Thursday, October 31, 2019

Strategic Change Management in Larnaca General Hospital Assignment

Strategic Change Management in Larnaca General Hospital - Assignment Example The hospital was established in the year 1984 (Larnaca General Hospital, 2012). The hospital has been built upon the land which belongs to the â€Å"Church Committee of the Monastery of St. George Kontos†. Church committee donated the land to hospital authority during early 1980’s. Ministry of Health provided a donation to hospital authority in order to build the healthcare unit. The hospital was opened on 24th April 1985 by Spyros Kyprianou (former president of Cyprus during that time). Funding Situation Various nonprofit organizations such as Anti-Cancer Society of Cyprus and Cyprus Association of Cancer Patients and Ministry of Health will provide a fund for breast health center of Larnaca general hospital. There will not be any other stakeholders except mentioned nonprofit organizations. Mission Statement In accordance with the Directorate of Nursing Services the hospital strives for improving nursing care continuously. According to the directorate, they need constr uctive cooperation as well as participation from nurses during difficult and complex healthcare situation in order to achieve the mission objective. Change Situation Breast Health Center Breast cancer has emerged as a pernicious disease for women in last fifteen years and statistics show that in the country of Cyprus number of women affected by breast cancer has been increased sharply in recent times. There are three major cancer prevention initiatives such as Anti-Cancer society, Cyprus Association of Cancer Patients and Friends are present in the country. In the district of Larnaca, there are no special centers for observing initial symptoms of breast cancer although it is a way to prevent the disease in early stages. It is very hard to find accurate and valid healthcare data of the Cypriot population due to strict government rules. A report published by CYSTAT or Statistical Service of Cyprus shows that a number of women dying due to breast cancer are relatively high in contrast to other diseases. The statistical report shows that more than 32% of women are suffering from breast cancers. The following diagram can be used in order to understand the severity of breast cancer in the country. (Source: Golna et al., 2004) The Larnaca General Hospital needs to establish breast health center in order to reduce stress and nervousness associated with preliminary stages of breast cancer. The study shows that 1109 Cypriot women were diagnosed with breast cancer during the time period of 1999-2005. The study also shows that nearly 400 cases of breast cancer are reported by women while 90% of cases get registered by hospital officials. Although cancer patients receive treatment from Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre of Nicosia very few people in Larnaca district have the access to such facilities.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Terminating the Patient-Provider Relationship Essay Example for Free

