Distributed Leadership Among Teachers Education Essay

Distributed Leadership Among Teachers Education Essay Distributed leadership stretches and shares the leadership practice to form collection leadership so that those not in formal authoritative position such as classroom teachers could be valued and have a voice in leadership. It disassociates from the vertical, bureaucratic and organizational hierarchy to enable collaboration and wide spread sharing of information and power to sustain improvement in teaching and learning. Distributed leadership is effective as it is an open and democratic model of principle equipped with both vertical and lateral communication. This leadership is associated with concepts such as empowerment, teamwork, capacity building, teacher leadership and professional development. The theoretical framework of distributed leadership is Theory Y as the leadership considers diverse contribution to the process of subtleties of leadership to shape collective action instead of the traditional vertical leadership process which separates leaders from followers as mutually exclusive categories. The purpose of this research proposal is to explore the perceptions of head teachers, teachers and students about distributed leadership, how it is practiced in schools and the perceived effects on teaching and learning in three high performing urban secondary schools in Klang Valley. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies are proposed in this study as semi-structured interviews with four head teachers to capture their perceptions on distributed leadership and what it means to them, while questionnaires to be administered on teachers and students to investigate on the level of distributed leadership practiced by head teachers and its effects on teaching and learning. Keywords: Distributed leadership, collaboration, empowerment, teamwork, and capacity building. Introduction Distributed leadership, I believe, presents a powerful concept of leadership in the educational arena of 21st century as it enables a collaborative and sharing approach among teachers and students and treats every person as a leader at the entry level, rather than leadership understood individually. It acknowledges various stakeholders and provides them with a voice about their situations to positively impact the teaching and learning outcome (Flowers, 2007). According to Leithwood and Mascall (2008), meaningfully leading schools requires collective leadership and interactions of people and their situation, and not centred on a single formal leader, so that they can specify and perform the tasks involved in leadership by identifying, acquiring, allocating, coordinating, and use the social, material and cultural resources necessary to establish the conducive conditions for teaching and learning in order to be powerful enough to have significant effect on students. This active and purposeful involvement of multiple individuals in school leadership enhances instructional innovations as distributed leadership considers teachers and students as partners in school leadership, rather than as followers to engage them as collaborative leaders with their colleagues to learn from one another and empowering others to lead, participation in shared decision-making, and development of a shared vision for their school (Sheppard and Brown, 2009). A widely distributed school leadership at all levels and the greater partnerships are important as it enables sharing of ideas and insights and therefore has great influence on the school and student outcomes (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2007). Distributed leadership enhances student outcome as it creates a culture for learning by promoting instructional leadership, leadership for learning, team work, capacity building, collective interaction and good communication among leaders, followers and their situations thus, crea ting trust and accountability among them. It is against this backdrop that this study proposes to explore the perceptions of head teachers, teachers and students of selected high performing schools in Klang Valley about distributed leadership and its effects on teaching and learning. These perceptions are essential to gain a deeper understanding of distributed leadership and its impact on teaching and learning and to yield lessons regarding the ways high performing schools can effectively lead and operate with their workforce of headteachers and teachers. Background of the study There is growing empirical evidence that distributed leadership causes a positive difference to student outcome as it has greater density of instructional leadership (Harris Spillane, 2008). This leadership identifies, develops and utilizes the pedagogical expertise and talent of teachers so that they are knowledgeable and responsible of the educational outcomes to positively impact the teaching and learning (Robinson, 2008). According to Chan and Sidhu (2009), excellent principals in Malaysia had deliberately chosen distributed leadership to move the school forward by empowering others to lead so that there is collaborative, cooperative, participative, democratic teacher leadership throughout the school. Distributed leadership which engages teachers as leaders with wider distribution of tasks rather than hierarchical distributions enables shared vision based on trust and a collective endeavour within the school which builds a broad capacity base is fast replacing the charismatic hero or the heroic leader in school leadership. Thus, the decision making processes are widely shared and school development becomes the responsibility of team of teachers to enhance student achievement rather than the senior management group. Although distributed leadership involves various stakeholders including principals, local education authorities, parents and community, the researcher proposes to explore the perceptions from those directly involved, that is, the headteachers, teachers and students who are the participants in this study, in moving forward the teaching and learning agenda by investigating their perceptions of the term distributed leadership, how it is practiced and what they perceive as its effect on teaching and learning as it is not possible to conduct a study that incorporates the perceptions of all the stakeholders within the scope of this study at this time. The study would involve three urban, high performing secondary schools in Klang Valley. The first school is a large secondary school with an enrolment of 1,200 students and 105 teachers and 5 head