Ethics and the Internet Essay Example

Ethics and the Internet Paper The Internet and social networking are offering a number of new clinical and ethical challenges for those who provide face-to-face mental health services. These challenges include extra-therapeutic contacts between therapists and their clients, questions about what distinguishes personal and professional activities online, and a lack of clearly developed policies related to our online behaviors and interactions. No form of client communication is 100 percent guaranteed to be private. Conversations can be overheard, e-mails can be sent to the wrong recipients and phone conversation can be listened to by others. But in todays age of e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and other social media, psychologists have to be more aware than ever of the ethical pitfalls they can fall into by using these types of communication. Its easy not to be fully mindful about the possibility of disclosure with these communications because we use these technologies so often in our social lives,   says Stephen Behnke, PhD, JD, director of APAs Ethics Office. Its something that we havent gotten into the habit of thinking about.   The Monitor sat down with Behnke to discuss the ethical aspects of the Internet for psychology practitioners and how to think about them. Does the APA Ethics Code guide practitioners on social media? We will write a custom essay sample on Ethics and the Internet specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Ethics and the Internet specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Ethics and the Internet specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Yes. The current Ethics Code was drafted between 1997 and 2002. While it doesnt use the terms social media,  Google or Facebook, the code is very clear that it applies to all psychologists professional activities and to electronic communication, which of course social media is. As we look at the Ethics Code, the sections that are particularly relevant to social media are on privacy and confidentiality, multiple relationships and the section on therapy. The Ethics Code does not prohibit all social relationships, but it does call on psychologists to ask, How does this particular relationship fit with the treatment relationship?   Is the APA Ethics Office seeing any particular problems in the use of social media? Everyone is communicating with these new technologies, but our ethical obligation is to be thoughtful about how the Ethics Code applies to these communications and how the laws and regulations apply. For example, if you are communicating with your client via e-mail or text messaging, those communications might be considered part of your clients record. Also, you want to consider who else might have access to the communication, something the client him- or herself may not be fully mindful of. When you communicate with clients, the communication may be kept on a server so anyone with access to that server may have access to your communications. Confidentiality should be front and center in your thinking. Also, consider the form of communication you are using, given the kind of treatment you are providing. For example, there are two very different scenarios from a clinical perspective: In one scenario, youve been working with a client face-to-face and you know the clients clinical issues. Then the client goes away on vacation and you have one or two phone sessions, or a session or two on Skype. A very different scenario is that the psychologist treats a client online, a client he or she has never met or seen. In this case, the psychologist has to be very mindful of the kind of treatment he or she can provide. What sorts of issues are appropriate to treat in that manner? How do the relevant jurisdictions laws and regulations apply to the work you are doing? Thats an example of how the technology is out in front of us. We have this wonderful new technology that allows us to offer services to folks who may never have had access to a psychologist. At the same time, the ethical, legal and regulatory infrastructure to support the technology is not yet in place. A good deal of thought and care must go into how we use the technology, given how it may affect our clients and what it means for our professional lives. APA needs to be involved in developing that ethical, legal and regulatory infrastructure and needs to be front and center on this. What do you want members to know about using Facebook? People are generally aware that what they put on their Facebook pages may be publicly accessible. Even with privacy settings, there are ways that people can get access to your information. My recommendation is to educate yourself about privacy settings and how you can make your page as private as you want it to be [see further reading box on page 34]. Also, educate yourself about how the technology works and be mindful of the information you make available about yourself. Historically, psychology has talked a lot about the clinical implications of self-disclosure, but this is several orders of magnitude greater, because now anyone sitting in their home or library with access to a terminal can find out an enormous amount of information about you. Facebook is a wonderful way to social network, to be part of a community. And of course psychologists are going to use this, as is every segment of the population. But psychologists have special ethical issues they need to think through to determine how this technology is going to affect their work. These days, students are inviting professors to see their Facebook pages and professors are now privy to more information on their students lives than ever before. Whats your advice on this trend? Psychologists should be mindful that whether teaching, conducting research, providing a clinical service or acting in an administrative capacity, they are in a professional role. Each role comes with its own unique expectations, and these expectations have ethical aspects. I would encourage a psychologist whos considering whether to friend a student to think through how the request fits into the professional relationship, and to weigh the potential benefits and harms that could come from adding that dimension to the teaching relationship. Of course, the professor should also be informed about the schools policy concerning interacting with students on social networking sites. How about