Terminating the Patient-Provider Relationship Essay Introduction Problem Overview With the advent of 21st century medical technology, health care procedures, ethical and legal considerations and scopes of practice among health care providers have become greatly complex. According to Servellen (1997), one of the most confronting issues of the modern provider-patient relationship is the often misunderstanding of accountability, responsibility and liability of care measures towards the patient (p.334). Legal considerations of providing care and duty of obligation of the provider towards the patients start when the health care professional enters into a relationship with a patient. However, the agreement of care relationship does not only require role of the provider. According to Scott, Ed and Scott (2005), compliance of the patient throughout the care procedures rendered by the provider is another significant component of caring process (p.162). In fact, providers include initial assessments on patient’s level of compliance prior to the start of care process, and more importantly, health professionals inform the patient about the written policy imposing the responsibility of the patient to comply with the process of health care interventions. As considered by American Academy of Nurses, if the patient becomes noncompliant or initiates actions violating professional rights of provider or the patient’s rights, the provider possesses the benefit of terminating the working relationships as considered by the appropriate grounds (Scott, Ed and Scott, 2005 p.162). On the other hand, if the provider terminates the relationship, such professional decision now confronts the issue on breaching the pledged role of devoted care and legal duty of service. Termination of patient-provider relationships is confronted by question whether or not conflicts between the professional role of the provider and the legal duty to provide care (Servellen, 1997 p.334). The current implementations of patient care disengagement largely depend on the institutional policy. According to Scott, Ed and Scott (2005), â€Å"termination of the provider-patient relationship is justified when the patient makes a knowing, voluntary election to end the relationship, either unilaterally or jointly with the provider† (p.162). Upon signing the consent of care, both participants of the care process obtain their own roles in the entire procedure of care. Mason (2004) emphasizes that the professional relationship with the patient can just be terminated due to personal or other inappropriate grounds (p.307). Termination of care is only considered ethical and appropriate when (1) the patient has already reached the maximum benefit of the procedure as supported by clinician’s judgment, or (2) when the patient has already achieved cure from the procedure. However, termination of patient-care relationship on the ground of patient non-compliance imposes a conflict issue between duty of care and patient’s participatory role in the process of care delivery. As supported by Servellen (1997), the provider’s duties to the patient, involving a breach of duty, relates to the standards of practice for all health care professionals (p.334). According to Mason (2004), termination of patient care may result to a legal accusation of abandonment, which â€Å"is the discontinuation of an established patient-provider relationship† (p.307). According to AMA, a non-compliant patient is considered as a â€Å"difficult patient† and candidate for the reconsideration of patient-provider termination of care. However, termination of care must follow appropriate procedures without interfering the continuity of patient care. Terminating the patient care somehow conflicts with the element of maintaining the continuity of care. As explained by Carter, Levetown and Foley 2004), noncompliant patients under reconsideration of patient-care termination still possess the rights of continuous care until another health care reliever has been reassigned (p.120). Moscow (2004) points out that terminating patient care without proper reliever of care is automatically considered a liability against the established patient-provider relationship contract (p.120). According to Servellen (1997), despite the protective and patient-focused approaches of the provider, inevitable times wherein a provider is confronted with situations (e.g. DNR requests can sometimes impede to patient’s right of autonomy, etc.) that can possibly or actually impinge patient’s rights can still occur (p.335). According to American Hospital Association (AHA), the four basic consumer rights state that the (1) patient has the right to safety, (2) right to be informed, (3) right to choose, and (4) right to be heard (Servellen, 1997 p.335). Considering these components as part of the reconsiderations in the ethical discussion of patient-provider care termination, it is indeed inappropriate to terminate the relationship set prior to the start of the process. As mentioned by AMA, provision of care towards non-compliant patients is still under the governance of the elements of (1) health care provider’s duty to provide continuous care, (2) fulfilling the expectations of care for the patient, and (3) carrying out the obligations of care (Mason, 2004 p.307). Terminating the care relationship set during the formal contract establishment between the provider and patient is automatically considered a breach in the legal nature of such relationship. Such action is a considerable ground for the legal liability of abandonment. Despite the issue on termination of care, there are still possible grounds wherein a health care’s refusal to care can be considered appropriate. According to Servellen (1997), provider’s may terminate or refuse care process when (1) the procedure caries physical risks to either the provider or the patient, (2) rendered care violates patient’s rights to autonomy and self-determinations, and (3) religious or moral issues followed by either of the two parties (p.335).   According to Carter, Levetown and Foley (2004), the actual patient-provider relationship is founded on trust and relationship, and not merely on legal holds or set contracts (p.120). Considering this as a form of assertion to the later supporting principles of patient-provider relationship termination, the issue on role fidelity arises as another essential consideration aside from autonomy and the contractual-based patient-provider relationship. Carter, Levetown and Foley (2004) emphasize the value of adhering to the moral and professional role of the nurse, and not solely limiting the care provision on to the patient’s level of compliance (p.120). Guided by the principle of â€Å"patient’s best interest† and fidelity, Mezey and Berkman (2000) support the idea pointing out on the idealistic elements of nursing practice wherein professionals should consider their importance in administering care under holistic and universal perspective regardless of potentially solvable conflicts (p.502). Despite of the relationship established after the setting of contact, the provider needs to consider the nature of non-equalitarian partnership and not the coequal partnership; rather, leading, establishment of rapport and serving the best interests to as the patient as the care provider must all be considered.   As supported by Shamus and Stern (2003), patient-provider relationship imposes a duty of unauthorized disclosure of contract care process without appropriate grounds (p.74). The 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) indeed protect the patients from such decisions brought by health care providers. However, compliance and sets of patient’s participatory obligations throughout the procedure count significantly on the entire health care delivery process (Shamus and Stern, 2003 p.74). Insurance of care does not only direct the obligations and tasks towards the provider but also from the patient. According to Earp, French and Gilkey (2007), patient-provider relationship is expected to work as an enhancing strategy for patient’s trust towards their health care provider. Furthermore, such relationship supports a therapeutic alliance and patient care processes involving high levels of trusts, rapport and patient satisfaction (p.195). By this principle, patients are indeed subjected to participate and cooperate in the process of health care delivery. However, in case the patient declines to participate, health care providers must not immediately terminate the procedure since they are no coequals of the patients and resistance towards care measures are sometimes inevitable. According to Rothestein, Brody and McCullough et al. (2001), health care providers must continuously administer care and interventions necessary for the well-being of the patient despite of the non-compliant behavior (p.620). In case the patient becomes notoriously incompliant to either selective or general procedures scheduled for administration, AMA suggests a series of assessment for the noncompliant behavior without involving one’s professional role outside the scope of care provision (Mason, 2004 p.307). Furthermore, the patient’s decision to not comply entirely depends on himself or herself; although, it is an important protocol consideration to check institutional policy for the proper consent documentation of such patient’s behavior. Most public institutions implement waiver signing when the patient refuses to take medications for example. According to Earp, French and Gilkey (2007), this is done for the purpose of formality and protection from possible accusations of abandonment or care quality infringements (p.195). On the other hand, when provider-patient relationship is not anymore pursuing its beneficial state or health care alliance status, AMA suggests the termination of health care management. As supported by Rubenfield and Scheffer (2006), the duty of the provider in relation to the physician-patient relationship includes (1) fulfilling the patient’s expected care, (2) carrying out the health care roles of the provider towards the patient, and (3) delivering care guided by the principles of fidelity and nonmalificence (p.96). If the provider has been determined to satisfy all these criteria, the duty to treat or provide care to the patient is indeed not violated. However, if the patient pursues his or her state of noncompliance despite of the standards of care being administered and the potential of further causing harm to one’s self, terminating the set provider-patient relationship is indeed justified. Nonetheless, as supported by the AMA Code of Ethics in 1998 Doc #1, p.5, â€Å"physicians cannot withdraw from a case without giving notice to the patient, the relatives, or responsible friends sufficiently long in advance of withdrawal to permit another medical attendant to be secured† (cited at Rothestein, Brody and McCullough et al., 2001 p.621). The health care provider is still tasked to service the patient until the reliever of care becomes available. Meanwhile, despite the legal recognitions in terminating the provider-patient relationship, the question still lies if whether or not the provider breaches his or her professional role as the higher component of the alliance considering the noncompliant state of the patient. Statement of the Problem The participation of both parties in the patient-provider relationship is an important consideration to the entire success of the health care delivery process. Once the provider accepts the task pf providing care to the patient, it is lawfully and professionally understood that the provider agrees to setup a transactional bond with the patient. According to AMA code of ethics, the setting of contract between the provider and the patient includes participatory roles from the two parties, and compliance to the higher participant of the alliance, the health care provider, must take the lead of health care management (Rothestein, Brody and McCullough et al., 2001 p.621). Added by Earp, French and Gilkey (2007), â€Å"patient-provider relationship is even ideally characterized by high levels of provider informativeness, interpersonal sensitivity and partnership building† (p.189). However, in some instances, patient may pose as the incompliant participant of the body system, which can greatly compromise the delivery of care as well as the role function of the provider. As emphasized by Servellen (1997), if the patient manifests a noncompliant behavior towards the care being provided by the assigned health care professional, the code of ethics should rather consider the termination of the bonded agreement than forcing the two participants to maintain their relationship since this can actually be detrimental to both patient’s health and provider’s role (p.336). Hence, termination of patient-provider relationship in relation to patient’s incompliant behavior can be possibly done via appropriate process of separation mandated by the institutional policies. It is important however to consider the validation of the provider’s claims followed by the written acknowledgement signed by the patient. After establishing an agreement of termination, the provider is expected to maintain the level of care being provided to the patient until the endorsement of the patient’s care to the assigned reliever. AMA has imposed significant abandonment liabilities once the provider terminates the established relationship without properly engaging to the set institutional policies. According to Rothestein, Brody and McCullough et al. (2001), terminating the established relationship between the provider and the patient without properly notifying, validating and documenting the said action will immediately resort to legal liabilities (p.621). Termination of patient-provider relationship must be laid down to the patient for recognition and prevention of legal accusation of abandonment. Despite the valid points and supporting rationales in terminating the patient-provider relationship, the issue still lies questioning the appropriateness of termination in relation to the ideal practice of role fidelity and duty of care. Due to this very reason, we have proposed a descriptive and non-experimental study analyzing the legal, ethical and moral nature of terminating the set patient-provider relationship. The objectives of the study proposed are as follows: To determine the ethical stand point of terminating patient-provider relationship in relation to the ideal principles of (a) duty of care and (b) role fidelity To determine the perceptions of the