teachers. The second school also has an enrolment of 1,100 and the third school with an enrolment of 1,090 pupils. Pupils in these schools come from the wider community and are often sent by private vehicles. The students have no learning difficulties as they are the excellent students. Problem Statement There is a growing recognition of the need to study distributed leadership in the field of education especially in high performing schools as there has been powerful effects on student outcomes and there has been growing dissatisfaction with the traditional vertical leader-centred leadership (Caskey, 2010). Leadership vested in one position has become obsolete as it is not the single and heroic individualistic leader who makes an organisation function but leadership should be broadly distributed throughout the school to take into consideration of the competences of its members. According to Richard Elmore, distributed leadership is linked to schools fundamental task of helping students learn. However, the concept is new and lacks the definition and empirical knowledge about how or to what extent the high performing schools actually use distributed leadership as well as evidence that firmly links distributed leadership to students achievement is still far in the future as there is lit tle empirical data to support the effects of distributed leadership on teaching and learning. I believe distributed leadership can only be judged by the evidence of its impact on teaching and learning. Objective of the study Firstly, the study aims to explore the perceptions of headteachers of distributed leadership and what it means to them. Secondly, to investigate on the level of distributed leadership practiced or how it is practiced by headteachers as perceived by teachers and students. Thirdly, it seeks to find out the contribution of distributed leadership to teaching and learning as perceived by teachers and students at each school. These objectives are in line with tentative conclusions from various studies which indicate that leadership that is distributed among the wider school staff is likely to have an effect on students academic performance than that of exclusively top-down approach (Muijs and Harris 2007; PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2007). However, to-date, there has not been any empirical data to support the effect of distributed leadership on student outcomes as studies have also confirmed that the effect of leadership on student outcomes is largely indirect (Hartley, 2007; Rhodes and Brundrett, 2010). This study therefore proposes to contribute to knowledge about the impact of distribute leadership on teaching and learning by providing some empirical evidence from teachers and students and to integrate to previous findings of studies on distributed leadership. Research Questions The research questions for this study with the aforementioned objectives include: 1. What are the perceptions of head teachers on distributed leadership and what it means to them? 2. What are the perceptions of teachers and students on the level of distributed leadership practiced by head teachers? 3. To what extent does distributed leadership contribute to effective teaching and learning? Significance of the Study This emerging approach to leadership will be potentially useful to national and international policy makers, practitioners, trainers and researchers in education as they are more directly connected to student learning. Policy makers could utilize the study to devise new leadership approaches based on distributed leadership while practitioners may assist in creating professional learning communities and for continued professional development for school improvement and effective leadership. Trainers could formulate training needs for stakeholders based on leadership distribution while researchers may use it to set future agenda for research. Besides that, there is little empirical data to support the effects of distributed leadership on teaching and learning in high performing schools (Mayr, 2008). By investigating the perceptions of teachers and students, the study will highlight how distributed leadership is practiced in these selected urban schools in Malaysia. The researcher also finds the study important so as to reflect on past practices of leadership and to seek new ideas on effective school leadership and teaching and further to contribute to knowledge by adding some knowledge base to distributed leadership. Literature review Distributed leadership Distributed leadership stretches and shares the leadership practice among multiple formal and informal groups whereby the leadership responsibility is disassociated from the vertical, bureaucratic and organizational hierarchy so that there is interaction and wide spread sharing of information and power to sustain improvement in teaching and learning (Robinson, 2008). For example, when teachers, parents and support staff work together to solve certain problems, they are involved in developmental space and collective capacity building within the school as they utilise multiple sources of guidance, direction and expertise of these stakeholders and as such by their actions, they are engaged in distributed leadership. This leadership practice is the result of interactions between different members of the team or organization to contribute to the life of the school and maximize the human capacity and enhance self-worth of others by energizing others for tasks within the organization to contribute to broad and deep learning for all students. Distributed leadership is a way of thinking about leadership and being involved in a common task or clear goal improvement of instruction and common frame of values in executing the particular leadership task rather than another technique. Distributed leadership is linked to the notion of collaboration, shared, distributive, dispersed and democratic as shown in Figure 1 below. Figure 1: Terminologies associated with distributed leadership (Moyo, 2010) Thus, distributed leadership is effective as it is an open and democratic model equipped with both vertical and lateral communication. Distributed leadership among teachers The authorities to lead is no longer centered around one man theory as distribution is not monopolized by the headteachers initiative but is a collective leadership and dispersed within the school and among teachers through the cultivation of relationship and networks as classroom teachers are in direct contact with learners in the majority of cases and hence influence their learning. (Ameijde, et al., 2009). The school leadership adopts power equalization and inspires teachers to participate in leadership by developing a school culture which values the sorts of learning that enhance the capacity of individuals to lead and conducive to building norms of building trust to enhance openness, respect, appreciation and autonomy for the teachers to conduct their activities in collaboration, to procure and distribute resources, support teacher growth for both individual and collective development, to provide both summative and formative monitoring of instruction and innovation so that teachers could develop skills and expertise by working together and have a sense of ownership to influence the quality of teaching which subsequently affect student outcome. (Ameijde, et al., 2009). Distributed leadership which emphasizes collaboration of teachers with their colleagues in other schools facilitates teacher learning and enhances self-confidence as they engage in action research by trying new teaching approaches and disseminating their findings to colleagues, thereby minimizing teacher isolation but rather challenging teachers to promote personal and professional development so that they contribute to optimal student learning and achievement. The collective endeavour of efforts enables team based work and forms leadership community that share meaningful contexts and creates opportunities for learning as it integrates differing viewpoints and interests in approaching a highly complex and interdependent task. In this regard, teachers have clearly defined responsibilities which are linked to their area of expertise so that they could contribute effectively to leadership process. By doing so, teachers are not confined to the classroom but are rather transcended to contribute to the community of learners beyond the classroom to lead to improved practice and higher performance (Ameijde, et al., 2009). Distributed leadership is associated with a number of concepts and themes such as empowerment, teamwork, staff motivation, capacity building, teacher leadership and to a lesser extent professional development. (Ameijde, et al., 2009). Distributed cognition Distributed cognition views thinking as social rather than individual activity. Teachers are no longer passive and isolated but are connected through dialogue and reflection so that they are active and weaved in the fabric of the school for a common task and shared common values. They become more knowledgeable and take responsibility about the task of teaching as more of the pedagogical expertise and talent of teachers will be identified, developed and utilized than a more hierarchical pattern of leadership to impact on learning and student outcome. This creates unity and instructional innovations rather than micromanaging instruction. (Ameijde, et al., 2009). Teaching and Learning According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (2007), the behaviour of school leaders impact pupil performance. By distributing leadership to teachers that emphasise collaboration and distribution of power and authority which is central to learning, they exert their influence on pupil performance by empowering pupils and creating a favourable condition for learning by applying learner centred approach to teaching and learning in classrooms and across the school which has the potential to effect learner inclusion, engagement and improved achievement. With collaboration which is effective in widening student learning opportunities and raising expectations, teachers could also help to resolve immediate problems through dialogue and establishment of a shared sense of accountability. Pupils are not treated as passive recipients and as such, good communication is ensured so that the students know what is going on and has a hand in shaping this. high performing schools High performing schools (HPS) or cluster schools act as models for other institutions within the same cluster and becomes the premise for pioneering new approaches and innovations in the education system. Students of these excellent institutions excel in academic and co-curricular activities and possess outstanding personality, leadership skills, high team spirit, creative thinking skills, and are patriotic, globally oriented and competitive. These schools are acknowledged to have ethos, character and own identity and unique in all aspects of education. The high performing secondary schools in Klang Valley are either regular day schools or residential schools, premier schools and 100-year schools and the Ministry of Education Malaysia uses the HPS as markers to point towards excellence in education and as special model schools to other schools in Malaysia (MOE, 2008). Safe and orderly learning environments are created in these schools with clear instructional objectives in which the head teachers expect high performance from teachers and students through increased time on task and develop positive relations All students are required to show excellent performance comparable to benchmark standards such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) with proficiency in Math, Science and English.  Besides that, the students should also master higher-order thinking skills such as applications, problem-solving, participation in co-curriculum activities, and personal development or soft-skills (The Malaysian Insider, 2012). In order to maintain the schools high performance, leadership is distributed throughout the school and its community and when teachers are empowered in areas they believe are important (Jacobson, 2010). According to Muhyiddin, Malaysian Education Minister, the objective of HPS is to ensure that all students regardless of stream, medium, or urban or rural locations would attain continuous excellence  (The Malaysian Insider, 2012). The principal and teachers from these schools are expected to set examples and share their experiences with counterparts in other institutions. Their accountability is outlined by a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relating to human resource development, physical development, financial management, professionalism among staff member, and school achievements (academic, co-curricular activities and aptitude) (MOE, 2008). According to MOE (2008), high performing schools are expected to bring about positive impact to the national education system through excellence in co-curricular activities programmes; exemplary career guidance programmes; outstanding all-rounded students that is 5.8% of 5.2 million students; acceptance of students from high performing schools at world renowned universities; government and private sector sponsorships; international acknowledgements; as benchmarks for other schools, both local and foreign; quality leadership; and excellent teachers. Theoretical and Conceptual underpinning Distributed leadership in which the leadership functions are shared, employs Theory Y as the leadership enables diverse individuals to contribute to the process of subtleties of leadership to shape collective action instead of the traditional vertical leadership process which separates leaders from followers as mutually exclusive categories. Conceptually, distributed leadership refers to democratic style of leadership to allow voices of influence beyond just one and increases participation of stakeholders. It de-monopolizes concentrated leadership and enhances delegation of authority, collective decision-making, power, influence and coordination to enable plurality of analyses and boundarylessness so that the organizational phenomena such as information systems, knowledge, cognition, learning systems and work can be distributed. As leadership expands to multiple players, it displays holistic framework and allows flexibility, open-endedness with overlapping expertise to complement and reinforce one another, and strengthened decision making commitment and quality, and further utilizes fully the resources of the schools to collaborate and collectively devise strategies to improve students progress. It eliminates the tightly drawn lines, borders, commands and control associated with a Weberian bureaucratic paradigm (Gronn, 2 008). Conceptually, distributed leadership is associated with notions of empowerment, teamwork, collegiality, staff motivation, capacity building, teacher leadership, professional autonomy and professional development (Muijs and Harris, 2007). According to Moyo (2010), collegiality results in strong professional culture in the school as it includes collaboration among teachers, mutual respect, shared work values, cooperation and specific conversation about teaching and learning. According to Ameijde et al. (2009), distributed leadership underpins is a shared influence process to which several individuals contribute; and leadership arises from the interactions of diverse individuals which together form a group of network in which essential expertise is a dispersed quality. Empowerment Empowerment of teachers is an essential component of distributed leadership. Distributed leadership disassociates from control and dominance but rather creates opportunity, support, space, capacity and growth among teachers by encouraging them to have the power to decide how to do the defined tasks and to get involved vigorously in school policies, curriculum and educational practices and voice their views openly without fear of retribution to experience a greater sense of efficacy. With empowerment, teachers are more motivated to take risks and committed to work with surprising ability as it cultivates teacher leadership which extends beyond their own classrooms to others within and across schools, and further enhances teacher involvement in collective and collaborative process of school decision-making that promote teacher learning to contribute widely to teaching and learning. The empowerment elevates teachers expertise, confidence and self-esteem as they have control over resources, methods and decision making and further to experiment with novel, cutting-edge teaching methods, and to evaluate their colleagues teaching performance through team work, selection of instructional materials and textbooks, curriculum development, school policies and plans, coordination of programmes, professional development, organizing visits to other schools, collaborating with colleagues, leading study groups and coaching and mentoring students which impacts positively on their effectiveness as teachers and to have a positive effect on students. Teamwork Teamwork which refers to setting up of teams by the headteachers with the need to work together on a common purpose is crucial for distributed leadership. This implies that the headteacher is willing to distribute leadership. The team must be equipped with clear goals and results driven, competency, unified commitment, collaboration climate based on trust to develop honest openness and respect, clear standards of excellence, and external support and recognition to achieve an optimum degree of synergy. With these characteristics, the team will have comprehensive knowledge and responsibility of student learning and outcomes. They further become role models for students to emulate. Capacity building Capacity building through collaboration and trusting relationship for mutual learning can be achieved with distributed leadership in order for teachers to become professional communities and to focus on teaching and learning as they participate in decision-making and have a shared sense of purpose so as to have a joint responsibility for the outcomes of their work. The capacity may be built by reviewing the performance of teachers, adding more resources, materials or technology and by restructuring the tasks so that teachers can work together, experiment, reflect and explore with colleagues to acquire new skills and practice of the profession. Capacity building enables continuous learning of teachers to enhance pupil learning. According to Harris (2002), the conditions for capacity building to create a learning culture may include commitment to teachers development, inclusion of teachers and students in school policies and decisions and collaborative planning with effective coordinat ion strategies. Teacher leadership research methodology

Female Circumcision Reader Response

Conn 1 Jennifer Conn Professor Michael Hickman GWRTC 103 –Sect. 61 15 April 2013 Reader Response #3 Though Meyerhardt states that the opening account on female circumcision seemed â€Å"Amusing†, I personally found it far more disturbing. I was very shocked and disgusted while reading this piece, as I am sure my classmates were as well. The â€Å"small opening left for urination and menstruation . . . held open by a single piece of straw which is left there during the healing process† (1) forced me to feel that is an unbelievably unnatural, dehumanizing practice. I was extremely curious about what cultural beliefs supported this practice.When coming to the supposed health reasons and seeing how flawed and inaccurate they all were, I was unable to keep an open mind or continue trying to understand this practice. The idea of â€Å"looking at each other’s genitals to see who had the smallest opening† (2) struck me in a large way. This procedure that is done for society, for a future husband, and for acceptance, seems to take away from the woman. It is as if her body does not truly belong to her. I thought it was interesting and important for the author to include the effect of cultural relativism on the reader.I know that my lack of experience and understanding of the topic, as well as the way of life influences my opinion towards the procedure. Throughout the piece, I was unable change my perception of female circumcision as horrid. Though she seemed to go back and forth in the second half of the essay, the author seemed to have bias as well. I could see the vague connection to culture dominating a woman’s view and treatment of her body. In this way, the procedure seems similar to eating disorders in America. In fact, eating disorders come across as far more deadly.However, I feel that the connection was weak and overdramatized especially when the author stated, â€Å"in America, being fat and ugly, for some, is a fate w orse than death†(3). If this was true, and our culture was as consistent with our beliefs, then we would not have obesity rates as high as they are today. The statement that plastic surgery in America by trained professionals causes â€Å"as much pain† as â€Å"midwives [using] whatever is lying around: a razor, a knife, a broken bottle† (3) is absurd. Safe, comfortable, controlled cosmetic surgery is not widespread, made by someone’s own will, and often looked down upon.The fact that eating disorders are not accepted in our society destroys this analogy to female circumcision. Another poor analogy attempted by Meyerhardt can be found in the beginning of the piece. The author connects children no longer making funny faces due to slight unjustified fear to the cutting off of female genitalia. Though the â€Å"thought of looking odd and malformed scared us enough to stop† in both circumstances, the examples are extremely different. Funny faces are not natural, and little is required to stop making them. Possessing female genitalia is natural however, and the removal of it is dangerous.This analogy downplays the extremity of female circumcision, and does not work. This piece was interesting, and informative on a topic I had known nothing about. For many reasons, it was my impulse to reject the idea of female circumcision and find it horrifying. There seemed to be no truly justified reasoning for why it is still happening, aside from traditional. Though the author attempted to describe opposing views, I found them very weak and confusing. I was unable to connect this procedure with concepts in American life, or accept the vague, unrealistic, positive ending that the author provided.

The Dos and Donts of How to Write an Outline for a Research Paper

The Do's and Don'ts of How to Write an Outline for a Research Paper To conserve space in the examples, just the first section of the outline will demonstrate the correct spacing. Don't hesitate to pick any document you require. Dwelling just on the introduction is not a simple task. It is crucial to look at every component of a paper for a couple times to be able to submit a flawless work. Do not fear eliminating information which you find irrelevant whilst conducting additional research on your topic. At this point you understand how you're going to concentrate on your subject and the way you are likely to choose the material for your research. Another sort of small small business organization is the partnership. It's not quite as easy as writing an essay about your summer vacation, your loved ones, or the previous party you've been to, since you don't need to do research to figure out about your personal experience. By the time such young folks understand that drug and substance abuse doesn't help them solve their life issues, it's going to be too late because most of them will be addicted. It's close to service to stay in mind each figure, writing, or variable which may change over the duration of time, service if an individual conducts experiments that impact the principal data, for example. An outline for research paper steps in every time an individual should earn a plan, break down the whole process into separate pieces and choose the most useful of them at the most suitable moment. A Startling Fact about How to Write an Outline for a Research Paper Uncovered You've temporarily accepted an overall statement or premise, and you will investigate your sources to find out whether that premise can be substantially supported by facts. If a chronological organization cannot get the job done for your paper, have a spatial strategy. Any paper has to have an outline which will be used when writing it. You may also be analyzing a specific concept in the paper. Make the reader believe the given paper has the handy details on the appropriate problem and matters for the growth of science. Employing an outline template can assist the student organize the paper and eliminate the ideas that aren't pertinent to the aim of the essay. Outlining the sections right at the start of writing research paper can help you to keep up an appropriate structure for the whole write up. A well-made outline is crucial in locating substantial info and keeping track of considerable amounts of information from a research paper. Such a structure can help to locate an appropriate location about them in the paper service on. In order to start outlining the research paper, determine why you're researching the subject. The Foolproof How to Write an Outline for a Research Paper Strategy Our sample essays and expression papers can help you with your own research paper. Wait to compose that if your paper is completed and you'll be able to see what you're introducing. The outline can be set at the start of the paper, as MLA paper format requires. Completing an MLA outline will guarantee your research paper format is accurate. The perfect way to get a comprehension of the APA outline format is to take a look at examples. The uses of giving birth to a reference are much superior than you may imagine. A raw data must go in the appendix. The best way is downloading a research paper outline template to make the outline. An outline will help to fix the way a student will build other significant sections including Literature Review. Most colleges and universities need an outline to be shown in a research paper. Students rarely have to begin with, which evidence and organize an outline for the particular formatting.

Lost in Translation Free Essay Example, 1000 words

This relation between a person’s innate identity and there enacted identity therefore portrays how globalization can affect the identity of individuals in a new environment. In summary, a person’s identity can be connected to culture through individual’s social identity that depends upon the different groups that they interact with. Globalization has brought about the emergence of various languages that individuals from different communities have used to communicate. However, this has also led in huge challenges more so for people who find themselves in a new culture without the ability to comprehend and understand the new language and linguistics. Traditionally, language has been used to fulfill two main purposes, that is, to enable communication and to represent the world that surrounds us (Joseph 15). Through language therefore, individuals can be able to communicate with people of different ethnic groups thereby representing their different origins. Just as identity, language can be used to either associate with or distinguish between individuals of different groups and different ethnicities. In Lost in Translation, language has been brought up as one of the major problem facing Eva while she is staying in her new country. We will write a custom essay sample on Lost in Translation or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Eva explains how the huge effect of losing the ability to communicate with the individuals has led to her â€Å"loss of living connection† (Hoffman 107). Therefore, Eva sought that sought that it was unsatisfactory to live among foreign people without the ability to represent herself. In addition, Eva states that â€Å"the picture and word show is gone† (Hoffman 107), thereby trying to show how a sadness has engulfed her thus making her new life to be a dark and empty experience. It is however worth noting that though language can cause isolation among individuals due to diversity and globalization, it is also a tool that individuals can use to work with consciously. For instance, Eva acquires new language skills that she uses to express herself in various situations. She is even able to express her intimate feelings through her new language. Globalization has resulted to cultural diversity which has affected individuals both positively and negatively. Just like identity and language, culture too can unite or divide individuals of different ethnicity. According to Riely, culture can be defined as the knowledge that members of a social order need in order for them be able to participate fully in the various circumstances and events that life has put in their way (Riely 36).

Adoption of Sustainable Behavior - 2771 Words

Introduction The very idea of our existence having an impact on the planet is no longer questionable. As correctly cited in the chapter our consumption behaviors have a potential of generating a positive or a negative implications on the environment. But why? The simple answer to this question is that we all come with â€Å"Ecological Footprints† (Global Footprints Network, 2010). The energy we consume, the food we take, the transport we use, the waste we generate and our consumption patterns and levels have a profound impact on environment. Thus there arises a need for adopting and maintaining ways to produce, consume and market efficiently or in other words bringing sustainable development in our production, consumption and marketing practices. Sustainability development as explained by the World Commission on Environment and Development 1987, means a â€Å"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.† Given the fact that sustainability is result of effective production, consumption and marketing patterns and behaviors, now the next question that stands unanswered is, what is the role of marketers in achieving sustainable development?. It is not incorrect to say that marketers turn our lives every second by influencing our perception, attitudes, believes towards the way we procure, consume and dispose products and services. It is interesting to know that in this 21st century businesses have becomeShow MoreRelatedRole Of Procurement And Supply Chain Management Essay1646 Words   |  7 Pagesdemands of their clients. 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Comparison Italy vs Spain in Crisis Free Essays

Comparison Spain vs. Italy Similarities * Left-centred coalition government * Member of the EU * Low birth rate * High immigration * Declining competitiveness * Latin, Mediterranean (used to take siestas), highly emotional citizens * High costs, low productivity firms (likely to be overtaken by Chinese competition) * Low spending on Ramp;D * Poor educational system Differences * Italy has a high black economy, Spain does not (tax deficits for Italy) * Spain: monarchy and democratic * Italy: republic Corruption percentage index (Italy: 6. 5 and Spain 4. We will write a custom essay sample on Comparison Italy vs Spain in Crisis or any similar topic only for you Order Now 8) * Unemployment rate (Italy: 10. 7% Spain: 25. 1%) How did Italy and Spain become struggling economies? Spain * Real estate crash Nearly every Spanish representative did heavily investments in the real estate market. So there was an illegal connection between reforms undertaken and unnecessary low interest rates concerning the housing sector in their own interest. Cajas, which are semi-public banks, are the most involved banks, which lenthuge amounts of money to the real estate sector. Those real estate companies went bankrupt. This was followed by a huge price increase of housing done by the cajas, since they needed to get their money back. * Increase in unemployment * Huge trade deficit (increasing oil prices, lack of resources) * High inflation rate (caused by real estate price increase and family indebtedness increase) Italy * High governmental debt (118% of GDP) * Very difficult to start businesses -gt; high bureaucracy and sluggish justice system * Very weak economy Weak investment, elderly population, poor regulations (-gt;less increase in productivity) * Very low annual growth rate (lower than the rate of interest it pays) -gt; causes a huge governmental debt * Due to a bad outlook and insecurities of Italy the interest rate increased tremendously for Italy * If nobody will lend to Italy, then Italy cannot repay its debts. And if Italy cannot repay its debts, then nobody will lend to it. (Vicious circle) What procedures did the government do to decrease the effects of the crisis? Italy * Monti tries to boost growth in Italy â‚ ¬10 billion of savings should be reinvested to boost growth * New policy: reduced tax to encourage firms to hire women and young workers * Full-scale liberalisation of shopping hours (to stimulate consumer spending) * â‚ ¬3. 