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Food Safe Families Campaign

Introduction

The outbreak of E-coli in Germany is a sharp reminder to everyone on why it is very important to be watchful about food safety. Food poisoning is a critical health threat to people in this nation. CDC approximates that one out of five Americans suffer from food poisoning each year. The consequence is over 127, 000 hospitalized cases and over 2900 deaths (Silliker 606).

USDA’s Food inspection and safety service as a result of partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) developed this campaign with the Ad council. This plan marks the foremost joint national multimedia crusade to assist families avert food poisoning in their homes. The Ad convention is the nonprofit generator of National Public Service Advertising (PSA) campaigns and includes the friends don’t drive while drunk and Smokey bear.

In the entire development process, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) consulted with an expert panel made up of government officials, industry groups, extension specialists, and educators. All were hand selected for their proficiency in the field of health education, food safety, and interrelated disciplines. The Ad council demanded their insights on topics critical to the campaign development; for instance, best practices, consumer behaviors, message considerations, trends, and barriers to the adoption by consumers of safe handling of food learned from existing programs (Stier 616).

Opportunities That the Government Gives

It is the government’s prerogative to make food as safe as possible before it reaches consumers’ tables. Consequently, knowledge about the risk of food poisoning can never be in vain. Therefore, word has to be taken to the consumers for them to be aware of how they can protect themselves. Part of our obligation as federal agents on food safety is to provide consumers the information they require to be safer (Tisler 125).

Target Audience English and Arabic parents or singles (20-40 years old), who prepare 4+ meals at home per week with at most a 12-year-old child at home.

ObjectivesMobilize awareness amongst families on the risks linked to food poisoning. This will be done through:

Motivating consumers to take action in order to minimize their own food poisoning risks.

Encouraging consumers to integrate safe behaviors of handling foods such as: Chill, clean, Cook and separate.

Another objective of this initiative is to change perceptions of families by raising awareness, and providing information and knowledge on the risks related to food poisoning. This will ensure that:

Consumers are motivated, especially parents, to take particular actions to minimize their risks and keep their families healthy (Tompkin 795).

The project also aims at changing attitudes and behaviors of parents to ensure that families adopt four safe food-handling behaviors in their homes in order to reduce the risk of food poisoning. These are clean, chill, and separate and Cook.

Clean: Clean hands, kitchen surfaces and utensils with water and soap in the course of food preparation

Separate: Separate raw meat from various ready to eat foods and vegetables through employing distinct cutting boards to curtail cross contamination.

Cook: Cook foods to the correct temperature through using a food thermometer .This helps in ensuring it is the right and safe temperature.

Chill: Chill prepared and raw foods quickly if they are not to be immediately consumed after cooking.

To empower consumers so that they can control and maintain good food safe families. The campaign aims at achieving this objective by:

Generating unparalleled national exposure of families to issues of food poisoning and food safety.

Initiating a national dialogue with parents on the frequency of food poisoning while encouraging families’ country wide to acknowledge the significant role they play in minimizing risks.

The PR Tools That will we Used To Reach Each Objective

The campaign will include Spanish and English language web advertising, TV, print, radio, and creativity designed, particularly for in store placement and an incorporated Social Media and PR program.

The campaign team has developed programs to engage and reach consumers in both non-conventional and conventional media. The objective of the campaign team is to reach consumers wherever they may be whether they could be in shopping mauls, watching TV, or on the social media (Weingold 820).

Messages

In every medium, one of the required four steps is highlighted with the passionate call to action to get to know more at Foodsafety.gov.

The new TV spot employs humorous description of over the top safe food handling behaviors. This will persuade parents to safeguard their families from food poisoning, while delivering visible steps to minimize their risk through Chill, Clean, Cook, and Separate.

The new radio spots would pursue a more serious approach and accentuate food poisoning consequences in a relevant manner.

Prominent web banner and print headlines aggravate consumers to question the steps they are taking towards acquiring food safety and help them get more information at Foodsafety.gov. The messages should be framed into messages and sub-messages.

The ads will strike the correct balance between getting the attention of consumers while motivating, entertaining and educating them.

These ads are likely to get people get interested in viewing its contents and that is when the campaign team will hit them with the critical reality of the problem and what they need to do to ensure, not only their safety but also that of their families.

The campaign will then give them explicit and precise steps to take and the reason for doing so.

Tools

A series of Social media/PR online tools will be adopted to engage the entire public and parents in these serious messages. Some of the social media tools that will be used include Blogs, Face book, and Twitter.

Face book

The campaign team will provide a new Face book community network that would be run by Foodsafety.gov. Face book will also offer links to third parties outside the country to increase participation in sharing of ideas. Food safety initiatives would thus be virally advertised through word of mouth as a result of social networking.

Twitter

The campaign team will also make use of the Foodsafety.gov twitter community website. The twitter site will be used mainly for networking with parents and members of the public on food safety practices. This will be done through instant messages.

Blogs

The campaign team will also make use of the Foodsafety.gov blog community website. The blogs would be very useful as discussion forums. Through these blogs, Foodsafety.gov would be able to provide useful information on food safety to parents and other members of the public.

SummaryMake a table or a chart that links the objectives, the messages and the tools together.

Objectives Messages Tools

Mobilize awareness amongst Families on the risks linked to food poisoning every medium one of the required four steps is highlighted with the clarion call to action to get to know more at Foodsafety.gov. Face book

Change perceptions of families by raising awareness, and providing information and knowledge on the risks related to food poisoning ads will strike the correct balance between getting the attention of consumers while motivating, entertaining and educating them. Twiiter

empower consumers to be in control and have food safe families. Ads are likely to get people get interested in viewing its contents and that is when the campaign team will hit them with the critical reality of the problem and what they need to do to ensure not only their safety but also that of their families Blogs

Works Cited

Silliker, J. “Microbiological Testing and HACCP Programs.” Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation, (2010): 606-610. Print

Stier, R.F. “Will HACCP be Carrot or Stick.” Dairy,Food and Environmental Sanitation, (2009): 616 -620. Print

Tisler, J.M. The Food and Drug Administration’s Perspective on HACCP, Food Technology, (2005): 125-127.

Tompkin, R.B. “The Use of HACCP in the Production of Meat and Poultry Products.” Journal of Food Protection, (2007):795-803. Print

Weingold, S.E. Use of Foodborne Disease Data for HACCP Risk Assessment.” Journal of Food Protection, (2006): 820-830.

Food security

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Introduction

In the period of 2007-2008, there was a steep rise in food prices. Since then, the graph of food insecurity in parts of world has been increasing steadily. Due to that incident, food insecurity has been a problem to the undeveloped and poor countries only; the effects were global and affected the developed countries too (Abuzeid & Hamdy 2004) .

This piece of work digs deeper into the issue of food insecurity in the Middle East. It contains several chapters containing information that was derived from an original fieldwork study. The problem of food insecurity in the Middle East region is new since this place has been known for its food abundance for many years. Because of adopting modern development policies, this region has started experiencing food insecurity hence becoming a contrast to its past whereby it was a food basket and could cater for the food needs of its population and the nearby areas as well (Lofgren & Richards 2000).

It is a fact that the Middle East is one of the regions in the world that is experiencing rapid development. With such high rates of development, the region has been forced to deal with both the deliberate and undeliberate effects of modernization. Some of most noticeable effects has been the high rates of birth and sharp rise in the population, biasness in urban policy-making that has led to rural neglect and rural-urban migration, and the planned expansion of the state that has led to introduction of policies based on the interests of the state. While concentrating on such developments, the stakeholders have put less effort on improving agricultural standards that has led to a big gap between national food demand and the available domestic food.

Agricultural products were highly costly in 2007-2008. The same trend occurred in 2011. As a result, there was an increased concern over that negative trend and led to discussions across the globe on the issue of food security. There was an alarming 83 percent in international food prices by 2008 over a period of three years according to the World Bank. The impact of this increase was immense in the Arab states given the fact that such countries import over 50 percent of the calories annually. After a year of releasing the stated statistics, the World Bank went ahead to urge the Arab countries to be prepared for any future food crisis. In less than two years later, food prices reached one of their all-time high once again. Despite the rise in prices being a global effect, the Middle East suffered devastating consequences. This was the case since an approximated one quarter of the region’s population is poor. To make matters worse, seventy-five percent of the poor people live in rural settings where there is an uneven access to decent food.

In order to counter the problem, all the Middle East states agreed on one. They were to subsidize food prices by big margins in order to make it affordable for the poor people in the region. One may argue that this unified agreement could have been of such events like the “bread riots” of the early 1990s and part of 1980s as well as the recent Arab Spring uprisings that the regions has experienced since 2011 (Wright & Cafiero 2011). Apparently, the subsidized prices, although heavy, did not seem to salvage the situation because the international food price shocks always translated to price hikes in the domestic market in different parts of the Middle East region. As one of the statistics, in the period of between 2006 and 2011, for instance, prices of food went up by an estimated 10 percent every year in Iran, UAE and Yemen while in Djibouti, Lebanon, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, the rise was by over 15 percent.