patients on the potential effects of terminating patient-provider relationship towards the level of trust and health care satisfaction Scopes and Limitations Due to the continuously evolving policies of health care system, changes in the patient-provider relationship have also evolved progressively. Despite the idealistic principles of fidelity and duty of care, health care providers still encounter inevitable instances wherein the client becomes non-compliant towards selective or general interventions implemented as part of the care process. According to Servellen (1997), instead compromising the care delivered to these patients, code of ethics have now reconsidered the procedure-based termination of patient-provider relationship to prevent the delivery of reluctant or incompetent care management due to patient’s incompliance (p.327). However, Carter, Levetown and Foley (2004) and Mezey and Berkman (2000) assert that terminating patient-provider relationship violate the principles of duty of care and role fidelity since it is always the task of the provider to carry-out the needs of the patient as guided by the principle of â€Å"patient’s best-interests† regardless of the patient’s response to health care. In this proposed study, the primary goal is to determine whether or not the ideal principles of health care (role fidelity and duty of care) are breached once the provider terminates the established relationship with the patient. At the end of the study, the following questions must be answered: What are the supported grounds for terminating patient-provider relations approved by AMA and AAN? Cite the legal, ethical and moral comparisons between the two policies. Does the health care provider breach the established relationship once he/she requested for termination due to incompliant behavior? Significance of the Study Despite the defined institutional policies supporting the process of termination, the issue on breached principles of health care still remains questionable. Federal health care organizations, such as AMA and AAN, have clarified the issue and process involving the termination of patient-provider relationship on the grounds of non-compliance and failure to adhere to the provider’s instructions. According to Servellen (1997), during the times of the HIV epidemic, termination of care is considered professionally inappropriate; hence, care provided towards these HIV patients became detrimental to the patient’s health due to the reluctance and exaggerated care measures implemented by these providers (p.327). The issue involving the termination of such established relationship covers both ethical and legal principles (e.g. role fidelity, duty of care, etc.) governing the pledged role of the provider and the assigned participatory role (e.g. patient’s rights, patient’s task of compliance, etc.) of the patient. Clarifying the care issues on the termination of patient-provider relationship is significant due to the following reasons: By understanding the limitations and defined grounds of terminating the patient-provider relationships, the study can aid in identifying the relationships of ethical principles that shall answer the confronting issue of patient-provider relationship By understanding the legal and ethical considerations on patient-provider relationship termination, the study can help in defining policy proposals on the proper procedures for implementing the termination of patient-provider relationship   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The conceptual framework of the study illustrates the proposed program of implementation addressing the issue on termination of patient-provider relationship. The conceptual framework is based from the primary goal of the study – to determine the standpoint of the termination of patient-provider relationship. By determining the subjective responses from two types of samples, patients and nurses (selected â€Å"provider† population), the procedure should be able to reveal the ethical justifications and oppositions on the subject of terminating patient-provider relationship due to noncompliance. After determining the collation of responses, the procedure analyzes the data in order to obtain significant relationships pertaining to the issue on breaching the principles of role fidelity and duty of care upon termination of such care contracts. Program Proposal f.1. Research Design   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The study proposes a non-experimental and descriptively designed survey methodology as the program for analyzing the issue on termination of patient-provider relationship. Using the perception-based methodology, the study explores the different insights of the two parties involved – patients and nurses/ providers – in the issue targeted by the study. The proposed program utilizes open-ended questions depicting the different possible perspectives of the samples – approval, opposition, suggestive– towards the issue imposed. The design of the study relates to the patterns illustrated on the conceptual framework. The emphasis of the survey questions is derived from the primary goal of the study – to determine if whether or not the termination of patient-provider breaches the concept of role fidelity and duty of care.   The collated responses obtained from the survey are compared to the ethics analysis condu cted in the literary reviews. f.2. Samples and Sampling Technique Used   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The study aims to achieve the total target population of 100 patients and 100 nurses proportionately divided into two different sample hospital locales. Using a simple random sampling method, selection of patient respondents is guided by the following criteria: (1) 18 and above, (2) patients must be admitted within the hospital premises for at least two days, and (3) must be conscious and coherent. On the other hand, sampling criteria among nurses are as follows: (1) must be licensed professional, (2) must be employed and working within the hospital premises, (3) must have at least 2 years of nursing experience from the surveyed hospital locale or other institution. f.2. Data Gathering Procedure   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Data gathering procedures shall be composed of two different methodologies: (a) ethics analysis conducted in the literary reviews and (2) survey methodology implemented on two groups of samples. Ethics analysis from the literature reviews comprise of the different ideas answering the ethical disputes on termination of patient-provider relationship. In the process of ethics analysis, the principles of role fidelity and duty of care involved in the issue are the emphasis of the analysis. The main objective of this procedure is to answer the ethical standpoints of the issue based on whether the termination violates the principles of role fidelity and duty of care. On the other hand, the second methodology deals with the perceptions answering the issue on breached principles of role fidelity and duty of care through the termination of patient-provider relationship. After gathering the results of the two data sources, the integration of data is conducted aiming to answer the primary goal of then proposed study. f.3. Instrumentation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Survey questionnaires are the primary instrument used for the gathering of data and responses from the qualified samples. The questions used have been derived from three categories inclined to the different possible responses of the respondents. Categories used include (1) approval, (2) opposition, and (3) suggestive. Using open ended-questions according to the four categories, the respondent must select their preferred side among the four categories. Approval selection depicts their positive response over the termination of patient-provider relationship, opposition is the reverse,   and suggestive implicates the possible changes they want. The results of the survey are collated for the purpose of analysis and implications of data. f.4. Program Implementations   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the process of implementing the proposed program for evaluation and assessment of the issue, methodologies shall comprise (a) ethics analysis via records review and (b) the qualitatively designed survey of the chosen sample population. Implementation process shall begin with the gathering of records and reviews on issues and bioethical discussions on termination of patient-provider relationship. In the process of analyzing the obtained data, the study shall document (a) the ethical principles associated to the termination issue, (b) the conflicting ethical principles, and (c) the violated ethical principles upon implementation of the issue. After gathering these three components, the data shall be analyzed drawing appropriate implications from the documentation acquired. With the acquired results from ethics analysis, we shall now relate these to the two principles – role fidelity and duty of care that are hypothetically breache d upon terminating patient-provider relationship.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After the application of the second procedure, the survey methodology shall now begin its pilot study with a smaller sample population of at least 10 qualified respondents from the chosen research locales. During the process of pilot testing, the research processes involving the survey questions, respondent interaction, collation of data, analysis and interpretation of data shall be tested for validation and revision in case necessary. After the pilot study, the actual survey procedure shall commence targeting a population of 100 qualified respondents from each of the two hospitals chosen. Furthermore, 100 target samples from each institution shall be divided into two comprising of 50 qualified nurses and another 50 qualified patient respondents. The total sample population shall therefore be 200 qualified respondents.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After gathering the survey results using open-ended questions and simple random sampling technique, the results shall be collated according to the three categories of the questions used -(1) approval, (2) opposition, and (3) suggestive. The results shall be analyzed according to the data obtained from the records review. Implications associated to the ethical issue proposed (termination of patient-provider relationship) shall be drawn from the results of the interview. With the implications and analysis of the survey results, the next procedure integrates the study results from the records review and survey results to draw the general relationship between the perceptive study and theoretical ethical discussion on the issue proposed. Finally, the results drawn from the integration should answer the primary goal of the study.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1.5. PICO Analysis Table 1: P.I.C.O Analysis Population The main subjects concerning the research topic are the patients and associated providers, such as nurses and physicians. Program implementations involve similar sample groups as well (patients and nurses). Intervention Ethics analysis on patient-provider relationship utilizes the general overview of nursing and clinical care procedures (e.g. medication administration, wound care, etc.). On the other hand, the program implementation utilizes two interventions, specifically (a) Survey with corresponding questionnaires and (b) records analysis. Comparison Variable comparisons involve (a) patient perception versus (b) nurses perception on whether or not termination of patient-provider relationship violates the principles of duty to care and role fidelity. Outcomes Expected results of the study differentiate among the two parties involved. Nurses perceive the termination an ethical consideration under the basis of noncompliance and breach in the contract of relationship set prior to care delivery. Meanwhile, patients perceive the termination as an ethical breach since the tasks of the nurses must always comply with the duty to care and role fidelity. Conclusion In summary of this research proposal, we aim to determine the ethical standpoint of terminating patient-provider relationship on the grounds of patient incompliance despite the set agreement and principles governing the role of the health care provider. Since termination of patient-provider relationship has already been acknowledged by federal organizations (e.g. AMA, AAN, etc.), we determine if such termination of accounts on the basis of patient’s incompliance breaches the ethical principles of role fidelity and duty of care. In order to strengthen the ethics analysis of the issue, we have incorporated a descriptively designed survey method to obtain the perceptive response of both patients and nurses towards the imposed issue. After collating the results of the survey, the next step is to integrate the results obtained from the records review and from the survey conducted. References Carter, B. S., Levetown, M., Foley, K. M. (2004). Palliative Care for Infants, Children, and Adolescents: A Practical Handbook. London, New York: JHU Press. Earp, J., French, E. A., Gilkey, M. B. (2007). Patient Advocacy for Health Care Quality: Strategies for Achieving Patient-centered Care. New York, U.S.A: Jones Bartlett Publishers. Mason, J. (2004). Concepts in Dental Public Health. New York, U.S.A: Lippincott Williams Wilkin. Mezey, M., Berkman, B. J. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Elder Care: The Comprehensive Resource on Geriatric and Social Care. London, New York: Springer Publishing Company. Rothstein, M. A., Brody, B. A., McCullough et al., L. B. (2001). Medical Ethics: Analysis of the Issues Raised by the Codes, Opinions, and Statements. London, New York: BNA Books. Rubenfield, M., Scheffer, B. K. (2006). Critical Thinking Tactics for Nurses: Tracking, Assessing, and Cultivating Thinking to Improve Competency-based Strategies. New York, U.S.A: Jones Bartlett Publishers. Scott, R. W., Ed, N., Scott, W. (2005). Legal Aspects of Documenting Patient Care for Rehabilitation Professionals. New York, U.S.A: Jones Bartlett Publishers. Servellen, G. (1997). Communication Skills for the Health Care Professional: Concepts and Techniques. New York, U.S.A: Jones Bartlett Publishers. Shamus, E., Stern, D. (2003). Effective Documentation for Physical Therapy Professionals. New York, U.S.A: McGraw-Hill Professional.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

