Hiv Epidemic Hiv And Hiv - 1781 Words

Since its identification approximately two decades ago, HIV has increasingly spread globally, surpassing expectations (1). The number of people living with HIV worldwide is estimated to be 36 million, with 20 million people having died from the disease, giving a total number of 56 million being infected (1). In 2000 alone, 5.3 million people were infected with HIV and there is potential for further spread. HIV infection rates vary all over the world with the highest rates in Sub-Saharan Africa (1). Responding to this epidemic has been a challenge as infection rates have increased worldwide despite tremendous public health efforts by nations (1). The identification of potential interventions to reduce the magnitude of the problem has†¦show more content†¦Depending on the source the definition varies to some extent but here it is defined as â€Å"social networks, the reciprocities that arise from them and the value of these for achieving (mutual) goals† (3). Given this definition, social capital can be further subdivided into structural and cognitive social capital (3). Structural social capital refers to the forms and ways that social organizations and networks cooperate and interact with each other. Cognitive social capital on the other hand, has to do with the norms, values, attitudes and beliefs that come about from the interactions of communities through social organizations and networks (3). Building upon these concepts, it is through the involvement with these social networks that peoples’ health is influenced, specifically sexually related behaviors (3). Research on the effect of social capital on HIV infections is a relatively new area and still in its infancy. Being as such, there are few studies that have looked at this relationship and the data is scant. Much of what is known about the effect of social capital on HIV infection rates stems from studies conducted in developing countries, particularly in Africa (3). There have been several studies that have found a direct relationship between access to social capital, both cognitive and structural, and positive individual health (3). In a cross-sectional study with 3,586 participants done

Rhetorical Analysis of the Film, Waiting for Superman Essay

Educational systems in America are impaired, and the very educators that are meant to teach are the one’s pulling it down. That is the apparent message that Davis Guggenheim attempts to convey in his documentary â€Å"Waiting for Superman†. He uses many strategies to get his message across. Some of these include cartoons, children, and those reformers that are attempting to pull the system out of the ditch that it has found its way into. He makes his point very well, and uses facts and figures correctly. He does leave out some of the opinions of the opposing views, but it does not take away from his point that the educational system in America is in need of repair. Guggenheim uses those and other devices to inspire action within the masses,†¦show more content†¦This movie hits viewers in the heart with real children. He uses five children ranging from first to eighth grade that have hit hard times, and are simply trying to secure a better future for themselves. Mr. Geoffrey Canada and other individual’s that are playing a key role in the reformation of America’s educational system are also used in the documentary. He highlight’s there programs that appear to be now setting the idea that the learning gap can’t be closed on fire. He once again pulls on viewers heartstrings by showing the children that attend these public charter schools succeeding and having fun in school. He fails to show the struggles that they must go through every day, The cartoons that he uses range from animations of statistics to dancing teachers and videos of people doing incredibly stupid things. Adding these things brings life to the film, and keeps it from being all interviews and videos of schools. They also provide data to support Guggenheim’s argument. He illustrates the idea of the ‘lemon dance’, and shows audiences what really happens in the inner workings of the public school system. Another example of Guggenheim using animations is when he showed audiences America’s proficiency rates in math and reading. He shows us the land mass that, it clumped together would consume, and it is severely underwhelming. It is attempt to appeal to the emotions of the audience, that a severe percentage of the youth of America is very undereducated.Show MoreRelatedVsdgvfyhb2024 Words   |  9 Pageswas quite excited. I had heard of â€Å"Waiting For Superman,† but had never really had the chance to watch it. The topic of it is something that I am extremely passionate about and was eager to learn more about. So I happily watched the documentary and quickly whipped out a first draft (rough rough draft) without even really having to think about it- the words just poured out. However, when writing my real rough draft, I tried to focus a bit more on the rhetorical appeals. My revision process on InquiryRead MoreMetz Film Language a Semiotics of the Cinema PDF100902 Words   |  316 PagesFILM LANGUAGE FILM LANGUAGE A Semiotics of the Cinema Christian Metz Translated by Michael Taylor The University of Chicago Press Published by arrangement with Oxford University Press, Inc. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637  © 1974 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. English translation. Originally published 1974 Note on Translation  © 1991 by the University of Chicago University of Chicago Press edition 1991 Printed in the United States of America 09 08 07 6Read MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 PagesReasons ................................................................................................ 236 Deceiving with Loaded Language ................................................................................................... 238 Using Rhetorical Devices .................................................................................................................. 240 Review of Major Points .............................................................................................