8 billion for infrastructure projects (to attract FDI) Spain: * Restructuring Spain’s banking sector A lot of small and weak banks have had to merge by larger banks. This caused a job loss by 11% in this sector. Bankia, Spain’s fourth-largest bank is now part nationalised this caused a huge governmental money spending to save the bank. * Recession To get help from the market (borrowing funds) would be too cost intensive (high interest rates). So Spain had to ask for financial help at euro members. So far Spain does not want a full bailout or rescue, to avoid another increase in interest rates and close supervision of the Spanish finance system. So far the government decided for: a 12% average cut in ministerial spending, freeze in public sector pay for the third consecutive year, new independent authority to monitor government finances, increase in pensions, new 20% tax on lottery wins, new car scrappage scheme. Ms Saenz de Santamaria said that efforts to close the government’s deficit would focus more on spending-cuts than tax rises. * The only areas of spending to increase in 2013 would be pensions, student scholarships and interest payments. (to calm the Spanish citizen) * Government tries to reduce the deficit to 6. 3% of the GDP this year. * BUT, government said that tax revenues will be higher than budgeted for this year, so they are expected to increase by a further 3. 8% in 2013. Analysis – Spain * Since the big real estate bubble was mostly caused by the government and politicians, they also should help Spain to overcome the crisis. Spain’s rescue plan so far is to cut governmental spending and reduce taxes. This should stimulate consumer spending, which will help the market to get in a better flow again. At the other hand by requesting a potential bailout plan from the EU, Spain makes its citizens and its potential investors highly insecure. The potential bailout plan indicates that Spain is not able to overcome the crisis by itself and herewith no foreign investors and no loans out of the market with acceptable interest rates will be further available for Spain. At the moment Spain cannot come out of the crisis by itself. Due to this, help will be needed. As mentioned above, Spain already requested a potential bailout plan, which is not yet requested by the Spanish government, to prevent an increase in interest rates and a strict observation and regulation of the Spanish governmental actions. * It is inevitable that Spain quickly decides about a crisis plan, which should be strictly followed for the next years. * In my opinion Spain needs to use a bailout package to save its banking sector. By this action, the government would show its citizens, who are mostly unemployed and highly indebted, that it takes actions to get Spain out of the crisis. The government already tried to be more neoliberal by not intervening a lot and just helping the banking sector out by providing financial rescue help („lightâ€Å" bailout). This financial aid did not solve the problem in depth. At this point of time the Spanish population needs security provided by the government to become more active again. * It will be a difficult procedure to intervene with more cuts and reforms. Many reforms will touch the welfare state, such as pensions, education and health. * A further intervention would probably cause a further erosion of popular support for the EU and might lead to a formation of a new-formed government lead by technocrats. * BUT: Spain needs more jobs, to decrease its high unemployment rate. * To achieve that, the government should subsidize firms, which create jobs for Spanish citizens. Also Spanish government already took over its biggest bank, this could be a start to get control over important and big institutions, in connection with job creation. Spain should provide a mixture of private businesses, which receive subsidies if they create new jobs and state owned or partly owned firms to control the issue of unemployment better. * More employment and lower taxes would then stimulate the consumer spending, which would be followed by a highly stimulated and profitable economy. * Now it is the turn of the government to spend more and reduce taxes as long as the private sector is ready to take the economy forward (Keynesian theory) * If the Spanish economy and the market cools down FDI will continue to come in, which is also a positive fact. As far the market is not as ttractive for foreign investors, the government could also create subvention plans for them. * I am positive about Spain’s FDI future, since Spain is located in the gateway to the Mediterranean, North Africa and Latin America, its labour market provides young and qualified workers, so far the VAT and the Corporate Tax rebate system is relatively low in comparison to the other EU countries. (FDI is a very important source for Spain, it counts for 44% of its GDP, and 7% of employment) Analysis Italy * After Adam Smith every country should specialize in the sector where its competitive advantage is the biggest. But in the case of Spain and Italy there is no huge competitive advantage in a certain sector. So I would propose the theory of David Ricardo. He suggested focusing on a comparative advantage, which means that less efficient countries can still benefit from free trade if they export those products where they have the least productivity disadvantage. * In order to overcome governmental debt, the Italian government cut governmental