Design a programme plan focusing on the introduction of safe sharps Essay

Design a programme plan focusing on the introduction of safe sharps mechanisms - Essay Example Sharp injuries are common risks that are well recognized in the healthcare sector. Medical sharps that are contaminated with a patient blood can transmit pathogens that cause more than twenty diseases of inclusive of the deadly one such as HIV and hepatitis is B and C (Pike 1976). The main aim of this health program is to come up with new regulations and strategies that will supplement the already existing ones in the control and prevention of health issues that arises from sharps injury. In this health program plan we will Ewels and Simnet 2003 planning model to come up with a very concrete and elaborate healthcare program to control and prevent the health care issues that arises due to sharp injuries. An effective sharp injury prevention program includes several components that must work in concert to protect health workers in mental institution and other medical centers from suffering injuries that are caused by needlesticks and other sharps (Ewels & Simnett 2003). This program plan is designed to be integrated into the existing infection control, performance improvement and safety programs in the various hospitals that aims at minimizing these tragedies (Linsley & Kane 2011). An institutional review of sharp injuries was conducted to help in determining the priorities in allocation of resource in this sharp prevention program. A review of about two hundred of sharp injuries that occur every year was analyzed and categorized into high, low or moderate. A total of 119 risks were considered to be moderate and the remaining ninety were considered to be at the low risk of acquiring blood borne diseases while the rest could not be categorized (Perry & Robinson 2004). Epidemiological data on sharp injuries incident, including those circumstances that are associated with the occupational transmission of the blood borne viruses, are very crucial elements in targeting and evaluating intervention at the national and local level. The actual magnitude of the

Crytography & Computer attack Essay Example for Free

Crytography Computer attack Essay Computer attack involves operations that deny, disrupt, destroy or degrade information stored in computers and computer networks. In other words, computer attack is known as electronic attack used against a computer. The attackers of stored information in computer are called hackers or intruders. A difference occurs between computer attackers in the level of skill and sophistication of the attack (Roman Peter, 2007). More recently, attackers have developed skills that make it possible for them to access other people’s information by using automated tools. The automated and sophisticated tools are cheaply available in the market making it possible to access other people’s computer. The major incidents of computer attacks include bringing down of eBay, Yahoo! and Amazon. com by hackers. The motives for computer attack are to destroy data or information and access individual information for political, social and financial gain. On individual basis a hacker can attack personal computer to destroy information on revenge mission, or out of grudge. Attackers of computers especially in political perspective aim at gaining information for their opponent candidates to outperform him or her during campaigns (Rhodes Mary, 2003). In the context of business, hackers go for core variables necessary to compete in global markets such as information related to marketing strategies. Hackers of computer information do so once they have a particular opportunity such as use of high speed digital subscriber line. It is an opportunity that has been used by hackers to gain access to private information. The internet is known as an important tool in education or business but some offenders find ways of using internet provided in cyber to commit crimes. The offenders satisfy their needs while putting their victims at risk. There are a number of cyber crimes popular among internet offenders such as credit card fraud, cyber stalking, identity theft, software piracy, cyber terrorism and phonograph. These crimes are very common in the modern society as internet is cheaply available in cybercafes and mobile phones. The children and young generation are exposed to cyber risks such as addiction to phonographic sites. Software piracy is another common cyber crime in the modern world of advanced technology. Cyber crimes are as dangerous as any other form of crime and require law enforcement officers to be careful when handling cyber criminals. As a complex issue some offenders are prosecuted while others are set free. Three main reasons that lead to prosecution of some criminals and release of others include first, there are no defined penal laws relating to cyber crimes (Wible Brent, 2003). This means that some individuals search information from the internet and end up exceeding certain legal provisions without their knowledge. Such individuals are cyber criminals but are never arrested especially employees working in a networked office. Second, considering whether an individual has or has not committed a previous offense without computer or an offense similar in nature. Individuals who are convicted of other offences outside the cyber such as bank robbery are prosecuted of cyber crime once they are considered as suspects. Third, children below the age of eighteen years which is considered as the average age for a person to be prosecuted are set free while they are cyber offenders. The law about cyber crime favors some offenders while others are charged with criminal activities. Children are the major victims in cyber crime and yet are protected by the law owing to age factor. References Roman Peter, 2007, Computer Crimes, American Criminal Law Review, Vol. 44. Wible Brent, 2003, A Site Where Hackers Are Welcome: Using Hack-in Contests to Shape preferences and Deter Computer Crime, Yale Law Journal, Vol. 112. Rhodes Mary, 2003, Computer Crimes, American Criminal Law Review, Vol. 40.

