Explore The Increasing Cost Of Providing Community Care Social Work Essay Essay Example

Explore The Increasing Cost Of Providing Community Care Social Work Essay Essay The cost of supplying community attention in the UK is increasing significantly. In this essay an effort will be made to discourse on the lifting costs of supplying community attention particularly concentrating on older people with dementedness and those under residential attention in UK by utilizing assorted research methods including research informations and literature analysis. The chief focal point would be on factors which lead to increase economic load on societal and wellness attention services. Besides a elaborate treatment on analysis and review of the current support system and its results on the reforms made are categorised by understanding the rationing function of attention directors to get the better of such load. This would be followed by an in-detail treatment on the importance of ego attention and informal attention and some issues originating with them with more focal point on the importance of informal attention utilizing a instance survey. We will write a custom essay sample on Explore The Increasing Cost Of Providing Community Care Social Work Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Explore The Increasing Cost Of Providing Community Care Social Work Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Explore The Increasing Cost Of Providing Community Care Social Work Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Before continuing farther, allow us concentrate on the term community attention and discourse about its development in the UK. Community attention was invented in 1993 with the execution of community attention reforms. However, harmonizing to Bulmer, as mentioned by Victor ( 1997 ) , the first functionary usage of the term community attention was made in 1957 and related to the field of mental unwellness. Bulmer besides puts frontward that during the late fiftiess, the long-run attention services for mentally sick patients in communal or institutional scenes led the development of community attention policy in this state. It was found that Community attention was more effectual and efficient for long-stay attention unlike institutional scenes which were perceived as being inhumane, uneffective and highly expensive. Titmus ( 1968:4 cited by Victor, 1997:8 ) quoted: What some hope will one twenty-four hours be is all of a sudden thought by many to be already what of the bungalow garden trailor community attention . Does it non raise up a sense of heat and human kindness, particularly personal and comforting, every bit loving as the wild flowers so bewitchingly described by Lawrence in Lady Chatterley s Lover? Harmonizing to the 1989 White Paper Caring for People, community attention was defined as: supplying the right degree of intercession and support to enable people to accomplish maximal independency and control over their lives. For this purpose to go a world, the development of a broad scope of services provided in a assortment of scenes is indispensable. These services form portion of spectrum of attention, runing from domiciliary support provided to people in their ain places, strengthened by the handiness of respite attention and twenty-four hours attention for those with more intensive attention demands, those sheltered lodging, group places and inns where increasing degrees of attention are available, to residential attention and nursing places and long-stay infirmary attention for those whom other signifiers of attention are no longer plenty ( DoH, 1989 cited by Means et Al, 2008:6 ) . Community attention as explained by Victor ( 1997 ) is provided by both informal and formal suppliers. Classifying farther, he adds that formal suppliers of community attention constitutes assorted statutory bureaus, voluntary every bit good as private sector whereas informal suppliers constitutes household and friends. However, there has been a important concern over increasing cost of the formal attention and demographic alterations which will be discussed in item in this essay as I proceed. The economic load of supplying a formal community attention has led to the retrenchment of statutory bureaus and as proposed by Victor ( 1997 ) has increased accent upon the function of informal sector. Let us now discuss demographics of long-run attention concentrating more on residential attention and the attention of older people with dementedness. As mentioned by Laing ( 1993, cited by Victor, 1997 ) , an one-year outgo for long stay attention in UK in the yesteryear was ?10.2 billion a twelvemonth of which ?9.1 billion was accounted for older people. Outgo on residential attention proviso was ?6.6 billion a twelvemonth and ?2.5 billion was spent on supplying services in older peoples ain place. Hence older people accounted more for residential attention than for services provided in their ain places. Let us besides now seek to concentrate on an mean per-capita outgo on the personal societal services for older people in England. As per the information obtained from the NHS wellness and societal attention information Centre ( 2006 ) , gross current outgo on older people in 2003-2004 was ?8 billion which constituted about 44 % of the entire outgo ( 18.2 one million millions ) and merely ?4.4 billion was spent on kids s and household services. Harmonizing to the types of proviso for older people in England, outgo on residential attention proviso was ?4,490 1000000s and that of twenty-four hours and domiciliary attention proviso was ?2,620 1000000s in 2004-2005 ( National statistics, 2006 ) , whereas in 2006-07, the outgo raised to ?4,710 1000000s for residential proviso and ?2,620 1000000s for twenty-four hours and domiciliary attention proviso ( National statistics, 2008 ) . Thus it is apparent that mean per capita outgo additions markedly with the age and is besides much more for residential attention services than twenty-four hours and domiciliary attention services. One of the grounds can be dementia that creates a important load through the costs placed on long-run institutionalized attention like nursing places or residential attention places. As per the statistics obtained and published by Fernandez ( 2010 ) in the United Kingdom, 683,597 people suffer ed from dementedness in 2005, which increased to 821,884 in 2006 and is proposed to hold increased up to 940,110 by 2021 and 1,735,087 by 2051. In 2008 it was estimated that 37 % of all dementedness patients in the UK were in long-run attention establishments bing an surplus of ?9 billion per twelvemonth in societal attention. Overall, dementedness was found to be ?23 billion in footings of wellness and societal attention, informal attention and productiveness losingss in 2008 ( Fernandez, 2010 ) . Furthermore, increasing population has besides been one of the factors for lending in such job. Harmonizing to the Government Actuary s section ( 2007 ) the United Kingdom population is projected to increase by 7.2 million by 2031 and by 2025, the figure of people in the UK aged over 85 will hold increased by two-thirds as mentioned by Department of wellness ( 2007 ) in its article, A formula for care- Not a individual ingredient. Such an addition in the figure of older people is one of the of import factors for increasing cost of supplying community attention because it is them who are the chief donees of wellness and societal attention services as they are more likely to endure from dangerous infections, falls and craze and to remain in infirmaries. As per the statistics published by the Department of Health ( 2007 ) , people over 65 old ages accounted for 43 % of the NHS s entire budgets in 2003-04 and at the same clip accounted for 65 % of acute infirmary beds. In 2004-2005, the y accounted for 58 % of societal services budgets and received 71 % of societal attention bundles ( DoH, 2007 ) . Having identified the increasing figure of aged persons in the state as one of the of import factors, allow us besides focus on some other factors that may impact the cost of wellness and societal attention services in close hereafter. Other factors we can see are fewer working age, addition in pensionable age and addition in older age. As per the statistics given by GAD ( 2007 ) , in 2004 there were 3.33 individuals of working age for every individual of province pensionable age. This demographic support ratio is expected to worsen to about 2.40 around the twelvemonth 2040. The figure of people of province pensionable age is projected to increase by 9.3 per cent from 11.1 million in 2004 to 12.2 million in 2010. Furthermore, the population will bit by bit go older with the norm ( average ) age expected to lift from 39.5 old ages in 2004 to 43.3 old ages in 2031. Thus we see that demand for attention is set to lift significantly as a consequence of the ageing population. The cost for supplying attention service has been and is likely to go on to lift faster. Let us now focus on the current support system in England particularly residential attention. Forder ( 2009 ) explains that England falls into the means-tested grouping which means that parts to the system are mandated harmonizing to ability to pay, and hence low income groups are subsidised with public support through general revenue enhancement. He farther adds that in England, about all public disbursement on societal attention is made via local councils, with most of the financess allocated from general revenue enhancement and some besides rose through council revenue enhancement. The sum to be spent on societal attention is budget-constrained. Therefore if the demand is higher than the existent or proposed budget, councils have to raise the FAC ( Fair Access to Care ) eligibility thresholds ( Forder, 2009 ) . Sing long-run attention, nursing attention is free to service users in any scene, whether be that a infirmary or attention place after an appraisal being done. Forder ( 200 9 ) besides points out that there are national regulations for agencies proving of residential attention support as given by Department of Health. Analysing recent policies of the Department of Health Forder ( 2009 ) , points out that if the assessed individual has assets over a specified sum ( the upper capital bound ?23,000 as of April 2009 ) , they themselves will be apt for their full cost of the attention place except for any eligible free nursing attention. Eligible assets in this instance include the individual s house every bit long as no partner or other eligible dependant is populating in that place. Anyone with entire assets of less than the upper capital bound will be asked to lend all their hebdomadal eligible income including pension and other province benefits, less a personal disbursals allowance of around ?20 a hebdomad, up to the cost of the arrangement. In add-on, for people with assets above ?14,000 ( the lower capital bound as on April 2009 ) , a tariff income of ?1 for every ?250 between the upper and lower capital bounds is assessed for the individual on top of existent income. However, in-spite of current support services there are issues sing unmet demands due to increase in outgo with the increasing demands of attention for older people. Unmet needs like wealthy people get really small public aid and that they need to see against the fiscal and other hazards of necessitating attention. As it was besides argued in the past by Robins and Wittenberg ( 1992, cited by Victor, 1997 ) , that in-spite of developments made in policies in the past, wellness and societal services for older people was still being a political issue and one of the chief grounds behind this was ageing. Consequently, the community attention policy had been subjected to a strict examination by a series of authorities studies ; the Audit committee ( 1986 ) , the House of Commons Select Committee on Social Services ( 1985 ) and the Griffiths study ( 1986 ) which resulted in 1989 White Paper lovingness for Peoples and the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. These had required some alterations in pattern every bit good as administration of attention. The most important alterations were the debut of attention direction and appraisal and the development of the assorted economic system of attention ( Means et al, 2008 ) . The NHS A ; Community Care Act 1990 formed a new epoch in community attention in the UK. Needs-led appraisal and attention direction were to organize the basis of high quality attention ( Beth-Pary Jones, 2001 ) . The services were provided after a thorough appraisal of the person. It was the responsibility of attention directors to make appraisal and consequently present flexible bundles of attention for single clients. The appraisal was to guarantee that entry to publically funded long-run attention was based upon demand and to place those persons who can outdo be supported in their ain places ( Victor, 1997 ) . The White paper ( DoH, 1989, cited by Victor, 1997 ) had placed some indexs for the appraisal of separately based demands like mobility, personal attention, domestic undertakings, fiscal offers, adjustment, leisure and employment. It was stated that Assessment should take into history the wants of the person and his or her carer, and of the carer s ability to go on to supp ly careaˆÂ ¦efforts should be made to offer flexible services which enable persons and carers to do picks ( DoH, 1989:3.2.6, cited by Victor, 1997:70 ) . I intend to explicate this by taking an illustration of a 72 twelvemonth old widow who lives entirely without household