Business Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Business - Research Paper Example the major scholarly concern, and employees must realize that the success of their work heavily depends on how well they recognize, understand, analyze, and apply their knowledge of orality and literacy in practice. It is essential to determine how the first language acquisition and orality set the stage for the successful transition children from preschool to school environments; to understand and evaluate the changes that occur to literacy and orality in children in school environments; the impact of literate communities on the development of orality and literacy in individuals, including children; to evaluate the impact of family and social surrounding on how children treat language (Minami, 2002). That the first language acquisition and the development of orality in children sets the stage for the subsequent development of written language is difficult to deny, and the students in this module should be able to assess and discuss the changes that occur to orality and literacy in children’s transition from home to preschool. Here, the role of family is determining and even crucial, for it is in families that cultural socialization of preschool children takes place. Thus, students must realize that as soon as the child is sent to school, the emphasis of cultural socialization shifts from family to school environments and the latter become the major sources of language development and make children reshape their experiences and language patterns (Minami, 2002). Few employees possess knowledge and skills necessary to distinguish between orality and literacy and to explain conditions necessary for literacy to develop and sustain. Obviously, â€Å"whenever human beings exist they have a language, and in every instance a language that exists basically as spoken and heard, in the world of sound† (Ong, 2002), but even the richness of gesture cannot disrupt the link between literacy and oral speech language – even sign languages used by the deaf heavily rely on

Effectiveness of Support for Children in Homeless Families

Effectiveness of Support for Children in Homeless Families The whole issue of parents and children in need is a vast, complex and ethically challenging one. This review is specifically charged with an examination of those issues which impinge upon the stresses and strains that are experienced by parents of children in need. A superficial examination of these issues that are involved in this particular area would suggest that there are a number of â€Å"sub-texts â€Å"which can all give rise to this particular situation. Firstly, to have child in need is clearly a stressful situation for any parent.(Meltzer H et al. 1999) This can clearly be purely a financial concern and a reflection of the fact that the whole family is in financial hardship, perhaps due to the economic situation or perhaps due to the actions of the parents themselves. Equally the need of the child can be a result of anon-financial need, so we should also consider the child who is in some way handicapped, ill, emotionally disturbed or perhaps in need in some other way. This produces another type of stress on the parent, and these stresses are typically longer lasting and, in general, less easily rectified than a purely financial consideration of need. (Hall D1996). It is part of the basic ethos of the welfare state that it should look after its less able and disadvantaged members. (Welsh Office 1997).Parents of children in need will often qualify in this definition. We shall therefore examine the various aspects of this problem. Literature Review Effectiveness of family support for children in homeless families We will make a start by considering one type of child in need. The first paper that we will consider is that of Prof. Vostanis (Vostanis2002), which looks at the mental health problems that are faced by deprived children and their families together with the effectiveness of the resources that are available to them. It is a well written and well researched paper, if rather complex and confusing in places. We will consider this paper in some detail as it provides an excellent overview of the whole area. The paper starts with a rather useful definition for our purposes. It qualifies the deprived child, initially in terms of a homeless family, that being : A family of any number of adults with dependent children who are statutorily accepted by local authorities (housing departments) in teak, and are usually accommodated for a brief period in voluntary agency, local authority or housing association hostels. This period of temporary accommodation can vary enormously depending on the time of year and the area considered, and can range from a few days to perhaps several months. The target in Greater London is currently storehouse homeless families within 4-6 weeks. In London particularly, the homeless families can be placed in Bed Breakfast accommodation.(D of H 1998) In this respect, the immediate family support mechanisms do appear tube in place. Vostranis however, goes on to make the observation that despite the fact that the definition of the homeless family is rather broad, it does not cover all of the potential children in need, as those children and their carers who have lost their homes but have managed to live with relatives, on the streets or perhaps live as travellers, are not covered by the statutory obligation to provide housing. The official figures therefore, he observes, are generally an underestimate of the true situation. The official figures for the homeless families are put (in this paper) at 140,000. (Vostanis Cumella, 1999) The authors give us further information in that many families will become homeless again within one year of rehousing and the typical family seen is the single mother and at least two children who are generally under the age of 11 yrs. They also observe that the typical father and adolescent child tend to be placed in homeless centres. (Doff H 1995) In exploration of the particular topic that we are considering, the authors give us the situations that typically have given rise to the degree of parental stress that may have led to the homelessness. They point to the fact that a homeless family is usually homeless for different reasons to the single homeless adult. Vostanis (et al 1997)is quoted as showing that 50% of the cases studied were homeless as direct result of domestic violence and 25% as a result of harassment from neighbours. The authors observe that the numbers in this category(and therefore the problems), are rising. (Welsh Office 1999). There are a number of section to this paper which are not directly referable to our considerations. We shall therefore direct our attention purely to those parts that have a direct bearing on the subject. One particularly useful and analytical part of the paper is the section that details the characteristics and needs of the target group. This is a very detailed section, but it makes the point that the children in need in this group are particularly heterogeneous, generally all with multiple and inter-related needs. Homelessness is seldom a one off event. This particular observation, (say the authors),is crucially important for the development and provision of services. Most families have histories of previous chronic adversities that constitute risk factors for both children and parents (Bassuk et al,1997). Such events include family conflict, violence and breakdown; limited or absent networks for family and social support; recurring moves; poverty; and unemployment. Mothers are more likely to have suffered abuse in their own childhood and adult life and children have increased rates of placement on the at-risk child protection register, because of neglect, physical and/or sexual abuse. If we specifically consider the health needs of this population, the authors categorise them thus: The children are more likely to have a history of low birthweight, anaemia, dental decay and delayed immunisations, to be of lower stature and have a greater degree of nutritional stress. They are also more likely to suffer accidents, injuries and burns. (BPA 1999) Some studies have found that child health problems increase with the duration of homelessness, although this finding is not consistent. Substantial proportion of homeless children have delayed development compared with the general population of children of a similar chronological age. This includes both specific developmental delays, such as in receptive and expressive language and visual, motor and reading skills, as well as general skills and educational status (Webbet al. 2001). It is for this reason specifically, that it has proved extremely difficult to assess the effectiveness of the family support services because of the multivariate nature of the problems that are presented. The authors point to the fact that one of the prime determinants of the degree of support available, is the actual access that the families have to these services. Many sources (viz. Wilkinson R 1996), equate the poor health of the disadvantaged primarily with the lack of access to services. One immediate difficulty is the current registration system in the UK. In order to be seen in the primary healthcare team setting, one must be registered with a named doctor. In the majority of cases that we are dealing with here, they have moved area and registration is probably not high on their list of priorities. One can argue that there is the access to the A E departments of the local hospitals but there is virtually no continuity here and they arena geared up to provide anything other than immediate treatment. (HallD 1996). This fact restricts their access to primary healthcare team procedures such as immunisations and other preventative medicine health clinics.(Lissauer et al, 1993) . By the same token these groups also have restricted access to the social services, whether they be the access teams, the family teams or the family support units and other agencies. The authors also point to other more disruptive trends in this group such as an inability to attend a particular school for fear of being tracked by an abusive partner. It follows that these children do not have a stable social support of a school. They are denied such factors as peer groups, routines and challenges which are both important protective and developmental factors. (Shankleman J et al2000). The summation of all of these factors, and others, is that the effectiveness of the family support services is greatly reduced by the mobility and the transient nature of the family unit. Quite apart from the difficulties outlined above relating to the problems of access to avenues of help open to the child in need and their families there are the problems engendered by the fact that social service departments indifferent areas of the country may not have immediate access to the previous records giving rise to many potential, and real, problems with continuity of care. This problem is brought into more immediate focus when one considers the increased frequency of child protection registrations in this particular group. (Hall D et al 1998). One specific analysis of the family support services of this particular group comes in the form of the psychiatric services. In the context of the title of this piece, it demonstrates how these particular services,(but not these alone), are failing to deal with the totality of the problem. All of the aspects that we have outlined so far are conspiring to dilute the effectiveness of the services provided. The fact that they are a mobile population with no fixed address means that some of the services may choose to invoke this as a reason for not making provision for them, particularly if resources are stretched. If more resources are given, then they are typically preferentially targeted at the single adult homeless population where the need is arguably greater. The authors of this paper point to the fact that this may not actually be true as some studies have shown that homeless single mothers and their children have a 49% psychopathy rate and only an 11% contact with the support services. (Cumella et al, 1998). The impact of this fact on the children can only be imagined. To an extent however, it can be quantified as the authors cite other studies which show a 30% need rating for children, (they do not actually define exactly what their perceived level of need was), contrasted with a 3% contact rate for children and adolescents in this area. (viz. Power S et al. 1995). Suggestions for improvement Putting these considerations together, the authors outline a set of proposals which are designed to help improve the access to some of the essential services. The model that they propose could, if successful and with a degree of modification, prove suitable for adaptation to other areas of the family support services. It is not appropriate to discuss this model in detail, but suffice it to say that it has tiered structure so that the degree of distress and need is titrated against the degree of input generated. One of the reasons that we have selected this particular paper to present in this context is for its last section. It proposes a â€Å"family support services model† which has been developed and pioneered in the Leicester area. In the context of our review, it is worth considering in some detail. A service provided through a family support team (four family support assistants).This is designed to detect a range of problems at the time of crisis; manage a degree of mental health problems (behavioural and emotional); provide parenting-training; support and train housing(hostel) staff; co-ordinate the work of different agencies; and provide some continuity after rehousing by ensuring intake by appropriate local services. The family workers are based