The Usefulness Of An Interview

The Usefulness Of An Interview If we cast a glance at any company which has gained success in any business area and begin to explore the reasons of this success we can see that there are many factors that cause this success: a successful business strategy, high quality organizational management, and of course, well selected employees who cope with their tasks properly. Choosing the right candidate, evaluating their performance and managing the high quality work are very important factors that play a great role for the successful activity of any company. The main purpose of this assignment is to answer the questions regarding the selection process of employees, the factors that undermine the usefulness of an interview, the background investigation of employees as part of the job selection process, and the performance appraisal method compare with the Total Quality Management (TQM). a. THE FACTORS AND PROBLEMS THAT CAN UNDERMINE THE USEFULNESS OF AN INTERVIEW. To select employees is a very important management process that requires responsibility and professionalism. Although there are many ways of managing this process, the main method is taking job interviews. It is very difficult to find a company that hires employees without interviewing them. In spite of the fact that there are many types and many ways of taking an interview, the main aim of this assignment is to analysis the problems and the factors that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. As I noticed above, selecting candidates is a very essential management task, and without knowing how to interview, it is impossible to manage this it. Several factors can undermine the usefulness of an interview First impression (Snap judgment) A study has shown that we make favorable or unfavorable judgments about someone we meet within 14 seconds. (CMR international. How to select best candidate. October 2004, p.35) Another research shows that in 85% of the cases interviewers had made up their minds before the interview even began (Dessler G., Human Resource Management, 11th edition, (2008), p.262) We can say that 50% of what an interviewers think about a candidate, 50% of their decision is made in the first 30-60 seconds. 25 percent of what the interviewer thinks about a candidate made in the first 15 minutes. This psychological factor undermines the interviews usefulness a lot. First impression becomes more harmful when the information about the candidate is unfavorable. Often the finding of even a small amount of negative information can lead to the rejection of a candidate. Generally, human psychology is affected more by negative information than the positive one. If the interview begins with negative mood, it is usually difficult to change its posture. For example, many try-outs for orchestras are now held with the applicant musicians playing behind a screen. All sexual, racial, and physical characteristics are eliminated so selectors can concentrate on listening for the best musician (http://humanresources.about.com/od/workrelationships/a/blink_effect.htm Access date 30 Sep 2009) Paying attention all these, it can be said that interviewers must not say their opinion about the candidate before an interview. Because in many cases the first impression can be deceptive. And the candidates must always remember that there is nothing like a good first impression. Body language is very important for the first impression. The candidate must sell him/herself through the unverbal communication, through the behavior. Candidate Order error This is one of the factors that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. The physiological incentive plays a great role here. Interviewers are influenced for or against a candidate by the interview of a previous candidate. For example, if a qualified applicant follows an exceptional applicant his or her qualifications tend to pale in comparison. To avoid this mistake it can be useful for the interviewers to take a little break after interviewing several candidates. Misunderstanding the Job Interviewers without clear understanding of the job sometimes ask irrelevant questions and make incorrect assumption about the qualifications of the successful job candidate. (http://ftdconsulting.com/docs/CommonInterviewMistakes Accessed date 30 Sep 2009) With incorrect stereotypes or impressions, it is very difficult to choose a right candidate. To avoid this, interviewers must get enough information about the vacant job which they want to fill and they musk ask relevant questions to the job. Nonverbal Behavior This is a very important factor during an interview both for interviewers and candidates. Nonverbal behavior is as important as verbal behavior. Psychological studies also affirm that nonverbal behavior can tell us many things about the persons nature and character. Elements, such as physique, height, weight, skin color, gender, and clothing send nonverbal messages during interaction. For example, a research into height has generally found that taller people are perceived as being more impressive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonverbal_communication Access date 30 Sep 2009) Candidates can be affected of interviewers body language- facial expressions, eye contact and psychical reactions. If the candidates start to see negative nonverbal behavior from their interviewers they can not adjust their answers. The candidates nonverbal behavior can also have an impact on his or her rating, because interviewers infer the interviewees personality from the way he or she acts in the interview (Dessler G., Human Resource Management, 11th edition, (2008), p.264) Impression Management This is a widely spreaded factor that undermines an interviews usefulness. Candidates persuade interviewers to like them by using ingratiation and praising. Applicants attempt to create a favorable impression. Some typical examples of impression management during interviews include verbal self-promotion (I am very hard worker), adjustment of nonverbal behaviors (Smiling, welcoming, body posture), and looking the part (wearing professional clothing). (Journal of Management, 33(5),752-773). Therefore, interviewers must be very careful about not being affected by these impressions Effects of Personal Characteristics Sometimes interviewers rely on applicants psychical appearance or attractiveness for making judgments about their suitability. For example, interviewers give more attention to people with favorable traits than people with unfavorable traits. The interviewers are affected by candidates gender, attractiveness and race. Besides these factors, which we have noticed above, there are some more factors that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. These factors are poorly worded questions, illegal questions (the legislation prohibits to ask private questions), and similar-to-me factor (interviewers tend to give a higher ratings to a candidate who has similar characteristics as themselves). Hiring and keeping good workers begins with the job interview. Interviews are one of the most important and extensively used hiring tools available to employers to identify the best candidate for a company. It is a great opportunity to meet several candidates and screen them to find the ones most suitable for the organization. Therefore, the interviewers must get as much benefit as they can from this opportunity. b. IS IT IMPORTANT TO CONDUCT PRE-EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION? Forming a successful interview is not enough to choose a right candidate. It is just a part of the job selection process. There are some more methods that employers use to hire people. The next method of job selection process is to conduct pre-employment background investigation. Many employers use this method before hiring people. A pre-employment background investigation is frequently performed to help companies learn about a potential employees background. The main aim is to check the information provided by the applicant and to discover the information that can be harmful for the company (criminal records, for example) Before a background investigation performed the employer must get a written and signed authorization from the employee. This informs the employee what type of background investigation of employment will be done. If the employer wants access to candidates medical records or wants to talk to his or her friends, co-workers, then two additional consent forms are required. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, areas of scrutiny consist of: Criminal records Sex offender lists State licensing records Character references Education records Property ownership Court records Credit records Social security number Past employers Neighbor interviews Medical records Vehicle records Military records Incarceration records Driving records Bankruptcy Personal references Workers compensation Drug test records Source: http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/employee-background-check.html (Accessed 25 Sep 2009) Sometimes people find themselves in a situation where they wonder if it would be appropriate to do a background investigation about someone. It is not always easy to decide what the appropriate might be to do such a check. More often an emotional process takes place which prevents a person from doing that investigation. But nobody wants to choose the wrong candidate. To avoid this, usually it is necessary to do this investigation. In the following example we can see the importance of doing pre-employment background investigation Joe Smith hired by ABC Inc. as a cable TV installer assaults and a rapes a female customer while installing cable service in her home. The employee had a criminal record of assault and drug abuse. A court could rule that the cable company was negligent because it should have found out about Joe through a pre-employment background investigation or an employee criminal background check. The family of the female customer beaten and raped by Joe of ABC Inc. sues his former employer 123 Inc. for only providing ABC Inc. with whats called a standard reference. This means 123 Inc. only gave basic information to ABC Inc. No detailed data involving Joes physical fights with co-workers while at 123 Inc. and his on the job drug abuse. Why? A lot of businessman and organizations are reluctant to share offensive and sensitive information because they are worried about being sued for defamation of character by former employees (http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/pre-employment-background-investigation.html Accessed date 25 Sep 2009) From this example we can say that, doing pre-employment background investigation is not causeless. Researches has shown that up to 20 percent of job applicants give false or misleading information on their applications for employment (http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/pre-employment-background-investigation.html Accessed date 25 Sep 2009) One more example, Bell Souths security director estimates that 15% to 20% of applicants conceal a secret in their application forms (Dessler G., Human Resource Management, 11th edition, (2008), p.280) Some of common areas of misleading involve: False dates of employment Criminal history Untrue reasons for leaving previous employment Domestic violence or abuse Problems with credit history and etc. Hiring wrong person by not doing pre-employment background investigation could destroy everything a business owner or manager has built. Background investigation is a very important search tool todays business climate. Hiring without an accurate pre-employment check could result in serious problems. It is the employers responsibility to know the employee. So every employer should approach this process with a great responsibility to avoid further unpleasant events. c. TAKING A TQM-BASED APPROACH TO THE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Nowadays competitive market requires a high quality from the companies. Therefore, companies always try to raise the quality in all steps of an organizational process. The main aim of the quality movement is to get the best performance and effort from the employees of the organization. There are some ways to realize the quality movement. The most widely used methods are Total Quality Management (TQM) and performance appraisal methods. But there is an opinion difference about the applying of these methods. Some experts suggest that taking a TQM is an approach to the performance appraisal, but some of them have a contrary opinion. In this paragraph of an assignment the contrary among the experts will be discussed. But before this, it needs to be explained what TQM and appraisal methods are. TQM is a method to raise a quality throughout the organizational process. It is not a programme but a systematic style of work. The main aim is to raise the quality of goods, service and all organizational process. Performance appraisal method is used to evaluate the job performance of an employee. The aim is to facilitate communications between employees and administration and to identify employees training needs. But both TQM and performance appraisal methods are focused of increasing the productivity of the organization. They both help the systematic management of all the process in the organization. Some of the benefits of both the performance appraisal and TQM are: Improvement of the performance of the employees Brings quality consciousness Better utilization of resources Commitment of higher technology (http://appraisals.naukrihub.com/tqm-and-performance-appraisal.html Accessed date 26 Sep 2009) As it is noticed above, there is an argument among the experts about the usefulness of appraisal methods as a part of TQM. Many defenders of TQM criticize performance appraisals. For example, Peter Scholtes say there is no data, no research to demonstrate that performance appraisal does any good. There is nothing to indicate that a company which uses performance appraisals does any better than it would if it did not use performance appraisals. (http://www.baldrigeplus.com/Exhibits/Exhibit%20-%20Performance%20appraisal.pdf Accessed date 26 Sep 2009) They insist on performance appraisals undermines teamwork. Some experts refute the compatibility of the TQM and performance appraisals. According to them both TQM and Performance appraisals differ in their fundamental nature, characteristics and requirements making it impossible to combine them. Some fundamental differences between the two are: TQM is team based whereas performance appraisals are designed for individuals. It undermines teamwork TQM focuses on customer whereas performance appraisal method focuses on individuals. In TQM the main aim is to reach the standards but in appraisal method standards are sometimes imposed on the employee Performance appraisals generally results in some awards, like increased pay, promotions and etc. but TQM may or may not yield visible results. Nevertheless, other TQM experts defend Performance appraisals saying that this is a very important part of management programme including quality movement. They say that performance appraisals are very necessary for every organization and it must be approached in the frames of TQM. Because, as a result, the performance appraisals method is an important step to raise a work quality. Although there is a contrariety among the experts about the applying of performance appraisal methods, the benefits of these method is obvious. Of course there are some factors that can undermine the usefulness of performance appraisals (luck of preparation, unclear performance standards, and ect.).But for my opinion if it is applied faultless many problems can be eliminated in an organization. In every company there can be some insufficiencies, employees may need motivation and to eliminate these insufficiencies it is very useful to use performance appraisal methods. I want to give an example about my school. Few days ago we had been given appraisal papers to identify our needs and insufficiencies, and as a result I saw its benefit. It was a like a communication between the students and the administrators. I dont agree with the experts who say performance appraisals are useless. Maybe in some cases this method is useless but it does not mean that performance appraisals are always us eless. CONCLUSION As a result, it can be said that the interviews are very important job selection process for the both employers and employees. Interviewers must be very careful and they must avoid the problems that can undermine the usefulness of an interview. It was also shown that the good interview is not enough to choose the right candidate, therefore it is very important to do pre-employment background investigation. By doing this investigation the future unpleasant events can be avoided. In the last part of an assignment we looked through the performance appraisal methods in the frames of TQM and it can be said that although there is no common opinion about the usefulness of the appraisal methods, for my opinion performance appraisal methods are very useful. REFERENCES: Dessler G.(2004) Human Resource Management 11th edition Journal of Management (2007) 33(5) CMR international. (2004 October) How to select best candidate. p.35 http://appraisals.naukrihub.com/tqm-and-performance-appraisal.html http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/employee-background-check.html http://www.you-can-learn-basic-employee-rights.com/pre-employment-background-investigation.html http://www.baldrigeplus.com/Exhibits/Exhibit%20-%20Performance%20appraisal. http://humanresources.about.com/od/workrelationships/a/blink_effect.htm http://ftdconsulting.com/docs/CommonInterviewMistakes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonverbal_communication

Friday, October 25, 2019

Humorous Wedding Speech from the Father of the Bride -- Wedding Toasts

Humorous Wedding Speech from the Father of the Bride Distinguished guests, those of dubious distinction and those of no distinction, family, relatives, in-laws and outlaws, young and old, friends, friends of friends, freeloaders and hangers-on – let me extend a warm welcome to Meradith and Naren’s wedding reception celebration. Winston Churchill was apparently asked to address a prep school and he got up and said, â€Å"Never, Never, Never give up!† then he sat down. Well you are not going to get away quite as easily as that, but I will try to be brief. There aren’t many people who find themselves in the position I find myself in today. I’m married, 35 and I have two sons, yet I find myself in the role of â€Å"Father of the Bride†, but as I am Meradith’s brother I consider it a great honour and would like to say how proud I am to be giving away my beautiful baby sister today. I know I speak on behalf of my mother and the rest of Meradith’s family when I say how proud we are today to see Meradith looking so beautiful, finally married to Naren. During the time we have known him we have come to realise how special he is to Meradith, and everyone can see how they are made for each other. He is really likable and easy going, and we are happy to welcome him formally into our family. At this point in the proceedings, it is traditional to bring up an embarrassing moment from Meradith’s past or to highlight ... ...uite hard to carry out. You must both realise that marriage isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible. Many of us know that everyone faces ups and downs in a life commitment. There is no secret to a happy marriage. You’ll both have to work at it, like many of us. There is no challenge in a marriage that cannot be overcome by the following three, three-word sentences. These are: I was wrong! You were right! I love you! Meradith and Naren, Here’s to the past for all that you’ve learned Here’s to the present for all that you share And here’s to the future for all that you can look forward to together. Ladies and Gentlemen, please be upstanding, and raise your glasses to Meradith and Naren

