External Environment of Baker Mckenzie

External Environment of Baker Mckenzie 1. External Environment of Global Legal Industry To analyze Baker McKenzie organization in order to provide its authorities with specific recommendation for the successful future management of the firm and its employees it is critical to evaluate the principal factors of External Environment of global legal industry that have implications for the management of people and organization. To design an elaborate plan and implement it successfully in the firm it is essential to be aware of the wide business environment in which firm operates and of how this environment is changing over time. PEST analysis is used to access Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors of the Global Legal Industry (see Appendix 1). In general, the legal market was highly segmented comprising a few prestigious law firms at the top and small practices, consisting sometimes of a single attorney at the bottom. As a result of the globalization pattern a lot of legal firms became more international. While entering new markets and opening offices in new areas such political factor as local licensing laws pushed the firms to employ local lateral hires. If we have a look at the global legal industry on firm-levels we can state that the structure of an average law firm was common: LAW FIRM Equity Partners Ownership stake in the firm Revenue generating Responsibility for attracting new clients Associates (law-degree) No ownership stake in the firm Everyday routine consultancy Opportunity to be promoted to Partner (depending on the performance and firm needs) Support Staff Paralegals assistance to lawyers (law degree is not required but possible) Personal Assistants assistance to all levels In USA and many other legal jurisdictions the system of regulations was quite strict and law firms were not allowed to generate capital though IPO (Initial Public Offering) and the firms lawyers were the only ones who could held an ownership stake. This was a way to protect the company in terms of possible conflicts of interests. By 2004 various industries had to face high turnover trend and legal industry was not an exception. Such social factor as a work-life balance tendency added a new criteria which were critical for potential employees while entering the company. In law firms associates were changing the employers more often than ever before due to various factors the main of which is disaffection of: Poor firms culture the main reason resulting into â€Å"long work hours, lack of meaningful assignments and unfriendly work environment†. Compensation system as a result of â€Å"war for talent† and the practice to attract and retain star attorneys from competing firms (â€Å"lateral hires†) there was a high spread between partner and associate rates (sometimes as much as 20:1). Promotion system firms expansion strategyaffected the timeline for reaching the status of equity partner which was extended and a second tier of partner termed â€Å"junior partner† was addedto prevent the growing number of equity partners. In many firms it was understood that high billables were a requirement for advancement but in reality it did not necessarily encourage efficiency and taking into account the global character of some law firms such practice ran the risk of superseding all other metrics when promotion decisions were being made. In the recent years the customers appetites to the quality of legal services have been changing significantly and the clients expectations have been rising all over the world. The legal market was saturated with the number of law firms with appropriate professional expertise but only a few of such firms could offer a †value-added† service. Thus, to have a competitive advantage in the industry and to make a client happy a law firm had to accelerate its efforts to reduces associates turnover by focusing on corporative culture and soft skills and emotional intelligence development in the organization reviewing the performance management systems, financial patterns as well as each firm is to pay appropriate attention to all aspects of the international character of business and personal development maintaining a good relation with clients to make them satisfied. 2. Internal Environment of Baker McKenzie Baker McKenzie was founded in Chicago in 1949 and from the very beginning has intended to be truly global. By 2004 it was the largest law firm in the world by headcount comprising about 9000 employees spread across 70 offices in 38 countries and being among the industry leaders in revenue. Regardless of the fact that the firm has a strong position in the legal industry there are some areas alarming that Baker McKenzie is to review its internal environment particularly focusing on attorneys retention, motivation and improving companys culture. Such concepts as firms strategy, structure and culture are to be analyzed. 2.1. Organizational Strategy For a long period of time the general strategy of Baker McKenzie was global expansion. Due to the increasing competitiveness in global legal market and bearing in mind the fact that some clients became more oriented on not expensive routing legal needs in the late 1990th the firm felt that some changes were required not to lose competitive advantage. Baker McKenzie came to conclusion that their initial strategy which included such learning program as professional management education for partners, key-client account program and four-point strategic plan, was not efficient and ambitious enough. Even though the firm did make impressive progress on many fronts a more sophisticated approach was needed to develop further. By 2004 a new strategy was developed the main objectives of which were as follows: To achieve market preeminence by building upon unparalleled international capabilities through: deeper penetration of major clients; growth of core practice areas; greater industry specialization; To develop the firm in a systematic way so each office is able to support multinational clients and global strategy and excel and prosper in its local market; To align the firms organizational, financial and management structures more effectively with its strategic objectives. Finally, Baker McKenzie realized that people were paramount to the firms successful future and in this updated strategy the focus was shifted from the expansion to peoples qualities prioritizing the HR management. To achieve a competitive advantage in the quality of legal services the following combination of HR and competitive strategies (Armstrong, 2000) were followed: Companys Strategy HR Strategy Resourcing HR Development Reward Achieve competitive advantage through quality Use sophisticated selection procedures to recruit people who are likely to deliver quality and high levels of customer service Encourage the development of a learning organization and support total quality and customer care initiatives with focused training Link rewards to quality performance and the achievement of high standards of customer service Achieve competitive advantage by employing people who are better than those employed by competitors Use sophisticated selection procedures based on rigorous analysis of the special capabilities required be the organization Develop organizational learning processes; encourage self-managed learning through the use of personal development plans as part of a performance management process Develop performance management processes that enable both financial and non-financial rewards to be related to competence and skills; ensure that pay levels are competitive One of the major improvements in HR strategy was the implementation of Associate Training Program (ATP) which allowed the associates to transfer for the period of a year to 18 months among any Baker McKenzie office in the world. The strategy was a success as it enhanced the lawyers experience by exposing them