Management Information System In Mcdonalds Information Technology Essay

Management Information System In Mcdonalds Information Technology Essay In any organization, the role of information in decision making is crucial. All the effective decisions are made on the basis of timely, accurate and relevant information. An organization where the relevant information is not available, it leads to poor planning, poor priority of needs, inappropriate decision making, and defective scheduling of programs and activities. The importance of information for proper decision making led to the development of management information system for organizations. The management information system in decision making aims to develop a system for the viable and effective use of modern information approach in the modern management practices (Laudon and Laudon, 2009). Management Information System (MIS) is concerned with the streamlined process of collecting, processing, storing and transmitting the relevant and required information to support entire management operations in any organization. Management Information System comprises of three resources: Academically, management information system and decision making is commonly referred to the automation of human decision making including Decision Support Systems, Expert systems and Executive information system (Laudon and Laudon, 2009). Criteria to select data and information to support decision making There is certain criterion which must be followed in order to select data and information. The criteria include following points: Information required Source of information Reason for which that particular source collected the information The problem which will be solved by that information Evaluation of different sources for acquiring best information along with best format and mode for information Parts of information which will be used Additional information required Presentation of information in order to understand the situation and take decisions ((Laudon and Laudon, 2008) Impact of Information Management System in an organization The Management Information System is being used extensively by many businesses worldwide. The MIS is designed by the top management and is used as a tool for accumulating and assembling facts and figures about all the important business processes including: Financial management Inventory management Technical foundation Asset management Forecasting Time and expense management Procurement Work force management The implementation of Management Information System in an organization ensures the appropriate flow of information to relevant departments and people without bottlenecks. This helps in making decisions not only at internal level but at external level too (Laudon and Laudon, 2008). The entire process of MIS provides the complete, reliable, timely and quality information to decision makers. The four types of computer based management information systems used commonly in organizations are: Transaction processing system Operating information system Expert system Decision support system The Management Information System impacts the organization in following ways: The MIS in an organization ensure the accurate and timely transaction processing. The processes become efficient as there are fewer chances of duplicate data entry and maintenance. The MIS in an organization helps in streamlining records and accounting management. The business processes become standardized due to MIS. MIS provides interactive support to managers which help them in decision making. MIS provides a systematic and easy way to dig out critical information as per specific requirements in preferred formats. MIS due to its time saving feature enables the organizations to gain competitive advantage over others. Although McDonalds has a market share in South Asia but it needs to do more research and gather information regarding the flavors to be introduced, customer expectations and other relevant market information. After collecting this information, this food chain needs to communicate this information efficiently to its employees in order to have the internal opinions for final decision making (OBrien and Marakas, 2008). By collecting information along with the data and information criteria, the business will be able to have a greater level of insight into how business actually works. Importance of information sharing within the organization Every organization has different hierarchical levels constituting managers, executives, employers, employees, administrative staff and lower staff. These levels in an organizational structure are developed for the sake of job description and designations in order to make every employee, manager and executive accountable of his/her actions. Various departments in an organization have their own sets of information which are of formal and informal nature. This information usually consist of work description, company policies, rules and regulations, budget for specific department, targets for specific department, goals for department and much more (McLeod and Schell, 2006). For any organization to be successful, interaction between different business departments or units is essential. The harmonized communication within the organization leads to better understanding of different jobs which are being carried out. The employees understand their perspective goals and the contribution of every department in accomplishing those goals. The inter-departmental communication helps in developing a team force directed towards achieving the goals. For achieving goals, formal information must be communicated along departments in order to have opinions from the employees as they being part of the organization could come up with better feedback. In addition to this, the information sharing within the organization has importance in the following way: By sharing information within the organization, inter-organizational communication and networking will improve. The communication between different organizational levels will support successful management of business and business operations. The information sharing within the organization will help in the sufficient use of executive resources. The sharing of information in an organization between different departments will increase the overall ability to make rational, sound and informed decisions involving combination of complex factors. The sharing of