Bureaucratic Practices In Educational Institutes

Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity, usually in large organizations and government. As opposed to adhocracy, it is represented by standardized procedure (rule-following) that dictates the execution of most or all processes within the body, formal division of powers, hierarchy, and relationships. In practice the interpretation and execution of policy can lead to informal influence.Of the most famous political persons responsible for the making of bureaucracy, and its effects on society would be Max Weber, the German sociologist who set the course of the field in foundations of Administration and Politics. Weber established there were three different types of authority which helped to set the stage of public administration and helped to direct the forms of government which exist today. The three types of authority that dominate the governmental and societal settings of the present are traditional, charismatic, and legal rational.The third ty pe of authority is the type which we are most familiar with. Legal rational authority dominates the modern world, and can easily be thought of as a closed system of regulations and rules forming a bureaucracy. This authority is purely devoted to impersonal and functional purposes, thus giving the perfect stage for bureaucracy, where all focuses are impersonal and functional alone. â€Å"†¦ the bureaucratic system of organization is primarily characterized by the existence of a series of relatively stable vicious circles that stem from centralizations and impersonality† (Crozier, 1964, p 193)Bureaucracy in Educational Organizations Bureaucracy manifests itself in schools in the several ways. One key feature of a bureaucratic organization is presence of a formal hierarchical structure. Each level in a bureaucracy controls the level below and is controlled by the level above. A formal hierarchy is the basis of central planning and centralized decision making. In the school setting, the school head teacher tops the hierarchy, followed by his deputy. The teachers come next, then the prefect. The students lie at the bottom of the hierarchy.A bureaucracy runs by some well defined rules. Controlling by rules allows decisions made at high levels to be executed consistently by all lower levels. In the school, there are certain rules that students are supposed to abide by. The teachers also have a general code of conduct which they are supposed to observe. In a school, there is functional specialty. Every teacher has a special subject that he/she teaches, and is not expected to venture into other subjects. This is another key feature of a bureaucracy.Another characteristic of a bureaucracy is purposeful impersonality, whereby the idea is to treat all employees equally and customers equally, and not be influenced by individual differences. In the school, a school head is not supposed to talk to his children, who attend the school, about family matters. He is s upposed to act like he does not know them in any other way apart from that they are his students. A school can therefore be said to be a typical bureaucracy. During volunteer work at Thika Primary school, I noted several cases in which bureaucratic tendencies of the school, led to compromised resultsHow Bureaucracy Causes Poor Results In Schools Bureaucracy has been hailed as an excellent system of management in the organizations. In fact, no single system of administration has been adopted more widely that the bureaucratic system. Unfortunately, the system has largely failed to impress in education institutions, especially the academic institutions. During the course of volunteer work, this fact was manifested in a number of cases. Bureaucracy in school leads to a situation whereby students find it extremely difficult to secure audience with the head teacher.This is because, for a student to report a problem to the head teacher, he has first to report to the class prefect, who info rms the teacher. The teacher informs the deputy head teacher, who consequently forwards the issue to the head teacher. In this case, addressing the problem takes a painstakingly long period of time. If the issue required fast action, the intervention might come too late. The student ends up bearing the brunt of a bureaucratic system, which reflects negatively on his academic performance.This case was evident in Thika Primary School, whereby several children admitted to have sought audience with the head teacher, with little success. Another negative consequence of bureaucracy notable is in the procurement of learning resources. The process of purchasing books for the school takes too long, since approval must be sought from the head teacher, who takes the issue to the board of governors for a final decision on whether to place a tender. The tender is advertised and awarded to a book distributor.This whole process can take more than one school term, delaying the time that the student s have to interact with the books. This consequently leads to poor results. At the time of volunteer work, several story books had been ordered for purchase, but the process was taking too long. Bureaucratic practices in academic institutions also dent school student performance, whereby students are given insufficient feedback of their performance in a term. Here, the rules oblige the head teacher to write his feedback on the student’s performance, in the report form.However, due to the large numbers of students, he is not able to follow up the individual performance of each student. What he does to fulfill his obligation is fill all the report forms with the same comment, for example, ‘fair’. The student ends up not well guided on how well or bad he has performed. In such a case, he does not know whether he is faring poorly and needs to improve, or is performing well and needs to improve. This leads to bad grades in the subsequent terms. Conclusion It is import ant that schools abandon bureaucratic tendencies that lead to poor academic performance of the students.The head teacher must ensure that he is approachable, not seated in some hierarchically elevated seat. Process of purchasing learning resources must be made faster and simpler. Once such steps have been taken to streamline how schools run, the performance of the schools will improve, and the students will be able to achieve their academic goals and career ambitions References Bureaucracy. Anti Essays. Retrieved October 23, 2008, from the World Wide Web: Crozier, M. The Bureaucratic Phenomenon . 1964. London: Tavistock Publications. http://www. antiessays. com/free-essays/1895. html www. wikipedia. org/bureaucracy