support and exhibits agitated, violent and eccentric behaviour ; from Community attention and Older people by Victor C. ( 1997:151 ) . This single needs aid to acquire frock, provender and lavatory. The assessors had identified her as a individual with extended societal and personal demands and have placed in a nursing place. The client was placed in a nursing place after placing dementedness and her societal and personal demands. Thus argued by Henwood ( 2008 ) such an issue of eligibility became progressively of import in societal attention, and had moved from being localised and sometimes comparatively informal, towards a formalistic national model which was locally interpreted and implemented as Fair A ccess to Care. The Fair Access to Care Services ( FACS ) model was introduced in England in 1998 to turn to incompatibilities across the state about who gets support and to supply a more crystalline system. It originated in the 1998 White Paper, Modernising Social Services. Its chief rule was to guarantee a needs-led services instead than service-led. It besides incorporated non-discriminatory and human rights attack. The FACS counsel was issued in May 2002 that provided a national model for eligibility standards for grownup societal attention and focused upon people with the greatest assessed demands. Eligibility standard was graded into four sets as critical, significant, moderate and low as per the earnestness of the hazard ( CSCI, 2008 ) . However, there have been many challenges related to FACS. Since the debut of FACS, there have been increasing demands on societal attention budgets due to increasing figure of older people, populating longer and frequently with more complex demands, and besides increasing Numberss of younger grownups with terrible physical and learning disablements. Therefore seting the model into pattern was hard due to miss of fiscal resources, service commissariats and staffs. Another job was that most of councils were runing at substantial or critical degree which means most people with moderate or low demands were non eligible for publically funded support. Furthermore, harmonizing to the High Court, the council s determination to curtail eligibility to critical demand as defined by FACS was improper ( CSCI, 2008 ) . As evaluated by Henwood ( 2008 ) , the fastening budgets as of all time and service eligibility standards indicated a displacement of focal point from appraisal of demand to ra tioning explicating the FACS policies to be operationalised with two distinguishable issues at interest. The first being precedence puting which denotes an allotment of resources to particular services or programmes, and 2nd is rationing which refers to the distribution of resources to persons at the point of service bringing ( Henwood, 2008 ) . It is hence apparent that because of the fiscal load precedence scene has become the important parametric quantity for rationing ; moreover the local governments will so hold to find the local budget for grownup societal attention. This in bend makes it necessarily a complex country within which local governments along with local politicians have to weigh up a scope of factors as identified by Henwood ( 2008 ) such as the demands of the local population, the cost of run intoing those demands, and the likely responses of cardinal stakeholders such as cardinal authorities, the electorate, fellow politicians and officers and staff members. As many Councils had been seeking to pull off their resources by fastening their eligibility standards, Government policy placed increasing accent on bar and personalisation by implementing a policy of Puting People First in 2007. It enables people to populate their ain lives as they wish, confident that services are of high quality, are safe and able to advance their single demands and penchants for independency, well-being and self-respect. Peoples utilizing societal attention services and their households committee their ain services. Personal budgets will guarantee people having public support usage available resources to take their ain support Services ( CSCI, 2008 ) . Rationing is the duty of attention director whereas precedence scene is the duty of authoritiess. Therefore, attention directors, after exhaustively measuring the demands of the clients, will so apportion resources to people who are deemed to hold a demand for community attention and therefore besides pull offing the economic load. Harmonizing to Klein ( 1996, cited by Tull, 2010 ) there are seven chief methods of rationing which are by denial, by choice, by warp, by disincentive, by hold, by dilution and by expiration. Service refused to clients on the evidences of ineligibility is the rationing by denial. Rationing by choice agencies that merely those who are deemed meriting are selected by assorted service suppliers. Rationing by warp takes topographic point when clients are steered towards other budgets, for illustration, a wellness services job becomes a societal services job. Rationing by disincentive makes entree to a service highly hard. Examples of rationing by hold are the waiting list and assignments made many hebdomads or months in progress. Rationing by dilution agencies that clip and services which would usually be spent on people are reduced. Rationing by expiration means an intercession ends, such as the discharge of a patient. Another attack to cut down the economic load of community attention can be adopted by stressing on ego attention and informal attention. Let us now focus more on informal attention in inside informations. Informal attention as defined by Finch ( 1995 cited by Victor 1997 ) as a attention provided by members of the household, close relations, friends and neighbors which is non organized through a statutory or voluntary bureau. Typically, such attention is non provided with an purpose of gaining a pecuniary addition, but it is by and large taken as moral and ethical duties within households and society. It was in 1980s that the true extent of informal attention was identified. It was enshrined in 1930 Poor Law Act which stated: It should be the responsibility of the male parent, gramps, female parent, grandma, hubby or kid of a hapless, old, blind, square or impotent individual or other hapless individual, non able to work, if possessed of sufficient agencies, to alleviate and keep the individual non able to work ( Means and Smith, 1994:19 cited by Victor, 1997:118 ) . The importance of the informal sector in keeping older people and those with long-run attention demands in the community is now an accepted and acknowledged portion of community attention policy. Now let us discourse the human ecology of informal attention services provided to older people with the aid of a instance survey of older people with dementedness given by Fernandez ( 2010 ) . The figure of instances of dementedness was obtained from the European Community Concerted Action on the Epidemiology and Prevention of Dementia ( EURODEM ) survey. Surveies were conducted in several European states, including the UK, for work forces and adult females in 9 different age groups ( 30-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, 85-89, 90-94 and 95-99 ) for the UK and 30 other European states. In 2006, the estimated figure of patients with diagnosed and undiagnosed dementedness in the UK was 821,884 stand foring 1.3 % of the UK population. It was estimated that 304,850 patients aged 65 old ages or more with dementedness were populating in institutionalized long term attention, stand foring about 37 % of all dementedness patients in the UK. With adjustment in long-run nursing and residen tial attention scenes bring forthing an one-year cost of about ?30,000 per patient, the one-year cost of long-run attention adjustment due to dementia was in surplus of ?9 billion. A sum of 1,509 million hours of informal attention was provided by friends and relations of the 517,033 dementedness patients populating in the community. Approximately 34 % ( 512 million hours ) of this attention was provided by economically active and employed relations or friends, with the bulk of attention ( 997 million hours ) being provided by retired, inactive or unemployed informal carers. Combined, the entire one-year costs of informal care-giving were estimated at ?12,383 million. Consequences from this study had shown that the wellness attention, societal attention, informal attention and productiveness costs of dementedness were about ?23 billion a twelvemonth. Over 55 % ( ?12 billion ) of these entire costs was due to informal attention, stand foring 1.5 billion hours of unpaid attention provided by relations and friends of dementedness patients ( Fernandez, 2010 ) . Hence it is apparent that promoting informal attention for the dementedness patients will cut down the economic load on the authorities and the saved fund can be utilised towards farther publicities for a better societal attention. We can besides state that informal attention of older people is of import at present because of the lifting figure of older people particularly aged 65 and over, who have the greatest demands for attention. However, Pickard ( 2004 ) cites Parker s ( 1992 ) statement that informal carers are non a homogeneous group as a differentiation had been drawn in the societal policy literature between informal assisting and to a great extent involved lovingness. Heavily involved carers are normally defined in footings of long hours of caring ( normally over 20 hours a hebdomad ) ; sharing a family with the cared-for individual ( co-residence ) ; or transporting out personal and/or physical undertakings. And it is them who are most likely to necessitate support. Maher and Green ( 2002, cited by Pickard, 2004 ) points out that harmonizing to General Household Survey ( GHS ) , that was carried out in 2000 in Great Britain, there were a sum of 6.8 million informal carers with around 27 per cent ( a bout 1.8 million ) disbursement 20 hours or more a hebdomad on caring undertaking. Besides there were over a 3rd of a million partner carers and about half a million kids caring for an older parent/parent-in-law for 20 hours a hebdomad or more harmonizing to the study. Several issues have been raised for informal carers by placing the demands of the carer. Spouse carers are frequently aged and in hapless wellness themselves. Carers of parents and parents-in-law are normally of working age and are involved in full/part clip employment, raising issues to make with the relationship between caring and paid work. The proviso of informal attention to frail older people have a great impact on the carers, as the duties of caring frequently constrain societal engagement and necessitate backdown from the work force. Intensive lovingness has profound inauspicious effects on the psychological wellness of carers, peculiarly emphasis, depression, choler, anxiousness and guilt and besides physical wellness issues such as terrible back jobs and others. Harmonizing to Bauld et Al ( 2000, cited by Pickard 2004 ) , these negative impacts are seen largely among the carers who provide informal services to older people with dementedness. So at that place have been a fi gure of developments in policy relating to informal carers. These include the community attention reforms, associated with the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 ; the Carers ( Recognition and Services ) Act 1995 ; the National Strategy for Carers ( 1999 ) ; the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 ; and the National Service Frameworks for Mental Health and for Older Peoples ( DoH 1999 ) . These developments are of import in the present context because they shape the proviso of services to carers and older people today ( Pickard, 2004 ) . Now let us discourse on self attention in brief. Self attention can be defined as any signifier of attention which is taken by persons towards improvement of their ain wellness and good being, which besides includes the attention extended to their kids, household, friends and others in vicinities and local communities. In other words the actions that people take for themselves, their kids and their households to remain fit and keep good physical and mental wellness ; meet societal and psychological demands ; prevent unwellness or accidents ; attention for minor complaints and long-run conditions like diabetes, arthritis, asthma, epilepsy, etc ; and keep wellness and well-being after an acute unwellness or discharge from infirmary is included as a portion of their Self Care ( Department of wellness, 2005 ) . Finally it is believed that cognition and experience about the long term conditions could greatly profit the quality of patients attention and finally their quality of life. But this has been mostly ignored. So the construct of Expert Patients was set out in the Government s 1999 White Paper, Salvaging Lifes: Our Healthier Nation. Harmonizing to this construct, they are empowered to take some duty for their ain direction and work in partnership with their wellness and societal attention suppliers. Self-management programmes are designed to cut down the badness of symptoms and better assurance, resourcefulness and self-efficacy. A farther committedness to implementing a formal programme was made in the NHS Plan published in July 2000 ( Department of wellness, 2001 ) . However, there are some issues with self care that service suppliers should concern about like the hazard of patient safety, guaranting equality of entree, factors such as poorness, entree to resources or hapless lodgin g ( Department of wellness, 2005 ) .