to different jurisdictions, laws and cross-border terms. Also it was a great tool to embed and develop the relationships across the firm. It is also important to mention the rewarding performance which was used in the firm. For many years Baker McKenzie used a compensation system of objective nature called â€Å"the formula† rewarding the following four criteria: â€Å"Work Credit† (personal productivity of a partner; â€Å"Client Credit† (partners ability to delegate and supervise work done not by partners); â€Å"Associate Profit† (work done by non-partners); Tenure with the firm (number of years as an equity partner). As a result of such strategy the partners were not focused on development tasks but principally on generating fees. Such compensation system was suitable in early years when the firm opened its first offices in different countries. However, such formula is not efficient today and Baker McKenzie was to review it bearing in mind the best interests of the business. In 2002 the firm adopted new rules that facilitated the evolution to discretionary compensation systems based on more subjective criteria. In spite of the fact that not all partners were satisfied with such method and it was hotly debated before being approved, the key implication of such approach is growing recognition within the firm that changes in the financial structure and compensation system were needed to advance the overall strategy. However, the updated compensation system involving such new subjective elements as development associates and demonstrating leadership used for the evaluation of partners meant that there could be risk for the partner to receive substantially less. To conclude it is to be emphasized that new strategy requires a well-developed framework for its successful implementation. 2.2. Organizational Structure As it was mentioned in the previous chapter the principal strategy of Baker McKenzie for a long time was global expansion with the local lateral hires which were more steeped in techniques and traditions of their regions law (only few offices were staffed from the main office)3. It resulted to decentralization and spread among continents (see Chart 1). As per Burns and Stalker (1961) Baker McKenzie could be defined as an Organic structure rather than Mechanistic and can be characterized by the following: High decentralization of authority; Tasks loosely defined; Horizontal communications; Greater individual authority; Flexible and adaptable. Chart 1. Baker McKenzie organization, 2004 The advantages offered in the decentralization are that it: + Increased responsiveness to the local circumstances; + Enables decisions closer to the operational level of work; + Improved level of personal customer service; + More in keeping with developments in flatter and more flexible structures. But there are also some negative aspects: The same lateral hires results in tough control over offices letting no interference; Firm becomes inert to new programs and changes or their implementation results are low; Low sociability and interaction between offices caused by rare meetings. 2.3. Organizational Culture A key weapon in the war for talent in the 21st century is going to be organizational culture. To analyze the culture of Baker McKenzie it is important to look at it from different perspectives and use various approaches. In general, Baker McKenzies culture was a strong one encompassing several core elements such as: Internationalism and multi-culturalism; Sense of friendship; Equality of employees; Strong sense of independence; Consensus-building based on multilateral mindset and highly consultative, transparent and respectful style; Attention to selection process of laterals. According to Goffee Jones (1996) Grid (see Chart 2) Baker McKenzie located in Mercenary area gravitating to Fragmented organization as of its numerous offices around the world which tend to be autonomous. That results in general low sociability of the employees. This can be supported by the fact that international interaction was quite poor, presented only by annual meetings for equity partners and some star lawyers. Solidarity is high due to result-oriented strategy (a lot of billable hours required to be rewarded by bonus) and high compensation for partners level only. Chart 2. Goffee and Jones (1996) Grid Organizational cultures and their associated structures typology of Charles Handy (1986) is another popular model to examine the firm. According to his classification Baker McKenzie is â€Å"the person culture cluster structure† which is described as structure where autonomous experts and professionals pursue their own interests. This type of culture is characterized by high autonomies of partners and associates where management hierarchies are not acceptable and the legal business is operated by mutual consent and influence based on expertise. Having noted that it could be stated that such culture is in balance with the decentralized structure mentioned in the previous chapter. Facing high turnover and â€Å"war for talent† Baker McKenzie has to pay more attention to its employees to shape a firm-friendly culture required not only for personal and professional development of the lawyers but such culture which could have an immediate positive effect on the successful future of the firm. 3. The Development Framework By 2000 Baker McKenzie recognized importance of retaining associates as every lawyer who left the firm within the first two years never provided the firm with even a partial return on investment in terms of training, development, and replacement costs. The developed HRM strategy was placed in jeopardy. To find the causes of high associates turnover KPDC lunched a survey lead by two outsourced HR specialists which educed the following gaps in performance management: No or poor feedback on associates performance were provided (no deep review, no examples are given). This circumstance was complicated by cultural obstacle as many of associates reported that â€Å"it is not the practice of their offices to conduct reviews or that is a new concept†; No guidelines explaining business and legal skills required for each career step were given to the associates. This resulted in low motivation and lack of self development; Development opportunities and training programs were not clearly explained or not explained at all to the lawyers. In April 2003 two industrial psychologists were invited to develop new framework to overcome these asperities and meet common performance expectation across different locations of the firm. It was the right choice as it is almost impossible to deal with the different cultures from the position of usual management. The following final Development Framework qualities were highlighted as the basic criteria: Personal Qualities (PQ); Key Performance Areas (KPAs) comprising Individual Activities Categories (IACs). By such framework associates have been rated on a scale of 1-3 for each component: 3 â€Å"exceeds expectations†; 2 â€Å"meets expectations†; 1 â€Å"falls short of expectations†. This highly segmented system of evaluation could satisfy everyone and could meet the needs of the multicultural firm. Also it represented an actual approach to talent management. In general, the talent management strategy of Baker McKenzie can be characterized by the following main aspects: Recruitment identifying and selecting right people to met the challenges of the firms strategic goals; Development personal and professional development of the employees; Career Management coaching and supporting the employees throughout their careers. Having analyzed the external and internal environments and the Development Framework it can be concluded the main tool for Baker McKenzie successful recruiting, developing and retaining the chosen talent and to win war for talent is to find a common language within international offices of the firm for discussing excellence in order to facilitate firm activities and find the best fit between a lawyer and Baker McKenzies operation and culture. 4. Recommendations Undoubtedly, the New Development Framework is a well-designed foundation ready to be implemented and now it fully depends on how much effort the Executive and KPD Committees will contribute to convince each partner of its implementation importance. Based on the analysis of the Baker McKenzies organization, culture and strategy, including New Development Framework aimed on successful recruiting, developing, and retaining the talent it is recommended to pay more attention to the following aspects: Recruitment and Selection Process Organizational performance depends considerably on the quality of its workers. It is required to continue generating a pool of skilled and qualified associates, which have some of the necessary attributes to enable a suitable candidate to be selected. Appropriate range of selection methods of evaluation which can be partly taken from the Development Framework (IACs and PQs) are to be applied to cover such gaps as lack of soft skills for the potential employees. This will facilitate the candidates to integrate into Baker McKenzies culture and to meet the expectations of the firm. It is worth recommending while selection and recruiting process to bear in mind the fact that firm is working on standardizing its processes on international level. It means that there should be given more attention to the ability of the candidate to be a good team member. Such characteristic feature of the human being can be measured by some psychological testing as well the firm could several steps of selection process one of which could be a simulation or role-playing within the number of candidates. Such simulation should be observed by a number of specialists and assessed accordingly. Also it can be added that due the nature of globalization the preference is to be given to those candidates who have international experience or willing to obtain it. Developing Competent Employees In spite of the fact that the firm is focused on the highly qualified attorneys recruitment we should not underestimate the role of work-based learning. This is particularly important for paralegals being loyal to the firm and associates whose target is to become partners. Such methods can be divided into following groups: Learning from another person consists of coaching and mentoring. Mentors provide two functions: 1) career advice and support, 2) psychological function. As we could see from the analysis of Baker McKenzies performance management the lack of career development advice was one of the main drawbacks in the firm. It is important to note that coaching does not come naturally to all managers and it requires a number of skills which can be developed by sending the responsible managers to special management courses; Learning from tasks consists of job rotation and delegation. This involves moving lawyers into different limitrophe groups (e.g. associates from the Major Project and Project Finance group may broaden their expertise by being placed into International Commercial or Corporate group, etc.) Delegation is also a way of developing of employee as it can offer new challenge and responsibilities. Retaining Associates As the final point Baker McKenzie have to be focused on staff retention as high turnover damages not only performance, service quality and financial side but also a corporate image. First of all, Motivation is directly expressed by how to make people contribute to organizational goals while satisfying their personal needs. A good balance between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation is the key to success. In terms of extrinsic motivation can be applied such tangible rewards as: improved salary, the firm is to develop a more reasonable and balanced compensation system between partners and associates which can result to comfortable work-life balance; Perks like corporate transport or enhanced workplace. Performance Management is the other aspect which is extremely important for the firm to develop particularly in providing associates with: Constant and detailed feedback with clear explanations of their performance. Exposing their strengths and weaknesses; Guidelines explaining business and legal skills required for each career step. That will result in high loyalty and motivation as well. All these recommendations will result in successful Talent Management and firms prosperity in the future. Detailed Implementation Plan provided in Appendix 2. Also it is important to control and shape the implementation of current Development Framework. The future researches on the results of implementation have to be carried on as well. Bibliography Case study. Baker McKenzie (A): A New Framework for Talent Management. MPO lectures. Goffee, R. and Jones G. (1996). What holds the modern company together? Harvard business review, November-December. Mullins, Laurie J. (2005), Management and Organisational Behaviour. 7th ed. Pearson Education Limited, Essex, England. Green, Richard, (2003), Business Environment: An MBA Study Guide. University of Hull, Hull, UK. Palmer, Adrian and Hartely, Bob (2002), The Business Environment. McGraw-Hill, New York, USA. Graeme Martin (2006), Managing People and Organizations in Changing Contexts. Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, UK.

Television Violence and Its Effects on Children Essay -- Argumentative

Television Violence and Its Effects on Children Television violence affects all who view it, but its biggest effect is on children. Children’s minds are like a blank page. Television is writing violence on that page. Television violence is one of the causes of aggression and violent behavior in children. This problem is not new, but in recent years it has gotten worse. In the last few years, violence in television programs has increased greatly. A study in 2000-01 compared to a study done in 1998-99 showed that violence is, in fact, on the rise. Verbal violence, coarse language, alone increased by a staggering 78% (Lavers). How did violence become so prevalent on television? Sadly, violence is what the people wanted to see; it sells. Society has slowly put its guard down allowing violence to creep in. Now we are faced with this detrimental situation which we have created. Young children, starting at about age three, begin to really watch a television program designed for their age. They will begin to imitate what they have seen on the television. Children ages six through about ten often do not fully understand the difference between reality, and what they see on T.V. (Ledingham). With that in mind, consider the violent content in television programs. A recent content analysis, The National Television Violence Survey, had several interesting findings in regard to violence in television programs: 1. 61% of television programs contain some violence, and only 4 percent of television programs with violent content featured an â€Å"antiviolence† theme. 2. 44% of the violent interactions on television involve perpetrators who have some attractive qualities worthy of emulation. 3. 43% of violent scenes involve humor either... ...iolence†. Mar. 1995. Media Awareness Network. 30 Oct. 2002 Kirkey, Sharon. â€Å"Violent TV, Video Games Don’t Make Kid Kill.† 20 May 2002. CanWest Global Communications Corp. 30 Sept. 2002 Lavers, Daphne. â€Å"The Verdict on Media Violence†. 13 May. 2002. Regional Business News. 30 Sept. 2002. Ledingham, Jane. â€Å"The Effects of Media Violence on Children.† The National Clearing House on Family Violence. 13 Sept. 2002 Office of the Surgeon General. 13 Sept. 2002. U.S. Government. 28 Sept. 2002 Virtue Media. 2002. Virtue Media. 28 Sept. 2002

Healthcare It Security and Cloud Computing Essay

Abstract Through the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, the federal government is pushing healthcare providers and hospitals to quickly move towards electronic documentation systems or be penalized for non-compliance. This push has presented many problems for physicians and hospitals alike. Probably the most important issue that needs to be kept in mind when making a decision on a system is security and patient privacy. These two pieces present technological challenges as well as practical challenges including where and how the patient data is captured, stored, and accessed. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) is the dictating law that must be kept in mind when choosing a medical charting system and the devices needed to access the system. Patient data and privacy must remain confidential and protected above any other concerns regarding electronic systems. Cloud computing is a â€Å"hot-button† topic that is becoming popular in business and healthcare. The convenience of access data from anywhere and from multiple hardware platforms has many benefits, but this ease of access comes with security concerns. These concerns must be reviewed and policies put in place to ensure that confidential patient data is not exposed. Security Issues: Healthcare I.T. and Cloud Computing Introduction The digital age has brought about many changes in the way certain tasks are performed, the way communication takes place, the way education is performed, and the way that medicine is practiced. As government regulation regarding healthcare practice and reimbursement becomes more strict and requires documented evidence to back up medical decisions before Medicare or Medicaid will pay the providers, it is becoming increasingly important for medical personnel and hospitals to not only conform to the new technological standards, but to embrace the technology that is driving it. In the past, organizations were required to host, store, and back-up the data and applications that were used both inside and outside of the facilities. This presented many difficulties such as application maintenance, data storage and maintenance, and hardware maintenance. Cloud computing offers some solutions to these issues by allowing IT departments to rely less on physical hardware, perform backups and duplicate them easily to offsite facilities, and provide application support to platforms that previously were unsupported. However, this presents significant security risk and legal liabilities with regards to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) laws. Purpose The purpose of this report is to discuss the options available for implementing and accessing Electronic Medical Record Systems and the issues inherent with the different options, focusing on the security and privacy concerns specific to cloud computing. Scope This report will identify the reasons and methods for implementing cloud computing within the healthcare environment. It will also point out the security risks inherent to electronic storage of confidential health information and compounded by access to this information through the internet. As background information, the core components and functions of Healthcare IT will be discussed. The research will also cover the laws that govern the protection of PHI (personal health information), who has access to PHI, and what are the differences in the laws with regards to hosting a service versus being a user of the service. Sources and Methods of Collecting Data The research for this report was done primarily through secondary resources including the transcript from a webinar performed for healthcare IT and compliance personnel covering regulatory compliance within healthcare software as well as articles from Information Technology and Healthcare journals covering issues with security and â€Å"cloud† environments. A survey was also performed in 2009 of the physicians on active staff at Terrebonne General Medical Center. The primary research is also used to demonstrate the lack of adoption within the local physician community. Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare IT is not that different from IT in other industries. The maintenance of pc’s, servers, software, and network connectivity is the same regardless of the business. The difference between Healthcare and most other industries is that the nature of the data being held within the computer systems is incredibly personal and the protection of that data is highly regulated by government entities. Up until the last few years, it was primarily hospitals that had to be concerned with ensuring that electronic patient data was stored and protected correctly. Some technologically advanced physicians have already implemented Electronic Medical Record Systems, but most physicians are only now beginning to explore the multitude of options available due to the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 by the US Congress. Applications Within the realm of healthcare, there are typically two major divisions in computer applications. There are financial systems and clinical systems. Financial systems have been adopted in most hospitals and physician offices, largely due to requirements from insurance companies and government bodies that require data to be transmitted electronically for payment. Clinical systems, however, have not been implemented wide due to lack of knowledge and workflow interruption concerns. â€Å"Elaborate training in new e-healthcare systems is not a luxury that is typically available to healthcare professionals – i.e., doctors, paraprofessionals, (e.g., nurses) and administrative personnel—because of the 24Ãâ€"7 nature and criticality of operations of healthcare organizations, especially hospitals, thus making peer interactions and support a key driver of or barrier to such e-healthcare system use† (Venkatesh, Zhang, & Sykes, 2011). Data and security While a paper could be written solely regarding the storage and maintenance of electronic data, for the purposes of this paper only an overview and best practices will be discussed. Data can be stored in a multitude of different manners, all of which have benefits and downfalls. Saving data locally to a particular computer or other device can be dangerous. Should that device fail, the data saved to it could be lost. Also, data that has been saved locally to a device is more difficult to secure and guarantee that the data will only be accessed by the appropriate person or persons. From an enterprise or business level, the best practice for data storage is to ALWAYS save data to a central location so that is can be backed up regularly and can be accessed from multiple locations. It is also recommended for larger business such as hospitals to have duplicated backups and in some cases the data may be backed up to an off-site facility for disaster management purposes. Though proper backup practices are vital, data security is just as important. Software applications such as Microsoft Active Directory and Novell NETWare are used to provide security to a computer network and the data stored within. Through these systems, users must log into individual workstations and based upon the credentials provided to this log in, the user will only be allowed to access certain portions of the data which is stored somewhere else on the network. This method of access and storage is much safer and more easily controlled than it would be if the data were stored to the hard drive of the device the user is accessing. Security has become more difficult to enforce with the increased adoption of mobile devices. The rapid growth in the number, types, and functionality of mobile devices has been stunning†¦ currently there are over 17,000 healthcare mobile applications listen in major app stores, of which 50% are directed to healthcare professionals (Laverty, Kohun, Wood, & Turchek, 2011). Securing data accessed by Smartphones, tablet computers, iPads, and other handheld devices presents a host of new difficulties. In many cases, these devices are not owned by the facility and thus are not being accessed in the same manner as desktop pc’s and laptops. Challenges Controlling devices that access patient data while working within the confines of HIPAA is a key challenge for healthcare organizations. HIPAA privacy rules apply to all healthcare providers, health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and business associates (Roach & Wunder, 2009). Internally, data security can be achieved by proper user habits such as logging out of a session when the user is not actively using the system, screensavers that require a password, and automatic timeouts during periods of inactivity all help to ensure that private data cannot be accessed by someone that does not have the legal rights to view the data. Many organizations undergo periodic security audits to assist in finding vulnerabilities within the systems being run. Not only is it a challenge to provide data access security, but it is even more difficult to physically secure a device that someone carries around with them and is not stationary. Some programs like Microsoft Exchange (for email) can require that a security threshold be in place before the program can be accessed from a particular device and have the ability to remotely wipe the data from a device should it become compromised. The mobile nature of handheld devices is also a major challenge. In years passed, laptop computers were the only valid threat to data being accessed from off-campus sites. As cellular data technology has gotten fast and now mobile devices can access these wireless systems from nearly anywhere, the threat of data security breaches has increased. Another challenge is keeping up dated with users that should no longer have access to the available systems. Internally, a systems administrator can keep track of employees that are still employed with the organization. It becomes a much more difficult task to police the accessibility of users outside of an organization. Cloud Computing What is cloud computing? The term â€Å"cloud† computing originates from the telecommunications world of the 1990s, when providers began using virtual private network (VPN) services for data communication. (Kaufman, Lori M.;BAE Systems, 2009) Cloud computing shares its resources among a cloud of service consumers, partners, and vendors. (Kaufman, 2009) In simpler terms, cloud computing is a shared infrastructure where hosting and accessing of services is not site specific. The data does not live only on a server in an office or building. Cloud computing can be used to offsite data backup. In lieu of housing a set of storage servers at an offsite facility, organizations can choose to back up their data to the cloud where it will be stored by someone else for a fee. The same process can be applied to applications. Rather than having to invest in expensive hardware that requires maintenance, organizations may choose to run web based applications that are hosted by someone else over the internet for a fee . Cloud computing allows for some systems to interconnect and share data, which is the end goal of electronic medical records and forming a personal health record for patients. Cloud computing has begun to take off as vendors such as Google and Apple have begun to open up their own cloud offerings. Some vendors offer these services for free, such as Google has with its Google Documents offering. Others, such as Apple’s iCloud are offered to users for a fee. Services such as these have enabled users to access personal data from anywhere at any time. Benefit to Implementing in Healthcare Though the upside to implementing EMR systems and sharing data is evident, there are drawbacks. One key concern is that practitioners will be slowed down due to the learning curve involved with using new systems. Physicians have grown accustomed to providing medicine in a certain manner, which does not always work well with electronic charting systems. Another issue at hand is who owns the data? Physicians are not always excited to share their personal notes regarding patient care. â€Å"The whole point of cloud computing is economy (Delaquis & Philbin, 2011).† With the passage of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, physician and hospital organization reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid will be tied to meeting certain â€Å"meaningful use† guidelines. In order to get full reimbursement for services provided, these providers are being pushed to document their practice of medicine electronically and in turn this information will be t he property of the patient and shared with other providers to ensure proper continuity of care. The idea behind this is that there will be fewer medical errors and the patient will have access to all the information necessary to make informed decisions regarding their healthcare. From a provider stand point, this means that â€Å"hopefully† all medically necessary information will be available to medical professionals in order to provide the necessary medical care and fewer errors will be made due to lack of patient health history. Electronic documentation and ordering also has a few other side effects. Fewer errors should be made due to less human intervention and interpretation of orders and, with luck, better coding and documentation of services rendered will lead to increased revenue. Because physician adoption is low, the building of personal health records is moving much more slowly (see Illustration below for EMR adoption rates at a local hospital) than the growth of cloud computing as a whole. Illustration 1 Conclusion Though there are definite risks involved with the storage and transfer of protected personal health information, the use of mobile devices in the work place is driving cloud computing and will continue to do so. In order to get healthcare providers to begin adopting electronic systems, the systems must be user friendly and work well within the flow of the practice of medicine and not inhibit the proper care from provided. The environment of healthcare is changing and the delivery of healthcare information must change with it. Patients no longer expect to just be given appropriate care, but they now insist on being involved with the decision making regarding how that care is rendered. Moving health information into a cloud environment and allowing that information to be shared will eventually lead to better healthcare for everyone, no matter which hospital the patient is in or which physician is providing the care. Works Cited Delaquis, R. S., & Philbin, G. (2011). To Cloud or Not to Cloud? Issues in Information Systems, Volume XII, No. 1, 54-58. Kaufman, Lori M.;BAE Systems. (2009, July/August). http://www.computer.org. Retrieved from IEEE Computer Society: http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/sp/2009/04/msp2009040061.html Laverty, J. P., Kohun, F. G., Wood, D. F., & Turchek, J. (2011). Vulnerabilities and Threats to Mobile Device Security from a Practitioner’s Point of View. Issues in Information Systems; Vloume XII, No. 2, 181-193. Miller, Esp., W. J. (November 3, 2011). New World of Medical Appls: Beware Regulatory Traps! Progressive Healcare Conferences. Malvern, PA. Mishra, S., Leone, G. J., Caputo, D. J., & Calabrisi, R. R. (2011). Security Awareness for Health Care Information Systems: A HIPAA Compliance Perspective. Issues in Information Systems, Volume XII, No. 1, 224-236. Pardue, J. H., & Patidar, P. (2011). Threats to Healthcare Data: A Threat Tree for Rick Assessment. Issues in Information Systems, Volume XII, No. 1, 106-113. Paullet, K. L., Pinchot, J. L., Douglas, D., & Rota, D. R. (2011). Mobile Technology: Plugged In and Always On. Issues in Information Systems; Volume XII, No. 1, 141-150. Roach, W., & Wunder, G. (2009). Privacy Under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996: The Impact of RFID. Issues in Information Systems, 237-241.

ADDIE

The training process includes three main steps for a new employee: 1- Induction Course This course conducted for the new employee to make him/her familiar with the Meany's basic issues like: 1- Code and ethic 2- Safety and health policy 3- Legislation 4- Employee hand book 5- Process manual (SOP) All the previous Issues should be summarized In manuals by the HER department depending on the Job description.These manuals should be handed to the new employee to read them and become more familiar with the company codes and procedure Instead of leaving the new employee to ask other employee. 2- Orientation The second step in the training process is to make the new employee more familiar with the company working environment which done at two main levels: 1- 1st Program: this program includes a Job rotation in deferent company sections for short periods, where the new employee awareness increased about the company operation. – 2nd Program: In this program the new employee observe the work in his section to learn how the work is done form his/her colleague, after that the new employee handled the new Job under observation. 3- Performance Appraisal (result) In this step the result from performance appraisal used to assess the strength and weakness of the employee and decide what type of training Is needed to Improve his/ err weakness and benefit from his/her strength.Type of training: 1- Managerial Training: 1- Time management 2- Problem Solving 3- Leadership 4- Report Writing 2- Technical: According to technical needs 3- Behavioral: 1- Conflict management 2- Dealing with customer 3- Stress management Level of Training Organizational level: training is needed here to achieve the company strategic 2- Company expansion 2- Task level: according to Job description 3- Personal level: according to single employee strength and weakness.For example if the employee is weak in time management, so he/she need time management raining. For example if the employee have leaders hip attitude we can benefit from his/her strength by giving him/her leadership training. Transfer of learning into workplace needs: 1- Management Support: 2- Work environment : the work condition and tools EDDIE EDDIE is instructional design model that can be used to build training program for the company .Now let's see how we can use EDDIE model in the training process: 1- Analysis: A good analysis of the company situation and its employee knowledge, skill and ability can provide important information about the training needs for the organization at three levels (organization, task, personal) The analysis phase of EDDIE model contain main four steps: 1- Instructional goals: here we need to decide what is the goal of our training program according to the organization needs?The goal can be at any level (organizational, task, personal) for example at the organization level the goal can be improve the employee knowledge, skills and ability to achieve ISO excellence, or it can be at the personal level improve the time management skills, or at the skills level like how to weld iron. 2- Instructional analysis: here we need to define all the steps accessory to achieve the instructional goals, if our instructional goal was to learn an employee how to weld iron the steps can be: 1. Clean and prepare the steel that need to be welded 2. Ware safety equipment 3.Turn on welding machine 4. Weld Joint slowly 5. Clean the Joint after welding 3- Learner Analysis: here we need to understand what already the learner knows instead of give him/her a training that he/she does not need. This can be accomplished by studding the available employee knowledge and skills that they have and decide what the necessary training that they need is. 4- Learning Objectives: here we need to build a learning objective of the training, it include what the employee should be able to do after taking the training. Suppose that our training was how to weld iron, the objective should be: 1 . Scribe the welding process (ability) 2. List the needed welding equipment (Knowledge) 3. Ability to weld in three different technique (skill) 4. List type of irons that can be welded (Knowledge) 2- Design 1- Design Assessments: here we create an assessment tools to assess if the learner and ability has been improved. In other world we need to check if the training aerogram has achieved its goal that has been decided in the analysis stage consider the learner knowledge, skills and ability, thus the idea is not to trick the learner but to make sure that the goal has been achieved.And this tool can be used later to check the effectiveness of the training program and decide what aspect of the training need to be improved. The assessment tool can be a paper test (multiple choice) or practical test (demonstration of using a machine). 2- Choose a Course Format: here we need to decide the medium by which the course is presented to the learner, it can e a class room, through internet, printed material or a combination. 3- Create an Instructional Strategy: here the instructor has to decide how to deliver the training, that's including the following tools and learning component: Tools learning Component 1.Lectures 2. Reading 3. Projects 4. Discussion 5. Activities 1 . Pre-limitations activity: motivate the learner by showing the value of the training(how will benefit them), show the course objective. 2. Content Presentation: direct to the objective with examples 3. Learner Participation: enable the student to reactive their new information and provide them with feedback. 4. Assessment: Quizzes 5. Follow Through Activity: review main all the training material to provide the student holistic view. – Develop 1- Create a sample: create a sample of the basic instruction martial depending to the previous two phases of EDDIE (analyze, design) to make sure that is consistent with the organization needs and objective. 2- Develop the Course Material: after the management approve that sample of the training build the whale the material with depth 3- Conduct a Run-through: run a rehearsal using all the media and material hat has been created to get a feedback and make sure everything is k. – Implementation 1- Training the Instructor: most of the time the one who develop the training program is also the one who teach the training, but in case the instructor is different personae than the training developer, the instruct should be trained on the course material 2- Prepare the Learners: here the instructor has to make sure that the learner should have the need tools and knowledge to attend the training like prerequisite, material needed, time to attend the training. – Arrange the Learning Space: room, chairs, tables, and projector. – Evaluation 1- Formative Evaluation (at each stage of EDDIE): The evaluation should be done through each phase of the EDDIE model. 