Googling clientsshould you do this? In certain circumstances, there may be a good reason to do a search of a client. There may be an issue of safety, for example. In certain kinds of assessments, it might be a matter of confirming information. But again, we always need to think about how this fits into the professional relationship, and what type of informed consent weve obtained. Curiosity about a client is not a clinically appropriate reason to do an Internet search. Lets put it this way: If you know that your client plays in a soccer league, it would be a little odd if on Saturday afternoon you drove by the game to see how your client is doing. In the same way, if youre doing a search, thinking, What can I find out about this person  that raises questions about the psychologists motives? What about Twitter? Again, you first want to think about what are you disclosing and what is the potential impact the disclosure could have on the clinical work. Also, if you are receiving Tweets from a client, how does that fit in with the treatment? These questions are really interesting because they are pushing us to think clearly about the relationship between our professional and personal lives. We all have our own social communities and networks, but we also have to be aware about how we act and what we disclose in those domains, which are more accessible. Someone might say that this technology isnt raising new questions, its raising old questions in different ways. How about blogs? Be aware that when you author a blog, youre putting a lot of yourself into it. Thats why youre doing it. So again, you need to be mindful of the impact it will have on your clinical work. It also depends on what the blog is about. For example, if youre blogging about religion, politics or movies, in this day and age, some of your clients are going to read the material. If you are sharing your personal views on some important societal issue, be mindful of how that might affect the work you are doing. When is the next Ethics Code due out and will it more specifically address social media? The next revision hasnt been scheduled, but if I had to guess, probably in the next two to three years, APA will begin the process of drafting the next code. I can say with a very high degree of confidence that when APA does draft the next code, the drafters will be very mindful of many issues being raised by social media. Its important to think about ethics from a developmental perspective. As our field evolves, new issues emerge and develop. Not all the questions about social media have crystallized yet. We have to make sure that we have a pretty good sense of the right questions and the right issues before we start setting down the rules. Part of that process is exploring where the potential harms to our clients are. We are just defining the questions, issues, the risks of harm to the client and were going to have to let the process unfold. In the meantime, we have to be aware that these technologies are very powerful and far-reaching and bring with them wonderful benefits, but also potential harms. Stay tuned. As his patient lay unconscious in an emergency room from an overdose of sedatives, psychiatrist Damir Huremovic was faced with a moral dilemma: A friend of the patient had forwarded to Huremovic a suicidal e-mail from the patient that included a link to a Web site and blog he wrote. Should Huremovic go online and check it out, even without his patients consent? Huremovic decided yes; after all, the Web site was in the public domain and it might contain some potentially important information for treatment. When Huremovic clicked on the blog, he found quotations such as this: Death makes angels of us all and gives us wings. A final blog post read: I wish I didnt wake up. Yet as Huremovic continued scanning the patients personal photographs and writings, he began to feel uncomfortable, that perhaps hed crossed some line he shouldnt have. Across the country, therapists are facing similar situations and conflicted feelings. When Huremovic, director of psychosomatic medicine services at Nassau University Medical Center in New York, recounted his vignette last year at an American Psychiatric Association meeting and asked whether others would have read the suicidal mans blog, his audience responded with resounding calls of both yes! and no! One thing was clear: How and when a therapist should use the Internet and even whether he or she should are questions subject to vigorous debate. We are just beginning to understand what ethical issues the Internet is raising, says Stephen Behnke, ethics director for the American Psychological Association. To write rules that allow our field to grow and develop and yet prevent [patient] harm at the same time: Thats the challenge. In fact, the tremendous availability online of personal information threatens to alter what has been an almost sacred relationship between therapist and patient. Traditionally, therapists obtained information about a patient through face-to-face dialogue. If outside information was needed, the therapist would obtain the patients consent to speak with family members or a previous mental-health practitioner. At the same time, patients traditionally knew little about their therapists outside the consulting room. Now, with the click of a mouse, tech-savvy therapists and patients are challenging the old rules and raising serious questions about how much each should know about the other and where lines should be drawn. Among the questions under debate: Should a therapist review the Web site of a patient or conduct an online search without that patients consent? Is it appropriate for a therapist to put personal details about himself on a blog or Web-site or to join Facebook or other social networks? What are the risks of having patients and therapists interact online? Neither the American Psychiatric Association nor the American Psychological Association has rules specifically governing therapists online behavior, but ethics advisers with the psychiatric association maintain that online searches are not wrong as long as theyre done in the patients interest and not out of therapist curiosity. Many therapists contend its more important to discuss such questions than it is to dictate behavior. Its not whether a particular application is right or not, says Sheldon Benjamin, director of neuropsychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. Its