Haiti Earthquake 2010: Effects and Cost

Haiti Earthquake 2010: Effects and Cost Haiti Earthquake Introduction Earthquakes happen in different parts of the world and they lead to negative consequences including death, destruction of buildings and huge losses in economy. Before studying one of the most important and hazardous natural disasters which took place seven years ago, we have to take into consideration the meaning of earthquakes. As a matter of fact, earthquake is a natural disaster according to which the layers of the earth move or tremble when the crust is ruptured or slipped. In addition, during such rupture across the fault line at which earthquakes happen, a kind of energy provided with elasticity is emitted from between rocks that could be pressured. While these amounts of energy could be stocked throughout years and emitted in less than a second, pressure existed between rocks as well as strain lead to the storage of more quantities of elastic energy causing the increase in the possibility of occurrence of earthquakes. On the other side, when this energy is released, a particul ar type of sound waves named seismic provided with low rates of frequency are spread and distributed across the surface of the earth or among its layers. Surprisingly, more than three million earthquakes happen every year. Nevertheless, people do not feel or notice them. On the contrary, earthquakes which surpass five degrees on the Richter scale are considered as one of the most terrifying and disastrous natural disasters that humans witness their occurrence on the surface of the earth and that could lead to destructive outcomes. (Earthquakes: introduction) Haiti earthquake One of the massive earthquakes that took place in the United States in 2010 was Haiti earthquake. It is worth mentioning that such earthquake occurred along Hispaniola which is a West Indian island. In spite of the fact that such island includes the two states of Dominican Republic and Haiti, the latter country was the most damaged one and the state that struggled more after the negative consequences of the earthquake. While the death toll which was released was not able to determine the numbers of casualties resulted from such chaos, the government of the country mentioned that more than three hundred thousand people were dead. Nevertheless, other resources stated that the real number was smaller than what was announced. In addition, a lot of Haitians were asked to evacuate the area and leave their homes. At 4:53 pm, there was a huge and strong hit by the earthquake. Such hit extended about more than twenty five kilometers along the coast of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Bes ides, the magnitude of the first shock was about seven degrees. Then another two shocks happened whose degrees reached five point nine and five point five. Later, a lot of shocks took place such as the shock that happened on the twenty of January at a small town called Petit Goave which is fifty five kilometers away from Port-au-Prince. As a matter of fact, Haiti did not witness the occurrence of any earthquakes comparing to Haiti earthquake when talking about strength, enormity and degree. (Pallardy, 2016) On the other hand, such natural catastrophe contributed in the death of more than two thousand hundred persons as well as the injuries and homelessness of more than six hundred thousand persons who were struggling in order to survive and in order to search for the primary resources of living so that they could be able to maintain their lives. In addition, the earthquake managed to convert the situations in Haiti upside down on a local, political, economic and environmental scale. As a matter of fact, such earthquake has led to the breakdown of the government there whose ruling of the state was very weak and fragile. As a result of the inability and failure in managing and controlling situations during the occurrence of catastrophes and disasters, the government resorted to the dependence on aids and humanitarian relief from other countries in order to be able to provide people with the resources required for their survival. What the government managed to do is offering those survivor s tents and camps where they could live their transitional life till the occurrence of something new. (The Shockwave That Changed A Nation, 2010) Based on what was mentioned by the Humanitarian Action Plan for the Haitian state three years ago, more than one hundred and seventy two thousand persons were obliged by governmental orders to leave their houses in order to live in more than three hundred camps in 2013. Moreover, services offered to displaced persons such as health and WASH services have witnessed a quick decline comparing to the course of the displacement event of those survivors. On the other hand, there was a high risk, which more than sixteen thousand families who used to live in about fifty camps, had to face. Such risk is represented in the fact that these families could be forced to evacuate the area. In addition to the previous information and data, other eight thousand persons who used to live in camps were subjected to the risk of suffering from floods. According to what was indicated by OCHA in 2014, about one hundred and for thousand persons were remained in the state. Nevertheless, they were obliged to l ive in camps. Furthermore, there was no intention of any kind of relocation programs offered to more than seventy thousand IDPs. Finally, IOM has stated in 2014 that more than eighty thousand Haitians had the ability to survive and live their transitional life in more than one hundred camps in September. (Haiti: Earthquakes