Job Evaluation a Cornerstone to Hrm Practices Free Essays

| | | | |edith cowan university faculty of business and law | | | | | | | |mba 5712- hr | | | | | | | | | |assignment 1 | |JOB ANALYSIS A ‘CORNERSTONE’ OF | |ALL HRM PRACTICES AND ACTIVITIES | | | | | | | |MUTEMA CHELLA 10157835 | | | | | LECUTRER: MR. D. PHIRI Submission Date: 13th April 2010 | | TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION3 RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION3 SELECTION4 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT4 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT5 REMUNERATION MANAGEMENT6 PROMOTION OF WORKPLACE SAFTY AND HEALTH6 CONCLUSION7 REFERENCES8 INTRODUCTION To discuss why job analysis is sometimes said to be the ‘cornerstone’ of all the human resource management practices and activities, six Human Resource functions or practices are listed and then showing how job analysis data is utilised in each of these activities. We will write a custom essay sample on Job Evaluation a Cornerstone to Hrm Practices or any similar topic only for you Order Now Job analysis is aptly called so because success or failure of the human resource function in an organisation can directly be attributed to the consequences of job analysis (Siddharth, 2009 October). Siddharth (2009) further contends that Job analysis encompasses understanding and closely evaluating the knowledge, skills and attitudes required by an individual in performing a particular role. It’s like performing a Personal Profile Analysis of an invisible person. Once performed, job analysis would throw open a plethora of answers to how Recruitment, Performance Management, Training, Compensation benchmarking and several other processes should follow for the incumbent on the said job. Job analysis refers to procedures for systematically understanding the work that gets done in an organisation and the basic goal is to understand what people do, how they do it and what skills they need to do the work well (Jackson Schuler, 2003). According to Jackson Schuler, the results of the job analysis are used to write job descriptions. A job description spells out essential job functions, describes the conditions in which the job is performed and states special training or certification requirements for the job. For employees, job description produced through job analysis serves as a guide to work behaviour while for supervisors and managers; a job description serves as a guide to performance evaluation and feedback. This essay therefore focuses on trying to show that job analysis provides the foundation upon which to build virtually all components of HR system identified as follows;. RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION Recruitment involves searching for and obtaining qualified applicants for the organization to consider when filling job openings (Jackson Schuler, 2003). In the function of recruitment the job analysis would determine recruitment sources and methods. To find the most suitable employees for jobs and thus for the organisation as a whole, those involved in employee recruitment need to be fully aware of the relevant job description and person specification which can only be derived from comprehensive job analysis (Baired etal, 2008). Effective programs for recruitment should attract suitably qualified applicants and discourage those who are unsuitable. One would therefore say that knowing a defined set of competencies allows one to more efficiently target, within a candidates population those competencies for recruitment. SELECTION Selection is the process of obtaining and using information about job applicants in order to determine who should be hired for long or short-term position. Jackson Schuler (2003) contend that it begins with an assessment of the requirements to be met by the new hire, including technical aspects of a job and the more difficult to quantify organizational need (Jackson Schuler, 2003). Applicants are then assessed to determine their competencies, preference, interests and personality. For productivity and retention, companies such as Southwest, Lincoln Electric, Honda GE, and Toyota hire on the basis of whether an individual matches the job requirements and the corporate culture (Jackson Schuler, 2003) To do a proper selection of the candidate to be employed it is vital to establish the essential features of the job descriptions and person specifications to allow for objective and easier assessment of applicants (Baired etal, 2008). Selection criteria must be demonstrably job relevant and equitably applied, to facilitate comparison between candidates and the matching of candidates with jobs. They are invaluable in the initial short listing of large numbers of applicants, employment testing, interviewing and subsequent referee checking (Baired etal, 2008) Done very well selection practice ensures that employees are capable of high productivity and motivated to stay with the organization for as long as the organization wants to employ them. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT In general, an organisation’s training and development practices are its intentional efforts to improve current and future performance by helping employees acquire the skills, knowledge, and attitude required of competitive work force (Jackson Schuler, 2003). Rapidly changing technology, foreign competition, and changes in organisational strategy and strategic business objectives are putting pressure on organizations to train and develop employees for competitive advantage. This requires careful attention to needs assessment, program development and implementation, and evaluation. Four types of types of needs analysis-organisational, job, person, and demographic-are designed to diagnose systematically the short and long term human resource needs of an organisation (Jackson Schuler, 2003). Any discrepancies between the experience, knowledge, skills and abilities demonstrated by a job holder and the requirement contained in the job description and specification or list of competencies for that job provide clues to development needs (Baired etal, 2008). Training development is merely the development and assessment of said competencies for both the employee and the employer. However, without job analysis the organisation would have no way to know what to teach; train and develop and when to do it. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT A performance management system is a formal, structured process used to measure, evaluate, and influence an employee’s job related attributes, behaviours, performance results (Arvey Murphy, 1998). Two components of performance management system are (a) performance measurement and feedback for individuals and team, and (b) the rewards component of total compensation (Jackson Schuler, 2003). A well designed performance measurement and feedback process directs employees’ attention toward the most important tasks and behaviours. It informs employees about what’s valued and provides information about whether the employees’ behaviour and results meet the expectations of managers, colleagues, and customers (Jackson Schuler, 2003) To emphasise the importance of performance management, it is said that; ‘It is estimated that if companies could get 3. 7% more work out of each employee, the equivalent of 18 more minutes of work in each 8-hour shift, the gross domestic product in the United States would swell by $355 billion, twice the GDP of Greece (Jackson Schuler, 2003). The job description and person specification, the result of the job analysis, provide the criteria for evaluating the performance of the holder of the job. Performance Management can therefore be said to be that by knowing the competencies required for each job or job family allows HR (or management) to track employee knowledge, skills and abilities and distribute them accordingly to wherever they may have the most impact within an organization. These competencies may also be tied to other organizational-level criteria for added impact and a validity check. As has been mentioned this is as a result of job analysis REMUNERATION MANAGEMENT Compensation or remuneration typically includes a mix of several elements, monetary and non monetary forms of rewards. Monetary compensation includes direct payments such as salary, wages, and bonuses, and indirect payments such payments to cover the cost of private and public insurance plans. Nonmonetary compensation include many forms of social and psychological rewards-recognition and respect from others, enjoyment from doing the job itself, opportunity for self-development (Jackson Schuler, 2003). Many workplace agreements emphasise the close relationship between job requirements, learning and development programs, career progression and appropriate salary and benefits systems. Baired etal, (2008) further contends that inappropriate remuneration packages may reflect a need for change of job requirements or adjusted pay scales, often in consultation with the relevant unions. It can be said that competencies help guide compensation models to a much more precise degree than more gross measures like â€Å"seniority. For example, a highly sought after software developer with very unique skills may be able to demand on the market a much higher salary than a typical MCSE who has been with the company for X number of years. A competency based compensation model would address that. Again, a job analysis done properly will help determine pay scale. PROMOTION OF WORKPLACE SAFTY AND HEALTH Another of the Human Resource function is the promotion of safety and health at the workplace. Job analysis procedures can be used to identify aspects of a job that may contribute to workplace injuries, and ergonomic principals can be applied to redesign the work environment (Jackson Schuler, 2003). Workplace safety and health refers to the physical and psychological conditions of a workforce that result from work environment provided by the organisation. Physical conditions include occupational diseases and accidents such as actual loss of life or limb; repetitive motion injuries, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, cardiovascular disease, other forms of cancer and other conditions that are known to result from unhealthy work environment include white central nervous system damage. While psychological conditions result from organisational stress and a low quality of working life, these encompass, dissatisfaction, apathy, and withdrawal and so on (Jackson Schuler, 2003). If an organisation takes effective safety and health measures, fewer employees will have short or long term ill effects as a result of being employed at the organization (Cooper Neck, 2000). Both the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) and the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) of the UK require evidence-based approaches to setting physical and medical employment standards. Proven fitness related strategies include redesigning the most demanding tasks, selecting and training personnel who possess the necessary physical attributes, and assessing and redeploying personnel to jobs within their capability. An essential precursor to pursuing these strategies is to conduct a job analysis to quantify the physical demands of the job (Rayson, 2000) . ). CONCLUSION Job Analysis is quite aptly called the â€Å"corner stone† of all HR activities because the success or failure of the HR function in an organization can directly be attributed to the consequences of Job Analysis. If not carried out or not conducted accurately and comprehensively the other HR processes will be ineffective and the cost to the organisation high in terms of productivity and the ability to retain valuable staff Job analysis encompasses understanding and closely evaluating the knowledge, skills and attitudes required by an individual in performing a particular role. It’s like performing a Personal Profile Analysis of an invisible person. Once performed, job analysis would throw open a plethora of answers to how Recruitment, Performance Management, Training, Compensation benchmarking and several other processes should follow for the incumbent on the said job. Get the job analysis wrong and you’ll get the wrong person while recruiting, inefficient and sometimes irrelevant performance management measures, increased training expenditure, improper pay with respect to the market and a whole lot of other issues. . REFERENCES Arvey, R. D, Murphy K. R (1998) Performance Evaluation in Work Settings, Annual Review Psychology 49, 141-168 Baird, M. , Compton, R Nankervis, A. (2008) Human Resource Management: Strategies (6th ed. ). Cincinnati: South-Western Publishing Co. Cooper, K, Neck C. (May 2000) The Fit Executive; Exercise and Diet Guideline for Enhancing Performance, Academy of Management Executive 14(2), 72-83 Jackson E. S Schuler, R (2003) Managing Human Resources Through Strategic Partnerships (8th ed. ). Thomson South-Western Publishing Co Rayson, M. P. (2000) Fitness for work: the need for conducting a job analysis, Occup. Med. Vol. 50, No. 6, pp. 434-436, 2000. Retrieved April 12, 2010, from http://occmed. oxfordjournals. org How to cite Job Evaluation a Cornerstone to Hrm Practices, Papers