whether you do it mindfully whether you understand how it changes the doctor-patient relationship. To Google or Not to Google Benjamin, 53, swears by his iPhone and enthusiastically tells of sampling the Internet in its infancy. At the same time, Benjamin, who directs psychiatric training at UMass, advocates caution when it comes to mixing the Internet with therapy. He says he has never searched a patients name online and worries that doing so could dilute the therapeutic process by bringing in information from outside the patient-therapist discussion. When patients have asked Benjamin to read their blogs, he has agreed, with one caveat: that he do so during a regular counseling session. Even if you brought me a disability form, Id fill it out in the room with you, says Benjamin. I was taught to make the time with the patient the time when the work is done. Suena Massey takes a different approach. Massey, 35, an assistant professor of psychiatry at George Washington University Medical Center, considers Googling a patient a valuable professional tool. One of the duties of a psychiatrist is to corroborate what patients say, Massey explains. To that end, online searches can be helpful when traditional approaches obtaining the patients consent to contact his previous psychiatrist or family members are not available. One such case involved a patient who presented with symptoms of mania, a component of bipolar disorder. The man claimed to be well connected in Washington. After their meeting, Massey typed the patients name into a search engine. Up popped postings suggesting that the mans claims were accurate. In a subsequent session Massey told her patient she had Googled him, and he was okay with it. She ended up treating him for bipolar disorder; had his claims been false, she says, she would have considered his condition to be more severe. Massey says she will warn a patient about her possible use of Google searches if she thinks the patient might have a problem with it. You could almost make the argument that its negligent not to search online when there is public information available and it might help treat a patient, she says. If youre just looking things up out of personal interest, I think most doctors would feel uncomfortable with that. Public vs. Private But what happens when the circumstances are reversed? What happens when a patient seeks information about his therapist online or pursues a relationship with his therapist on Facebook, MySpace or via another social network? Most therapists are not alarmed by the idea of a Google search. I know my patients Google me, Massey says. I think its their right as consumers. Some providers anticipate such searches by maintaining Web sites detailing their professional qualifications. However, there can be problems when personal details are available. Take the case of a man who, after developing romantic and erotic feelings toward his therapist, typed her name into a search engine and found a Web site featuring personal photographs of the therapist, including a bathing-suit shot. The man quit treatment and reported the discovery to Behnkes office. He knew the image of his therapist in her bathing suit was going to be so present to him that he wouldnt be able to concentrate on his psychotherapy, Behnke explained in a telephone interview. There was material on the Internet that had an impact on this psychologists clinical work. Behnke cautions therapists to assume that most clients will conduct online searches, and he urges them to make sure they remain vigilant about what gets posted. Although most therapists say its inappropriate to have relationships with patients via social networks, there is little agreement on whether its okay for therapists to join such sites, and, if they do, just how private their information should remain. For Huremovic, 39, social network abstinence is safest. I have an understanding that if you choose to be a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist that you have to be very private in other parts of your social being, he says. But some therapists, especially younger ones for whom using the Internet is a way of life, dont share this view. For instance, psychologist Stephanie Smith, 35, has a Web site, and she has a presence on Twitter. Smith tweets to market her Colorado practice and to allow colleagues and other interested parties to monitor happenings in psychology. Typical posts provide tips for managing stress, announce a recent studys findings or refer followers to psychology blogs. Smith, who says Twitter has increased traffic to her professional Web site, admits to the rare tweet about her children or celebrity news. Its my style, but I know some people would not be comfortable with her disclosure of nonprofessional information, she says. Smith also has a Facebook account for her personal life. After teenage patients discovered that account and sent her friend requests, Smith enacted a policy forbidding past or current clients from engaging her online. She informs new clients of the policy and obligates them to comply. This is the type of problem that UMasss Benjamin wants to avoid. To me, its a much bigger issue than bumping into a patient in a restaurant, he says. Youre putting out there,Hey, these are my contacts. And someone then wants to enter your social circle. It puts you in a position where you must take a stand. Keely Kolmes, a California psychologist who writes and lectures on Internet ethics, recommends that therapists make clear distinctions between their professional and personal lives online. Younger clinicians get the Net but dont completely understand ethical and boundary issues that can come up, she says. A former computer consultant, Kolmes, who is in her early 40s, goes to great lengths to keep her lives separate. On her personal Facebook account, for instance, she does not use a photo of herself on her profile page and she doesnt make reference to her professional name. She also restricts her public tweets and blogs to news of a professional nature. Still, she recognizes that any online sighting of ones therapist changes the dynamic for a patient. A lot of patients really want to think about you as existing in just that one space [of the therapy room,] and suddenly theyre seeing you on Twitter and blogging, she says. They can see that youre online at night posting things. I realize my choice to do that suddenly shifts my relationship with them.

