Assessing Organizational Culture Essay Example for Free

Assessing Organizational Culture Essay Almost every organization, whether public or private, on paper or in practice, has a culture that fairly dictates its everyday functioning. The term culture has many definitions but in this discussion it is defined as shared beliefs, values, symbols, and behaviors. Culture binds a workforce together and is its control mechanism, or purpose, to facilitate its functioning. These items are powerful driving forces in the success of an organization and their value to the community they serve whether it is a public or private entity will affect the success of any organization. While cultures are found in some organizations more prominently than in others, there are those organizations where the culture of that specific organization’s ideal stands out above others. Police departments, military units and religious organizations all have a strong, centralized culture that forms its base and permeates its entire existence. Many times people outside of those professions do not understand the mentality or job commitment a person from one of these career fields shares with his/her co-workers. An example would be the duty and honor commitment of a United State Marine, especially when considered by a person who was anti-military; the Marines belief or core value system is not understood. The medical profession and more specifically hospitals, demonstrate a common goal that simply stated, is the care and healing of the sick or injured. For the most part, the medical staff employed at a hospital is there for that specific purpose. The medical field brings together a vast array of individuals from different backgrounds and cultures. But once they become a doctor, hospital nurse, surgical technician, etc. they take on a new life and thereby absorb a new culture into their lives. Subcultures, as defined by organizational theorists John van Maanen and Stephen Barley, are â€Å"a subset of an organization’s members who interact regularly with one another, identify themselves as a distinct group†¦and routinely take action on the basis of collective understandings unique to the group† (Cheney, 2011, 78-79) The organizational culture in a hospital is based on the premise that the hospital is there to provide a place for the care and healing of the sick or injured. Organizational theorist Mary Jo Hatch puts forth that there are five (5) â€Å"Degrees of Cultural Integration and Differentiation† (Cheney, 77) identified as follows: Unitary, Diverse (Integrated), Diverse (Differentiated), Diverse (Fragmented) and Disorganized (Multi-cephalous) (Hatch, 1997, 210). A hospital in its purest form would be well represented as a Unitary culture because the staff as a whole all have the same values or beliefs. But individual staff or even medical units may fall into any of the other cultures identified as well. A particular unit, i. e. cardiac telemetry floor, may be a Diverse (Fragmented) unit due to a group of nurses who do not view their critical task requirements in the same way and as a result the level of patient infections or deaths rises, causing unrest among the staff, supervisors, patient families and resulting in legal ramifications thereby fragmenting the staff’s solidarity. Social psychologist Edgar Schein formulated a theoretical model that shows an organization’s culture is built on three levels: artifacts, values and norms, and assumptions and beliefs. Artifacts are usually the most common and visible sign of a specific culture. Schein puts forth that things such as nursing uniforms, terminology, surgical protocols and more, actually and accurately represent the basic aspects of organization’s culture. The values and norms aspect of his theory, while not always visible, can be seen through behavior of the individual or group; it reveals what is important to the group and how they treat each other within their organization. Each aspect of the profession may have an operating procedure or environment nique to that area of specialization, but still have the same values and norms for their actions. In a surgical room, sterilization of the environment is much more important than it would be in a patient’s room on a medical/surgical floor, but they still have the same belief in keeping an open wound as clean as possible. While values in the medical profession do not vary as a whole, values do define accepted behavior and action. Genuine assumptions and beliefs are nurtured by a persons or organizations values and norms. Values vary only slightly in the various medical professions and facilities. Depending on the medical specialty area, operational norms and methods may differ according to training priorities, equipment and environment unique to that specialty. For instance, the hospital in-patient wound care team may have the same desire to treat a patient’s wounds as a home health nursing team, but the methods of treatment or medications used may be different. Differences begin to surface when a patient is sent home on a negative pressure wound therapy system, i. e. a wound V. A. C.  ®, that aids in the healing of wounds via suction (http://www. kci1. com/KCI1/vactherapy). Many home health nurses does not know how to properly change the intricate dressing or fully understand this equipment or the damaging results that can occur if not changed properly. Faulty assumptions are therefore made based on the beliefs of the home health nurse of what should be done for the patient. When that happens, problems arise in this particular scenario that could result in the patient being brought back to the hospital for a further period of hospitalization due to a breakdown of their wounds or even the creation of new wounds as a result of improper V. A. C.  ® placement. The overriding culture of the medical field is based on the Physician’s Creed of â€Å"First, do no harm† (author uncertain but it is based on the Hippocratic Oath which states to abstain from doing harm). This belief echoes throughout the medical field all over the world. And while there are individual exceptions or exceptions in areas such as animal research for the betterment of mankind or the ethical issue of abortion, the creed has gone unchanged since the time of the ancient Greeks and before. Schein’s three (3) levels of artifacts, values and norms, and assumptions and beliefs, are evident in every clinical setting. With further exploration, Hatch’s five (5) Degrees of Cultural Integration and Differentiation will also be found, albeit not everyone will be seen on every hospital floor or unit. Medical facilities are a kaleidoscope or a microcosm of many subcultures under the roof of the main culture of being a place for the care and healing of the sick or injured. Without that organizational culture giving guidance to all of the subcultures involved in this humanitarian career field, the death rate for minor injuries and diseases would compound exponentially.

A Seize Of Power :: essays research papers

A Seize of Power   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After WWI, Germany was in a exceedingly unpleasant state. It had been forced, by the Treaty of Versailles, to take full blame for the war. This meant that Germany would have to pay reparations for all of the other countries. Reparations were even harder to pay since Germany was in the midst of one of the worst stagflation epidemics in history. Not to mention a brand new government, one that had nothing to do with the signing of this treaty, had taken over power. All of the people of this once superpower of a country were in a state of perplexity because they had lost a war that had been fought entirely on enemy soil. Germany was searching for an answer to its insurmountable problems, and found that answer in a Nazi named Adolf Hitler.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hitler was born in Austria, into a troubled house. He had aspirations of becoming an artist, but those subsided when he was rejected from the college of art he planned on attending. He had started listening to a man named Lueger, who was at that time the mayor of Vienna. Lueger was a Nazi, with strong anti-Semitic views, which seemed to be a logical answer for Hitler and his problems. It was around this time that Hitler was drafted by the army. Instead of going to fight for his country, he chose to flee to Germany. Which is a bewildering thought seeing as how he voluntarily joined the German army when he got there.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the war, Hitler joined up with a right wing campaign whose job was to spy on other government groups. Upon spying on one of the parties, the N.S.D.A.P. or Nazi party, he found that he had a lot in common with their views. He decided this was his calling so he ended up joining that particular party. While in this party, he found out about his abilities to draw a crowd and make them believe what you are saying. It was at this time he started his famous speeches that could captivate and somewhat hypnotized whoever happened to listen in. He started speaking in beer halls, and gaining a lot of attention. He would speak on many topics, giving his ideals as the basis for what Germany should be. He wanted to make Germany the great dynasty it had once been. The party was growing at an astounding rate, mostly attributed to Hitler’s use of the â€Å"gift of gab† in the taverns.

Confucius Lives Next Door

The term â€Å"Confucianism† is often regarded as a complex mechanism of social, political, moral as well as religious beliefs that have considerable influence especially upon the civilizations belonging to the East Asian countries such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea along with Singapore and Vietnam. With reference to the observation made by Reid (1999), it can be viewed that a clear depiction about different principles and beliefs exists within the sphere of â€Å"Confucianism†.Therefore, the major purpose of this report is to briefly review of T. R. Reid’s book â€Å"Confucius Lives Next Door: What Leaving In The East Teaches Us About Living In the West† through concisely unfolding the experience of Reid’s family concerning the Confucian ethos. Moreover, the report would also reveal the influence of Confucian ethos within the modern Japanese culture and identify the lesson which might contribute to a better social experience within the Western culture (Reid 29-66). CONFUCIANISM AS PER REID’S EXPERIENCEThe perception of ‘Confucianism’ can be duly considered as one of the widely accepted religions in the East Asian region. The concept can be termed as a religious belief which tends to incorporate adequate measures of ethical and philosophical method that has been cultivated by the teaching of the past Chinese sage ‘Confucius’. At the time when various religions seek to merge the gap between God and human being, the aspect of â€Å"Confucianism† tends to find the actual path of accomplishing peace and coherence.According to the observation of Reid, the fundamental principles of â€Å"Confucianism† generally involve humanism and broadly incorporate the principles concerning that human belief and perceptions are teachable as well as improvable by emphasizing different communal endeavors. In this regard, the continuous practice of self-cultivating and self-creat ing plays a decisive part for each individual to improve his/her innate capability.The beliefs and thoughts within the facet of â€Å"Confucianism† significantly focus on the refinement of individual virtue and maintenance of human ethical conducts. According to Reid, a few of the major â€Å"Confucianism† ethos and practices involve ‘Ren’, ‘yi’ and ‘li’ which represents the concept of ‘altruism’ along with clear depiction of the humanness for other individuals (Reid 29-66). THE INFLUENCE OF CONFUCIANISM IN THE JAPANESE CULTUREIn relation to the observation made by Reid, the concept of â€Å"Confucianism† is often observed as one of the major Chinese religions alongside Taoism as well as Buddhism. The religion has been emerged in the Japanese culture during the period of 285 AD. A few of the major principles of this religion such as humanity, morality, trustworthiness along with the consideration of developing an individual have been widely witnessed to provide significant influence within the Japanese culture (Reid 67-90).The principles and beliefs within the facet of â€Å"Confucianism† had played an imperative part particularly for Japan which eventually strengthened its political philosophies as well as ethical code of conducts by a considerable level. In relation to the political phenomenon, the notion of â€Å"Confucianism† had played an essential role for the Japanese culture in terms of developing morality along with increasing individual potentials of achieving their desired goals and objectives.Moreover, the religion had also been widely observed to create significant loyalty among the Japanese communities through increasing the amount of self-awareness and humanness while dealing with other individuals. The principles and policies underneath â€Å"Confucianism† play a new role in addressing modern philosophy to religion, humanities, science as well as aspec ts of social science within a huge figure of Japanese individuals.Moreover, the principle of continuous cultivation and improvement of individual ethos and practices have further been observed to increase consistency along with finding developed authentic path to gain potential knowledge of development. In this context, it has been firmly identified that the insertion of â€Å"Confucianism† within the Japanese culture not only strengthened the innate capability, but it also enabled to gain individual growth in terms of building adequate measure of consistency along with ethical code of conducts (Reid 67-90).Moreover, Reid had mentioned various aspects that significantly influenced the development of Japanese culture in terms of advancing its values at large. In this regard, the book which published by Reid had clearly depicted certain significant aspects like honesty, self-acceptance, rationality along with self-control and diplomacy among others that can be associated within the principles of â€Å"Confucianism† in the Japanese culture (Reid 91-126). LESSONS CAN BE TAKEN FROM THE CONFUCIAN/JAPANESE EXPERIENCEAccording to the book of ‘Confucius Lives Next Door: What Leaving In The East Teaches Us About Living In the West’, it has been apparently observed that the philosophies, principles and ethical practices within the sphere of â€Å"Confucianism† religion can significantly empower any individual to develop his/her innate power and capability at large. Reid had clearly mentioned various aspects as well as principles in the â€Å"Confucianism religion† which had authentically supported an individual to cultivate his/her level of consistency along with ethical practices.Furthermore, the beliefs of self-cultivating and self-creating aspects within the respective religion can also been considered as few of the major aspects for individual development. Therefore, it can be identified from the overall observation of Reidâ⠂¬â„¢s experience and realistic implications of Japanese culture that the development of individual ethos and self-cultivating of individual moral can play an indispensable part towards making an individual to achieve its desired goals.Furthermore, the compliance with the primary principles and the beliefs of â€Å"Confucianism† can support every individual to strengthen his/her innate capability which can further provide adequate support towards developing the Western culture by a certain degree. With reference to the Reid’s observation, it has been identified that the beliefs and principles within the Confucian religion are generally focused on improving the amount of humanity, morality and trustworthiness amid the individuals.Contextually, Reid demonstrated that the philosophical principles linked with â€Å"Confucianism† had provided adequate support to the Japanese culture in terms of enhancing innate capability and identifying the actual way of cultivating individual moral. Thus, it can be concluded that the idea concerning â€Å"Confucianism† possesses every potential towards developing society as well as culture by a greater level.

Frankenstein and How to Read Literature Like a Professor Analysis Essay

In Thomas C. Fosters How to Read Literature like a Professor, Foster expresses how every story has a journey that someone or sometimes multiple people go on specific journeys. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, the novel is based on exactly that, a journey. One journey is Victor Frankenstein’s quest for knowledge. Foster says that â€Å"The real reason for a quest is always self knowledge.† Victor Frankenstein is the perfect example of this; Frankenstein sets out on a journey to gain every drop of knowledge that he can when he attends the University of Ingolstadt. Robert Walton is another example of this. He beings his journey in the same hopes that of Frankenstein to gain every bit of knowledge that he can possibly obtain. Chapter 7: In Fosters seventh chapter he talks about literary references to the bible. Fosters says that by using these biblical references in stories helped people and the writer stand on common ground. This idea is what Mary Shelley did in Frankenstein when Victor Frankenstein had created his monster relating it to the creator vs. creation in when God had created Adam and Eve. Another time a biblical reference was made was when the monster had asked Frankenstein to create a mate for him just how Adam had asked God for a mate for him. â€Å"My companion must be of the same species and have the same defects. This being you must create† (Shelley 159). Chapter 9: Foster explains that in this chapter â€Å"It’s all Greek to Me† that the use of mythology is a way for authors to appeal to the reader if they do not believe in biblical approaches. It is in a way a much easier approach to understanding where the author is coming from. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; she uses a more mythological approach to the relationship between Frankenstein and the monster. In mythology Prometheus created man, so in this case Frankenstein is Prometheus and his monster is his creation; â€Å"I ardently wished to extinguish that life which I had so thoughtlessly bestowed†(Shelley 97).

So Sorry to Hear That You Were Impacted!

So Sorry to Hear That You Were Impacted! So Sorry to Hear That You Were Impacted! So Sorry to Hear That You Were Impacted! By Maeve Maddox Reader Ron Harper, Jr. wonders about the use of the word impacted: I used a word today and immediately questioned my use and the history of word over the last decade or so.   The word was â€Å"impacted.†Ã‚   As in That incident really impacted me.  Ã‚   Is that a correct usage historically?   It seems that its not correct as soon as I said it although I hear people use it that way!   (but how many talking heads use irregardless?!) The use of the past participle impacted to mean â€Å"had an impact on† is fairly recent. The original sense of impact (v.) is â€Å"to press closely into something, It’s from Latin impactus, pp of impingere, â€Å"to push into.† The word Impinge comes from the same source. The form impacted has until recently been used to describe something that is closely wedged together. Teeth, for example, can be impacted. A bone that has been crushed can have impacted fragments. Other things not nice to mention can be impacted. Coleridge used impact in 1817 as a noun to mean â€Å"the effect of coming into contact with a thing or a person. Ex: That had an impact on him. Nowadays the noun impact is also seen in the plural in the context of various occupations: impacts A measure of viewing to advertisements. One impact is equivalent to one viewer watching one 30-second advertising spot. impacts Effects of pressures on the status of surface water and groundwater impacts The significant consequences of a government program activity, either intended or unintended, and either positive or negative. The earliest recorded use of the verb impact to mean â€Å"to strike forcefully against something† dates from 1916. If something can be said to impact something, then the participle use is sure to follow. Like so many shortcut words beloved by headline writers, impacted in place of â€Å"had an impact on† is here to stay: Has the Economy Impacted Your Earnings? How space exploration has impacted our health How Globalization Has Impacted Labor How football hooliganism has negatively impacted the sport Nevertheless, I find it disconcerting. When I hear someone say, â€Å"That really impacted me,† I have the mental image of a body all mashed in on itself. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Words for Facial ExpressionsConnotations of 35 Words for Funny PeopleUsing "zeitgeist" Coherently

Behavior of Gases Essay Example for Free

Behavior of Gases Essay Introduction: In this experiment, the problem trying to be solved is what gas laws are being used when the pressure, temperature, and volume are being measured. The three gas laws are Boyle’s Law, Charle’s Law, and Gay-Lussac’s Law. The Boyle’s Law is when volume and pressure are being compared. Pressure and volume are inversely proportional, because when pressure goes up, volume goes down. The Charle’s Law is when volume and temperature are compared. Volume and temperature are also inversely proportional as well. Lastly, Gay-Lussac’s Law is when pressure and temperature are compared. Pressure and temperature are directly proportional; therefore when pressure goes up, temperature also goes up. The formulas are as follows: Boyle’s Law: P2 P1 = P2 V2 Charle’s Law: V1/T1 = V2/T2 Gay-Lussac’s Law: P1/T1 = P2/T2 Hypothesis: If volume, temperature, and pressure are measured, they will follow the laws and fit under Boyle’s, Charle’s, or Gay-Lussac’s law. Expected Results: It should be expected that when volume and pressure are measured, pressure will go up and volume will go down. When volume and temperature are compared, volume will go up and temperature will go down. Lastly, when pressure andtemperature are measured, pressure will go up as temperature goes up. Experimental Procedure: Part I Connect a 20mL syringe to a LabQuest Select: File New Then, Mode: Change to Events with Entry Next, Enter Name as Volume Enter Units as mL Select OK Start at 10mL on the syringe and wait for the reading to Select Keep Keep at least 6 data points (any of your choice) Only pull the syringe out (making the mL readings higher each time) Stop the Data Collection and view the graph and points Record Part II Place an Erlenmeyer flask in a beaker big enough to fit the flask Connect a temperature apparatus to the Lab Quest and place probe in beaker Then connect the pressure tube to the Lab Quest in channel 2 and connect the other end of the tube with the rubber stopper to the Erlenmeyer flask Select: File New Then Mode: Change to Selected Events Exit In sensors menu, change units to Kelvin Tap graph X-axis: chose temperature Place faucet, room temperature water in the beaker Select Keep Place ice in the beaker Select Keep Place room temperature water in the beaker again and place on a hot plate Wait for the water to boil Place temperature probe and Erlenmeyer flask back in beaker Select Keep Record result from graph and chart Results: VOLUME (mL) PRESSURE 10 103. 27 12 87. 6 14 76. 14 16 67. 5 18 60. 96 20 55. 15 This data and chart is comparing volume and pressure. The graph represents the Boyle’s Law because as the pressure is going up the volume is going down. TYPE OF WATER TEMPERATURE (K) PRESSURE Normal 102. 8 295 Ice 98. 29 275. 4 Boiling 122. 31 357. 4 This data and chart is comparing temperature and pressure. The graph represents Gay-Lussac’s Law because as temperature goes up, pressure goes up as well. Discussion: This experiment went extremely smooth. The data was easy to collect as long as you kept the Lab Quest and tools stable to ensure for accurate readings for temperature, pressure, and volume. The graphs and data easily coincided correctly with the theories of the gas laws, as was shown accessibly once the graphs were made. Although the data coincided with the theories correctly, the temperature readings for freezing and boiling may have not been completely accurate because the temperatures of the water was not measured accurately for correct boiling and freezing temperatures, but recorded solely for the theories and to prove them. Overall, the experiment held up well and the hypothesis and theories were proven to be correct. Behavior of Gases. (2018, Oct 25).

Administrative Ethics Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Administrative Ethics - Research Paper Example Put simply, two organizations are forced to pay OCR a sum of $1,975,220 for losing two laptops that have patients’ private information (HHS, 2014). Undeniably, such information are at a risk of misuse hence the need for reinforcement. OCR’s deputy director asserts that, â€Å"Covered organizations must understand that mobile devices and computer security is the entity’s responsibility.† Consequently, the sum required of the entities sends a simple message that encryption is the best protection against such incidences. The two entities in this case are Concentra Health Services (Concentra) and QCA Health Plan, Inc. of Arkansas. Correspondingly, the issue in the case affects many people in different measures. First, the most affected are patients whose information is stored in the stolen laptops. Jessica et al. (2011) assert that one of the core responsibilities of medical practitioners is confidentiality. As such, it is required that healthcare professionals keep patients’ information secret and private unless there is a consent to disclose health information. It is the underlying reason why patients share a lot of confidential information with medical practitioners. In essence, failure to keep the information private harms patients. Besides, patients often share private information with professionals. It is without doubt that the patient-physician trust is broken when the clinic does not maintain privacy of information. The situation affects patients in many ways. One, there are patients with personally sensitive health information that they sought to keep secret. Even so, that the laptops are stolen means such information is no longer private (Barrett et al. 2010). It is very likely that the information is in the hands of people who want to misuse it. Moreover, patients are affected in that they will hardly seek medical assistance from the hospital. Undoubtedly, people learn from experience, and the availability of other people’s experience teaches the