Jan 2010) Effect of Haiti earthquake According the statistics, the damage resulted from this Haitian earthquake was ranged between seven and half and eight and half billion American dollars. In addition, there was a decline in the gross domestic product of the state estimated by five point one percent. It is worth mentioning that such earthquake has led to the destruction of the basic airport in Haiti along with a large number of roads and finally the majority of ports. Moreover, the earthquake has resulted in the damage of more than one hundred thousand houses and homes based on what was mentioned by the studies and researches conducted by the Inter-American Development Bank. On the other side, the capital of Haiti named Port-au-Prince was unfortunately hit by the Haitian earthquake. As a result, the government remained paralyzed and did not succeed in eliminating chaos and returning order to the state along with the inability to take in charge of the situation. Besides, almost one of each four servants who used to liv e in Port-au-Prince was found dead. In addition to the previously mentioned information, the earthquake contributed in the damage of more than half of schools and almost sixty percent of the main constructions and establishments in the state. No one can deny the fact that one of the least countries regarding wealth, fortune and economic prosperity in the entire western hemisphere was Haiti. In fact, the majority of public there is considered ultra-poor according to the international statistics and measurements. Furthermore, more than half of them used to live in despicable circumstances of living. On the other hand, a huge percentage of Haitians there work as farmers in order to become the breadwinners of their families. Finally, the earthquake managed to cause a lot of damage since the resistance of the Haitian state against natural catastrophes is weak due to deforestation.   (Amadeo, 2016) Humanitarian relief after the occurrence of Haiti earthquake One of the main international organizations, which had the ability to offer humanitarian aid and relief to the state of Haiti after the occurrence of such destructive earthquake along with attracting the attention of the whole world to the importance of providing people there with assistance so that they could be able to survive, was the United Nations. Thanks to the donations received from certain countries around the globe as well as collaboration between various elements including people, organizations and governmental authorities, the United Nations succeeded in achieving development and improvement in the process of getting Haiti back to life especially after this devastating earthquake happened. Furthermore, the United Nations managed to cooperate with other communities that had the chance to offer donations in order to offer Haitian populations aid and relief on the long term. In addition, the foundation of United Nations contributed in the collection of donations estimated by four million American dollars to help those people to survive and live in normal conditions. As a matter of fact, such donations provided the United Nations with the ability to do the following: First: giving more than one hundred thousand American dollars to projects of solar light. Second: offering the needed resources for life such as fresh water, healthy food and health care as well as shelters due to the donation delivered to the UN which reached three million dollars in order to be able to control and manage risks and hazards in the future. Third: taking part in the process of recycling about twenty percent of the debris resulted from the earthquake. Fourth: offering Haitian people about three hundred thousand job opportunities. Fifth: offering more than two thousand Haitian workers training in the field of development and life recovery. Sixth: supplying the United Nations Population Fund with more than seven hundred thousand American dollars to get resources regarding maternal health along with offering street lights which depend on solar energy in order to provide Haitians especially women and young girl protection, safety and security. Seventh: giving more than two hundred thousand American dollars to the development program related to the UN since such program is considered as a trial in order to help people there get jobs and work so that they could be able to remove debris resulted from the earthquake. (HAITI EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE, 2013) Conclusion In a nutshell, natural disasters are considered as one of the most destructive events that could be faced by any country around the world. In addition, one of these catastrophes that could lead to the total destruction and demolishment of states is earthquakes. Earthquakes happen due to the slippage between layers of the earth. As a result, a lot of damages occur leading to the huge percentage of casualties, demolishment of houses and constructions along with the displacement of many people out of their homes. Thats why countries have to be well prepared for these events in order to prevent their negative consequences as well as protecting people there from any danger or hazard that might threaten their lives. References The Shockwave That Changed A Nation. (2010). Retrieved March 21, 2017, from Haiti earthquake 2010: http://haitiearthquake.web.unc.edu/ HAITI EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE. (2013). Retrieved March 21, 2017, from United Nations Foundation: http://www.unfoundation.org/who-we-are/impact/our-impact/health-data-disaster-relief/haiti-earthquake-response.html?referrer=https://www.google.com.eg/ Amadeo, K. (2016). Haiti Earthquake: Facts, Damage, Effects on Economy. Retrieved March 21, 2017, from The balance: https://www.thebalance.com/haiti-earthquake-facts-damage-effects-on-economy-3305660 Earthquakes: introduction. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2017, from SMS Tsunami Warning: http://www.sms-tsunami-warning.com/pages/earthquakes-introduction Haiti: Earthquakes Jan 2010. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2017, from relief web: http://reliefweb.int/disaster/eq-2010-000009-hti Pallardy, R. (2016). Haiti earthquake of 2010. Retrieved March 21, 2017, from Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/event/Haiti-earthquake-of-2010