It is important to note that the rise in food prices on the international level led to similar trends in the domestic markets across countries in the Middle East within a short time. However, the situation was different when it involved reduction in world food prices whereby it took so long to reflect the change domestically.

Various reasons were attributed to the ever increase in food prices. Experts on the other hand did not agree on a single factor that could have led to the increase in prices. In reality, the steep rise in prices was because of a collection of different factors that involved structural, supply side dynamics that included a slow-down in cereal productivity globally(Wright & Cafiero, 2011). Other factors included diversion of agricultural land for production of bio fuel, insufficient cereal stocks, export bans on important agricultural products or other trade restrictions, the high cost of petroleum together with high cost of fertilizer and production energy, and speculative investment on agricultural commodities. Increased demand for food also contributed to the increase in prices.

This demand came about because of the increasing global population and the ever-changing pattern of food consumption in the various developing countries. On comparing between the time before 2008 when food prices escalated and afterwards, the current prices are still higher despite the gradual drop in the prices since 2008 (Wright, Brian, and Carlo 89).

Conclusion

Experts continue to suggest that the increase in food prices as a trend will continue. They base their arguments on the fact that not much has been done to deal with the factors that led to the crisis. On the contrary, there has been an increase in encouraging programs dealing with bio-fuel production in grain-producing countries. Such steps like not enhancing global grain reserves and not keeping up with the pace of growth of demand for food have also been experienced in recent years. The issue of food insecurity is very likely to continue in the Middle East due to the poor structural factors that are present. Populist regimes in the Middle East that have brought about the issue of land reform programs have led to widespread fragmentation of arable land. For instance, 90 percent of landowners in UAE own land that is less than 1 hectare.

References

Abuzeid, M., & Hamdy, A, 2004. Water Crisis and Food Security in the Arab World: where we are and where do we go. Cairo (Egypt), 14th Apr, 76.

Lofgren, H., & Richards, A, 2000. Food security, poverty, and economic policy in the Middle East and North Africa (Vol. 5, pp. 1-31). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Wright, B., & Cafiero, C, 2011. Grain reserves and food security in the Middle East and North Africa. Food Security, 3(1), 61-76.

Food Security Problem in Burkina Faso

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Introduction

Food security occurs when there is an assurance to all human beings within any geographical region that they have physical and economical access to all basics of food without risk of losing such access (Thomson, Metz & Food and Agriculture Organisation, 1997, p. 4). At the national level, food security can be described as a reasonable balance between food demand and supply at rational prices. In other words, a country is said to be food secure when the whole of its population has access to food. The opposite of that brings about the problem of food security. This discussion focuses on the nature of the problem of food insecurity in Burkina Faso. As suggested by various written sources, several factors have contributed to the problem, some of which are disclosed here. In addition, some of the responses of Burkina Faso to the problem of food security have been highlighted including evaluations on their effectiveness. But before engaging into the main discussion, it will be prudent to give a brief history of Burkina Faso, in relation to the stated problem.

Burkina Faso is a land locked country located in West Africa. It is located within the southern fringes of the Sahel region. The entire northern part of the country lies under the Sahara Desert. Most of central parts of the country lie on a savannah plateau that ranges between 650 – 1000m above sea level. The savannah plateau has characteristics of tropical climate, with scattered trees, bushes and glass land. The largest part of the southern region of this country is green. This country is comparatively dry country with an average annual rainfall of about 1100 mm in the south and 500 mm in the north. The dry season in the country increases in length from 6-7 months a year from south to north (Thomson, Metz & Food and Agriculture Organisation, 1997, p. 4). Due to this unfavourable climate, farmers in the country are unable to practice agriculture successively. Being one of the poorest countries, this has magnified the impact of the persistent drought on this country’s population. Recently, the famine situation in the country has worsened due to prolonged dry climate, leading to severe droughts especially in the north (Cavendish, 2001, p. 51). This explains the reason why Burkina Faso has not so far succeeded in the fight against the problem of food security.

Some of the causal factors

According to Wood and Ryden (1992, p. 67), Burkina Faso, like other countries in Sahel region, has a highly rising population with considerable demographic momentum. This has been evident both in rural and urban areas over the past few decades. The rate of job creation has not kept up with the highly increasing population growth rates. This has led to an increase in involvement of the residents with informal sector. One of the problems associated with the informal sector is that it places a heavy burden on natural resources. Stretching of the natural resources beyond limit has led to environmental degradation and an eventual increase in poverty levels in this country.

Secondly, farmers in this country lack good access to agricultural inputs. Ukaga and Afoaku (2005, p. 198), found out that, agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, improved seeds and other necessities have not been available at the right time and in the right package to the farmers. In addition, credit necessary for adequate investment in agricultural inputs has not been available to farmers. Consequently, the farmers have ended up using low quality seeds, archaic methods of farming and rudimentary equipment – all of which have led to low productivity and also reduced profits. Consequently, the produce from the agricultural sector has been low and not enough for consumption by the whole population. In short, the supply of food recourses in the country is low compared to demand.

Ukaga and Afoaku (2005, p. 197) also observe that national income in Burkina Faso is not distributed equally among all segments of its population. Only a small section of the country’s population has been enjoying growth. This has so far resulted into two class societies, a small one which is food secure, and bigger part of society that suffers from food insecurity. Ukaga and Afoaku (2005, p. 197) also indicate that lack of adequate infrastructure for production, storage, processing marketing and distribution has been a major problem for agriculture in this Burkina Faso. Poor transportation systems and bad roads make it difficult for farmers to transport inputs into and farm produce out of their farms. This leads to wastage of up to 40 percent of farm produce when there are people facing food shortages just a few hundred miles within the country. In addition, in those areas, returns from agricultural produce have been low relative to areas with adequate infrastructural facilities. In particular, there is lack of economic and social infrastructure to enhance sustainable agriculture and also maintain positive economic growth.

Melito, T., (2009 p. 5) explains that, farmers in Burkina Faso have been lacking of capital to establish processing facilities In addition, most of them are not well versed with ways on how to market their products. This forces the farmers to sell their produce when “green” thus receiving minimal returns. It has been seen that, during times of harvest, the prices of those products are usually low and the buyers determine prices in the market. In the end, farmers lose motivation and produce less in the subsequent seasons. This has resulted into minimal produce with time.

Like many other developing countries, Burkina Faso has been depending on imports to augment domestic production so as to feed its residents. This means that any increase in prices of imports forces a decline in imports making, the problem of food security to deteriorate (Ukaga & Afoaku, 2005, p. 199).

Further examination indicates that the rich and developed countries tend to protect their domestic markets from agricultural products that African countries can offer at competitive prices while they seek more foreign markets where they operate as they choose. These industrialized countries use tariffs and other non-tariff barriers to protect their markets from foreign goods while they and the international institutions that they control force the less powerful countries to remove market barriers to global trade. Such unfair market conditions have been unfair to farmers in Burkina Faso and other countries, since they jeopardise their incomes from their farm outputs. Consequently, the ability of farmers to invest in agriculture is reduced. A reduction in cultivation automatically poses a threat to food security (Ukaga & Afoaku, 2005, p. 199).

Responses and their effectiveness

Reacting to the increasing food prices in Burkina Faso, the government has come up with policy measures that have both long-term and short-term impact. The first policy response is producer-oriented and is intended to support farmers to raise production levels (FAO, 2009, p. 5). To attain this, there have been strategies to support investments through encouragement of savings and credit schemes to rural farmers. Apart from that, farmers have been encouraged to adopt integrated approaches, i.e., combining of livestock breeding, growing of crops and forestry development. There have been improvements and modification of land tenure system through permission of private ownership of land which is communally owned and creation of effective local management institutions. In addition, the government has been supporting the farmers with subsidized fertilizers, tractors, pumps for irrigation as well as free seeds. It has also been invested in research to come up drought resistant crops. Assessment of the ways in which the traditional production systems can be modified to apply to the modern agriculture so as to encourage participation by all farmers in grassroots has been underway (FAO, 2009, p. 5).

The second policy measure that has been laid by the government of Burkina Faso is the consumer-oriented policy response. This includes direct support to consumers and vulnerable groups through various ways. One of these ways is through introduction of cash transfer programmes for the most vulnerable, landless and poor in the rural areas. Also, there has been development and expansion of urban social net programmes using imported food aid where food supplies are insufficient (Dry Lands Programme, 1998, p.2).