Community and Social Structure essays

Community and Social Structure essays AssignmentIII The idea of people being social in nature can be clearly illustrated by the groups, or communities that one sees all around them. Groups of individuals share a common perspective of what reality consists of, this is known as culture(Charon, 1997). This reality is perceived through our interactions with others in the group and by what our position is within that group(Charon, 1997). The way in which we see the world is in a sense limited by both our position and our interactions. In order to actually fill your position in the group you need to have a working set of ideas and concepts to get the job done(Charon, 1997). This working set of ideas is actually formed by the interactions that you have with other people who have the same position as you. It works for everyone else, and therefore you can t just randomly choose another set of concepts and ideas andexpect them to work, so you choose the ideas, concepts, and means that your peers use(Charon, 1997). For instance, if you are a Chemist, you obtain knowledge and perspectives consistent of your environment, i.e. chemistry, you would not learn a great deal about molecular biology because those concepts and ideas are not useful to you. We don t have a complete picture of everything around usbecause we perceive only the things which fit into our social structure(Charon, 1997). Reality is not a Velcro Nerf dart toss of facts and ideas, but rather a magnetic selection of those facts and ideas which are conducive to our pre-constructed structure. To one man power and riches are the greatest thing to achieve, but to a bum The oiliest thing is to have a warm placeto sleep (Coleman,1982:207). It s unfortunate that these conceptscan be utilized by a dictator to gain control and power for his own ideas and concepts. Hitler was just such a man, he used a social construct known as patriotism, that is, sense of pride and connection with everyone within a society. ...

Summarize the social ills detailed in A Modest Proposal, Songs of Assignment

Summarize the social ills detailed in A Modest Proposal, Songs of Innoncence and Experience,Wordsworth'sThe World is Too Much with Us,and Shelly's poem,On Englands in 1819 - Assignment Example In â€Å"Songs of Innocence and Experience†, a collection of poems by Blake, Blake highlights a number of social ills such as the children as laborers as depicted in â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper†, discrimination of races as depicted in the poem â€Å"The Little Black Boy† and poor as sufferers of humanity. According to Blake, the chimneysweepers are unhappy, as they are â€Å"Crying â€Å"weep‘! weep!† in notes of woe† while at work but their parents are happy as they go to church for thanking God . Wordsworth in â€Å"The World is Too Much with Us† explains about the materialistic advancement of humankind. Nature is seen as a commodity. The materialism of society will bring destruction to it and society will be unable to restrict this destruction as â€Å"the winds that will be howling at all hours† without human’s control. Wordsworth sees the material progress and destruction of nature as a socio ill. Shelley describes the state of England in 1819 in his poem, â€Å"England in 1819†. He highlights a number of social ills in his poem that were prevalent in 1819. According to him, the rulers of the state were unable to pay any heed to their people and their country as â€Å"Rulers who neither see nor feel nor know†. The people starved because of the poverty and the nation was not following religion as â€Å"Religion Christless, Godless – a book sealed†. According to Shelley, in 1819, there were a number of social ills faced by the society of England and the nation

Genogram Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Genogram - Essay Example I became overweight as a child and still as an adult. However, my weight never impaired my abilities to function as I have always had many friends. My aunts and uncles on my father’s side exhibit symptoms of poor diet and low activity. Perhaps learning this behavior was modeling others in my family. Yet I have always considered myself to be a happy individual. This pattern was not something I notice until I performed a geneogram. My sister and I both had our first child at a young age. I believe genetics placed an increase stress on both of our pregnancies. My mother, sister and I all carry the gene that is associated with the development of sickle cell. My mother currently suffers from this disease. Knowing that this disease is present in the primarily females in my family brought an increased stress on both mine and my sister’s pregnancies. My niece was later born suffering from sickle cell. My maternal grandparent’s first child died shortly after birth. However, the cause of death was never quite known in full. In further my stress levels were elevated during pregnancy as I had began my second year of college. During this time period I was told that my daughter suffered from Down syndrome. This was concluded through an ultrasound. Due to my religious background I decided that I would not participate in an amniocentesis test or terminate my pregnancy as this is what the doctor advised. A mira culous blessing occurred when I delivered my son via c-section to discover that he did not have down-syndrome, or any form of a disorder. Instead I had a healthy baby that was perhaps the greatest blessing in my life. Perhaps I am most thankful for the religious upbringing my family provided me. If it were not for these religious beliefs I may not have had the greatest blessing in my life, my son. Further examination of my geneogram demonstrates the strong genetic tendencies towards diabetes exhibited in my paternal genetic composition. The genetic tendencies

Fast Talking Dame Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Fast Talking Dame - Movie Review Example At present, the theory of Fast Talking Dames has been restricted to some of TV shows only, in which women use verbal means of communication more than action scenes. Now a days the role of women in films is on the concept that she can do anything that a man can do. As in Salt, Angellina Jolie performed as leading character of the movie, which went after a traitor who charged her of working as a Russian spy. Similarly, in Colambiana, Zoe Saldana, who after watching the assassination of her parents, grew up as cold assassin. In both of the movies quoted as example, the role played by female actresses is more masculine in nature. The concept of Fast Talking Dames has almost diminished in today’s cinema. It can only be seen in some of the TV shows or in the movies of 1930s, 40s era. Moreover, the audience too, like to see the female actresses in action scenes rather than spending time in dialogues and lighter comic

Perceptions of cultural distance

Perceptions of cultural distance An Evaluation of Close neighbours and distant friends-perceptions of cultural distance Introduction Due to managing across cultures happening in enterprises which operate in different countries and different regions, there must be a certain issue referred to as cultural distance. There is a paper on cultural distance (Chapman, et al., 2007) with a huge amount of research on how cultural distance influence the understanding amongst managers from Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland. The researchers divided the three nationalities into German/Polish, and UK/Polish as contrasts, and then they interviewed the members of the different nationalities separately to get empirical data. After the qualitative, interpretive analyzing, they combined the historical data and found that even though the Polish culture is remarkably different from the German and the British, Poland and the UK perceive themselves as close, whereas Poland perceives Germany as different (Chapman, et al., 2007). In this paper, I try to evaluate the research paper in three main parts; an examination of the theoretical framework, a discussion of research methods adopted, and an assessment of the wider implications (Sliwa, 2009). The researchers said in the end of paper that they hope their approach may help managers to manage across cultures. I think the efficient approach is to respect cultural differences and to try to narrow cultural distance. Theoretical Framework First of all, the researchers have analyzed Hofstedes works which are broadly cited in literature relating to international business and international management (Hofstede, 1991). They use cultural dimensions theory to divide the three countries, in order to compare and analyze them clearly and efficiently. However, they found that Hofstedes dimensions are simplications of the research. In my opinion, Hofstedes culture rankings of these three countries are too weak and inappropriate. The data collected by Hofstede trace back to thirty years ago, which is a little behind the times of today (Schneider and Barsoux, 2003). Even though his research involved more than 40 different countries, it was still restricted to one company (IBM), and the interviewees were almost managers, not normal employees. This made some people (especially in other multinational corporations) think that the research is not comprehensive and lacks from persuasion. After all, every large multinational company has its own corporate culture which would influence the results of managing in different cultures. Hofstedes research is a static research which does not refer to the analysis of cultural evaluation and influential aspects of cultural values. Secondly, the researchers adopt Shenkars (2001: 523-524) theory about four illusions of cultural distance to support the paper. Conventionally, people think that a German manager faces the same cultural distance with Polish colleagues in Germany as a Polish manager faces in Poland. This assumption caused by illusion of symmetry is not supported. We can also see that the differences of UK/Polish and differences of German/Polish are symmetrical, but more complex and subtle (Chapman, et al., 2007). The researchers mentioned the illusion of causality and cited that small cultural distances without anticipation could cause bigger problems than those large cultural distances with a forewarning. I agree that the mention and citation do not serve each other right. The illusion of causality is mainly about interpreting other non-cultural factors which influence the FDI pattern, sequence, and performance (Shankar, 2001: 524). Chapman et al (2007) creates a concept called the illusion of neutra lity. I think this is a brilliant idea. It is true that when the two countries (e.g. Germany and Poland) get evolved in political dispute or warfare, they can hardly treat each other neutrally. As a result, some small cultural differences