Self-Managed Work Teams

SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS Class: Human Resource Management November 29th, 2012 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION___________________________________________________________1 SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS DICIPLINES_________________________________2 LEADING A SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS_________________________________5 THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL TEAMS AND SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS____________________________________________________________6 SUCCESS FACTORS OF SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS______________________8 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS____10CONCLUSION___________________________________________________________13 REFERENCES____________________________________________________________14 INTRODUCTION: Self-managed work teams are work teams that are given permission to organize and control the work that they do. Self-managed work teams are independent and interdependent as the self-managed work teams itself is independent while the members are interdependent. The team is self-regul ating, operating with few external controls. Team members determine schedules, procedures and the need to make adjustments.Self-managed work teams delegates specific responsibility and decision-making authority to the team itself, it is expected that the individual will set their own goals, monitor progress, adjust behavior to increase the chances of attaining goals and in some instances even self-reward or punishment comparing to the traditional work team, in where it is control completely by the management. By Self-managed work teams, each independent is given freedom and responsibility to accomplish tasks in an efficient way as the main idea of self-managed work teams is positional authority.By adopting self-managed work teams, the individuals can create synergy through the contribution of several team members all engaged on the same task, while psychological well-being arises through increased opportunities for interaction between team members and involvement in job-related deci sion making. In general, self-managed teams have considerable discretion over: * The work done and setting team goals * How work is achieved – which processes are used and how work is scheduled * Internal performance issues – distributing the work and the contribution made by each member of the team * Decision making and problem solving.SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS DICIPLINES: In order for an organization that wanted to establish and achieve the self-managed work teams from the traditional teams, there are disciplines of the self-managed work teams that need to be follow. These disciplines are a set of skills, approaches, insights, and practices that are not typically mastered by more conventional teams. As the disciplines itself, is evolutionary rather than revolutionary, the teams need to move toward self-management along a continuum from â€Å"other-directed† to becoming self-directed.By mastering the self-managed work team’s disciplines, it is the main key to achieve and understand the concept of self-managed work teams itself. These disciplines also ensure the long-term success of the teams. A self-managed work teams discipline consists of: * Establish & Communicate the Boundaries of Team Authority: Aside from defining the boundaries of the team authority, a self-managed work teams must clearly communicate to its members, to the steering committee, to other teams, and to the entire organization the specific boundaries of its ole and authority. When a self-managed work teams can’t uphold its communication it can cause a self-destruction, as it fail to negotiate a clear and agreed-upon charter up-front. Aside, to maintain the communication between members, a consistent measurement or checking is required to ensure its relevancy. * Develop Cross-Functional Skills or Knowledge: Another difference of self-managed work teams and conventional team is that all members of the team are intimately familiar with all of the tasks done wit hin the team.All members on a self-managed work teams must not only understand the variety of jobs and tasks performed within the team, they must also have the capability to perform each of these jobs or tasks. Training all team members in each other's tasks is an important component of the self-managed work teams skill or practice set. * Develop Critical Thinking Skills: A self-managed work teams must critically evaluate its role in the organization, its charter, and its goals, its evolving norms of behavior, its performance, its successes and others.A self-managed work teams must always examining its processes, its environment and its results. The skills of critical thinking include identifying our mental models or assumptions, challenging the â€Å"context† within which