Marijuana Legalization Essay Summary Example For Students

Marijuana Legalization Essay Summary Most Americans do not want to spend scarcepublic funds incarcerating nonviolent marijuanaoffenders, at a cost of $23,000 per year. Politiciansmust reconsider our countrys priorities and attachmore importance to combating violent crime thantargeting marijuana smokers. Marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers at least$7.5 billion annually. This is an enormous waste ofscarce federal dollars that should be used to targetviolent crime. Marijuana prohibition makes no exception for themedical use of marijuana. The tens of thousands ofseriously ill Americans who presently use marijuanaas a therapeutic agent to alleviate symptoms ofcancer, AIDS, glaucoma, or multiple sclerosis riskarrest and jail to obtain and use their medication. Between 1978 and 1996, 34 states passed lawsrecognizing marijuanas therapeutic value. Mostrecently, voters in two states Arizona andCalifornia passed laws allowing for the medicaluse of marijuana under a physicians supervision. Yet, states are severely limited in their ability toimplement their medical use laws because of thefederal prohibition of marijuana. America tried alcohol prohibition between 1919and 1931, but discovered that the crime andviolence associated with prohibition was moredamaging than the evil sought to be prohibited. Withtobacco, America has learned over the last decadethat education is the most effective way todiscourage use. Yet, America fails to apply theselessons to marijuana policy. By stubbornly defining all marijuana smoking ascriminal, including that which involves adultssmoking in the privacy of their own homes, we arewasting police and prosecutorial resources, cloggingcourts, filling costly and scarce jail and prison space,and needlessly wrecking the lives and careers ofgenuinely good citizens. Marijuana legalization offers an importantadvantage over decriminalization in that it allows forlegal distribution and taxation of cannabis. In theabsence of taxation, the free market price of legalmarijuana would be extremely low, on the order offive to ten cents per joint. In terms of intoxicatingpotential, a joint is equivalent to at least $1 or $2worth of alcohol, the price at which cannabis iscurrently sold in the Netherlands. The easiest way tohold the price at this level under legalization wouldbe by an excise tax on commercial sales. Anexamination of the external costs imposed bycannabis users on the rest of society suggests that aharmfulness tax of $.50 $1 per joint isappropriate. It can be estimated that excise taxes inthis range would raise between $2.2 and $6.4 billionper year. Altogether, legalization would save thetaxpayers around $8 $16 billion, not counting theeconomic benefits of hemp agriculture and otherspinoff industries.