The Role of Stakeholders in the Indigenous Employment Program of Rio Case Study

The Role of Stakeholders in the Indigenous Employment Program of Rio Tinto - Case Study Example The company has been steadfast in creating employment opportunities for the indigenous people in Australia. A majority of these people are of aboriginal origins, but some of them belong to other tribes or sub-tribes. Since most of its major operations and plants are located in rural or remote areas, Rio Tinto feels obligated to return the favor by promoting the development of those areas. The only way it is capable of doing this is by creating space for those people in their company. This gives indigenous people the opportunity to secure the futures of current and future generations, and move away from the mainly subsistence form of life they are used. In this day and age, it is worrying to know that there are people who are so close, yet so far, to civilization. What Rio Tinto is doing is bringing civilization to the indigenous people of Australia, and there is nothing better than what they are doing at the moment. It is worth noting that the company is not solely focused on just employing indigenous people. It supports (through educational grants and other forms of support) individuals from indigenous communities who have the potential to make positive changes in society. This makes a lot of sense because if its only intention was to employ people it would be unable to find enough people to employ. For example, if the company wanted indigenous people to form ten percent of its total workforce and only managed to realize a five percent figure, where would the other five percent come from? Rio Tinto’s strategy is based on spot, supporting, training and then employing individuals from indigenous communities. This ensures that its conveyor belt does not run dry, and keeps churning out skilled and qualified personnel. For many years, the indigenous peoples of Australia were maligned, ridiculed, scorned and mistreated2. This however changed with the passing and signing into law of several legislations that made it mandatory for indigenous people to be accorded their full rights as lawful citizens of Australia.

International Trade Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International Trade - Research Paper Example The competition effects in bestowing more reasonable goods or services to the customers. The trade of products and services also influences the global economic structure in relation to demand and supply, accessibility and availability of goods and services to the prospective customers around the globe (Grimwade 1-50). Thesis Statement The paper intends to briefly discuss about international trade and its historical background. The different problems, benefits and the present day standing with regard to international trade have also been highlighted within this study. History of International Trade With regard to the historical concept, international trade can be stated as the basic notion of trading which had been conducted by Great Britain in the early part of 15th century. The European commenced to explore the trading activities through seas to discover new trade ways to the Asian market. With the similar context, the Portuguese explored England, Spain, and France and Africa set ac ross the Atlantic Ocean and discovered colonies as the new market place for trade. During the 17th century, the industrial revolution had occurred in Great Britain and it facilitated it as a stronger trading nation through supplying goods to those targeted colonies and purchased valuable raw materials from those dependencies (Meier, â€Å"Theoretical Issues Concerning the History of International Trade and Economic Development†). During the period of 17th and 18th century, â€Å"mercantilism† emanated in Europe to perform trade in a systematic body involving consideration dedicated to explore the trade beyond the national boundaries. According to the concept of mercantilism, the trade should operate in a balanced way during the export and the import of goods or services. The favorable â€Å"balance of trade† consigns the equal value of exported and imported goods that are to be exchanged among the territories. However, trade among the regions was evaluated to be advantageous due to its capability to derive value to the domestic goods which surpassed the cost of imported goods, which is a key concept of â€Å"balance of trade†. With this concern of trade revolution, the theory of Adam Smith has fundamentally developed the economic thoughts with regard to international trade. According to the Smith’s economic theory, financial growth of a country highly depends upon proper categorization and distribution of workers. The categorization performed according to skill and experience which is effective for an organization to produce more products from the existing resources and it is one of the major influences for the company to attain higher standard of income. The division of workers is also important to allocate them according to the growth and the structure of the market. With this concern, the practice of such trading activities is more advantageous to increase national economic growth along with generating a feasible growth on the world’s economy as well (Irwin, â€Å"A Brief History of International Trade Policy†). Problems of International Trade International trade activity often brings with it certain difficulties. During the process of trade on a global basis, companies can face difficulties in terms of quality as well as international competitiveness with regard to their produced

Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 196

Essay Example t there is a functional structure that groups people with similar abilities and competences taking up defined roles and functions within the organization. It would be noted that as part of focus strategy, the institution will be seeking to offer customized services that meet the unique needs of customers (Sprigings and Allen, 2007). Such customized and focused services can however not come if round pegs are put in square holes. By rightly placing the human resource therefore, it will be possible to improve the institution’s overall efficiency. What is more, the use of focus generic strategy is expected to bring about and offer financial sustainability as it is to double as a means by which the hospital becomes competitive by gaining the needed competitive advantage to compete with competitor. As the focus strategy comes on board, the organization will no longer be concerned just about customers who come to the institution to do business with it. Rather, it will be expected that the right customers, marketing niche and product lines are found that come directly under the focus of the institution. As a tool for gaining competitive advantage and for that matter financial growth, the focus strategy ensures that most places within the market where competitors have abandoned are areas that are focused on for market expansion (Berkowitz, 2010). By doing this, financial stability can be said to be guaranteed given the fact that those newly identified markets will become a nursery financial outflow for the institution where it can fall on for its future growth. With all the above said, an important realization is that by bringing on board the focus business strategy, the company will be opening itself up to addressing the needs of stakeholders more directly. This is because as stated earlier, the emphasis of the focused strategy will be to serve customized services. Meanwhile, the hospital has never functioned in isolation but with the joint efforts and collaboration of

Critically appraise the advantages and disadvantages of mainstream, Essay

Critically appraise the advantages and disadvantages of mainstream, resources and special school provision in meeting the needs of children who are deaf - Essay Example on the level of knowledge and skills of each student, it is a common practice for some schools to include deaf students in regular classes (Web Citation, 2010). Depending on the ability of deaf students to cope with the challenges of learning in a regular class, deaf students who are unable to compete with other students will be transferred to special education facilities (Wisconsin Education Association Council, 2010). One of the advantages of allowing the deaf students to be included in the mainstream is that it boosts the self-confidence of deaf students rather than classifying them as someone with learning disability when placed in a special education facility (National Research Center on Learning Disabilities, 2010). As part of having equal opportunity to learn and receive higher academic accomplishment, deaf students are given access to learning resources from direct instruction used in a typical educational setting. As a result of exposing deaf students with the regular students, deaf students are more prepared to have better abilities in terms of functioning normally when they start working after graduation since deaf students are able to carefully observe how people socializes within a normal environment (Meyer & Poon, 2001; Wolfberg, 1999). On the side of the normal students, this group of individuals learns how to tolerate and gain more understanding with regards to the physical state of deaf students (Suomi, Collier, & Brown, 2003). Considering this point of view, there is a minimized risk for students with no physical or mental disabilities to discriminate deaf students. As the students learn to communicate and build friendship with deaf children, teachers and parents have reported some positive outcomes in terms of enabling the child to become more helpful to others as they learn to build a more diverse social networks and be more patience in dealing with other people who are born with or without any forms of mental, physical and emotional

EXAM PREPARATION (MARKETING RESEARCH) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

EXAM PREPARATION (MARKETING RESEARCH) - Essay Example For a company that wants to differentiate its existing products or to innovate, the marketing department has to conduct exploratory research. With this research design, the marketing department will see how its customers respond to these new products in terms of their attitudes to buy these products or their feedback about its features, quality and utility etc. Most innovative firms such as Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Vodafone etc almost always used exploratory research design to further discover new ideas. Apple Inc used exploratory research to develop iPod, by learning about how consumers wanted a portable device that could play favorite songs with increased volume quality and with ample storage capacity. Exploratory marketing research can help the researcher identify strategic management practices, financial or auditing approaches, marketing opportunities that may lead the company to achieve competitive advantage etc. Basically, the exploratory research is to provide the researcher w ith preliminary information about the problem or the opportunity to be studied. Descriptive research design attempts to obtain data that can describe the characteristics of the topic of interest in the research. Descriptive research is mainly designed to help the researcher to determine the frequency with which some incident occurs or to determine the relationship between two variables. This type of research is relatively rigid in nature, because the researcher assumes certain underlying characteristics of the market or he has some precise question of the statement of the research. Marketing management of a company may have to study about seasonal trends that affect their marketing. Descriptive research is the appropriate design for this type of research. Descriptive research is frequently used by companies to segment the potential market. With segmentation, the marketer initially identifies

Pilot fatigue as a causal factor in aviation accidents Essay Example for Free

Pilot fatigue as a causal factor in aviation accidents Essay This paper aims to delve into the processes and effects of pilot fatigue and its role as a causal factor in aviation accidents. Pilot fatigue as a term is hard to define since different kind of people feel it in different ways and in certain degrees. For the purpose of this paper, however, we will define pilot fatigue as a state of mental and physical exhaustion resulting in a decrease in the ability to perform and maintain activities. The paper will examine the causes of pilot fatigue, its effect to pilot performance in the aircraft and its role in causing aviation accidents. The feeling of fatigue is usually associated with two factors; lack of sleep and disruption of the body’s normal circadian rhythm. The occurrence of one or both usually results in a feeling of sleepiness, tiredness and exhaustion. One of the most essential functions in the human body is sleep. Sleep is the main way by which the body receives rest and enables it to resume activities after wakening. The effects of sleep have been almost based mostly on the results felt with and without it. Generally, having the proper amount of sleep, about 6-8 hours, results in a feeling of well being and freshness. Sleep loss means the time getting less sleep than what is required by the body to perform functions effectively upon awakening. The amount of sleep one needs to perform effectively varies per person, with some needing eight hours while others can simply make do with four. If one needs only 4 hours, and he only sleeps two, two hours of sleep loss occurs. The first night of sleep loss may or may not have a perceptible impact on work activities but after cumulative sleep losses, the impact also increases. Sleep is one of the various body processes regulated by our circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm deals with regulating processes based on cycles of night and day. When one alters the circadian rhythm, it disrupts the body’s natural cycle of rest and sleep. (Sanquist, Raby, Forsythe, Carvalhais, 1997) Fatigue effects are generally the body’s way of attempting to get some rest. These include drowsiness, lapsing in and out of sleep, reduced alertness and muscle coordination, loss of concentration and spotty memory. A fatigued person has sluggish movements, slow reaction times and a tendency to lose focus of the task at hand. Graver is the tendency to become unconscious for brief periods of time, neglecting whatever action at hand. (Conway, Mode, Berman, Martin, Hill, 2005) In pilots, any one of these could lead to disaster. However, when a combination of them occurs, the risks rise dramatically. (Caldwell, 2005) Being a pilot exposes one to situations that result in fatigue. The schedule takes it toll. The paperwork and checks that a pilot has to undergo before the flight proper results in stress. However, it is the flight itself which is the main factor for fatigue in pilots. The long flights leave a pilot almost no time for rest, much less sleep. The banality of looking at controls aids in boring the pilot. Also, the travel of the plane may take it across one or more flight zones. One of the main indicators in the circadian rhythm is daylight. Taking a trip across time zones exposes the pilot to varying amounts of daylight in a single day. This is what’s properly known as jet lag. (Petrie, Powell, Broadbent, 2004) A fatigued pilot may find it easy to succumb to the effects of fatigue during a flight. Bourgeois-Bougrine, Carbon, Gounelle, Mollard, Coblentz, 2003) The cabin pressure, the dim lights, the monotonous sounds, all this have the potential to lure a tired pilot to sleep. Although resting periods are prescribed during flight, no relaxing sleep is derived from them. (Samel, Vejvoda, Maass, 2004) Pilots may also succumb to boredom fatigue, when their tasks become dull and monotonous. (Caldwell, 2001) Whatever discipline or training a pilot may have, it is no much to the needs of the body. It is true that as a pilot, one must be at peak alertness and performance. The effect of fatigue disrupts this and would logically lead to a disturbance in pilot activities. Once airborne, pilots must be vigilant in maintaining airspeed, altitude, pitch and course. In landing, they must be sure of themselves and their movements when banking, controlling the flaps and lowering the wheels. (Raymond Moser, 1995) Fatigue can make a pilot fail in any one of these tasks. This can cause aviation accidents. (Goode, 2003) However, data on the subject cannot empirically say what role fatigue plays. The effects of fatigue may be causative to accidents, but these effects can be induced by other means. There have been many cases where pilot error was cited to be the cause of the crash. However the reasons behind those errors may or may not be due to fatigue. Also, even with a fatigued pilot, it is possible to avoid incidents. (Goode, 2003)Co-pilots are in place not just to assist, but when necessary, take over a pilot. Although no empirical data supports fatigue as a major cause of aviation incidents, the fact that it can lead to such events have led aviation industry officials to take precautionary measures to prevent as well as minimize the effect of fatigue and the risks it entails to both passenger and crew. Guidelines regarding scheduling, medication and on air conduct are aimed to reduce pilot fatigue and boredom. (Conway et al. , 2004) Ensuring that the pilot is rested and is free from fatigue does not ensure an incident-free flight, but it does minimize the risks that the effects of fatigue could lead to disaster. (Smith Mason, 2001) Research Log The first step that I did was to identify the topic. I chose fatigue in pilots and its role in accidents since I have often looked up to pilots and wishes to know what happens when they are fatigued when flying. I researched materials relevant to my topic, from books I had to the internet. I began my paper by clearly stating what I wanted to express,as to avoid confusion and backtracking by the reader. The definition of terms was next to aid the reader in digesting the paper. The body consisted of a cause, effect and then role format. I presented the causes with the desire to impress upon the reader that fatigue happens to any one and everyone. I then enumerated the effects of fatigue to show how such a common event can lead to many risks. Next, particular focus was given to the pilots and their susceptibility to conditions leading to fatigue and conducive to its effects. Afterwards, I expressed that the effects of fatigue in pilots can lead to accidents. However, I refrained from directly pressing the role of fatigue since no data supports it directly. I used the effect of fatigue to show that since A causes B, then C which is caused by B is indirectly related to A. Afterwards, I wrapped up the paper with the measures being taken to prevent fatigue as well as a brief concluding statement.