The Actual Experience essays

The Actual Experience essays Have you ever been to one of you favorite bands or musicians shows before? Wondered what it takes to put on a show? You are in that point of view of being in the crowd. Now you will learn what goes on from the point of view of a band member in a group called The Same. There is a bassist/backup vocalist, guitarist/vocalist, and a drummer. When a band of musicians takes the stage at a show there are things that have to take place and feelings that dont compare to anything else. I will bring you in a musicians shoes on the day of a live show. During the actual performance, the feelings, and what happens after the show. The time comes up when The Same is supposed to set up their equipment on stage and get ready. The bassist has a Fender p bass, the color of the sky on a beautiful day, and an 8 x 10 Hartke amp. It is about the size of a small child. The drummer has a very nice 5 piece set. Two crash symbols that will cringe in your ears, a snare that could pop a zit right off your face, a ride cymbal that rings like a bell, two toms, hi hats, floor tom, and a thumping bass drum. The guitarist has two different amps, and a nice wooden-red guitar with a lot of pedals. The Same then gets on stage and starts to set up. The amps are then turned up loud, making sure to have the volume of the bass amp up just as loud as the guitar amp and the drums. Then the mics are turned on. Check one, two. Czechoslovakia, the guitarist says. Check one, two. Checky, check, check, said the bassist. Now its time for the band to get their mind set to what they are about to play and forget anything else that tends to flow through their brains. There is a feeling of being focused, relaxed, but a little nervous. Hearts are beating fast and they are just walking back and forth ready to rock some kids socks off. Their teeth are cringing and their throats just want to get some ...

The relationship between the executive, legislature and judiciary Essay

The relationship between the executive, legislature and judiciary - Essay Example The orthodox approach to judicial review is therefore based upon the absolute and indivisible sovereignty of Parliament rather than the independence of the judiciary5. Oxford Professor A.V. Dicey set out the fundamental principles of Britain’s unwritten Constitution, and the role of judges within the context of those principles by stating that the indivisibility of Parliamentary power requires that all exercise of Governmental power must be authorized by Parliament, since it is the source of all valid authority.6 As a result, the British power of judicial review would not include the power to invalidate Acts of Parliament, rather the Courts may only use their powers to constrain any abuse of powers by the other arms of Government, such as the legislative and executive branches7. However, existing provisions permit the Lords of the Appellate Committee to also participate in the legislative business of the Upper House8, thereby raising the question of validity of judicial indepe ndence. This has been addressed in the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005, which aims to strengthening democracy and enhance the credibility of public institutions9 while also recognizing the value of judicial independence and the need to preserve it.10 Furthermore, the separation of powers between the three branches of Government as spelt out by Montesquieu11 is unclear in the context of the British judicial process. In view of present threats from terrorism, the Government has enacted sweeping legislation against terrorists12 tilting.

In what way can we characterize inmate literature Essay

In what way can we characterize inmate literature - Essay Example Gallardo) written by inmates portrays feelings of prisoners. The question is how can we characterize inmate literature? Inmates use literature for many purposes. The most prominent use of literary work by prisoners is to communicate to their loved ones back at home. Open Line gives evidences of inmates communicating to their families back at home through pieces of literature. Frank Valdivia, an inmate, communicates to his two daughters. He says, â€Å"I lost everything I had and everything I loved when I came to prison. But the person I was didn’t deserve any of it. There are people outside this wall that love you or that you love. They deserve the best, so be your best. I’m finally doing my best and my two daughters Kayla and Alicia deserve it.† (Gallardo 58) He uses literature to assure his two daughters that he is doing his best to become a changed person. Inmates also use literary work in criticizing unfair judgments in courts, especially towards young crimin als who stand a better chance of rehabilitation. In Open Line, Charlie Spence indicates in his confession that underage criminals are not given a judgment as a juvenile but instead as adults. He says, â€Å"Had I been tried and convicted as a juvenile, I would have been given a better chance at rehabilitation and a second chance in society at the age of 25. I feel even more strongly now that I ever did back then, that trying juvenile offenders as adults and convicting them to life in prison is immoral.† (11) He feels that juvenile offenders should not be judged as adults, regardless of the magnitude of their crime, because they can easily be rehabilitated. Inmates value the fact that, despite their misconducts, there are people out there who still care so much about them and would rather they came back into the society after serving their terms in prison. Evidences cited from the book Open Line prove this statement. For instance, Michael Endres, a prisoner, receives a letter from his daughter who does not even know him because he has been in prison since she was an infant. He says, â€Å"When I realized who the letter was from, I was surprised and shocked. While reading it, the emotions kicked into gear, I was tickled to death to know that she wanted to know me, and I was sad for her cause she didn’t know how I would feel about hearing from her. She didn’t know that her letter caused my heart to truly smile.† (34) This is an indication that Michael’s daughter loves him despite the fact that she does not know him because he has been in prison for such a long time. In addition to the love and affection from those outside, inmates also value the welfare of others who are yet to be convicted for various crimes. It is important to note how Charlie Spence, an inmate, advocates for the rights of juveniles, even though he is in prison. He gives a strong argument against the conviction of juveniles as adults when they are sentenced fo r life imprisonment

Health News Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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Microsoft Strategies in Marketing and Leadership

Microsoft Strategies in Marketing and Leadership Almost 27 years Microsoft operates through their windows and technologies in order to satisfied customer. They are provided a advance technology for all users such as for the company, personal users etc. other than that, in 1983, Microsoft has announced the development of windows which is a graphical user interface. At that time, they are creating the windows for IBM pc and the windows are compatible with the computers. However, the product line has changed from a graphical user interface to modern operating system. And now days, the windows corporation has focus on their five business divisions which is offers greatest potential to serve their customer. According to Microsoft.com (2010), the Microsoft corporation has motivated and inspired every day by how their customer use their software to find creative solutions to business problems, develop breakthroughs ideas, and stay connected to whats most important to the customer. The five business divisions that Microsoft focuses on are Windows and Windows live division, server and tools, online services division, Microsoft business division, and entertainment and devises division. With their five business division, they have different strategies to implement. First of all, from our research, Microsoft Corporation is using intensive strategies. Intensive strategies is require intensive efforts to improve a company more competitive position with existing product. In other words, intensive strategy is making the company to make more improvement in the existing product. In the intensive strategy, there have three strategies which are market penetration, market development and product development. However, from our research about Microsoft Corporation is using only two strategies from intensive strategies which is market penetration and product development. According to qfinance.com (2009), market penetration defined as the percentage of potential sales that company has made a measure of the percentage or potential percentage of the market that a product or company is able to capture, expressed in terms of total sales or turnover. Market penetration is often used to measure the level of success a new product or service has achieved. In other words, market penetration seeking an increased market share for present product or services in present market through. Microsoft Corporation is using this strategy because they want to increase their market share for present product. For an example, Microsoft Corporation is using or influence customer by using advertisement and promotion through online. When they are advertise the customer through online, they able to influence the customer to purchase the product, hence indirectly Microsoft Corporation are able to increased their market share. Other than that, according to Elorbany.R (2010), Micros oft Corporation redesigns MSN in order to Bing search market going up. They are hoping by redesign MSN, will help the company increase market share of online search and attracting people to MSN. This means that, Microsoft Corporation are using market penetration strategy to increase their maker share. Besides that, by using this strategy, Microsoft Corporation is able to make market share of competitors declining while the total of Microsoft Corporation industry sales increasing. By using this strategy, not just Microsoft Corporation able to increase market share but also increased their sales. Product development is seeking increased sales by improving present products or services or developing new ones. In other words, product development strategy is another strategy in intensive strategy that make the company make a new improvement in the existing product and make a new product in order to increased the sales of the company. Moreover, one of reason that Microsoft Corporation is using this strategy is, their mission and their value are to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their potential. Other than that, Microsoft Corporation is also making a improvement on their existing product. For example, Microsoft office is one of product from Microsoft Corporation. This product is exist is to help people and the businesses easier to do their work. Microsoft Office exist since 1992 which is Microsoft office 4.x and Microsoft Corporation make a new improvement year by year and in 2010 Microsoft Corporation came out with new features in the Microsoft office and the software call Microsoft office 2007. Michael porters generic strategies Michael Porters Generic Strategies adapted from www.marketingteacher.com Michael Porters generic strategies is a strategy where the company can implement the strategy as taking actions by create a defendable position is an industry. In general, this strategy can be defensive and offensive towards their industry position. Other than that, the Michael porters generic strategy is an advantage over the competitors gained by offering the customer greater value, either by provided the lower prices of great features of the product and services. In this strategy, there have three strategies that the company can implement either implement three of it or one of it. The strategies are cost leadership strategies, differentiation strategies and focus strategies. According to case scenario, Microsoft Corporation is focusing on these two strategies which are cost of leadership and differentiation strategies. First of all, the cost of leadership is about of gaining the competitive advantage. Moreover, by increasing the profit and minimize the cost of production is also give an advantages to the company to earn more profit. Other than that, by increasing the market or the demand of the market is also give the corporation affects to earn more profit. Microsoft Corporation is a worldwide leader in software, services, and the solutions, that help people and business realize their potential. According to Microsoft.com (2010), there is about 108 country in the worldwide is subsidiaries the Microsoft Corporation product and it is also include Malaysia. Hence, the reasons why the Microsoft Corporation is using this cost of leadership strategies because Microsoft Corporation is a leader market of technology besides their competitor Apple.Inc. Microsoft Corporation is able to provide five divisions business to the customer through personal software to customer, software for business organizations, and entertainment for customer such as Xbox games. Other than that, the Microsoft Corporation is able to linkages with suppliers and distributors. Cost of leadership strategies are pursued in conjunction with differentiation strategies. Hence, cost of leadership is together with differentiation strategies. The differentiation strategies are also one of strategies that the Microsoft Corporation is implementing. The differentiation strategies are involves by making the product or services are different from the competitors and the product is also attractive from those of their competitors. Other than that, the products are offering by something new in the product, features, unique and valuable. According to Microsoft.com (2010), the Microsoft office has provided Microsoft hardware such as mouse, keyboard, cooling pad for laptop, mobile headset etc. This product is make Microsoft Corporation is different than other competitor beside provided operating software to the all distributors. In order to compete with the biggest competitors Apple.inc, Microsoft Corporation are also provided software for Mac such as Microsoft office Mac. This is one of strategy that Microsoft Corporation has using. With this strategy, Microsoft Corporation is able to make more profit and able to compete with other competitors in this industry. Merger and acquisitions According to entrepreneur.com (2010), merger defined as the combination of one or more corporations or other business entities into a single business entity. It is a joining of two or more companies to achieve greater efficiencies of scale and productivity. Besides that, according to entrepreneur.com (2010), acquisitions is define the company or large corporations who capable to purchase of one corporation by another through either the purchase of its shares or the purchase of its assets. Hence, merger and acquisitions are two commonly used ways to pursue the strategies. Microsoft Corporation is using merger and acquisitions strategies to get more competitive advantages for their own company. According to Rigby.B (2010), the company will encourage more technology mergers and acquisitions. From that, we able to see that Microsoft Corporations are implement these strategies to get more strength for their Corporations. Since 1994 Microsoft Corporation has an acquisitions every year, whi ch mean Microsoft Corporation purchase the smaller company to achieve massive growth literally overnight and increase the market share. According to Microsoft.com, almost every year Microsoft Corporation purchases the smaller company which is since 1994 until 2009. This is a good strategy for Microsoft Corporation in order to be a successful leader in technology advance. Other than that, by using this strategy Microsoft Corporation is able to provide more improvement on capacity utilization which is fully utilize capabilities and to make better use of an existing sales force. Conclusion As a conclusion, Microsoft Corporation is a leader in software and technology of computing. They are made a new improvement year by year in order to satisfy their customer. Besides that, Microsoft corporation is also involves with entertainment such as computing mobile, games (Xbox). This is means that, Microsoft Corporation have a variety loyal customer in the worldwide country. We can take an example in Malaysia. Most of computer, laptop is using windows one of product from Microsoft Corporation. Windows is able to provide new features, and it is a unique product to customer and the businesses. Other than that, government of Malaysia is also using windows product for their operating system. Moreover, one of the strategies that Microsoft Corporation implement is they are using mergers and acquisition with other company in order to increase the market share and in order to improve on their product and service to the customer. Furthermore, market penetration is giving a big impact to the company such as by improve the product, the Microsoft are able to increase the market share and the economic scale. Hence, strategy is important to every company, not just to Microsoft Corporation but to all the company that runs the business with their objective to maximize the profit and fulfill customers needs and wants. Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix Introduction Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) is a very useful tool in formulating strategies. It is an analytical tool which can generate useful information regarding the strategies that a company plans to implement. Strategic management of a company always uses Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) as a tool in strategic planning or strategic management process. In this process, there are three main stages which are strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation. Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) is always fits into the first stage which is the strategy formulation. In strategy formulation, there are three steps that will come into which are the input stages, the matching stages and the decision stages. All these stages are using different strategic management tools and Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) will be used at the decision stages which is the last stage of strategy formulation. This tool can determine the importance of each strategy and at the same time can decide among feasible alternative strategies. This is because the strategies will be weighted according to their external and internal factor. The best thing about Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) is that sets of strategies can be examined sequentially or simultaneously. This means that by using this tool, the company can save a lot of time and making fast decision yet accurate. Other than that, by using QSPM, it is less likely that key factors will be overlooked or weighted inappropriately. Key factors such as the opportunities and threats can be weighted properly and all the factors can be compared accordingly. In order to develop QSPM, intuitive judgment is required. Thus, it is important to know the overall condition of the industry and the company itself. A lot of researches have to be done in order to know the key factors of the business. There are six steps of developing Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM). The six steps are: Make a list of the firms key external opportunities/threats and internal strengths/weaknesses in the left column of the QSPM. Assign weights to each key external and internal factor. Examine the Stage 2 matrices and identify alternative strategies that the organization should consider implementing. Determine the Attractiveness Scores (AS). Compute the total AS. Compute the sum Total AS. Six steps of developing Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM). Future Strategies for Microsoft and Methodologies used to Evaluate Strategies Based on task one in the previous page, there are three strategies which we have suggested for Microsoft to implement. The strategies are intensive strategies, Michael Porters Generic Strategies and merger or acquisition strategies. In intensive strategy, there are three related strategies are market penetration, market development and product development. The definition of these strategies has been explained in the previous tasks. After we have done some research regarding Microsoft and information technology industry, we think that Microsoft should implement product development strategy for the future strategy of the company. This is because, they have lot opportunities in the market that they can capture. Other than product development strategy, Microsoft also has done market penetration strategy where this company increasing their market shares by implementing this strategy. Both these strategies will be evaluated in QSPM in order to know how important they are to be used in future. In Michael Porters Generic strategy, there are two types of strategies that Microsoft used. The strategies are cost leadership strategy and differentiation strategy. These two strategies are interrelated where cost leadership strategies pursued in conjunction with differentiation. The important of these strategies also will be evaluated in the QSPM. In merger or acquisition strategy, Microsoft has been successfully merger several large company to be their own. One of them is Yahoo which according to Burrows (2009), ever since Microsoft made its $45 billion bid for Yahoo in early 2008, it was clear the software giant was serious about taking on arch-rival Google in the lucrative internet search business, and now, after years of talks with yahoo, it seems Microsoft has achieved its goal. This is a big achievement of Microsoft and they manage to expand their market share in information technology industry. We think that, this strategy is very good for Microsoft to implement in future in order for them to continue be the market leader of information technology industry. So, in order to choose one strategy that very important for Microsoft to implement, we will evaluate all the key factors of each strategy in Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM). QSPM utilizes key internal and external information of the business. These factors are usually identified in the previous stage of the strategic planning process. External Factor Evaluation Matrix (EFEM) and Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix (IFEM) are the example of tools used in the previous stage of the strategic planning. The above Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) has been development accordingly with appropriate weight and attractiveness score. Weights that have been used are representing the importance of the key factors to the implementation of the strategies. The more weight placed the more important the factor to the implementation of the strategies. On the other hand attractiveness score is a score to show the attractiveness of the factors. The score of 1 to 4 is placed which indicate the more score is place the more attractive the strategies to be implemented. Or in other words, attractiveness score of 1, 2, 3, or 4 is used to tell about each strategys attractiveness given the respective external or internal factor, where 4 is the best and 1 is the less attractive. For example, for product development under intensive strategy, attractiveness score of 4 is given to technological, competitive, management, finance, research and development and computer information systems. This means that these key factors are very attractive factors for the product development. The present of these factors will contribute to the successful of the product development strategy implementation. On the other hand the attractiveness score of 1 is given to the factor of political and production or operations. This means that political gives less impact on the successful of product development. For information industry, production or operation is less important because the industry is more to service types of business. Thus, production is less needed. This strategy has the third higher score which is 3.12. This means that this strategy also has its important to be implemented in future after the product development strategy. The score of 4 is given to the competitive, political, management and finance factors. In order to acquire a company, competitors will always have interest to compete with Microsoft. This is because merger strategy is able to expand the market share of a company. This means that buy acquire a company to be a part of Microsoft property, they will become stronger in the market and they will possess another competitive advantage. The same goes to political. Political is important because in order to merger the company, all procedure must be approved by the government. Management and finance are the most important factors in internal environment because they are responsible to negotiate and managing the activities in the process of merger. Other than that, finance and accounting department of Microsoft will calcul ate all the costs involve in acquire a particular company. According to nikkie.co (2009), industry analysts had praised Bill Gates for guiding his company on a path of growth that saw its revenue stream increasing by more than 50 percent per year in an extremely competitive, even cutthroat, market. In other words, Bill Gates has guiding his company on the right path of growth that saw its revenue stream increasing by more than 50 percent per year. Bill Gates has success to capitalize early and effectively on industry trends. Besides that, his compliance to take risks on such fledgling technologies as Microsofts CD-ROM based software packages. A fledgling technology has become an industry standard. Moreover, Bill Gates had organized the company structure which is all the company structure all in together on all phases of software products through business cycle from development to distribution. Furthermore, in 1995 Bill Gates has done and towards in internet area which is creates a search engine through internet. And Bill Gates was success to assess by the actuality that Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browser. Through that, Microsofts Internet Explorer Web browser has become the industry leader in 2000. In addition, Bill Gates has success in initial a competitive Internet browser. While that, the desktop of database and office-suite has success. By Bill Gates creatures, it has proved that Bill Gates had formed a company quick enough to jump into a market that others were developing. And Bill Gates also able to take as a lead away from the competition. Furthermore, according to nikkie.com (2009), in 1998 Bill Gates has announced a new point in Microsofts development that would allow him to focus his energies on strategy and product development. In other words, in 1998, Bill Gates wants to concentrate on his strategy and product development in order to satisfy customer needs. While that, the company funnelled a large amounts of money into improving customer supports and feedback. Other than that, Bill Gates has planned that he want his company directs work in such areas as intellectual telephones and television, as well as the combination of such new computer input techniques such as speech, vision and handwriting using computers. Even though windows had previously gone through several upgrades. Theory Y assumptions that managements role is to build up the possible in employees and help them to release that potential towards common goals in the organization. Bill had a vision as a teenager that every business and household should have a computer to make their life easier and effective. The realization of Bill Gates vision has changed the computing world. Microsofts vision is empower people through great software anytime, anyplace, and on any device, (microsoftvision.com,) The leadership style of microsoft is the charismatic style which is a leadership style that usually come from the people that are born with it. This kind of leadership style can usually win the heart of the workers more efficiently because they are good at picking up the moods and concern of both individuals and larger audiences. This type of leadership is effective because when the leader at the top, its takes time to ground his own self and stay close to the operation. When the top management involves the business with employee, not only does he gain the knowledge but he furthers his employees to work double as hard for the company. Being in the trenches builds loyalty and of course real knowledge about how the operation is being run. The company CEO must understand cultural dynamics to formulate their strategies, to locate production facilities and suppliers worldwide, to design and market culturally appropriate and services as well as to manage cross-cultural interaction thorough out the organization. Therefore, based on the roles and responsibilities above, when implementing strategies such as mentioned before intensive product development the CEO is very important to become the agent of making the strategy work. Bill Gates and the late Loh Boon Siew is very articulate in conveying their vision to the company mentioned in the Theory X and Theory Y assumptions, and thus that is why the company is able to strive.

Problems with Voting :: essays research papers

Why Voting is never Completely Accurate!! Statement of the Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are several problems when it comes to elections. One of the problems is whether the candidates played fairly throughout the election. Another problem is whether the votes that are being cast are being counted correctly or even being counted at all. The main reason this topic has become such an important issue is because of the last two elections. The first election had a problem in the state of Florida, and the 2004 elections had problems in the state of Ohio. Evidence Used in Reaching my Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the things I would worry about in voting is how and who is counting my votes. For instance, a type of voting I would not be satisfied with is the paper ballot way of voting. The modern system of election using paper ballots was first used in 1858 in Australia. The great Australian innovation was to print standardized ballots at government expense, distribute them to the voters at the polling places, and require that the voters vote and return the ballots immediately. Today, the security against election fraud this provides seems obvious, but in the 19th century, it was not obvious to most observers, and it was not until 1888 that this ballot was used in the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another type of voting that is a problem to me is the lever voting machine. Lever voting machines offer excellent voter privacy, and the feel of a lever voting machine is immensely reassuring to voters! Unfortunately, they are immense machines, expensive to move and store, difficult to test, complex to maintain, and far from secure against vote fraud. Furthermore, a lever voting machine maintains no audit trail. With paper ballots, an it is possible to recount the votes if there is an allegation of fraud. With lever voting machines, there is nothing to recount! This could be a problem also because if someone votes incorrectly and pushes the lever down at the wrong time he or she can not go back and fix that vote.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I know that this doesn’t look like a single vote would sway an election that much but you figure that 1,000 people across the nation vote incorrectly for the same person. That could sway an election, probably not a presidential election but it might sway an election for senate or the house. I believe that a unified way of voting should be made, whether it is any type of voting. Problems with Voting :: essays research papers Why Voting is never Completely Accurate!! Statement of the Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are several problems when it comes to elections. One of the problems is whether the candidates played fairly throughout the election. Another problem is whether the votes that are being cast are being counted correctly or even being counted at all. The main reason this topic has become such an important issue is because of the last two elections. The first election had a problem in the state of Florida, and the 2004 elections had problems in the state of Ohio. Evidence Used in Reaching my Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the things I would worry about in voting is how and who is counting my votes. For instance, a type of voting I would not be satisfied with is the paper ballot way of voting. The modern system of election using paper ballots was first used in 1858 in Australia. The great Australian innovation was to print standardized ballots at government expense, distribute them to the voters at the polling places, and require that the voters vote and return the ballots immediately. Today, the security against election fraud this provides seems obvious, but in the 19th century, it was not obvious to most observers, and it was not until 1888 that this ballot was used in the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another type of voting that is a problem to me is the lever voting machine. Lever voting machines offer excellent voter privacy, and the feel of a lever voting machine is immensely reassuring to voters! Unfortunately, they are immense machines, expensive to move and store, difficult to test, complex to maintain, and far from secure against vote fraud. Furthermore, a lever voting machine maintains no audit trail. With paper ballots, an it is possible to recount the votes if there is an allegation of fraud. With lever voting machines, there is nothing to recount! This could be a problem also because if someone votes incorrectly and pushes the lever down at the wrong time he or she can not go back and fix that vote.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I know that this doesn’t look like a single vote would sway an election that much but you figure that 1,000 people across the nation vote incorrectly for the same person. That could sway an election, probably not a presidential election but it might sway an election for senate or the house. I believe that a unified way of voting should be made, whether it is any type of voting.

Lafarge Tarmac Essay

Task One 1.1 Strategic context of Lafarge Tarmac Introduction When it comes to the construction business there are two main things that come in mind noise and risks along with the high costs and professional skills. However there are some construction companies in the world that are committed to their work so much that they have found a way to do the construction in a sustainable and environmental friendly way. United Kingdom is one of finest constructed countries in the world on a macro level, and the construction companies of the UK are also very good at their work. Lafarge Tarmac is one of those names in the United Kingdom which are not for their dedication for the construction business (Lafarge, 2014). Lafarge Tarmac follows a very simple strategy make a goal and follow the direction as per the strategy in order to achieve it and remove any difficulty that comes in that way. The company is well known in the entire United Kingdom for their role in construction business. The company joined forces in the year 2013 to be an Ultimate Solution co mpany for the entire construction sector (lafargetarmac.com, 2014). Basic vision of the company is very simple and dedicated to the sustainability, along with the great dedication to the safety on the construction sites. The values of the company are very diverse but united under a common set (lafargetarmac.com, 2014). Role of strategy is very important part of the business cycle. As per the annual report of the Lafarge tarmac for the year 2013 the company stated very clearly that safety is their uttermost priority and they will focus on the safety before anything even before profits and revenue. The commitment of the company is to improve the health in the construction sector continuously by doing right things in a right way at right time. Along with the health the company is also involved with the improvement of the construction company’s performance towards the environment. Lafarge Tarmac is registered under various acts and it is their duty to maintain the standards of those acts and to make sure that all the companies they work with also follow their respective standards (Lafarge, 2014). Visions, Objectives and Goals of the company As per the marketing of the Lafarge Tarmac the company has very simple vision  that is to understand the needs of the customers and make sure that the customers get the same goods and services as they require, in order to achieve the target as per the vision of the company, the employees at the company works at their highest level, however there are some other visions of the company as well. One vision of Lafarge Tarmac is dedicated to the safety of the people at the construction sites, as per the health and safety of the company the goal of the company is to operate in such a way that it becomes a zero harm business (lafargetarmac.com, 2014). If under any case the harmful situation arises the workforce of the company is always willing to tackle it and do not walk by under any circumstances. The other objective of the company is to protect the environment, the basic vision of the companies for this is to operate in such a way that the environment get least affected due to the opera tions of the company. The company tries to prevent pollution during the construction activities and improvement in the field by any means. In case the company needs to be defined in one word Lafarge Tarmac will be known as the sustainable and sustainability is what they operate for as per the objectives of the company (lafargetarmac.com, 2014). 1.2 Issues in Strategic Planning at Lafarge Tarmac Planning is the basic duty of the manager as no activity can be done without doing a proper planning. However there are some issues for the managers during the planning processes and setting up the targets of the organization (James, n.d.). The targets for the Lafarge Tarmac are very different from any other construction company in the United Kingdom as unlike Lafarge Tarmac almost 80 percent of the construction companies just do their tasks and do not take the safety and environment as their responsibility at all. During the strategic planning of the Lafarge Tarmac the environment of the operative area is analyzed very thoroughly and plans are made according to the results. Being a construction solution provider it is also a responsibility for the company to be updated about any new technology that can improve the construction in an eco friendly manner (lafargetarmac.com, 2014). The Thinking of the company’s managers is also very important as the needs of the customers of the company are different the company will also have to make the strategy in such a way so that it can keep the advantage point to itself in the market. In order to formulate the strategic plan the  Matrix given by the Ansoff is a great tool. According to the matrix the strategy can be made by performing four activities (James, n.d.). Market penetration is done for understanding the needs of the customers and tries to grow its existing roots in the market. Lafarge tarmac has used this technique as they have tried over and over to give the best product and services by improving their products. Market Development on the other hand is done in order to enter the new markets and expand the business. Lafarge Tarmac is one of the largest construction solution providers in the United Kingdom and they have tried to reach the customers by opening up the branches in almost every part of the UK. Product Development is done for growing in the existing markets by introducing the new products and services or by re-launching the existing products and services with increased performance. One of the best example for the Lafarge Tarmac is instead of a long and lengthy process at the construction site they came up with readymade concretes th at are buy ready to be used in construction. Diversification is done to introduce in the new offers in the market. It is very important and risky stage for any company as in order to do this all three activities of the matrix needs to be done properly in order to perform the diversification. Lafarge Tarmac was started by making a deal among the American Anglo and Lafarge for the construction material supplier but now the company has made the deal with the other companies as well and soon it will be the largest producer of the cement in the world. Portfolio analysis is also an issue for the manager while making strategies for the organizations as the growth rate of the construction market is constantly changing in the market and the rate for the Lafarge Tarmac is very constant. One other major issue for the company is to decide as what kind of plan needs to be made by the organizations as there are different kind of plans like upside down plan, top down plan, bottom up plan, informal plan and every other plan in the book. However the mangers of the Lafarge Tarmac came up with something new which was a combination of every aforesaid plan. 1.3 Planning Techniques in context with Lafarge Tarmac There are many techniques that can be used by the Lafarge Tarmac in order to develop their strategic plan the following are few tools that can be used by the organization. Directional Policy Matrix According to this tool of strategy formulation there are two elements that are important for the strategy formulation, first is the position of the business in the market, which is also known as the capability of the market, broadly the company can be defined as weak, average or strong in the market (McDermott, 2014). The other element is the position of the sector under which the business is involved which can be categorized as Unattractive, average or attractive and the strategy can be formulated by using the given Matrix. For Lafarge Tarmac which is a strong competitor in the market and has the range of average and attractive products for the customers being a leader and growing in the market is a great strategy as per the directional policy matrix. Source: http://strategycapstone.ning.com/page/directional-matrix Space Matrix It is one of the best methods for reverse engineering. There are four quadrants of this strategy that defines the nature of the strategy that needs to be made, the strategies can be Aggressive, Competitive, Defensive and Conservative, it depends on the customer of the organization that what kind of strategy the company should opt for (maxi-pedia.com, n.d.). An example of the matrix for the Lafarge Tarmac is given below. As said already that Lafarge Tarmac is a leading construction solution provider and that is why it is a dominating company and being aggressive is the finest option for the company. Source: http://www.maxi-pedia.com/SPACE+matrix+model+strategic+management+method Task 2 2.1 Organizational Audit for Lafarge Tarmac Benchmarking Audit Benchmarking is the process under which the business performance and processes of an organization is compared with the best practices in the industry or market used by the other companies (Doucet, 2010). Usually the  elements of the operations like time costs and quality of the organization is measured by this kind of auditing. Under the benchmarking auditing the comparison of the company’s processes is made with the best processes which exist in the market creating a high level of opportunity for the organization to grow up. For Lafarge Tarmac the benchmark auditing is a great auditing tool as they can learn about the new ways to give the solutions to the construction sector. However it must also be noticed that Lafarge Tarmac is already a leading company as a construction solution provider so there are not many things that are better than that of what is practiced in the company. SWOT Analysis SWOT is an abbreviation for four key factors of the organizations Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths of Lafarge Tarmac are their products serving as the key solutions for the construction sector in United Kingdom, cement and ready concrete cement is best examples of the products of Lafarge Tarmac. Weaknesses of the company comes forward when it comes to the new technologies and variety in products as the company is serving one of the best quality products in the country but sometimes the demand and requirement of the consumers is completely different from others. Opportunities for the Lafarge Tarmac are countless as under the construction sector there is constant improvement in the technology so as develop the construction sector and make work easier and safer. Threats for the Lafarge Tarmac are not very much as the company already has an advantage and a very strong position in the market. The only threat that the company faces is regarding the safety on the construction and competition from the other companies. Value Chain Analysis Value chain analysis model is a very useful tool to evaluate the maximum value for the customers. I order to do the value chain analysis first of all the activities of the Lafarge Tarmac needs to be analyzed and then the value for every step in the production should be evaluated as if it is at its maximum potential, and lastly when the managers gets sure of the fact that changes can be made it needs to be identified that whether these changes would be beneficial or not. The model of the Value Chain for Lafarge Tarmac  is given following, under which the primary functions and secondary functions for Lafarge Tarmac are given and after summing up all the values in Lafarge Tarmac the margin is added for the company and the final value is given to the customers. Inbound Logistics are the raw material for the Lafarge Tarmac which is tons of Limestone for cement production in addition to this many dozens of trucks are also required for transportation. The main operation of Lafarge Tarmac is production of cement which is made by following the production plan of the company. Outbound product of Lafarge Tarmac is cement which is very high in volume but at the same time the product is very sensitive too so the warehousing is done very efficiently by Lafarge Tarmac. Marketing and sales techniques of Lafarge Tarmac facilitates the transfer of the products produced in the company to the consumers. Service is the process in which the values of the product increases as Lafarge Tarmac makes products like cement and other construction material as per the specification of the customer and what matter is that the product is delivered in the same form and quality as required by the customer. Scenario Planning Scenario planning or scenario analysis is used by the organizations in order to make the long term plans for the business, it is a very difficult kind of auditing to be done for Lafarge tarmac as the construction sector in UK is changing rapidly and new technologies are being introduced and plans cannot be made for long run on the basis of the existing technology and materials. Strategic Positioning of Lafarge Tarmac There are many tools that can be used by the organization in order to evaluate the position of the existing strategy of the company, Ansoff matrix is one of the key tools for this purpose and that can be used very effectively in case of Lafarge Tarmac. As per the Ansoff Matrix there are four tasks that are to be carried out in the market (Reeves, 2014). First is Market Penetration which is done in order to increase the share of the company in the existing markets with the existing products, it has been done very effectively by Lafarge Tarmac as it has signed the deals with Holcim  Ltd a gigantic company in cement industry so as to be the largest cement producer of the world. Second part of the matrix is market development which is done in order to expand in the new markets with the existing products and services this has been done by Lafarge Tarmac since the beginning as the company was formed by Lafarge and American Anglo so as to be the construction solution provider in UK (lafar getarmac.com, 2014). Third part of the matrix consist of Product development which means the development of existing products by launching new products in the existing markets or by re-launching the product after making improvements Making of the readymade concrete and cement was a evolution of Lafarge Tarmac as a product development. The fourth and last quarter of the matrix is diversification which in simple terms can be defined as the combination of all the other three parts of Ansoff Matrix, as of Lafarge Tarmac no bigger diversification can be expected from a company which was formed in 2013 and which becomes the largest cement producer in 2014. 2.2 Environmental Audit for Lafarge Tarmac A business has to be maintained under many environments every part of the environment is important for the business in order to make sure that the business will run smoothly. PESTLE The term PESTLE is used to define the group of environments that makes impact on every business, the given is the pestle analysis of Lafarge Tarmac. Political Environment creates a very adequate impact as any new policy for the construction sector made by the government will make impact on the business of Lafarge Tarmac for example in case the government makes some new policy of taxation for the construction sector it will make a significant impact on the company (Doucet, 2010). Economic environment is also a very crucial part of the business as the economic condition of the UK will decide how much construction work is to be done and that will decide how much business UK can generate for the Lafarge Tarmac, for example during the period of recession not much work of construction is done but at the time of boom the construction demand reaches the heights of the sky. Social environment also plays a very important role in the business as the society is the factor for which the business operates there will not be any customer for the Lafarge Tarmac if they do not consider the social environment of UK. Society is the ultimate consumer for Lafarge Tarmac and the company has understood this fact very well that is why they have set up the issue of safety at their utmost priority. Technological environment is yet another important factor for the Lafarge Tarmac as the rapid change in technology in the construction sector makes it difficult for the organization to cope up however still the company has to manage in one way or another. Any new machine for the construction sector which can reduce the costs at the construction sites can prove out to be a game changer for Lafarge Tarmac. Legal environment is a very strict environment under which all the rules and regulations are given which needs to be followed by Lafarge Tarmac. In UK there are many rules and regulations as per the Acts which are necessary to be followed by Lafarge Tarmac for example rules of taxation and rules for the Accounting records. Environment is the last factor that affects business as being the part of the environment it is the responsibility of Lafarge Tarmac to save the environment and over the time the company has been doing this brilliantly. Lafarge Tarmac has a separate policy for the environment under which the company tries extremely hard to use the resources in such a manner that it doesn’t affect the environmen (OGC, 2007)t. Porter’s Five Forces Model As per the porter’s five forces model there are five forces that affect the business, same logic applies for the Lafarge Tarmac. First force is the threat of the competition by the new entrants, being the leader by example Lafarge Tarmac turned the construction sector in its favor so as to be the leading construction solution provider. The second force is the threat of competition from the existing companies; Lafarge Tarmac has achieved so much in so little time which is why the existing companies try to take advantage over company. Third force is the bargaining power of the customer under democracy customer is the king of the market and Lafarge Tarmac has constantly tried to keep up to the expectations of the customers (Mind Tools, n.d.). Fourth force is the bargaining power of the suppliers as it has already been discussed that Lafarge Tarmac is the ultimate solution provider which means that they needs regular supply of the materials in order to make their products which is possible only when they can maintain a healthy communication with the suppliers. Last and fifth force is rivalry,  Lafarge Tarmac was started in the year 2013 and in 2014 it become the leader as construction solution providers this has created the feeling of rivalry among those companies who are in the business for years and always wanted to be in the place where Lafarge Tarmac is today. 2.3 Stakeholders Analysis Stakeholders are the people who have the keen interest in the organizational activities. Broadly stakeholders are divided into four groups which also known as the Stake holder’s significance grid, same is shown below for Lafarge Tarmac (Mind Tools, n.d.). The name of the group and the standard strategies to be opted for them are given in the above matrix strategies (Schmeer, n.d.). Stakeholders mapping is yet another technique in order to manage the stakeholders under which the stakeholders are divided into groups and then the strategies are made for them it is similar to the Stakeholders significance grid as shown above. The given is the example of Stakeholder’s Mapping (Stakeholdermap.com, n.d.). Source: http://knowhownonprofit.org/campaigns/communications/effective-communications-1/stakeholdermap.jpg/image_preview Task 3 Growth is one important factor for the organizational survival, it is important for the organization to grow in one way or another whenever possible. Broadly there are many ways under which the organization can grow in the market. In this part of the assignment various limited and Substantive growth strategies for Lafarge Tarmac has been discussed which can be tried by the company as an alternative for its current strategy (Lafarge, 2014). In the final section of this part of assignment the very best strategy out of the discussed strategies will be suggested for Lafarge Tarmac to be adopted in future. 3.1 Alternate Strategies for limited growth, Substantive Growth or retrenchment for Lafarge Tarmac Cement is the basic necessity for the growth as every time a new building or other construction sites. Growth in the cement industry has also been constant in the past few years. However for the Lafarge Tarmac the growth is not only an opportunity  it is also a form of strategy. Some of the strategies for Lafarge tarmac are based on the limited growth some are for substantive growth while at the same time some are based on the retrenchment of the growth. Strategy for Limited Growth Growth is one of the key factors in evaluations of In a rapid changing environment of construction business instant growth can turn out to be a huge risk for the Lafarge Tarmac hence it is beneficial for the company to grow as per a limit and do not take high risks instantly. Lafarge Tarmac is a new company which came in the existence in 2013 and it is a huge success for the company that in 2014 it has signed a deal with a gigantic cement company in Switzerland to be the largest cement producer of the world (Sherman, 2014). However as an alternate strategy for the company it can try to be growing as per limit so that no financial burden comes on the organization. In case the company grows by limit it will also not be a problem of costs for the organization but what is more important than the costs is that after the five or six years the organization will have more money to grow instantly than their competitive organizations. As said already Lafarge Tarmac is a new company and do not have the enough experience to handle things on a large scale so it can be very complex for them to handle the business on a large scale however it will not be a problem for the company if they opt for the Limited growth Strategy (Dransfield et al., 2004). One plus point of the current strategy of growth adopted by the Lafarge Tarmac is that it has signed to be in ventures with the two giant companies in cement industry. Joint ventures are also a technique of the limited growth as under the joint ventures different organizations share their powers. The share of the company in the venture is decided on the basis of the mutual agreement of organizations (Reader, n.d.). Strategy for Substantive Growth Substantive growth is also a very successful way to grow in the market. Substantive growth can prove out to be very beneficial for Lafarge Tarmac as it can cover up many deficiencies of the company. If Lafarge Tarmac takes on the strategy for the substantive organization the company will be having more growth opportunities as compared to the other organizations in the  future. Lafarge Tarmac is a new company it is not beneficial for it at all to stand against the giant companies of the construction sector (Reader, n.d.). Rather it is beneficial for Lafarge Tarmac to grow substantively for few years and when the organization has enough experience to tackle any other name in the construction sector they can even try to go for the instant growth. Merging and acquiring the other companies are the most commonly practiced techniques of the substantive growth. Till now the company has not acquired any other company but the decision of the company to merge with the Holcim Ltd. has been the best growth for the company as Holcim is a giant in the cement industry and after forming Lafarge Holcim it will be completely in favor of Lafarge to gain the market advantage as Holcim is already on the heights of the success. But when these two organizations will merge a new and biggest producer of the cement will emerge. Retrenchment Strategy/ Disinvestment strategy Retrenchment generally means cutting up the processes in the organizations so that the organizations can become more stable financially but for the Lafarge Tarmac costs has never been the issue, however there is one more fact that can prove out to be interest worthy for Lafarge Tarmac as the company is currently involved in every product for the construction site like concrete, cement, bricks and all (WebFinance, Inc. , 2014). However if the company will cut loose some of its products it can focus more on the cement. Merging with Holcim will make the organization more focused on the cement than any other product produced by the organization. Alternative Strategies Expansion can be made for the growth of Lafarge Tarmac; Ansoff matrix provides the best model for the growth. Diversification is the key part of the matrix as when diversification is done the organization grows automatically. Integration is yet another strategy that can be used by Lafarge Tarmac as the organization already is producing multiple products for the construction sector it can add some more products or services to their existing list of products (OGC, 2007). For example Lafarge Tarmac is a producer of cement for which limestone is a key ingredient hence the company can also start to sell the limestone to the other companies who produce  cement. Strategic Alliance is the most advantageous strategy which is based on the mutual understanding of different organizations in sharing the resources. Licensing or franchising for the branches of the organization can also prove out to be a very effective growth strategy for Lafarge Tarmac. 3.2 Appropriate Future Strategy for Lafarge Strategy Lafarge Tarmac already is under a joint venture and it has signed up to be merged with the Holcim Ltd. hence the best option for the organization will be to diversify in the countries other than UK. Hence diversification would be the best option of growth for Lafarge Tarmac. By diversification Lafarge will not only grow but at the same time the company will also gain the competitive advantage over its competitors. Diversification strategy is best suitable option for Lafarge Tarmac as under this strategy the company will be able to continue with their existing decisions and not much will be required to be changed. The strategy of diversification is highly acceptable for company like Lafarge Tarmac which has been formed under JV of two big companies, who can take high risks (Turner, 2008). Resources has not been an issue for Lafarge Tarmac so far hence it s expected that addition resources after diversification can also be available easily, which means this strategy is highly feasible for the organization (Carttar, 2014). Task 4 4.1 Roles and responsibilities for Strategic Implementations Meaning of Strategy Implementations to the Business Operations Overall there are three basic influencers of the business operations in Lafarge Tarmac, i.e. Culture, System and Structure of Lafarge Tarmac. While implementing the strategy so as to achieve the desired objectives the values of organization can change completely. The impact of the strategy on business operations has been described using the table below. Strategy Implementation Business Operations (The impact on Strategy Implementation on the operations of Business) Culture Rather than the strategy the culture of the business make more impact on the strategies of Lafarge Tarmac. By implementing the strategy the goals of the company will become more unified and oriented on one common objective. Structure There are three factors that are affected by the strategic implementation, i.e. communication, decision making and coordination among the different teams in Lafarge Tarmac. The behavior of the employees in Lafarge Tarmac is also expected to be changed in a positive way for the organization which will increase the productivity of the company. Systems Different kind of systems can be made in Lafarge Tarmac using the new strategy. This will create the impact on the output of the organization, the behavior of the employees and integrating system of the company. The Strategy Practice Model Strategists Who? Activities What? Methodologies Which? Management Committee Process Determination Evaluation for the improvements during the controlling function of management Board of Directors Defining mission Statements After taking consideration of the market position of the organization and the overall performance of market Marketing Managers Environmental Analysis Using different methods of analysis like surveys and interviews Strategic Managers Evaluation of competitive Advantage Analyzing the market on the basis of the financial reports and comparing the same with that of the organization’s Any Volunteer from the management or the manager of the team who will be affected most due to the strategy Communicating the Strategic Plan Communication in a confident level with deep understanding of the concept of the strategy. 4.2 Resource requirement in order to implement the new strategy in Lafarge Tarmac Type of Resources required Access to/ Availability of Resources Constraints to the implementation Finance Availability of finance has never been the issue of problem for Lafarge Tarmac as it is formed under the venture of two big companies, further the own assets of the organization are double the value of its liabilities During the days of recession the finance do becomes problem for the organization. IN other case where if one organization incurs losses the other company do not wish to contribute the entire share for the company with only half share in profits. Human Resources Human Resources are appointed in Lafarge Tarmac from many different ways, like through the educational institutes or from the other job offers to the experienced people The lack of interest in the new generation for the construction sector. Physical Resources Infrastructure of the organization is a highly valuable asset for Lafarge tarmac, further the raw material for the products of the company is also available to the company easily. Variety of technologies creates confusion as what to be chosen for the company, further different quality of the raw material is also a constraint as sometime the desired quality of the limestone or other raw material is unavailable with the suppliers. Time for the reaction in the organization Lafarge Tarmac tries a lot of things with its management team so it might take some time for the final results to emerge up. Sometimes the organization keeps on waiting for a positive response but as so much is  going on in the organization the loss is not even noticed by the managers and time keeps on increasing. 4.3 Targets for achievements to monitor the strategy of Lafarge Tarmac Tools of Evaluation Theoretical Standpoint Targets to be evaluated Benchmarking Compare the performance of the organization with the performance of entire construction solution providers in the industry Whether there is any company performing better in the area of evaluation and if yes then finding out how? SWOT Analysis Analyzing the strengths, opportunities and weaknesses, threats for the Lafarge Tarmac. A strategy which increases the strengths of the company is said to be a good strategy while on the other hand if it increases the weaknesses or threats then it is not working well for the company Balanced Scorecard Evaluating the starting and ending position of the organization from the plan to the till date of evaluation and comparing the same with the targets. Whether the improvements has been satisfactory due to the new strategy and if not finding out the reasons for the same. Key Performance Indicators Evaluation of every process involved in the operations of Lafarge Tarmac Finding out the key process for the organization and improving the processes which are not working well for the company. Conclusion Lafarge Tarmac is one of the most successful organizations among the construction solution providers today. The company was formed in 2013 and within one year the company is on the edge of becoming the largest cement producer of the world. Under this assignment the strategic evaluation for Lafarge Tarmac has been done, including the strategic analysis of the company using various models, the current strategy has been evaluated and  alternate strategies has also been advised for the company. In the last segment of the assignment, different affects of the strategies are shown with the help of tables and the roles of the stakeholders are made clear, in the end the tools for evaluation of the strategy has also been discussed. Bibliography Carttar, P., 2014. Strategic Planning and Evaluation: Tools for Realizing Results. [Online] Available at: http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/strategic_planning_and_evaluation_tools_for_realizing_results [Accessed 14 November 2014]. Doucet, G., 2010. TOOLS FOR STRATEGIC EVALUATION: TOOLS AND METHODS THE COHERENCY ARCHITECT SHOULD APPLY. [Online] Available at: http://coherencyarchitect.com/2010/03/15/tools-for-strategic-evaluation-tools-and-methods-the-coherency-architect-should-apply/ [Accessed 14 November 2014]. Dransfield, R. et al., 2004. Business for Foundation Degrees and Higher Awards. Jordan Hill, OX: Harcourt Education Limited. James, R., n.d. How to do Strategic Planning: A Guide for Small and Diaspora NGOs. PEER LEARNING PROGRAMME. Lafarge, 2014. Strategy. [Online] Available at: http://www.lafarge.com/wps/portal/4_3_2-Strategie [Accessed 10 November 2014]. lafargetarmac.com, 2014. OUR COMPANY. [Online] Available at: http://www.lafargetarmac.com/about-us/ [Accessed 12 Novemb er 2014]. maxi-pedia.com, n.d. SPACE Matrix Strategic Management Method. [Online] Available at: http://www.maxi-pedia.com/SPACE+matrix+model+strategic+management+method [Accessed 14 November 2014]. McDermott, M., 2014. Directional Policy Matrix. [Online] Available at: http://strategycapstone.ning.com/page/directional-matrix [Accessed 15 November 2014]. Mind Tools, n.d. Porter’s Value Chain: Understanding How Value is Created Within Organizations. [Online] Available at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_66.htm [Accessed 12 November 2014]. Mind Tools, n.d. Stakeholder Analysis: Winning Support for Your Projects. [Online] Available at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_07.htm [Accessed 11 November 2014]. OGC, 2007. Managing Successful Programmes. TSO.

Internet friends real or fake Essays

Internet friends real or fake Essays Internet friends real or fake Essay Internet friends real or fake Essay Essay Topic: F for Fake What constitutes a real friendship? In this day and age many people have lots of friends with social media especially Facebook users. Can a friendship through social media replace a friend that you can touch and feel? People use social media websites to keep in touch or reconnect to past acquaintances and follow each others lives. People use social media sites such as facebook, myspace or instgram to keep in touch and follow each others lives. Before these sites or the internet people kept in touch with friends by visiting, calling and writing letters all of which require a real ffort to nurture a friendship. During those times if you werent close friends with someone they would eventually not be part of youre so called friends after sometime. Now you can keep in up with people who would have fallen out of your life before. Now with the click of a button or two you will be friends with anyone anywhere in the world. These friends can offer support in hard times and celebrate with someone when times are good. In Friends with Benefits by Kate Dailey she speaks of friends and how they can support you through social media. One thing that is addressed is Researchers have et to significantly study the social implications of Facebook (Dailey 219). The information provided goes over friends on Facebook and how they be of some support when someone suffers a loss or has something good happen. They might offer support or words of encouragement with a loss which can be helpful. If someone was to lose a Job, spouse, child or some other tragic incident then a person could offer words of encouragement or support. The question is can these online friends help and offer the same support as a friend there in person. Having someone ho can offer sincere condolences versus someone who sends a frowning face on a social media website. People usually like to interact with real people during hard times and those friends are people involved in each others lives. Friends that are wanted in our lives will be connected by more than a screen name. During a bad time of someones life they can be helped by many things such as words of encouragement, a shoulder to cry on or a good deed. Online friends can offer typed words of help or encouragement but nothing more really but flesh and blood friends can offer all of that plus the real human interaction. On the opposite side is support when theres good things happening in ones life like kids, Job and other accomplishments. When a goal is met or some other great event occurs in someones life online friends can be supportive with words or smiley faces. Before the internet we wouldnt see our acquaintances very often: every once in a while, we might show up at a wedding and suddenly have 100 of our closest friends around (Daly 219). Theres an endorphin release when people receive good news or words of encouragement but nothing can compare to the feeling for actual human to human contact. Flesh a blood friends can do more than send each other a message or post a comment on a page or picture. Many people gather with their friends and do things such as BBQs, dinners, birthday parties and even go on vacations together. Many friendships are built over time and through ups and downs they share together some over many years. Having online friends express well wishes some success. Looking at online friends one may amass hundreds of these friends but in reality people only have a few good friends according to Shelley E. Taylor, professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angles (Dailey 219). By having so many so called friends some fell more important but most only keep in contact with a small number of their friends. Its impossible to have more than a few friends in anyones life as there isnt enough time to grow that many relationships. Many people seem to confuse friends and acquaintances in the realm of social media leading them to think they can count on everyone they correspond with on these sites. When you need help can you post on a something like Facebook and count on people outside of your core group of friend showing up to help? Its interesting at how many people use social edia Facebook attracted 67. million visitors in the U. S. in April (according to ComScore Inc. ), and the fastest-growing demographic is people over 35 (Dailey 219). This in itself is interesting but the reason for the old age of the growing population is the connecting with past acquaintances from our past. I did a survey of my friends list and asked why everyone was friends with the people they had chosen to be friends with on Facebook. Many answers were to reconnect with people they had lost contact with while others wanted to see if past relationships had moved up or gone down in their opinion. This part was shocking and funny that some would admit this and it seems many would use friends to check on ex-spouses or ex-lovers. The people with children use Facebook to keep track of their kids friends and families. Another interesting fact was the way military or veterans use Facebook to stay in contact with friends all around the world. One big positive benefit was how many grandparents use Facebook to keep up to date on what their grandchildren are doing which before the internet they waited for a phone call or a letter. Now they can see pictures the day the picture is taken and can essage them with no mail or long distance calls. Can Facebook friends provide the same as a flesh and blood friend? The simple answer is no but there are many variables that must be considered. During a hard time Posting personal experiences, no matter how painful, also allows acquaintances who have lived through similar experiences to reach out, either with information about support groups or Just an empathetic ear. The idea of sharing a commonality helps make it a little more bearable. Youre not alone, and there are others going through what you went through (Dailey 220). This shows that if you allow people to know things are going rough you well have people whoVe gone through similar situations support you and point you in the right direction. Another aspect is you can freely vent frustrations without someone feeling attacked. On the positive side you receive support whether youre dealing with a hard time or a great experience youVe had recently. People can express support or reassurance online but nothing replaces the warm feeling-or brain-boosting endorphins-that come from human-on-human contact, and you cant send someone a casserole through Facebook (Dailey 220). Nothing will ever replace a real friend that you can see and touch no matter what applications or emotions are added. People by nature need to be around others and spend time with people who know us down to the core. Some may have hundreds of you are more involved than an online friend that may Just be there to wish you well, say happy birthday because Facebook told them it was your birthday and to give some condolences. A real friend will come sit and listen during a tough phase, bring you food to eat when youre sick or come to see the new baby you Just had at the ospital. Real friends you can call in the middle of the night for anything and theyll be there to help you were a online friend might send you a message or comment in a few days or weeks. Humans speak more in actions than they do with words and the majority of our communication is nonverbal than it is actual verbal communication. Cited Work Dailey, Kate. Friends with Benefits: Do Facebook Friends Provide the Same Support as Those in Real Life. Writing Today. Ed. Richard Johnson-Sheehan and Charles Paine. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2010. 218-221. Print