information will also enhance confidence and speed of decision making as well. The time factor will reduce and more work could be done as the work force will know every business dimension. By knowing every department and its role, the customer service will flourish as customer service agents will be able to answer every question easily. This will also improve the personnel relations with the organization as every employee will understand the nature of work and individual contribution of every department. The sharing of information will help bring clarity in communication within the organization as every department would be able to understand common terms and terminology. With such sharing, the business operations will develop higher degree of professionalism. (OBrien and Marakas, 2008) Although sharing information has been promoted in most of the organizations but there is a need for guidance when it comes to information sharing. The organizations must understand that employees must be confident that their personal information has been kept in privacy and secure from being accessed by any other employee. The privacy rights of every employee need to be maintained. The organizations must take the employees in confidence regarding the share of information. In this, the employees must have a clear idea how their personal data might be accessed or used by the company. Same is the case with work related information sourcing, sharing and storing. Some of the work related information of other departments must be communicated in order to streamline the processes to achieve the organizational goals. However there are certain decisions and approaches applied in department judging the requirement of the work. Such information must not be shared unless proper consent has been g iven by higher management. The employees must only share such information with an open consent of higher officials (McLeod and Schell, 2006). Similarly, the organization need to streamline and direct which information should go to which department. There should be filters in the bulk of information so that the concerned employee or department receives the information only. The information of sensitive nature must be kept safe with secure privacy system so that only relevant higher management could access it. Format for offering information For any organization, choosing information sharing format must be based on underlying condition according to which a data format should only be approved for information preservation if it is fully known to the organization and the authority in charge of preserving information. There are various information sharing formats: Code Coding Encoding Metadata Publicly standardized format Published format Standard Mandatory statement These and other formats are available to organizations for offering information. However the organization must ensure that the format used must be clear to them in terms of its functioning. McDonalds must promote information sharing within departments in order to know their opinions so a better product could be launched. Use of information to support strategic decision making Decision making for any organization is the selection of course of action. The process of decision making produce a final choice and this choice can be an opinion or an action. The decision making process must be routed down to lowest possible level in the organization. But for every decision in an organization, proper and relevant information is required based on which analysis could be made and further implemented. Producing data and information should not be an end in itself but it should be made an integral part of the performance management, operations and governance arrangements of an organization. Organizations that pay central attention to the use of information while making decisions often end up making reliable choices. However, good quality data is an essential ingredient when it comes to development of reliable decision. The data must be relevant and perfect for the purpose with timely and accurate representation. In addition to this, an organization must reach for a bala nce between the importance of information required and cost of collecting such data (Haag and Cummings, 2009). Use of information to support strategic decision making could be achieved by following this timeline: Identify the decision to be made along with the goals that organization has to achieve through the decision. In this regard, determine the limitations and scope of the decision. In case of McDonalds, they can use this technique before launching the new product. They can decide if the new product should be launched in proper market or just test market. On these lines, the company needs to be very clear about their goals as well. Get as many facts as you can about the decision an organization is going to take. McDonalds must go for detailed information regarding their performances in Asian region to get the drift of their problem. After collecting these facts, the organization must communicate these facts to employees of every department in order to get the opinion on the launch of the product. After getting the facts, develop choices by developing alternatives. McDonalds can change the ingredients of their products in order to prepare different flavors. Along with identifying alternatives, create as well. This is the evaluation phase of every alternative. McDonalds now need to consider the negative aspect of every alternative (cost, problems, consequences, time needed etc) and the positives (time saved, money saved, creativity, employees happy, customers happy etc). In decision making, there is always some uncertainty regarding the choice made. So the risk comparison amongst the many alternatives must be completed before making the choice. The choice with minimum risk along with other positive aspects would work in the end. Finally take the decision. After taking the decision, implement it and then evaluate the implementation. Once the organization follows this process, it will become part of every strategic decision making. The aggregate of this information can further be used to predict trends and patterns. In case of McDonalds, they can take up this approach and use the data and information in future before launching their new product in a problem area. By following these steps, McDonalds will have a an information pool from all business processes including financial, human resource, inventory, logistics, quality control, resources etc giving out a perfect base to McDonalds in making future strategic business decisions (McDonalds, 2011). To support the strategic business decisions, there are various decision making tools and techniques which can be used. An organization can either use one or a combination of these tools depending on the amount of information and risks in decision making process. The decision making tools and techniques come in various forms and can help the organization in taking the core strategic business decision. Some of these tools are: Cost benefit analysis model Weighted matrix BCG Matrix Decision support system Decision trees SWOT PEST PMI- Pluses, minuses, interesting points Paretos Analysis Six thinking hats Mind mapping McDonalds can use all these tools and techniques in order to expand their market share in Asia region. The need is to do research in every dimension and communicate that information within the organization. There should not be any bottlenecks within the organizational communication. The decision making process would become easier if all the above steps are streamlined within the given period of planning and launching the product. By building up credible information in the information pool, McDonalds will be able to expand its operation and market easily. Evaluate and monitor Management Information System The Management Information System in an organization primarily depends on the quality of information and its source which are people, research and other sources. However this system is maintained in an organization by using the Information Technology and Information Systems. These days, due to adoption of Management Information System in all organizations, the financial investments in Information Technology and Information Systems have increased. With the growing significance of Management Information System in organizational infrastructure development, the performance and evaluation of new technology being used in these systems remains a focus for management. The evaluation process of Management Information System requires the appraisal of techniques which are being used in the information system development. The evaluation process takes into account the technologies which an enterprise is using to integrate information systems between and within organizations. The evaluation purpos e includes the costs, benefits and risks associated with the diffusion or adoption of certain technology for information systems and impact assessment through management information system in an organization (Oz, 2008). Information is a vital asset of any organization which helps determine the enterprise in creating new products and services. Information helps the organization to either withdraw from the markets or enter new markets. But information presented in raw form does not serve the purpose. For maximizing the worth of information, it is captured, quantified, analyzed, compiled, manipulated, shared and made accessible. All this requires the strong foundation and network of information systems (Laudon and Laudon, 2009). Along with considering cost for developing the information systems, the organization must consider the following factors in monitoring and evaluation of the management information system and its components: Number of users Modularity of the system Ease in integration of new components in the system Ease to remove outdated component Amount of information to be processed Type of information to be processed Computing power required by different organizational departments The anticipated functional life of components or system User friendly components for people involved For any organization, the management information system must be maintained in a way to minimize downtime. The enterprise must monitor the processing time of information in order to assure the successful implementation of management information system. A vital consideration in terms of monitoring the management information system is the users access to information in the context that which users can access the information. The organization must ensure that the system grants access to different data by applying user-level permission for access in order to avoid any legal issues regarding privacy of the information. For this, the organization can create unique profiles for each user of the management information system with relevant user-level permissions providing proper clearance. The enterprise can administer the MIS by using individual passwords in order to delineate each user along with their level of access rights. In addition to this, identification of tasks performed by each user will be possible with this password system. The user identification process can also help in gaining data, its measurement and assessment about the performance of any user (McLeod and Schell, 2006). One of the most crucial aspect of monitoring the information system is maintaining the communication between the IS staff of the organization that are involved in the technical perspective, and the system users who communicate their needs or concerns in prosaic terminology. The organization need to monitor this situation by eliminating the language barriers between the IS staff and system users with patience, negotiation and understanding. The organization must maintain a centralized body to provide assistance, information and services to the users of the systems. The information which is being stored by an enterprise builds up a current pool for all users. The archived of the information should not only be a place for storage of information but it must be updated from time to time in order to make it useable for current needs and requirements. An information system is more than software or hardware and people who design it, use it and maintain it are the integral part of this system. The staff of IS must be paired with training department in order to upgrade their skills for better application of the information system and its maintenance (Haag and Cummings, 2009). McDonalds after developing the pool of information needs to monitor it so that the company could analyze the information in order to predict the trends and patterns of the future. As the problem McDonalds had to face was due to the lack of reliable and authentic information, so need of the hour is to build a strong management information system.

The Four Key Steps In Hiring And Keeping Top People :: essays research papers

The Four Key Steps In Hiring And Keeping Top People â€Å"When you hire the best, the rest is easy!† We have heard this phrase many times, but how do we put this concept into action? We know that hiring the best people is vital to the success of your business, especially for fast growing businesses. And certainly, your customers have high service expectations. So†¦how do you hire and keep top people? Let’s start from the beginning. The job description: Often overlooked, the job description sets the tone for success when hiring new people. Start by making certain your job descriptions are accurate, up-to-date and reflect your expectations. This is an important step, as it ensures consistency in your hiring practices and says your company is well run. Tip From The Coach: During the initial interview, be certain to present the job description, so the applicant will have a clear picture of your expectations if your company does hire them. This also helps to generate a more comprehensive conversation regarding the position being offered. The interview game plan: Prepare a detailed interview game plan, to be used by each person doing the interviewing for your company. This game plan must include: how to evaluate a resume, sample questions to be asked during the interview process, a detailed presentation of compensation, how to do reference checks, and any final hiring details (i.e. company benefits, policy and procedures, etc.†¦). Tip From The Coach: In addition to the in-person interview, consider the use of written tests and/or assessments to aid in your hiring process. This is key to hiring top people and will help to establish performance standards when hiring new employees. Fast-track training: Develop a detailed training checklist for all newly hired employees. This should include: an orientation for the first day, a plan for the first week, an outline for the first month, and a recap of the first 90 days that includes expectations for their performance. Tip From The Coach: By building a thorough and consistent training program, you will quickly develop top performers for your company, a â€Å"win-win† for all. Grow and groom: To hire and keep top people, you must provide a career path to help your best people grow and to be groomed for additional responsibility. This starts in the hiring process, so consider if the person you are hiring has the skills for the current position and might also have the skills for a next level promotion.

Organisational Change Essay

Organizational change is also known as organizational transformation and it may involves organisational change in mission, introducing new technology, restructuring operations, introducing new programmes, mergers, re-engineering and having new major collaborations. (Bridges 1991) Organizational changes are aimed at achieving some set organizational goals and objectives which need to be a attained within a given period of time. In many cases changes in the organizational are provoked by some outside forces which includes taking care of new markets, substantial cut in finding, need for increase in services and productivity among others. There are many approaches that managers uses to introduce change in the organization, some are planned, explicit and structured while others are more unfolding, implicit and organic. Managers goes for the approaches that will be supported by all the employees and those that will enable the organization to maximize the profit margin as they achieve the set goals and objectives within the set time frame. Some approaches works from the future to the present where by the managers uses the organization’s vision to plan all the organizational activities aiming at achieving the vision while other approaches works from the present to the future which may include pointing out the currents needs of the target clients and then making the necessary changes towards achieving those needs. This is the best approach since the clients and other stakeholders are the backbone of any organization and they determine the success of the any business (Easterby 1999). Identifying their needs should be a continuous exercise which should be followed by implementing the necessary changes which will facilitate in satisfying their needs hence building a good and strong customer relationship which will lead to increased sales hence increasing the Organizational profitability (Dent 1999).  Aegon UK  is a member of the AEGON Group which is among the world’s largest life insurance and pension company. The company is the owner of different life insurance, pensions, adviser and management businesses in the UK (Folger 1999). The company has 27,000 employees and a total of over 25 million customers worldwide with it’s main markets being in Netherlands and the United States. Factors That Lead To Change One of the major hindrance for decision making is a clear understanding of the working environment where the decisions made will be operated. (Brewster 2004) Proper understanding of the working environment improves the decision making and it minimizes uncertainty. In the UK where life expectancy has risen in the past few years, people are expected to retire for a longer period of time hence the need to think ahead and save for retirement, an idea that many people find difficult to comprehend. (Kotter 1979) Many people do not properly plan about their retirement hence they suffer during the old age since they do not be have enough money for survival and on the other hand the government is also emphasizing on reduced dependency on the state in old age. This resulted to many insurance companies coming up with new cheap pension schemes who also emphasized on employee pension (Hultman 1995). The Industry Aegon operates in the life insurance and pension industry which for the past few years had a poor reputation. Some organisations in the industry has been blamed of mis-selling where by they do not give the customers quality products that satisfy their needs. (Johnston e 2004) The Financial Services Authority (FSA) introduced some regulations in the industry which were aimed at avoiding such situations from happening again in the future. The industry has been faced with intense competition where by AEGON is competing with other organisations that are well known in the UK and they specialise in selling directly to the customers (Kirkman 2000). The company normally distributes it’s services and products to customers through financial advisers. For AEGON to remain competitive it had to take care of all the problems that the industry was facing. Reasons For Change Historically AEGON had been very successful and profitable but some times back the government introduced some regulations that reduced the organisation’s profitability. Comparing the company with it’s competitors, AEGON was not well known though it had very good services and products and it also had good relationship with the distributors. (Strebel 1996) For consumers to have the confidence of investing in a long term product, they have to know more about the organisation they are planning to invest with by learning more about the brands that are being offered by the organisation and by understanding the value of each brand. As AEGON offered different brands it was hard for the financial advisers and the consumers to identify and understand the different depth and breadth of the brands. Facilitators of Change AEGON company appointed a new (CEO) Chief Executive Officer who entered into the office with new strategies for the company and the first thing that he implemented was to bring AEGON into a discovery phase which would help him in achieving the goals he had for AEGON. The CEO’s goal was to develop the best long term savings and protection business in the UK while the discovery phase was aimed at finding ways of achieving those goals. (Kegan 2001) Another aspect that needed consideration was the company’s brands and how they could be audited. The company was examined both internally and externally to find it’s position in the market. The process of auditing was aimed at giving more information about the company which assisted AEGON in making more informed decisions which were needed to start the process of change. Creating a New Culture Culture refers to the attitude and the personality of an organization and it is also involves the shared values, behavior and beliefs of the employees and other stakeholders (Morgan 1997). It acts as a key part in the change process since it dictates the way in which the organisation and the stakeholders solve problems and makes decision. By developing a new culture, AEGON was able to provide services and products that were required in the market hence they were able to remain competitive. A Behavior Framework In order to support the new culture, AEGON came up with a behavior framework which was aimed at strengthening the brand values. It was designed in such a way that it could influence how all the employees in the organisation could work and make decisions where by the behavior emphasized the values of AEGON. (Coetsee 1999) The company also introduced a Management Development Programme which emphasised on eight main behaviors which are, think customer, embrace change, encourage excellence, act with integrity, decisive actions, work together, learn and grow and finally relate and communicate (Piderit 2000). Implementing The Change The organisation has emphasised on the customer’s needs which determines the decisions, behaviour and it also informs actions. The senior mangers keeps the customer’s needs at the heart of all the operations in AEGON while the other managers and professionals innovates with the needs of the customers in mind so that they come up with products and services that can satisfy the needs of the customers. AEGON brand have been extensively promoted alongside Scottish Equitable or other brands are traded under it. Association with AEGON is stronger where by the Scottish Equitable is currently AEGON Scottish Equitable which reflects the local knowledge and the global power. Currently all the brands has a new look that is common, different and refreshing. Impacts Of The Changes Implementing change in AEGON affected it both externally and internally. Internally the changes influenced how the people behaved and communicated while the organisational operations has been focused on satisfying the needs of the customers. Great emphasis has been on making information clearer so that the customers can be in a position to understand the company well so that they can do business with them. The company has intensively done external promotional campaigns and it has managed to launch new innovative products aimed at satisfying the customer’s needs. This changes has worked very well for AEGON since the company has been able to maximise it’s profit. Currently AGEON brand is in a position that it influences the financial services in the industry. Challenges The main challenge that AEGON is facing is that the competition is growing at a very fast rate in an increasingly difficult market. This has forced the government to implement some regulations to govern the industry. To fight competition, AEGON should maintain two way communication channel which should be open and they should emphasis on getting feedback from all the stakeholders. This feedback is very important since the stakeholders can inform the organisation where they might be going wrong and can even give some recommendations which can work very well for the company hence being ahead of the competitors which leads to maximising the profit margins of the company. The stakeholders can also help the company in identifying the needs of the customers hence enabling the company to provide what is needed in the market . Also when there is open communication between the management and the employees it is normally very easy to prevent conflicts since the employees will be free to air their grivances hence cultivating a culture of good working relationships in AEGON which will even motivate the workers to work even harder thus enabling the company to realize the set goals and objectives within the set time frame. Conclusion Organisational change is continuous and the process of change is like a journey which will be faced by external factors that can affect the operations of the organisation. AEGON respond to the external factors was by clarifying, simplifying and strengthening it’s brand in the UK. As the organisation changes, it’s culture and pattern of behavior develops which is a cycle which requires the business to use the knowledge it has to learn from the experiences. This has enabled AEGON to move towards achieving its goals through realizing its full potential while they remain competitive in the market. Taking care of the needs of the customers increases the sales of the company since many customers will be interested in the products or services that are being provided by the company hence increasing sales which in turn increases the profit margin of the company.

Is greater life expectancy always desirable? Essay

The quest for the elixir of life has been going on throughout history. In every civilisation, there are myths which depict heroes and heroines who live long lives, some even forever. There is also recorded history of men and women, called alchemists, who experimented to discover means by which people could live forever; or at least for very long times. Mod ¬em medicine too aims to prolong lives – often even of very sick per ¬sons with no hope of recovery from their ailments. In fact, one of the signs of a progressive nation is when its statistics show that its popula ¬tions has a high life expectancy; that is that they can live longer than their forefathers. The longer the life expectancy of a nation; the better that nation. All these show that it is in the human consciousness to want to live for a long period of time. The question now is whether this is always desirable. Seen in the light of the individual, longer life expectancy certainly seems desirable. Almost everyone would like to live and enjoy life longer. Hu ¬mans have generally shown a reluctance to die and leave this beautiful world and their loved ones. This is in the survival spirit with which every person seems to be born. Almost all of us want to prolong our lives and live as long as we can. However, there is a condition to this. We also want to live well. If we are in dire economic consequences or incurably ill or in great suffering, we would not want to live too long, as doing so will prolong the difficulty and pain. If with greater life expectancy comes greater health, it would be a good thing. Suppose a person can be made healthy till the day he dies, then he will not be dependent on anyone and greater life expectancy would be most welcome. Usually, we say that life expectancy has increased, in a society, with reference to statistics. These are likely to be simple and just show that over a number of years, people are now living longer. There is usually no reflection about the quality of life that has been lived by the people who now live longer. The statistics show an average without saying which of the people who have lived longer have lived disease-free lives and which have lived lives of comfort and happiness. It is possible that some of the people who have lived longer lives have actually lived miserably in retirement homes where the doctors have tried their best to make sure that the retirees  live as long as possible. If by longer life expectation we mean that people live longer, but with no improvement in the quality of their lives, then it would be much better if we do not have a longer life expectancy. In such cases, longer life expectancy would be undesirable. It would be better to live shorter but happier l ives than have one’s life prolonged, to suffer and die slow, lingering and painful deaths. Another consideration about greater life expectancy is about the effect it would have on society. Unless longer life expectancy also brings about with it greater health, there is going to be chaos. If people live longer, it could mean that it would take them longer to live out their old age. This means dependence on the younger population. The younger and health ¬ier generation, or indirectly the state, has to support the older. In fact, there have been forecasts that as time goes on there will be more old people in proportion to the younger. If this is a consequence of greater life expectancy, it will place a strain on the younger people as they would have to look after their parents and grandparents while they themselves struggle to make a living. The final thing to consider is whether there will be overpopulation if there is greater life expectancy. It is easy to see that the earth’s resourc ¬es are not limitless. There may come a time when there are too many people in the world to be able to survive. On the other hand we cannot rule out the possibility of earth colonies on the moon and perhaps even other planets. This seems to be a possibility in a century. In conclusion, though it is apparent that greater life expectancy is a good thing, there are certain conditions that should go with it. The most important thing is the ability of the people to live longer lives indepen ¬dently. There is also the consideration of the earth being able to support the larger number of people living on it. References Coale, A.J. 2003. â€Å"Increases in expectation of life and population growth.† Population and Development Review, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 113-20. Riley, J.C. 2001. Rising Life Expectancy: A Global History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.. White, K.M. 2002. â€Å"Longevity advances in high-income countries, 1955-96.† Population and Development Review, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 59-76. Wilmoth, J.R. 1998. â€Å"The future of human longevity: A demographer’s perspective.† Science, No. 280, pp. 395-97.