Another way that has been undertaken by the government is through development of post-harvest handling initiatives so as to protect quality of produce for a longer time. While addressing immediate food crises, the government has considered relocation of funds from development projects to increase food importation. In addition, domestic production has been augmented with importation and also through seeking of foreign aid humanitarian assistance from donors. Finally is the trade-oriented policy response. In this case, the government has used policy instruments such as reducing tariffs and restricting exports to reduce prices and increase domestic supply. There have been efforts such as consolidation of market information services in the country and linking market information and market intelligence to support food security mapping and trade both domestically and regionally (Dry Lands Programme, 1998, p. 2).

Wiebe (2003, p. 280) notes that apart from government efforts, farmers in Burkina Faso have proved to respond to the food security problem. They have been nurturing trees in their fields using more inputs such as manure and constructing soil erosion barriers. This has helped to conserve soil and maintain its quality in their farms. Due to uncertain rainfall, farmers have been forced to adopt sequential decision method in order to control the risks associated with dry seasons. This approach involves the survey of season cycles and coming up with decisions on production strategies which are dynamic to reduce chances of loss. In reality, the farmers in Burkina Faso have now come up come up with decisions on sowing, re-sowing and timing of weeding including cultivating variety of crops – all which have helped to diversify risks.

Nonetheless, some of these efforts have been unsuccessful. As indicated by Wiebe (2003, p 283), this is mainly because the projects have been structured along certain sectors. More emphasis has been put on large-scale production. The government may have overestimated the benefit associated with large-scale production and underestimated the negative consequences. At the same time, people in the grassroots have not been very supportive of the implementation of these projects. Another reason for the poor performance is managerial weaknesses of existing institutions (Wiebe, 2003, p. 283). Even with adoption of soil conservation practices the prime objective of increasing agricultural output has not been met. This is because other than soil conservation, other factors which affect output and profitability in the farm have not been looked at. Such factors include a) the nature, rate and severity of soil damage; b) the consequent effects on productivity; c) the extent to which fertilizers and manures can substitute for soil damage; d) the relative riskiness of production with or without conservation; and e) the degree of interference of conservation measures to the cultivation practices. The way to achieve progress in this area is through extending educating to the farmers (Wiebe, 2003, p. 283).

It has also been found out that institutions and individuals that advise the country and other African governments assume that western approaches of farming are better than African traditional ways (Wood & Rydén, 1992, p. 67). This is a costly mistake and may not be better. For example, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) persuaded farmers in Burkina Faso and other Sahel regions to grow potatoes. Unfortunately, this crop was not popular among the people and thus lacked market. As a result, the whole produce was left to rot. Reliance on foreign aid has been quite unpredictable and unreliable. The main weakness with this assistance is that it is largely dependent on the donor’s perception. This means that high profile and politically interesting emergencies may be funded while others may be ignored. In addition, it has been suggested that the reliance on foreign aid and availability of cheaper food in the international market has a negative impact on levels of investment and support to agriculture in the country.

Conclusion

In summation, there is a clear and strong link between climate change and food security. Burkina Faso is one of the developing countries, and a great area of its land falls under the Sahel region of Africa. Consequently, a great part of the country experiences desert climate which poses the danger of food insecurity. Apart from that, some of the other factors that have influenced food security problem are poor distribution of country’s wealth, over-reliance on imports, poor infrastructure, high population growth rate and poor storage and processing facilities among others. As a result, the government of Burkina Faso has to come up with policy measures to address the optimal ways for dealing with the factors leading to the food security problem both in the short run and in the long run. These policy measures are trade, consumer and producer oriented. Farmers have also devised their own ways to cope with the challenge. However, the country faces a lot of challenges in an attempt to deal with the factors that lead to the problem of food insecurity. Weak management systems of existing institutions, lack of adequate education concerning agricultural practices such as soil conservation, unreliability and unpredictability of foreign aid assistance and selective support of large scale sectors among others. As it has been discussed, the government is incapable of tackling the problem of food security alone. It has to encourage participation of the people that benefit from the efforts. This implies that the people expected to reap from the efforts have to be involved in the formulation and of development policies.

References

Carvedish, M. (2001) Peoples of Africa: Burkina Faso-Comoros, Marshall Cavendish, N.Y.

Dry Lands Programme (1998) Issue paper, No. 75, IIED, London

Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) (2009) Country responses to the to the food security crises, Government of Spain

International Monetary Fund (2007) Burkina Faso: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, Washington DC, USA

Melito, T. (2009) International Food Assistance, Diane Publishing, Washington DC,

Thomson, A. M., Metz, M. & Food and Agriculture Organisation (1997), Implications of Economic Policy for Food Security: A Training Manual (vol. 40), Food & Agriculture Organisation, Rome

Ukaga, O. & Afoaku, O. G. (2005) Sustainable development in Africa: a multifaceted challenge, Africa World Press, Asmara

Wiebe, K. D. (2003), Land quality, agricultural productivity, and food security: biophysical processes and economic choices at local, regional, and global levels, Edward Elgar Publishing, Massachusetts

Wood A. P. & Rydén, P. (1992) The IUCN Sahel Studies 1991, IUCN Publisher, Cambridge



Food Service at ERAU

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October 24th, 2013.

Table of Contents

Content……………………………………………………………………………………..…Page

1.0 Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………..3

2.0 Introduction……………..……….……………….……………………………………….4

3.0 Methodologies……………………………………………….……………………………4

3.1 Primary Sources…..………………………………………………………………………4

3.2 Secondary Sources……..…………………………………………………………………5

4.0 Limitation………………………………………………………………………………..5

5.0 Results….….………………………………………………………………………..……5

6.0 Analysis of Study Findings……………………………………………………………….8

7.0 Conclusion…………..……………………………………………………………………10

8.0 Recommendations……………………………………………………………………….11

9.0 References……………………………………………………………………………….12

10.0 Appendix……………………………………………………………………………….12

Table of Figures

Figure 1: Breakdown of study responses by category………………………………………6

Figure 2: Responses concerning request for more variety………………………………….6

Figure 3: Responses Categorization Concerning Service Quality………………………….7

Figure 4: Responses Concerning Healthier Foods………………………………………….7

Report on the investigation of Food Services at ERAU

1.0 Abstract

This report offers an analysis of the opinion of students concerning meal services at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), along with some recommendations for improving those meal programs. Data collection method comprises survey of 6 multiple-choice questions, and was carried out on a website known as HYPERLINK “http://www.surveymonkey.com/”www.surveymonkey.com opinion of the ERAU campus students’ meal programs.

In the survey, 32 participants responded to asked question: “What would you prefer see changed concerning the food on the University? At no given time in the course of the study did the current main meal service provider alluded to or mentioned. This question was chosen because of its open-ended design, which minimized the effect of leading questions. The survey responses were summarized into six main themes as follows.

Quality of service

Cost

The dietary needs access inability

Quality and access to healthy meals

Meal variety

Diverse meal requests

The study established that 97% of the ERAU students’ fraternity is unsatisfied with the present meal service, 2.5% did not comment, while 0.5% gave positive comments. The cost of meal, access to healthy quality meals and meal variety were the three major concerns. A look at ERAU’s peer institutions reveal that they have devised solutions to these common concerns to develop meal programs, which cater for the student’s needs. The report also includes some recommendations for meal program improvements at ERAU, with the ultimate objective of developing meal services that satisfy the student’s needs and enhance campus-wide satisfaction. The recommendations have been crafted from wide study of literatures from articles and journals as well as consultation with food professionals.

2.0 Introduction

As an on-campus student, acquiring a meal program has become a conformist trend. Initially, meal programs developed by the institutions were considered to be valuable and a noble approach of saving cash on meal expenses. At ERAU, the meal program is composed of two components- dinning dollars and base cost. The base cost caters for all the non food expenses for running the meal services, for example the utilities, maintenance, supplies and labor and on the other hand, the dinning dollars are utilized to make purchases within the on-campus meal program facilities. All the items on the menu have a cash price, which comprises both the operations’ base cost and food costs. Due to the fact the meal program members must pay for the operations’ base cost in up front, the meal purchases are discounted, and for commodities i.e. prepackaged vender items they do not get any discount. Purchases for meal items made within the ERAU coffee shops using the food program get some small discount as well, but the convenience store purchases are not entitled for any discount (ERAU, 2013).

This report aims to offers an analysis of the opinion of students regarding meal programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), along with some recommendations for improving those meal programs.