1 . One-to- evaluation: This evaluation done one to one between the instruct and the l earner to check the effectives of the material to check its: 1. Clarity of the material: is the material clear and easy to Feasibility of the material: how practical is the material. 2.Small Group Evaluation: same as the above but for group(Clarity, Impact, Feasibility) 3. Filed trial evaluation: here we create real time rehearsal and check if the learners are able to utilize their raining to deal with the situation. (Clarity, Impact, Feasibility) 2- Assumptive Evaluation (at the end of the training): the purpose of this evaluation is to prove the worthiness of the training by evaluation the outcome of: 1. Reaction: getting the reaction of the learner about the training using agree-disagree. . Learning : knowledge (test), skills (performance test ), 3. Behavior : test in actual situation to check if the learner using the new knowledge and skills 4. Result: how does the training does affected the organization in profit, productivity, moral, Job satisfaction Performance management is a set of activities and evaluations that ensure the company is being effective and efficient in the process of meeting its goals and it is ongoing process that evaluates day-to-day performance.It analyzes different elements inside the company structure, such as the 1- performance of the overall company, 2- performance of a specific department, 3- performance process, product or service 4- performance of employee Managers and supervisors act as coach by setting realistic goals and encouraging the employee to achieve these goals, then measuring the result daily or weekly Performance management methods are more flexible than Performance appraisal, and its parameters more tangible concentrate on what an employee can realistically achieve in a day of work.Performance appraisal is intended to measure the performance of employees inside the company for a year. Performance appraisal can be considered as a single step in management performance-a step that focuses on the employee's past perfo rmance. Managers and supervisors act as Judge for the employee work performance by identifies weaknesses and strengths of the employee and set a plane to improve his knees ability utilizing his strength. Performance appraisal use structured and formal method in evaluating the employee, these evaluations consist of specific measures at specific area and they based on the company goals.Performance appraisal sets a high performance measurement to show employees what is expected and encourage them to meet those expectations. Performance management process is a systematic process that contains the flowing component: 1- Planning (Setting expectations) planning means setting performance expectations and goals for groups and individuals to achieve the company goals. Getting employees involved in the planning process will help them understand the goals of the organization, what needs to be done, why it needs to be done, and how well it should be done.Also this step measurable, understandable , and achievable. 2- Monitoring performance Monitoring well means continually measuring performance and providing ongoing feedback to employees and work groups on their progress toward reaching their goals. 3- Developing. Developing means improve the capacity to perform and this can be done by addressing the developmental needs of their employees by training and improve the irking process to become more effective and efficient. 4- Rating.Rating meant rating the employee against performance standard by summarize employee performance, this rating help the manger compare the performance over time or between the employee 5- Rewarding. Rewarding means rewarding good performance and this can be by day-to-day recognition (like say thank you) or it can yearly like cash and time off. It Lifelong, self-monitored process of career planning that involves choosing and setting personal goals, and formulating strategies for achieving them. Employer: The employer should build a career management pr ogram that's meet present and future needs of the company.Retirement Plans: How long I must be employed before you qualify to participate in retirement plans? Vacation and Paid Time Off How long is the yearly vacation? What is the standard time for the vacation? Disability Insurance: Does this company have disability insurance? Does the company have stock options? My benefit package that I will negotiate is: Medical insurance from the first degree, and it should include my family and my parents. Dental Insurance A bonus at the end of the year that does include at least two months' salary. 30-day yearly paid vacation.

Confidentiality, Multiple Relationships, Conflict of Interest Essay

You are a counseling psychologist. One day, a 19 year old daughter had knocked on your office door and asked for some advice. You notice that she is Lily, your nephew. She is almost crying when she entered your room. It is important to note that this nephew of yours had become an intern in your clinic 6 months ago. This made you hesitant to accept her in your counsel. However, you decide to let her in. After some 10 minutes of just crying, she told you that she was raped by her boyfriend one week before that consultation. Upon hearing that, she urgently told you that you don’t want to tell that to her parents, meaning your sister (you and her mother are sisters). She decided not to pursue any criminal charges against her boyfriend and will just leave and forget the issue. She still loves her boyfriend and decided to stick with him despite the crime. She told you that she only consults you because she just wants someone who is professional that she can share her burden who can guarantee that the secret will not be told on other people. You suddenly remember that you already met her boyfriend in one family affair. At that time, you have a feeling inside that that guy has some mental abnormality. Subtlety, you are against their relationship. At this moment, you are undecided about the issue. You are unsure if you are going to keep the confidentiality of the case of your client which turned to be a former intern in your clinic and at the same time your nephew.