In the Stern there is a Leaning Body essays

In the Stern there is a Leaning Body essays In the Stern there is a Leaning Body "En la popa hay un cuerpo reclinado" Rene Marques is a famous Puerto Rican author. His work In the Stern there is a Leaning Body, deals with many issues including the role of woman in society and their effect on men. This story examines masculinity, specifically through the eyes of one man. The story is told by both a narrator and the protagonist. The narrator describes what is going on at the present moment and the protagonist relays his thoughts and memories to the reader. These thoughts are interspersed throughout the story, making the work difficult to read and confusing at times. What can be even more confusing for the reader is the absence of names in the story. There are only three main characters and they are the protagonist, his wife, and their son. The story begins in the stern of a boat. There is a body leaning against the stern of the boat and it is not moving. The protagonist is rowing the boat. Immediately, through the thoughts of the protagonist, we begin to learn about his life. We learn that he had a very controlling mother who forced him to become a teacher instead of a writer, which was his life-long desire. And although the protagonist prefers dark-skinned women, his mother tells him that he may only date white women. Once the protagonist receives his teachers diploma, his mother dies and he goes on to marry a white woman that was a favorite of his mothers. He believes that his life will now have meaning, but he soon discovers the contrary. His wife is very demanding and also controls him. She is always complaining and asking for things. She seems to be obsessed with material possessions as she demands that the protagonist buy her a dress, a television, and new curtains for their balcony. The couple have a son but the son is born sick. The mother uses the son to relate to the protagonist that he is not a good ...

Timeline of American Involvement in Wars

Timeline of American Involvement in Wars Americans have been involved with wars both large and small since before the founding of the nation. The first such war, sometimes called  Metacom’s Rebellion or King Philips War, lasted 14 months and destroyed 14 towns. The war, tiny by todays standards, ended when Metacom (the Pokunoket chief called ‘King Philip’ by the English), was beheaded. The most recent war, Americas engagement in Afghanistan and Iraq following the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, is the most protracted war in American history and shows no sign of ending. Wars over the years have changed dramatically, and American involvement has varied. For example, many of the earliest American wars were fought on  American soil. 20th-century wars such as World Wars I and II, by contrast, were fought overseas; few American on the home front saw any type of direct engagement. While the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II and the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 resulted in American deaths, the most recent war fought on American soil was the Civil War which ended in 1865–more than 150 years ago. Chart of Wars With American Involvement   In addition to the named wars and conflicts listed below, members of the American military (and some civilians) have played small but active roles in many other international conflicts.   Dates War in Which American Colonists orUnited States Citizens Officially Participated Major Combatants July 4, 1675–August 12, 1676 King Philip's War New England Colonies vs. Wampanoag, Narragansett, and Nipmuck Indians 1689–1697 King William's War The English Colonies vs. France 1702–1713 Queen Anne's War (War of Spanish Succession) The English Colonies vs. France 1744–1748 King George's War (War of Austrian Succession) The French Colonies vs. Great Britain 1756–1763 French and Indian War(Seven Years War) The French Colonies vs. Great Britain 1759–1761 Cherokee War English Colonists vs. Cherokee Indians 1775–1783 American Revolution English Colonists vs. Great Britain 1798–1800 Franco-American Naval War United States vs. France 1801–1805; 1815 Barbary Wars United States vs. Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli 1812–1815 War of 1812 United States vs. Great Britain 1813–1814 Creek War United States vs. Creek Indians 1836 War of Texas Independence Texas vs. Mexico 1846–1848 Mexican-American War United States vs. Mexico 1861–1865 U.S. Civil War Union vs. Confederacy 1898 Spanish-American War United States vs. Spain 1914–1918 World War I Triple Alliance: Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary vs. Triple Entente: Britain, France, and Russia. The United States joined on the side of the Triple Entente in 1917. 1939-1945 World War II Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan vs. Major Allied Powers: United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia 1950–1953 Korean War United States (as part of the United Nations) and South Korea vs. North Korea and Communist China 1960–1975 Vietnam War United States and South Vietnam vs. North Vietnam 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion United States vs. Cuba 1983 Grenada United States Intervention 1989 US Invasion of Panama United States vs. Panama 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War United States and Coalition Forces vs. Iraq 1995–1996 Intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina United States as part of NATO acted peacekeepers in former Yugoslavia 2001–present Invasion of Afghanistan United States and Coalition Forces vs. the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to fight terrorism. 2003–2011 Invasion of Iraq United States and Coalition Forces vs. Iraq 2004–present War in Northwest Pakistan United States vs. Pakstan, mainly drone attacks 2007–present Somalia and Northeastern Kenya United States and Coalition forces vs. al-Shabaab militants 2009–2016 Operation Ocean Shield (Indian Ocean) NATO allies vs. Somali pirates 2011 Intervention in Libya US and NATO allies vs. Libya 2011–2017 Lord's Resistance Army US and allies against the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda 2014–2017 US-led Intervention in Iraq US and coalition forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria 2014–present US-led intervention in Syria US and coalition forces against al-Qaeda, Isis, and Syria 2015–present Yemeni Civil War Saudi-led coalition and US, France and Kingdom against the Houthi rebels, Supreme Political Council in Yemen and allies 2015–present US intervention in Libya US and Libya against ISIS

Legal Aspects of Nursing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Legal Aspects of Nursing - Case Study Example an injury resulting from the negligence, a record of failure of the nurses on performing their duties properly on the patients, and direct failure in responsibility of care towards the patient during the patients stay at the medical facility (Iyer and Aiken 2001). The patients therefore must prove that their conditions worsened due to the malpractice or negligence (Rostant 1999). The law stipulates that any claim against a nurse is also one for the hospital owing to the professional of nursing working in hospital environment. For Jose’s case, there are several cases of liability against the hospital. First, there is administrative liability against the hospital. The hospital is liable for damages for not having an anesthetist in place for emergency cases. The absence of the anesthetist resulted to late surgery that consequently resulted to permanent disability of Jose’s shoulder and arm. The hospital is also administratively liable for Jose’s claim for not having properly functioning x-ray machine that took so long before determining Jose’s arm condition as requiring surgery. Third, there is a civil liability against the emergency physician. The emergency center physician is also liable for damages for neglecting the duty of contacting the anesthetist as soon as he realized that the emergency would result into surgery. It is his moral duty to ensure that a patient is not left in pain awaiting a physician whose presence is not available (Rostant 1999). The physician can be charged with civil liability for not making referral when he knew that Jose’s condition was bad and the anesthetist would not be available until morning. This delay resulted to severe pain for Jose. In Jose’s scenario, the hospital administration is responsible and not the emergency physician or the anesthetist. It is the responsibility of the hospital administration to ensure adequate personnel at all times and ensure adequate, effective and efficient machinery, equipment and

A Failure to Conform Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

A Failure to Conform - Literature review Example Hawthorne’s story begins when Goodman Brown leaves on a nighttime journey through the forest. When the story starts, Brown’s wife Faith is begging him not to go. Her warning, â€Å"may you find all well when you come back† (Hawthorne, 1), seems to indicate leaving them both alone in the darkness will only lead to disaster. In Irving’s story, Rip Van Winkle refused to undertake any work that might possibly earn a profit for himself no matter how much his wife nagged him. â€Å"In fact, he declared it was of no use to work on his farm; it was the most pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country; everything about it went wrong, and would go wrong, in spite of him† (Irving, 9). Rip’s nonconformism was in his assertion that thoughts and ideas were worth sharing and exploring while the farming of a useless piece of property just to make a good impression on the neighbors was a waste of good effort. Both men follow a path that appears to be out of the normal pathways followed by others. Hawthorne describes Brown’s path as unusual or outside the accepted norm. â€Å"He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind† (Hawthorne, 1). Although he meets several people from the village on his journey, Brown continues to express surprise and sadness at each meeting because of the â€Å"evil purpose† of the journey. Rip’s path is obviously not one typically traveled by the men of his village either. Not only is the path described as a high place in the Catskill Mountains, but the remote nature of the landscape is revealed when Rip stands up to leave.  

Automatic Speech Recognition Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Automatic Speech Recognition - Research Paper Example The creation of ASR system had an aim to provide people with a machine that can translate each word spoken by them in real time. The system still has enough to incorporate and advance more. There still is a gap between expectations from ASR systems and their performance. The ASR systems are meant to recognize the speech of human beings without being interrupted from the speaker’s accent, choice of words, noise or other features. Commercially available ASR systems need a lesser amount of speaker training and have the capability to recognize the continuous speech vocabulary with higher efficiency along with a broader range of vocabularies being captured. Commercial companies are often found to claim that ASR systems provide 98 to 99 percent accuracy provided that they are working under optimal conditions. Optimal conditions are when the users have speech habits which are in line with the training data, when the users have proper speaker adaptation and when the process is carried out in a noise-free environment. It can be explained from this information that recognition rates for heavily accented people may be lower than others. Although there still is a room for improvement in Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems, there are a number of application areas which benefit from its use. Telecommunications is one of the major application areas as speech recognition software acts as an interface that directly transfers data through a communication system into the information system. Today, inquiry systems, dialing assistance and telephony interpretations are some of the examples where ASR systems are used. Office automation is another area that benefits from the use of ASR. The crucial application areas of ASR include ASR in CAD applications and providing input using direct command in computers. Medical applications also make use of this technology for

Health Promotion Essay Example for Free

Health Promotion Essay This essay will begin by discussing the different definitions of health that have been put forward, and will also discuss the necessity of health promoters to be able to understand why there are differing definitions of health and the importance of the difference in our understanding of what health means to the individual. There have been many definitions of health, which include phrases such as ‘absence of disease’, and ‘ability to cope’. The World Health Organisation (WHO) (1946) gave its definition of health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. However, it is very difficult to define health due to its complexity and broadness. Health and well-being can be described as the absence of physical illness, disease and mental distress. This is a negative definition of health and well-being, as it is impossible for a person to free from illness or disease. Health and well-being can also be described as the achievement and maintenance of physical fitness and mental stability. This is a positive definition of health and well-being or health and well-being as being a result of a combination of physical, social, intellectual and emotional factors. Stimson and Webb (1975) carried out research which suggested that people have their own private comments on their own ill health, compared to what they chose to tell their doctors. The research indicated that people did not always believe or accept the medical explanation given for their illness. The study suggests people hold their own views and hold their own explanations for ill health. (Doyal. L. at el. (1991) A Theory of Human Need. London. Macmillan) Health promoters have to collect a significant amount of information before they can put out a campaign on a particular disease. They have to look at health models and their approaches and even statistical information from CENSUS reports, death certificates, survey’s, and even General Practitioner (GP) records and so on. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defined health promotion as ‘enabling people to gain control over their lives’ (WHO 1986). There are four approaches to take in to consideration before putting together a health promotion campaign, and they are: The medical approach: this focuses on activity which aims to reduce morbidity and premature morbidity. Activity is targeted towards whole populations of high-risk groups. This kind of health promotion seeks to increase medical interventions which will prevent ill health and premature death. The medical approach is conceptualised around the absence of disease. It does not seek to promote positive health, for example ‘Smoking advertisement’, smoking adverts only advertise damage the body will develop through regular inhalation of tobacco. This kind of promotion can be criticised for ignoring the social and environmental dimensions of health. In addition, the medical approach encourages dependency on medical knowledge and removes health decisions from people concerned. The medical approach also relies on having an infrastructure capable of delivering screening or an immunisation programme. This includes trained personnel, equipment, laboratory facilities, and information systems which determine who is eligible for the procedure and record uptake rates. And in the case of immunisation, a vaccine which is effective and safe. The educational approach: the purpose of this approach is to provide knowledge and information, and to develop the necessary skills so that people can make their own informed choice regarding their health behaviour. The educational approach should be distinguished from a behaviour change approach, and that it does not set out to persuade or motivate change in a particular direction. However, this will be the service user’s voluntary choice, and it may not be the one the health promoter would prefer. The educational approach is based on a set of assumptions about the relationship between knowledge and behaviour: that by increasing knowledge, there will be a change in attitudes which may lead to a change in behaviour towards a healthier lifestyle. To provide educational information to clients regarding health and well-being, provisions would have to be put in place, through the following resources: leaflets, booklets, visual displays or one-to-one advice with their own GP. By providing these sources this may provide opportunities for people to share and explore their own attitudes towards health education. Empowerment: This approach helps people to identify their own concerns and gain the skills and confidence and for the person to act upon them. Social change: this approach recognises the importance of social-economic environment’s in determining health. Its focus is at the policy or environmental level, and the aim is to bring about changes in the physical, social and economic environment which will have the effect of promoting health. This approach will also look at social class, the promoter will take in to consideration people’s gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, working, unemployed and so on. Basically the social approach will look at theories that are linked to social class and determine whether or not, that poverty and low social class are the reasons for high mortality rates linked to a specific disease. This is when the promoter will now go away and put together his/her campaign. The Acheson Report (1998) shows that there is an existence of health inequalities and their association to social class, in this report there is data, even though there is a down fall in mortality, the superior classes take in to account more rapid mortality deterioration. Also The Black Report (1980) shows that there are higher levels of poverty in the lower class and higher death rates due to ill health, the higher social class live in a more advanced area which is much more suitable for living conditions, but in contrast to that, people who live in a higher class seem to live in the centre of a city which is much more prone to pollution. LO2 Whether we come from poverty, working class or a higher class background, there are many health influences all around us, for example the environment we live in can influence our health; for instance, living with a partner who is controlling can impact on the stability of mental health, living in a city centre can influence poor health due to pollution (inhalation of fumes from motor vehicles and fuel plants). Although living in a higher class society can have a positive effect on better healthcare, there are still factors of negative influences on health and well-being. Smoking, eating the wrong types of food, lack of exercise, no socialisation, alcohol, misuse of drugs, all these things can have an enormous negative effect on our health and well-being. However eating the correct foods (5 ADAY) and consuming the correct portion size as well as combining at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day can have a great deal of positive’s upon our lifestyle. For instance exercise is good for the brain as well as the body. According to NHS Choices (2013) ‘by eating five portions of fruit or vegetables and just 30 minutes of activity a day, will increase the secretion of Serotonin within our brains’. Serotonin is a hormone found in the brain, it influences our mood, sexual function, appetite, sleep, memory and learning, temperature regulation, and some social behaviour. So we could say the more Serotonin we produce the healthier the brain becomes, which results in a happier you. LO3 For the third and final part of this essay I am going to talk about the political side of health promotion within the UK and take a look across the globe at other parts of the world. Health Promotion is everywhere we look, especially in the media. We see it every day in the news whether it be on the television or in the newspapers. Health Promoters plan and develop ways to help people to change their eating and exercise habits to improve their way of life. There are lots of Health Promoters today that campaign against unhealthy living. Health Promoters give you guidance to a healthier lifestyle whether it is help with eating habits, smoking, alcohol intake, oral health, physical activity and mental health. Each and every one of us will indulge ourselves in to a habit and put ourselves at risk of chronic diseases at some point in our lives. According to Dr Robert Beaglehole (2011) â€Å"The real tragedy is that more hasn’t been done to avoid this epidemic, as overweight and obesity, and their related chronic diseases, are largely preventable†. Approximately 80% of heart disease, stroke, type 2 Diabetes, and 40% of cancer could be avoided through healthy diet, regular physical activity and avoidance of tobacco use. † This is why Health Promotional campaigns are important, as it gives us a better outlook on life and can also expand our lives too (Huffington Post) 2011. Health promotion is an important element of the governments health agenda. On forming a new government, the new labour set public health policies in line with its health agenda. Out of this rose a new white paper Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation, which sets ambitious targets for life expectancy to be increased, and inequalities in health to be reduced. The Labour Government plan to achieve this through its public health policy in a third way (Connelly 1999). ‘Labours policies are aimed at strengthening communities, and encouraging individuals to seize opportunities and take responsibility for their action’. The Government hopes to improve the health of individuals by reducing health inequalities through health promotion. By doing so the Government will look at a range of different sources of information before they decide the need of a health promotion campaign. The Government have their own facilities to obtain information such as up to date statistical evidence via the website www. direct. gov/statistics . They can also obtain information from Registry Offices, such as marriage certificates, death certificates and birth certificates. By doing so, the Government will acquire accurate results to continue lobbying the new health promotion campaign needed to address the UK to improve quality of life. Before the campaign can be given the go ahead to become a final document, the Government have to look for ethical errors. For instance is the health promotion campaign fair to all people who are involved, meaning, does the campaign aim its information at all service users or is it aimed at a particular generation, gender, culture and so on. For a health care promotion to be respected it has to be aimed at everyone regardless of the persons background. By involving all service users, promoters can eliminate discrimination and visually display that equality and diversity are no longer an issue within our society especially in the health care sector.