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Evaluation/Worksheet

Answer the following questions in the space provided. Remember to use complete sentences to demonstrate comprehension and understanding. Based on the labs you completed, answer the following questions: 1. Which solute(s) were able to diffuse into the right beaker from the left beaker? Which did not? Answer: The solute(s) that were able to diffuse Na+/Cl- , Urea, Glucose. The solute that didn’t was Albumin. 2. Explain the relationship between the rate of diffusion and the size of the solute.What do you think changes in temperature such as cold/hot would have on the diffusion rate? Answer: The rate of diffusion of molecules depends on how soluble they are. The rate of diffusion depends on the size of the molecule in general, small molecules would pass through a membrane faster than larger molecules. As temperatures increase, molecular movement increases. As the movement increases, so will the diffusion rate as the molecules spread faster and faster.The opposite would be true of colder temperatures. 3. Considering the osmosis lab, explain the relationship between fluid volume and osmotic pressure. Answer: Osmotic pressure is the measure of the tendency for osmotic flow to occur. Osmotic flow is from a solvent to a solution. This is the amount of pressure that needs to be applied from the outside to prevent osmosis. Fluid volume might be connected to osmotic pressure as the amount of pressure required to contain a specific volume of fluid in a container.Both pressures are external. 4. Describe a situation that demonstrates diffusion and a situation that demonstrates osmosis occurring either in the human body or in the environment. Answer: Diffusion is molecules moving from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. For example, ammonia molecules have a powerful odor. When a stopper is removed from a beaker containing ammonia, the molecules move from the area of high concentration diffusing themselves throughout the air.This true as the od or becomes noticeable even in far reaches of the room where it was released. Osmosis occurs when molecules on one side of a semi-permeable membrane cross through the membrane. If the two solutions are of different concentrations, but the molecules of one are smaller and can diffuse the membrane, then we have osmosis or molecules moving from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. A common example is the absorption of water by the roots of a plant from the soil. 5.After reviewing the four tissue types in the Histology Atlas, choose the tissue type you think is most important in the human body and explain your reasoning. Answer: There isn’t such thing as most important tissue. The reason we have different tissues is that we cannot exist without any of them. If I had to choose one it would be Epithelial Tissue because covers the whole surface of the body. It is made up of cells closely packed and ranged in one or more layers. This tissue is specialized to form the covering or lining of all internal and external body surfaces.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

In the Mind of Psychopaths Essays

In the Mind of Psychopaths Essays In the Mind of Psychopaths Essay In the Mind of Psychopaths Essay Ravina Patel 1136613 General Psychology assignment- Wider awareness Pondering on psychopathic traits Aided by brain scans (MRI), scientists have found that psychopaths have significant brain impairments, which are decreased amount of grey matter in the brain responsible for processing empathy, moral reasoning and guilt that clearly affect their ability to feel emotions, and to react to other people’s distress. Also, other studies have linked the amygdala with psychopathic traits as this area is related to aggressive behavior. Abnormalities in other parts of the brain such as the orbitofrontal cortex have also been correlated to psychopathy, as this area is responsible for lying, irresponsibility, and lack of emotion. Brain scans have also shown that psychopaths (with mean, aggressive, rude attitude) have more activity in the part of the brain related to the expectation of rewards. Other than physical brain abnormalities, genes could also be playing a role on psychopathic behavior (monster-like behavior such as merciless killing, torturing, cannibalism, etc. . Psychopaths can also be considered as â€Å"natural born predators† as they tend to sense emotions such as fear accurately. Apart from biology, social upbringing can also be playing a role in psychopath’s lives. In fact, violent upbringing can contribute to psychopathic traits. However, psychopathic traits cannot be explained with simply one factor or another; it is a combination of biological traits, social traits, personal psychology and biochemical traits that are combined to explain psychopathic behavior. According to Dr. Robert Hare, the percentage of psychopaths in Canada goes up to 1% of the total population. One important distinction to make is that psychopaths are not necessarily murderous creatures. In fact, many of them may not even be criminals. However, people with lack of emotions, feelings, remorse or concern for other’s well being do tend to contribute to destroyed lives. Antisocial personality disorder (psychopath) is defined as â€Å"behavior outside any ethical and legal standard of society† (376). As stated in the article, the textbook confirms that the amygdala plays a key role in emotion, especially when it comes to fear and aggression (57,315). In accordance with the article, the textbook’s authors also state that psychopaths feel little distress for others and they see no wrong in their cruel behaviors toward others (376). From Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, morality in the first stages (childhood stages) is based on rewards, punishments and exchange of favors. On the conventional level, morality is based on the adherence of social rules and norms. Lastly, in the postcoventional level, individuals do the difference between what is right and what is wrong, and define morality in terms of social principles (274,275). Psychopaths do not seem to follow this path at all since their judgments are impaired with other brain abnormalities. In agreement with the article, psychopaths are not always criminals. Some may be politicians or even business people. Their impulsive behavior and lack of conscience harm people surrounding them (377). Unlike sane people, psychopaths â€Å"have abnormal low activity in the brain during stress periods† (they do not feel the pressure to perform well or whatsoever) and they have less grey matter in their frontal lobes (responsible for emotion, reasoning, and problem solving (377). In agreement with both the article and the textbook, lack of grey matter in the frontal lobe can also explain psychopath’s manipulative behaviors and impulsive acts. As stated in the article, the nurture environment plays a role in antisocial personality disorder. Abusive upbringing, anything from emotional deprivation to wrong disciplinary rules affects psychopaths (377). They also have low sense of moral development. In fact, they do not have a sharp sense of what is right and what is wrong (276). Killing and causing harm to others may not be considered â€Å"bad† from psychopaths’ judgment. Other people may be just perceived as mere objects of pleasure, or torture. The textbook and the articles basically state the same concepts of brain abnormalities to explain psychopathic behaviors. The amygdala, along with other regions of the brain can explain some cruel behaviors. Similarly, during the early stage of development of the child, some trauma such as violent upbringing can also accentuate violent behavior in the future. I found this article particularly interesting because psychopathic behaviors are not always subject to a lot of discussions. Psychopaths are hidden in society and we tend to live with them, not knowing how they can (or can’t) ruin our lives. Maybe someone close to us may present traits of a psychopath, but we ignore or deny it. I am almost fascinated by their relationship with the rest of humanity. I probably wont ever get over the fact that psychopaths are capable of doing inhuman acts and not find anything wrong to it (such as cannibalism). I used to think that psychopaths had completely different social behaviors, which made them very distinct from other people. Now I know that it is not the case. I can’t tell if someone close-minded, incapable of loving, insincere, impulsive, egocentric and harsh is dangerous or not. At some point, this feeling causes insecurity in its own environment.