the team operates imagining and exploring alternative realities, and becoming â€Å"reflectively skeptical. † * Become Self-Directed Learners: Conventional work teams often depend upon the learning p riorities set by management or the training office; self-managed work teams break this dependency and define for themselves what they need to know.Aside from learning their job, the team also learn to handle responsibility for identifying needed skills and knowledge essential for their and the company's long-term success. The team assumes full responsibility for exploring what they must know and master next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. The self-managed work teams’ works with the training office to discover new methods and approaches for learning what the team needs to become self-directed, long-term learners. * Manage Team Performance:Conventional teams may be involved in goal setting and performance evaluation, but management still plays a major role in molding these goals and in evaluating the team's performance. A self-managed work teams assumes full responsibilities for these tasks, the self-managed work teams, therefore, must be trained in the skills and knowledge of team performance management. This includes the skills of goal setting, establishing benchmark standards, evaluating performance against standards, developing plans for performance improvement. Manage Human Resources: In traditional work teams, management usually assumes the primary responsibility for defining needed positions, recruiting the right candidates, establishing criteria for evaluating the candidates, selecting the new worker, and orienting him or her to the job. Further, once the employee is on the job, management then monitors and evaluates the employee's performance and takes corrective action if required to improve performance. However, the self-managed work teams assume full responsibility for managing its human resources.Following guidelines established by the HR department, the self-managed work teams usually performs all of the functions that result in a new hire. It also assumes responsibility for resolving individual performance problems t hat occur when individual members don't meet team expectations. As a result, team members must learn to master such HR skills as recruiting and selecting new hires, monitoring individual performance, and then taking action to correct performance problems. While it might be true that SMWTs will approach performance problem solving quite differently than traditional management approaches (e. . , looking for cause not blame), the team must be capable of dealing with the team member who fails to work effectively with the team. This may even include the difficult task of disciplining or even terminating a team member. Although managing its human resources may be the hardest skill for the team to master, it is probably the most critical to the team's long-term success. Self-directed work teams, also known as self-managing teams, represent a revolutionary approach to the way work is organized and performed.Instead of organizing work based on the traditional Taylor model — reducing a process to individual steps — work becomes restructured around whole processes. There must be interdependence and joint responsibility for outputs if there is to be a self-directed work team. Whereas the traditional system reduces the required skill at every level of work, producing boredom in the bottom-level jobs, the new system integrates the needs of the people with the work to be done, and those closest to the jobs help design the job. LEADING A SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS:The leadership role in a self-managed team is very different from that of a team leader in a traditional hierarchical team such as a functional team. In a hierarchical team the team leader allocates work. In contrast, in a self-managed team, the leadership role involves taking on more of a supporting role, which includes identifying the long-term career and personal development needs of the team within the context of the overall organization. The team leadership role in a:| Hierarchical team| Self-managed team| The role is vested in one individual. | The role may be shared. | To manage the team. To support the team by providing (or arranging others to provide) coaching and advice. | To plan and allocate the work done by the team. | To agree, in discussion with the team, the standard of work and the aims, objectives and targets of the team. | To monitor and appraise the performance of team members in carrying out the tasks allocated to them. | To monitor the achievement of the team as a unit. To appraise individual performance. | To motivate the team members. | To provide the conditions for high motivation. | To act as the main contact point for communication between the team and the rest of the organisation. To facilitate the creation of channels of communication with the rest of the organisation. | THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL TEAMS AND SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS: In an organization, there are many types of work teams that is apply in the organization itself, each of the work teams have different structure and way of communication with their members. The differences of work teams’ structure * Managed Team: A group of people working together toward a common goal. The ‘what’ will happen, ‘where’ it will happen and ‘how’ it will happen is set by the organisation and/or the manager. Self-Managed Team: Is a group of people working together in their own way toward a common goal which is defined outside the team. The