3.0 Methodologies

3.1 Primary Source

The online survey, which serves as my primary source, was carried out over duration of one week. Students were asked “what would you wish be changed concerning meal on campus?” The online survey question made no reference to ERAU’s present main meal service provider Sodexo or any other meal service provider within the campus. The survey question was chosen because of the nature of it open-endedness, and also to minimize any bias on the current meal providers. Although the nature of this open ended question is difficult for analysis of data, it reduced the effect of a leading question and harnessed the ingenuity of data development. The responses were divided into eight themed common groups that were broken down further into subgroups to refine the data further. Appendix 1 shows responses on this these categories as well as their subcategories.

3.2 Secondary Sources

To support my primary sources and theories, using key words I utilized Google search and found two articles, which offer valuable information campus meal programs. The article I chosen include:

About Diversity Food Service by Diversity Food Services which talks about the impact of meals served on colleges and universities to student health.

An article written by Kitchen Standards, which explores the barriers and limitations for present on-campus catering organizations.

4.0 Limitations

Since this research survey is meant to collect information or data within a single point in time, (in summer semester) it would be cumbersome to assess the changes in students’ population unless I conduct two or more research surveys at various points in time. This kind of survey repetition would be time consuming and expensive.

5.0 Results

The study survey has a total of 32 participants (n=32). The survey data was subdivided into eight categories. Chart 1 shows the results of that breakdown.

Chart 1 showing the breakdown of study responses by category.

Category Breakdown

In every category there was a chance for more breakdowns of the data that could be utilized to create a wider understanding of the students’ concerns. This further sub-categorization was carried out on the three major response categories, for example higher service quality, healthier foods and more variety. The results of these sub-categorizations are illustrated in chart two, three and four.

Chart 2: Responses concerning request for more variety

On responses concerning request for more meal variety, 11% indicated that those options were beyond sodexo, 55% wanted to see more diverse list of ingredients and 34% indicated they wanted to see more diverse meal choices.

Chart 3: Responses Categorization Concerning Service Quality

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This charts shows categorization regarding meal quality, whereby 41% of the respondents indicated that food quality needs changed, 2% suggested that meal spaces need improved, 23% said that service quality should be sedexo specific, 19% indicated that meal hours be changed, 9% wanted staffing changed and 6% wanted meal plans changed.

Chart 4: Responses Concerning Healthier Foods

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In the above chart responses concerning healthier foods, 23% of the respondents indicated that they concerned about the impact of meals on health and food quality, 22% suggested that healthy meals are too expensive, 36% asked for nutritional information and 19% indicated adeqaute healthy foods.

6.0 Analysis of the Study Findings

Within the current meal program, students have limited choices concerning who provides the meal they eat in campus. All the on-campus dinining areas and other small meal service outlets within the campus are managed by Sodexo with no competition. The inability to access a diverse meal menu in ERAU is the single larget issue from the survey findings, 33% of the respondents asked for more choices in the meals served. Among the respondents asking for more diverse menu, (18.2%) gave different requests concerning changes to the menu that the results imply that no single meal provider is capable of satisfying all the dining needs within the campus.

The study findings show that one of the biggest issues with the present meal program at ERAU is lack of diversity and variety in food provided. It is then apparent that the diverse food needs within the campus cannot be achieved by one exclusive meal provider. ERAU can begin to address the issues raised by 33% of the respondents through allowing students to use their monies on a variety of meal service shops or outlets.

In the study, 36% of the respondents who indicated health as their main issue responded by asking nutritional information. Presently, about 40% of the Sedoxo menu has nutritional information accessible online (considering that in the course of summer and spring semesters have 0 percent nutritional information online). According to Diversity Food Services (2013), it is important for students to have information regarding ingredients and nutrition concerning meals so as to make informed dietary, healthy choices.

The ERAU community is composed of a diversity of persons with a diverse needs of dietary restrictions and needs. Every person at ERAU should be in a position to access foods that satisfy their dietary needs and which are nutritionally adequate and fully balanced. Nonetheless, a third of the survey participants (33%) cited that such foods are not available for them. The survey findings suggested that the present meal services offer inadequacy of complete, balance food choices for students who are vegan, vegetarian, have food allergies or medical food restrictions and or require Halal meals. In a nut shell, the meal provided within the ERAU is short of satisfying the ERAU’s diverse community needs and the alternative options are often nutritionally lacking and inadequate.

As you would have thought, students are the main population served by the on-campus meal providers. On-campus meal program alone record approximately $3.5 million of the revenues collected by Sodexo every academic year. Hence, students should have their rights catered for by the University meal contract. ERAU Students Association regard culturally sensitive, nutritional, sustainable and diverse food options are rights. In addition students should have proper grounds, through which these rights can be advocated if one feels that meal service provider has dishonored their rights. The existing ERAU Charter of Students Responsibilities and Rights, a document that should regulate and govern meal services fails to address this matter.

To 5 percent of the survey participants, having a more sustainable local meal options is their main issue. ERAU Student Association acknowledges that what is not or what is considered to be local could be confusing. It is therefore important to establish a local procurement guideline specific to ERAU and its community. I feel that the University and ERAU Students Association have stake in establishing ERAU-specific regulations, as viability and availability of local procurement is majorly reliant of the locale. Beside, with a guideline specific to ERAU with can uphold the university ideals as a sustainable institution and assert our support and commitment to the locals and minimize our ecological footprint as well (Heller, 2010).

Within the present meal contract, nearly all catering within the campus has to be done by Sedoxo. This arrangement is seriously limiting since it does not allow establishments on university the autonomy to seek for food services, which best meet their needs. It has been proven in the past that Sedoxo meal services are inadequate to fulfill the specific demands of a group. ERAU (2013), states that the latest example of Sedoxo’s failure to meet the demands of a specific catering function is the contract violated at the 25th Annual Indigenous Gathering. In the course of this meeting, Sedoxo was contracted to offer cultural appropriate meals, however they failed to provide on the particular contract by failing or sheer refusal to offer food specific for that gathering. The ERAU Students Associations has a feeling that all food service contracts within the campus ought to be available for event-by-event and on open-tender basis. The primary meal provider has the right to for this tendering, however the student run enterprises and local catering businesses should be accorded an equitable opportunity while receiving meal contracts.

Presently, ERAU runs classes staring at 8.00 AM. But there is no meal services outlets operating within the campus before this time, implying that students who stay in residence do not have the opportunity to have meals prior to classes. Students should have meals before classes as this is important for their well being. Moreover, 19% of the respondents citing dissatisfaction with the meal service indicated operation hours as their main concern. Within the status quo, there is no even one location, which is frequently or accurately updated, for the meal provider to communicate with the students. This results to confusion or poor communication regarding meal service concerns, comprising changes of nutritional information, change of operation hours as well as allergen information (Kitchen Standards, 2012).

The study established that 18% of the campus fraternity is concerned about the effect of the meal on their health. More often, students have numerous health needs and these are not catered for by the meal service on the university. In addition, most of the meals served are highly saturated in sugar, sodium, cholesterol and fats among other substances, which might have negative effect on the health of the students. Nonetheless, this study alone is not adequate in scope to tackle the effects on meals served at ERAU on health. Hence, I recommend a thorough investigation into the effects on meals served at ERAU to health to be carried out.

All in all, of the positive remarks obtained from the survey, Sodexo staff was praised for their professional, prompt and friendly service. Although I am seeking to transform meal services at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, this should not result at a cost of the present unionized employees losing their jobs.

7.0 Conclusion

The findings of the survey indicate that Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University community is fundamentally dissatisfied with the meal service status quo. The issues are varied; however the very conclusive finding of this research is that Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University students want to see change or transformation in meal services at the campus.

I suggest that the below recommendations can methodically address the various issues found through the survey and data analysis. These recommendations have been chosen to improve satisfaction with any meal service provider contracted to offer meal services on Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

8.0 Recommendations:

An investigation should be carried out on to the effects on meals provided on the university.

A centralized location should be developed for post meal-associated information.

Make sure that whenever lectures are being conducted, students have the opportunity to take meal within the campus both after and prior to their lectures.

Transform the present monopoly for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University meal program to a process of open tender.

The meal program providers should make sure that all visitors, staff, faculty and students have access to complete nutritional meals irrespective of their dietary constraints.

There should be more flexibility on “flex dollars” through allowing students to utilize the flex dollars within various meal services outlets on the campus.

9.0 References

“About Diversity Food Services.” Diversity Food Services. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 October 2013.

<http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/index/food-services-overview>.

“Kitchen Standards.” Diversity Food Services. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 July 2012.

<http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/index/food-services-standards>.

erau.edu. (2013). Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. [online] Available at <http://www.erau.edu/campuses/daytona.html> [Last accessed: 22nd October, 2013]

Heller, S. (2010). Paying for College: Is that Meal Plan Worth it? [online] Available at <HYPERLINK “http://www.examiner.com/article/paying-for-college-is-that-meal-plan-worth-it”http://www.examiner.com/article/paying-for-college-is-that-meal-plan-worth-it> [Last accessed: 21st October, 2013]

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. ERAU University Charter of Student Rights and Responsibilities. N.p.: n.p., n.d.<hHttp://www.erau.edu/studentaffairs/scrr/overview.php. Web>.