Report On Aspects of Employment Covered by Law Essay

Britain has a deficit crisis, from which the only escape route, is economic growth. Growth needs to be encouraged in every way possible.   I’m now working in Health and Social Care, it’s my first job here in the UK.I find that here in Great Britain has loads of legislation designed to ensure that discrimination on certain grounds is unlawful, and also protect workers like me. This report will cover pieces of aspects of employment covered by legislation relevant to this area, outlining why legislation relating to employment exists and the list of sources of information and advice about employment responsibilities and rights: The Equality Act 2010 The Equality Act 2010 consolidates the previous nine pieces of equality legislation based on protected characteristics to create, for the first time in Great Britain, unified equality legislation. The nine protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Among other things, the Act simplifies or clarifies the definitions of direct discrimination (including association and perception), indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation and extends positive equality duties to public authorities which must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between different groups. The definition of disability under the law has changed such that a person who ahs a â€Å"physical or mental impairment that has long-term adverse effect on their ability don’t have to show that their impa irment affects a particular capacity. The definition of gender reassignment has also been change-stating that this apply to â€Å" a person who is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone process to change their sex†. Sex Discrimination Act 1975 The Sexual Discrimination Act of 1975 was introduced to protect individuals from discrimination on the grounds of gender. Sexual Discrimination can take many forms. It is essential to understand that sexual discrimination is judged to be unwanted attention by the victim of the behaviour, not the perpetrator. Discrimination was set out in two forms: Direct Discrimination- simply stated that one person is treated less favourably than another based on gender. Indirect Discrimination –on the other is quit complex, this takes place if a requirement or condition is imposed, which has nothing to with gender but in practices. The Sex Discrimination Act also made it unlawful; to discriminate on the ground of marital status. Equal Pay Act 1970/1975 It simply states that Men and Women should receive equal pay for work of equal value. Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Right Act 1998 was introduced by Parliament and came into force in October 200. There are different article in this Act. Theses include: Article 2- everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. Article 3- no one shall be subjected to degrading treatment. Article 5- everyone has the right to liberty and security of a person. Article 8-eeryone has the right to respect for his private and family life and his correspondence. Article 9- everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Article 12- men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and found a family. Article 14- the enjoyment of these rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground. Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Establishes the rights of all people arrested by the police. Detainees have the right to legal advice and right to notify person who is likely interested in their welfaire. Civil Partnership Act 2004 This establishes the right of same sex couples to enter into a civil partnership. This is not marriage but is a relationship of equivalent seriousness and commitment. Health and Safety Health and safety is important to every work that we do. The legislation of health and safety is generally covered by statutory regulations. These legislations are: Health and Safety at Work Act 19 74 Employers have a duty to ensure the health and safety at work for all employees, provide and maintain equipment and system in safe condition and provide information, training and supervision relating to health and safety at work. Managers have the duty to maintain a safe working environment for all staff, ensuring that staffs follow policies, procedures and instructions. Give well information about hazard and safe working to new members of staff and also to report or record any accidents. Employees have duty to follow rules and regulation at work, ensure that they use materials in recommended procedures and not misuses anything provided for health ,safety and welfare. Food Safety Act 1990 This applies wherever food is supplied other than within a family situation. This Act is a wide ranging piece of legislation which strengthened and updated existing laws relevant to food and safety. Holidays Annual leave entitlements should be agreed when an employee starts work, details of holidays and holiday pay should be found in the employee’s written statement or contract of employment. Most workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks paid holiday per year (this is known as statutory entitlement). Part time worker are entitled to the same amount of holiday (pro rota) as full time colleagues. Employers can set the times when workers can take their leave – for example a Christmas shut down. If employment ends workers have the right to be paid for any leave due but not taken. There is no legal right to paid public holidays Equal pay Employers must give men and women equal treatment in the terms and conditions of their employment contract if they are employed to do: ‘like work’ – work that is the same or broadly similar  work rated as equivalent under a job evaluation study Work found to be of equal value in terms of effort, skill or decision making. Employees are also entitled to know how their pay is made up. For example, if there is a bonus system, everyone should know how to earn bonuses and how they are calculated. National Minimum Wage Most workers in the UK over school leaving age are entitled to be paid at least the NMW. The NMW rates are reviewed each year by the Low Pay commission. Most workers will be entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW). Normally the NMW rate changes in October each year. There are no exemptions according to the size of business. HM Revenue & Customs can take employers to court for not paying the NMW. II. Outlining why legislation relating to employment exist: Legislation relating to employment exists to stop exploitation of workers by their employers mainly to protect the rights of their employee’s and to make sure that they have everything they need such as: * Minimum wage * Safety standards * Holiday entitlement * Maternity leave * Redundancy payments * Discrimination laws * Maximum working hours * Age requirement All employees need to have all good things that protect them from unscrupulous bosses. III. Sources of information and advice about employment and rights: * Contract- All employees have an employment contract with their employer. A contract is an agreement that sets out an employee’s: employment conditions rights responsibilities duties These are called the ‘terms’ of the contract. * Handbook- An employee handbook, sometimes also known as an employee manual or staff handbook, is a book given to employees by an employer. Usually, the employee handbook contains information about company policies and procedures. * Policy documents – is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent, and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by the Board of or senior governance body within an organization whereas procedures or protocols would be developed and adopted by senior executive officers. * Terms and conditions -Terms and conditions of employment are the elements of a contract which help to define the relation between an employer  and an employee * Job description – A broad, general, and written statement of a specific job, based on the findings of a job analysis. It generally includes duties, purpose, responsibilities, scope, and working conditions of a job along with the job’s title, and the name or designation of the person to whom the employee reports. Job description usually forms the basis of job specification.

Developing the movie Robocop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Developing the movie Robocop - Essay Example The essay "Developing the movie Robocop" talks about the overview of the film "Robocop" produced in 1897 by director Paul Verhoeven and of cinematic elements and styles used in this film. Apparently, Verhoeven presents an excessively commercialized future where the Detroit authorities are overwhelmed with crime in the city and decide to outsource it to a megacorporation, Omni Consumer Products (OCP). However, the megacorporation considers it more realistic to replace the settlement in old Detroit with a modern settlement which OCP refers to as Delta City. Due to the unfathomable number of crimes in the city and the regular killing of the understaffed law enforcers, OCP decides to take an initiative to end the crimes before starting construction of the new city, Delta City. However, the filming of the futuristic Detroit could be amended. It should have been filmed in downtown Dallas as the city had futuristic buildings even during the 1980s when the movie was being filmed. While Verhoeven’s movie was produced in the 20th century, it visualized the 21st century as evident when the director contrasts the successes of the inventions of Dick Jones and Bob Morton. During a meeting meant to strategize on the best way of curbing insecurity in the city, Dick Jones brings the idea of an ED-209, a law enforcement droid. Sadly, Verhoeven deliberately demonstrates the antiquity of the idea by allowing demonstration of the ED-209 to go awry through the deliberate killing of an executive.