Monday, October 21, 2019

34 Important SEO Tips You Need To Know Now - CoSchedule

34 Important SEO Tips You Need To Know Now Search engine optimization often seems  like magic  to newcomers. The elements of a strong SEO strategy often arent obvious  to an untrained eye. However, once you understand how  the basics work, you can: Dramatically increase your organic search traffic Increase your conversion rate Generate more leads and revenue Despite rumors to the contrary, SEO isnt dead. Furthermore, even the best content needs some help getting found. Thats where these 34 SEO tips will come in handy. Whether youre a beginner just getting started, or an expert looking for a quick refresher, this post provides a basic understanding of the most essential elements necessary for SEO success. Plus, weve also included an on-page SEO checklist to help you  nail every blog post you write. Table of Contents: 6  Tips On How To Do Keyword Research 2 SEO Meta Tag Formatting Tips For Optimal Search Snippets 7 SEO Writing Tips To Create Better Content 4 Image SEO Tips 3  Internal Linking Tips To Avoid Over-Optimization 5 Simple Link Building Tips 4 Additional WordPress SEO Tips 3 Tips For Measuring SEO Success Resources For Further Learning Why Is SEO Important? You may have heard rumblings that SEO is an outdated practice. You might have even heard that basic search engine optimization is completely unnecessary in 2016. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. In fact,  SEO is as important as ever. Furthermore, if you're not paying attention, you might  not be getting all the traffic you could be.  While search engine algorithms and SEO best practices are constantly evolving, it's still important to know the basics and not rely on luck to get your content to rank. That's where the following tips come in hand. 6 Tips On How To Do Keyword Research Keywords are essential to  any sound SEO campaign. Search engines need them to understand what your post is about. Users need them to help find answers to their questions. Your goal is to create great resources  that answers common search queries. Tip 1: Learn How To Use The Google Adwords Keyword Planner The Google Adwords Keyword Planner is every marketer's trusted warhorse for keyword research. It's useful for uncovering  keyword search volumes and generating additional keyword ideas.  Check out this video below to see how it works: Tip 2: Use SERPs.com's Free Keyword Research Database We love this free keyword tool from SERPs.com. It's fast, effective, and incredibly easy to use. Here's how it works: Go to the Keyword Research Database. Enter a keyword and click "search": It's as simple as that. Tip 3: Use  SEMRush To Gauge Keyword Difficulty If you have a paid Moz subscription, then you know how useful their Keyword Difficulty tool can be. However, what if you can't afford a premium SEO software suite? Enter SEMRush. While they do offer paid plans, you can easily use their Keyword Difficulty tool with a free subscription: 1.   Sign up for a free SEMRush account. 2. Find Keyword Difficulty in the left-hand navigation. 3.  Enter  keywords you'd like to check (up to 10 at a time) BONUS TIP: Choosing effective keywords requires strategy. If your blog is new, it may be better to target keywords with low competition (under 50%), even if they don't have high  search volume. However, if your blog is well established, consider ignoring keywords with less than 500 - 1000 monthly searches. Tip 4: Use The Keyword Planner For Competitive Research We've covered how Google's Keyword Planner is useful for gauging keyword search volumes. However, you can also use it to generate keyword ideas based on your competition. 1. Start with a fresh search for keywords based on a website: 2.  Enter a competitor's domain or landing page URL to use as a basis for keyword ideas: 3. You have now generated tons of keyword ideas based on what your competitor could potentially target. Consider going after these keywords before they do, or check to see if they're already ranking on these terms. Tip 5: Use SEMRush To Find Your Competitor's Top Keywords SEMRush is another useful tool for uncovering  competitor's keywords. 1.  Log into your account and click on Organic Research: 2.  Enter a domain and see which keywords it's ranking for: Using this process, you might be able to find keywords you wouldn't have thought to  target. Are you doing #keyword #research the right way? Tip 6: Find And Incorporate LSI Keywords Sometimes, people use different terms to search for the same thing. Google and other search engines know this. In order to deliver the best user experience, their technology needs to serve up results that match not only keywords, but the intent behind those keywords. Latent semantic indexing (LSI) refers to the algorithmic technology that helps search engines understand the relationships between different but similar keywords. LSI keywords, then, are search terms that may mean the same thing, or are closely related to one another. The LSI Keyword Generator makes it easy to find these keywords fast. Enter a keyword, and it'll return a list of related terms to weave into your content. Feeling lost? That's okay. We've written an entire post on LSI keyword research that should help. Plus, we'll talk more about how to implement these keywords in a few moments. Back To Table Of Contents 2  SEO Meta Tag  Formatting  Tips For Optimal  Search Snippets Meta tags are snippets of text that exist in your website or blog's code. According to Search Engine Watch: HTML meta tags are officially page data tags that lie between the open and closing head tags in the HTML code of a document.  The text in these tags is not displayed, but parsable and tells the browsers (or other web services) specific information about the page. Simply, it â€Å"explains† the page so a browser can understand it. There are two meta tags  you need to customize for every post on your blog. They are the title tag and the meta description tag. The title tag tells users and search engines what your web page is about.  Meanwhile, the meta description tag provides readers with more information about your page. Both are displayed in search engine result pages (SERPs). The title tag tells users and search engines what your web page is about. #SEOHere is what they look like in the search results: Tip 7: Know How To Write Strong Title Tags There are three essential elements (plus one that's optional) to writing a quality title tag: They should be no more than 70 characters long (as of May 2016). Google will cut off anything longer than this length. They should include your post's primary keyword as far to the left as possible. We'll touch on keywords a bit more in a few moments. They should include some type of value proposition (if appropriate) to entice users to click. Additionally, you may want to include your blog or company name  at the end. This can help reinforce your brand in SERPs, but it also takes up space. Tip 8: Know How To Write Strong Meta Descriptions Meta tags should give readers a reason to click your search result. Think of them as ad copy for your blog post. Here are a few important technical items to remember when writing meta descriptions: They should be no more than 156 characters long. Once again, Google will truncate anything over this length. However, they should be long enough to provide a useful description of your post. They should include your primary keyword. Even though meta descriptions don't impact rankings, including your keyword helps reinforce what your page is about to readers. BONUS TIP: Want to see what your title tag and meta description will look like before publishing? Use a free online SERP preview tool. Here are three different options: Portent's SERP Preview Tool Moz Title Tag Preview Tool Content Forest SERP Preview Tool A SERP preview tool can be useful for seeing how your search snippets will appear before publishing your blog post. New to #SEO? Don't overlook your title tags and meta descriptions:Back To Table Of Contents 7  SEO Writing Tips To Create Better Content You've probably heard the cliche "content is king." We've heard this line repeated more times than we'd like to count. However, the sentiment behind this phrase rings true. You can't have an SEO strategy without  quality content. Follow these tips to write copy that's well-optimized for search engines without sounding spammy or mechanical. Tip 9: Include Your Primary Keyword In The Right Places It's important to make sure your primary keyword is included in several different places in your post. This is one of the most basic elements of on-page SEO. BONUS TIP: Remember, each blog post you publish should only target one primary keyword. The same goes for static website pages as well. Tip 10: Use Longtail Keywords Throughout Your Post Copy Longtail keywords are longer variations of your primary keyword. For example, if your primary keyword was "content marketing," some long  tail variations might include: content marketing ideas for solo bloggers content  marketing tips for small businesses software solutions for content marketing success These are just a few hypothetical examples. Tip 11: Understand  Latent Semantic Indexing Latent Semantic Indexing  refers to the way search engines look for relevant themes on web pages, rather than just keyword densities. According to long-time SEO expert Bruce Clay: In latent semantic indexing, Google sorts sites on the frequency of a variety of terms and key phrases linked together instead of on the frequency of a single term. Though your text content should include your main keyword or phrase, the content should never focus solely on that keyword or phrase. There is a possibility that Google may see the page as being over-optimized and penalties or a dip in rankings may result. In other words, use synonyms and phrasing variations of your primary keyword. Don't just repeat your primary keyword ad nauseam. This will look redundant and spammy both to readers and search engines alike. Use synonyms and phrasing variations of your primary #keyword. #SEO #BloggingMoz CEO Rand Fishkin  does a great job of explaining how to use semantically connected keywords: Tip 12: Write For People First, And For Search Engines Second Always write content with your audience in mind. If something sounds overly mechanical and over-optimized for search engines, readers will notice. This means you need to avoid keyword stuffing. Don't stick keywords everywhere possible in your post. Instead, spread them out naturally throughout your post. Odds are, you'll include long tail keywords naturally as you write anyway. Here's an example of a well-written sentence including the keyword "burrito recipe": "Learn how to make this excellent burrito recipe at home." Here's an example of what keyword stuffing might look like in this instance: "This best burrito recipe will help you make better burritos using black beans than any other recipe." One of these sentences reads clearly and includes the primary keyword in a useful way. The other sounds unnatural and over-optimized. BONUS TIP: If you have to make a trade-off between creative copy and SEO, lean toward creativity. Yes, your content needs to be properly optimized to get found. However, no one wants to read boring content. Make it a priority to ensure that what people read when they find your post is interesting. Tip 13: Make Sure Your Content Is Comprehensive Comprehensive blog posts should be as long as needed to thoroughly cover a topic. Studies show that blog posts with  at least 1,500 words rank best. Another study from Neil Patel ups that claim to 3,000 words.  These studies tell us two things: 1.  Search engines want their users to have a great experience. That means that you'll need to help them find the right information fast. For this reason, search engines  prefer to rank content that thoroughly answers a user's question about a topic. Ideally, they want your content to tell them everything they need to know without having to check another search result listing (which slows down the user and creates a weaker user experience). 2. It takes a fair amount  of words to really cover most topics thoroughly  (somewhere in the 1,500 t0 3,000 word range, or more). This doesn't mean you need to  pad your content with filler to hit a high word count. That won't help you create useful content or rank highly in search engines.  Do the following instead: Recommended Reading: This Is The Ultimate Blog Writing Process To Create Killer Posts Tip 14: Understand The Importance Of  Unique Content For SEO SEO experts have been telling people to create unique content for years. However, they don't always follow up with what "unique content" really means. When it comes to content marketing and SEO, unique content: Includes original verbiage that isn't duplicated elsewhere on the Web. Duplicate content is classified as content that is exactly the same or extremely similar. Includes material or types of content that other blog posts  on the same topic are missing. Includes knowledge or expertise other sources cannot easily duplicate. Here are some ways to ensure your content is unique: Use CopyScape to ensure your copy does not match any other web page word-for-word. Manually review the top ten posts and pages currently ranking for your prospective keyword. Identify information that's missing from these posts. Make sure that info is present in your own content. Add types of content to your post that others are missing. This could include videos, infographics, image galleries, PDF downloads, or other types of content that add unique value to your post. If you have original research or data,  include it in your posts. Readers and search engines both love original research because it provides unique value others can't deliver. That makes your content more valuable,  attracting back links and establishing your blog as a topical authority. BONUS TIP: This in-depth post about unique content from Distilled (a respected London-based SEO and content marketing agency) is a must-read. While it was published back in 2013, its insights are as true today as they were then. It's also a great example of what  a comprehensive and authoritative blog post looks like. Tip 15: Use Correct H1 - H6 Tags Using correct heading tags makes your posts easier to read. It also makes it easier for search engines to accurately interpret and index your content. You can find your heading controls in WordPress here: IMPORTANT NOTE: Each post and page on your site should include only one H1 tag. However, you can use multiple H2 - H6 headings as appropriate. Generally, it's considered a best practice to have four or fewer font sizes on a page as well. Consider using H2's for sub-headings, H3's for points beneath those subheadings, and use H4 tags sparingly. This will help you create well-structured posts that readers and search engines can easily interpret. Back To Table Of Contents 4 Image SEO Tips Search engines can't "look" at your images to determine their content. Instead, they use a handful of other data points to understand what your images are. Tip 16: Include  Keywords In Image File Names File names are important element that search engines need to accurately interpret image content. Follow these guidelines: Separate words in image file names with - (dashes) and not _ (underscores). Include your primary keyword phrase in one image on your post (ideally, a post header image). Here's what a well-formatted image file name might look like: super-awesome-keyword.jpg even-better-keyword.png the-best-keyword-yet.jpg You get the point. This is something that's often overlooked, but it can help you rank in image searches. It can also help support the overall SEO performance of your blog posts. BONUS TIP: Stick to using .jpg and .png files for your blog images. Tip 17: Avoid Using Image Title Tags You might notice that WordPress fills in image titles by default. However, there is some debate around how useful they are for SEO. After all, if you've given your image a descriptive file name and alt text, users and search engines alike should have all the information they need to understand your image. Including title tags isn't likely to hurt your SEO. It won't help much either, and it could cause your images to appear over-optimized (by trying to stuff too many keywords in your image data). Tip 18: Learn  How To Write Image Alt Text Alt text essentially provides alternative information to describe an image's content. You can easily edit image alt tags in WordPress here: Alt text is important for two reasons: It's used by Google to help it understand images (since it can't actually "see" images like a person can). If a browser can't load an image for some reason, alt text helps users understand what the image should be. Tip 19: Upload Images At The Exact Size You'd Like Them To Appear Bloggers often upload large images into WordPress, and then adjust the display size within the CMS. However, this slows down page load speed because it forces WordPress to resize the image as it's trying to load the page. Since page load speed is an important SEO factor, that can cause a problem. The solution is to upload images with the exact dimensions you want them to appear with. That way, your CMS won't have to work as hard to load your images. For example, the column width of the blog is 770 pixels. Therefore, we upload our images at 770 pixels wide (or less). If you want to find the exact  column width of your own blog, try using this Page Ruler extension for Chrome. It makes it easy to measure pixels: BONUS TIP: If you have a high volume of oversized images on your blog, it's probably not worth your time to retroactively re-size them. Simply keep this in mind moving forward. We've made