The reign of Franklin Roosevelt as the president of the USA was one of the most important in the American history. The Social Security Act (SSA) remains the most influential legislation (Arnoa 25). Prior to its enactment on 14 August 1935, the poor, disabled and the elderly found it difficult to live. This was made worse by the Great Depression. During this time, employment rates dropped drastically, jobs were lost, and poverty levels shot. The enactment of the law primarily aimed at providing a steady income for retired workers. Adults aged 65 or older were targeted. The Committee on Economic Security (CES) initiated plans that would prompt workers to contribute part of their wages into a consolidated account (Leff 289). Subsequent modifications of the law have been occasioned by variations in demographic and economic trends. Increase in the population and fluctuations in the economic growth have been key considerations. Most scholars have supported the system on social grounds. However, some have critically questioned the sustainability of the system. The funding of the system, as well as the benefits that accrue from it seems to be the points of contention about the system (Arnoa 36). Whereas either side in the debate support the benefits of social security, the liberal ideas have often played against conservative ideas in government control, taxation, spending for social security- contentions that will remain for some time to come.

The first argument regards ownership and choice. The fact that the USA is experiencing resource incapacitation in the support of the system is evident. Previous financial crisis characterized by high expenditures and flat contributions may recur (Orszag & Diamond 115). SS deficits are possible in situations where the unemployment rates are high and wages are low. Consequently, the accruing benefits will drastically drop. Population growth has always been thought to be important in the realization of a successful SS. According to the USA federal government the debt base broadens (Arnoa 38). However, the economic growth fluctuations are unpredictable. It is therefore absurd for the government to affirm that an increase in population will be matched by an increase in SS contributions. A situation where expenditures exceed contributions is undesirable. The funding of the government debt becomes difficult. Consequently more borrowing is observed. The SS deficit is questionable. Why should the government opt for external funding due to uncontrolled internal debt? The future health of the system is therefore critical. The fact that many people are reaching retirement age due to the ‘Baby Boomers’ should not be ignored (Leff 289).

The second argument revolves around government taxation. The revenue realized from the SS system should be increased to reduce the regression of the payroll tax. It should be noted that people earning up to $ 72,600 are subjected to SS payroll taxes. The growth in average earnings dictates the level of increase in the cap of earnings (Orszag and Diamond 120). The past 20 years have been characterized by an imbalanced growth of earnings between the high and the middle income groups. Increased SS revenue is ensured when the cap on earnings is raised. This will ultimately ensure that the payroll taxes are non-regressive. The future funding of the SS system will be made possible through tax increase. A decrease in the payroll tax should not be advocated for. It has also been proposed that benefits should be taxed. However, the move is undesirable. It will see the low and moderate-income beneficiaries highly taxed. The tax burden of this income groups will increase while that of the high-income group will fall (Weisbrot and Baker 22).

Another common argument regards wealth redistribution. The USA is characterized by a great financial inequality. The richer have been getting richer while the poor continue to languish in poverty. The reason behind this trend has been the level of wages offered for new jobs. Whereas old jobs offer high wages, current jobs offer low wages (Weisbrot & Baker 23). In addition, the latter may lack retirement plans or health coverage. Similarly, the SS benefit structure exhibits considerable degrees of inequities. Some workers receive lower returns than others. It is common phenomenon to have workers pay for SS benefits not within their scope. In addition, workers are deprived the freedom to control their yearly contributions. In view of this the long-term financial problems inherent with the system should not widen the wealth redistribution gap (Orszag & Diamond 130).

Another common argument in social security reform revolves around trading off wealth creation for social insurance. The internal rate of return has been considered a monetary advantage. It should be noted that SS is a social insurance program, rather than an investment plan. The annuities enjoyed by retirees are adjusted to take care of yearly inflation. The monetary compensation associated with SS system is not enough (Orszag & Diamond 132). The beneficiaries of the system include surviving spouses, children and the disabled. A person, who regards the system as a source of monetary gain alone, underestimates the real value of the system.