team decides their work schedule, in what order, when to deliver, how, to what standards, and by whom. * Self-Directed Team: A group of people working together in their own way toward a common goal which the team defines. They will perform all of the above but in addition also have input on recruitment to the team, training, compensation, performance management, discipline, and acts as a profit center by defining its own future.The difference of self-managed work teams with conventional teams is self-ma naged work teams complete an entire piece of work, whether it's a product, a service, or part of a large product of service. The team assigns tasks that individual team members perform. In other words, the team plans, organizes, and controls work activates with little or no direct involvement of a higher status supervisor. Self-managed work teams control most work inputs, flow, and output. Aside, they are responsible for correction work flow problems as they occur.On other words, the teams maintain their own quality and logistical control. Self-managed work teams receive team-level feedback and rewards. This recognizes and reinforces the fact that the team – not individuals – is responsible for the work, although team members may also receive individual feedback and rewards. Characteristics of a mature self-managed work teams SUCCESS FACTORS TOWARDS SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS: There are some factors that need to be considered by the organization as those factors are the s uccess factors towards self-managed work teams.When an organization neglects those factors, there is a high possibility that the organization will not achieve an effective self-managed work teams. * Learn: A key success factor for self-managed teams is to be open to, and continuously gather, information about how other self-managed teams are operating, through meetings and other forms of communication. These may be teams within the organization or within other organizations. Even if the self-managed teams learn about work in other organizations whose business is very different to the original organization, there may still be valuable lessons to learn.Aside, the organization should consider involving representatives of successful self-managed teams as mentors to the team, if possible. * Structure Just because a team is self-managed doesn't mean it can work with a nebulous structure where nobody is clear about who does what. There is a need to structure the team in the most efficient way. This will depend on the organization's business, the team's function and the individuals within it. Some self-managed teams work best where one member serves as a leader. Others are successful where all members are of equal status.However, the common success factor is that everyone is very clear about roles and accountability's within the team. * Achieve Most likely, a self-managed team will be endeavoring to achieve outcomes agreed with the organization's management team. However, within the team, each employee have different goals, like they wanted to try and achieve more than the agreed outcomes, as an indication that the self-managed team is functioning to a commendable level of efficiency and success. A self-managed team's achievements are particularly important where elements within the organization are dubious about the wisdom of implementing the teams. Evaluate Evaluation is an important part of a successful self-managed work teams. Just as in any organizational structu re, evaluation is the way of discovering to what extent aims and objectives have been achieved. A critical success factor of all self-managed teams is the ability to respond positively to evaluation, identify where improvements can be made and develop a plan to implement the changes needed to deliver them. ADVANTAGES VERSUS DISADVANTAGES: There is nothing perfect in a work teams, there are always limitations of it but aside of limitation, there are benefits of the work teams.The organization can decrease the impact of its limitation by improving in that certain weak area. The advantages of self-managed work teams are: * Job Satisfaction: With self-managed teams, employees have more job satisfaction because they are directly involved in the day to day running of a company and are more independent. This direct involvement helps them to identify more closely with a company's objectives. Employees also derive a sense of satisfaction from developing new decision-making and problem-solvin g skills and working as part of a close-knit team. Improved Productivity: According to â€Å"Business Week,† companies that use self-managed work teams are 30 to 50 percent more productive than those with a traditional hierarchy. This is because workers have a greater commitment to company goals when they are more closely involved in helping to achieve these goals. Having a greater share in the results ensures that teams quickly address a product's problems and defects and are sensitive to customers' needs and requests. Self-directed work teams have a wide range of skills because of the diverse backgrounds of individual members.This helps teams to develop innovative products and services and to take a creative approach to problem-solving. * Increased compatibility between employers and employees: Self-managed teams can relieve stress for the leader, who is then able to concentrate on other tasks. The team is mutually supportive and members learn from each other instead of app roaching the team leader for advice. * Commitment: Team members can become more involved in projects as a direct result of having increased autonomy and responsibility. * Motivation: Team members have shared or equal responsibility so members are accountable for their actions.The disadvantages of self-managed work teams are: * Extensive Training: Companies making the transition from a traditional management structure to self-managed work teams must invest considerable time and resources in training people in management skills. Training goes through several stages and this process can last between two and five years. Employees get additional training in providing customers service and satisfaction and must learn how to work effectively as part of a team. * Managing Managers: Managers may actively resist the concept of self-managed work teams because it makes their role effectively redundant.Organizations may have to offer additional professional training to managers before they can r eassign them to jobs that offer the same level of pay and status. Managers being reassigned need to receive highly specialized technical training. CONCLUSION: The introduction of employee empowerment through self-managed teams program can provide the necessary edge required to remain competitive in today's global market. However, no empowerment program can be successful in the long term if management does not take adequate steps before the program is introduced and utilize an adequate management strategy once the program has been initiated.The pre-program steps and the management strategy must be more than words on paper. Management must be sold on the idea of employee empowerment and develop a management strategy that fully supports the empowerment program or it will eventually fail. If management supports its self-managed teams, they will foster its success. In Asia itself, companies are not familiar with the terms of Self-Managed Work Teams as in Asia having a particular leader a re viewed as the best option in a management. There is still a high importance of hierarchy in the Asian society. REFERENCES: 1.Career Track, â€Å"Implementing self-directed work teams† (Newsletter, SV-No. 16), 1995, pp. 1-8. 2. Ankarlo, L. , â€Å"The best value in training†, Career Track, 1994, pp. 12-16. 3. Pett, T. and Miller, T. , â€Å"Employee empowerment: old wine in a new bottle†, Southwest Academy of Management, Proceedings, Mescon Group, Dallas, TX, March 1994, p. 153. 4. Fisher, K. , Leading Self-directed Work Teams, McGraw-Hill, Chesterfield, MO, 1994, pp. 1-26, 164-70. 5. Conger, J. A. and Kanungo, A. T. , â€Å"The empowerment process: integrating theory and practice†, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 13 No. 3, 1988, pp. 471-82. 6. Madonna, J. C. Allaire, P. A. and Drew, E. H. , â€Å"Leadership and empowerment for total quality†, The Conference Board, Vol. 24 No. 2, 1992, pp. 9-25. 7. Mears, P. and Voehl, F. , Team Building, St. Lucie Press, Delray Beach, FL, 1994. 8. Dumaine, B. , â€Å"The trouble with teams†, Fortune, 5 September 1994, pp. 86-92. 9. Stokes, Jr and Stewart, L. , â€Å"IS without managers†, Information Strategy: The Executive's Journal, Fall 1991, pp. 11-15. 10. McKee, B. , â€Å"Turn your workers into a team†, Nation's Business, July 1992, pp. 36-8. 11. Barry, D. , â€Å"Managing the bossless team: lessons in distributed leadership†, Organizational Dynamics, Summer 1991, pp. 1-47. 12. Brucker, D. , â€Å"Spurring on reengineering†, Fortune, 26 June 1995, p. 15. 13. Sirkin, H. L. , â€Å"The employee empowerment scam†, Industry Week, 18 October 1993, p. 58. 14. Dean, J. and Evans, J. , Total Quality: Management, Organization, and Strategy. West Publishing Co. , St Paul, MN, 1994, pp. 197-26. 15. Overman, S. , â€Å"Saturn teams working and profiting†, HR Magazine, March 1995, pp. 72-4. 16. Grates, G. F. , â€Å"The subtlety and power of com munications in corporate renewal initiatives†, Public Relations Quarterly, Spring 1994, pp. 40-3. 17. Holpp, L. â€Å"Applied empowerment†, Training, February 1994, pp. 39-44. 18. Bowen, D. and Lawler, E. E. III, â€Å"The empowerment of service workers: what, why how, and when†, Management Review, Spring 1994, pp. 31-9. 19. Flanagan, P. , â€Å"IBM one day, Lexmark the next†, Management Review, January 1994, pp. 38-44. 20. Burrows, P. , â€Å"Playing ball without the coach†, Business Week, July 1993, p. 99. 21. Spanbauer, S. J. , â€Å"A quality system for education†, Quality, Vol. 6 No. 4, 1990, pp. 55-65. 22. Macher, K. , â€Å"Empowerment and the bureaucracy†, Training and Development Journal, September 1988, pp. 41-6. 23.Dumaine, B. , â€Å"Who needs a boss? â€Å", Fortune, 7 May 1990, pp. 52-60. 24. Caudron, S. , â€Å"Are self-directed teams right for your company? â€Å", Personnel Journal, December 1993, pp. 76-84. 25. Be nnett, S. , â€Å"Turnaround at Kodak Park†, Business Quarterly, Spring 1994, pp. 31-41. 26. Ferero, M. , â€Å"Self-directed work teams untax the IRS†, Personnel Journal, July 1994, pp. 66-71. 27. Wellins, R. , â€Å"Texas Instruments gets from here to there†, Training ; Development, June 1995, pp. 26-41. 28. Hopp, L. , â€Å"If empowerment is so good, why does it hurt? â€Å", Training, March 1995, pp. 53-7. 29. Stein, R. E. Next Phase of Total Quality Management, Marcel Dekker, Inc. , Boston, MA, 1994, pp. 103-23. 30. Pasmore, W. A. , â€Å"An approach to successful integration†, Self-Managing Work Teams, July/August 1994, pp. 15-23. 31. Andrews, G. , â€Å"Mistrust, the hidden obstacle to empowerment†, HR Magazine, September 1994, pp. 66-70. 32. Thibodeaux, M. and Faden, S. , â€Å"Organizational design for self-managed teams†, Industrial Management ; Data Systems, annual 1994, pp. 20-6. 33. Giordan, J. and Ahern, A. , â€Å"Self-mana ged teams: quality improvement in actions†, Research Technology Management, May/June 1994, pp. 33-5.