Appendix

For any firm Contribution of shareholder can’t be put aside, as they take biggest risks than any other group of people by providing fundamental and basic inputs in building and running of any firm. But only increasing shareholder value will be a myopic idea as the incremental value may come at the cost of the other entities.

For example avoiding environmental regulations might give shareholders better return by the way of increased profits. Similarly just to enhance production labor laws can’t be neglected. But these practices can’t be blindly supported by other stakeholders like society and Government. Instead of shareholders, taking stakeholders interests in to the strategy perspective will give us better results. The stakeholder group consists of not only shareholders but also all people directly and indirectly getting affected by the firm’s operations e.g. Buyers, partners, consumers, dealers, vendors, labor, society, Government etc.

Taking long term view of stakeholder’s interest will automatically increase shareholders value.

The goal of strategy is to create sustainable competitive advantage. The management of internal operations, though, involves leadership. What’s the target? Is profitability enough? Or is industry position, such as being the industry leader, the best goal?

ANS-

Target may be explained as certain desirable or wanted number for measurable outcomes. Making target and aspiring to achieve the same increases our focus on the task undertaken.

Profitability is one of the most basis goal without which any business can’t sustain. Sometime profitability is compromised for gaining market share or for maintaining the leadership status. This is especially true for any new venture or for a new product or service line, as the company in question has to win customer’s trust and establish its name in the market. This strategy often helps in demotivating oppositions or for acting as barrier for the new entrants.

But the trade-off between profitability and industry position has time frame attached to it, meaning that without maintain profit a company can’t afford to last for long time. Sooner or later lenders, investors or shareholders will start asking for better returns and then company will be compelled to compromise on its industry status.

So, we can say that the company has to maintain a fine balance between these two.

The goal of strategy is to create sustainable competitive advantage. The management of internal operations, though, involves leadership. What do managers do? What is the goal of management?

Ans-

Managers basically manage the resources for the fulfillment of the company goal in accordance with the set procedures and norms. They act as the main accountable entity for the operation and for achievement of the set target of any company.

The resources are always limited and there proper conversion for the profitability of any company is required. In this activity a manger performs the job of scheduling and planning the activity for achievement of the goal. They have to take care of interest of every group of stakeholders.

The goal of management involves devising best possible way to channelize the valuable resources like capital, HR, machinery and equipments and supply channel to extract profitable proposition to all stakeholders. In this endeavor they are ably supported by the Board of directors and shareholders. By their technical and human skill management team has to plan and it is primarily directly responsible for the long term and short term sustainability.

Anywhere Hospital Compliance Program

Following American Psychological Association Guidelines

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Anywhere Hospital Compliance Program

Presentation Summary

Our Corporate Compliance Program fundamentally incorporates the universal key seven compliance elements. This is put forward as the initial step, a virtuous faith, and expressive commitment of the hospital’s administration and all the employees en route for success and achievement of goals by the hospital. Each individual as applicable is obligated to back the program’s effective implementation significantly.

1. The development and distribution of written canons of conduct, in addition to written guidelines and procedures that uphold the hospital’s obligation to compliance. This is by comprising observance to compliance necessities as a component of the evaluation of managers and personnel and that clearly address the particular areas of probable fraud. These may comprise claims development and submission procedures, financial associations with general practitioners and code gaming among other health care specialists;2. The description of a principal compliance involves staff and other applicable bodies. This would be a corporate compliance team with the principle responsibility of functioning and watching over the compliance program. This team reports straight to the governing body of the hospital.3. The development, facilitation and adoption of regular, operative educative and training plans for each and every employee affected.4. The upkeep of a progression, example of a hotline, to take in complaints and recommendations, and the embracing of measures to protect the secrecy of the appellants and to protect informers from possible reprisal;5. The adoption of systems to answer to contentions of improper/illegitimate undertakings and the implementation of appropriate punitive action against personnel who have desecrated internal compliance policies, pertinent statutes, conventions or the Federal health care program necessities;6. The usage of assessments and/or other appraisal modus operandi to monitor compliance and to largely assist in the lessening of acknowledged problem area.7. Lastly, the review and remediation of acknowledged wide-ranging glitches and the improvement of procedures addressing the non-employment or the urge to retain sanctioned individuals.These are the key aspects to be outlined in the compliance program.

References

Compliance Guidance. (2014, November 9). Retrieved December 10, 2014, from https://oig.hhs.gov/compliance/compliance-guidance/index.asp

Summary of Wekmed’s Compliance Program, (2014) retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.wakemed.org/body.cfm?id=72″http://www.wakemed.org/body.cfm?id=72 . Retrieved on December 10, 2014.

Introduction

The performance of an organization reflects the kind of leadership applied. Studies have shown that there is no specific leadership style that is perfect; similarly, none is without fault. However, leaders should realize they are the model that the members of the team look up to, therefore, they should exercise professionalism and skills when giving guidance. The management style exercised by leaders has also been known to greatly affect the performance of tasks. This is attributed to the regulation and division of duties in a manner that will favor the team. Description of the goals and firm’s aims should be clear for a good management system where the workers will work towards the accomplishment of certain objectives. These attributes are only achievable for a leader who leads by example rather than one having expectations which he/she cannot lead people to.

Michael Eisner assumed position of Walt Disney boss for many years before his actual retirement. During his time served as the Chief executive of Disney World Company, Eisner exercised authoritarian leadership. Most of the decisions were made by himself with minimal involvement of the Board of Directors. According to Farrell, (2004) “I saw nothing on the record that the decision was preceded by a meeting of the corporation’s director… the board had to approve Ovitz’s employment agreement a month after his appointment was announced.” Michael clearly did not appreciate the spirit of consultation before making appointments and preferred to take full control. This led to a court case that continued for several years. He was less likely to delegate duties and involve relevant authorities in development of the company.

Conversely, Bill Gates exhibited proper management skills that allowed and incorporated ideas from other people. Being the entrepreneur behind the successful Microsoft Company, he was known to be relatively harsh to his group which drove them to learn the art of strongly defending their ideas. Davidson, (2006) stated that, “Burns said Bill Gates is one of a handful of those who had the capability to take his own company through the long ascension from small startup to big company.” This demonstrates his ability to delegate duties fairly to the qualified staff in order to achieve the set goals. His belief in his staff showed the kind of managerial style he practiced which contributed to the successes.

Clearly, the two leaders deal with different industries since Eisner deals in entertainment while Gates’ deals with computer technology. They have show different management styles and capabilities to delegate duties. This is evident in the ways which they quit service in their respective organizations. Bill Gates left the organization to join the foundation he and his wife had established (Storm, 2008). He entrusted the management of his firm to the people ha had adequately trained. Eisner on the other hand was forced out of his position by a decision to replace his presidency in the organization. His unwillingness to let the responsibilities be handled by other people showed his oneness in management and little trust in the board. He was less open to the idea of delegation. He was also criticized for the over twenty years he had spent in the position (Holson, and Waxman, 2003) where there were other people with similar qualifications.

Conclusion

It is clear that success of any organization is reliant to the management style used. Besides competence of the workers, a leader should be able to adequately lead his/her employees to better performance. Involvement of the workers in matters of decision making also encourages them to be part of the company. The willingness to give people with equal abilities the chance to develop them is also advisable since it expands the productivity by the new ideas. They may be better and enhance the marketing and expansion strategies of the organization.

References:

Davidson, K. (2006, September 15). Both Entrepreneurial, Managerial Styles Bring success. Phoenix Business Journal. Retrieved from http://www.bizjournals.com

Farrell, R. (2004, October 21). Disney Directors on Trial for a Payout. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

Holson, L., & Waxman, S. (2003, December 8). Criticism of Disney Chief Grows Bolder. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

Storm, S. (2008, May 13). Retiring Microsoft Official to Run Gates Foundation. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

Floating Exchange Rates’ applications, significance and impact on economic growth

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Introduction

Financial stability and currency values are very important issues that need to be given special attention and recognition by every country in the process of developing, coordinating and implementing macroeconomic policies. By coming up with sound and accountability oriented policies with respect to fiscal and monetary management, the governments become a very important institution as far as issues relating to international finance and international trade are concerned. It is with this respect that the floating interest rate regime has been applied to help in the management, control and regulation of international finance and national currencies. Floating /flexible exchange rate regime entails a macroeconomic money regulation system where the market forces dictate the rates or currency prices. Thus, the rate at which one currency may be sold or traded against another is not rigidly / subjectively determined by the regulators but the interaction between the demand and supply in the foreign exchange market. As such there is neither a static nor predetermined currency exchange rates. This paper discusses the concept of flexible exchange regime as applied by different countries to ensure non discretionary and subjectively determined exchange rates. There is also critical review of the impact that the flexible exchange has in an economy more so with respect to economic growth and enhancement of development and net exports. The paper also outlines the challenges that are faced in the process of application of flexible exchange rates regime in a bid to implement macro economic policies.