at the main hostel for homeless children and families. Other, predominantly voluntary, services have established alternative posts, such as advocates and key workers. Whatever the title of the post, it is essential that the post-holder has some experience and on-going training in mental health and child protection, so that he or she can hold a substantial case-load, rather than merely mediate between already limited services. The family support workers have direct access to the local child and adult mental health services, whose staff provide weekly outreach clinics. Their role is to work with the family support workers another agencies, assess selected children and families, and provide treatment for more severe problems or disorders such as depression, self-harm and PTSD. A weekly inter-agency liaison meeting at the main hostel is attended by a health visitor, representatives of the local domestic violence service and Sure Start, There are also close, regular links with education welfare and social services. The aim is to effectively utilise specialist skills by discussing family situations from all perspectives at the liaison meeting. A bimonthly steering group, led by the housing department, involves senior managers representing these agencies, as well as the education and social services departments and the voluntary sector, and they oversee and co-ordinate the service. This appears to be something of an exemplar in relation to services provided elsewhere. The paper does not provide any element of costing sin this area neither does it provide any figures in relation to its success rates, contact rates or overall effectiveness. In conclusion this paper is an extremely well written and authoritative overview of the situation relating to the stresses of the homeless parent with children and the effectiveness (or lack of it) in its ability to reduce the stresses experienced by the homeless children in need and their parents. It proposes remedies but sadly it does not evaluate the effectiveness of those remedies. The effectiveness of the support services on families of children with psychiatric morbidity In order to address these shortcomings we can consider another paper by Tickler (et al 2000). This looks at a similar outreach set up which has been designed to capture the families of children in need who might otherwise slip through the net. This paper is written from different perspective and specifically analyses the effectiveness of these services as they pertain to an entry cohort of 40 families. This particular study was set up after preliminary work was done in the Birmingham area with 114 homeless families and this study defined the needs of the families but did not quantify their support systems.(Vostanis et al 1998). This paper set out to identify and measure the support systems available and their effectiveness as far as the families were concerned. The stresses encountered were partly reflected by the incidence of psychiatric morbidity. The mothers in the group were found to have over 50% more morbidity than a matched control group. The children in the group were found to have â€Å"histories of abuse, living in care, being on the at-risk protection register, delayed communication and higher reported mental health problems.† Allot which adds to the general background stress levels. (Kerouac S etal. 1996). This particular study found that despite the psychiatric morbidity in the children, (estimated to be about 30%), and the psychiatric morbidity in the parents, (estimated at about 50%), only 3%of the children and 10% of the parents had had any significant contactor support from the social services. In this respect, this paper is very useful to our purpose as it quantifies the levels of intervention and access to healthcare resources that this particular group has. By any appreciation, it would be considered woefully inadequate in any society that calls itself civilised. In the terms of the title of this piece, the effectiveness of the family support services is minimal. Suggestions for improvement Like the last paper discussed, this one also considered how best to tackle the problem, and this one is of much greater value to us, as it specifies a response, or intervention, to the problem in much the same way as the Vostranis 2002 paper did, but it makes the same measurements as it did prior to the intervention, and therefore allows us an insight into the actual effectiveness of the intervention. The way this particular study worked was to assess the problem (as it has been presented above), devise an intervention strategy and then to measure its effect. This particular study goes to great lengths to actively involve all the appropriate agencies that could help the situation by having a central assessment station that acted as liaison between all of the other resources. In brief, it actively involved liaison with the following: Education, social services, child protection, local mental health services, voluntary and community organisations to facilitate there-integration of the family into the community, and particularly their engagement with local services following rehousing; and training of staff of homeless centres in the understanding, recognition and management of mental illness in children and parents. This is essential, as hostel staff often work in isolation and have little knowledge of the potential severity and consequences of mental health problems in children. It was hoped that, by doing this, it would maximise the impact that the limited resources had on reducing the levels of morbidity and stress in the families of the children in need. Results The post intervention results were, by any estimate, impressive considering the historical difficulty of working with this particular group (OHara M 1995). 40 families (including 122 children) were studied in detail. The paper gives a detailed breakdown of the ethnic and demographic breakdown of the group. By far the biggest group were single mothers and children (72%) The results showed that the majority of referrals were seen between1-3 times (55%), with a further 22% being seen 4-6 times. It is reflection of the difficulty in engaging this type of family in need that over 25% did not actually keep their appointments despite the obvious potential benefits that could have been utilised. The authors investigated this group further and ascertained that a common reason for nonattendance was the perception that the psychological welfare of the children was not actually the main concern. The families perceived that their primary needs were rehousing and financial stability. Other priorities identified were that physical health was a greater priority than mental health. The authors also identify another common failing in the social services provision, and that is the general lack of regular contact. They cite the situation where some families cope well initially, apparently glad to have escaped an abusive or violent home situation, but a prolonged stay in a hostel or temporary accommodation may soon precipitate a bout of depression in the parents and behavioural problems in the children of such parents. (Brooks RM et al 1998). They suggest that regular re-visiting of families who have been in temporary accommodation for any significant length of time should be mandatory. This paper takes a very practical overview by pointing out that workability of the system is, to a large extent, dependent on the goodwill of a number of committed professionals. The authors state that this has to be nurtured and they call for sufficient funding must be given to enable this particular model to be extended to a National level. Thus far in the review we have considered the effectiveness of the service provision in the support of the families of the children in need in one specific target grouping, those who are stressed by virtue of the fact that they are homeless. We will now consider the literature on a different kind of family stress, and that is when a parent dies. This leaves the children with a considerable amount of potential emotional â€Å"baggage† and the surviving parent with an enormous amount of stress. (Webb E 1998). Effectiveness of support services in the case of parental bereavement An excellent paper by Downey (et al 1999) tackles this particular problem with both sensitivity and also considerable rigour. It is a long and complex paper, but the overall aims and objectives are clear from the outset. The structure of the paper is a prospective case study which aims to assess whether the degree of distress suffered by a family during a time of bereavement is in any way linked to the degree of service provision that is utilised. The base line for this study is set out in its first two paragraphs. Parentally bereaved children and surviving parents showed a greater than predicted level of psychiatric morbidity. Boys had greater levels of demonstrable morbidity than did girls, but bereaved mothers showed more morbidity than did bereaved fathers. Children were more likely to show signs of behavioural disturbance when the surviving parent manifested some kind of psychiatric disorder. (Kranzler EM et al 1990). The authors point to the fact that their study shows that the service provision is statistically related to a number of (arguably unexpected[Fristad MA et al 1993]) factors namely: The age of the children and the manner of parental death. Children under 5 years of age were less likely to be offered services than older children even though their parents desired it. Children were significantly more likely to be offered services when the parent had committed suicide or when the death was expected. Children least likely to receive service support were those who were not in touch with services before parental death. Paradoxically the level of service provision was not found to be statistically significantly related to either the parental wishes or the degree of the psychiatric disturbance in either the parent orchid. (Sanchez L et al 1994) The service provision did have some statistical relationships but that was only found to be the manner of the parental death and the actual age of the child at the time. The authors therefore are able to identify a mismatch between the perceived need for support and the actual service provision made. Part of that mismatch is found to be due to the inability of the social services and other related agencies to take a dispassionate overview. Elsewhere in the paper the authors suggest that there are other factors that add to this inequality and they include lack of resources and a lack of specificity in identifying children at greatest risk.(Harrington R 1996) The authors examine other literature to back up their initial precept that bereaved children have greater levels of morbidity. They cite many other papers who have found distress manifesting in the form of â€Å"anxiety, depression, withdrawal, sleep disturbance, and aggression.†(Worden JW et al. 1996) and also psychological problems in later life(Harris T et al. 1996). In terms of study structure, the authors point to methodological problems with other papers in the area including a common failing of either having a standardised measure or no matched control group(Mohammed D et al 2003). They also point to the fact that this is probably the first UK study to investigate the subject using a properly representative sample and certainly the first to investigate whether service provision is actually related to the degree of the problems experienced. The entry cohort involved nearly 550 families with 94 having children in the target range (2-18). With certain exclusions (such as two families where one parent had murdered the other etc.) and no respondents, the final cohort was reduced to 45 families and one target child was randomly selected from each family. It has to be noted that the comparatively large number of on-respondents may have introduced a large element of bias, insofar as it is possible that the families most in need of support were those who were most distressed by the death of a family member and these could have been the very ones who chose not to participate. (Morton V et al2003) The authors make no comment on this particular fact. The authors should be commended for a particularly ingenious control measure for the children. They were matched by asking their schoolteacher to complete an inventory of disturbed behaviour on the next child in the school register after the target child. A large part of the paper is taken up with methodological issues which ( apart from the comments above) cannot be faulted. Results In terms of being children in need, 60% of children were found to have â€Å"significant behavioural abnormalities† with 28% having scores above the 95th centile. In terms of specific service support provision, 82% of parents identified a perceived need for support by virtue of the behaviour of their children. Only 49% of these actually received it in any degree. Perhaps the most surprising statistic to come out of this study waste fact that of the parents who were offered support 44% were in the group who asked for it and 56% were in the group who didn’t want it. The levels of support offered were independent of the degree of behavioural disturbance in the child. Suggestions for improvement As with the majority of papers that we have either presented here or read in preparation for this review, the authors call for a more rationally targeted approach to the utilisation of limited resources. The study also provides us with a very pertinent comment which many experienced healthcare professionals will empathise with, (Black D1996), and that is: Practitioners should also be aware that child disturbance may reflect undetected psychological distress in the surviving parent. While not suggesting that this is a reflection of Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, the comment is a valid reflection of the fact that parental distress may be well hidden from people outside of the family and may only present as a manifestation of the child’s behaviour. (Feldman Met al. 1994) The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are that there is considerable gap in the support offered ( quite apart form the effectiveness of that support) in this area of obvious stress for both parents and children. (Black D 1998). This study goes some way to quantifying the level of support actually given in these circumstances. Effectiveness of support in families where there is domestic violence We have considered the role of the effectiveness and indeed, even the existence, of adequate support services for the children in need and their parents in a number of different social circumstances. The next paper that we wish to present is an excellent review of the support that is given to another specific sub-group and that is women and children who suffer from domestic violence. Webb and her group (etal 2001) considered the problem in considerable (and commendable) depth The study itself had an entry cohort of nearly 150 children and their mothers who were resident in a number of hostels and women’s refuges that had been the victims of family violence at some stage in the recent past. The study subjected the cohort to a battery of tests designed to assess their physical, emotional and psychological health, and then quantified their access to, and support gained from, the primary healthcare teams and other social service-based support agencies. This study is presented in a long and sometimes difficult tread format. Much of the presentation is (understandably) taken up with statistical, ethical and methodological matters – all of which appear to be largely of excellent quality and the result of careful consideration. Results The results make for interesting and, (in the context of this review), very relevant reading. Perhaps one of the more original findings was that nearly 60% of the child health data held by the various refuges was factually incorrect. This clearly has grave implications for studies that base their evidence base on that data set(Berwick D 2005). Of great implication for the social services support mechanisms was the finding that 76% of the mothers in the study expressed concerns about the health of their children. Once they had left the refuge there was significant loss to the follow up systems as 15% were untraceable and25% returned to the home of the original perpetrator. The study documents the fact that this particular group had both high level of need for support and also a poor level of access to appropriate services. In the study conclusions, the authors make the pertinent comment that the time spent in the refuge offers a â€Å"window of opportunity† for the family support services to make contact and to review health and child developmental status. This is not a demographically small group. In the UK, over 35,000children and a parent, are recorded as passing through the refuges each year, with at least a similar number also being referred to other types of safe accommodation. Such measures are clearly not undertaken lightly with the average woman only entering a refuge after an average of 28separate assaults. One can only speculate at the long term effects that this can have on both the mother and the children. Suggestions for improvement In common with the other papers reviewed, this paper also calls for greater levels of support for the families concerned as, by inference, the current levels of effectiveness of the family support services is clearly inadequate. Conclusions This review has specifically presented a number of papers which have been chosen from a much larger number that have been accessed and assessed, because of the fact that each has a particularly important issue or factor in its construction or results. The issue that we have set out to evaluate is the effectiveness of the family support services which are specifically aimed at reducing the stress levels for the parents of children in need. Almost without exception, all of the papers that have been accessed (quite apart from those presented) have demonstrated the fact that the levels of support from the statutory bodies is â€Å"less than optimum† and in some cases it can only be described as â€Å"dire†. Another factor that is a common finding, is that, given the fact that any welfare system is, by its very nature, a rationed system, the provision of the services that are provided is seldom targeted at the groups that need it the most. One can cite the Tickler (et al 2000)and Downey (et al 1999) papers in particular as demonstrating that substantial proportion of the resources mobilised are actually being directed to groups that are either not requesting support or who demonstrably need it less than other sectors of the community. Some of the papers (actually a small proportion) make positive suggestions about the models for redirecting and targeting support. Sadly, the majority do little more than call for â€Å"more research to be done on the issue†. In overview, we would have to conclude that the evidence suggests that the effectiveness of the family support services in reducing stress and poverty for the parents of children in need is poor at best and certainly capable of considerable improvement. References Bassuk, E., Buckner, J., Weiner, L., et al (1997) Homelessness in female-headed families: childhood and adult risk and protective factors. American Journal of Public Health, 87, 241–248 1997 Berwick D 2005 Broadening the view of evidence-based medicine Qual. Saf. Health Care, Oct 2005; 14: 315 316. Black D. 1996 Childhood bereavement: distress and long term sequelae can be lessened by early intervention. BMJ 1996; 312: 1496 Black D. 1998 Coping with loss: bereavement in childhood. BMJ 1998; 316: 931-933 BPA 1999 British Paediatric Association. Outcome measures for child health. London: Royal College of Paediatric Effectiveness of Support for Children in Homeless Families Effectiveness of Support for Children in Homeless Families The whole issue of parents and children in need is a vast, complex and ethically challenging one. This review is specifically charged with an examination of those issues which impinge upon the stresses and strains that are experienced by parents of children in need. A superficial examination of these issues that are involved in this particular area would suggest that there are a number of â€Å"sub-texts â€Å"which can all give rise to this particular situation. Firstly, to have child in need is clearly a stressful situation for any parent.(Meltzer H et al. 1999) This can clearly be purely a financial concern and a reflection of the fact that the whole family is in financial hardship, perhaps due to the economic situation or perhaps due to the actions of the parents themselves. Equally the need of the child can be a result of anon-financial need, so we should also consider the child who is in some way handicapped, ill, emotionally disturbed or perhaps in need in some other way. This produces another type of stress on the parent, and these stresses are typically longer lasting and, in general, less easily rectified than a purely financial consideration of need. (Hall D1996). It is part of the basic ethos of the welfare state that it should look after its less able and disadvantaged members. (Welsh Office 1997).Parents of children in need will often qualify in this definition. We shall therefore examine the various aspects of this problem. Literature Review Effectiveness of family support for children in homeless families We will make a start by considering one type of child in need. The first paper that we will consider is that of Prof. Vostanis (Vostanis2002), which looks at the mental health problems that are faced by deprived children and their families together with the effectiveness of the resources that are available to them. It is a well written and well researched paper, if rather complex and confusing in places. We will consider this paper in some detail as it provides an excellent overview of the whole area. The paper starts with a rather useful definition for our purposes. It qualifies the deprived child, initially in terms of a homeless family, that being : A family of any number of adults with dependent children who are statutorily accepted by local authorities (housing departments) in teak, and are usually accommodated for a brief period in voluntary agency, local authority or housing association hostels. This period of temporary accommodation can vary enormously depending on the time of year and the area considered, and can range from a few days to perhaps several months. The target in Greater London is currently storehouse homeless families within 4-6 weeks. In London particularly, the homeless families can be placed in Bed Breakfast accommodation.(D of H 1998) In this respect, the immediate family support mechanisms do appear tube in place. Vostranis however, goes on to make the observation that despite the fact that the definition of the homeless family is rather broad, it does not cover all of the potential children in need, as those children and their carers who have lost their homes but have managed to live with relatives, on the streets or perhaps live as travellers, are not covered by the statutory obligation to provide housing. The official figures therefore, he observes, are generally an underestimate of the true situation. The official figures for the homeless families are put (in this paper) at 140,000. (Vostanis Cumella, 1999) The authors give us further information in that many families will become homeless again within one year of rehousing and the typical family seen is the single mother and at least two children who are generally under the age of 11 yrs. They also observe that the typical father and adolescent child tend to be placed in homeless centres. (Doff H 1995) In exploration of the particular topic that we are considering, the authors give us the situations that typically have given rise to the degree of parental stress that may have led to the homelessness. They point to the fact that a homeless family is usually homeless for different reasons to the single homeless adult. Vostanis (et al 1997)is quoted as showing that 50% of the cases studied were homeless as direct result of domestic violence and 25% as a result of harassment from neighbours. The authors observe that the numbers in this category(and therefore the problems), are rising. (Welsh Office 1999). There are a number of section to this paper which are not directly referable to our considerations. We shall therefore direct our attention purely to those parts that have a direct bearing on the subject. One particularly useful and analytical part of the paper is the section that details the characteristics and needs of the target group. This is a very detailed section, but it makes the point that the children in need in this group are particularly heterogeneous, generally all with multiple and inter-related needs. Homelessness is seldom a one off event. This particular observation, (say the authors),is crucially important for the development and provision of services. Most families have histories of previous chronic adversities that constitute risk factors for both children and parents (Bassuk et al,1997). Such events include family conflict, violence and breakdown; limited or absent networks for family and social support; recurring moves; poverty; and unemployment. Mothers are more likely to have suffered abuse in their own childhood and adult life and children have increased rates of placement on the at-risk child protection register, because of neglect, physical and/or sexual abuse. If we specifically consider the health needs of this population, the authors categorise them thus: The children are more likely to have a history of low birthweight, anaemia, dental decay and delayed immunisations, to be of lower stature and have a greater degree of nutritional stress. They are also more likely to suffer accidents, injuries and burns. (BPA 1999) Some studies have found that child health problems increase with the duration of homelessness, although this finding is not consistent. Substantial proportion of homeless children have delayed development compared with the general population of children of a similar chronological age. This includes both specific developmental delays, such as in receptive and expressive language and visual, motor and reading skills, as well as general skills and educational status (Webbet al. 2001). It is for this reason specifically, that it has proved extremely difficult to assess the effectiveness of the family support services because of the multivariate nature of the problems that are presented. The authors point to the fact that one of the prime determinants of the degree of support available, is the actual access that the families have to these services. Many sources (viz. Wilkinson R 1996), equate the poor health of the disadvantaged primarily with the lack of access to services. One immediate difficulty is the current registration system in the UK. In order to be seen in the primary healthcare team setting, one must be registered with a named doctor. In the majority of cases that we are dealing with here, they have moved area and registration is probably not high on their list of priorities. One can argue that there is the access to the A E departments of the local hospitals but there is virtually no continuity here and they arena geared up to provide anything other than immediate treatment. (HallD 1996). This fact restricts their access to primary healthcare team procedures such as immunisations and other preventative medicine health clinics.(Lissauer et al, 1993) . By the same token these groups also have restricted access to the social services, whether they be the access teams, the family teams or the family support units and other agencies. The authors also point to other more disruptive trends in this group such as an inability to attend a particular school for fear of being tracked by an abusive partner. It follows that these children do not have a stable social support of a school. They are denied such factors as peer groups, routines and challenges which are both important protective and developmental factors. (Shankleman J et al2000). The summation of all of these factors, and others, is that the effectiveness of the family support services is greatly reduced by the mobility and the transient nature of the family unit. Quite apart from the difficulties outlined above relating to the problems of access to avenues of help open to the child in need and their families there are the problems engendered by the fact that social service departments indifferent areas of the country may not have immediate access to the previous records giving rise to many potential, and real, problems with continuity of care. This problem is brought into more immediate focus when one considers the increased frequency of child protection registrations in this particular group. (Hall D et al 1998). One specific analysis of the family support services of this particular group comes in the form of the psychiatric services. In the context of the title of this piece, it demonstrates how these particular services,(but not these alone), are failing to deal with the totality of the problem. All of the aspects that we have outlined so far are conspiring to dilute the effectiveness of the services provided. The fact that they are a mobile population with no fixed address means that some of the services may choose to invoke this as a reason for not making provision for them, particularly if resources are stretched. If more resources are given, then they are typically preferentially targeted at the single adult homeless population where the need is arguably greater. The authors of this paper point to the fact that this may not actually be true as some studies have shown that homeless single mothers and their children have a 49% psychopathy rate and only an 11% contact with the support services. (Cumella et al, 1998). The impact of this fact on the children can only be imagined. To an extent however, it can be quantified as the authors cite other studies which show a 30% need rating for children, (they do not actually define exactly what their perceived level of need was), contrasted with a 3% contact rate for children and adolescents in this area. (viz. Power S et al. 1995). Suggestions for improvement Putting these considerations together, the authors outline a set of proposals which are designed to help improve the access to some of the essential services. The model that they propose could, if successful and with a degree of modification, prove suitable for adaptation to other areas of the family support services. It is not appropriate to discuss this model in detail, but suffice it to say that it has tiered structure so that the degree of distress and need is titrated against the degree of input generated. One of the reasons that we have selected this particular paper to present in this context is for its last section. It proposes a â€Å"family support services model† which has been developed and pioneered in the Leicester area. In the context of our review, it is worth considering in some detail. A service provided through a family support team (four family support assistants).This is designed to detect a range of problems at the time of crisis; manage a degree of mental health problems (behavioural and emotional); provide parenting-training; support and train housing(hostel) staff; co-ordinate the work of different agencies; and provide some continuity after rehousing by ensuring intake by appropriate local services. The family workers are based at the main hostel for homeless children and families. Other, predominantly voluntary, services have established alternative posts, such as advocates and key workers. Whatever the title of the post, it is essential that the post-holder has some experience and on-going training in mental health and child protection, so that he or she can hold a substantial case-load, rather than merely mediate between already limited services. The family support workers have direct access to the local child and adult mental health services, whose staff provide weekly outreach clinics. Their role is to work with the family support workers another agencies, assess selected children and families, and provide treatment for more severe problems or disorders such as depression, self-harm and PTSD. A weekly inter-agency liaison meeting at the main hostel is attended by a health visitor, representatives of the local domestic violence service and Sure Start, There are also close, regular links with education welfare and social services. The aim is to effectively utilise specialist skills by discussing family situations from all perspectives at the liaison meeting. A bimonthly steering group, led by the housing department, involves senior managers representing these agencies, as well as the education and social services departments and the voluntary sector, and they oversee and co-ordinate the service. This appears to be something of an exemplar in relation to services provided elsewhere. The paper does not provide any element of costing sin this area neither does it provide any figures in relation to its success rates, contact rates or overall effectiveness. In conclusion this paper is an extremely well written and authoritative overview of the situation relating to the stresses of the homeless parent with children and the effectiveness (or lack of it) in its ability to reduce the stresses experienced by the homeless children in need and their parents. It proposes remedies but sadly it does not evaluate the effectiveness of those remedies. The effectiveness of the support services on families of children with psychiatric morbidity In order to address these shortcomings we can consider another paper by Tickler (et al 2000). This looks at a similar outreach set up which has been designed to capture the families of children in need who might otherwise slip through the net. This paper is written from different perspective and specifically analyses the effectiveness of these services as they pertain to an entry cohort of 40 families. This particular study was set up after preliminary work was done in the Birmingham area with 114 homeless families and this study defined the needs of the families but did not quantify their support systems.(Vostanis et al 1998). This paper set out to identify and measure the support systems available and their effectiveness as far as the families were concerned. The stresses encountered were partly reflected by the incidence of psychiatric morbidity. The mothers in the group were found to have over 50% more morbidity than a matched control group. The children in the group were found to have â€Å"histories of abuse, living in care, being on the at-risk protection register, delayed communication and higher reported mental health problems.† Allot which adds to the general background stress levels. (Kerouac S etal. 1996). This particular study found that despite the psychiatric morbidity in the children, (estimated to be about 30%), and the psychiatric morbidity in the parents, (estimated at about 50%), only 3%of the children and 10% of the parents had had any significant contactor support from the social services. In this respect, this paper is very useful to our purpose as it quantifies the levels of intervention and access to healthcare resources that this particular group has. By any appreciation, it would be considered woefully inadequate in any society that calls itself civilised. In the terms of the title of this piece, the effectiveness of the family support services is minimal. Suggestions for improvement Like the last paper discussed, this one also considered how best to tackle the problem, and this one is of much greater value to us, as it specifies a response, or intervention, to the problem in much the same way as the Vostranis 2002 paper did, but it makes the same measurements as it did prior to the intervention, and therefore allows us an insight into the actual effectiveness of the intervention. The way this particular study worked was to assess the problem (as it has been presented above), devise an intervention strategy and then to measure its effect. This particular study goes to great lengths to actively involve all the appropriate agencies that could help the situation by having a central assessment station that acted as liaison between all of the other resources. In brief, it actively involved liaison with the following: Education, social services, child protection, local mental health services, voluntary and community organisations to facilitate there-integration of the family into the community, and particularly their engagement with local services following rehousing; and training of staff of homeless centres in the understanding, recognition and management of mental illness in children and parents. This is essential, as hostel staff often work in isolation and have little knowledge of the potential severity and consequences of mental health problems in children. It was hoped that, by doing this, it would maximise the impact that the limited resources had on reducing the levels of morbidity and stress in the families of the children in need. Results The post intervention results were, by any estimate, impressive considering the historical difficulty of working with this particular group (OHara M 1995). 40 families (including 122 children) were studied in detail. The paper gives a detailed breakdown of the ethnic and demographic breakdown of the group. By far the biggest group were single mothers and children (72%) The results showed that the majority of referrals were seen between1-3 times (55%), with a further 22% being seen 4-6 times. It is reflection of the difficulty in engaging this type of family in need that over 25% did not actually keep their appointments despite the obvious potential benefits that could have been utilised. The authors investigated this group further and ascertained that a common reason for nonattendance was the perception that the psychological welfare of the children was not actually the main concern. The families perceived that their primary needs were rehousing and financial stability. Other priorities identified were that physical health was a greater priority than mental health. The authors also identify another common failing in the social services provision, and that is the general lack of regular contact. They cite the situation where some families cope well initially, apparently glad to have escaped an abusive or violent home situation, but a prolonged stay in a hostel or temporary accommodation may soon precipitate a bout of depression in the parents and behavioural problems in the children of such parents. (Brooks RM et al 1998). They suggest that regular re-visiting of families who have been in temporary accommodation for any significant length of time should be mandatory. This paper takes a very practical overview by pointing out that workability of the system is, to a large extent, dependent on the goodwill of a number of committed professionals. The authors state that this has to be nurtured and they call for sufficient funding must be given to enable this particular model to be extended to a National level. Thus far in the review we have considered the effectiveness of the service provision in the support of the families of the children in need in one specific target grouping, those who are stressed by virtue of the fact that they are homeless. We will now consider the literature on a different kind of family stress, and that is when a parent dies. This leaves the children with a considerable amount of potential emotional â€Å"baggage† and the surviving parent with an enormous amount of stress. (Webb E 1998). Effectiveness of support services in the case of parental bereavement An excellent paper by Downey (et al 1999) tackles this particular problem with both sensitivity and also considerable rigour. It is a long and complex paper, but the overall aims and objectives are clear from the outset. The structure of the paper is a prospective case study which aims to assess whether the degree of distress suffered by a family during a time of bereavement is in any way linked to the degree of service provision that is utilised. The base line for this study is set out in its first two paragraphs. Parentally bereaved children and surviving parents showed a greater than predicted level of psychiatric morbidity. Boys had greater levels of demonstrable morbidity than did girls, but bereaved mothers showed more morbidity than did bereaved fathers. Children were more likely to show signs of behavioural disturbance when the surviving parent manifested some kind of psychiatric disorder. (Kranzler EM et al 1990). The authors point to the fact that their study shows that the service provision is statistically related to a number of (arguably unexpected[Fristad MA et al 1993]) factors namely: The age of the children and the manner of parental death. Children under 5 years of age were less likely to be offered services than older children even though their parents desired it. Children were significantly more likely to be offered services when the parent had committed suicide or when the death was expected. Children least likely to receive service support were those who were not in touch with services before parental death. Paradoxically the level of service provision was not found to be statistically significantly related to either the parental wishes or the degree of the psychiatric disturbance in either the parent orchid. (Sanchez L et al 1994) The service provision did have some statistical relationships but that was only found to be the manner of the parental death and the actual age of the child at the time. The authors therefore are able to identify a mismatch between the perceived need for support and the actual service provision made. Part of that mismatch is found to be due to the inability of the social services and other related agencies to take a dispassionate overview. Elsewhere in the paper the authors suggest that there are other factors that add to this inequality and they include lack of resources and a lack of specificity in identifying children at greatest risk.(Harrington R 1996) The authors examine other literature to back up their initial precept that bereaved children have greater levels of morbidity. They cite many other papers who have found distress manifesting in the form of â€Å"anxiety, depression, withdrawal, sleep disturbance, and aggression.†(Worden JW et al. 1996) and also psychological problems in later life(Harris T et al. 1996). In terms of study structure, the authors point to methodological problems with other papers in the area including a common failing of either having a standardised measure or no matched control group(Mohammed D et al 2003). They also point to the fact that this is probably the first UK study to investigate the subject using a properly representative sample and certainly the first to investigate whether service provision is actually related to the degree of the problems experienced. The entry cohort involved nearly 550 families with 94 having children in the target range (2-18). With certain exclusions (such as two families where one parent had murdered the other etc.) and no respondents, the final cohort was reduced to 45 families and one target child was randomly selected from each family. It has to be noted that the comparatively large number of on-respondents may have introduced a large element of bias, insofar as it is possible that the families most in need of support were those who were most distressed by the death of a family member and these could have been the very ones who chose not to participate. (Morton V et al2003) The authors make no comment on this particular fact. The authors should be commended for a particularly ingenious control measure for the children. They were matched by asking their schoolteacher to complete an inventory of disturbed behaviour on the next child in the school register after the target child. A large part of the paper is taken up with methodological issues which ( apart from the comments above) cannot be faulted. Results In terms of being children in need, 60% of children were found to have â€Å"significant behavioural abnormalities† with 28% having scores above the 95th centile. In terms of specific service support provision, 82% of parents identified a perceived need for support by virtue of the behaviour of their children. Only 49% of these actually received it in any degree. Perhaps the most surprising statistic to come out of this study waste fact that of the parents who were offered support 44% were in the group who asked for it and 56% were in the group who didn’t want it. The levels of support offered were independent of the degree of behavioural disturbance in the child. Suggestions for improvement As with the majority of papers that we have either presented here or read in preparation for this review, the authors call for a more rationally targeted approach to the utilisation of limited resources. The study also provides us with a very pertinent comment which many experienced healthcare professionals will empathise with, (Black D1996), and that is: Practitioners should also be aware that child disturbance may reflect undetected psychological distress in the surviving parent. While not suggesting that this is a reflection of Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, the comment is a valid reflection of the fact that parental distress may be well hidden from people outside of the family and may only present as a manifestation of the child’s behaviour. (Feldman Met al. 1994) The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are that there is considerable gap in the support offered ( quite apart form the effectiveness of that support) in this area of obvious stress for both parents and children. (Black D 1998). This study goes some way to quantifying the level of support actually given in these circumstances. Effectiveness of support in families where there is domestic violence We have considered the role of the effectiveness and indeed, even the existence, of adequate support services for the children in need and their parents in a number of different social circumstances. The next paper that we wish to present is an excellent review of the support that is given to another specific sub-group and that is women and children who suffer from domestic violence. Webb and her group (etal 2001) considered the problem in considerable (and commendable) depth The study itself had an entry cohort of nearly 150 children and their mothers who were resident in a number of hostels and women’s refuges that had been the victims of family violence at some stage in the recent past. The study subjected the cohort to a battery of tests designed to assess their physical, emotional and psychological health, and then quantified their access to, and support gained from, the primary healthcare teams and other social service-based support agencies. This study is presented in a long and sometimes difficult tread format. Much of the presentation is (understandably) taken up with statistical, ethical and methodological matters – all of which appear to be largely of excellent quality and the result of careful consideration. Results The results make for interesting and, (in the context of this review), very relevant reading. Perhaps one of the more original findings was that nearly 60% of the child health data held by the various refuges was factually incorrect. This clearly has grave implications for studies that base their evidence base on that data set(Berwick D 2005). Of great implication for the social services support mechanisms was the finding that 76% of the mothers in the study expressed concerns about the health of their children. Once they had left the refuge there was significant loss to the follow up systems as 15% were untraceable and25% returned to the home of the original perpetrator. The study documents the fact that this particular group had both high level of need for support and also a poor level of access to appropriate services. In the study conclusions, the authors make the pertinent comment that the time spent in the refuge offers a â€Å"window of opportunity† for the family support services to make contact and to review health and child developmental status. This is not a demographically small group. In the UK, over 35,000children and a parent, are recorded as passing through the refuges each year, with at least a similar number also being referred to other types of safe accommodation. Such measures are clearly not undertaken lightly with the average woman only entering a refuge after an average of 28separate assaults. One can only speculate at the long term effects that this can have on both the mother and the children. Suggestions for improvement In common with the other papers reviewed, this paper also calls for greater levels of support for the families concerned as, by inference, the current levels of effectiveness of the family support services is clearly inadequate. Conclusions This review has specifically presented a number of papers which have been chosen from a much larger number that have been accessed and assessed, because of the fact that each has a particularly important issue or factor in its construction or results. The issue that we have set out to evaluate is the effectiveness of the family support services which are specifically aimed at reducing the stress levels for the parents of children in need. Almost without exception, all of the papers that have been accessed (quite apart from those presented) have demonstrated the fact that the levels of support from the statutory bodies is â€Å"less than optimum† and in some cases it can only be described as â€Å"dire†. Another factor that is a common finding, is that, given the fact that any welfare system is, by its very nature, a rationed system, the provision of the services that are provided is seldom targeted at the groups that need it the most. One can cite the Tickler (et al 2000)and Downey (et al 1999) papers in particular as demonstrating that substantial proportion of the resources mobilised are actually being directed to groups that are either not requesting support or who demonstrably need it less than other sectors of the community. Some of the papers (actually a small proportion) make positive suggestions about the models for redirecting and targeting support. Sadly, the majority do little more than call for â€Å"more research to be done on the issue†. In overview, we would have to conclude that the evidence suggests that the effectiveness of the family support services in reducing stress and poverty for the parents of children in need is poor at best and certainly capable of considerable improvement. References Bassuk, E., Buckner, J., Weiner, L., et al (1997) Homelessness in female-headed families: childhood and adult risk and protective factors. American Journal of Public Health, 87, 241–248 1997 Berwick D 2005 Broadening the view of evidence-based medicine Qual. Saf. Health Care, Oct 2005; 14: 315 316. Black D. 1996 Childhood bereavement: distress and long term sequelae can be lessened by early intervention. BMJ 1996; 312: 1496 Black D. 1998 Coping with loss: bereavement in childhood. BMJ 1998; 316: 931-933 BPA 1999 British Paediatric Association. Outcome measures for child health. London: Royal College of Paediatric

Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice Essay -- Jane Austen Sen

Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen's characters always undergo an event that morally changes their being. In Sense and Sensibility this moral change is obvious in Elinor and Marianne. The development of these adolescents into mature, reasonable adults is a gradual transformation seen in Sense and Sensibility. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy begin Pride and Prejudice as arrogant and biased adults and end the story as liberal minded individuals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      In Sense and Sensibility the family has been forced to move from the plush lap of luxury into a more modest setting. Mr. Dashwood has just passed away. Since this was a patrilineal society, the eldest son, John Dashwood, inherits all of Mr. Dashwood's estate. John planned to live at Norland with his wife, Fanny Dashwood. Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters needed to relocate. This is a significant adjustment for everyone involved. In addition to the move to Barton Cottage, the family is also experiencing a decline in their income and thus must live a more middle class existence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marianne was Mrs. Dashwood's middle daughter. She was sensible and clever, but eager in everything; her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation. She was generous, amiable, interesting: she was everything but prudent.'; (Austen, pg5). Marianne was only seventeen and behaved as such. She was unable to hold back her feelings even in a social setting with friends. Mrs. Dashwood's disposition was similar to Marianne's. They were similar in the expression of emotions. After Henry Dashwood died Marianne and Mrs. Dashwood, 'encouraged each other now in the violence of their affliction.'; (Austen, pg 5). The phrase misery loves company comes to mind to explain how they would commiserate with each other.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marianne was full of emotions and thoughts that she would not conceal. Her personality was the extreme opposite of Elinor's The moral development in Marianne has its roots in Willoughby, a young gentleman that rescues her from a fall on a mountainside near their new home. It was a very romantic scene when Willoughby, 'took her up in his arms without further delay, and carried her down the hill'; (Austen, p21). Marianne was excited at the whole situation especially since ;his manly beauty and more than common gracefulness were instantly the theme of general admiration'; (Austen, p21). Willoughby wa... ... the highest kind'; (Austen, p296). Mr. Darcy has completely forgiven Elizabeth and is attempting to prove her opinion wrong. Elizabeth has broken her prejudice and realizes her fault. Darcy comes to Longbourn and Elizabeth's mother comments on him, 'but else I must say that I hate the very sight of him'; (Austen, 333). Elizabeth has overcome her bad opinion of Darcy, but the rest of the family has not. After Elizabeth tells her mother of Darcy's proposal she says, 'We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of man; but this would be nothing, if you really like him'; (Austen, p354). Her family is willing to allow the marriage to proceed, mostly for financial reasons. These books show a maturation of character through the trials and tribulations that life grants. In each of these stories there are parallel worlds, one of upper class and one of the middle to lower class. They show that even though two people come from different worlds and have different financial positions, love will conquer all. Works Cited: Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: Penguin Books, 1996. Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. Ed. Margaret Anne Doody. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1990.

Managing Culture Essay

A central issue in management of organizational culture is how to overcome the Principle-Agent Problem and how to deal with the institutional theory. If a business is to effectively deal with an expanding government, it must make sure that its culture is well managed. To do so, organizational managers must learn how to prevail over the Principal Agent problem and the institutional theory. The Principal Agent problem is a description of a conflict of interests; that the principle (principle stakeholders, shareholders, etc. ) earns profits on the performance of the organization whereby the agents (employees) usually earn unconditional wages. They are parallel but conflicting wants; the principle seeks the greatest return for the least pay whereby the agent seeks to do the least work for the greatest pay. The Principle-Agent Problem is found in many employer/employee associations especially when stakeholders employ top executives of corporations (Jackson and Carter 2000). The principle must always settle conflicts between organizational objectives and the incentives of the different subgroups within the organization. Good managers employ incentives, commands, and organizational culture to make sure that this is achieved. On the other hand, institutional theory deals with the deeper and more flexible features of social structure. It lays emphasis to the procedures through which structures, regulations, norms, and customs develop as reliable guiding principles for social behavior. It finds out how these elements are developed, diffused, implemented, and adapted in an organization. The notion of Institutional theory and organizational culture is important in organizations. The building blocks of institutions and cultures have the capacity of carrying with them different meanings even in a single organization or culture. Differences in interpretations of mutual symbols support the multiplicity on which cultures flourish and institutions rely. In the theory of organizational culture, issues of diversity are mainly dealt with through studying the different subcultures while institutional theory deals with diversify in institutional logistics (Jackson and Carter 2000). Therefore, the management has a role to play in mediating between these two issues (Principle-Agent Problem the institutional theory). This essay develops the argument that organizational culture can and should be managed in corporations in five sections. Section 1 defines the meaning of organisational culture †¢ Section 2 outlines the importance of organisational culture †¢ Section 3 describes how organisational culture can be managed †¢ Section 4 describes Culture and Management of Organizational Change Section 5 describes the implications for culture management This essay will thus show that organizational culture should be managed since it leads to improved coordination and integration in organizations with the result being improved organizational effectiveness. What is Organizational Culture? Organizational culture refers to the set of mutual values, beliefs and expectations that govern the way members of an organization approach their duties in the work place and interrelate with one another. Research shows that organizational culture is quite different from other world cultures. It lays emphasis on how workers describe their colleagues and the kind of stories they share with one another. According to Schein 1980, organizational culture is â€Å"a pattern of shared basic assumptions that organizational members learn as it solves its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that works well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems† (Schein 1980:12). The figure below shows that organizational culture is divided into five levels, that is, fundamental assumptions, values, behavioral norms, pattern of behavior and Artifacts and Symbols. [pic] Figure 1: Levels of Organizational Culture (Adapted from Schein 1980) Importance of Organizational Culture Literature on organizational effectiveness shows that organizational culture plays a significant role in motivating and augmenting the value of intellectuals particularly the employees. The concept of organizational culture is important in knowledge intensive corporations. This paper makes it clear that culture is an essential factor in organizations and helps maximize the value of human resources. Schein 1990 advocates that organizational culture is even more significant in contemporary organizations than it was in the past. Organizational culture leads to improved coordination and integration in organizations with the result being improved organizational effectiveness. Through organizational culture, an organization is able to process invention and the capacity to successfully bring in new technologies. Organizational culture also enables organizations to effectively control dispersed work units and augment employee diversity. It also allows for cross-cultural management of international ventures and multi-national corporations. Besides the greater need to cope with the external and interior factors, organizational culture has become increasingly important since, for many organizations, intellectual assets now comprise the major source of value. Augmenting the value of workers as intellectual assets calls for a culture that encourages their intellectual participation and, eases both personal and organizational learning. It also calls for the creation and application of new knowledge and the readiness to share new ideas with others (Sennet 1998). Managing Organizational Culture With the fast changing environment and ongoing insights into organizational efficiency, business organizations are seriously rethinking how they should manage their cultures to achieve their goals and objectives. It is necessary for these organizations to identify the type of culture that is necessary to accomplish their goals and objectives and make certain the successful execution of the required changes (Ogbonna and Wilkinson 2003). Culture extends over the range of management thinking and corporate culture has been one of the most continuing catchphrases of organizational management. The appeal of the context is that corporate culture is ostensibly unifying and this clearly appeals to management’s involvement in forecasting an image of the corporation as a community of people’s interests. Possibly, culture penetrates to the core of an organization-it is almost similar to the context of personality regarding an individual and the critical sense of what defines an organization; its mission and core values. As a result, the management of culture should become a critical area of management competency in organizations. It should, however, be noted that adoption of the best culture is a prerequisite if an organization is to succeed. Managers should determine the most efficient culture for their organization and, if need be how to effectively change these cultures. The success of contemporary business organizations could be highly attributed to corporate culture. Research shows that organizational culture is a major pointer to organizational performance and this culture can be managed to enhance an organization’s competitive advantage. Organizational culture is a good image for an enterprise whose top management would like to develop. The image of a corporation differs in terms of how one views the organization. Research shows that even organizations with strong cultures have a broad social distance between senior management and employees. Organizational culture is barely planned or predictable; it is the ordinary results of social interrelations and, therefore, evolves and emerges with time. As a result, this should be managed to fit certain strategic ends since organizations have the ability of transforming themselves and the management of culture is such a good way of avoiding such incidents. According to Ogbonna and Wilkinson (2003), organizational culture should be managed as a device for augmenting company effectiveness (Ogbonna and Wilkinson 2003). Management of organizational culture can be more readily enumerated and empirically evaluated based on the interpersonal and symbolic features of management. This requires deep qualitative management of the organizational lives of every employee. Managers while managing organizational culture should put into consideration certain factors such as change-oriented culture, education culture, inventive culture and project-oriented culture. Management of organizational culture should identify and develop an organizational culture that allows for agility, encourages alliances, companionships and networks; promotes knowledge management; promotes corporate responsibility and proper integrity and incorporates diversity. Culture and Management of Organizational Change If real change is to take place in corporations rather than short-lived change, then it has to take place at the cultural perspective. Organizational culture has many strong attractions as a facilitator for change. Firstly, cultures can be plainly created-managers need to be aware of what is needed to change an already existing culture. The capacity of organizations to be culturally inventive is associated with leadership. The top management in any organization must be responsible for developing powerful cultures. This is because organizational leaders develop the social reality of a corporation; they shape organizational beliefs and deal with the drama and visualization of the corporation (Mir and Mir 2009). Research shows that culture is often counter posed to prescribed rationality- In this sense culture is significant in resolving the predicaments associated with bureaucracy in an organization; formal procedures are vital for organizational integrity though they also restrain autonomy and invention. Today, organizations are growing in an uncertain manner and the adoption of adaptable cultures that are receptive to change to deal with the changing environment and crises has become essential. Ackroyd and Crowdy, (1990) focus on the relationship between culture and the management of organizational change through the cultivation of friendly interactions at all levels, the amalgamation of individuals with shared goals and dependence on employee responsibility (Ackroyd and Crowdy 1990). Implications for The Management Of Culture In an Organization Research shows that there are two fundamental approaches to the management of culture in organizations and, by implication, this include strategy conforming (upholding order and continuity) and transforming (altering and breaking already existing patterns). As demonstrated by the successive poor performance of many companies, the efficiency of the selected approach to corporate culture and strategy depends on the conceptual factors relating to both the inner and the exterior business environment. Thus, organizational culture needs to be managed though the adopted strategies are highly determined by the prototype and prospect subscribed to by the manager. In coping with the management of organizational culture, it is important to identify as much as possible the features of the present or new target culture; the illusions, symbols, customs and assumptions that add force to the culture. Consequently, action can be initiated in any of the key areas listed below: †¢ Enrollment, selection and substitution- Culture management can be influenced by making certain that appointments make the existing culture stronger or encourage a culture shift; removal and substitution may be used to significantly change the culture of an organization. †¢ Socialization- stimulation and successive development and training can lead to acculturation to an already existing or new culture. This can also enhance interpersonal exchange of ideas and team work, which is vital in fragmented corporate cultures. Performance management/compensation systems- This can be used to encourage preferred behaviors, which may result to changed organizational values. †¢ Leadership- Managers can strengthen or assist in the abolishment of existing illusions, symbols, behaviors, and beliefs. †¢ Participation- of all corporate members in cultural rebuilding or management activities and related inputs, decision-making and improvement activities is important if long-term cultural change and management is to be achieved. Interpersonal communication- Meeting the needs of interpersonal interactions is vital in promoting an existing corporate culture and integrating organizational members into that culture. †¢ Effective teamwork- This encourages change and developments in cultural communication. †¢ Structures, principles, processes, and resource allocation- This need to be compatible with the culture of an organization (Boston, Istensaker and Falkenberg 2007). The above represent several strategies that can be used in corporations to manipulate it in terms of the cultures and subcultures that make it up.  The management of organizational culture is based on a complicated comprehension of the tacit and explicit features that make up the already existing culture. Conclusion This essay has shown that organizational culture can and should be managed. What makes up organizational culture and its alleged role in corporate success are contested, resting on prospects of culture either as traditionally based, change resilient, deep societal system which emphasizes all company strategies and activities. Organizational culture should thus be managed to provide for organizational success.

Questionnaire on soft drinks’ purchasing preferences…” Essay

â€Å"Questionnaire on soft drinks’ purchasing preferences†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Questionnaire on soft drinks’ purchasing preferences.. Today soft drinks don’t only reduce the thirst but also have become style and fashion. The purpose of this questionnaire is to know what people like most about soft drinks and what attracts them toward these products†¦ Part 1: 1. Do you drink soft drinks? oYES oNO, if no, please return this questionnaire 2. Gender oMale oFemale 3. Which of the following best describes your age? o 16-25 o 26-30 o 31-40 o41-50+ 4. Where is the most common place that you purchase soft drinks? o Restaurants o Supermarket o Hypermarkets. oKiosks oOther (please specify) 5. How often do you consume a soft drink? oDaily Basis o Weekly basis o Monthly basis o Never 6. On average how many times do you visit stores to purchase beverages? o 1-2 per month o 3-4 per month o 5-6 per month o 7+ per month 7. What is your soft drink of choice? oPepsi oCoca-Cola oSprite o7-Up oMirinda oFanta oSchweppes oOther (please specify) 8. Why do you drink soft drinks? oTaste o Caffeine o Refreshment o Brand loyalty oOther (please specify). 9. What is the most effective advertising that makes you want to drink a Coke? o Commercials o Web advertising (social media, official website, etc. ) o Billboards o Print advertising oOther (please specify) Part 2: Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with each of the following statements as 1 = Strongly agree, 3=neutral & 5= strongly disagree: StatementStrongly agree to strongly disagree 1. I understand the features of sodas well enough to evaluate the brands. 2. I have a preference for one or more brands in the soft drink class. 3. Soft drinks are a product for which I have no need whatsoever. 4. I usually purchase the same brand within the soft drink class. 5. If I received information that was contrary to my preferred soft drink, I would still keep my preferred brand. 6. If my preferred brand of soft drink is not available at the store, it makes little difference to me if I must choose another brand. 7. My preferred brand of soft drink helps me attain the type of life I strive for. 8. This soft drink helps me express the â€Å"I† and within myself. 9. I definitely have a â€Å"wanting† for soft drinks. 10. Most of the brands of soft drink are all alike. 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5. â€Å"Questionnaire on soft drinks’ purchasing preferences†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Questionnaire on soft drinks’ purchasing preferences.. Today soft drinks don’t only reduce the thirst but also have become style and fashion. The purpose of this questionnaire is to know what people like most about soft drinks and what attracts them toward these products†¦ Part 1: 1. Do you drink soft drinks? oYES oNO, if no, please return this questionnaire 2. Gender oMale oFemale 3. Which of the following best describes your age? o 16-25 o 26-30 o 31-40 o41-50+ 4. Where is the most common place that you purchase soft drinks? o Restaurants o Supermarket o Hypermarkets  oKiosks oOther (please specify)5. How often do you consume a soft drink? oDaily Basis o Weekly basis o Monthly basis o Never 6. On average how many times do you visit stores to purchase beverages? o 1-2 per month o 3-4 per month o 5-6 per month o 7+ per month 7. What is your soft drink of choice? oPepsi oCoca-Cola oSprite o7-Up oMirinda oFanta oSchweppes oOther (please specify) 8. Why do you drink soft drinks? oTaste o Caffeine o Refreshment o Brand loyalty oOther (please specify). 9. What is the most effective advertising that makes you want to drink a Coke? o Commercials o Web advertising (social media, official website, etc. ) o Billboards o Print advertising oOther (please specify). Part 2: Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with each of the following statements as 1 = Strongly agree, 3=neutral & 5= strongly disagree: StatementStrongly agree to strongly disagree 1. I understand the features of sodas well enough to evaluate the brands. 2. I have a preference for one or more brands in the soft drink class. 3. Soft drinks are a product for which I have no need whatsoever. 4. I usually purchase the same brand within the soft drink class. 5. If I received information that was contrary to my preferred soft drink, I would still keep my preferred brand. 6. If my preferred brand of soft drink is not available at the store, it makes little difference to me if I must choose another brand. 7. My preferred brand of soft drink helps me attain the type of life I strive for. 8. This soft drink helps me express the â€Å"I† and within myself. 9. I definitely have a â€Å"wanting† for soft drinks. 10. Most of the brands of soft drink are all alike. 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5.

7 Unique Valentines Day Gift Ideas

7 Unique Valentines Day Gift Ideas Valentines Day can instill fear into the heart of even the best gift-givers. But as a college student, your funds and options might be limited. What can you give your girlfriend or boyfriend that still gets your message across without seeming too boring and traditional? 7 Unique Valentines Day Gifts Serve breakfast in bed:Â  Instead of a dinner out, surprise your boyfriend or girlfriend with breakfast in bed. It can be as simple as hot coffee and a muffin or as fancy as homemade pancakes and bacon.A picnic with your favorite foods: Does your boyfriend or girlfriend love cereal, for example? Pack their favorite kind in a bag along with some milk, 2 bowls, and 2 spoons, and voila. Youve got yourself one amusing but sweet Valentines Day picnic.Handmade paper flowers:Â  The usual flowers are, of course, a sweet gesture, but they do die after a week or so and can be outrageously expensive around Valentines Day. Instead, make your own flowers out of paper (some craft stores even have kits) for a present that will last a long time and remind your partner how much you care.Buy a kids book with a sweet message: While kids books are, of course, written mostly for kids, they can have sweet messages about loving someone. Find one that works well with your particular relationship for a uni que present that will undoubtedly be cherished for a long time. Make a donation to charity: If your partner isnt into traditional gifts but you want to get them something anyway, consider making a donation to charity. It can be a donation to a local organization, Doctors Without Borders, or even Heifer, which allows you to give enough money so that someone in a developing country can, for example, buy a flock of chickens. (Because who doesnt like getting chickens for Valentines Day?)Bake something homemade: Everyone loves homemade goods; luckily, even if youre not good in the kitchen, you can still give a unique homemade good with a little coordination. You can always order something from a nice local bakery or even make something from a box/mix that you got at the grocery store. Add a little of your own decorations and youll be good to go.Pack a huge box filled with lots of tiny things:Â  Does your partner love a certain kind of candy bar? Little boxes of cereal? A certain kind of cookie? Find the smallest sizes you can of your boyfriend or gir lfriends favorite treats, wrap them all up individually, and then present them all in a big box. Opening up that many presents, even if theyre all similar products, will definitely be one Valentines Day to remember.

Free Essays on Internet Shopping

The Internet has taken its place next to the telephone and television as an important part of people’s lives. Every day, more consumers are using the Internet for financial activities like investing, banking and shopping. If you surf the Internet, then you’re probably familiar with the terms â€Å"digital stores† and â€Å"online malls.† Thousands of consumers are now taking advantage to shop from the comfort of their homes via personal computer. You can buy any thing, from clothes, computers, to music CDs, you name it and they’ll have it! Shopping online opens up a whole world of goods and services. With the simple click of a computer mouse, you can order tulip bulbs directly from Holland, exotic spices from Turkey or hand-woven wall hangings from Mexico or Morocco. The World Wide Web has expanded the International marketplace in a way never before possible, giving consumers unlimited choices. Years of experience in the offline world have ta ught consumers how to evaluate a retailer’s trustworthiness. Although it is hard to see shopkeeper’s online, web shoppers are figuring out what makes a digital shopping experience comfortable. Using the Internet which is an exciting tool that puts vast information at your fingertips, with a click of a mouse, let’s you buy an airline ticket, book a hotel, send flowers to a friend, or even purchase your own stock. The growing technology of shopping online from home and not going anywhere can be very beneficial to us the consumers. Shopping online offers lots of benefits that are hard to find when shopping in a store or by mail. For example, the Internet is always open. Seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Bargains can also be numerous online. We don’t have to worry about getting dressed, putting children with babysitters, or even deciding on which mall to go to. Staying home and shopping in your pajamas, having children running around at home, watching TV while shopping or ... Free Essays on Internet Shopping Free Essays on Internet Shopping The Internet has taken its place next to the telephone and television as an important part of people’s lives. Every day, more consumers are using the Internet for financial activities like investing, banking and shopping. If you surf the Internet, then you’re probably familiar with the terms â€Å"digital stores† and â€Å"online malls.† Thousands of consumers are now taking advantage to shop from the comfort of their homes via personal computer. You can buy any thing, from clothes, computers, to music CDs, you name it and they’ll have it! Shopping online opens up a whole world of goods and services. With the simple click of a computer mouse, you can order tulip bulbs directly from Holland, exotic spices from Turkey or hand-woven wall hangings from Mexico or Morocco. The World Wide Web has expanded the International marketplace in a way never before possible, giving consumers unlimited choices. Years of experience in the offline world have ta ught consumers how to evaluate a retailer’s trustworthiness. Although it is hard to see shopkeeper’s online, web shoppers are figuring out what makes a digital shopping experience comfortable. Using the Internet which is an exciting tool that puts vast information at your fingertips, with a click of a mouse, let’s you buy an airline ticket, book a hotel, send flowers to a friend, or even purchase your own stock. The growing technology of shopping online from home and not going anywhere can be very beneficial to us the consumers. Shopping online offers lots of benefits that are hard to find when shopping in a store or by mail. For example, the Internet is always open. Seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Bargains can also be numerous online. We don’t have to worry about getting dressed, putting children with babysitters, or even deciding on which mall to go to. Staying home and shopping in your pajamas, having children running around at home, watching TV while shopping or ...

Northrop P-61 Black Widow in World War II

Northrop P-61 Black Widow in World War II In 1940, with World War II raging, the Royal Air Force began seeking designs for a new night fighter to combat German raids on London. Having used radar to aid in winning the Battle of Britain, the British sought to incorporate smaller airborne intercept radar units into the new design. To this end, the RAF instructed the British Purchasing Commission in the US to evaluate American aircraft designs. Key among the desired traits were the ability to loiter for around eight hours, carry the new radar system, and mount multiple gun turrets. During this period, Lieutenant General Delos C. Emmons, the US Air Officer in London, was briefed on British progress relating to the development of airborne intercept radar units. He also gained an understanding of the RAFs requirements for a new night fighter. Composing a report, he stated that he believed the American aviation industry could produce the desired design. In the United States, Jack Northrop learned of the British requirements and began contemplating a large, twin engine design. His efforts received a boost later that year when a US Army Air Corps board chaired by Emmons issued a request for a night fighter based on the British specifications. These were further refined by the Air Technical Service Command at Wright Field, OH. Specifications General Length: 49 ft., 7 in.Wingspan: 66 ft.Height: 14 ft., 8 in.Wing Area: 662.36 sq. ft.Empty Weight: 23,450 lbs.Loaded Weight: 29,700 lbs.Maximum Takeoff Weight: 36,200 lbs.Crew: 2-3 Performance Maximum Speed: 366 mphRange: 610 milesRate of Climb: 2,540 ft./min.Service Ceiling: 33,100 ft.Power Plant: 2 Ãâ€" Pratt Whitney R-2800-65W Double Wasp radial engines, 2,250 hp each Armament 4 Ãâ€" 20 mm Hispano M2 cannon in ventral fuselage4 Ãâ€" .50 in M2 Browning machine guns in remotely operated, full-traversing upper turret4 Ãâ€" bombs of up to 1,600 lb. each or 6 Ãâ€" 5 in. HVAR unguided rockets Northrop Responds: In late October 1940, Northrops chief of research, Vladimir H. Pavlecka, was contacted by ATSCs Colonel Laurence C. Craigie who verbally detailed the type of aircraft they were seeking. Taking his notes to Northrop, the two men concluded that the new request from the USAAC was nearly identical to that from the RAF. As a result, Northrop produced the work done earlier in response to the British request and immediately had a head start over his competitors. Northrops initial design saw the company create an aircraft featuring a central fuselage suspended between two engine nacelles and tail booms. The armament was arranged in two turrets, one in the nose and one in the tail. Carrying a crew of three (pilot, gunner, and radar operator), the design proved unusually large for a fighter. This was necessary to accommodate the weight of the airborne intercept radar unit and the need for an extended flight time. Presenting the design to the USAAC on November 8, it was approved over the Douglas XA-26A. Refining the layout, Northrop quickly shifted the turret locations to the top and bottom of the fuselage. Subsequent discussions with the USAAC led to a request for increased firepower. As a result, the lower turret was abandoned in favor of four 20 mm cannon mounted in the wings. These were later repositioned to the underside of the aircraft, similar to the German Heinkel He 219, which freed up space in the wings for additional fuel while also improving the wings airfoil. The USAAC also requested the installation of flame arrestors on the engine exhausts, a rearrangement of radio equipment, and hard points for drop tanks. The Design Evolves: The basic design was approved by the USAAC and a contract issued for prototypes on January 10, 1941. Designated the XP-61, the aircraft was to be powered by two Pratt Whitney R2800-10 Double Wasp engines turning Curtiss C5424-A10 four-bladed, automatic, full-feathering propellers. As construction of the prototype moved forward, it quickly fell victim to a number of delays. These included difficulty obtaining the new propellers as well as equipment for the upper turret. In the latter case, other aircraft such as the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, and B-29 Superfortress took priority in receiving turrets. The problems were eventually overcome and the prototype first flew on May 26, 1942. As the design evolved, the P-61s engines were changed to two Pratt Whitney R-2800-25S Double Wasp engines featuring two-stage, two-speed mechanical superchargers. Additionally, larger wider span flaps were used which permitted a lower landing speed. The crew was housed in the central fuselage (or gondola) with the airborne intercept radar dish mounted within a rounded nose in front of the cockpit. The rear of the central fuselage was enclosed with a plexiglass cone while the forward section featured a stepped, greenhouse-style canopy for the pilot and gunner.   In the final design, the pilot and gunner were situated toward the front of the aircraft while the radar operator occupied an isolated space towards the rear. Here they operated a SCR-720 radar set which was used to direct the pilot towards enemy aircraft. As the P-61 closed on an enemy aircraft, the pilot could view a smaller radar scope mounted in the cockpit. The aircrafts upper turret was operated remotely and targeting aided by a General Electric GE2CFR12A3 gyroscopic fire control computer. Mounting four .50 cal. machine guns, it could be fired by the gunner, radar operator, or pilot. In the last case, the turret would be locked in a forward-firing position. Ready for service in early 1944, the P-61 Black Widow became the US Army Air Forces first purpose-designed night fighter. Operational History: The first unit to receive the P-61 was the 348th Night Fighter Squadron based in Florida. A training unit, the 348th prepared crews for deployment to Europe. Additional training facilities were also used in California. While night fighter squadrons overseas transitioned to the P-61 from other aircraft, such as the Douglas P-70 and British Bristol Beaufighter, many Black Widow units were formed from scratch in the United States. In February 1944, the first P-61 squadrons, the 422nd and 425th, shipped out for Britain. Arriving, they found that the USAAF leadership, including Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz, were concerned that the P-61 lacked the speed to engage the latest German fighters. Instead, Spaatz directed that the squadrons be equipped with British De Havilland Mosquitoes. Over Europe: This was resisted by the RAF which wished to retain all available Mosquitoes. As a result, a competition was held between the two aircraft to determine the P-61s capabilities. This resulted in a victory for the Black Widow, though many senior USAAF officers remained skeptical and others believed the RAF had deliberately thrown the contest. Receiving their aircraft in June, the 422nd began missions over Britain the following month. These aircraft were unique in that they had been shipped without their upper turrets. As a result, the squadrons gunners were reassigned to P-70 units. On July 16, Lieutenant Herman Ernst scored the P-61s first kill when he downed a V-1 flying bomb. Moving across the Channel later in the summer, P-61 units began to engage manned German opposition and posted an admirable success rate. Though some aircraft were lost to accidents and ground fire, none were downed by German aircraft. That December, the P-61 found a new role as it helped defend Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Using its powerful complement of 20 mm cannon, the aircraft attacked German vehicles and supply lines as it aided the besieged towns defenders. As the spring of 1945 progressed, P-61 units found enemy aircraft increasingly scarce and kill numbers dropped accordingly. Though the type was also used in the Mediterranean Theater, units there often received them too late in the conflict to see meaningful results. In the Pacific: In June 1944, the first P-61s reached the Pacific and joined the 6th Night Fighter Squadron on Guadalcanal. The Black Widows first Japanese victim was a Mitsubishi G4M Betty which was downed on June 30. Additional P-61s reached the theater as the summer progressed though enemy targets were generally sporadic. This led to several squadrons never scoring a kill for the duration of the war. In January 1945, a P-61 aided in the raid on the Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp in the Philippines by distracting the Japanese guards as the assault force neared. As the spring of 1945 progressed, Japanese targets became virtually nonexistent though a P-61 was credited with scoring the final kill of the war when it downed a Nakajima Ki-44 Tojo on August 14/15. Later Service: Though concerns about the P-61s performance persisted, it was retained after the war as USAAF did not possess an effective jet-powered night fighter. The type was joined by the F-15 Reporter which had been developed during the summer of 1945. Essentially an unarmed P-61, the F-15 carried a multitude of cameras and was intended for use as a reconnaissance aircraft. Redesignated F-61 in 1948, the aircraft began to be withdrawn from service later that year and was replaced by the North American F-82 Twin Mustang. Refitted as a night fighter, the F-82 served as an interim solution until the arrival of the jet-powered F-89 Scorpion. The final F-61s were retired in May 1950. Sold to civilian agencies, F-61s and F-15s performed in a variety of roles into the late 1960s.