Workplace drug testing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Workplace drug testing - Assignment Example According to the SAMSHA Office of Applied Studies, 8.4 % of the US workforce in 2007 were users of drugs and almost the same percent were reported heavy users of alcohol (cited in US DOL, 2010, p.2). The bottomline impact of such statistics is that the employee, his/ her co-workers and the business itself sustains losses as a result of a poor performance by a drug dependent. Therefore, there is a compelling reason to do drug testing like urinalysis or blood tests in order to deter and prevent substance abuse in workers, not just in public institutions but in all private and public businesses. Today, the law mandates that all companies dealing with the government should have a drug-free workplace (US DHHS, SAMSHA, 1994, p.1). Some states also have their own laws on drug testing, but the focus is on companies that deal with the State. I believe that a drug-free workplace program, i.e., urinalysis drug tests and blood tests, should be enforced on all workplaces regardless of public or private transactions with the government. Where substance abuse is deterred, employees who truly are under the influence will seek employment where such behaviour can be tolerated. Thus, the program will not be effective if there will be companies left that can tolerate substance abuse. According to Larson, et al. (2007), 90% of workers that are elicit drug users or alcohol abusers work for small and medium-sized businesses (cited in US DOL, 2010, p.2). Yet most of these businesses are not mandated, not organized and resourced enough to have a sustainable drug-free workplace programs. Since sm all businesses make up a significant part of the society, they should get all the help they can from the government, more so on the aspect of drug abuse enforcement. There is already an existing law on drug applicable to public institutions and to effectively combat drug abuse in society, this existing law on drug testing should just be expanded to

The Sub Processes Of Perception

The Sub Processes Of Perception The perceptual process of individuals passes through several sub-processes. They are stimulus or situation, registration, interpretation, feedback, behavior, and consequence. Stimulus or situation is the first sub-process in the process of perception. Here people are confronted with an external or internal stimulus. As a result, they might experience an immediate sensual stimulation or the confrontation may take place with the entire physical and socio-cultural environment. In Registration, the individuals record in their minds the stimulus they have received from the environment. Physiological mechanisms such as listening, hearing, etc. play an active role in the perception of individuals. During Interpretation, people analyze the stimulus they have received. It is a cognitive process that is influenced by learning, motivation, and personality. Feedback is the response individuals receive from the stimulus i.e. environmental situations. Feedback has an impact on the perception of individuals. For instance, if employees receive appreciation (feedback) from the manager for their work, then they perceive that the manager is satisfied with their performance. Registration, interpretation, and feedback occur within a person and are in response to a given stimulus from the external environment. These sub-processes lead to a certain behavior by the individual, which again leads to a certain consequence. Role of perception in decision making in manufacturing sector Manufacturing is the backbone of any industrialized nation. Recent worldwide advances in manufacturing technologies have brought about a metamorphism in the industry. Fast-changing technologies on the product front have created a need for an equally fast response from manufacturing industries. To meet these challenges, manufacturing industries have to select appropriate manufacturing strategies, product designs, manufacturing processes, work piece and tool materials, and machinery and equipment. The selection decisions are complex as decision making is more challenging today. Decision makers in the manufacturing sector frequently face the problem of assessing a wide range of options and selecting one based on a set of conflicting criteria. Decision Making in the Manufacturing Environment will be very useful to decision makers in the manufacturing sector as it makes decision making easier, more logical, systematic, efficient and effective. It is intended for designers, manufacturing engineers, practitioners, managers, institutes involved in design and manufacturing related projects, applied research workers, academics, and graduate students in mechanical, industrial, and manufacturing engineering. Organizations rely heavily on the choices made for their success. The right choices can bring triumph and negative choices can cause failure. Perception plays a very important role in the choices individuals make. People make decisions every day, every hour and every minute based on the perceptions they interpret. Perception can cause several people to make wrong choices based on false information. In an organization incorrect decisions can cause a great deal of negative effects. Perception plays a vital role in the choices humans make. People make decisions every day, every hour and every minute based on the perceptions they construe. Each individual perceives situations, places, people and so forth with ones own five senses. However, what one perceives is not always accurate. Peoples perceptions can be misleading and can cause negative effects. Perception can cause numerous people to make the wrong choices based on non-factual information. In organizations wrong decisions can cause a tremendous amount of negative effects. Therefore, it is extremely important to understand perception; how ones perception of others impacts an organizations behavior; the positive and negative effects of using perceptive shortcuts when judging others; how decisions in real world organizations are made; and how perceptions shape ones ethical decisions. Q1. Whether companies consider perception before decision Making? Ans.: Direct Attention Thinking Tools (DATT) is now Power of Perception. DATT gives us 10 simple strategies for sharpening an individuals perception and focusing our thinking in a more comprehensive, effective, and efficient way. DATT tools will enable us to have a broad and inclusive viewpoint. Using the DATT tools helps we can create a framework for defining a situation and improves our ability to consider consequences before we take action. So companies should consider perception before decision making with the help of DATT. Q2. How does perception affects decision making? Ans.: 1. Individuals in organizations make decisions; they make choices from among two or more alternatives. Top managers determine their organizations goals, what products or services to offer, how best to finance operations, or where to locate a new manufacturing plant. Middle- and lower-level managers determine production schedules, select new employees, and decide how pay raises are to be allocated. Non-managerial employees also make decisions including whether or not to come to work on any given day, how much effort to put forward once at work, and whether or not to comply with a request made by the boss. A number of organizations in recent years have been empowering their non-managerial employees with job-related decision-making authority that historically was reserved for managers. Decision-making occurs as a reaction to a problem. There is a discrepancy between some current state of affairs and some desired state, requiring consideration of alternative courses of action. The awareness that a problem exists and that a decision needs to be made is a perceptual issue. 3. Every decision requires interpretation and evaluation of information. The perceptions of the decision maker will address these two issues. Data are typically received from multiple sources. Which data are relevant to the decision and which are not? Alternatives will be developed, and the strengths and weaknesses of each will need to be evaluated. Q3. Why perception is included in the process of decision making? Ans.: Perception is a cognitive process by which individuals organize, interpret, and understand their surroundings and environment which also includes impressions formed objects, events, and people. In the process of making decisions, we must fully understand the situation along with its facts to come to a resolution. Without consuming all the factors, the wrong decision may be made. Every decision requires interpretation and evaluation of information. The perceptions of the decision maker will address these two issues. Perception in manufacturing sector Indias manufacturing sector has registered a balanced growth across different industries over the last six months with even the old economy companies turning the corner, says a new study. The CII manufacturing-ASCON survey, carried out by the Associations Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), states that 65 percent of the companies in 125 sectors tracked have been registering growth during the last six months. The Indian economy is poised to reap the benefits that come with a strong manufacturing base in an economy. The relentless emphasis that Indian companies have placed on continuously enhancing design and engineering skills, building new capabilities for product and technology innovation and in leveraging resources from around the world to provide value to customers are contributing in transforming Made in India into a global brand. The India advantage is fast changing from that of cost arbitrage to include sustainable factors such as skilled labour, design and research and development capability, a large consuming middle class, besides a growing and liberalizing economy, states the survey for April-September 2006. The manufacturing sector is clearly benefiting from this changing perception. In fact, manufacturing in India is now acquiring a whole new dimension. While many low-end jobs are being outsourced to India, the manufacturing sector is also turning into the design and manufacturing hub of the world. Be it industrial robot manufacturer Gudel or auto giant BMW or South Korean consumer goods giant LG, India has become a key manufacturing destination for a large number of global players. It is already a preferred destination for the manufacture of auto components, bulk drugs and producer services such as software, finance and several others. The manufacturing sector had recorded a growth of 9.1 percent in 2005-06, compared to 9.2 percent in the previous year. This is being strengthened quarter-on-quarter during the current fiscal. The manufacturing sector seems set to enhancing its share in the GDP to the targeted 30 percent. CONCLUSION The Perception and Reality of Business Effectiveness The Perception of Business Effectiveness Lets talk about the perception and reality of business growth. You know the difference between perception and reality. Perception gives you an impression. Reality is the experience of the truth of the matter. Reality is what counts. Perception/impression may not to give you results that you would expect, or like. The perception of where your company is with regard to growth is based on your increasing sales and profitability, the company perspective of itself, and it as compared to your competition and industry standard. You could ask yourself What is the perception of my corporate growth?, Is my corporate growth bringing me the long-term results I am looking for? And, what are the costs of my company not fulfilling its growth potential? It is important to note here that the reality of a companys achievement and growth could be quite different based on another perspective. The perception of your business condition could be deceiving, and could include a number of unseen losses. Your perception is verified by its comparison to another perspective. Opportunity Analysis We can focus on a companys position by asking these questions What is the perception of how we are doing as a company? How can I see what to do to know where to go to do better? What would it take to improve the outcome of my results? What would the reality look like of what I could achieve? How would the improved results put the company in a more profitable and secure position? Am I committed to produce the results I envision? What can I do now to start gaining better business results? What we are addressing here is turning a perception into a new reality by understanding where we are at and creating a path to a reality of improved business development and greater profitability results. The Reality of Business Effectiveness Cutting Costs and Building Profitability As we know building profitability can often be focused on cutting costs. The problem and limitation to building profitability by cutting costs is that you can only cut costs until you have no more costs to cut, and then you might be out of business. Obviously you cannot build company growth on out of business; you cannot build company growth on cutting costs. You can build on opportunities. The key is seeing the opportunities and knowing how to address them. In perceiving opportunities the forest and the trees, the being to close to see it, can come into play. The advantage of an outside business development professional is that they can see the opportunities clearer. A business development professional unveils possibilities for companies by revealing business building opportunities through the background of extensive business experience and a natural talent in business clarity and ideas, coupled with a valuable outside perspective, that creates business results that are effective looking in from outside of the current perception. Creating improved business outcomes for company growth requires a prudent combination of successful cost consciousness and business building that provides the most effective long-term profitability results. At a last, perception is very important for decision making in manufacturing business it also help in sustaining and attaining goals of business ..

Race and the American Criminal Justice System: The O.J. Simpson Case :: Sociology Racism Prejudice Essays

Race and the American Criminal Justice System: The O.J. Simpson Case Historically racism has pervaded the administration of justice in America and Canada. Racial biases against blacks are still apparent today through the many different arenas of the criminal justice system. Black Americans argue that they are treated unequally and more brutally than whites at all levels in the criminal justice system. As a result of this unequal treatment blacks are more likely to be arrested, charged, convicted and receive longer sentences then whites for the same crimes. Black Americans make up about 12% of the US population and they account for more then 30% of all arrests, 44% of all prisoners and 40% of prisoners on death row (Hunt, 1999:74). The racial problem exists in many forms within the criminal justice system and most of this racial disparity can be attributed to the practices of the prosecution and more particularly the police. The unequal treatment of blacks within the justice system becomes evident through various forms of police misconduct such as excessive use of force against blacks, harassment, planting and falsifying evidence and police perjury. Most of these issues were brought to question in the criminal court case against O. J. Simpson, who was arrested and charged with the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman. The question of race was addressed in the high profile court case of O.J. Simpson when Simpson's lawyer, Johnnie Cochran took a Critical Race Theory position in defence of his client (Aylward, 1999:68). Cochran believed that racism was a central issue to the case and it was revealed primarily by detective Mark Fuhrman of the LAPD in a white supremacist form. Fuhrman was the detective who uncovered most of the evidence that connected Simpson to the murders. The defence's argument was that detective Fuhrman, motivated by his hatred of blacks, had planted the blood on O.J.'s bronco and the bloody glove at the Simpson's residence in order to incriminate him for the crime. In order to prove Fuhrman's racial hatred and willingness to fabricate evidence, Cochran wanted to introduce evidence of thirty incidents where detective Fuhrman used racial epithets ("nigger") and eighteen examples of his misconduct contained in audio tapes that Fuhrman had made (Aylward, 1999:69). The court did not allow this evidence to be admitted but did allow for the defence to put three witnesses on the stand to testify to the racist attitudes they had experienced from detective Fuhrman.

 Tablets versus Textbooks Essay

One in three adults own a tablet. As tablets are becoming more and more common a new debate has formed over whether K-12 school districts should switch from print textbooks to digital textbooks on tablets. The first benefit of digital textbooks is that students will have new information at their fingertips. The second benefit is that high level education prefers tablets. The negative about having a tablet is that many people don’t have wi-fi. As you can see, the benefits out-weigh the negatives by far and there really should be no debate. On a tablet e-textbooks can be updated instantly to get new editions or information. Schools will not have to constantly buy new copies, which few public schools buy due to the high prices of textbooks. Most public schools still have history books from when Bush was president. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that, â€Å"too many students are using books that are 7-10 years old with outdated material.† Subjects are especially beneficiary to subjects that constantly change, such as Science and History. On e-textbooks new editions and new information can be constantly at your fingertips. High-level education officials prefer tablets over textbooks. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Federal Communications Commission chair Julius Genachowski said on February 1, 2012 that schools and publishers should â€Å"switch to digital textbooks within five years to foster interactive education, save money on books, and ensure classrooms in the US use up-to-date content.† The federal government, in collaboration with several tech organizations, released a seventy-page guide for schools called the â€Å"Digital Textbook Playbook,† a â€Å"roadmap for educators to accelerate the transition to digital textbooks.† Some say that using tablets is more expensive than using print textbooks. Putting tablets in K-12 schools involves buying the tablet and the textbooks, building new wi-fi structures, and training administrators how to use the technology. Costs for e-textbooks on IPad tablets are 552% higher than new print textbooks in an average high school. A prominent education marketing expert Lee Wilson, estimated the annual cost per student per year to be seventy-one dollars and fifty-five cents versus fourteen dollars and twenty-six cents for print textbooks. Although, this is true they are thinking of the now and not keeping in mind the later. Right now, yes that much money will be spent but in the long haul it will add up to save you money. Just in a year E-textbooks can save schools between two-hundred and fifty dollars and one thousand dollars per student per year. Also, tablet prices are dropping as the years go by, making them even more affordable. Tablets cost on average four-hundred and eighty-nine dollars in 2011, three hundred and eighty-six dollars in 2012, and are projected to cost two hundred and sixty-three dollars in 2015. In the end using tablets is less expensive than using textbooks. As times are changing it’s important that we roll with the times. Using tablets in school will help supply students with new information all the time and high level education prefers them. Some may have wrong interpretations of them being more expensive than textbooks but as you read, they are not. Clark, Alli. â€Å"Online Textbooks: Friend or Foe? – Private Tutoring and Test Prep – Educational Connections.† Private Tutoring and Test Prep Educational Connections. N.p., 3 Sept. 2013. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. â€Å"LEAD Commission.† Lead Commission, Np., Nd. Web 27, September 2013. Long, Julie. â€Å"IT Solutions Blog.† 9 Benefits Of Classroom Technology: Ebooks. N.p., 28 June 2013. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.

How to create a civilization

How to create a new civilization In the past, civilizations have been created. For example the Roman Empire was a very successful one. The Romans discovered many Ideas that we as a civilization, still use today. The empire did not appear over night. It took many years for It to obtain Its foothold In the world. To start building a collocation many people are needed for the task. People such as civil servants and workers are required.Call servants are seed to create a government that Is stable enough to create Jobs for people, keep the peace, and uphold laws. Workers are required to build buildings and service the city In any way necessary. These people will provide homes for the residence and public offices for the civil servants. Once there are basic buildings, a town center should be built so that people can gather for public speeches and other information they might need. A form of currency should also be created so that people can make money from the jobs that they do.The governm ent can use this currency to help the people start their lives. This currency would be used to buy and sell goods. Eventually this will create an economy. Once a stable city has been built, a voting system should be put in place to allow the people to vote on changes in the city. An example of a change would be that the people might want a new street put in. They would then be able to give a vote to the government which will then go with the majority of the votes. The government will have the choice to make a change or not make a change pending on their budget.Also the government will have to issue taxes to the residence of the city so they can have a stable amount of income. The poor will not how to create a civilization By Justine-Chasing very successful one. The Romans discovered many ideas that we as a civilization, still use today. The empire did not appear over night. It took many years for it to obtain its foothold in the world. To start building a civilization many people ar e needed for the task. People such as civil servants and workers are required.Civil servants are used to create a government that is stable enough to create Jobs for people, keep the peace, and uphold laws. Workers are required to build buildings and service the city in any way necessary. These people will provide homes for the residence and public offices for the civil servants. Once there are basic buildings, a town center should be from the Jobs that they do. The government can use this currency to help the people put in place to allow the people to vote on changes in the city. An example off