this mistake before in the past too. Back To Table Of Contents 3 Internal  Linking Tips  To Avoid Over-Optimization Search engines use links to determine relationships between different pages and web sites. That's why it's important to earn backlinks from high-quality sites to improve your SEO. It's also important to make sure relevant pages and posts on your own site are linked as well. However, going overboard with optimizing internal links can get you in trouble with search engines. Follow these two tips to make sure you don't overdo it with internal linking. Tip 20: Make Author Bio Box Links No-Follow This tip requires some explanation about what follow and no follow links are. Follow links pass link equity in search engines. This means they tell search engines, "Hey, this page we're linking to is important." This directly impacts search engine rankings. No-follow links do not pass link equity. Search engines do not count no-follow links when calculating search engine rankings. Google doesn't want to see you creating garbage content just to get links. Readers don't either. Google doesn’t want to see you creating garbage content just to get links.To combat this, Google issued a warning to bloggers to make author box links no-follow. Even if your guest posts are legitimate and high-quality, making bio box links no-follow avoids creating the appearance of spamming (because search bots sometimes have difficulty telling the difference between what's legitimate and what's not). BONUS TIP: Consider using Gravatar to implement bio boxes on your blog. Not only is it super convenient and well-integrated with WordPress, it automatically applies a no-follow tag to all links. This is the solution we use for author bio boxes here on the blog. Tip 21: Avoid Over-Optimized Anchor Text On Internal Links Anchor text refers to the highlighted words used to link to another page. Search engines use anchor text to help them understand relationships between  linked pages. For example, if your anchor text is "burrito recipes," search engines can infer that the page you're linking to is probably related to making burritos. It can also understand that making burritos is relevant to the page where the linked text exists. It's important to make sure your anchor text is not over-optimized. This is especially when linking internally to your own posts. Here's why: Search engines use links to determine how important a web page is. More links from high quality pages  gives a post more authority to search engines. Links with anchor text related to a post's targeted keyword reinforce that post's authority for that keyword. Therefore, building lots of links with related  anchor text to a post will improve its rankings in organic search. However, you need to be careful not to use anchor text that is an exact match for the keyword the linked page  is optimized for. For example, let's say you have one page targeting the keyword  "burrito recipes" and another page targeting "burrito catering services" (please bear with me and my burrito obsession here). If you were to place a link (or worse, multiple links) from your burrito recipes page to your catering page, using the exact-match anchor text "burrito catering services," this would be considered SPAM. There's a good reason search engines consider over-optimized anchors to be spammy, too. The tactic has been over-abused over the years because it's an overly easy way to tell search engines, "Hey, I'm trying really hard to get this page to rank for this keyword." Instead, follow these guidelines when selecting anchor text: 1. Use a sentence fragment incorporating text that is relevant to the page being linked to, but is not an exact keyword match. 2. It's okay to use brand names or proper nouns as text anchors. Keep these two points in mind, and you'll  have smooth sailing ahead for your internal linking efforts. Tip 22: Do Link Between Related Pages On Your Site Internal links are extremely powerful for SEO. They help search engines understand which pages and posts on your site are related to each other. This helps Google and others better understand the meaning and context of your content, potentially leading to higher rankings. There are two key items to keep in mind here: Make sure the pages you link to are topically relevant to one another. Ensure your anchor text matches the context of the linked page. Here's an example of what we mean. In the screenshot below, we've selected the anchor text "create awesome evergreen content." And here's the linked page. Notice that the anchor text and the destination page are tightly topically related: This achieves two goals: It helps readers find more content they might be interested in (increasing your page views). It also helps the search engine understand that the destination page is a valuable resource for information about its topic (in this case, creating evergreen content). Make strong internal linking practices a habit, and soon enough, you'll have a site that's easier for both search engines and readers to navigate. Back To Table Of Contents 5 Simple Link Building Tips Backlinks from other websites are powerful for influencing search engine rankings. They tell search engines, "Hey, lots of people are directing traffic to this website. That must mean it's an important topical authority." Tip 23: Claim Unlinked Mentions Unlinked mentions are references to your brand or blog on other sites that don't include links. These can easily be discovered in three ways: Using a software platform like Moz or Ahrefs that detects unlinked mentions. Setting up Google Alerts for your brand name, and manually checking for links. Using advanced search operators to find unlinked brand mentions. The first option is the easiest. However, if you don't have budget, the second and third options are free. This guide on uncovering unlinked mentions  is a great place to start learning how to put them into practice. Once you've discovered an unlinked mention, the next step is to find an appropriate contact person. This could be the author of a blog post, the owner of a site, or a technical help contact. Send them a quick message thanking them for the mention, and ask if they can add a link. You'll likely find your success rate is fairly high. If someone is already talking about you, they'll probably be willing to add a link. Not only does this help your SEO, but it also makes it easier for their readers to find you. Tip 24: Leverage Public Relations For Links The first goal of PR is often to raise brand awareness. However, getting authoritative news sources to write about you can be a great way to build quality links, too. The trick is to offer editors an interesting angle that makes them want to write about you. In most cases, that means they'll link back to your site too. If you've never written a press release, start with this guide from The Guardian. Tip 25: Share Content On Social Media Social media links don't significantly impact SEO on their own. However, social promotion is important for getting your content in front of people. Some of those people might even link back to your content as a source for their own content. Tip 26: Avoid Link Spam Penalties Search engines are smart. They're able to understand  when people are trying to game the system with unnatural links. Once upon a time, SEOs and web masters would find ways to create high numbers of back links. Some still do, although their effectiveness has been almost entirely wiped out. Some of these black hat tactics included: Creating tons of low quality sites and linking back to themselves. Buying links. Hacking other sites, adding new secret pages, and linking back to other sites. In the darkest corners of the web, some people still try to pull these kinds of scams. However, their effectiveness has been almost entirely wiped out, thanks to search engine algorithm updates that prevent cheaters from winning. If you get caught creating manipulative back links, you can expect to hit with a manual penalty notice from Google. Next, you'll notice your search engine rankings dropping. You might even get removed from search engine indexes altogether. Before you panic, remember this is unlikely to happen if you follow these best practices: Avoid writing low quality guest blog posts strictly for link building purposes. It used to be common for content writers to blast out templated 300-word "guest posts" that they'd syndicate across dozens of blogs at once, just to build up links back to their site. This is a quick way to get slapped with a penalty. Instead, write high-quality and in-depth guest posts that help establish you as a topical authority (and maybe add one or two links back to your site for usability purposes). Never pay for links. If you're buying links, Google will know.  Places that sell links often live in "bad neighborhoods" that you don't want to be associated with. Don't spam comment sections with back links.  Before the majority of blogs used no-follow attributes on comment section links, underhanded SEOs would leave junk comments with links back to their sites. This was a quick and easy way to build up links. It's also a good way to annoy readers and make search engines angry. Tip 27: Create Great Content People Want To Link To This tip is a borderline cliche. Of course everyone knows they should "create great content." Nobody tries to create content that sucks and telling people to just "do better work" isn't helpful. It's lazy and vague advice that frankly insults people's intelligence. However, there are some concrete ways you can create content that's more likely to draw links. Try some of these: Present original information that doesn't exist on any other site. This might include running a survey, and then publishing a blog post with your findings. Make sure your content is comprehensive. That means covering your topic completely and in detail. If your page is the best resource available for a given topic, it's more likely to be cited as a source. Be timely. If your blog or site breaks some major news, you can expect to get a lot of backlinks as the original source. Create useful resource pages. For example, you could create a page that hosts a collection of downloadable templates or resources of some sort. If it's legitimately helpful, people will likely link to it. Run a contest with a quality sign-up landing page. If you promote the contest well, it might get some coverage (and that means backlinks). Build a useful web-based tool. Build something cool, and people will want to tell others about it. Portent's Content Idea Generator is a great example: People naturally want to tell other people about cool, useful stuff. Portent's Idea Generator is a great example of a tool that's fun, useful, and highly linkable. 4 Additional  Wordpress SEO Tips WordPress has a number of unique SEO considerations. Follow these tips to make sure  your WordPress blog plays nice with search engines. Tip 28: Use the Yoast SEO Plugin If there's only one WordPress plugin you use (aside from ), make it Yoast. It's packed full of powerful functionality for improving your SEO. Here are some things it can do: Make it easy to customize title tags and meta descriptions. Track how many times you've mentioned your primary keyword in your post. Rate the readability of your post according to the Flesch Reading Ease Readability Formula. Once installed, you can find the Yoast control panel at the bottom of your post within your WordPress CMS. Download Yoast here. Then, watch the video below to learn how to use it in under 30 minutes: Tip 29: Use A Mobile-Optimized WordPress Theme Mobile web traffic is gaining ground over desktop usage. That's why Google gives preference to mobile-optimized sites when calculating mobile search results. That means it's more important than ever to make sure your blog looks great on mobile devices. The easiest way to do this is to use a mobile-optimized WordPress theme. A quick Google search for mobile optimized WordPress themes should generate tons of different options to choose from. WARNING: Follow WordPress's guidelines when changing themes. Be warned that some functions and content might not appear the same in one theme as they do in another. Proceed with caution. Tip 30: Use SEO-Friendly Permalinks Search engines use keywords in URLs to help them determine what your pages are about. However, WordPress uses weird, non-optimal URLs by default which usually look something like this: www.RandomBlog.com/blog/?8973834 What you want are URLs that look more like this: www.RandomBlog.com/blog/awesome-keyword That keyword is going to make 100% more sense to search engines than a question mark followed by a random string of numbers. Watch this video to learn how to implement SEO-friendly permalinks: Tip 31: Fix Broken Links Broken links won't necessarily lead to problems for your SEO. However, they do create a poor user experience (even if you have a really funny 404 page). That can hurt your overall SEO efforts indirectly by causing visitors to leave. They can also create missed opportunities to link valuable pages, weakening your overall search performance. Fortunately, broken links are easy to fix. The Broken Link Checker plugin  makes it easy to identify and resolve 404 errors. You can also use another useful tool called Screaming Frog  to tackle this task. Download it here, then follow their detailed step-by-step instructions on fixing broken links. Back To Table Of Contents 3 Tips For Measuring SEO Success It's important to know whether your SEO initiatives are making a difference. By tracking the right metrics, the right way, you can make sure you know if you're on the right track. You can also more easily identify areas for opportunity. Tip 32: Make Sure You Have Google Analytics Properly Set Up Google Analytics is one of the best tools for measuring the success of your SEO. If you're just getting started, consider importing the New Google Analytics User Starter Bundle from Google. It's packed full of dashboards that are set up to monitor SEO performance (and a lot more) with minimal effort. Follow these steps to get started: 1.  Find the bundle in the  Google Analytics Solutions Gallery. 2. Click Import. In two easy steps, you now have all the dashboards you need to measure your success. BONUS TIP: For further assistance using Google Analytics, visit Google's support site. There, you'll find all the information you need to get started and sharpen your analytical skills. Tip 33: Track The Right Metrics When it comes to SEO, marketers tend to focus on rankings. However, rankings are not a strong key performance indicator (KPI) on their own. This is partly because personalized search makes it difficult to accurately track rankings across all users. It's also because rankings are a means to an end (driving traffic to your blog), rather than an end by themselves. When it comes to #SEO, are you tracking the right metrics?Instead, focus on traffic, conversion rates, and revenue (or leads generated, depending on which is more applicable to your situation). These metrics will tell you much more about your SEO success than rankings alone. BONUS TIP: Want to know the best way to sell the value of SEO to a business owner? Show them how much  revenue your efforts are earning. Tip 34: Use an SEO Software Platform SEO software subscriptions cost money. However, they're worth it if you can afford them. These services allow you to do the following (and more): Track keyword ranking changes over time Do detailed competitive research Monitor incoming backlinks Analyze your content Here are some popular options to consider: Moz  (suitable for all skill levels) Raven Tools  (suitable for all skill levels) SERPS.com (suitable for all skill levels) Positionly (suitable for all skill levels) Conductor (advanced enterprise solution) BrightEdge (advanced enterprise solution) SearchMetrics (advanced enterprise solution) Tools like Moz Pro feature tons of functionality to help manage your SEO efforts. BONUS TIP: If you can't afford an SEO platform, SEO Book,  SERPs.com, and Moz  all offer free tools that are worth exploring. That's A Lot Of SEO Tips To Learn (And We're Just Getting Started) SEO is a deep discipline. It covers a broad range of tactics, strategies, and best practices. For this reason, it's impossible  to cover all there is to know in one post. In fact, if you're just starting out, it may take a while to digest everything this post alone. While we've touched on the most basic elements most content marketers need to know, here are some other great resources to check out when you're ready. Back To Table Of Contents Resources For Further Learning Moz's Beginner's Guide To SEO: This comprehensive guide is broken up into ten chapters. It covers nearly everything you'd ever need to know. Best of all, it's easy to follow and understand. The Art Of SEO: This book is intimidatingly thick, but fortunately, it's well worth your time. As  the most authoritative tome on SEO available in print, it walks readers through everything from the basics, up to more advanced techniques. If you're ready to really take your SEO knowledge to the next level, start here. 58 Resources To Help You Learn and Master SEO: This list from Kissmetrics includes articles breaking down nearly every aspect of SEO. If there's something specific you want to know more about, you can probably find it here. Inbound.org: One of the best things about the content marketing and SEO communities is how open they are to sharing knowledge and welcoming newcomers. Inbound.org is an awesome place to ask questions and find answers to anything you'd like to know. Do you have a favorite tip you want to share? Let us know in the comments below.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Marines essays