spending, froze on public-salaries and stopped tax increases. * It also reformed the labour market to overcome the high unemployment rate. Those actions were all caused by the government, which leads to the assumption that the government holds the control over all future market actions. (Keynesian approach) * The Italian government also plans a new structure of the tax system that includes a greater level of control concerning tax evasion. The tax structure is going to be more growth friendly, which includes diverting income from the wealthy to the lower pai d citizen, this should increase the consumer spending. (Keynesian approach) -gt; Stimulating consumer spending leads to Porters Diamond Italy after 1945 again. The Demand Conditions, which were very sophisticated in Italy, should be improved again. * In April 2012, the government proposed a labour market reform. This reform needs to be adopted as soon as possible to overcome Italy? s competitive loss with trade partners. (-gt;Improve competitiveness) * The government also introduced fiscal incentives focusing on the employment of women (action on childcare and elderly care facilities). Elderly Italian women are forced to find work since the pensionable age will rise by five years between 2012 and 2018. -gt;Fostering employment) -gt;Factor Conditions after Porter Diamond * Another beneficial step for SMEs the government took is that companies can exclude the notional return on new injections of equity capital from taxable income. This will increase the size of firms of SMEs and investments in innovation. Italy? s economic strength lies in processing and manufacturing goods of SMEs. (-gt;Governmental investment and policies to increase the in ternational competition of Italy) -gt; Porter Diamond-Related Supporting Industries * The government also forms policies to financially help SMEs at their Ramp;D division. This will trigger firm- specific advantages, which can be useful for Italy? s USP at the global market. (New Trade Theory, Dunning) Bibliography Online Sources for Spain: http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/business-16290598, retrieved 22. 10. 12 http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/business-17549970, retrieved 22. 10. 12 http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/business-19733995, retrieved 22. 10. 12 http://www. ibtimes. com/can-mariano-rajoy-save-spain-its-financial-crisis-797237, retrieved 22. 10. 12 http://www. telegraph. co. uk/finance/financialcrisis/9549245/Debt-crisis-politicians-drive-bank-union-but-markets-focus-on-Spain. html, retrieved 22. 10. 2 http://www. ft. com/cms/s/0/bad90798-07f4-11e2-9df2-00144feabdc0. html#axzz2AK2iKiR2, retrieved 22. 10. 12 http://sizemoreletter. com/spains-new-austerity-plan-what-does-it-mean/, retrieved 22. 10. 12 http://www. presstv. ir/detail/2012/09/02/259497/spain-calls-for-key-action-for-euro-crisis/, retrieved 22. 10. 12 http://www. bloomberg. com/news/2012-07-24/spain-debt-costs-seen-unfounded-after-berlin-crisis-talks. html, retrieved 22. 10. 12 http://www. economywatch. com/world_economy/sp ain/export-import. html, retrieved 22. 10. 12 http://ecfr. eu/content/entry/commentary_the_eurocrisis_a_spanish_perspective, retrieved 22. 10. 12 How to cite Comparison Italy vs Spain in Crisis, Papers

History of the Bubonic Plague / Black Death free essay sample

Paige Young February 1, 2013 Period 3 History of the Bubonic Plague / Black Death Throughout the years there have been out breaks of the Black Death. The Black Death began in Asia and eventually spread throughout Europe and later it spread to the rest of the world. The Black Death is still around today and still kills thousands of people each year. The Bubonic Plague or Black Death began in Asia. The first recorded outbreak was in the Yuan Empire in 1331. By 1334 the disease had killed 90% of the population in the Hebei Province It originated at the east end of the trading route and spread west, infecting millions across Asia (Szczepanski). It spread through the trading routes and reached the â€Å"Turkish tribes in Crimea† people from these tribes eventually fled across the Black Sea to Europe. They took the plague with them. The plague began in Europe in1347 in Sicily eventually to Genoa and Venice then by the end of the year in infects all of Europe (The Black Death). We will write a custom essay sample on History of the Bubonic Plague / Black Death or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The Bubonic Plague is very contagious, â€Å"the mere touching of the clothes,† wrote Boccaccio (Black Plague). The Black Plague was a very deadly disease and still today there are deaths from outbreaks. The Black Death is very deadly. It is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. This bacterium is found in the entrails of fleas. When a infected flea bites a human it transmits the bacteria into the bloodstream and in four to six days symptoms will begin (Szczepanski). Symptoms include: swollen, tender lymph nodes, high fever, chills, headache and hemorrhages under the skin, causing blackish discoloration of the skin. A person that has been infected may develop other serious illnesses: pneumonia, blood poisoning, or meningitis (Kugler). There is no vaccine for any kind of plague in the United States. In the rest of the world there are limited amounts of vaccine available. There is no vaccine for the plague that is able to be inhaled (Lutwick 2). During the outbreak of the Bubonic Plague millions of people died. Today, there are still some breakouts in Africa, Asia, and the Southwest United States. Work Cited Black Plague. www. istory. com. 1996-2013, Aamp;E Television Networks, LLC. N. d. Web. 1 Feb, 2013 Kugler, Mary. Bubonic Plague. rarediseases. about. com. 2013 About. com. N. d. Web. 1 Feb 2013. Lutwick, Larry I. and Nierengarten, Mary Beth. Vaccine Development for Plauge. www. medscape. com. 1994-2013 by WebMD LLC. N. d. Web. 1 Feb 2013. Szczepanski, Kallie. Black Death in Asia Bubonic  Plague. asianhistory. about. com. 2013 About. com. N. d. Web. 1 Feb, 2013 The Black Death. www. historywo rld. net . N. p. N. d. Web. 1 Feb 2013