Validity is important to the research process

Validity is important to the research process Sim and Wright, (2000:125) stated that, Validity relates to the truthfulness of data and requires independent knowledge of the true nature or magnitude of the entity. Clinical research scientists are much aware of the need for validity in their research. Validating the treatment is important to determine the efficacy of a treatment as well as effectiveness and the treatment provided and its outcome. It is learnt that in 1957, American Social Scientist Donald Campbell introduced the concepts of internal validity and external validity. The study has an internal validity, when the result of a study demonstrates the existence of a causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Campbell and Stanley, (1963) noted that the internal validity is the basic required accuracy for any experiment. On the other hand, the external validity refers to the extent to which the results of a study or the experiments are made applicable to the population from which the participant in the experiment is drawn. Similarly, as Thomas and Nelson, (1990) noted that the external validity is about the generalizability of the findings. The first part of this essay will discuss the concepts of internal validity and external validity, the causal effect of variables and extraneous variables with examples. In the second part, the essay will critically evaluate the implication of internal and external validity and their relationship. Due to word constraint this essay will focus only on the quantitative research. The experimental (explanatory) research concerned with cause and effect by its nature, internal validity can be discussed within the frame work of quantitative research. Furthermore, Thomas and Nelson, (1990) stated that the cause and effect can be determined by the use of good research knowledge to the experiment design. According to Judd, et al., (1991, cited in French, et al., 2001:16) the internal validity concerns the extent to which conclusions can be drawn about the casual effects of one variable on another. For example, the treatment or a cause (independent variable) such as moist heat which effectively relieves the symptoms of low back pain or an effect (dependent variable). Before establishing a cause-effect relationship, it is important to find the relationship between the treatment and the symptom. The argument is that when treatment is given, the relief in pain (outcome) is observed, but when no treatment is given no outcome is observed. This provides the evidence that, the treatment and the outcome are related. However, it does not provide the evidence that the particular treatment caused the outcome. Perhaps, it may be some other factor caused the outcome rather than the treatment. For example, if the subjects were on pain relieving medication and medication may be the confounding factor in relieving the symptoms of low back pain. If the pain relieving medication factors are not controlled, they will have a confounding influence on the independent variable which threatens the internal validity. However, sometimes it is important to emphasize that the confounding variables cannot be fully controlled. The researcher assumes that there is a casual relationship in the study and claims that, research findings have implication for other groups and individuals in other settings and time. These claims examine the external validity. Polit and Beck, (2008) stated that the external validity is a major concern in quantitative research where there is a diffic ulty in generalizing the result from controlled research settings to real clinical practice settings. For example, findings about a pain relieving treatment in a study of African women cannot be generalized to women in Australia. Finally, it is a researcher decision to design a study to enhance the external validity. The potential threats to the internal validity are history, maturation, testing, instrumentation, statistical regression, selection error and mortality. Threats to the external validity are, selection, setting and time. A few threats are discussed in the following example. A randomised control trial study was conducted by Deyle, et al., (2000), to evaluate the effectiveness of physical therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee. The study concluded that a combination of manual physical therapy and supervised exercise yields functional benefits for patients with osteoarthritis of the knee and may delay or prevent the need for surgical intervention. Even though confounding variables were controlled in this study by using randomisation, treatment and placebo groups, the researcher could not overcome with the threats like maturation and other extraneous variables. During the intervention patients were also on medication and exercises. They were asked to contact the researcher after one year of the intervention for the feedback. The researcher failed to explain whether intervention caused the effect or the medication or due to result of the passage of time. Simultaneously this study lacks the generalizability due to the fact that patients had to have sufficient English language skills and were required to live within a one hour drive from the clinics. Portney and Watkins, (2009:162) stated that, extraneous variables can be controlled by the experimenter by manipulating the independent variable, by random assignment of subjects to the groups and by using a control or comparison group within the design. Masking or blinding is also be used in many quantitative research studies to prevent the bias and to strengthen the internal validity. The external validity can be strengthened by selecting the sample which represents the population and there by applying the findings to a broader group. Similarly in the representative of clinical settings where the study takes place and th e findings can be applied to strengthen the other settings. It was stated by Polit and Beck, (2008) that multisite study results are confident enough in attaining the generalizability, if the results have been replicated in several sites where the study involves a heterogeneous sample. The relationship between the internal validity and external validity refers to the famous researchers Campbell and Stanley, (1963) statement that, often external validity sacrificed if the researcher concentrates on the internal validity. It is learnt from the literatures that, many researchers have given importance to the internal validity in their studies. However, in an applied area of