Other arguments revolve issues of charitable entitlements, particularly safety nets or earned benefits. Citizens from most countries enjoy safety net activities as a right. However, USA citizens do not enjoy such activities as rights. The only exceptions are the public education for schoolchildren and Medicare funded healthcare for older adults (Weisbrot & Baker 24). In USA, the SS ensures that people work for social benefits. This is usually not the case in other countries. Good citizenship and compliance with laws are usually enough for citizens to enjoy social benefits. Charitable ventures are neither earned nor a right. It should however be proved beyond reasonable doubt, that indeed one is poor. Means-tested programs are common in the USA. However, most of these programs are criticized for their lack of objectivity in ascertaining those that qualify for ‘charitable’ entitlements (Orszag & Diamond 134).

The last ideological argument around social security in the US regards intergenerational equity and particularly on issues regarding supposed burden of social security for future generations. Differences in financial opportunities have been addressed by safety net policies (Weisbrot and Baker 26). Consequently, people with intergenerational histories of poverty and mental incapacitation have been empowered. The economic and social disadvantages have had negative ramification on the affordability of social benefits. Compensatory assistance is the best tool to address the intergenerational inequity. Communities characterized by high poverty levels, low employment rates and low literacy levels should be offered compensatory assistance (Orszag & Diamond 135).

Debate on social security reforms also revolves around whether to privatize social security schemes or not. Central in this argument is whether the schemes are bankrupt or financially sound- issues that would enable privatization. It has been observed that most workers never receive benefits associated with the system (Weisbrot & Baker 29). The long-term solvency is only guaranteed if all the stakeholders play their respective roles properly. It has been argued that higher earners would not benefit from SS benefits as the low earners would, once the tax ceiling is raised (or eliminated). The SS should not be viewed as a private savings scheme (Leff 290). There is need to ensure that fairness is nurtured in the system. The USA should ensure that the system changes with the increasing population needs. Otherwise, financial crisis may erupt in future.

Another issue regarding supposed privatization pits “Pay as you go” against “transition costs”. The pay-as-you-go system has been criticized for its nature to upset the balance between the expected future taxes and benefits. Situations of increased unemployment will lead to decreased payroll tax. A system where transition costs are put into consideration will ensure that bankruptcy is averted (Leff 290). The transition to a fully funded system will minimize cases of unclaimed funds.  The accumulation of economic reserves coupled by increased benefits will be enhanced. Transition to a fully funded system will not only avert the financial problems associated with the pay-as-you-go system. Rather, young workers will accumulate substantial amounts of benefits in their retirement accounts (Weisbrot & Baker 29).

The last argument pits “definite contribution” against “definite benefits” plans. The definite contribution plan allows both the employer and the employees to contribute to the individual account (Weisbrot and Baker 30). The contribution rather than the benefit is not known. On the contrary, the definite benefit plan ensures that individuals receive a given percentage on a monthly basis. The latter plan is the best on grounds of ensuring that one receives benefits commensurate to his/her contribution, salary and length of service (Orszag & Diamond 139).

In sum, it is clear that; Liberal ideas for ages will antagonize conservative ideas in US social security reforms. Several ideological differences that focus on the ownership and choice of SS funding, government taxation and wealth re-distribution have been highlighted. In addition, arguments over safety nets and benefits, wealth creation and social insurance, intergeneration equity have been discussed. Similarly, privatization concerns in regards to the system’s financial position have been outlined. In addition, pay-as-you-go costs are compared with transition costs. Finally, the nature of plan adopted dictates the nature of benefits realized. Definite benefit plan is superior to the definite contribution plan. Essentially, in the social security reform debate, liberal ideas will antagonize conservative ideas for long.

Works Cited

Arnoa, Peter et al. Social Security and mortality: The role of income support policies and population health in the United States. Journal of Public Health Policy. 2011. Advance online publication 17. <http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp/journal/vaop/ncurrent/pdf/jphp20112a.pdf>. Accessed 09 April 2011

Democracy Now! Social Security under Attack: Cuts Proposed, Higher Retirement Age Suggested – A video report. <http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/19/social_security_under_attack_cuts_proposed>. Accessed 09 April 2011

FactCheck.org. “Bush’s State of the Union: Social Security ‘Bankruptcy?”. FactCheck.org: commentary on the speech. <http://www.factcheck.org/article305.html> Accessed 09 April 2011

Leff, Mark H. “Robert Ball and the Politics of Social Security”. Journal of American History, 92 (1), (2005): 289-290

Orszag, Peter, and Diamond, Peter. Saving Social Security-A Balanced Approach. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2005.

