Kmart and Sears Merger Essay Example for Free

Kmart and Sears Merger Essay Kmart had been established in 1962 by its parent company S. S. Kresge as a discount department store offering the most variety of goods at the lowest prices. Un- like Sears, the company chose not to locate in large shopping malls but to establish its discount stores in highly visible corner locations. During the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, Kmart prospered. Retail formats in operation Kmart – is a chain of discount stores that are usually free standing or located in a strip malls. Big Kmart – signals a different kind of Kmart. These stores are bigger, brighter and offer big savings, big value, big selection and big convenience. Big Kmart stores are designed to increase store sales by increasing the frequency of customer visits. The format focuses on three distinct businesses – home fashions, children’s apparel and consumables – and features an expanded food area known as the â€Å"Pantry†. Kmart Super Center is a chain of hypermarkets that carry everything a regular Kmart carries, but also have a full grocery section with meat and poultry, baked goods, a delicatessen, garden produce, and fresh seafood. Most Kmart Super Centers operate 24-hours a day and offer special services. In 1999 Kmart began offering a dial-up internet service called BlueLight, which was eventually spun off as an independent company. BlueLight was initially free and supported by banner ads. BlueLight dropped the free service in February 2001 and was reacquired by Kmart in July 2001. In 2002 United Online, which also owns NetZero and Juno, bought the BlueLight service after Kmart filed for bankruptcy. In August 2006, Bluelight dropped the banners. As of August 2006, the service costs $14. 95 a month and has around 165,000 subscribers. Promotional Pricing model Promotional pricing had always been the forte at Kmart. Offering a lower price temporarily in order to enhance the effectiveness of product sales efforts to cost sensitive consumer. In 1990, Wal-Mart overtook Kmart in sales, they tried to wean the company away from this strategy. Kmart cut process on 38,000 items and promoted the with expensive television commercials, which failed to lure younger shoppers. Then Wal-Mart countered by using its greater efficiency and economies of scale to fight back on pricing. The outcome was 1% drop in Kmart’s sales in December and 8% increase in those of Wal-Mart. Financial Analysis Prior to 2001, company was making continues losses, in order to understand scenario; we first analyze the period from 1995 to 1998. Here, Kmart started making some profit. And the second part from the year 1998 to 2002, where they actually went bankrupts. In 1995, the firm suffered a huge loss of $571 million. This was because of the non-performance of 127 international stores. It was in the same year that COGS as a percentage of sales were too high as 78%. Operating expenses as a percentage was in proportion to that of the industry. However due to the low performance of the international stores, stores outside t United States, Kmart had a bad financial year in 1995. It was the same year that the management decided to do away with the non preforming stores and thereby closed all its international stores and started four new stores in the home market. The list of stores by Kmart during the period can be seen as under: In 1999, COGS was 78% of sales as compared to 72 % of sales in the year 1998. Also, COGS increased drastically compared to increase in sales. Sales in 1999 increased by 6. 26%, however COGS increased by 12. 23%. Thus, there was a major decrease in the grow profit from 27% of sales to 21% of sales. This was the beginning of the downfall of Kmart. From here on, COGS kept on increasing. In 2002 COG reached 85%, thus gross margin reduced from 21% in 1999 to 14% in 2002. During the same time, Kmart’s operational efficiency too decreased and it increased from 18% in the year 1999 to 21% in 2002. Thus, increase in the COGS, lowering of the gross margin and increase in the operational costs, all contributes to the fall of Kmart. Competitors within the industry Its primary competitors were Wal-Mart, Sears, Target, Kohl’s, and J.  C. Penney, with secondary competitors in certain categories. Wal-Mart Wal-Mart followed the lower cost competitive strategy of cost leadership. According to our textbook cost leadership aims at the broad mass market and requires efficient scale facilities, cost reductions, cost and overhead control; avoids marginal customers, cost minimization in RD, service, sales force and advertising. Therefore Wal-Mart could get following benefits: this strategy provided defense against competitors, provides a barrier to entry for new competitors and generate increased market share. Wal-Mart managed to maintain â€Å"everyday low prices† and achieve highest sales in the industry. It should be noted that Wal-Mart’s 2005 revenues exceeded that of the next ? ve U. S. retailers combined: these are Home Depot, Kroger, Sears Holding Company (which includes Sears and Kmart), Costco, and Target. Wal-Mart’s technological edge is in its logistics, distribution, and inventory control helped it reduce cost and offer customers product cheaper than its competitors. Moreover it could benefit from economies of scale. Wal-Mart also used differentiation focus strategy by creating a product and service unique to customers, according to ReferenceForBusiness. com. It could be argued that this feature is not real and just in the mind of the customer; customers believed they were being offered something special. Wal-Mart achieved this strategy by offering unique warranties and brand images. Wal-Mart customers believed they were being provided with something that they cannot find at any of the stores competitors. Wall-mart’s value chain worked in following way: Vendors, Wal-Marts suppliers delivered products to Wal-Marts distribution center or directly to one of the stores. Wal-Mart was able to bargain for the lowest possible price because of the high volume of sales. Therefore, Wal-Mart could pass this savings to its customers. After that once the products were delivered to the distribution center, they were sorted and placed on trucks to be delivered to stores. This allows for less than 48 hour deliveries to stores and increased efficiency on trucks with backhauls. After products were delivered to the stores, they were placed on the appropriate shelf location for customers to view. Store locations were located throughout the U. S. in rural and urban towns. Moreover customers could purchase products at very low prices and have the ability to return any item. These were the key elements of Wal-Mart value chain. Overall Wal-Mart’s competitive advantage over its competitors was efficient supply chain management and lower prices achieved through maintaining low costs. Sears Sears, with the second-highest annual sales, had a strong position in hard goods, such as home appliances and tools. Around 40% of all major home appliance sales continued to be controlled by Sears. Nevertheless, Sears was struggling with slumping sales as customers turned from Sears mall stores to stand-alone, big-box retailers, such as Lowe’s and Home Depot, to buy their hard goods. Sears main competitive disadvantage was its store locations. Sears has been too slow to expand away from mall locations, industry analysts said. As Sears Chairman Alan Lacy said: â€Å"Our service and products are as good as our competitors but theyre not where our customers are. † Target Target was third in sales but second in profits, behind Wal-Mart. It used differentiation strategy and tried to offer customers quality products and had distinguished itself as a merchandiser of stylish upscale products. Targets mission statement focused on great guest service, clean stores and speedy checkouts. Along with Wal-Mart, Target had flourished to such an extent that Dayton-Hudson, its parent company, had changed its corporate name to Target. Its main focus was statically higher income consumers and early internet adopters. Target’s main competitive advantage was good customer service and quality product. This is where it creates value for its customers. Kohl’s, and J. C. Penney Both Kohl’s and J. C. Penney emphasized on soft goods, such as clothing and related items. They both chose differentiation strategy. Kohl’s concentrated on selling both private and exclusive brands which were â€Å"only at Kohl’s† as well as national brands like Nike, Adidas, Lee, Levi’s, Jockey, Van Heusen. Private and exclusive brands contributed a lot more to the gross margin as Kohl’s has significant control over the production, manufacturing and marketing expense of these brands. Keeping this in mind, Kohl’s has shifted its merchandise gradually towards this section of merchandise. In 2004, Kohl’s carried 25% in Private and Exclusive Brands, and this figure rose to 50% in 2011. Moreover it tried to provide â€Å"convenience† promise to customers an easy and satisfying shopping experience. Kohl’s organized departments by lifestyle, added signage and graphics depicting key trends, and presented merchandise to suggest how customers can create new looks. They also continued to improve inventory management to deliver more new product more often, to differentiate line mixes according to geographic preferences, and to assure a â€Å"shelf never empty† of products the consumer desires. J. C Penney targeted moderate income customs, mainly women who as company executive said that were with, â€Å"too little time, too little money, and two little kids. † Kmart versus Competitors Kmart’s main problem was that it did not have clearly defined competitive strategy. In 2001, Kmart proclaimed a new retailing strategy that included less advertising, fewer advertised specials, and lower daily prices on many items. In short, Kmart tried to challenge Wal-Mart as the everyday low-price leader. Wal-Mart responded to the Kmart challenge with still lower prices. These new initiatives further weakened the ? nancial position of Kmart Corporation. The Kmart assault on the Wal-Mart image as the low-price leader failed, and Kmart was left with huge volumes of unsold merchandise (Turner 2003, 71–72). Kmart forgot to take into consideration that its capacity to lower prices was limited because of its poor supply chain management, often popular products would be out of stock, in some cases stored in trailors outside of the stores. Kmart was not successful in using differentiation competitive strategy either. While Wal-Mart reigned supreme as the low cost leader, Target was perceived as being a â€Å"higher quality† retailer. There was basically nothing left for Kmart. In attempt to pursue differentiation strategy Kmart updated and enlarged the stores, added name brands, however this was not successful either, acquisitions all performed poorly posting minimal net income or losses and distracted management from core business. Kmart’s main competitive disadvantages were problems in value proposition, poor supply chain/inventory management and poor customer service. It needed to choose competitive strategy suitable for it and concentrate on it.

