Cultural Awareness in Counselling Practices Essay Example for Free

Cultural Awareness in Counselling Practices Essay I have chosen to focus this assignment on the Aboriginal and Vietnamese cultures. I hope to be working in an area which will have these two cultures as the dominant groups. The reason I have focussed on Vietnamese refugees instead of the culture of Vietnam as a whole is that the facility I hope to work in has refugees as its main client group. I will give an overview of my research into how best to work in a counselling relationship with people from Aboriginal and Vietnamese cultures, ensuring that I am as culturally sensitive and aware as possible. Aboriginal culture and counselling: Most research indicates that cultural barriers are the major reason why Aboriginal people are discouraged or dissuaded from using the mental health service. As practitioners, counsellors have often failed to identify, acknowledge and recognise the central role of Indigenous culture. Historically, there has been a long period of mistrust among the Aboriginal people and white Australians. Federal governments for much of the twentieth century developed paternalistic policies and practices that regarded the removal of children from Aboriginal families as essential for their welfare. Continuing statutory responsibilities for the protection of children have made many Aboriginal women fear approaching the Department of Family and Community Services for assistance, especially in domestic violence and child abuse issues. It is a fact that Aboriginal people have and continue to experience being discriminated against by white Australians. A large socio-economic gap exists between white Australians and Aboriginal people. Despite there having been recorded experiences of both Aboriginal counsellors and non-Aboriginal counsellors attempting to keep Aboriginal clients engaged in the mental health service, it is evident that some Aboriginal clients may only turn up for one or two sessions but drop out of the system. The possible factors behind their lack of motivation to keep engaging in counselling service may lie in the means of assistance they are looking for. The problems of engaging Aboriginal clients in mental health services exist mainly because mainstream services have not provided relevant responses to their crisis situation. Aboriginal clients would first seek practical assistance such as refugee accommodation and food, and they would also seek assistance from their families, extended families or their own communities. Aboriginal people have retained strong kinship ties and extended family commitments. As in traditional times, Aboriginal people feel a great obligation to their kinship ties. The extended family will always be first in helping if there is a crisis or even a slight problem. Only when they cannot get enough or suitable help from their extended family or their own community, will they turn to outside help or support. There are particular issues to be aware of when working in a counselling role with Aboriginal clients. For example, it is not suitable to refer to a dead person by name and Aboriginal people view hallucination or delusion as spiritual experience not necessarily as symptoms of mental illness. Eye contact is considered offensive to Aboriginal people. Making eye contact (particularly with some one of the opposite sex) is shaming. Gender rules within Aboriginal cultures are important and must be respected whenever possible regarding intervention. Ideally, women staff should work with women and male staff should work with men. Women may feel embarrassed talking to male staff and men may feel shame if helped by female staff. In building a trust with Aboriginal people, most Aboriginal people would prefer to work with an Aboriginal worker regarding their problems. However situations may arise where clients may know or be related to an Aboriginal worker. They may feel shame or be restricted through kinship rules in discussing personal problems with them. Fear that the worker will breach confidentiality with the local community may be another concern. Where possible, clients should be given the choice of both Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal workers. Aboriginal clients will usually take the initiative in seeking assistance when a crisis emerges, such as domestic violence or services being disconnected, or having no money to buy food and other essentials for their children. Aboriginal people would first consider practical forms of assistance, such crisis care, financial assistance, medical services, accommodation, food when a domestic problem arises. This sort of assistance is what they really need and want, not just â€Å"talk therapy†. Before they can sort out their basic living problems, they may not have the capacity or attention to deal with other psychological issues. Once Aboriginal clients have settled down and can take a calmer approach to their predicament, it still does not guarantee they will stay with the mental health service. It is not uncommon that once they have solved a problem, they will feel it not necessary to remain a part of the service but may come back a few months later for help when another issue arises. If mental health service workers, for example, have patiently developed a good relationship or rapport with them, counsellors can take advantage of this by reminding their clients of the good they can do when relationships or domestic situations are at risk. The ability of counsellors to invite clients to talk about their problems may make it possible to explore other problems. Aboriginal clients’ particular issues or crises may be linked to other problems, such as child abuse, alcoholism, mental health, unemployment and parenting problems. It is crucial for counsellors to build a trusting relationship with the Aboriginal community. A relationship that is simply based on â€Å"talk therapy† will not work for Aboriginal clients. Counsellors need to know where to get practical assistance for Aboriginal clients. Otherwise, Aboriginal clients may only turn to those services that they feel can really assist them. A counselling service that provides support and practical assistance can become a meaningful referral point within the Aboriginal community. Vietnamese refugees and counselling: My research found that there are three recommended points of entry for developing trust and rapport with Vietnamese refugees. These are: Self- presentation of the Counsellor; Approaching the problem and Working through an Issue. Self Presentation of the Counsellor: The style and presentation of the counsellor could be described as ‘being a friend’ to the traumatised client. ‘Being a friend’ does not at all mean shedding the professional counselling role with boundaries and ethics, but rather means that counsellors dealing with these clients should be caring, sharing and acting as a true friend would normally be. Communicating caring to Vietnamese clients is being friendly, warm, interested in family, attentive to concerns raised, being an empathic listener, trying to understand and respond to non-verbal communications, and being ready to assist with practical matters. Presenting ‘as a friend’ also means that counsellors may initially have to share, or disclose, a little more about themselves than usual. This is often necessary to put Vietnamese clients at ease and win their trust. Another dimension of being a ‘friendly’ counsellor is being a ‘friend in need’. Many counsellors of Indochinese refugee clients have found it vital to assume multiple helping roles and to be actively involved in providing them with practical assistance or concrete services that provide immediate results, before engaging them in dealing with past trauma or in making important self-disclosures. Approaching a problem: The success of establishing trust and rapport with Vietnamese clients is not only dependent upon the way that counsellors present themselves as described above, but also upon the way they approach a problem. Within Vietnamese culture there are distinct ways of dealing with problems. Prominent features of the Vietnamese style include indirect expression of feelings, reluctance to confront conflictual situations, preference for allowing time to work out seemingly insoluble problems, and reliance on personal inner strength in facing difficulties. Given the quite different ways of dealing with problems in Vietnamese culture, we would like to suggest that non-Vietnamese counsellors have to move slowly and gently and approach with the right timing. Following a respectful, slow pace suitable to the client is important, especially during the rapport building stage, to avoid jarring or offending the client. The timing of approaching the problem is important for maintaining the relationship and for resolving the problem. If the counsellor takes the initiative to bring up an issue, it is important to do this gently, keeping in mind the cultural norm of ‘saving face’ and the risk of confrontation. Working through an Issue: As issues begin to be worked through, there are three suggested ways of continuing to build rapport and trust with Vietnamese clients: working with somatisation, working from here and now and working through the family. A great number of Vietnamese refugees express their experience of emotional distress under the guise of physical symptoms such as headache, fatigue, insomnia. As somatisation is a culturally acceptable way of presenting mental problems, counsellors can work with these problems first, before moving onto deeper levels. Most Vietnamese refugees are concerned with day-to-day survival. Offering them practical assistance is seen as offering much needed help and assisting to set up a trusting relationship and also an external environment in which emotional issues can be more safely worked through. For Vietnamese, the family plays an important role, in a resettlement country as well as in their country of origin. It appears to be present and influential in many issues, which the Vietnamese client discusses in the session. The family can support or sabotage the relationship between the therapist and the patient. Therefore, in post-trauma counselling with Vietnamese clients, dealing with the family dimension is crucial for