US Government Accountability Office, Social Security Reform: Answers to Key Questions. <http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-193SP> Accessed 09 April 2011

Weisbrot, Mark, and Baker, Dean. Social Security: The Phony Crisis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.

India’s struggle for freedom and its consequent independence from the British colonial rule occupies a significant space in British Imperial history, inspiring a debate that attempts to decode the collapse of Britain’s imperialistic ambitions on the subcontinent. The debate has been ensued by historiographical interpretations on the nature and causes behind the downfall of imperialism, analysing social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of the context. Judith M. Brown points at the significance of Indian independence in the imperialist backdrop, stating that the event had a manifold impact on British imperialism as well as on international scenario in the post World War context, beginning with drastic changes in the “logistics of the Empire”1. Brown calls pre-independent India the “cornerstone”2 of British colonial “economic, military and political power”3. Studying the various historiographical perspectives available on the subject,  this paper will argue that the decline of British Imperialism in India was not the result of a uni-dimensional cause, but the outcome of a number of factors that contradict or complement each other.

A study of the decay of imperialism on Indian Territory would trace back to the advent of imperialism to the country. Norman Etherington tries to explain imperialism as a phenomenon interlinked with capitalism, observing that the former arose out of the capitalist nation’s need to expand its markets as a primary solution to a possible proletarian discontent in the face of a dwindling economic scope4. Arguing that while imperialism was “in some ways good for

1Judith M. Brown, India; Wm. Roger Louis. D.Litt., FBA (Ed.) The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV- The Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press: 1999), 421.

2Ibid., 421.

3Ibid , 421.

4Norman Etherington, Reconsidering Theories of Imperialism, History and Theory, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Feb., 1982), pp. 1-36 (Blackwell Publishing for Wesleyan University).

capital”5, Etherington says that the continued scramble for markets across the globe would ultimately usher in an era fraught with rivalry between competing capitalist nations. The consequence of this phenomenon would be the development of hitherto underdeveloped regions that would in turn bring about an “antithesis”6 whereby a class-conscious working class would join hands with an impoverished peasantry to fight the colonial government for “national liberation”7.

Etherington’s notion of a “century of war”8 closely resembles Rosa Luxemburg’s interpretation of the World War. Considering the World War as the culmination of conflict between capitalist nations seeking to divide the world among themselves, Luxemburg said that imperialism marked the last phase of capitalism which was developing towards the turning point of “turning point of the present world war”9. If imperialism is indeed perceived as the zenith of capitalism and mutual struggle for markets abroad, then what marked the collapse of British imperialism in India? Etherington and Luxemburg talk about the conflict between capitalist countries resulting in a world war. But, did World War herald the end of Britain’s imperialistic aspirations in the Raj? If it did, then how does Etherington’s concept of a joint struggle staged by the peasant and the proletariat fit into the Indian context?

According to Paul B. Rich it was the First and the Second World Wars that corroded Britain’s

5Norman Etherington, Reconsidering Theories of Imperialism, History and Theory, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Feb., 1982), pp. 1-36 (Blackwell Publishing for Wesleyan University), 3.

6Ibid.,3.

7Ibid., 3.

8Ibid., 3.

9Ibid., 11.

“early imperialist climate”, an heirloom from the preceding Victorian and Edwardian epochs10. According to Judith Brown, what brought about the end of the British Raj were not so much the national movement and the prolific changes taking place in political and social spectrum as the “pressure of war”11. However, Brown also says that the relatively peaceful exit of the British from Indian Territory implied that the national government replacing the colonial rule would follow a path of continuity rather than marking a break with the previous administration. According to Brown, “imperial endings powerfully affect what comes after”12. Hence, as Brown puts it, the country “inherited a structure of administration designed to achieve Imperial ends rather than goals of national reconstruction”13.