The takeover of HBOS

The takeover of HBOS Introduction Mergers and acquisitions have become the most frequently used methods of growth for companies in the twenty first century. Nowadays the information about mergers and acquisitions (MA) can be seen every day in newspapers, internet, television MA can suddenly become a hot topic at anyones workplace because their company is going to merge with another. There are many sides to an MA transaction strategic, legal, financial, and technological to getting a deal done. One very important element to every deal is the human element, this should always be kept in mind. We are going to evaluate the challenges faced by the management of the new organisation in terms of Human Resource Management (HRM) with reference to the recent takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) by Lloyds TSB in September 2008. The evaluation will include the role of HRM in analyzing the Lloyds TSBs decision to make a takeover bid for HBOS, how this analysis related to Culture, Conflict and Change within the organisatio n and possible dilemmas facing Lloyds TSBs stakeholders. Background and purpose of the takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB Background On 17 September 2008, very shortly after the demise of Lehman Brothers, HBOSs share price suffered wild fluctuations between 88p and 220p per share, which lost almost half its market value in the week, despite the Financial Services Authoritys assurances as to its liquidity and exposure to the wider credit crunch. However, on 18 September 2008 the terms of the recommended offer for HBOS by Lloyds TSB were announced. The two lenders also revealed plans to raise a combined  £17 billion under a government-funded recapitalisation programme aimed at strengthening the UK banking sectors capital reserves. The government backed the deal using a special national interest clause on the grounds that a collapse of HBOS would have had a disastrous impact on the UK. On 16 January 2009 the Lloyds TSB acquisition of HBOS was completed following final court approval and Lloyds TSB was renamed Lloyds Banking Group plc. Purpose of the takeover: The proposed acquisition of HBOS would combine two powerful financial institutions, and would be another significant and positive step on our journey to provide substantial benefits and value for customers and shareholders alike. Challenges faced by HRM in MA Organisational Behaviour Model Due to the resulting pressure for the MA to succeed, the management of the new organisation is forced to find new strategies as well as evaluate the additional challenges faced. To answer the question of how well the management performed during the integrating activity, it is useful to look at internal factors using the McKinsey 7-S framework. This framework was developed in the early 1980s by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman. The basic premise of the model is that there is a framework which maps a constellation of interrelated factors that influence an organisations ability to change. The McKinsey 7-S model involves seven interdependent factors which are categorized as either hard or soft elements: Hard elements are easier to define or identify and management can directly influence them: these are strategy statements; organisation charts and reporting lines; and formal processes and IT systems. Soft elements, on the other hand, can be more difficult to describe, they are less tangible and more specifically related to HRM. These soft elements are as important as the hard elements. A conservative estimate is that roughly 10% of people at work at any one time are directly affected by transformations of this sort. Moreover, another 30% are closely related to those experiencing combination-related tensions and trauma (Buono and Bowditch, 2003). These figures show how the critical challenges faced by management in every MA relate specifically to HRM. The company that effectively addresses people-related issues up front and throughout integration will have a better chance of succeeding and gaining the competitive advantage it seeks. The challenges faced by management in term of HRM in MA. The HRM issues in the MA can be classified in two phases; the pre-MA phase and the post MA phase. HRM should be involved from the beginning and throughout all stages of the MA process. Due diligence is important in the first phase while integration issues take the front seat in the later phase, including: Cultural clashes: Each organisation has a different set of beliefs and value systems. The exposure to a new culture during the MA leads to a psychological state called culture shock. Dissimilar cultures can produce feelings of hostility and significant discomfort which can lower the commitment and cooperation on the part of the employees, therefore post-merger cultural clashes are often blamed for disappointing MA outcomes. According to Anders Spilling and Jarle Hà ¸ien, managers in BearingPoints Business Strategy and Transformation pratice, there are five areas of cultural conflict: Leadership: every companys leadership style can seem unique. When post-MA senior leaders sitting at the same table motivate their staffs and resolve conflicts in diverse ways the resulting friction often creates additional risks. Examples of these risks could be a lack of commitment to new company goals or a high level of turnover among key employee groups. Governance: effective corporate governance requires much more than a system to protect stakeholder interests. It must encompass the way decisions are made in each part of the company and across organisations. One problem that usually arises is the debate over whether the new organisation should adopt one merger partners governance model or define a different model. Communication: Attitudes about confidentiality, preferences for formal versus informal channels and the frequency of communications may all come into play. By anticipating these risks well in advance, the acquiring companys leadership can develop communication tactics that best support the merger objectives. Business process: most companies have distinct ways of developing, updating and enforcing core business processes which must be understood and respected during the integration phase. If changes in core business processes are not deliberately and systemically thought through during the integration phase, organisations face the risk of internal breakdowns and failures in delivery of products and services to customers. Performance management and reward systems: new organisation should include efforts to harmonize performance standards and compensation systems where possible, while explaining important differences when necessary. Newly merged companies must help employees understand that their different recognition and reward systems are fair, even if not always uniform across the organisation. Because cultural change involves both hard and soft issues, HRM considerations will include visible manifestations such as key performance indicators, communication styles, employee interaction, as well as less tangible corporate values and assumptions about how a company does business, such as how leaders drive and assess results and new organisation governance model These findings have important implications for how organisations can anticipate post-merger cultural clashes and tailor leadership programs to address their underlying roots, ultimately enhancing merger success rates. Uncertainty job security: The MA leads to duplication of certain departments, bring about the excess manpower and downsizing is, unfortunately, an inherent result. Hence talking about MA, the first set of thoughts that occur in the minds of employees are related to security of their jobs, changes in designation, career path, working in new departments and fear of working with new teams. The MA also changes future opportunities for the employees in the organisation. Some employees also have to be relocated or assigned new jobs. This may have an impact on the performance of the employees and cause the organisation to lose some talent. The enormous challenges posed by an MA to the HRM are keeping all employees informed of all crucial decisions as well as enhancing effective two-way communication by involving line managers; ensuring an equitable and fair treatment of employees and in case of lay-offs, HRM should offer outplacement services and fair severance packages. All these efforts from HRM can help build trust, quell the rumour mill, relieve anxiety, focus people on the business and its possibilities and lessen productivity loss. Inability to manage changes: Often there are rapid changes in the business environment after MA. Internally HRM will manage a bigger work force, externally HRMs industrial relations will be extended The role of HRM is to quickly develop a HR plan to lead the process for helping the company to achieve the synergies it needs. The HRM must fully be prepared for the significant role they will play throughout the MA process. The issues faced by HR professionals when supporting the MA are extremely demanding they require the creation of a single unified organisation with a clear purpose and set of values from two groups of people with different cultures. HRM should continuously update their knowledge and skills in managing, controlling and monitoring the enlarged workforce, HRM need the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, acknowledge the problems when they arise, improving communications skills, create training programme, explain new roles to employees, implement stress reduction programmes and orientation pro grammes, help post merger team building and feedback helpline for employees. The issues faced by HR during MA deals are enormous, yet it is clear that the key to the success of an MA is the management of people. By identifying the common challenges and finding solutions which work for the new organisation. The value of HRM in the MA should be realised early enough to enhance the chances of a successful deal. Analysing Lloyds TSBs decision in making a takeover bid for HBOS. Issues related to Culture, Conflict and Change: The theory mentioned above regarding issues related to organisation development in term of culture, conflict and change applied very closely to the general challenges faced by the new Lloyds TSB organisation in the post-takeover period. Culture The basis of corporate culture is shared values. These values must be stated as both corporate objectives and individual values, explicit or implicit fundamental beliefs, concepts, and principles that underlie the culture of an organisation. Lloyds TSB and HBOS were two of the UKs leading financial services companies, they have some similarities in organisational structure. According to Charles Handy (1985), who popularized the work of Roger Harrison (1972), has linked organisational structure to organisational culture, both Lloyds TSB and HBOS have Role culture in where people have clearly delegated authorities within a highly defined structure. Power derives from a persons position and little scope exists for expert power. Lloyds TSB and HBOS rest on the strength of strong organisational pillars-the functions of specialists, for example, customer advisors, banking advisors, personal financial advisors On closer inspection, each of them will have its own unique culture, and like most large businesses are likely to be something of a mix of culture and even, each branch, or division has its own culture. From table 1- Soft elements by McKinsey 7-S framework in Lloyds TSB and HBOS, while Lloyds TSB creates an exciting place to work with a lively and fun atmosphere, they affirmed on their website that they have a work hard, play hard culture. HBOS seems to have a more formal working environment with very professional attitude in their approach to work, results-driven, always looking for more ways to move forward and over-achieve. About leadership