the building of trust and understanding and for the success of the intervention. As in all counselling interventions, it is essential to build trust between Vietnamese-born clients and their counsellors. Points of entry rather than barriers have been referred to in the three aspects of counselling refugees. Credibility and giving are seen as being crucial in this process. Counselling can be of great benefit to helping Vietnamese refugees on the road to recovery from trauma. Vietnamese refugees have a great need for company, because they have suffered multiple losses, including faith in the goodness of humanity. Through a counsellor establishing a trusting relationship with them, they could regain this faith, so as to enable them to live the life that they have made huge sacrifices for. Prior to undertaking this assignment I had felt that my cultural awareness of both the Aboriginal and Vietnamese communities was very high. I have travelled extensively in Vietnam and had the opportunity to teach English there. My research into trauma and Vietnamese refugee status in Australia has certainly changed a lot of my views. I could almost say that with my basic Vietnamese language and extensive travels I had been feeling almost complacency about dealing with Vietnamese clients. I have learned that there are many parallels between the Aboriginal and Vietnamese refugee cultures. Both are in trauma; both need to have their immediate needs met before effective counselling can take place. My research into Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs has certainly given the actual practice of counselling clients in trauma an effective framework to work within. As does Erikson’s Stages of Development. Traumatised clients will have interrupted stages of development. These will need to be addressed after the initial and immediate needs are met. I had also felt that I had a particularly good understanding of the Aboriginal culture, having worked in Indigenous education. My research for this assignment highlighted that there are many gaps to my understanding. I had not taken into account that many Aboriginal people are actually in severe crisis when they do seek help. Similar to the Vietnamese people in trauma, they would first try to find support within their kin, tribe or immediate family. When a breakdown of this occurs, outside help is sought but this is fraught with fear, shame and often misunderstanding. This has been a vital assignment for me to undertake and I will continue to seek current research and counselling developments in the areas of Aboriginal mental health and refugee trauma counselling. References Armstrong, T. (2002). Counselling Interventions and Indigenous mental health. Medicine Australia,http://www.medicineau.net.au/clinical/abhealth/abhealt1345.html. Blagg, H. (2000). Crisis Intervention in Aboriginal Family Violence, Summary report. Crime Research Centre, University of Western Australia. Chambers, A. (1990). Responding to Domestic Violence: Spouse Abuse. Guidelines to Practice. Department for Community Services, Western Australia, September 1990. Nguyen Robin Bowles authors, published in the Journal of Australian Social Work, June 1998.

Internet And Its Impact On Globalization Media Essay

Internet And Its Impact On Globalization Media Essay The expansion of telecommunication or the Information and telecommunication technology (ICT) is the outcome of the microelectronic revolution which has created channels for the process of monitoring and processing of the information. It has become more pervasive than the radio and the television in todays globalised world. Incontestably now Internet has gained the position of the worlds largest electronic network. The debate is still going on regarding the origin of the Internet as some says that its origin was way back in late 1960s by the United States Department of Defence which created Arpanet (which was invented for a nuclear blitz.) There are others who oppose its origin in the United States by the Department of Defence. In 1984 Arpanet was expanded and opened to the scientific community when it was taken over by the National Science Foundation, transmogrifying into NSFNET, which linked five supercomputers by a variety of private access system.  [1]  As according to the Ex- Director General of WTO, Roberto Ruggiero, Internet provided cheaper faster and easier method of communication, an alternative that has created, global audience. According to Thomas Friedman, in his book The world is flat states, Earlier one has to go to the post offices to send mails and other things but now, it is just a game of seconds that we sent mails and it reaches there the more accurately and with speed.  [2]   Internet is the major provider of information as what the various Internet companies like America Online (AOL), CompuServe etc allows individual to connect with the Internet with just modem to plug in. The capabilities of the Internet are such that we can define it as bidirectional mode of mass communication. It has created a kind of word of mouth networks in which individuals share their opinions, views, expressions and the cyber world gives them enough space for this bidirectional means of communication. Internet which is so much blossomed into this globalised world is also the result of the telecommunication or existing telephones, fiber-optics and satellite systems, was made possible by the technological innovation of packet switching, in which the individual messages are decomposed, transmitted by various channels, and then reassembled, virtually instantaneously, at their destination.  [3]   I, in this paper is taking up the issue of Internet and its impact on the globalisation from the (global) business standpoint and also bring into the socio economic effect and also the cyber crime that is taking place into the cyber world. And also tries to bring into it the digital divide . The growth of Internet in last few years has flabbergasted the most exhausted or lacklustre economy. Before starting with the whole oratory I would like to give a brief explanation on how Internet has its importance in the field of business and also into other fields. I would emphasise onto the importance of Internet as a means of Information and communication technology and also as means by which the whole world is getting connected 24 hours a day. Much of the Internet is used for the private as well as for the commercial purposes many uses them for simple source of entertainment. Although the dominant ideologies sustained largely outside the Internet, the growing communities of the cybercitizen s Netizens brings the views and expressions of people together and cyberspace give them the opportunity to express. As Hauben and Hauben (1997) refer to as Netizens: Net Citizens. It has created its own terminology in its own world such as search engines like google.com; Wikipedia .com etc. I would also like to include here that in the present world as we talk about Globalisation which is a growing phenomenon and that can be described as a shift towards a more integrated and interdependent world economy'(Hill 1997) However, the history of the term globalisation is not very new. After the world war in 1980s the West claimed that there is an end of the history. George. W. Bush the then, President of the United States said, countries would cooperate peacefully as participants in one worldwide market, pursuing their interests while sharing commitments to basic human values. The debate into the globalisation is still going on as some some defined it as the Americanisation, of the world t hrough mechanisms like WTO, IMF, and Mc Donalds all backed up by US power. In simple terms it is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies and governments of different nations, a process driven by the international trade and aided by information technology(Carnegie endowment) The term globalisation is defined in simple terms as advance of human cooperation across national boundaries but can also be defined as for the self interest and also for the global cooperation. Fukuyama has defined globalisation as modernisation. However there is still a debate which is going on about the different views of globalisation and are put forth that the globalisation is just a historical development or a myth? As David Held argues, Globalisation helds to deepening, widening and speedening up of world in all aspects of contemporary social life. According to the American Heritage, Globalisation is the act, process or policy of making something worldwide in scope or applicati on. However if I talk about the Internet and its impact on Globalisation from the global business point of view which is the topic of the paper then the first I would like to emphasise over the use of the Internet in global business under the regime of globalisation. The Internet is growing at the rate of 30% per annum in number of users, and 100 % cent per annum in hosts on Internet. It is expected that by then of the year 2000, the user base will touch 200 million. It is estimated that there are 7000 ISPs worldwide, mostly in the US. In fact more than 60 percent of the users and ISPs in the Internet world are in the US (Sinha 1999).  [4]   If I talk about ISPs in India then, India has the first dial-up e-mail network was set up between National Centre for Software Technology (NCST) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay) in 1986, followed by connections to the US and Europe. In 1994, a satellite communication network for the Education and Research Network (ERNET) w as set up with the assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and National Informatics Centre (NIC) opened the gates for Internet gates to software exporting companies and government agencies as well. And in August 1995, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) introduced commercial Internet access in India.  [5]   If I look into the impact of the Internet on globalisation from business standpoint then I must first see that how the globalisation has changed the face of the business and make it internalisation of the business or trade and bring it into lot of ways. Leading market research firms have predicted that business-to- consumer retail commerce over the Internet, though amounting to almost nothing as late as 1995, will continue to grow at an astonishing pace and may exceed $100 billion by 2003 (McQuivey et.al., 1998) (I 1.pp1)* With the coming of Internet the new technology has grown up in the field of Information and technology is another accelerator for the mechanism of the Globalisation into the global business. And also if I look into it from the global economic perspective then can say that it also includes the WTO and the GATT agreements which includes the security of the data available at the Internet regarding the business and also for the other related issues. If I look into the trade in globalisation from the Information and communication point of view then before the internet the business was not on that exploring and expanding way as it is now after the introduction of Internet. There were just locals into the locals and the concept of global was there but not on large terms because the cost of making business was very high as the telecommunication charges were high as well as very few business opportunities were introduced, or I can say that the Internet has transformed the business from traditional supply chain to the electronic supply chain. Traditional Supply Chain Electronic Supply Chain 1.Electronic Data Exchange through telephone or fax Internet made it easy. 2.Long term Relationship Technology enabled relationships. 3. New Business opportunities were not there as the concept of on-line trading was not introduced. However in electronic supply chain it is very easy to access to increase the global interaction with people through various means of telecommunication 4. Management cost is also very high as for the maintenance of the data. Less Expensive. With the introduction of Internet in Global Commerce the business activities becomes fast. Accessibility to the data is available at anywhere anytime in any part of the world. Internet can be said as the fertile ground for the companies. During 1990s there has been an explosive increase in the presence of the company websites on the Internet, and an increasing sophistication in the ways that companies use the Internet for sales, public affairs, marketing and stakeholders relations.  [6]  Most of the dominant literature on the Internet is dominated by the prevalent discussion that puts Internet as a medium of business. Eg: A person in US wants to purchase a carpet from India, by giving order online on a website can easily purchase it. So Internet in one sense has made the global into local. As rightly defined by Mr.Clinton in 1997, new frontier for business, and no less a figure than the US President has described the internet as the Wild West of the global economy .  [7]  The companies made their corporate websites onto the Internet and retain the services of public relation firms for the services of the customers. It plays a role of the vehicle for the running of trade on Internet and also it provides a wider space too. The internet is no-space or a headspace, in which physical movement from site to site can only be described in terms of difference of experience (Mizrach 1997, italics in original).  [8]  The construction of the cyberspace on Internet is another issue for the cyber discourse. Bell and Valentine argues that, this may involve the appropriation of spatial concepts at scales ranging from the body to the global.  [9]  By this the companies target their consumers or their prejudices. Today the Internet industry has widened the scope of the business by providing its services a over the globe and at affordable and 24/7. The changing demographics of the Global economy states about the world output as, United States was the dominant industrial power in the early 1960s. It consists of 40% of the total world output in 1968 but 20% in 1997.  [10]   However the critique of the Internet into the global world is that while Internet Backbone Providers (IBPs), also called core providers, exchanged traffic at NAPs under so- called public peering agreements, smaller companies, ISPs, accessed the Internet via backbones. With increasing utilisation of the Internet these public NAPs became susceptible to congestion, resulting in delays and dropped packets. In consequences, large backbones began to directly interconnect with each other through so called private peering arrangements and started to charge transit fees for providing interconnection to private providers.  [11]   Downstream providers collect money at the edge of the Internet and buy connectivity from upstream ISPs or from backbones. However many authors has showed their concern about the concentration and market power in the core network. The problem has its source in 1997 when, starting with UUNET, top-tired IBPs began to refuse to peer with smaller backbone providers and to exclusively peer among each other under so-called non-disclosure agreements which means that peering conditions are kept secret. However , Milgrom and Mitchell and Srinagesh counter these concerns by arguing that a hierarchichally built Internet with a smaller number of core providers is cost effective since it is minimise both the routing and transaction cost.  [12]  This is very much helpful in business as it is cost effective and is provided at the affordable prices and also at the cheaper rates. Internet has removed the physical distances by bringing the world together not only in commerce but also in every sphere. Though it removes the geographical boundaries, it can be used as a tool for gathering the information as it can be indeed used as type of superhighway that connects a number of established networks with the individual system  [13]  , and can be used as a resource of obtaining incredible amount of information. With the Introduction of the Internet into the business a businessman can check the current position of the business anywhere and anytime around the world which was of course not possible earlier. As with the introduction of the various technological instruments like cellular phones, laptops etc and also with the innovative technologies like 3G and all in which the access of the information is just a click away. With chatting onto the internet Live or by emailing or by the current statics which is available online to the consumer s well as trade both can be benefitted. By using Internet as a tool it is easy to work all together as a wide network. As the information which is available on the internet can be trusted also but the debate is still going on this issue as some says that the information available can be trusted while the others say that it can be hacked over and the data can be misused and accessed for the private purposes. It has made the global business to become possible because for the smaller business it was not possible to go global before the internet but now it is possible by the way of online trading which leads to the internationalisation of the business. However the global digital divide has also expanded. As the Internet developed unevenly throughout the world, creating what has become known as the global digital divide. The number of Internet users is one of the most widely used indicatiors of development of this emerging medium of communication. Less than 10 %cent of the worlds population uses the Internet, and the gap between the developed and the developing countries has continued to widen since the early 1990s.(Figure.)* Statistics compiled by the International Telecommunication Union as of the end 2002 indicates that the Internet use as a proportion of the population ranges from less than one percent in many underdeveloped African, Central American and South Asian countries to between 50 and 60 % cent in Iceland, the United states, Scandinavia, Singapore or South Korea.  [14]   I would like to say that this is the major difference or demarcation which brings the digital divide into the world accessibility over the Internet. As the world which is underdeveloped cannot use the wide networks of the internet which brings commerce, communication and interaction with other parts of the world this still continues the topic for the debate into the globalised world. Global capalist forces generates profound inequalities between the developed core, the developing semi-periphery, and the underdeveloped periphery.  [15]   The most replicated finding into the literature is the communication media is that it is been used by people of the higher socioeconomic status. A long tradition of research in media studies conforms the so-called knowledge gap hypothesis.  [16]   It reflects that people of the higher status can use the internet at any cost however those who belong to the lower socio economic status cannot use it as frequently as can by the higher status. But statistics shows that it is increasing with the variety of empirical studies of the global digital divide using aggeregate data have found evidence to the effect that the average standard of living and the average educational level in the country- arguably the analogs of socioeconomic status of the individual level- are strong predictor of Internet use. Using individual level data gatheref in 24 countries, Chen, Bose and Wellman (2002) also found a strong correlation between socioeconomic status and Internet use.  [17]   This reflects th e digital divide that is prevailing into the globalised world. With such global digital divide the global trade is not possible upto certain extent because with this only a certain part of a world which is globalised and developed can access the commerce as well as all the benefits of the Internet and use it on their own terms and conditions. If I talk about the Global business through Internet then online trading is another fact that is taking place such as: amazon.com; reddiff.com; eBay. in etc. For online business, parties must be prepared to use the necessary technology. Organisation find themselves more easy to access the information about the consumers and contact them, and consumers can also access the information about their account online, many banks have also started online trading such as in India State Bank of India started the online trading through which a consumer can access the information about the transaction at any time and from anywhere. I would like to say that internet or the Information and communication technology has empowered the consumers to do everything and anything they need and want to know and to search for, they can compare the prices online and can bid over that. Internet also brings more transparency into the market and global customer will also increasing because of this and also their demands increases. Internet is a part of the institutionally complex, economically important, tightly regulated and highly politicised telecommunication sector. National telecommunication system and markets differs in their reach, quality and cost, which in turn are affected by the way in which regulation takes place, the ownership of companies active in the sector, and the intensity of competition. It is important to note that the competition can translate not only into lower prices (or costs of access and use to the user) but also in more service differentiation, choice and quality. Thus, policymaking in this area tends to have a large impact on the various dimensions of media access and use.  [18]   I can say on that policies are been made and regulated by the telecommunication department and it depends upon the accessibility of the consumer which policy is been accessed by them and it absolutely depend upon the family income of the consumer which plan or the policy is been accessed by them. The re are political conditions also which effects on the growth of the communication media, different social behaviour and the social relationships will leads to the different field of communication. It also depend upon their social circle as what various social networking sites like facebook.com; twitter.com; orkut.com do and tries to explore various new contacts which is beyond the existing. The growth of the internet worldwide is not just only because of the socio-economic status or its cost effectiveness but also the political and the sociological variables and also resources through which it is available to the whole world but also results and data shows that the digital divide is also prevailing into the world through which the whole worlds accessibility to the internet is not possible. If I talk about the impact of the internet in globalisation which is the topic of this paper from business standpoint is like when the other part of the world is not able to access the internet an d not able to get information regarding the online trading and commerce, it is another ongoing debate which is still prevailing into the global society. The Impact of Internet onto the Globalisation with the business standpoint states the competitiveness that has emerged into the global trading as the markets are openly accessed by the consumers have the choices to demand more. As the access to the internet is made possible for the people of the highly socioeconomic background is more than the access of the socially poor people shows the divide into the internet world and also its cost efficiency doesnt work into the world which does not have access to the Internet e.g: the developing world, which have less access into the internet cannot avail these opportunities as these are only available to the people of the developed world such as United States and the European countries. However internet has impacted the way in which services were offered and delivered. The relationship between the customer and the firm becomes more insidious here. The impact of the internet on globalisation is such that it also brings the concept of plagiarism and various other cyber crimes such as, eg: a book or an article is been written by an author is available online and someone has copied it from the book and use it by his or her name without giving reference is a matter of plagiarism. Secondly the server access is although possible to each and everybody through computers and unique IP (Internet Protocol) address through which we can browse the internet but there are few who hack the servers and use it according to their individual purposes. For which various measures are been taken by the Government of various countries and various regulatory measures are also been made but not implemented in the way it should be it also a topic of debate in this globalised world. Though servers can also be used to deny the service that has to be delivered. The government in order to control the cyber crime that has increased and still increasing, according to the Statistics of the US FBI, Incidents of the American Internet networks being broken i nto are rapidly increasing by 30% annually, making the US suffer tremendously.  [19]   The impact of the internet into the globalisation is been discussed into this seminar paper on the fields of global business, digital divide, socio-economic status, security and also the cybercrime. All these need a regulatory measure and its implications. Hegemonic uses of the Net include commercial applications, (Weis 1992; Cronin 1996) particularly advertising and shopping but also purchasing and marketing, in addition to uses by public agencies that legitimate and sustain existing ideologies and politics as normal, necessary, or natural.  [20]   However, the Internet also faces the counter hegemonic discourses, as all groups does not favour the use the use of the internet in all spheres of life. They refuse to accept the ideologies of those who believe to go with the opinion of the general public. Conclusion: In the entire oratory of Impact of Internet on Globalisation from a business standpoint, a global business is missing or been treated as business only through the developed part of the world. This crisis is constructed into the light of the digital divide especially when we are talking into the terms of e commerce or e trade or e business. However in my course of going through the reports and scholarly articles and books, I came to the conclusion that e business or e trade is possible only through the Internet but if this is not available to the developing countries and also because of the socio economic gap as only those can afford who have wealth and not to those who dont have. One more point can be added here as education or knowledge. Computer literacy can also become important criteria for internet knowledge. As Young argued that, Internet is both complex as well as easy and through Internet crosses the geographical and political divides and also it brings separation between pub lic and private social spaces and places. Once the Internet is opened it should be used as a tool through which information can be gathered and it should not used as an objective. And State should try to overcome with the challenges such as cyber literacy, and also to bridge the digital divide between the developed and the under developing world. Thus, we can conclude with the note that the impact of internet on the globalisation has both the negative as well as the positive impact as also the view of the critiques states the same, I through this paper would hope for the better policy and strategy by the idea and emergence of global village to tackle the problems which are prevailing into the world and must be isolated so that the entire world can access the Internet and business can help the developing countries also to come up from the state of under developed to the state of developed and also the hegemony of the e-trade must break from the hands of the developed countries.

Career Passports and Career Portfolios :: Career Passports Portfolios Essays

Career Passports and Career Portfolios Portfolios have long been used in some professions to showcase professional work and skill. In education, portfolios have also been used for assessment, including self-assessment (Lankes 1995; Pond et al. 1998). Both career portfolios and career passports reflect this dual focus—students assess themselves in the process of developing a product, and the resulting product showcases and documents their experiences and skills. A distinction is sometimes drawn between a portfolio as developmental and a passport as summative (Bridging the Gap 1993). With portfolios, more emphasis is put on the developmental process of self-assessment, planning, and goal-setting; with passports, more emphasis is put on the final product that sums up the results of the process and communicates them to others. In practice, however, both passports and portfolios represent a combination of developmental process and summative product. The value of the passport or portfolio is also twofold: students come to an awareness of their own skills and experience, and employers have richer, more detailed information for hiring decisions than is provided in transcripts and diplomas. As early as the mid-1980s, Charner and Bhaerman (1986) advocated a Career Passport as a way for secondary students to identify and document their work and nonwork experiences and to translate those experiences into statements of skills specifically related to work. The process was necessary for students to understand what they had to offer to employers; the resulting Career Passport provided employers with critical information to supplement the information in school transcripts or even resumes. The Ohio Individual Career Plan (ICP) and Career Passport. The Ohio Career Passport is the capstone of students' career decision-making process, begun before the ninth grade (Gahris n.d.) The planning and decision making involved in the ICP process lead to each student's Career Passport, an individual credential housing an array of formal documents that students use in the next step after high school. Components include a letter of verification from the school; a student-developed resume; a student narrative identifying career goals and underlying rationale; a transcript (including attendance); diplomas, certificates, licenses, or other credentials; and a list of any specific vocational program competencies. The state recommends housing those components in a consistent, easily recognizable folder. Students develop ICPs through career interest and aptitude assessment, exploration experiences, preferably through job shadowing, and annual review and revision in high school. The ICP and Career Passport can be developed in any statewide curriculum area but most often this occurs in English or social studies, with assistance from the computer instructor and guidance counselor.