Etherington’s concept of a struggle for national liberation contributing to the collapse of British imperialism in India is discussed by Brown who observes that the unprecedented turmoil witnessed by India during the period between the beginning of First World War to the second half of the twentieth century unfurled a national movement that influenced the country’s socio-political and economic situations. Although Brown argues that it was the far-reaching political developments that resulted in independence in 1947, she points out four major aspects of India’s relationship with Britain in the face of an impending collapse of imperialism: the first of these was Britain’s inability to protect its long term interests in India, which persuaded the imperial government to chalk out plans to facilitate a gradual withdrawal.

10Paul B. Rich, British Imperial Decline and the forging of English Patriotic Memory, c1918-1968 (Great Britain: History of European Ideas. Vol. 9, No. 6, pp. 659-680, 1988), 659.

11Judith M. Brown, India; Wm. Roger Louis. D.Litt., FBA (Ed.) The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV- The Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press: 1999), 445.

12Ibid., 444.

13Ibid., 444.

The rising popular tensions in the Raj made an effective control over the dominion increasingly difficult, thereby accelerating the downfall of British imperialism in India. This sentiment was reflected in the Cabinet minutes of the Labour Government, as it concluded that the unreliability of the Indian army had reached a point where there was a constant threat of things getting out of control if faced with situations that could trigger a civil war14. According to WM Roger Louis, India was “becoming ungovernable”15, presenting the Colonial administration with a political and military crises of the ‘first magnitude’16. On similar lines, Lord Wavell remarked in 1947 that an attempt to control India in spite of having lost the power to do so would prove fatal to the government17.

Judith M. Brown points at the evolution of a powerful national movement as the next theme that determined the decline of British imperialism in India. Brown draws attention towards its ‘attempted’ international image as one guided by Gandhi, juxtaposing it with the actual limitations of its scope and its “strategic effectiveness”18. The question here would be whether Brown’s definition of the national movement would be conspicuously defined by political changes, a valid question since Brown, in the beginning of her essay, states that political changes brought forth India’s independence. This definition restricts the scope of national movement and its role in the collapse of British imperialism.

14WM Roger Louis, The Dissolution of the British Empire, chapter 14; Wm. Roger Louis. D.Litt., FBA (Ed.) The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV- The Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press: 1999), 332.

15Ibid., 332.

16Ibid., 332.

17Ibid., 332.

18Judith M. Brown, India; WM. Roger Louis. D.Litt., FBA (Ed.) The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV- The Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press: 1999), 422.

An alternative explanation is provided by ID Gaur who questions the interpretations of Indian national movement, stating that any attempt to “homogenize” the people so as to portray a unified movement merely reveals an effort to hide the “hegemony” of a particular class19. The national movement was a multifaceted phenomenon that successfully encapsulated a number of contradictions within itself. Gaur then observes that these paradoxes manifested themselves at “various levels”20, such as between British Imperialism and the Indian farmers, British Imperialism and the Indian National Congress, British Imperialism and the Indian middle class, British Imperialism and Gandhian resistance, British Imperialism and the proletariat21, etc.

According to Karl Kautsky, this struggle for independence should be seen as a ‘counter-pressure’, the expected outcome of the establishment of an industrial state’s domination over an agrarian state22, the phenomenon which Kautsky identifies as the starting point of imperialism. In Kautsky’s point of view, political sovereignty is the key to success in this race for domination, and the competition soon leads to a full-fledged war. Etherington points out the loopholes in Kautsky’s thesis, stating that the definition of hinterland is flawed in several aspects. However, if Kaustky’s thesis highlights political sovereignty as the extra edge in imperialism, then Brown’s observation on Britain’s increasing vulnerability and Rich’s statement’s on British government’s inability to control the Indian Territory can be construed as the decline of its imperialism.

John Darwin attributes the decline of British Imperialism to the devastating outcome of the

19ID Gaur, Essays in history and historiography: India’s struggle for freedom. (Anmol Publications: 1998), 66.

20Ibid., 66.

21Ibid., 66.

22Norman Etherington, Reconsidering Theories of Imperialism, History and Theory, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Feb., 1982), pp. 1-36 (Blackwell Publishing for Wesleyan University), 14.