style, Lloyds TSB built a feedback and coaching culture with regular appraisals twice annually based on Key Performance Indicator system with hierarchy structure. HBOS employed a non-hierarchical culture where everyone was treated equally, fairly. The communication system in Lloyds and HBOS followed these styles as well, hierarchy and non-hierarchy respectively. I dont think these differences in leadership style and communication system were sufficiently considered in the takeover decision. Governance model of Lloyds and HBOS were almost the same, the core purpose was to make it better for their staff, customers and to maximise shareholders value over time. Both groups were led by a board comprising executive and non-executive directorswith wide experience.The roles of the chairman,the group chief executiveandthe boardand its governance arrangements, including the schedule of matters specifically reserved to the board for decision, were reviewed annually. Lloyds and HBOS had very different ways of doing business. Lloyds was very conservative, largely a consumer bank. HBOS was aggressively following the high risk business model, HBOS transformed their traditional banking activities into global trading and speculative operations with little oversight and policing. Although the way of doing business is very important in choosing a strategy for the organisation, the unexpected result of HBOSs strategy and the dominance of Lloyds in the takeover meant that the new merger organisation did not take time to affirm which business model should be followed, therefore this aspect was not critical in the decision making of the takeover. The performance management and reward systems: The Lloyds performance approach includes objective setting using a balanced scorecard, Lloyds has regular performance reviews with competitive remuneration package. HBOS has results-driven rewards, always looking for more ways to move forward and increase achievements. The salary they received is only the beginning because for every role there was a tailor-made total rewards package which was based around three key areas: Performance, Flexibility and Choice. Furthermore, remuneration package for each role, contributory pension scheme, share-save and share-plan schemes, numbers of holidays. are hard to match between the two organisations. These differences of culture will involve much due diligence to identify implicit as well as explicit issues and will require time to build up a proper plan for HRM. The outcome of this plan has an integral role in the decision of the takeover. As the result of the takeover, the above differences in culture mean that the exposure to a new culture is unavoidable. The employees of both Lloyds and HBOS not only need to abandon their own culture, values and belief but also have to accept an entirely different culture. The takeover also leads to changes in organisational climate, the main source of organisation conflicts, which are summarized below Conflict Post-takeover integration demands significant involvement in all level of organizations, both Lloyds and HBOS, causing conflict at work from individual level to organisation level. Organisation cultural: there is no doubt that Lloydss culture is dominant and may lead to feelings of superiority among some of the employees. The employees of non-dominating culture, HBOS, may also get feelings of loss of identity associated with Lloyds. The dissimilarity in the cultures can produce the feelings of hostility and significant discomfort, for example HBOS may feel uncomfortable with the hierarchy of organisation structure and the communication system of Lloyds. In case of hostility in certain environment, some teams may develop us versus them attitude which may be detrimental to the organisational growth. Conflict in maintaining stability: The need for reform in organisation structures, redefinitions of assigned duties and responsibilities, adjusting the procedures and methods of work after the takeover, can result in conflict in maintaining stability. There should be a commitment to maintain employment in those parts of the UK in which either HBOS or Lloyds TSB currently have significant operations. This should be backed by a commitment to take all possible steps to avoid involuntary redundancies in order to avoid the potentially devastating impact on local communities and economies of large site closures. Conflict in investment in resources: both Lloyds and HBOS have their own large resources that may already be committed to investments in other areas or strategies before the takeover. As this takeover had a short notice period, assets such as branch offices, CRM software, equipment and people which have just been invested cannot easily be altered, thence conflicts arise. Which invested categories should be dropped? In fact, HBOS had in-house call centre operations, while Lloyds had a policy to outsource or off-shore its call centre. Each call centre model has its own advantages and disadvantages, what operation model should be maintained? In the short term, HBOS calls for Lloyds TSB to review all existing and planned outsourcing or off-shoring of operations to maximise employment opportunities in the UK for current employees. Conflict with past contracts or agreements: Both Lloyds and HBOS entered into contracts or agreements with other parties, such as government, trade unions, suppliers, customers and their own employees. These contracts and agreements can conflict with the changes cause by the takeover. For example, there should be a statement from Lloyds TSB committing that HBOS employees pay, pension provisions, employment benefits will be protected. Also, there should be a commitment that if there are new terms and conditions of employment for HBOS and Lloyds TSB staff, those should be no less favourable than the terms and conditions applying before the acquisition. Conflict in power or influence: Another practical problem is differences in the grading or organisational structures. The organisational structures used have different designations for the employees. During the integration Lloyds need to develop a mechanism to remove the differences in the grading systems, bring them to equal levels between Lloyds and HBOS, introducing standard levels of control over decisions, resources or information. Lloyds TSB should make a commitment to dignity at work for all employees and commit to the highest standards in relation to equality, diversity, equal pay and future career development opportunities post-takeover. The reaction of the employees in conflicts can vary from anger to dejection and depression. There can also be a fall in the morale, commitment and loyalty which can lead to impaired performance. Identifying the conflicts in advance will help Lloyds TSB management decide on the takeover. I think Lloyds TSB management was confident enough in their ability to control the above defined conflicts and believed that they would get more chances of success in the changes below: Change: In the decision of the takeover bid for HBOS, Lloyds TSB management board had targeted the opportunity to change for a stronger Lloyds Banking Group. As a common reaction, every change in the enlarged Lloyds TSB is resisted at both the individual and the organisational level. According to Alvin Toffler (1970), people are naturally wary of change and suspicion is out of control. Besides the changes in strategic, legal, financial and technology, the changes in HRM should be carefully designed and proceed with gradual pace. As part of the decision regarding the takeover, Lloyds TSB had considered the strategy to overcome the individual resistance and organizational resistance. Monday 19 January is Day one, the two brands still remain separate. A spokesperson for Lloyds TSB said: It is business as usual. This statement helps to maintain the secure feelings in customers, shareholders and employees. From the early stage of the takeover, Lloyds TSB had set up a guiding team to provide change leadership and handle every steps of the change process. They have created a website to update on a regular basis to shareholders, employees and customers on the proposed acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB and to give them information about the Lloyds Banking Group in this rapidly changing environment.Divisional changes will be communicated via line management and divisional intranet sites. HBOS partner unions, Accord and Unite, will continue to play an important role as before in the new business. There will be no major changes for the vast majority of HBOS employees. The existing HR policies and procedures remain in place. The 2009 pay review will be in May as usual. There will be little immediate change to Total Reward. The current pension arrangements will continue for all employees. Initially, there will be no change to the HBOS performance management approach. Employees will be introduced to the Lloyds Banking Group performance approach during 2009. Lloyds TSB was aware of the default response of resistance during the change of the takeover decision. Therefore they had suitable response to manage the sustaining of a healthy climate in order to gain a commitment to change in the whole organisation. Dilemmas facing Lloyds TSBs stakeholders Lloyds TSB and HBOS had, on a number of occasions over the years since 2000, discussed the possibility of a merger. It was only the unique circumstances of September 2008 that enabled this transaction to happen with the nature of the Governments involvement in the banking sector. In particular, the purpose of Governments interventions that is to stabilise the banking system, provide liquidity and to encourage more lending. Following the collapse of Lehmans, closely followed by the nationalisation of the worlds biggest insurance company AIG and the spreading of the world recession meant that the Government needed to take swift and decisive action by taking the extraordinary step of waiving competitions concerns to get the deal done. Lloyds TSB management board was very aware of the compelling logic of this transaction, including the substantial market positions they would secure and the significant and substantial synergies, the opportunities for growth which a stand-alone Lloyds TSB might not have been in a position to deliver to the same degree. Furthermore, the opportunity to acquire HBOS only came about in the middle of economic adversity and in conditions which are unlikely to be repeated. Besides the support from Government and the opportunity for growth, Lloyds TSB management board was very mindful of the difficult economic backdrop to this transaction with the prospect of further declines to come. However, Lloyds TSB purchased  £17.9 billion of HBOS net asset value for  £7.7 billion so, they were very much convinced that this was the right transaction for Lloyds TSB. The short-term outlook was indeed difficult and problems with the finances of HBOS will not disappear overnight. However, the earnings potential of Lloyds Banking Group will be significantly improved in the longer term. Lloyds TSB directors also understood that after the takeover, to reduce the systemic risk in the UK banking system, the recapitalization scheme has already cost Lloyds its 240-year-old independence. The UK Government, as part of the capital raising process, has now become a 43.4 per cent shareholder in the group. As part of Her Majestys Treasury (HMT) recapitalisation scheme, the Group was required to suspend the payment of cash dividends to ordinary shareholders until the HMT preference shares issued as part of the scheme are repaid. This is considered as a noticeable contribution from Lloyds TSB shareholders in their favourable voting for the takeover. One big concern to the Lloyds TSB employees and unions is the redundancy issue during the global financial recession. Although Lloyds TSB and the government dismissed reports of redundancies involving one third of