matter. For other countries (e.g. the UK and Poland), who have no conflict of interests, they can ignore or tolerate the large cultural differences. But in relation to the illusion of stability, we can find that the cultural distance could not be constant. In other words, the neutral perceptions of cultural distance between the UK and Poland will change over time, as well as the intense perspectives of cultural distance between Germany and Poland. Last but not least, the researchers mainly focus on studying perception, and that is ethnographic in character (Chapman, et al., 2007). For that reason, the concept of psychic distance should be distinguished form cultural distance. When the managers from Germany, the UK, and Poland deal with each other, they always consciously or unconsciously believe in and depend on their own conceptions. The reasons are that they were taught what is right or wrong, what is responsible or responsible, what is altruistic or materialistic, etc. On this point, the indivisible relationship of our own culture makes us born with an ethnocentric tendency which results in psychic distance. Research approach The researchers used a qualitative, interpretive research strategy and focused on analyzing the managerial perceptions (Chapman, et al., 2007). In order to discover the opinions of German, British and Polish managers who participated in international business activities, the researchers adopted in-depth interviews to collect data. There were 63 face-to-face interviews, and the respondents were general managers from 12 companies in Germany, the UK and Poland. I think usage of the qualitative methodological approach to study this cultural distance topic is an appropriate way because it is more flexible. The open-ended questions gave these managers more opportunities to say in their own words their genuine feelings about working with their foreign colleagues. The researchers do not need to anticipate the answers, in that way, they have a chance to use probe (Family Health International, 2009) to encourage the respondents to elaborate on their answers. The transparency (Bryman and Bell, 2007: 424) of this qualitative research is satisfying. For instance, it tells us how the people were chosen for interviews, as well as the specific process of qualitative data analysis. To some extent, the problems of generalization limit the research. The two contrasts, three countries, twelve companies, 63 face-to-face interviews and unknown age, gender, religion belief, etc. are a bit restricted to represent other settings. Moreover, they employed a snowballing technique (Marschan, 1996), which might neglect some executives who are low-profile. As the authors said in the paper, they use Microsoft Word to deal with the long transcripts to organize themes. Sometimes they would inevitably add a few personal conceptions when they organize data. This would cause the research to become too subjective. Researchers Findings and Conclusions What the researchers have found mainly reveals that the cultural distance among Germany, the UK, and Poland is different on the individual managerial experience level. The relationship between Germany and Poland is close but tense, and the UK and Poland have a relative distant but easy relationship. Therefore, Chapman, et al. (2007) concludes that cultural distance is both created and interpreted by the perceivers, and the creation and interpretation are influenced by experience and history. I think the empirical evidence written in the paper does not reflect the tight relationship between German managers and Polish managers. The authors considered the influences of the war too much, and subjectively judge that the relationship between Germans and Polish is tense. Besides, the German managers are much more familiar with Polish managers, compared to the British and the Polish. It is interesting that the perceptions of German and British to Polish are quite similar in the fig.1 and fig . 3 (Chapman, et al., 2007). Their conclusion is a different angle to interpreting the cultural distance. I argue that the interviewee sample the researchers chose cannot be generalized to the other settings (Bryman and Bell, 2007: 423). The historical issues could have some impact on the interactions of individuals, but it should be added that historical problems have less influence on the younger generation. With the process of cultural globalisaion and integration of different cultures, cultural distance is reduced remarkably. Implications for individuals involved in cross-cultural management: As the researchers said in the article, they hoped international business managers because of certain historical circumstances could understand the unfriendliness of others, but not be hurt by it. It is true that the experiences of countries might influence ones attitude when he or she works with foreign colleagues. Therefore, when a person starts to deal with international business, it is important to understand cultural distance and the influence on behaviors caused by it. The influences will be prominent on the level of individual managerial practice. People always come across various kinds of problems at the time they work in different cultural contexts. It is because people have different world views and modes of thinking because different culture backgrounds. Due to the diversiform modes of thinking, peoples views of the problems are from different angles, the