Second World War23. Asserting that the War brought about the accelerated downfall of Britain’simperialistic ambitions, Darwin argues how the “catastrophic British defeats in Europe and Asia between 1940 and 1942 destroyed its financial and economic independence”, which he calls the “the real foundation of the imperial system”24. According to Darwin, the Indian independence in 1947 heralded the decline of British Imperial power. The Raj had channelled Indian resources into the War, and in the face of growing disapproval from the Indian National Congress, it had assured complete freedom “once the war was over”25. Popular antagonism against the Colonial government steadily began to rise in the post war period, and soon the Empire lost one of its wealthiest colonial territories, further weakening its economy.

Darwin’s argument ignores the various other factors that accelerated the process of decline over the years, while solely zeroing in on the Second World War. Darwin’s thesis on the Indian independence in 1947 as the onset of downfall of British imperialism contradicts Keith Jeffery’s opinion that the impact of the Second World War “did much to strengthen the Imperial system”26. Jeffery acknowledges the widespread developments taking place in India during the Second World War, but states that these were inevitable changes whose timing was facilitated by the war. Nevertheless, he discusses the British inability to ignore the Nehruvian indifference towards the colonial government’s declaration of war without consulting the national leaders and the growing demand for the Raj’s commitment to Indian independence, concluding that the price

23Dr.John Darwin, Britain, the Commonwealth and the End of Empire (BBC History).

24Dr.John Darwin, Britain, the Commonwealth and the End of Empire (BBC History).

25Ibid.

26Keith Jeffery, The Second World War, Chapter 13; Wm. Roger Louis. D.Litt., FBA (Ed.) The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV- The Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press: 1999), 306.

paid by the Empire, however, to defend itself during the second World War was its own self.

Karl De Schweinitz’s theory about the decline of British Imperialism in India is connected to an ideology of inequality. Schweinitz explains how this “changing inequality”, that constitutes Britain’s Imperial history in India was sustained by the latter’s inability, unwillingness or perhaps even a lack of interest in asserting a public interest against British Imperialism27. If we consider this perspective to analyse the decline of British Imperialism in India, then we would need to conclude that the fall of the Empire was brought about when India was finally able to mobilize public dissent against Britain’s imperialist designs. This hypothesis implicitly points at the role of a public opinion in the collapse of British Imperialism, thereby overlooking the socio-cultural and economic changes as well as the multidimensional nature of the national movement that contributed to the decline.

According to Schweinitz, it became increasingly difficult for the British administration to ignore Indian public opinion as was evident with the Nehruvian policy of distancing itself from the war efforts in a bid to bargain for sooner national liberation. Nevertheless, Nicholas Mansergh opined that despite this lack of co-operation, the country’s participation in the Second World War sought to prove “not so much the measure of autonomy India had so far acquired as the extent of her dependence”28. Although it can be said that India’s participation in the war was based on a stick-and-the carrot principle, it cannot be ignored that the Nehruvian line of abstinence from Britain’s war effort did not have a wider impact- clearly, public opinion was still divided along ideological and perhaps pragmatic lines.

27 Karl De Schweinitz, The rise and fall of British India: imperialism as inequality (Methuen: 1983), 239-240.

28 Nicholas Mansergh, The Commonwealth Experience (New York, 1969), p. 295.

Robin J. Moore notes that there has been a rise in the amount of research on the role of the Second World War in accelerating the erosion of the British imperial power in India. Moore offers three aspects of this phase of transformation between independence and the end of the Second World War, arguing that the economic, military and administrative conditions underwent remarkable changes and “affected British-Indian bilateral relations”29. Moore explains this by referring to the massive strengthening and ‘Indianization’ of the Indian colonial army, about whose loyalty there were widespread apprehensions owing to the mounting pressure for freedom30. The number of enlisted soldiers reached a whopping two million during the Second World War.