Floating Exchange Rates: Description

Descriptively, the flexible exchange rate regime allows for free fluctuation of the exchange rate without interference by the authorities such that the government does neither have an exchange rate control policy nor impose a predetermined exchange rate.

Wide application of the floating exchange rate in the economy can be traced to the 1970s. By 1980s, most countries had adopted this system as the best way to deal with macro-economic challenges that require a more proactive and indirect intervention by the regulators and a way of managing / controlling the speculative exposures that an economy may experience under the fixed exchange rate regime. A major shift in the exchange rate system that led to wide application of the flexible exchange rate came in 1990s when it became apparent that a country had to choose one of the regimes (Kenen, 2000).

Debate among the proponents and opponents of the system of currency rate management have always revolved around the dangers and benefits of the free fluctuations of the exchange rates in the economy. Though the flexible exchange rate regime allows for free movements of the currency prices, the opponents of the system have cited this as a weakness that is akin to economic instability as well as exposures to dangers of economic fluctuations. However, the principle behind the adoption of the flexible exchange has it that the economic fluctuations or changes in the rates of exchange will not be erratic. The significant benefit of this regime is that it enhances national autonomy with respect to monetary issues. As such every country can effectively design the policy instruments that are consistent with their macro economic objectives.

Impact on the Economy

A fundamental question with regards to the role and choice of the type of the regime to adopt would normally be based on the understanding of how the choice made would affect the domestic economy’s growth and development. The flexible exchange rate regime is preferred because of the impact that it has to the economy and influence on the economic growth. Generally, the flexible exchange rate regime has both direct and indirect impacts on an economy. First, under the direct effect, it is held that the flexible exchange rate regime helps an en economy to recover from shocks. Generally, this type of regime has better economic shock insulation as compared to the fixed regime. This argument is supported by Broad (2002) who observed that under the fixed exchange rate regime, due to unfavorable trade balance, a country would experience a huge fall in real GDP figures due to small magnitude currency depreciation as well as fall in price levels . On the other hand, adoption of floating exchange rate regime, experience a relatively smaller magnitude of real GDP fall and high level of currency depreciation, under similar circumstances. However, this argument holds in the short run as in the long run, both regimes show similar behaviors.

By making implementing macroeconomic polices that are well fused with the macro economic objectives and the flexible exchange rate; it is possible to have direct impact on the economy through growth. This system offers the best adjustment to the economic shocks as it is more responsive and fast reflected in the foreign exchange market. This argument is based on the fact that the other sectors that may help in stabilizations such as the labor market do not respond fast to market changes as the foreign exchange currency rates. Similarly, the Treasury (2010) argues that the flexible exchange rate system has been preferred by several countries as it has been viewed to offer “better able to absorb shocks from open capital markets than economies with a pegged rate”. Through the possibility of independence in designing and application of monetary policies, it is likely that the nominal market rigidities can be dealt with effectively.

Based on economic theory, the floating exchange rate regime has some indirect influence on the rate and pace at which an economy grows. The ways in which the flexible exchange rate regime may influence the rate of economic growth is through impacts of investment levels, the composition and nature of the international trade and the pace and well as efficacy of the financial market. Generally, the flexible exchange rate regime has an indirect impact on economic growth. This is mainly in terms of the investment by the foreigners. Though the fixed exchange regime is desired as it encourages stability and certainty, there are certain arguments which favor flexible exchange rates in relations to international investments. The fixed exchange regime has been cited as a god foreign investment attraction model as it keep both the rates of interest and inflationary pressures low. This would encourage borrowing and consumption as well as exports. However, flexible exchange regime has been described as favorable to foreign investors who are risk takers and ready to invest in a foreign market based on possibility of non erratic exchange rates. The flexible exchange rate regime is favored in this respect as the fixed exchange may be abused, or used selectively to perpetuate protectionist policies. This way, the flexible exchange rate regime is depicted as a macro economic policy that encourages globalization and foreign investments on the account that the system is not open to political abuse or arbitrary determination of exchange rates, but it is the market forces that reflect the prices of currencies.

The flexible exchange rate regime also promotes economic growth and development in an indirect manner through enhancement of development of the capital money markets. With a poorly developed financial market, it is not possible for an economy to recover fast from economic shock. However, adoption of flexible exchange rate regime will promote need for competitiveness in the financial markets so as to attract foreign investors in a country’s bourse. This is because, for a floating exchange rate to work effectively, there s need for high level of transparency and objectively strong regulation of the financial market. The transparency in the management of the exchange rate would have a trickle down effect on other sectors, notably the financial market. As such, a country’s competitiveness will improve as indicated by the level of capital inflows and foreigner’s investment in financial securities due to high level of investor confidence.

Influence to Economy

The significance of the type of exchange rate regime chosen by a country may have to an economy has been a point of debate among many researchers. According to Pedreski (2009), taken nominally, an exchange rate has no major influence on economic growth, particularly in the long run. At the same time the author argues that this question has been ambiguously handled with little clear theoretical evidence offered. However, the type of an exchange rate regime chosen, that is flexible or fixed, will affect the economic growth. Impliedly, a floating exchange rate regime may affect the economy and the rate of economic growth through the impacts it has on “trade, investment and productivity” (Pedreski, 2009).

Because of the reduced level of foreign exchange reserves that the central banks need to keep and allowing of market forces to operate freely in the foreign exchange markets, the flexible exchange regime allows for development of monetary polices that can enhancement of certain macro economic objectives. Generally, adoption of the flexible exchange regime boosts international trade, globalization of the financial system and removes risk exposures that come about from currency speculations. This is what Kenen (2000) refers to as “vulnerability to speculative attacks”. This system also promotes independence of the monetary regulatory authorities in different countries so that the process of monetary control is done objectively and professionally. By adopting the flexible exchange regime, a country stands to benefit from sound monetary management, applications of customized macro economic polices that suit a given domestic economic setting.

Several macro economic objectives can be achieved through the flexible exchange regime without much intervention of the central banks. These objectives are normally aimed at promoting productivity and economic growth. One of the main macro-economic objectives is management of export and import net flows so that a country’s development and competitiveness is not hampered by the exchange rate fluctuations and imbalance in the balance of payment account. Trade deficit is normally a non favorable economic indicator. Under the fixed exchange rate regime, to deal with such deficits, the central banks normally use the foreign reserves. This process is expensive and may not immediately spur economic growth. However, under the flexible exchange regime, it is partially possible to allow the market forces to bridge a trade deficit. This occurs where the monetary policy adopted is to enhance money velocity locally so that demand and productivity increases while at the same time export promotion strategies are in place.

The flexible exchange regime would help to achievement these objectives and ensure stabilization in a disequilibrium state. Because of the trade deficit, the foreign currency price (exchange rate) will be forced down. This will help to make the exports relatively cheap while the imports will be more costly. As the exports become more expensive, the demand will fall while the foreign markets will demand more of the exports to enable a country earn more foreign income. In the process, the fundamental disequilibrium situation will be solved and the surging deficit abridged.

Broadly, the changes in the labor market in terms of demand and supply are affected by the kind of exchange rate regime in place. In turn, the situation in the labor market influences the pace and magnitude of the economic growth. Any sector that operates in the international market will feel the effect of currency fluctuations. Thus, it is critical that the monetary policies adopted seek to ensure high output and stability in the labor market. To understand how the currency exchange rate changes affect the labor market, it is important that the relationship between exchange rate changes and labor market be outlined. With a rise in the exchange rate that makes one currency stronger than the other, it is likely that growth Gross Domestic Product, in real terms, will stagnate. This is because; the appreciation in a local currency will greatly affect exports in a negative way. Consequently, the local producers may react to the fall in demand for the products for export markets by scaling down their operations and carrying out retrenchments.

However, through flexible exchange regime, the regulators may act by promoting availability of credit to the business so that the collapse of strategic industries does not take place. This will make the economy have higher money supply. At the same time, when the exchange rate is strong, it is possible that with the increased money supply, the economic stability and recovery may be possible. According to Markin (2003)., when the central banks increase the real money supply in the economy, the prevailing rate of interest will fall in the domestic market, thus enhancing economic growth The rate of economic growth that comes with such sound macro economic polices under the flexible exchange rate regime emanates from the fact that lower interest rates in the domestic markets lead to increase in the consumptions well as investments locally. Based on this argument, the flexible exchange rate regime allows for economic growth given that with the fall in the price levels in the local market, the wealth created act as inducement for expenditure and investments by the households and the private sector.