the workforce and pledged to continue using HBOS headquarters in Scotland, the union leaders believe the job cuts will be about 15,000 in one year out of a 140,000 workforce. This brings concern to the employees about the serious plan which is designed to protect the members jobs and terms conditions of employment. The governments dilemma is how to stabilise the banking system and maintain an equitable business environment. The management boards dilemma is how to continue growing and manage the burden of the ailing HBOS, between short term and long term outlook. The shareholders dilemma is the potential of future substantial share value versus waiving current dividends or the workforce redundancies. In the context of the economic downturn in autumn 2008, Lloyds TSB had to consider the weighting between the benefits and adversities of the takeover, it was really the hard dilemma facing Lloyds TSBs stakeholder in making the decision of the takeover. Conclusion: 2008 was a very difficult and challenging year for the banking industry, the deteriorated market conditions have continued into 2009, both in the UK and overseas, a prolonged period of economic difficulty for many households and companies. The UK Government had to intervene in the banking system by providing capital and liquidity where the markets had failed. At times of great economic and financial uncertainty, many apparently settled ideas come under great scrutiny. When Lloyds TSB announced it was acquiring HBOS plc; and now about a year since the transaction was completed (16 January 2009), the deal is still receiving ceaseless criticism. Critics should consider what would have happened to the UK banking industry and the UK economic situation if the takeover had not taken place? If HBOS had failed, how many HBOS branches would have closed? How many employees would have lost their job? How many bank accounts of customers would have been affected? As a bank with a strong focus on customer relationships, Lloyds TSB is committed to helping its customers wherever possible to manage their way through these challenging times. Without doubt, the Lloyds Banking Group have spent great deal of time to overcome the challenges faced and fulfilled all necessary obligations to society. Here, never forget to mention about the crucial role of Human Resource Management during the pre-takeover and post-takeover. With only a short period of time for preparation, Lloyds TSB Human Resource Management have tried their utmost to create new HR practices and strategies that meet the requirements of the takeover. Employment law challenges, culture clashes, talent retention, employee engagement, recognition and conciliation conflicts, the HRM of Lloyds TSB has harmonised all activities in all phases leading to the creation of a unified organisation with a mission, vision, a clear purpose and values from two culturally different groups. Although there a re some shortcomings due to subjective and objective factors, the job that Lloyds TSB Human Resource Management is doing for employees and company is very valuable and highly valued, and it managed not to cause a big disturbance in the UK labour market. Finally, the decision by Lloyds TSB to takeover HBOS appears to have been the right transaction for the company. The support from government was definitely necessary and the favourable vote from both Lloyds TSB and HBOS shareholders showed that they believed this to be the best solution to the problems of both banks. The short-term outlook for the enlarged Group is challenging. Whenever economic conditions do begin to normalise, however, we believe Lloyds TSB will be in a very strong position to reap the benefits. Their strong franchise across the whole range of product lines will enable them to do just that. One of the most important ways in which leading businesses differentiate themselves from their peers is through the quality of their people and their strong commitment and Lloyds Banking Group believes that they have the qualities and the right people to ensure the bright future. APPENDIX 1: Background of Lloyds TSB and HBOS Lloyds TSB Bank Plc is a UK-based financial services group, which employed about 70,000 people. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyds Bank, established in 1765 and traditionally considered one of the Big Four clearing banks, with the TSB Group which traces its origins to 1810, creating Britains largest retail bank, over all, Lloyds-TSB would be the fourth-largest bank on the stock exchange in terms of assets. Lloyds provides a wide range of banking and financial services to personal and corporate customers. Its main business activities are retail, commercial and corporate banking, general and life insurance, pensions and investment provision. Its services are offered through a number of brands, including Lloyds TSB, Cheltenham Gloucester and Scottish Widows. Its UK turnover in 2007 was  £18 billion. HBOS is a financial services group, which employed about 72,000 people in the U.K., was created in 2001 in the 9.7 billion-pound merger of Yorkshire-based mortgage lender Halifax Plc and Edinburgh-based the Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland. It is the UKs largest mortgage lender. HBOS provides a range of banking, insurance, financial services and finance-related activities in the UK and abroad. Its UK turnover in 2007 was  £4.25 billion. The deal of takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB was concluded on 16 January 2009. The three main conditions for the acquisition were: Three Quarters of HBOS shareholders voted in agreement with the boards actions; Half Of Lloyds TSB shareholder voted to approve the takeover; UK government dispensation with respect to competition law. On 19 November 2008, Lloyds TSB shareholders voted 95.98% in favour of the takeover. They also approved plans to raise  £5.5bn by issuing new shares and special preference shares. On 12 December 2008, the takeover was approved by HBOS shareholders. A group of Scottish businessmen challenged the right of the UK government to approve the deal by overruling UK competition law, but this was rejected. The government has allowed the takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB to bypass normal competition rules. The exchange of HBOS shares for Lloyds Banking Group shares took place at an exchange ratio of 0.605 of a new Lloyds Banking Group share for every one HBOS share held. As a result, the UK Government through Her Majestys Treasury owned approximately 43.4% of the enlarged ordinary share capital of Lloyds Banking Group. Lloyds Banking Group is now the largest financial services franchise in the UK with a range of leading market positions in important product lines, such as savings, current accounts, mortgages, insurance and long-term savings. They are also a leading player in the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) and wholesale banking sectors. The Group clearly has a very significant retail banking footprint and, with approximately 3,000 branches, is present in more UK locations than any other financial institution. Lloyds TSB Chief Executive Officer Eric Daniels will be Chief Executive of the enlarged company, and the banks Victor Blank will be Chairman. References Mullins, L.J. (2007) Management and organisational behaviour. 8th edn. London: Prentice Hall Buono, A.F. and Bowditch,

Defining And Understanding Crisis Intervention Social Work Essay

Defining And Understanding Crisis Intervention Social Work Essay We live in an era in which crisis-inducing events and acute crisis episodes are prevalent. Each year, millions of people are confronted with crisis-inducing events that they cannot resolve on their own, and they often turn for help to crisis units of community mental health centers, psychiatric screening units, outpatient clinics, hospital emergency rooms, college counseling centers, family counseling agencies, and domestic violence programs (Roberts, 2005). Crisis clinicians must respond quickly to the challenges posed by clients presenting in a crisis state. Critical decisions need to be made on behalf of the client. Clinicians need to be aware that some clients in crisis are making one last heroic effort to seek help and hence may be highly motivated to try something different. Thus, a time of crisis seems to be an opportunity to maximize the crisis clinicians ability to intervene effectively as long as he or she is focused in the here and now, willing to rapidly assess the clients problem and resources, suggest goals and alternative coping methods, develop a working alliance, and build upon the clients strengths. At the start it is critically important to establish rapport while assessing lethality and determining the precipitating events/situations. It is then important to identify the primary presenting problem and mutually agree on short-term goals and tasks. By its nature, crisis intervention involves identifying failed coping sk ills and then helping the client to replace them with adaptive coping skills. It is imperative that all mental health clinicians-counseling psychologists, mental health counselors, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, and crisis hotline workers-be well versed and knowledgeable in the principles and practices of crisis intervention. Several million individuals encounter crisis-inducing events annually, and crisis intervention seems to be the emerging therapeutic method of choice for most individuals. Crisis Intervention: The Need for a Model A crisis has been de ¬Ã‚ ned as An acute disruption of psychological homeostasis in which ones usual coping mechanisms fail and there exists evidence of distress and functional impairment. The subjective reaction to a stressful life experience that compromises the individuals stability and ability to cope or function. The main cause of a crisis is an intensely stressful, traumatic, or hazardous event, but two other conditions are also necessary: (1) the individuals perception of the event as the cause of considerable upset and/or disruption; and (2) the individuals inability to resolve the disruption by previously used coping mechanisms. Crisis also refers to an upset in the steady state. It often has  ¬Ã‚ ve components: a hazardous or traumatic event, a vulnerable or unbalanced state, a precipitating factor, an active crisis state based on the persons perception, and the resolution of the crisis. (Roberts, 2005, p. 778) Given such a de  ¬Ã‚ nition, it is necessary that crisis workers have in mind a framework or blueprint to guide them in responding. In short, a crisis intervention model is needed, and one is needed for a host of reasons, such as the ones given as follows. When confronted by a person in crisis, clinicians need to address that persons distress, impairment, and instability by operating in a logical and orderly process (Greenstone Leviton, 2002). The profetional, often with limited clinical experience, is less likely to exacerbate the crisis with well-intentioned but haphazard responding when trained to work within the framework of a systematic crisis intervention model. A inclusive intervention allows the novice as well as the experienced clinician to be mindful of maintaining the  ¬Ã‚ ne line that allows for a response that is active and directive enough but does not take problem ownership away from the client. Finally, a intervention should suggest steps for how the crisis worker can intenti onally meet the client where he or she is at, assess level of risk, mobilize client resources, and move strategically to stabilize the crisis and improve functioning. Crisis intervention is no longer regarded as a passing fad or as an emerging discipline. It has now evolved into a specialty mental health  ¬Ã‚ eld that stands on its own. Based on a solid theoretical foundation and a praxis that is born out of over 50 years of empirical and experiential grounding, crisis intervention has become a multidimensional and  ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡exible intervention method. However, the primary focus of crisis literature has been on giving aid and support, which is understandable given that the first concern in the aftermath of a crisis is always to provide assistance (McFarlane, 2000), not to conduct systematic research (Raphael, Wilson, Meldrum, McFarlane, 1996). Experts in crisis intervention have focused on practical issues such as developing intervention models that manage postcrisis reactions (Paten, Violanti, Dunning, 2000), with little attention being given to the development of theory (Slaikeu, 1990). Slaikeu stated that crisis theories are more like a cluster of assumptions, rather than principles based on research that explain or predict the effect of crises on individuals. Ursano et al. (1996) agreed, stating that clinical observations and implications derived from mediators of traumatic stress have guided interventions, rather than theory. Although these efforts have increased the understanding of the nature of crises, a need exists to mo ld these assumptions and observations into theory. The field of crisis intervention is predicated upon the existence of the phenomenon of psychological crisis. Because crisis intervention is the natural corollary of the psychological crisis, this review begins with a definition of the crisis phenomenon. Definition of crisis by Caple Crisis occurs when people encounter an obstacle in achieving the important objectives of life. This obstacle and cannot be overcome by means of customary methods used dealing with difficulties.  