According to Martin Wainwright, the ‘expansion of India’s capabilities’ is closely connected to the downfall of British imperialism31. The war gave an unexpected boost to Indian industries, thereby triggering an unprecedented development in the country. Wainwright highlights the production of arms and ammunition and capital investment32. Moore refers to B.R. Tomlinson’s observation that the war resulted in a huge inflow of sterling to India, and discusses Partha Sarathi Gupta’s argument on how the impact of a rising tide of popular protests on INA trials has been scarcely documented. All these theses underline the importance of war in bringing about the decline of the Empire. Moore argues that Britain’s awareness about the disastrous consequences of an inglorious exit from India worked behind its need to stage a peaceful

29Robin J. Moore, India in the 1940s; Wm. Roger Louis. D.Litt., FBA (Ed.) The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume V- Historiography (New York: Oxford University Press: 1999), 235.

30Ibid., 235.

31Ibid., 235-236.

32Ibid., 235.

withdrawal and help install a government in its place. But, the question here would be whether an added emphasis on war as the reason behind this decline overshadows the various sequences of events that have unfolded over time.

J. G. Darwin seeks attention to philosophy behind the policies that London pursued”33 as he tries to locate the causes behind the fall of British imperialism in India. If seen from this point of view, the notion of a peaceful exit being the camouflage for the political panic is mirrored in the Cabinet minutes which went on to conclude that “withdrawal from India need not appear to be forced upon us by our weakness nor to be the first step in the dissolution of the Empire”34. Roger Louis argues that the British intention to envisage a continued allegiance to the cause of imperialism from the newly independent nation did not materialize. So, did India’s independence in 1947 indeed mark the end of British Imperialism?

The answer to that question lies in Ranjit Sau’s classification of the four phases of imperialism. Sau traces the first phase back to the sixteenth century and states that the phase was characterised by “colonial plunder with brute force”35. A major part of nineteenth century constitutes the second phase, which is marked by the expansion of markets in the colonies and the search for raw materials. The third phase is covered by the last three and the first three decades of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, respectively. Sau says this phase corresponds to Lenin’s idea

33J.G.Darwin, The Fear of Falling: British Politics and Imperial Decline since 1900; Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Fifth Series, Vol. 36 (1986), pp. 27-43; 28.

34WM Roger Louis, The Dissolution of the British Empire, chapter 14; Wm. Roger Louis. D.Litt., FBA (Ed.) The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV- The Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press: 1999), 329.

35Ranjit Sau, The Theory of Unequal Exchange, Trade and Imperialism; Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 11, No. 10 (Mar. 6, 1976), pp. 399+401-404; 399.

of the high-point of capitalism which replaces the export of capital with finished goods from imperialist countries. According to Sau, the final phase began in the 1930 and was marked by what he calls an “unequal exchange in international trade” which surpasses profits, royalty and dividends36. If the drain of resources and unequal exchange are the hallmark of final phase of capitalism, then the decline of British imperialism in India can be said to have occurred with the declaration of independence in 1947 when Britain relinquished its control over the peninsula.

Was imperialism the cause of its own demise in British India? If World War is indeed looked upon as the final nail in the coffin of British imperialism in India, then in the light of arguments put forth by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Kautsky and Norman Etherington- about imperialistic race for the division of the world leading to war- one can conclude that imperialism brought about its own end. In this case, the wave of socio-political and economic changes that had been taking shape in India would assume secondary significance as these would then be mere by-products (in Etherington’s thesis, struggle for national liberation is an outcome of imperialism abroad) of an on-going process of imperialism.

Darwin offers a perspective that takes into consideration a number of developments taking place between 1900 and 1914 heralded the impending decline of British imperialism in India37. In the years following the First World War, the British government encountered numerous changes that seemed to prophesy the downfall of its imperial power: in India, it failed to check the wave of national movement under the leadership of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who would not settle for anything less than complete independence.

36Ibid., 399.

37J.G.Darwin, The Fear of Falling: British Politics and Imperial Decline since 1900; Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Fifth Series, Vol. 36 (1986), pp. 27-43.