A Martyrs Victory In A Spiritual Sense :: essays research papers fc

A Martyr's Victory in a Spiritual Sense Bishop Francis X. Ford was a well educated, enormously gentle man, that was kicked, beaten, insulted, and surrounded by hatred. All this because of one mans beliefs. He was born in Brooklyn in 1892. He was the founder of the Maryknoll Missionaries and was the first bishop of Kwantung, China. He was killed in the late 1950's in China, he was charged with anti-Communist, counterrevolutionary, and espionage activities, his real "crime" was for being a Christian and a foreigner. During his life Bishop Ford illustrated the cardinal virtue of fortitude, which is the ability to overcome fear in order to pursue good; "it is an active sake to overcome evil for the sake of gods kingdom" said Huggard. When he took office in China, the country was already feeling the effects of the massive Japanese advance across Asia. In a short time millions lost there lives and were driven from there homes. Bishop ford refused to leave the war-torn country, even after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war. During this time he distinguished himself by the way he cared for war refugees. Chinese paid a terrible price during this war with Japan, but even more costly was a civil war that followed. Bishop Ford exemplified the virtue of fortitude, by not leaving the war-torn country and staying to try to pursue good. During this time of war, many would wonder what was the reason for him to stay in China, and what was his why to live? In the Novel A Mans Search For Meaning, Nietzsche says "he who has a why to live can bear with almost any how". If Ford had left the country during the time of war, there would have probably been no hope for the war refugees that didn't have the option to stay or go. His why to live was not to save himself, but to save others. In the Novel Frankl describes the human person as a meaning maker, who has the last human freedom namely to choose one attitude in a given set of circumstances. In 1950, he moved from his Diocese in Kaying China, to a political prison in Canton 200, miles away. At every stop along the way he was put on public display and humiliated. His attitude during these stops was not to give and let the humiliation make get to him, but to use it as a stepping stone to fight harder, he did the inevitable he used the humiliation to make him better.

Essay --

This paper takes a case analysis approach to considering the ethical and legal implications of the â€Å"right† to health care in contemporary America. The case scenario assumes that the government has enacted a new national health care policy. All citizens are guaranteed an annual income of $20,000 and the right to purchase (at an annual cost of $1,500) a comprehensive health insurance policy covering all routine medical and hospital costs. People who fail to purchase this insurance plan must pay cash for all health services. If non-insured individuals do not have the money to pay for services, the hospital and/or physician will deny treatment. This â€Å"comprehensive† insurance package is not without certain important limitations and exclusions. Notably, no coverage is provided for illness or disability arising directly from the individual’s own unhealthy behaviors (e.g., smoking, overeating, drinking, etc.). This paper examines the legal and ethical implications of this health care system (for individual patients, hospital administrators, health care providers, and the society at large) by looking at the situation facing two hypothetical patients. The first patient, â€Å"Mr. Puffer† purchased the $1,500 plan but finds that costs related to the treatment of his lung cancer are not covered (because Mr. Puffer is a long-time smoker). The second patient, â€Å"Mr. Spender† has failed to purchase the insurance plan and is now being denied admission and treatment for his acute appendicitis since he has neither insurance coverage nor the cash to pay for the treatment. Both Mr. Puffer and Mr. Spender contend that the hospital has violated their right to health care. Health Care as a â€Å"Moral Duty† versus a â€Å"Moral Right† The two patients’ claim... ...only solution to the dilemmas posed in this case is to completely re-design the health care system. It must have as its starting point a system of distributing health care benefits based on moral values, not marketplace values. A good beginning would be adherence to the moral principle that health care is (as both Mr. Puffer and Mr. Spender asserted) a basic right not a privilege based on income level or â€Å"good behavior.† If health care is indeed a right and not a privilege, an ethical system should provide for universal access to health care. Having established these basic guiding principles, the system designers would then have to grapple with the logistics of rationing existing health care resources (as necessarily limited by technology, funding, etc.) in a manner which takes into account principles of distributive justice and the underlying values of the society.

Dbq for American Imperialism

The period 1875-1920 has been described by some historians as a period of â€Å"selflessness† during which the United States helped weaker nations from dominant European powers and spread the â€Å"blessings of democracy and civilization.† Others have described the â€Å"New Manifest Destiny† as a time of â€Å"ruthless American expansion† at the cost of weaker nations and in violation of our own principles of consent of the governed and popular sovereignty.Using the documents, and your knowledge, how would you characterize this period of â€Å"Becoming a World Power†?Document ADocument Bâ€Å"The title to territory of indefinite but confessedly very large extent is in dispute between Great Britain and the Republic of Venezuela. . . . Venezuela can hope to establish her claim only through peaceful methods. . . . The Government of the United States has made it clear to Great Britain that the controversy is one in which both its honor and its interes ts are involved. . . . The people of the United States have a vital interests in the cause of popular self-government. . . . To-day the United States is practically sovereign on this continent, and its fiat is law upon the subjects to which it confines its interposition. . . . Its infinite resources combined with its isolated position render it master of the situation and practically invulnerable as against any or all other powers. . . .All the advantages of this superiority are at once imperiled if the principle be admitted that European powers may convert American States into colonies or provinces of their own. . . . Great Britain can not be deemed a South American state within the purview of the Monroe Doctrine. . . . It being clear, therefore, that the United States may legitimately insist upon the merits of the boundary question being determined, it is equally clear that there is but one feasible mode of determining them, viz., peaceful arbitration.† Richard Olney, Secret ary of State, 1895.Document CDocument Dâ€Å"The Republic of Hawaii hereby cedes absolutely and without reserve to the United States of America all rights of sovereignty of whatsoever kind in and over the Hawaiian Islands and their dependencies; and it is agreed that all territory of and appertaining to the Republic of Hawaii is hereby annexed to the United States of America under the name of the Territory of Hawaii. . . .The existing laws of the United States relative to public lands shall not apply to such lands in the Hawaiian Islands, but the Congress of the United States shall enact special laws for their management and disposition. . . . There shall be no further immigration of Chinese into the Hawaiian Islands, except upon such conditions as are now or may hereafter be allowed by the laws of the United States, and no Chinese by reason of anything herein contained shall be allowed to enter the United States from the Hawaiian Islands.† Treaty of Hawaiian Annexation, 1898 .Document Eâ€Å"The principles which this Government is particularly desirous of seeing formally declared by His Imperial Majesty and by all the great Powers interested in China, are: First. The recognition that no Power will in any way interfere with any treaty port or any vested interest within any leased territory or within any so-called â€Å"sphere of interest† it may have in China.Second. That the Chinese treaty tariff of the time being shall apply to all merchandise landed or shipped to all such ports as are within said â€Å"sphere of interest† (unless they be â€Å"free ports†), no matter to what nationality it may belong, and that duties so leviable shall be collected by the Chinese Government.Third. That it will levy no higher harbor dues on vessels of another nationality frequenting any port in such â€Å"sphere† than shall be levied on vessels of its own nationality over equal distances.The declaration of such principles by His Imperial Maj esty would not only be of great benefit to foreign commerce in China. . . .† John Hay, Open Door In China , Pg.168.Document Fâ€Å"On March 31 Captain-General Blanco issued a decree putting an end to reconcentration in the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas, and Santa Clara, and on April 9 the Spanish Cabinet decided to grant an armistice to the insurgents, while both the Pope and the great Powers of Europe were using their influence to avert a Spanish-American war. Nevertheless the replies at this time of the Madrid government to President McKinley's demands concerning the pacification of Cuba, notwithstanding the Spanish offer to arbitrate the Maine trouble, led the authorities at Washington to believe that pacification could not be attained without the armed intervention of the United States.The President's message to Congress . . . . stated the entire issue, rightly considering the Maine disaster a subordinate matter, stated that the only hope of relief and repo se from a condition which can no longer be endured is the enforced pacification of Cuba. In the name of humanity, in the name of civilization, in behalf of endangered American interests, which give us the right and the duty to speak and act, the war in Cuba must stop.† â€Å"Outbreak Of The War With Spain†, America, Vol.10, Pg.120.Document Gâ€Å"For more than a year the exact whereabouts of the elusive chieftain of the insurgent Filipinos had been a mystery. Rumor located Aguinaldo in all sorts of impossible places. Running up the bank toward the house, we were met by Segovia, who came running out, his face aglow with exultation, and his clothing spattered with the blood of the men he had wounded. He called out in Spanish, â€Å"It is all right. We have him.† We hastened into the house, and I introduced myself to Aguinaldo, telling him that we were officers of the  American army, that the men with us were our troops, and not his, and that he was a prisoner of war.He was given assurance that he need fear no bad treatment. He said in a dazed sort of way, â€Å"Is this not some joke?† I assured him that it was not, though, as a matter of fact, it was a pretty bad one, on him. With Aguinaldo in our hands, the Filipinos soon lost heart and the insurrection collapsed.† Senator George Frisbie Hoar, Subjugation of the Philippines Inquitous, The World's Famous Orations, Vol.3, Pg.220.Document Hâ€Å"The Republic of Panama grants to the United States in perpetuity, the use, occupation and control of a zone of land and land under water for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of said Canal of the width of ten miles extending to the distance of five miles on each side of the center line of the route of the Canal to be constructed; the said zone beginning in the Caribbean Sea three marine miles from mean low water mark and extending to and across the Isthmus of Panama into the Pacific Ocean to a distance of three marine miles from mean low water mark with the proviso that the cities of Panama and Colon and the harbors adjacent to said cities, which are included within the boundaries of the zone above described, shall not be included within this grant. . . .The Republic of Panama further grants in like manner to the United States in perpetuity, all islands within the limits of the zone above described and in addition thereto, the group of small islands, in the Bay of Panama, named Perico, Naos, Culebra and Flamenco. . . .The Republic of Panama grants to the United States all the rights, power and authority within the zone mentioned and described in Article II of this agreement, and within the limits of all auxiliary lands and waters mentioned and described in said Article II which the United States would possess and exercise, if it were the sovereign of the territory within which said lands and waters are located to the entire exclusion of the exercise by the Republic of Panama of an y such sovereign rights, power or authority.† Theodore Roosevelt, Convention Between U. S. And Panama, Pg.480.Document Iâ€Å"In view of the constant reiteration of the assertion that there was some corrupt action by or on behalf of the United States Government in connection with the acquisition of the title of the French Company to the Panama Canal and of the repetition of the story that a syndicate of American citizens owned either one or both of the Panama Companies, I deem it unwise to submit to the Congress all the information I have on the subject.These stories were first brought to my attention as published in a paper in Indianapolis, called the â€Å"News,† edited by Mr. Delavan Smith. The stories were scurrilous and libelous in character and false in every essential particular. Mr. Smith shelters himself behind the excuse that he merely accepted the statements which had appeared in a paper published in New York, the â€Å"World,† owned by Mr. Joseph Pul itzer.† Theodore Roosevelt, Purchase Of The Panama Canal, Pg.240.Document Jâ€Å"Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914), American naval officer and historian, born in West Point, New York, and educated at the United States Naval Academy. A Union naval officer during the American Civil War (1861-1865), Mahan served in the navy for nearly 40 years. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1885. In 1886, Mahan was invited to lecture at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He also served as president of the college from 1886 to 1889, and again in 1892 and 1893. His lectures were published under the title of The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783 (1890). The book received international recognition as a comprehensive exposition of naval strategy. Mahan stressed the important role of sea power in the world, and this idea had a profound influence on the policies of many nations, including the United States and Germany.† Microsoft EncartaDocument Kâ€Å"And now of a sudden, without cool deliberation, without prudent preparation, the nation is hurried into war, and America, she who more than any other land was pledged to peace and good will on earth, unsheathes her  sword, compels a weak and unwilling nation to a fight, rejecting without due consideration her [Spain's] earnest and repeated offers to meet every legitimate demand of the United States. It is a bitter disappointment to the lover of his country; it is a turning back from the path of civilization to that of barbarism. There never was a good war,† said Franklin. There have indeed been many wars in which a good man must take part. . . .But if a war be undertaken for the most righteous end, before the resources of peace have been tried and proved vain to secure it, that war has no defense. It is a national crime. The plea that the better government of Cuba, and the relief of the reconcentrados, could only be secured by war is the plea either of ignorance or of hypocrisy. Bu t the war is declared; and on all hands we hear the cry that he is no patriot who fails to shout for it, and to urge the youth of the country to enlist, and to rejoice that they are called to the service of their native land. The sober counsels that were appropriate before the war was entered upon must give way to blind enthusiasm, and the voice of condemnation must be silenced by the thunders of the guns and the hurrahs of the crowd. Stop! A declaration of war does not change the moral law.â€Å"The Ten Commandments will not budge† at a joint resolve of Congress. . . . No! the voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the press and too often the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in and keep step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent, and spite of obliquity, misrepresentation, and abuse, to insist on being heard, and with sober counsel to maintain the everlasting validity of the principles of the moral law.† Public Opinion 24 (June 23, 1898): 775-776.Document LCaribbean interventionsDocument Mâ€Å"Even if the condemnation of barbarous warfare in the Philippines by the imperialist press is somewhat belated, we welcome it, as we welcome everything that compels Americans to give attention to a subject to which too many of them have become increasingly indifferent. Silence, we know, is consistent with shame, and may be one of the signs of its existence; and the fact that only a few of the more unblushing or foolish newspapers have defended Gen. Smith's policy of extermination shows what the general sentiment is. To allege the provocation which our soldiers had is to set up a defense which President Roosevelt brushed aside in advance.To fall back on the miserable sophistry that â€Å"war is hell† is only another way of making out those who engage in that kind of war to be fiends. It is, besides, to offer an excuse for ourselves whi ch we did not tolerate for an instant in the case of Spanish atrocities. That is our present moral humiliation in the eyes of the world.We made war on Spain four years ago for doing the very things of which we are now guilty ourselves. As the Chicago News pointedly observes, we are giving Spain as good reason to interfere with us on the ground of humanity as we had to interfere with her. Doubtless she would interfere if she were strong enough and thought she could acquire some islands in the virtuous act.† Nation (New York) 74 (May 8, 1902): 357.Document Nâ€Å"How long are the Spaniards to drench Cuba with the blood and tears of her people? How long is the peasantry of Spain to be drafted away to Cuba to die miserably in a hopeless war, that Spanish nobles and Spanish officers may get medals and honors? How long shall old [Cuban] men and women and children be murdered by the score, the innocent victims of Spanish rage against the patriot armies they cannot conquer? How long shall the sound of rifles in Castle Morro at sunrise proclaim that bound and helpless prisoners of war have been murdered in cold blood? How long shall Cuban women be the victims of Spanish outrages and lie sobbing and bruised in loathsome prisons?† New York Journal, 1898Document Oâ€Å"When next I realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps, I confess I did not know what to do with them. I sought counsel from all sides–Democrats as well as Republicans–but got little help. I thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon; then other islands, perhaps, also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me this way–I don't know how it was, but it came: (1)That we could not give them back to Spain–that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2 ) That we could not turn them over to France or Germany, our commercial rivals in the Orient–that would be bad business and discreditable. (3) That we could not leave them to themselves–they were unfit for self-government, and they would soon have anarchy and misrule worse than Spain's was; and (4) That there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them and by God's grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow men, for whom Christ also died.And then I went to bed and went to sleep, and slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department (our map-maker), and I told him to put the Philippines on the map of the United States (pointing to a large map on the wall of his office), and there they are and there they will stay while I am President!† This document is a report of an interview with McKinley at the White House, November 21, 1899, wri tten by one of the interviewers and confirmed by others present. Published in Christian Advocate, January 22, 1903.Document Pâ€Å"It is not true that the United States feels any land hunger or entertains any projects as regards the other nations of the Western Hemisphere, save such as are for their welfare. All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. . . . If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the United States.Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by  some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoi ng or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power. . . . Our interests and those of our southern neighbors are in reality identical. We would interfere with them only in the last resort. . . .† [Theodore Roosevelt] A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents (New York: Bureau of National Literature, 1906) vol. 16 (December 6, 1904), pp. 7053-7054.Document Qâ€Å"There is not a civilized nation which does not talk about its civilizing mission just as grandly as we do. . . . . We assume that what we like and practice, and what we think better, must come as a welcome blessing to Spanish-Americans and Filipinos. This is grossly and obviously untrue. They hate our ways. They are hostile to our ideas. Our religion, language, institutions, and manners offend them.† W. G. Sumner, War and Other Essays (1919), pp. 303-305.Document Râ€Å"No document has proved more harmful to the prestige of the United States in the Western Hemisphere [than the Roo sevelt corollary]. No White House policy could be more distasteful to Latin Americans–not even, perhaps, outspoken imperialism. Latin Americans are usually inclined to admire strength, force, a nation muy hombre [very manly]. This was imperialism without military glamour. . . . Moreover, it was a total distortion of the original Message. Monroe's Doctrine was defensive and negative: defensive, in that it was essentially an opposition to eventual aggression from Europe; negative, in that it simply told Europe what it should not do–not what the United States should do.The Monroe Doctrine of later corollaries became aggressive and positive; aggressive, because, even without actual European attack, it urged Unites States â€Å"protection† of Latin America–and that was outright intervention; positive, because instead of telling Europe what not to do, it told the United States what it should do in the Western Hemisphere. From a case of America vs. Europe, the c orollaries made of the Doctrine a case of the United States vs. America. President Monroe had merely shaken his head, brandished his finger, and said to Europe, â€Å"Now, now, gentlemen, if you meddle with us, we will not love you any more,† while Teddy Roosevelt, brandishing a big stick, had shouted, â€Å"Listen, you guys, don't muscle in–this territory is ours.† Luis Quintanilla, A Latin American Speaks (New York: The Macmillan Company 1943), pp. 125-126.Document Sâ€Å"Open Door or not, patriotic Chinese did not care to be used as a doormat by the Europeans. In 1900 a superpatriotic group known as the â€Å"Boxers† broke loose with the cry â€Å"Kill Foreign Devils.† Over two hundred missionaries and other ill-fated whites were murdered, and a number of foreign diplomats were besieged in the capital, Beijing (Peking). A rescue force of some eighteen thousand soldiers, hastily assembled, arrived in the nick of time. This multi nation contingen t consisted of Japanese, Russian, British, French, German, and American troops, with the American contribution some twenty-five hundred men. Such participation in a joint military operation, especially in Asia, was plainly contrary to the nation's time-honored principles of nonentanglement and noninvolvement.† David Kennedy, The American Pageant, Chapter 31.Document Tâ€Å" . . . .largely as a result of the dislocations and tax burdens, numerous Japanese laborers, with their wives and children, began to pour into California. By 1906 approximately seventy thousand Japanese dwelt along the Pacific Coast. Nervous Californians, confronted by another â€Å"yellow peril,† feared being drowned in an Asian sea. . . . Following the frightful earthquake and fire in San Francisco, the local school authorities, decreed that Japanese children should attend a special school. Instantly, this brewed an international crisis, and irresponsible war talk sizzled. This led to the Gentleman ’s Agreement.† David Kennedy, The American Pageant, Chapter 31.Document Uâ€Å"Cuba, scorched and chaotic, presented another headache. An American military government, set up under the administrative genius of General Leonard Wood of Rough Rider fame, wrought miracles in government, finance, education, agriculture, and public health. Under his leadership a frontal attack was launched on yellow fever. Spectacular experiments were performed by Dr. Walter Reed and others upon American soldiers, who volunteered as human guinea pigs; and the stegomyia mosquito was proved to be the lethal carrier.A cleanup of breeding places for mosquitoes wiped out yellow fever in Havana, while removing the recurrent fear of epidemics in cities of the South and Atlantic seaboard. The United States, honoring its self-denying Teller Amendment of 1898, withdrew from Cuba in 1902. Old World imperialists could scarcely believe their eyes. But the Washington government could not turn this rich an d strategic island completely loose on the international sea; a grasping power like Germany might secure dangerous lodgment near America's soft underbelly. The Cubans were therefore forced to write into their own constitution of 1901 the so-called Platt Amendment. The hated restriction severely hobbled the Cubans. They bound themselves not to impair their independence by treaty or by contracting a debt beyond their resources.They further agreed that the United States might intervene with troops to restore order and to provide mutual protection. Finally, the Cubans promised to sell or lease needed coaling or naval stations, ultimately two and then only one (Guantanamo), to their powerful â€Å"benefactor.† The United States is still there on about twenty-eight thousand acres under an agreement that can be revoked only by the consent of both parties.† Thomas A. Bailey, The American Pageant, Chapter 30.Document VA thorny legal problem was posed by the various territorial a cquisitions: did the Constitution follow the flag? Did American laws, including tariff laws, apply with full force to the newly acquired possessions, chiefly the Philippines and Puerto Rico? Beginning in 1901 with the Insular Cases, a badly divided Supreme Court decreed, in effect, that the flag did outrun the Constitution, and that the outdistanced document did not necessarily extend with full force to the new territories. The Congress was therefore left with a free hand to determine the degree of applicability.â€Å"The question before us is, has Congress incorporated Puerto Rico into the Union as distinguished from merely belong to the United States? Constitutional guarantees clearly apply in territories destined for statehood, but not in those not destined for statehood. . . . Mr. Balzac, the editor of a Puerto Rican newspaper, was convicted of criminal libel in the territorial court without trial by jury. He appealed to the Supreme Court for his right of trial by jury. . . . W ithout express provision by Congress, territory acquired by the nation remains unincorporated and the inhabitants are not entitled to all the protections of the Constitution.† Balzac v. ‘Puerto Rico 258 U.S. 298, 1922.

GM Powertrain Essay

Joe Hinrichs, a recent Harvard Business school graduate, was hired in February 1996 to run the General Motors’s the Fredericksburg Torque Converter Clutch (TCC) manufacturing plant. At 29 years old, Hinrichs was GM’s youngest plant manager. Hinrichs was inheriting a poor performing plant that continually underachieved, losing money year after year. Improvements were desperately needed to increase the efficiency of the manufacturing process and reduce operating costs. GM had considered shutting down the plant; however, when a new bonding process, using carbon fiber, for the TCC was approved in 1995, GM instead invested thirty million dollars into the Fredericksburg plant to incorporate the new process. From the beginning, Hinrichs faced a difficult situation. The previous plant manager committed the plant to ambitious budgetary goals. Hinrichs was also tasked with preparing the plant to use the new TCC manufacturing process and attaining QS-9000 certification. If that weren’t enough, Hinrichs still had day to day emergencies to handle; the latest being the 1500-ton press breaking down, an important machine in the production process. Despite his situation, Hinrichs met the challenges head on, impressing both GM management and plant staff. Workforce Management Hinrichs knew that in order to be successful, he needed to rally the plant staff around him, gaining their trust and respect. Being an outsider at a small town plant and also being so young, Hinrichs knew accomplishing this would be a huge challenge. During the first month on the job he started to show that he could be the capable leader this plant needed. Hinrichs had just received word that a UAW strike at two Dayton area plants would shut down all of GM’s automatic transmission production plants, leaving him without customers. The standard procedure was to lay off the plant workers until the strike was over, instead Hinrichs used the lay off as an opportunity to show his workforce that he would take care of them. As an alternative to laying them off, he worked with the staff to get as many people as possible to take vacation during the time or mandatory training. The remainder worked on some of the improvements he wanted to make. Not only did this improve his relationship with the plant workers, it also gave him a way to start bring efficiency improvements to the plant. Historically, the Fredericksburg plant saw little gains from efficiency improvements. While not stated in the case, this was most likely due to the highly-skilled staff’s resisting change, preferring the comfort of their undocumented processes that they had been using for decades. Hinrichs knew that he wouldn’t be successful unless he could ease them into the changes and frame the changes in a way the staff would see as beneficial. In addition, Hinrichs had to overcome the fact that improvements meant less overtime, a disincentive for the staff. First, Hinrichs used the guise of necessary process changes to produce the new TCCs in order to bring in process improvements without upsetting the workers. By framing the changes as improvements to get the plant prepared for producing the new high tech part, the staff would be more open to changes. Second, Hinrichs eased the workers into change by first meeting with the union weeks before the changes were implemented in order to get their feedback and buy-in as well as time to come to terms with the changes. Third, Hinrichs spread change throughout the facility, so that no area would experience too much change all at once, giving the staff more time to adjust. Finally, Hinrichs kept the workers very involved in the installation of new cells, encouraging them to examine them and provide him with feedback. This approach got some of the more senior workers to take a closer look and get excited about the changes, some actually applying to work in the new cells. Hinrichs realized that he had to give the workers new incentives to overcome the disincentive of a lack of overtime. He knew that if he could reconfigure the plant away from assembly lines and into individual work stations, workers would be able to take more ownership of their work, producing better quality parts and be self-motivated by being able to measure their individual output, increasing job satisfaction. The new cells turned out to be a hit. Workers were excited about having more control over their output and being part of the new process. Hinrichs’s active management of change within the factory and focus on worker satisfaction and buy-in resulted in a lot of small victories that he used to win over the workforce’s trust and respect. In the process, Hinrichs transformed the plant from one that was resistant to change to one that embraced and was excited for change. Process Improvements One of the biggest needs for improvement was the assembly process. Although several changes were made throughout the years, quality and efficiency still fell below expectations. Hinrichs implemented the newly developed assembly which consists of two separate work stations that allowed operators in the adjacent stations to share the expensive balancer machine. These assembly cells were much more efficient as workers were no longer forced to wait for another person or machine in the process. Each cell was built like the other with quick turn set-up which created flexibility in the process while also reducing tooling inventory by almost a half. Now cells could be activated to meet demand for different models. Likewise, each cell was designed to handle 1 to 3 operators to accommodate changes in volume. For increased quality, engineers designed machines that would use the information documented in the PFMEA to check and reject any faulty units at any stage in the assembly process. This increased yields by ten times that of the original inspection method which was performed once at the end of assembly. These changes to the assembly process not only reduced down time, allow for dynamic line balancing and scalability, it also created a sense of worker empowerment. Each worker now controlled their own output therefore giving them a better understanding of their contribution towards the plant’s production goals. This was an extremely successful improvement that Hinrichs could now work off of. The new bonding machines installed for the new process also fell in line with increasing efficiency and operational costs. These new machines would now only required one worker instead of two. These machines also signaled when a problem occurred saving ample amount of time and wasted material. Employee job satisfaction increased as well with the new machines. Even older senior employees who currently hold desired jobs in the plant were applying for the bonder positions. Even if this change was a necessity forced on by the process change, it was overly successful and beyond their expectation. Workforce efficiency was another area that needed to be improved. The installation of the QS 9000 system helped do just that. It helped maintain high standards of quality and reliability as well as continuous improvement and cost reduction. This stringent process was basically absent from this plant. Documenting your process and continually monitoring it through a quality system gives one the ability to understand and uncover inefficiencies in the manufacturing process. For example, Hinrichs noticed, in particular, the Heat treat area did not utilize its workers effectively. There were employees that loaded and unloaded the ovens while three separate inspectors waited until parts came out of heat treat. There was significant idle time for all of the employees in the process. By teaching the operators the techniques needed to inspect their own parts, their idle time is significantly reduced while completely freeing three employees to serve higher demand processes within the plant. This change in job responsibilities is a good example of utilizing resources to increase throughput not just activating a resource just to keep it working. 1500-ton Press Analysis Hinrichs’s current challenge is how to deal with the broken 1500 ton press. This press is the only one in the plant. The press is the first step in the process and also the bottleneck. If this machine is down, the whole system is down. There are three options Hinrichs has considered: (Appendix A presents the information in data form needed to make a decision. ) Given the information in Appendix A and carefully analyzing it, we have decided to move forward with Option 1 while continuing ideas to more effectively implement the new Die into the process if purchased. By choosing option 1, the plant would be able to continue operating without loss of throughput or added unit cost due to outsourcing. To reduce system breakdown, a preventative maintenance procedure would be enacted. Currently, the relationship between Hinrichs and the union is good and furthermore, by repairing the press with existing parts, the plant cannot afford to eliminate a union job if option 2 were selected. Hinrichs also needs to be aware of his spending for the year as well as delivering a known return on his investments. Neither option 2 or 3 will allow Hinrichs the ability to show any return on investment this fiscal year. Option 2 seemed to be an expensive route to take just to add some reliability with little reduction in costs. While Option 3 sounds appealing, the new die is still unreliable and could have a significant impact to unit costs if additional outsourcing were needed while bringing it up to speed. Hinrich should continue to work on the new die offline and only incorporate it once the technical challenges have been overcome.