Benefits to the Economy

Several factors and economic explanations have been put forward to underscore the b benefits that can accrue in an economy that has adopted and fully implemented the principles of floating exchange rate regime. Through the flexible exchange rate system, it is easier for the regulators to influence money velocity, demand and supply in an easier and freer manner. With a free and less rigid money regulation, the central bank will be able to engineer and stimulate economic growth due to possibility to apply target monetary control principles on specific variables to achieve a given objective that suits a particular economy. Put differently, this macro-economic system enables the central bank to pursue a country specific monetary policy. This however requires a high level of fiscal and monetary discipline and non political interference in the momentary policy development and applications. As such the central bank will be able to check the rates of interest rate changes as well as the inflation levels.

The concept of currency competition supports the benefit of non fixed exchange financial regime. This is because there is no control of the prices in the market. This differs from the rigid system where the central banks act as the only suppliers in the market. As only suppliers, they are able to dictate the prices thus promoting unfair competition.

Application of the floating exchange rate has gained wider application because of the fundamental benefits that comes with the system, based on the economic indicators. The fixed regime had certain issues with regards to economic lags. This is because; it is the economy that responds to the pegged currency prices. On the other hand, the non discretionary monetary system, the currency prices adjust with the volumes and nature of market trade thus giving a picture/ reflection of the status of the economy.

Through the pursuit of independent monetary policies, it is easier for the regulators to influence resources distribution fast and efficiently. The regime is less susceptible to economic shocks thus helping in a more objective distribution of the spill-over of market shocks between local and foreign economies. According to Pedreski (2009), flexible exchange rate regime has an effect open the economic shock adjustments as sound management of the process may help design effective strategies to absorb the shocks.

The application of the flexible exchange rate also limits need to have more reserves which can be used in market stabilization. This is because, the principles of flexible exchange rate regimes do not advocate for keeping of foreign reserves that can be used for market intervention. This makes it easier to fully apply the monetary policies to meet such objectives management of employment and inflation rates. Through the self adjustment mechanism, the central bank will have to concentrate in other macroeconomic objectives as the exchange rate will be ‘self adjusting’.

Additionally, the application of the flexible regime offers the best way to ensure faster adjustments to the prevailing economic situations. The economic adjustments however depend on the currency exchange rate movements. During currency depreciation against a stronger one, for instance, the demand for export improve thus promoting export trade, production and economic growth. However, this can only happen if the net export gains are not eroded by the other cash outflows such as increase in wage rate and rise in export prices. Nevertheless, the research findings by show that if bilateral trade figures are analyzed objectively, then it would be would be realized that net flows drawn from the nations that has adopted the flexible exchange regimes would be relatively high, as compared those which do not have such policies (Brada & Mendez, 1988 ).

Challenges

Though the flexible exchange rate regime has been overly described as the best way to enhance a country’s competitiveness in the global market, certain fundamental challenges have been experienced with its applications. The policy challenges of this regime became more serous during the recent credit crunch. As such there have been calls for more innovative international trade management as well as development of intervention strategies that would help in handling the target variables. The general argument has been that the market is efficient and has self adjusting mechanisms. However, the financial crisis exposed weaknesses of the flexible exchange rate regime more in relations to international trade that is fast becoming very interlinked and responsive globally. The major challenges posed by the flexible exchange rate regime is how a country can deal with the spill over of credit crunch that is taking place in another market with which it trades. Another challenge comes about from the fact that most international trade instruments and transactions are voiced in major currencies like the USD, Euro and Yen. This way, the market failures in US, Europe or Japan will automatically be felt globally. Further, the flexible exchange regime results into such challenges as market uncertainties as well as irregularities in flows of capital into and out of an economy. Further,

Selcuk (2005) argues that with the flexible exchange regime it is very challenging for the authorities do contain market volatility. Countries like Turkey had to resort to auctioning of currencies periodically to manage their market precariousness (Selcuk, 2005).

Conclusion

From the discussion, it is evident that the flexible exchange rate enhances transparency, promotes trade and investments as well as the level of production. However, the focus should be how a country can effectively apply the regime without undue interference by the authorities. To ensure economic stability, it is desirable that the authorities manage the short run effects of the exchange rate movements so as to allow the economy to absorb the shock before their effects escalate. This requires what Selcuk (2005) describes in the case of Turkish economy as “structural reform process and pursues sound fiscal policies that would held bring down public debt as well as debt ratio, without which adverse shock may erode the gains made The governments should also have in place effective macro economic objectives and policies as well as target variable that guide international trade.

References

Brada, J. & Mendez, J (1988). Exchange Rate Risk, Exchange Rate Regime and the Volume of

International TradeWWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG.

Broad, C. (2002). Terms of Trade and Exchange Rate Regimes in Developing Countries. Federal

Reserve Bank of New York Staff Report Number 148.

Kenen, P., B. (2000). Fixed Versus Floating Exchange Rates Cato Journal, Vol. 20, No. 1.

Markin, A. (2001). Macroeconomic Policy in an Output-Expenditure Model. IAER Journal, Vol.

7, No. 3.

Pedreski, M. (2009). Exchange-Rate Regime and Economic Growth: A Review of the

Theoretical and Empirical Literature. Staffordshire University. Economics e-Journal, No. 31.

Selcuk, F. (2005). The Policy Challenge with Floating Exchange Rates: Turkey’s Recent

Experience. Open Economies Review.

Treasury (2010). Fixed vs. Flexible Exchange Rates. Retrieved June 18, 2010, from

HYPERLINK “http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/international-affairs/economic-exchange-” http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/international-affairs/economic-exchange-rates/pdf/Appendix_2.pdf.

Follow-Up Feedback Control Checks and Implications of Poor Control Processes

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Follow-up Feedback Control Checks

To ensure adherence to the strategies I have established for compliance within IndiasafeInvest, I would use three follow-up feedback control checks. The first is the individual performance, where I would use data generated from performance metrics to inform each individual in the workplace of their individual performance in meeting benchmarks, standards, and goals that govern performance expectations in executing fraud-free tasks. Such data can assist in isolating individual performance and better instructing and motivating each employee on areas of individual performance requiring improvement continuously. Slowiak and Lakowske (2017) suggest that good individual performance feedback reinforcing positive behaviors. These behaviors ensure ethical and value-based employee functioning, which is vital to avoiding malpractices such as fraud.

The second follow-up feedback control check involves interactive team performance. I would use agile approaches such as Scrum or Kanban to create an interactive team feedback loop, which would offer metrics for establishing whether or not in-progress work by teams of employees meets the set performance expectations. I would accumulate sufficient team performance data to compare team performance against set standards and guide decisions on how to improve team efficiency and performance towards meeting those expectations, hence adjusting team processes adequately.

The third follow-up feedback control check to use includes validation assessments. Both comparative and descriptive validation assessments are essential follow-up feedback control checks because they target specific employee attributes underpinning their behaviors in the workplace. Validation assessment will be important in ensuring compliance at IndiasafeInvest in that they will direct and refocus training initiatives aimed at improving employees’ abilities to meet the unique demands of their specific tasks (Tracey and Tews 2005). Validation assessments would allow for the use of data to carry out performance comparisons to establish progress, hence tailoring employee training to align with competencies of performing specific tasks ethically and without engaging in malpractices.

Implications of Poor Control Processes

Poor and ineffective controls and control processes have serious potential ramifications for IndiasafeInvest, its employees and customers, and other organizations. One of the implications for the staff is the augmentation of temptations for fraud. Weak controls characterized by the inability to monitor individual employees can cultivate new opportunities for staff members to commit fraud as it happened at IndiasafeInvest. This means that in the presence of weak, passive, and ineffective control processes, employees can leverage weaknesses in the firm’s financial systems, hence getting tempted to take chances to commit financial fraud as Nawawi and Salin (2018) suggest. Also, poor control processes have the potential implication of impairing employee’s system of ethics and values. The rationale for this implication is that poor control processes mean that employees can compromise passwords, accounts, and critical financial data to engage in unethical practices that taint their value systems.

For customers, poor control processes can cause a loss of customers’ trust for the company. The reason for this is that customers may develop perceptions that the company betrays their trust by failing to maintain proper and sound control processes aimed at detecting fraud incidents promptly, hence safeguarding customers’ financial assets entrusted to the company. Also, poor control processes can increase the possibility of compromising client data privacy (Cheng, Liu, and Yao 2017; FSA 2008). Although the fraudulent incident at IndiasafeInvest had no impact on customers’ data, poor control processes can increase the chances of breaching client data protection mechanisms culminating in their data privacy being compromised, especially if fraudulent activities remain undetected for overly extended periods.