John Darwin states that Britain’s decision to oversee the evolution of a national government in India and stage a relatively uneventful withdrawal hints at the waning imperial power of the country. Darwin calls this policy a ‘grudging acceptance’ of imperialist downfall, followed by the realization that the situation could be salvaged only by “fabian tactics and in a spirit of almost Metternichian futility”38. Darwin says the fault lay with the initial brash confidence of British legislators who refused to see the fermenting antagonism in India. While using an iron fist to deal with political dissent in the colony led by Indian National Congress, Britain’s definition of trouble was a possible invasion of India by its imperialist rivals. The colonial government introduced legislations like the India Act of 1935 with a view to cripple a pan-India movement by inducing what they called “provincial jealousies”39.

From Britain’s perspective, the new legislations promising Indians participation in administrative affairs were meant to be safety valves that would prevent pressure from building up within the nation.  What the policy makers did not see was the strengthening of a national movement that finally rose in magnitude to demand total separation from British control. In this case, what brought about the collapse of British imperialism in India was the inability of the law makers to see beyond their short term objectives in the country. The situation, according to Darwin, was exacerbated when the Second World War began. The contingencies of war inadvertently led to large scale developments and mobilization in India, thus strengthening the demand for freedom. The British sentiments were aptly reflected in a letter dated March 1940, written by Lord Linlithgow to Baldwin: the chief point expressed was that the Second World War, provoked by

39John Darwin, Imperialism in Decline? Tendencies in British Imperial Policy between the Wars; The Historical Journal, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Sep., 1980), pp. 657-679.

Hitler had ‘offset’ the British interests in Indian political scenario40.

B.R.Tomlinson seeks to analyse the end of British imperialism on Indian soil from an economic angle. Contrary to Darwin’s theory on the inability of policymakers to understand the long term repercussions of colonial legislations in the twentieth century, Tomlinson argues that the national movement was encouraged by British government’s failure to implement effective economic policies during the war and the post war period41. There was a tide of campaigns against British economic policies in the twentieth century, led by economic nationalists who branded them as exploitative and anti-Indian. Swadeshi movement and Drain of Wealth theory were used to mobilize popular sentiments against the imperial government. By 1947, the imperial powers on Indian Territory had been remarkably weakened and the British government was left with no choice other than staging a peaceful exit from the colonial region, hoping to “secure a bargain with successor governments which had the political roots necessary to run the interventionist economic system now required”42.

The decline of British imperialism in India is not an overnight phenomenon that occurred due to a single cause. It will not be possible to provide a linear explanation to the episode, as the downfall involved political, economic, social and intellectual elements that contributed in one way or another, in India and abroad. A particular theory cannot explain the causes and characteristics of the decline of British imperialism, as the various subtexts ensconced by the event do not conform to any specific straitjackets. On the other hand, the fall of imperialism had

40Linlithgow to Baldwin, 22 Mar. 1940, Baldwin papers, box 107.

41B.R. Tomlinson, The Political Economy of the Raj: The Decline of Colonialism; The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 42, No. 1, The Tasks of Economic History (Mar., 1982), pp. 133-137

42Ibid., 137.

far-reaching consequences for British population in Great Britain. Hence, it can be concluded that each of these above given explanations defines the collapse, while complementing or contradicting each other.

Bibliography:

Brown, Judith M. India; Wm. Roger Louis. D.Litt., FBA (Ed.) The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV- The Twentieth Century (New York: Oxford University Press: 1999).

Darwin, Dr.John.  Britain, the Commonwealth and the End of Empire.  BBC History< http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/endofempire_overview_01.shtml> 26 February 2011.

Darwin, J.G. The Fear of Falling: British Politics and Imperial Decline since 1900; Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Fifth Series, Vol. 36: 1986.

Etherington, Norman. Reconsidering Theories of Imperialism, History and Theory, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Feb., 1982), pp. 1-36. Blackwell Publishing for Wesleyan University.

Gaur, I.D. Essays in history and historiography: India’s struggle for freedom. Anmol Publications: 1998.

Jeffery, Keith. The Second World War, Chapter 13; Wm. Roger Louis. D.Litt., FBA (Ed.) The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV- The Twentieth Century.  New York: Oxford University Press: 1999.

Letter from Lord Linlithgow to Stanley Baldwin, 22 Mar. 1940, Baldwin papers.