Marines essays Being a Marine is the most challenging and rewarding responsibility a person could face. It is a known fact that the Marines have the toughest and most difficulty training course in the world. Men and women from all over the world try their abilities of strength and courage to see what life can throw at them, and what it is to be a true Marine(Conner). The United States Marine mental and moral qualities have been tested throughout history. Through the long history of the Marine Corps there are examples, both in war and in peace, of such qualities as versatility, trustworthiness, singleness and tenacity of purpose, courage, faithfulness, and self-sacrifice (Marines Welcome). On November 10, 1775, the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia passed a resolution stating that "two Battalions of Marines be raised" for service as landing forces with the fleet. This resolution, established the Continental Marines and marked the birth date of the United States Marine Corps. Serving on land and at sea, these first Marines distinguished themselves in a number of important operations, including their first amphibious raid into the Bahamas in March 1776, under the command of Captain (later Major) Samuel Nicholas. Nicholas, the first commissioned officer in the Continental Marines, remained the senior Marine officer throughout the American Revolution and is considered to be the first Marine Commandant. The Treaty of Paris in April 1783 brought an end to the Revolutionary War and as the last of the Navy's ships were sold, the Continental Navy and Marines went out of existence. Following the Revolutionary War and the formal re-establishment of the Marine Corps on 11 July 1798, Marines saw action in the quasi-war with France, landed in Santo Domingo, and took part in many operations against the Barbary pirates along the "Shores of Tripoli". Marines participated in numerous naval operations during the War of 1812, as well as partic...

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Leadership Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leadership Theories - Essay Example Leaders who use this theory in their organization's exhibit focus, vision, inspiration and risk-taking traits. They possess a charismatic charm in transforming the organization through influence on the employees. Ethically speaking, a transformative leader must only influence the followers in a positive manner. The characters or strategies shown to the employees should be within the ethical requirements of the organization or professional field in question. The objective of a transformational leader is to change the organization positively in all aspects. Transformational leadership is increasingly becoming popular in some sectors due to its effectiveness in ensuring improved performance. Transformative leaders not only influence the followers and other junior members of the organization but impacts also on other leaders. Through the influence, other leaders become agents of change i9n the organization. Followers respect, admire and the transformative leaders. Based on the description by the proponents of the theory, transformational leadership has four components. The components include intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation and idealized influence. Through these components, the leader is in a better position to make decisions that will initiate a positive change in the whole of the organization. Through intellectual stimulation, a transformative leader can make decisions in a manner that does not appear to challenge other leaders within the organization. The leaders encourage the followers to adopt creativity when undertaking their duties. Creativity offers the followers opportunities to innovate and learn. The leader can make the decision intellectually without any member of the organization feeling victimized. The second trait that is common among ethical leaders who utilize transformational leadership style entails individualized considerations (Grants, 2012).Â