This results in a state of disorganization and confusion, in which made numerous unsuccessful attempts of solutions. Moreover, the crisis resulted from the problems on the road practically important in achieving objectives, obstacles where people feel that they are not able to overcome through the usual choices and behavior. (1964) by CARKHUFFA and Berenson Crises are crises so that the affected people do not know any ways of dealing themselves with the situation (1977) by Belkin Crises of this personal difficulties or situations that deprive people of ability and prevent conscious control of his life (1984) by Brammer Crisis is a state of disorganization in which man is confronted with the destruction of important objectives of life or profound impairment of their life cycle and methods of dealing with stressful factors.  The term crisis typically refers to a sense of fear, shock and experienced difficulties in connection with the disorder, and not to the same disorder (1985) by MARINO Crisis develops in clear stages: a) the situation is critical, which controls whether the normal mechanisms for dealing deal with difficult enough; b) the mounting tension and disorganization accompanying this situation excess capacity it affected people to cope with difficulties; c) the situation requires reaching for the extra resources (ex. professional counseling); d) may prove necessary referral to a specialist who will help in removal of serious personality disorder (1995) by Badura-Madej The crisis is transitional state of internal imbalance, caused by critical event or life events.  This condition requires significant changes and decisions. (1999) The Chinese word for crisis presents a good depiction of the components of a crisis. The word  crisis  in Chinese is formed with the characters for  danger  and  opportunity. A crisis presents an obstacle, trauma, or threat, but it also presents an opportunity for either growth or decline.   Crisis is self-defined , because crisis is any situation for which a person does not have adequate coping skills. Therefore, What is a crisis for one person may not be a crisis for another person. In mental health terms, a crisis refers not necessarily to a traumatic situation or event, but to a persons reaction to an event. One person might be deeply affected by an event, while another individual suffers little or no ill effects. Crises may range from seemingly minor situations, such as not being prepared for class, to major life changes, such as death or divorce. Crisis is environmentally based. What is now a crisis may not have been a crisis before or would not be a crisis in a different setting.   Basic Crisis Theory: Since Lindemanns (1944, 1956) seminal contribution of a basic crisis theory stemming from his work in loss and grief, the development of crisis theory has advanced considerably. Lindemann identified crises as having: (1) a period of disequilibrium; (2) a process of working through the problems; and (3) an eventual restoration of equilibrium. Together with the contributions of Caplan (1964), this work evolved to eventually include crisis intervention for psychological reactions to traumatic experiences and expanded the mental health fields knowledge base in applying basic crisis theory to other types of crises experienced by people. In addition to recognizing that a crisis is accompanied by temporary disequilibrium, crisis theorists identify the potential for human growth from the crisis experience and the belief that resolution may lead to positive and constructive outcomes such as enhanced coping abilities. Thus, the duality contained in a crisis is the co-existence of danger and opportunity (Gilliland James, 1997). One part of the crisis state is a persons increased vulnerability and reduced defensiveness. This creates an openness in people for trying different methods of problem-solving and leads to change characterizing life crises (Kendricks, 1985). Expanded Crisis Theory: While expanded crisis theory, as we understand it today, merges key constructs from systems, adaptation, psychoanalytic and interpersonal theories (Gilliland James, 1997), the advent of systemic thinking heralded a new way of viewing crisis states. By shifting away from focusing exclusively on the individual in crisis to understanding their state within interpersonal/familial relationships and life events, entry points and avenues for intervention significantly increase. Systems theory promotes the notion that traditional cause and effect formulations have a tendency to overlook the complex and difficult to understand symptomlogy often observed in people in crisis. Especially with younger populations, crisis assessments should occur only within the familial and social context of the child in crisis. More recently the ecological perspective is gaining popularity as it evolves and develops into models of crisis intervention. From this perspective, crises are believed to be best viewed in the persons total environmental context, including political and socio-economic contexts. Thus, in the United States, mobile crisis teams primarily responding to adult populations use an ecological model. Issues of poverty, homelessness, chronicity, marginalization and pervasive disenfranchisement characterize the client population served (Cohen, 1990). Ecocsystem Theory: Most recently an ecosystem theory of crisis is evolving to explain not only the individual in crisis, but to understand those affected by crisis and the ecological impact on communities. For example, the devastating rate of suicide and attempted suicide in Inuit youth reverberates through their communities on multiple levels. Ecosystem theory also deals with larger scale crises from environmental disasters (e.g. oil spills) to human disasters (e.g. Columbine school shootings). Applied Crisis Theory: Applied crisis theory encompasses the following three domains: Developmental crises  which are events in the normal flow of human growth and development whereby a dramatic change produces maladaptive responses; Events such as birth, which is a crisis both for the mother and the infant, the onset of puberty and adolescence, marriage, the menopause, and so on as we progress through the biological stages of life, are known as developmental crises, These differ from situational crisis in that they necessarily occur at a given point in development and everyone has to pass through them. This goes along with Eriksons theory of personality development, in that personality continues to develop through life, changing radically as a function of how an individual deals with each stage of development. There are several causes of developmental crisis. One cause is a deficit in skills that can keep a person from achieving developmental tasks or turn a predictable transition into a crisis. For example, if a parent does not have the skills to be a parent, having a baby could become a crisis situation. Developmental crisis can also occur when the individual is not prepared for milestone events, such as menopause, widowhood, etc. Another cause is when one of lifes developmental transition is perceived by the individual as being out of phase with societys expectations. Examples of this could be leaving home, choosing a partner, marrying, having kids, and retiring. Situational crises  which emerge with the occurrence of uncommon and extraordinary events which the individual has no way of predicting or controlling; Traumatic events which might or might not happen at a given time. These could either be major catastrophes such as earthquakes, floods, etc., which could affect a whole section of society. In other words occurs in response to a sudden unexpected event in a persons life. The critical life events revolve around experiences of grief and loss. like loss of a job, divorce, abortion, death of a love one, severe physical or mental illness, or any other sudden tragic event. One characteristic of situational crises is their sudden onset and unpredictability. While a struggle with developmental issues usually builds over time, situational crises strike from nowhere all at once. Unexpectedness is another factor of situational crises. People generally believe it wont happen to me, and are blind-sided when it does happen to them. Emergency quality is another characteristic of situational crises. When a situational crisis hits, it needs to be dealt with immediately. Situational crises also impact the entire community. These events usually affect large numbers of people simultaneously, requiring intervention with large groups in a relatively short period of time. The last characteristic of situational crises is the presence of both danger and opportunity. Reorganization must eventually begin. This reorganization has the potential for the individual to emerge on either a higher or lower level of functioning. Existential crises  which refer to inner conflicts and anxieties that relate to human issues of purpose, responsibility and autonomy (e.g., middle life crisis). It is a stage of development at which an individual questions the very foundations of their life: whether their life has any meaning, purpose or value. An existential crisis is often provoked by a significant event in the persons life marriage, separation, major loss, the death of a loved one; a life-threatening experience; psycho-active drug use; adult children leaving home; reaching a personally-significant age (turning 30, turning 40, etc.), etc. Usually, it provokes the sufferers  introspection  about personal mortality, thus revealing the psychological repression of said awareness Each person and situation is unique and should be responded to as such. Therefore, it is useful to understand the crisis from one or more of these domains in order to understand the complexities of the individuals situation and to intervene in more effective ways. One would also tend to see a younger population with developmental and/or situational crises (Gilliland James, 1997). Due to the duration of the crisis, we may distinguish Acute crises Chronic crises Stages of a Crisis In order to articulate the elements of a responsive mobile crisis service a conceptual framework of the stages of crisis is presented. There is agreement in the literature that most crisis interventions should last about one to six weeks (Caplan, 1964; Kendricks, 1985). This suggested