Louis, WM Roger. The Dissolution of the British Empire, chapter 14; Wm. Roger Louis. D.Litt., FBA (Ed.) The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV- The Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford University Press: 1999.

Mansergh, Nicholas. The Commonwealth Experience .New York, 1969.

Moore, Robin J. India in the 1940s; Wm. Roger Louis. D.Litt., FBA (Ed.) The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume V- Historiography New York: Oxford University Press: 1999.

Sau, Ranjit. The Theory of Unequal Exchange, Trade and Imperialism; Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 11, No. 10: Mar. 6, 1976.

Schweinitz, Karl De. The rise and fall of British India: imperialism as inequality. Methuen: 1983.

Tomlinson, B.R. The Political Economy of the Raj: The Decline of Colonialism; The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 42, No. 1, The Tasks of Economic History: Mar., 1982.

Webster, Wendy: Englishness and Empire 1939-1965. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005.

The book Off the Menu: Asian and Asian North American Women’s Religion & Theology edited by Rita Nkashima Brock, et.al. is an incredible piece of literary work capturing concepts, insights and thoughts that are both novel and instrumental in their cultural importance, literary implications and religious relevance to its setting. This paper is a critical critique of the book where it will focus on three insights from the readings and will reflect deeply on them in an attempt to demystify all the angles touching on their inclusion in the book. The paper will critically analyze these concepts with the view of attempting to bring to understanding their implication to the audience and the society at large. In so doing, the paper will be in two parts: Part One covering pages ix to 162 and part Two covering from page 163 – 208.

Part One

From the word go, the authors of the book Off the Menu offer an array of composition that is loudly unorthodox and therefore new to the palate. The newness comes from exploring and testing the boundaries of truths, as we know them and presenting new frameworks from which one proceeds to understand the meaning of being Asian in the global setting and in light of contemporary issues- a revamped perception. This is the area that makes the authenticity and the relevance of the book quite historic as it is plausible.

Off the Menu has been arranged in four main parts from which specific issues are discussed and analyzed by the authors. These parts are: History and Identity, Reinventing Spiritual Tradition, Reorienting We-Self, and Embodied Agency. The book addresses the issue of racial discrimination in a manner that is both novel and wise. All of these four parts of the book address the issue of race albeit in varying approaches and degrees. History and Identity section addresses heinous historical injustices that have been perpetuated on non-natives of America. In the section of Fishing the Asia Pacific: Trans-nationalism and Feminist Theology, Kwok Pui Lan asserts that in order to address the issues affecting Asian women, there should be a transnational analysis of the intersections of race, labor, state, and gender in the age of global economy (Brock, Jung, Kwok & Yang 2007, 5). The rest of the essay takes off from Kwok’s deconstructive approach to redefining identities within transnational scope. This idea is well discussed in the book and raises questions regarding equality of the all people and postulates viable probability of there coming a time when peoples’ worth and honour shall not be pegged on their ethnic origin (Brock, Jung, Kwok & Yang 2007, 160).

That notwithstanding however, the authors appear to be overwhelmed by their quest for equality as they are obsessed with calls for freedom and equality to appear to tailor their preaching to appeal to peoples’ awareness of self rather than remaining true to the traditional primal goal of preaching which is to win souls to God (Brock, Jung, Kwok & Yang 2007, 158 – 159). This is particularly so when you consider Miss Saigon’s comments regarding her espousal to an Asian businessman where she makes it intrinsically appear sinful to hold a different opinion for those who were not in agreement with trans-racial marriages.

Part Two

The second part of the anthology, Reinventing Spiritual Tradition, proposes new ways of approaching and consuming the religious, the Asian flavor. Jung Ha-Kim warns of the danger of total assimilation of Asian religious culture into the American system. He claims that there is in the absorption a tendency to lose the borrowed ‘entity’ or ‘dish’ completely (Brock, Jung, Kwok & Yang 2007, 207). Bundang, on the one hand, provides a descriptive approach on how the Filipino Catholics in northeastern Florida practice their faith. Based on her field research, Bundang claims that diasporic Filipino Catholic communities follows almost similar patterns of expressing their faith with that of their home country while diverging on some religious points such as the homogenization of religious experience (Brock, