients, become malnourished, their situation worsens and their illness very often escalates (Age Concern 2006; BAPEN 2007). The NHS Improvement Plan (2004) set standards to deal with the increasing incidences of malnutrition within hospital settings; it has become apparent that these examples of good practice recommendatio ns have not been implemented in every hospital in the country, as incidences of malnutrition continue to exist. Davidson and Scholefield (2005) reports that inadequate nutrition can lead to longer hospital stays, impairs the recovery of patients and increases financial costs; several hospitals have indeed planned and implemented changes to reduce such incidences but on the whole have had limited success. The authors found that constant interruptions from drug, rounds, clinical activities and lack of nursing staff being on the ward at mealtimes (due to lunch breaks coinciding with mealtimes) all accounted for patients being provided with very little or on occasion no nutritional intake at any given mealtime. Savage and Scott (2005) does agree with this statement to some extent but argues that it is all to easy to blame nursing staff alone, it is the responsibility of each individual NHS trust to implement managerial changes and policies and ensure that they are monitored, evaluated a nd improved to provide the best care possible for each patient. Mamhidir et al (2007) argues that since the implementation of protected mealtimes in some hospitals there is substantial evidence to suggest that patients, particularly the elderly benefit immensely; patients gained weight, healing time reduced, were discharged earlier and mealtime experiences were a more pleasant experience for patients as well as nursing staff. Mooney (2008) argues that there is evidence to suggest even after hospital trusts have been presented with unarguable evidence that malnutrition is a major problem and a catalyst for longer hospital stays, only 43 percent of those trusts have not yet provided evidence that they have implemented schemes in order to reduce hunger and malnutrition. The Hospital Caterers Association (2004) further comment that mealtimes should not primarily focus on the provision of nutrition, it also makes way for social interaction between patients and carers, they further commen t that in general the quality of the food provided is not the issue, the inability of the patient to be able to feed themselves is far more the worrying issue. Council of Europe (2003) comment that hospitals should be designed to be patient centred, ensuring that the delivery of nutrition is flexible and all deliverance of care is set within a framework; all staff should work together in partnership to ensure that incidences of poor nutrition are dealt with. Repetitive reports of malnourishment is evidence enough to suggest that current practices are no longer working, change is a necessary force to ensure incidences are reduced. It is the responsibility of the leader to ensure this is tackled (Age Concern 2006). Change Management can be described as the process of developing a planned approach to change within an organisation. The objective should be to maximise the collective benefits for all stakeholders involved in the change and minimise the risk of failure implementing the change. Change involves assessment, planning and evaluation; changes in which people are nursed should always be focused on the benefits patients will receive if change is implemented (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence, 2007). Welford (2006) writes that there are many theories which explore the need for change; the goal should be the provision of the highest quality of care, each individual involved in the delivery of such care should work together, be committed and supportive of each other during times of change. Change within a team which leads to new practices and ideas affects each individual differently; it can be a very daunting task for some and for others it is embraced to allow for personal development and the sharing of knowledge (Murphy 2006). There are many theories which uses steps or phases that can evaluate if a change is needed and if the changes that are implemented work. For the purpose of this essay the author refers to a popular theory developed by Lewin in the 1950s which requires three stages to implement effective change the acceptance and participation of all those involved in the area requiring change. The first phase, commonly referred to as the unfreezing stage of this theory requires the participants to acknowledge the need for change; evidence should be provided to encourage new thinking and beliefs about current practices. Hallpike (2008) writes that there is evidence to suggest that teams can be divided into groups who have their own individual opinion on certain regimes, practices and care deliverance. This can be said for the provision of nutrition to patients. In this particular study the author reports that some team members did not think the re was a problem with the current provision, some were not convinced that changes would be made and others did not have faith in a holistic approach across the team. In this situation it is the responsibility of the team leader to persuade all the team members that the need for change is necessary in order to provide the best service possible, that the whole team work towards a common goal. Welford (2006) discusses the second phase of Lewins theory; describing this stage as the moving stage, allowing individuals to voice their own ideas, experiment with different regimes, it allows time for reflection, to discuss positive or negative findings. Past practices may have seen some team leaders adopt the belief that employees were seen to work better when the leader provided strict job descriptions and a clear plan of what was expected of them; their opinions and ideas were not of value to the overall success of a team. Major (2002) argues that for a leader to adopt such thinking will