One implication of poor control processes for IndiasafeInvest is the financial losses that occur when thefts and unauthorized transfers occur without being detected. Another implication is damage to its corporate image. Due to the presence of poor internal controls for monitoring individual employees, the fraudulent incident in this company remained unnoticed for a long period. Consequently, the slow detection of fraud affected the image of the company’s integrity, ethics, and values, indicating that poor control processes can damage a firm’s overall corporate image as Hermanson, Ivancevich, and Ivancevich (2008) submit. Lastly, poor control processes can have serious implications for the reputation of IndiasafeInvest. This is because customers’ perceptions of trust betrayal coupled with the loss of positive corporate image due to the absence of proper control processes can translate to a bad reputation for the enterprise.

The potential implications for other organizations are similar to those for IndiasafeInvest, which include financial losses and damage to organizational image and reputation. Examples of other organizations that have experienced similar fraud issues as a consequence of ineffective control systems are HSBC Bank, Citibank, and Commonwealth Bank. At the key investment center of HSBC Bank in Bangalore, ineffective control systems promoted thefts of data by an IT employee. Also, ineffective control systems facilitated the theft of client account information at Citibank. At the Commonwealth Bank, a manager exploited ineffective control systems to steal nearly $500,000 while failing to report a fraudulent transfer of $64,000 by an employee to a personal account to conceal his fraudulent incident.

Reference List

Cheng, L, Liu, F, and Yao, D. D, 2017. Enterprise data breach: causes, challenges, prevention, and future directions. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 7(5).

FSA, 2008. Data security in financial services. Financial Services Authority Report. London: FSA.

Hermanson, D. R, Ivancevich, D. M, and Ivancevich, S. H, 2008. Building an effective internal audit function: Learning from SOX section 404 reports. Review of Business, 28(2), p. 13.

Nawawi, A, and Salin, A. S. A. P, 2018. Internal control and employees’ occupational fraud on expenditure claims. Journal of Financial Crime, 25(3), pp. 891-906.

Slowiak, J. M, and Lakowske, A. M, 2017. The influence of feedback statement sequence and goals on task performance. Behaviour Analysis: Research and Practice, 17(4), p. 357.

Tracey, J. B, and Tews, M. J, 2005. Construct validity of a general training climate scale. Organizational Research Methods, 8(4), pp. 353-374.

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Florence Nightingale and her contribution to modern medicine

Despite her death over a century ago, Florence Nightingale’s influence still reverberates in the world of medicine. However, not many are aware that it is because of her that hospice care is wholesome. From proper care of injuries to the sterile conditions of carrying out medical activities in both outpatient and inpatient setting, all nursing aspects can be attributed to her. She argued that separate training should be performed by aspiring nurses (Christopher and Gill, 2005). It was during Florence’s voluntary mission work at the military fields that she got shocked at the number of soldiers dying from infection related deaths. She took it upon herself to ensure the sanitary conditions of health care facilities were up to par, she extended these conditions to housing and cooking segments. She even became immortalized in the poem “Charge of the Light Brigade” due to her hard work (Christopher and Gill, 2005). Florence used her fame to spread her sanitary reforms.

Initially, nursing schools were premised on religion or military orders, nurses were never trained on the arty of caring, they just handled medical emergency situations as they appeared. Florence remedied the situation by initiating the first sectarian school of nursing (Richards, 2006). The institution was supported with funds from British soldiers she assisted during the war. In her nursing classes, Nightingale encouraged her students to focus on the duties and tasks undertaken by nurses, as well as, the entire well-being of their patients. The books she wrote are used today as relevant nursing textbooks. Florence has been called a visionary for her contributions to the field of nursing (Richards, 2006). She shifted the paradigm from the patient to the nursing environment; her points of concern were pure light, pure water, efficient drainage, light and cleanliness.

The nursing profession was looked down upon by many people. However, when Florence realized that many of the British soldiers were not dying from the extent of their injuries but from the pitiable sanitary conditions in which they were being treated. It was from this front that Florence agitated for change in the military health care system, and the nursing profession began gaining respect (Christopher and Gill, 2005). The unsanitary conditions led Florence to formulate statistical analysis on preventable deaths in the military. She came up with the ‘polar-area diagram’ that illustrated the extent of needless deaths occasioned by unsanitary conditions (Julia, 2008). She used this as a basis for the need of reform. She formulated that it was possible to determine social phenomena and subject the results to mathematical analysis. She relied on this formula to develop descriptive statistics that buttressed her claim for the need of reform.

The fact that nursing and health care was reformed by a woman who came from a crop of Victorian women who did not attend universities, neither did they purse profession careers. However, her parents were of a different school of thought, they believed that their children should get an education and make a better life for themselves. She and her sister learned Latin, Italian, mathematics and history (Gillian, 2004). This background enabled Florence to easily gather and formulate data on statistical analysis.

During the Crimean war, in Scutari, an era that had witnessed the shunning of female nurses owing to their poor reputation, the medical situation was appalling and there was public uproar on the neglect of the injured soldiers because of insufficient medical attention and treatment in unsanitary and inhumane conditions. Soldiers lay on their own excrement on feeble stretchers strewn on corridors (Julia, 2008). The health facilities were infested with bugs and rodents; there were no bandages and soap. Florence and her nurses tidied up the place, cared for patients by day, and through the night using a lamp. Through her actions of caring for her patients throughout the night, she was referred to as ‘lady of the lamp.’

Florence gathered data and revolutionaries recordkeeping practices. She applied the data in improving the military and city hospitals. Florence and a team of nurses worked hard to overturn the conditions at Scutari to the point of reducing the overall deaths by twothirds. She conducted analyses on mortality rate, which she used to support her notion that improving sanitary conditions would result in a decrease, in deaths (Gillian, 2004). After her suggestions were implemented, the mortality rate reduced drastically.

From those results, she graphically represented the data, created polar-area charts that indicated the statistic being highlighted is proportional to the region of the wedge in a circular representation. Throughout her life, Florence received awards and prize money from various channels, including the British government (Richards, 2006). She used the monies acquired to further her cause of reform in health care. She funded the founding of St. Thomas hospital in which she advanced training and education of nurses.

Florence has been credited for improving conditions in the stay of hospitals. She implemented numerous patient services which aided in the improving of quality treatment in hospitals. It was Florence who came up with a patients’ kitchen where appealing food, in line with medical dietary requirements, was prepared (Mark, 2008). She initiated laundry segments in hospitals so that patients’ apparel would be cleaned and sterilized. In furtherance of making hospital stay more appealing, Florence integrated classrooms, as well as a library, for patients to stimulate their intellect. All the above attributes can be seen in virtually all health care facilities across the world. Florence Nightingale changed the hospital setting and treatment quality; as a result, unnecessary deaths were eradicated.

Nightingale’s statistics and ability to formulate diagrams on the situation on the ground paved the way for organized learning and led to improvement in medical, as well as surgical practices. Florence formulated a Model Hospital Statistical Form for health care facilities to generate and gather regular data and statistics (Linda, 2006). Nursing is not the same as medicine as its goal is to place the patient in conditions that will make them heal and feel better quickly. Nursing exercises promote health regardless in care giving situations.

Today, the nursing and medical fields are still applying practices pioneered by Florence. She emphasized on improved sanitation, gathering and compiling data on the situation on the ground. Hospitals across the world rely on collection of data to inform their decisions, surgeries cannot be conducted without analyzing success rates on similar surgeries, and nurses not only care about the treatment, but the overall well-being of the patient, as well (Mark, 2008). So many exercises revolve around Florence’s contributions and suggestions. Training of nurses has been intensified, and the scope of its study has similarly been increased (Gillian, 2004). From humble beginnings, Florence school of nursing has grown to the level it is today. Health care, as we know it, has developed at an amazing rate, many of the changed being witnessed stem from the ideologies postulated by Florence Nightingale.

References

Gill, Christopher J., and Gill, G.C. Nightingale in Scutari: Her Legacy Reexamined. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2005. Print.

Gill, Gillian. Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale. Ballantine Books. 2004. Print.

Julia, Rehmeyer. HYPERLINK “http://www.sciencenews.org/index/generic/activity/view/id/38937/title/Florence_Nightingale_The_passionate_statistician” Florence Nightingale: The Passionate Statistician. HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_News” o “Science News”Science News. 2008. Print.

HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Richards” o “Linda Richards”Richards, Linda. America’s First Trained Nurse: My Life as a Nurse in America, Great Britain and Japan 1872-1911. Diggory Press. 2006. Print.

Bostridge, Mark. Florence Nightingale, the Woman and her Legend. Viking. 2008. Print.