time frame is based on identifiable stages of a crisis. Frequently cited in the literature (Gilliland James, 1997; Smith, 1978) is Caplans four stages of crisis: Phase I The person has an increase in anxiety in response to a traumatic event;  if the coping mechanisms work, theres no crisis;  if coping mechanisms do not work (are ineffective) a crisis occurs. Phase II In the second phase anxiety continues to increase. Phase III Anxiety continues to increase the person asks for help. (If the person has been emotionally isolated before the trauma they probably will not have adequate support a crisis will surely occur). Phase IV Is the  active crisis   here the persons inner resources supports are inadequate. The person has a short attention span, ruminates (goes on about it), wonders what they did or how they could have avoided the trauma. Their behavior is impulsive unproductive. Relationships with others suffer,  they view others in terms of how can they help to solve the problem. The person feels like they are losing their mind,  this is frightening Be sure to teach them that when the anxiety decreases that thinking will be clearer. While others have proposed slightly varying stages, there are commonalties in understanding that crises are time-limited, have a beginning, middle and end, and that intervention early in a crisis can produce stabilization and a return to the pre-crisis state. No intervention, or inadequate intervention, can result in chronic patterns of behavior that result in transcrisis states (Gilliland James, 1997). Transcrisis: the original crisis event becomes submerged into the unconscious and re-emerges when anxiety is re-experienced. A woman who experienced rape will re-experience problems with being sexually intimate with a man and experience problems in intimate relationships. Crisis stages can be distinguished from mental disorders in that the person in crisis can be described as having normal and functional mental health before and after the crisis. Additionally crisis tend to be of limited duration and after the crisis is over, the clients turmoil will frequently subside. There however persons who can stay in crisis state for month or years. Such individual is described as being In transcrisis state. Its also possible for transcris state to lead to the development of anxiety and other tipes of mental disorder (ex.PTSD). Crisis Intervention Crisis intervention is the form of psychological help, that is focused on therapeutic contact, concentrated on the problem, that caused the crisis, limited in time, when the person is confronted with the crisis and has to solve it. That kind of help lets us reduce the crisis response and minimize functional impairment. (Badura-Madej, 1999) Crisis intervention is emergency first aid for mental health (Ehly, 1986). Crisis intervention involves three components: 1) the crisis, the perception of an unmanageable situation; 2) the individual or group in crisis; and 3) the helper, or mental health worker who provides aid. Crisis intervention requires that the person experiencing crisis receive timely and skillful support to help cope with his/her situation before future physical or emotional deterioration occurs. Crisis intervention provides the opportunity and mechanisms for change to those who are experiencing psychological disequilibrium, who are feeling overwhelmed by their current situation, who have exhausted their skills for coping, and who are experiencing personal discomfort. Crisis intervention is a process by which a crisis worker identifies, assesses, and intervenes with the individual in crisis so as to restore balance and reduce the effects of the crisis in his/her life. The individual is then connected with a resource network to reinforce the change. HISTORY Crisis Intervention Origins of crisis intervention, should be found in the topics related to the suicide prevention, the development of environmental psychiatry, as well as a vocation to life services dealing with emergency psychotherapeutic assistance for victims of traumatic events, such as: war or natural disasters (Badura-Madej, 1999). The roots of crisis intervention come from the pioneering work of two community psychiatrists-Erich Lindemann and Gerald Caplan in the mid-1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. We have come a far cry from its inception in the 1950s and 1960s. Speci ¬Ã‚ cally, in 1943 and 1944 community psychiatrist, Dr. Erich Lindemann at Massachusetts General Hospital conceptualized crisis theory based on his work with many acute and grief stricken survivors and relatives of the 493 dead victims of Bostons worst nightclub  ¬Ã‚ re at the Coconut Grove. Gerald Caplan, a psychiatry professor at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health, expanded Lindemanns (1944) pioneering work. Caplan (1961, 1964) was the  ¬Ã‚ rst clinician to describe and document the four stages of a crisis reaction: initial rise of tension from the emotionally hazardous crisis precipitating event, increased disruption of daily living because the individual is stuck and cannot resolve the crisis quickly, te nsion rapidly increases as the individual fails to resolve the crisis through emergency problem-solving methods, and the person goes into a depression or mental collapse or may partially resolve the crisis by using new coping methods. A number of crisis intervention practice models have been promulgated over the years (e.g., Collins Collins, 2005; Greenstone Leviton, 2002; Jones, 1968; Roberts Grau, 1970). The goals of crisis intervention are relatively limited, relate to the immediate crisis situation and are the following: Reduction in disequilibriurn or relief of symptoms of crisis Restoration to precrisis level of functioning Some understanding of the relevant precipitating events Identification of remedial measures which the client can take or make available through community resources. Connecting the current situation with past life experiences and conflicts Initiating new modes of thinking, perceiving feeling and developing new adaptive and coping responses which are useful beyond the immediate crisis situation, leading to an emancipated maturation and empowerment. Basic Principles While there is no one single model of crisis intervention (Jacobson, Strickler, Mosley, 1968), there is common agreement on the general principles to be employed by EMH practitioners to alleviate the acute distress of victims, to restore independent functioning and to prevent or mitigate the aftermath of psychological trauma and PTSD (Butcher, 1980; Everly Mitchell, 1999; Flannery, 1998; Raphael, 1986; Robinson Mitchell, 1995; Sandoval, 1985; Wollman, 1993). 1. Intervene immediately. By definition, crises are emotionally hazardous situations that place victims at high risk for maladaptive coping or even for being immobilized. The presence onsite of EMH personnel as quickly as possible is paramount. 2. Stabilize. One important immediate goal is the stabilization of the victims or the victim community actively mobilizing resources and support networks to restore some semblance of order and routine. Such a mobilization provides the needed tools for victims to begin to function independently. 3. Facilitate understanding. Another important step in restoring victims to pre-crisis level of functioning is to facilitate their understanding of what has occurred. This is accomplished by gathering the facts about what has occurred, listening to the victims recount events, encouraging the expression of difficult emotions, and helping them understand the impact of the critical event. 4. Focus on problem-solving. Actively assisting victims to use available resources to regain control is an important strategy for EMH personnel. Assisting the victim in solving problems within the context of what the victim feels is possible enhances independent functioning. 5. Encourage self-reliance. Akin to active problem-solving is the emphasis on restoring self-reliance in victims as an additional means to restore independent functioning and to address the aftermath of traumatic events. Victims should be assisted in assessing the problems at hand, in developing practical strategies to address those problems, and in fielding those strategies to restore a more normal equilibrium. The practice of crisis intervention, typically consist of the following (Badura Madej, 1999): Providing emotional support to facilitate the reaction to emotion; Confronted with the reality and countering tendencies to deny and distorted to form at the moment the most important problem to solution; Assess the current ways of coping in terms of their adaptive nature; Referring to good coping strategies or creating new strategies; A plan of assistance. Characteristics of a crisis intervention (Badura-Madej, 1999): Assistance as soon as possible after the critical event, preferably at the time, when the existing ways of coping are exhausted with crisis, and new constructive behaviors yet not created to provide the support reduces the risk run adaptive ways of coping; Focus on the situation and the current problem associated with the crisis (the here and now ), taking into account the individual history of man (analysis of this story helps to understand the nature and depth of the crisis reaction) Emotional support, often also material support (accommodation, shelter, food, drinking, etc.) to ensure a sense of security to the person in crisis; A large intensity of contacts (depending on the situation) and sometimes even daily; Time limit (6 10 meetings) flexibility in assisting interactions from the directive operation, client collaboration, to the non-directive action; Mobilizing the natural support system for people in crisis, cooperation with other institutions, providing possible support from institutions to holistic approach to people in crisis (eg, OPS, police, etc.). Crisis Intervention Models (Gilliland and James, 2005) Practice and intervention literature indicate the usefulness of certain general theoretical models for the construction of concrete measures for persons in crisis.  Belkin (1984) proposes a classification includes equilibrium model, cognitive model and psycho-social model of transformation (Gilliland and James, 2005). Equilibrium model Equilibrium model indicates a basic fact of the continuum balance imbalance, which differentiates functioning non-crisis and crisis.  Persons in crisis, experiencing state of disorganization, lack of balance of basic psychological functions, are not able to effectively use their customary ways of coping and methods of solving problems. The aim of the intervention from the point of view of equilibrium model is to assist the client in regained pre-crisis equilibrium.  therefore the use of this approach is the most justified in the initial stages of intervention, when a person has no sense of control over himself and course of events is confused and unable to take adequate decisions and appropriate action.  Until the client does not recover even though part of the capacity to coping, the main effort should be directed to stabilize the condition of the person.  Only then it is possible to use his abilities to cope, and other internal and external resources to solve a crisis problem.  Equilibrium model considered is the cleanest model of crisis intervention (Caplan, 1961; for: Gilliland and James, 2005). Cognitive model The cognitive model of crisis intervention is based on the premise that crisis are rooted in faulty thinking about the event or situations that surround the crisis not in the events themselves or the facts about events or situations (Ellis, 1962). The goal of this model is to help people become aware of and change their views and beliefs about crisis events or situations. The basic tenet of the cognitive model is that people can gain control of crisis in their lives by changing their thinking, especially by recognizing and disputing the irrational and self-defeating parts of their cognitions and by retaining and focusing on the rational and self-enhancing elements of their thinking. The messages that people in crisis send themselves become very negative and twisted, in contrast to the reality of the situation. Dilemmas that are constant and grinding wear people out, pushing their internal state of perception more and more toward negative self-talk until their cognitive sets are so negative that no amount of preaching can convince them anything positive will ever come from the situation. Crisis intervention in this model can be compared to work on rewriting your own program by the client, which on a positive Coupling back and repeat the exercise in self-assessment of the new situation, be able to change emotions and behavior in a more positive and constructive. Cognitive model can be used in practice when the client has already regained some sufficient level of psychological stability, allowing where appropriate perception, drawing conclusions, making decisions and experimenting with new behaviors. Basic concepts of this approach are fond in the rational-emotive work of Ellis (1982), the cognitive-behavioral approach of Meichenbaum (1977), and the cognitive system of Beck (1976). Psychosocial transition model Psychosocial transition model is another useful approach to intervention in crisis.  This model is based on the assumption that man is the result of the interaction between the genetic equipment, and the learning process, setting the social environment. Both people and their environment and social influence processes are subject to constant change. Therefore, crises may be related to both internal and external (psychosocial, social and environmental) difficulties. The purpose of crisis intervention, as seen from this perspective, is to help, cooperation with client in an adequate assessment of both internal and external circumstances influencing the emergence of the crisis, as well as assist in the selection of effective alternatives to the (clients) existing, inefficient behavior, inappropriate attitudes and inefficiencies how to use the resources of the environment in which I live. To obtain a stand-alone control over his private life customers can be needed for obtaining adequate internal mechanisms to deal with difficulties, as well as social support and environmental resources. The Psychosocial transition model does not perceive crisis simply an interal state of affairs that resides totally within the individual. It reaches outside the individual and askes what system need to be changed. Systems such as family, peer group, work environment, religious community are examples who can also support or interfere with the psychological ada

The Pros and Cons of Language Translation :: Pro Con Essays

To answer the question above we first have to define what is actually meant by translation before we are able to think about the limits and advantages of translation. Translation can be described as an expression of a sense from one language to another as well as a transmission of a written or spoken language into another. Translation is since the beginning of human culture an important item of understanding between different countries. So the â€Å"Stone of Rosette† made it possible to decipher the ancient Egypt language. But here we already see the limits of translation. We never will be able to understand all their feelings. Later on, the translations of the old Greek and Latin authors have influenced all western Europe countries and have let to the grandiose works of Shakespeare for example. Here we see the great advantage translations have brought to all Europe. As the statement in the title says, translation offers us the experience and attitudes of another culture or mentality. When for example reading books from typically English authors like Agatha Christie or George Orwell in German or any other language, we learn something about the culture or mentality, because the good description as well as the feeling of being in Britain at the present time, makes this possible. From this we come to a point which is even more important, the transport of culture and understanding between peoples. A good example for this is the book â€Å"Uncle Toms Hut† which had enforced the fight against slavery world wide but was hardly able to cause political influence. This shows again the limits of translation. On the other side we can not imagine a world without the translation of literary master pieces from all countries, mentioned only the great Russian, German, English and French authors red all over the world. Here we see the problems and limits of translation very closely. A good translation not only transports the sense but also the choice of words and the way of expressing. Especially for translations of high standing literature the translator should be home in both languages. The translator often finds his limit with poems. An other example to show the limits of translation are technical items, which were produced in China or Korea. As we do not speak any Chinese or Korean we are not able to understand what we should do before the first use.

Nature vs. Nurture Essay -- Heredity and Environment

Abstract Nature vs. nurture has been discussed by philosophers in the past and by scientists more recently. Philosophers such as Plato argued that all knowledge was inherited from your parents and when you were told something you didn’t learn it you were just reminded of it. Aristotle however argued that all humans were born with a blank slate and built on it with influence from there environment. In the 1700’s the empiricists and the internalists took over the argument. They fought through letters explaining there point of views and denouncing the others. This leads to Pavlov coming up with the idea of behaviorism in the early 1900‘s. Behaviorism became the new wave of Psychology and influenced a lean towards the nurture side. It was not effectively argued against until 1928 when Watson published his book. This opened up the floodgates for environmental influences studies. Soon the idea of nurture was the popular excuse for behavior. Studies using animals were the most po pular was in which scientists used to prove a theory, or disprove a theory. The newest studies use human twins to prove nature vs. nurture. An age-old question has been asked for generations before us. What is the reasons behind the development of human behavior? There have been many theories formulated to explain why humans behave the way they do. Explanations vary from demonology to magnetic fluids controlling people’s behaviors. Over time, two theories have remained popular in academic fields such as philosophy and psychology. The surviving theories for behavior stem from physiological and sociological explanations. However, the two explanations have not always been compatible with each other. The famous nature vs. nurture debate over human behavior resulted from conflicting views between proponents of the physiological (nature) and sociological (nurture) explanations. Throughout history, research has swayed popularity back and forth between the theories. Yet, theorists have broken down the line separating nature and nurture. Today, people us both explanations in research to advance the knowledge of human behavior. Thousands of years before the field of psychology, philosophers pondered on human behavior. As early as 350 BC, such philosophers as Plato and Aristotle tried to understand behavior. The question of nature or nurture as the primary drive can be traced to these... ...y the effects of each in development. In these future studies, more groundbreaking advances will be made to aid humans in better understanding human behavior. In the end, that is what both sides of the nature vs. nurture debate intended to accomplish. Bibliography Amsel, A. (1989). Behaviorism, Neobehaviorism, and Cognitivism in Learning   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum,. Ashcraft, M. (1998). Fundamentals of Cognition. New York, NY: Longman. Barnet, A. (1998). The Youngest Minds. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. Cowie, F. (1999). What’s Within?. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Devlin, B. (1997). Intelligence, Genes, and Success. New York, NY: Copernicus. Deutschmann, Linda B. (2002). Deviance and Social Control Third Edition. Scarborough,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ON: Nelson Thomson Learning. Fujita, Frank. (2000). Nature vs. Nurture. 3/15/2002 from http://folk.uio.no/roffe/faq/node   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  11.html McGraw, M. (1995). Beyond Heredity and Environment. San Francisco, CA: Westview   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Press. Modgil, S. (1987). B.F. Skinner: Consensus and Controversy. New York, NY: Falmer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Press. Myers, David G. (2001). Psychology Sixth Edition. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Police Technology Essay

1. Introduction A gun may be a useful tool to arrest a suspect in a traditional crime scene, but what about a crime committed on the Internet to steal billions of dollars in a few minutes or even confidential information? Will guns be useful in this case? According to Goodman, â€Å"the world isn’t run by weapons anymore, or energy, or money, it’s run by ones and zeros †¦ It’s not about who has the most bullets. Art’s about who controls the information –what we see and hear, how we work, what we think. It’s all about information.† (p.466) With the technological revolution we have nowadays, that changed every aspect of our lives representing new threats and new crimes, police officers should be equipped with new technological tools or techniques to be able to face these new challenges. This paper aims at giving an idea about police technology and how does technology help police officers by defining the term â€Å"police technology†, shading the light on history of police technology, and giving some of the impacts of technology on police work and practice. 2. Definitions To understand exactly how does technology help police officers, this section will define what is meant by both terms â€Å"technology† and â€Å"police technology†. 2.1 Technology The Britannica Concise Encyclopedia defines technology as â€Å"Application of knowledge to the practical aims of human life or to changing and manipulation the human environment. Technology includes the use of materials, tools, techniques, and sources of power to make life easier or more pleasant and work more productive. Whereas science is concerned with how and why things happen, technology focuses on making thing happen.† 2.2 Police Technology According to Encyclopedia Britannica the term â€Å"police technology† refers to â€Å"the wide range of scientific and technological methods, techniques, and equipment used in policing.† 3. Police Technology in History and Literature This section will shade the light on the history of police technology since 1840 when officers only had guns and night-light sticks, â€Å"then came technological progress with the invention of the patrol wagon and signal service (which have) effected a revolution in police methods.† (Seaskate, Inc). (See police technology timeline in Table 1) â€Å"The adoption of information technology by police departments in the united States is a relatively recent phenomenon. Before 1987, less than 2% of the 2.200 US police departments with fewer than 100 employees used computers. And as recently as 2003, only 40% of police departments had mobile computer terminals.† (CentrePience) Moving to information technology,   â€Å"only in recent years have many agencies found the use of information technologies significantly helpful. Examples include fingerprinting databases, computerized crime mapping, and records management systems doing everything from inventory property and cataloging evidence to calculating solvability factors.