Fire Extinguisher Inspection and Accessibility

Fire Extinguisher Inspection and Accessibility BY crashers Fire Extinguisher Inspection and Accessibility: Class Project University of AXES Professor XX Fire Protection Proposal A critical aspect for a successful business is the ability to motivate employees to increase and maintain their productivity. One key element in accomplishing this is to provide a safe working environment by addressing and mitigating risks or hazards facing employees. Although, it is impossible to create a completely risk free work environment, there are certain risks that can be addressed effectively, particularly he risk of a fire in the workplace.The risk of workplace fire is a concern for any business and can be mitigated in many ways. This proposal will focus on a very effective and simple form of fire protection, fire extinguishers. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) governs the use, location, maintenance and training of portable fire extinguishers. This is accomplished through OSH A Standard 1910. 157, â€Å"Portable Fire Extinguishers†. A recent walk through of this building revealed a clear violation(s) of OSHA standards regarding fire extinguishers.This reports will bring to the attention of Executive Management the importance of fire protection, attempt to identify the exact safety concern, determine what OSHA standard governs this concern and develop a feasible solution to correct the issue. The solution will take into account both the physical and economical feasibility of correcting the issue, while maintaining focus on employee safety. Fire Protection: It is not an uncommon event to have a fire occur in the workplace. Fires can result in serious bodily injury, including burns and smoke inhalation.It can also lead to aerospace fatalities. According to OSHA, between 70,000 and 80,000 fires occur each year within the workplace in the United States (2013). Despite this number of workplace fires, fire and explosion only make up on average about thre e percent of the total workplace fatalities (BILLS, 2007). However, it can also cause enormous property damage and, depending on the type of business, can lead to serious environmental issues. It is also estimated that businesses suffered roughly 2 billion dollars worth of property damage each year from fires in the workplace (OSHA, 2013).Fire protection, to include fire extinguishers, can be utilized to mitigate these risks, resulting in the reduction of on the Job injuries, fatalities, the loss of property, environmentally concerns and the negative impact fire can have on a business's bottom line. There are many measures to combat fires in the workplace. One of the simplest and most effective measures in fire protection is the fire extinguisher. It can provide the means to extinguish small fires before they become larger and more destructive.It can also be used to protect and clear egress routes that may become locked by fire during an evacuation, providing a safe means of escape for all employees. Fire extinguishers, in the hands off trained employee, can offer an important weapon in combating fires in the workplace, creating a safer environment for all employees. However, in order for a fire extinguisher to be useful, it must be readily available, in proper working order and must be matched to the proper fuel classification for the workplace environment, which is mandated and enforced by OSHA.Violation: A walk through inspection was conducted of the building to include all five floors. On the third floor it was discovered that of the four fire extinguishers located on that floor, two out of four fire extinguishers were out of date by two months (see appendix A). Of the remaining two functional fire extinguishers, one of those was located in a locked storage room, on a shelf, behind a green plastic container (see appendix B). This is a clear violation of OSHA standard subpart Fire protection 1910. 157, Portable Fire Extinguishers, specifically the following sections: (c)(l).The employer shall provide portable fire extinguishers and shall mount, locate and identify them so that hey are readily accessible to employees without subjecting the employees to possible injury. (e)(l). The employer shall be responsible for the inspection, maintenance and testing of all portable fire extinguishers in the workplace. (e)(3). The employer shall assure that portable fire extinguishers are subjected to an annual maintenance check. Stored pressure extinguishers do not require an internal examination.The employer shall record the annual maintenance date and retain this record for one year after the last entry or the life of the shell, whichever is less. The record shall be available to the Assistant Secretary upon request (2014). As one can see, the company is in violation of the OSHA standards governing fire extinguishers, particularly the placement, maintenance and inspection. It should be noted that three out of the four fire extinguishers on the th ird floor were clearly marked and readily accessible to employees.They were strategically located and were appropriately matched to the fuel classification for each floor. The fire extinguishers on the remaining four floors were all in compliance with OSHA standards. It should be noted the fire extinguishers on the each floor were inspected annually at different times or months, which could be a contributing factor. This factor, along with another observation, should be analyzed in order to develop a feasible solution.Analysis: In order to resolve this safety hazard and find a feasible, yet effective solution, a couple of factors need to be considered. A direct and obvious factor relates to determining if the third floor poses a reduced perspicuity for fires. After careful review, there does not appear to be any evidence to support that fires occurring on he third floor are less or more likely to occur than on any other area of the building. There are no unusual activities occurring on the third that would warrant such a conclusion.After a review of the company's Hazard Communication Program, to include an inventory of chemicals for each floor and the Material Safety Data Sheets or Safety Data Sheets, the third floor does not house any different chemicals than the other four floors of the building. The number of employees occupying the third floor in a given workday is comparable to the remaining floors of the building. Therefore, he third floor warrants the same fire protection as the rest of the building, to include accessibility and maintenance of fire extinguishers.The inspection schedule for the building, as it relates to fire extinguishers, appears to be on different rotations. This leads to another interesting factor as to why the inspection dates for fire extinguishers on each floor of the building are during different months? After careful review of the company's Fire Protection, Occupational Safety, Health and Environmental Audits from 2002 to 2013, there appears to be no documented or social reasoning for having the fire extinguishers inspected on different dates.It does not reduce cost, time or effort on the part of the company. Research and inquiries could not determine an actual benefit to this practice. Therefore, it should be concluded that this practice should be revisited in order to find an effective solution. Solution: After careful research and analysis, it was determined the third floor of the building does not warrant any special attention or need elaborate measures to maintain the fire extinguishers. Therefore, the solutions to correct these violations re simple, straightforward and cost effective.They are as follows: a) Mount fourth fire extinguisher outside the storage room with proper markings, which will provide easy access to all employees. B) Ensure the annual inspection of all fire extinguishers in the building is conducted on the same date. C) Create a maintenance log and record the monthly maintenance che cks with either the log beginning or ending with the annual inspection. D) Incorporate maintenance and inspection checks into the annual fire protection training. E) Challenge employees to check the inspection date n the fire extinguishers by offering an incentive to whomever brings to the attention of management an issue.An example would be a privileged parking spot for a week or a free lunch for a day. All of the above are easy, cost effective suggestions to correct and prevent these issues from occurring in the future. Any one or a combination of these suggestions can be utilized to create a safer working environment for, not Just the third floor, but also the entire building. Conclusion: This proposal was designed to bring to the attention of executive management a rise of OSHA violation(s) concerning fire protection, particularly fire extinguishers, for the third floor.Even though the company has made a good faith effort to ensure the building is properly outfitted with several devices to alert and prevent workplace fires, it should not neglect the very basic concept of the fire extinguisher. It can be a vital, cost effective tool to prevent injury, loss of life, property damage, environmental issues and the interference or shut down of business due too workplace fire. It can prevent a small fire from becoming much larger and be used to aid in an evacuation f employees due to a workplace fire.The simple steps purposed will correct and ensure these violations do not occur in the future, ensuring a safer work environment for all.

Critical Thinking And Teaching Methods - 1648 Words

Introduction â€Å"We have transformed schools into places characterized not by excitement and learning, but all too often by student disengagement, apathy, and in many cases, even active resistance to the lessons and experiences made available to them by their teachers,† commented San Josà © State University professors Smith Grinell Colette Rabin. This, no doubt, comes as a result of the United States’ recent push for Common Core Standards, where politicians take control of education and attempt to link teacher wages to student performance, consistently undermine teacher input, and implement a strict ‘teach-to-the-test† curriculum, where students are not encouraged to question the information told to them, but rather accept it and move on. Critical thinking and efficient teaching methods have been suppressed in the current U.S. educational system, and the U.S. is suffering: once one of the front runners in education, the U.S. has fallen to twenty-seventh place according to the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Ironically, the definition of critical thinking, an often-used pedagogical term, requires the process of critical thinking, criticism, and debate, as the definition widely varies amongst communication scholars, educators, and philosophers, and is seldom properly defined (Lai, p. 5-10). The components of critical thinking are hotly debated and therefore need to be clarified for the intents and purposes of this research article.Show MoreRelatedStandardized Testing Changed Instruction Method870 Words   |  4 Pagesinstruction method to only focus on the test. 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Being told what to do to get an A is not simply