clinical research, the purpose is to improve the health of the public and it is also important that the external validity be emphasized and strengthened. It is true that, the researcher implements more control measures to increase the internal validity, the experiment will become more artificial and thereby the external validity suffers or decreases. Cronbach, (1982) argued that, if a treatment is expected to be relevant to a broader context, the causal inference must go beyond the specific conditions. If the study lacks generalizability, then the so-called internally valid causal effect is useless to decision makers. Polit and Beck, (2008) noted that there are many differences between the countries in methods of diagnosis and management, as well as important racial differences in susceptibility to disease and natural history of the disease. Differences between health-care systems can affect the external validity. In an article, Efficacy and Effectiveness Trials (and Other Phases of Research) in the Development of Health Promotion Programs Flay, (1985) proposes a model that emphasizes the internal and external validity at different stages of the research process and that would lead to the translation of research to practice. In a controlled experiment like randomized control trials of public health interventions, efficacy trials have a high internal validity but often have the liability of low external validity. But, effectiveness trials have a high external validity. Historically, researchers have tended to focus on maximizing the internal validity. The idea is that the inter ventions should work under highly controlled conditions than its implication to the different population groups, organizations, or settings. Similarly, Polgar and Thomas, (2008) noted that funding organizations and journals have tended to be more concerned with the scientific rigor of intervention studies than with the generalizability of results. The consequence of this emphasis on internal validity led to lack of attention to and information about external validity, which has contributed to the researchers failure to translate the study into the general population. Thus, the progress from efficacy trials to effectiveness trials has not become a reality because of the time and cost involved in the process of research to practice. As a result of the failure of this model, practitioners are often unable to determine whether the given studys findings can apply to their local setting, population or resources. However, there are several reasons for the lack of information on external va lidity being an important contributor to the failure to translate research into public health practice. Policy and administrative decision-makers are unable to determine the generalizability or breadth of applicability of research findings. In addition Hamersley, (1991) criticised that the distinction between the internal and external validity is fundamentally misleading because it reflects a failure to distinguish relations between events and relations between variables. Polit and Beck, (2008) noted that in the recent studies researchers are interested in promoting designs that aim to achieve a balance between internal and external validity in a single intervention study. Such practical (or pragmatic) clinical trials or studies attempt to maximize external validity with the smallest possible negative effect of internal validity. For example, Thomas, et al., (2006) conducted a study on randomised control trial of short course of traditional acupuncture compared with usual care of pe rsistent non-specific low back pain. The study concluded that referral to a qualified traditional acupuncturist for a short course of treatment seems safe and acceptable to patients with low back pain. However, the generalizability of this study finding rests on the assumption that participating acupuncturists, general practitioners, and patients in York are similar to those found elsewhere. According to Polit and Beck (2008), in health care research RE-AIM framework has been formed by Russell. E. Glasgow in 2006 to design and to evaluate the intervention research. It involves a scrutiny of five aspects of study like, reach, efficacy, adoption, implementation and maintenance. It may help in improving the generalizability of the research study or enhance the external validity. An Importance of an internal validity or the external validity is a controversial topic in the research community. Campbell and Stanley, (1963) stated that, a good study should be strong in both types of validi ty. The internal validity is indispensable and essential while the question of external validity is never completely answerable. In other words, Campbell and Stanleys statement implies that the internal validity is more important than the external validity. However a study with no external validity still found true relationship for the sample that was studied. For example, if the researcher conducts a study on Bangladeshi farmers in the Afghan region, the findings of the study cannot be generalize to the Chinese horticulturist in the Malaya region. But researcher still knows more about the Bangladeshi farmers. In conclusion, it is understood that, the internal validity and the external validity plays an important role in the scientific research. The internal validity establishes the truth about inferences regarding cause-effect or causal relationship. The external validity establishes the truth of conclusion that involve generalisation. As internal and external validity are fundamental to any experimental research, the researcher should aware of threatening factors. In quantitative research, the use of randomisation and the control groups reduces the threats to internal validity. Meanwhile, sample selection and settings in the research helps in controlling the threats to external validity. The strength of internal and the external validity of a study can help researchers to evaluate the relative importance of that study in an overall program of research. To balance the validity, researcher should conduct a study that emphasizes the internal validity (efficacy studies) and undertake effecti veness studies that emphasize the external validity. The internal validity and the external validity are important to building an evidence based study in the clinical research. A clear definition of concepts involved in the experiment not only ensures its validity, but also increases the chances that it could be used by other researchers wishing to carry out a follow-up or similar investigation.