† (Seaskate, Inc) 3.1 The political era (1840-1920) This period witnessed technological advances such as â€Å"telegraph, telephone, police callboxes, Bertillon system of criminal identification† (Seaskate, Inc) and (Stewart, R. W.). â€Å"The advent of fingerprinting in the 1900s and of crime laboratories in the 1920s greatly augmented the police capacity to solve crimes†. (Seaskate, Inc) 3.2 The professional model era or Nationalization of Crime (1920-1970) This period witnessed efforts that tried to â€Å"rid the government of undesirable political influences and create what they deemed professional police departments† (Seaskate, Inc). â€Å"The model was the crime laboratory in Berkeley, California, Police Department then the FBI inaugurated its own laboratory which eventually became recognized as the most comprehensive and technologically advanced forensic laboratory in the world† (Seaskate, Inc). This period â€Å"saw the widespread police adoption of the automobile and the introduction of two-way radios† (Seaskate, Inc). Then, in response to rapidly rising crime rates and urban disorders, the Crime Commission was established in the 1960s (Seaskate, Inc). This period witnessed the nationalization of crime. â€Å"In 1967, the Crime Commission produced a long report that gave recommendations, 11 of them dealing with police technology (Seaskate, Inc). The President’s Crime Commission found that the nation’s criminal justice system suffered from a significant Science and technology gap (Seaskate, Inc). Then came â€Å"the advent of 911 after the commission called for establishment of a single telephone number that Americans could use to call the police† (Seaskate, Inc). The computerization for American policing was a result for the commission’s recommendations and the 911 system (Seaskate, Inc). â€Å"The 911 system became enhanced (E911) when computer got smarter, showing the telephone number, address, and in some cases, the name of the person who owned the number† (Seaskate, Inc). â€Å"One of the most important computer-based innovations in American policing was the advent of National Crime Information Center (NCIC), administered by FBI† (Seaskate, Inc). Computers also were â€Å"essential in the development of Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)† (Seaskate, Inc). 3.3 The Community Policing Era or Computerization of American Policing (Since 1970) The introduction of computers into policing corresponded to the beginning of the third and current era in American policing or â€Å"the Community Policing Era† from 1970 up till now (Seaskate, Inc). â€Å"In 1995, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) was created by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994†. (ITI, p.3) With funding provided by COPS and other federal and state grant programs, the use of computers in law enforcement gained widespread acceptance in law enforcement agencies of all sizes. (ITI p.3) 4. The Impact of Technology on Police Work Technology has had its impacts on police work especially since the process of computerization of American policing (Figure1 in the appendices shows trends in technology use by police agencies). According to Davis, J. N., â€Å"the continuing development of computer technology has had critical impacts on law enforcement. Mobile data terminals in police cars, automatic vehicle locator systems, and computer-assisted dispatch are now commonly found in police departments. The use of expert systems and artificial intelligence by police agencies in the United States and Canada is on the increase. Examples can be found in agencies ranging from small rural Alliance, Nebraska to urban Baltimore County, Maryland†. (p.1) This section will show how does technology affect police work either in increasing effectiveness, enhancing officer safety, or assisting law enforcement agencies to meet new challenges of terrorism and cyber crimes. 4.1 Increased Effectiveness Research showed that â€Å"police departments that adopted computers together with IT management/governance practices such as CompStat did experience reduced property and violent crime and significantly increased crime clearance rates (by around 8%). Thus, researchers concluded that computers do increase the effectiveness of police work, but only if police work is substantially reorganized to take advantage of their presence† (CentrePiece, p.2). Also according to ITI, â€Å"Significant technological breakthroughs have resulted in products that have increased their crime solving effectiveness† (P.4). For example â€Å"studies led to the widespread use of night vision gear by today’s police agencies† (ITI, p.4). A technology such as fingerprint reader â€Å"has resulted in the creation of automatic fingerprint identification systems (AFIS)†. (ITI, p.4) â€Å"AFIS has resulted in the clearance of thousands of crimes that would have otherwise gone unsolved†. (ITI, P.4) The â€Å"enhanced† 911 â€Å"allowed dispatchers to see on their computers screen the address and telephone number from which a 911 emergency call originated† (ITI, p.4).   Ã¢â‚¬Å"The miniaturization of body microphones and closed circuit television has benefited law enforcement in a variety of investigative and crime prevention initiatives†. (ITI, P.4) 4.2 Changed the Role of Police and How They Carry Out Their Duties Technology has changed the role of both police officers and law enforcement agencies. â€Å"With the introduction of the Community Oriented Policing model, a dramatic change occurred in how agencies measured their effectiveness†. (ITI, P.3) The previous section showed that COPS was a result for introducing computers into policing.   â€Å"The emphasis on quick response to calls for services and the number of arrests made and crimes cleared was replaced by the reduction of crimes committed†. (ITI, P.3) â€Å"The COPS program promoted the development of close/citizen relationships with a focus on improving the quality of life on a neighborhood-to-neighborhood basis. From this effort grew programs such as neighborhood Policing and Problem Solving Policing† (ITI, P.3). â€Å"For the COPS concept to be successful officers needed timely information about crime patterns and other social problems occurring on their beats†. (ITI, P.3) â€Å"In police practice the possibility to access and use electronic records has opened up a new way of gathering information for police officers. This has created and developed new ways of working for police officers: they can gather more information when involved in operational work as well as when they are present physically at the police station†. (Borglund, E.) 4.3 Improved Record Keeping and Report Writing Computers have led to a key advantage â€Å"improved recordkeeping†. â€Å"Research showed that introducing computers for record-keeping did increase the amount of recorded ‘minor crimes’ such as larceny† (CentrePiece, p.2). According to Davis, J. N., â€Å"police report writing has also evolved with changes in technology, especially the use of lap-top computers. The continued development of new computer technologies will also bring changes in police report writing†. (p.1) 4.4 Enhances Officer Safety â€Å"Significant technological breakthroughs have resulted in products that have improved officer safety† (ITI, P.4). â€Å"Soft body armor has saved hundreds of officers from death or serious injury† (ITI, P.4). â€Å"Information used in conjunction with Computer Aided Dispatch software allowed dispatchers to warn officers of potential dangers and the history of previous calls at locations prior to their arrival†. (ITI, P.4) The use of safe weapons such as â€Å"non-lethal weapons such as the Taser, beanbag shells and pepper mace had been added to the list of force options available to officers in the field† (ITI, p.4). 4.5 Assist Local Law Enforcement Agencies Meet the New Challenges of Terrorism and Cyber Crime According to Reichert, K. â€Å"creative uses of information technology have the potential to increase the capacity and effectiveness of law enforcement in fulfilling its complex mission today. Including increased demands in the post-September 11 World†. (p.4) â€Å"The pace of the use of technology in law enforcement continues to accelerate. New technologies such as the use of DNA for the criminal investigation, the growth of AFIS and Livescan fingerprinting systems, GPS tracking, and reverse-911 software are all computer dependent systems now being more widely used by agencies around the country†. (ITI, p.4) â€Å"New hardware such as Personal Digital Assistance (PDAs) and other wireless devices such as web-enabled cellular telephones are changing the way information is collected and shared†. (ITI, p.4) â€Å"The 911 systems have precipitated the use of computerized mapping and links between 911 systems and computer aided dispatch software† (ITI, p.4). â€Å"Incident-based reporting is being implemented across the country requiring new records management software designed to capture and report crime statistics electronically† (ITI, p.4). â€Å"The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon significantly increased awareness for the need to share information between law enforcement agencies at all levels of government†. (ITI, p.4) â€Å"Antiquated radio systems are being replaced so that multiple agencies can communicate during joint operations and disaster responses. Integration of computer databases is being developed for intelligence gathering and criminal investigation†. (ITI, p.4) â€Å"Detection technology, protection equipment and training are being provided to public safety personnel to meet the challenges of a nuclear, biological or chemical threat as well as an attack using conventional weapons†. (ITI, p.4) â€Å"The use of the Internet for the commission of crimes is increasing at an alarming rate†. (ITI, p.4) â€Å"Thieves, hackers, hate groups, pedophiles, cyberspace stalkers, drug cartels and terrorist groups freely use the Internet to carry out their illegal activities†. (ITI, p.4) The Internet also offers many benefits to law enforcement† (ITI, p.5). â€Å"The ability to share information between agencies and with the public has been greatly enhanced by the use of the internet†.

Civilizations of the Americas

The Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas were three of the most advanced civilization in the Americas. They each brought major accomplishments to the world during their period of reign and some of these accomplishments are still used to this very day. Each one of these civilizations were influenced by foreign countries including: Europe, Asia, and parts of the Middle East. Some of these accomplishments included agriculture, architecture, writing, and trade. These accomplishments led each of these civilizations into being the most advanced in the world during their time of rule. The Mayans were the first civilization of the three and reached its greatest height between 250 and 900 CE. The Mayan civilization was located in the areas known today as Guatemala, Belize, Chiapas, and the Yucaton Peninsula, which had rich and fertile soil. Being the first civilization didn’t hold back the Mayans from being advanced in architecture, math, astrology, and writing. In the Mayan civilization, there was one major city called Tikal. Tikal was located in Guatemala and became a major Mayan center. The Mayan pyramid in Tikal was the tallest pyramid until the twentieth century (Document 1). This structure showed that the Mayans were advanced in architecture without several different inventions that were used in future societies including the wheel. The Mayans used characters or symbols as a writing system. They used glyphs (symbols) to write necessary things down on stelae. Each glyph either represented a sound or a word. Glyphs were put together to make sentences or represent the Mayan calendar (Document 2). The Mayans used a 364-day solar calendar with 18 months and 20 days in each month. These accomplishments prove that the Mayan civilization was one of the most advanced in the Americas.