on ly lead to flaws and a feeling of negativity within a team; the leader should adopt good communication skills and openness to allow for effective team building, positive group dynamics, all working efficiently and productively. Dennis and Morgan (2008) suggests that although change is the responsibility of the service provider, input from the service user is without doubt a valuable tool in assessing if a change is working for the greater good. Feedback, regardless of being positive or negative ascertains if the change has been a positive one. If the new change has a detrimental affect to the service user then the change has been a negative one, this requires a return to the freezing stage to allow the team to make further changes to increase the benefits to the service user. The authors further comment that managers should be seen as advocates for the service user; it should be the responsibility of the manager to challenge team members over poor practice, poor attitudes and resist ance to change for the better. Conflict within a team leads to unrest, a disbelief that change is for the greater good leading to a dysfunctional team. The third phase of Lewins theory can be commonly referred to as the refreezing stage, where new ideas and behaviours become a new or common practice. Pearce (2007) argues that to name this phase as such denotes that the change remains static, leaders should continuously strive to make changes for the better, communication across the whole team allows for individuals points of view to be exposed and discussed; feedback on how a new change is working is necessary in order to achieve the highest levels of quality care. Leadership styles become a key issue when developing, implementing and upholding change. Motivation of staff also plays a key role in the acceptance of change; leaders should demonstrate that they are a good role model, adopt a friendly attitude towards team members, accepting of criticism and be willing to provide positive feedback, when the team endeavour to believe in and implement the change (Darlington 2006). Corkindale (2009) argues that leaders need balance their role within a team to ensure that they do not become too over familiar with individual team members, as this may lead to team members relying too heavily on the leader to make all the decisions and authority may be compromised. Murphy (2006) writes that leaders need to adopt a style of leadership that suits the workforce; a laissez-faire approach can be seen as the leader not taking into account individual team members ideas, work ethics and commitment seriously, it can lead to a team feeling devalued and unorganised. The National Institute for Mental Health (2007) further suggests that leaders who show their commitment, by working alongside their colleagues, adopting and maintaining the changes themselves demonstrates a leader who is at the forefront in the deliverance of quality care. They further suggest that each leader will bring their own set of ethics, life experiences and education to a team, will often adopt their own style of leadership that may be a mixture of several styles moulded to suit the team and the area of practice they are employed to manage. Opportunities for team members to voice their opinions and concerns are invaluable; they are after all the main implementers of the change and wil l have be the first to recognise if the change has gained positive or negative results. The change can only work if leaders allow for reflection, discussion and adaptation of the change to suit each individual involved in the change process. A change that is difficult to implement or maintain will end in failure, this leads a team adopting negative feelings and a resistance to change in the future. Goleman (2000) suggests that to adopt an authoritarian approach, can at times be a positive approach to leadership especially if some team members resist change or there is a need to produce quick results. Goffee and Jones (2000) disagree with this statement and suggest that a good leader is someone who other people want to follow without bullying, threats or the fear of reprisals; they lead by communicating effectively and adopt a style of leadership that allows the team to understand what is expected of them. RCN (2007) writes that the only way malnourishment can be identified and managed effectively is with effective use of recognised screening tools.Perry (2009) argues that in many cases nursing staff are given the means and tools to assess a patient, but many are inadequately trained to understand the findings of the assessment or are unwilling to involve other health professionals in the care of the patient. A multidisciplinary approach to tackle such problems should be used. Protected mealtimes have been proven to be useful to not only the patient but to the whole care team, it allows for assessment in areas such as speech and language, mental health issues and other physical problems which can affect the nutritional intake of individuals. South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust (2009) reports that protected mealtimes affects and involves all staff within in the organisation from physiotherapists, domestic staff, maintenance staff through to outside professionals such as social worker s. It involves all areas of clinical practice where patients require nutritional intake, not only for patients who are unable to feed themselves but for those patients who require and deserve a quiet, interruption free period to eat, drink and relax. To maintain and monitor the change process and may require several attempts before the target is reached. takes time and may not always be successful first time. National Patient Safety Agency (2008) states that many clinical staff referred to the implementation of protected mealtimes as a hindrance to their daily routine, but once the benefits for patients as well as the staff members were explained they became more compliant and understanding for the need to change.