styles and methods of solutions are disparate, inevitably, the setbacks, conflicts, and projects failure are coming aft er each insists his own views (Holliday, Hyde, and Kullman, 2004). To avoid the unnecessary conflicts and misunderstandings, the international managers have to identify and appreciate the other members values and faith, and realize that cultural differences have influence on enterprises interior mechanism. Reference Chapman, M., Mattos, H.G., Clegg, J. and Buckley, P.J. (2007). Close neighbours and distant friends-perceptions of cultural distance. International Business Review, 17(2008), 217-237. Bryman, A. Bell, E. (2007). Business Research Methods 2nd Ed, New York: Oxford University Press. Family Health International. (2009). Qualitative Research Methods Overview. [Online] Available at: http://www.fhi.org/NR/rdonlyres/etl7vogszehu5s4stpzb3tyqlpp7rojv4waq37elpbyei3tgmc4ty6dunbccfzxtaj2rvbaubzmz4f/overview1.pdf [Accessed 13 Nov. 2009]. Sliwa, M. (2009). Managing Across Cultures. [Handout] September 2009 ed. Newcastle: Newcastle University. Hofestede, G. (1991). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. London: McGrw-Hill. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J. (2003). Managing Across Cultures. 2nd ed. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Shenkar, O. (2001). Cultural distance revisited: Towards a more rigorous conceptualization and measurement of cultural differences. Journal of International Business Studies, 32(3), 519-535 third quarter. Marschan, R. (1996). New structural forms and inter-unit communication in multinationals. The case of Kone elevators. Ph.D. Thesis. Helsinki: Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration. Holliday, A., Hyde, M. and Kullman, J. (2004). Intercultural communication: An Advanced Resource Book. London: Routledge press.

Human Resource Managementa Case Study Essay -- Personnel Management

Human Resource Managementa Case Study Management of Human Resources-Assignment Introduction: In order to critically assess and recommend alternatives, I would like firstly to give a brief description of the business crisis the company was facing and the subsequent need for change in the company’s overall business strategy. I would then like to focus on the key aspects of the firm’s human resources strategy and the changes that were made in order to supplement the overall changes in the business strategy. Business Crisis: International Computers Limited (ICL) was born in 1968 out of the merger between English Electric Computers (EEC) and International Computers and Tabulators. With  £40 million of government support it developed over a period of 6 years, an independent series of computers that was incompatible with IBM computers. IBM had garnered a 50% share of the UK computer market and the government felt the only way to stem this growth was through the integration of British high tech firms. With the government as one of its major customers and through several strategic acquisitions and product diversifications during the 1970’s, the company managed to achieve growth rates of around 20%. But this growth did not continue for long as the recession struck in 1979 and growth rates spiralled. By late 1980 the company was facing a  £100 million shortfall in orders, in spite of having taken some major redundancy procedures. The firm was on the verge of bankruptcy when the government agreed to a ct as a guarantor for a  £270 million bank overdraft. The government subsequently exercised its power of guarantee by installing a new chairman and two new directors, one of who was Robb Wilmott, the new MD. Wilmott was a perceptive man who realised that the only way ICL was going to survive was by planning for the long-term and this was to be achieved by formulating a new product strategy and a complete change in the way it did business. Sparrow P 1995 International Computers Limited (ICL) In: Hiltrop J, Sparrow P (eds.) European Casebook on Human Resource and Change Management Prentice Hall, pp 110-122 Downsizing: The rapidly changing global environment with regard to competition and technological advances in the industry and ICL’s subsequent decision to shift from hardware to total systems differentiation, led the MD to pursue a new strategy based ... ...and Lorenz. 1994a) discusses the main problems associated with the implementation of this structure, including the possibility of role conflict, power struggles with regard to establishment of authority, inappropriate decision making techniques and difficulty in establishing accountability. Though it may be argued that every form of organisational structure has both strong and weak points, maybe a structure that is applicable to the environmental context, as well as having fewer disadvantages attached to could be applied. My personal view would be implementation of a structure based on product grouping, which in essence is similar to the matrix, but appears to posses fewer disadvantages. Reference:  · Sparrow P 1995 International Computers Limited (ICL) In: Hiltrop J, Sparrow P (eds.) European Casebook on Human Resource and Change Management Prentice Hall, pp 110-122 Bibliography: 1. Armstrong M 1999 A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice 7th edn. Kogan Page, London 2. McKenna E 2000 Business Psychology And Organisational Behaviour 3rd edn. Psychology Press 3. Handy C 1995 Gods Of Management 4th edn. Arrow Books Ltd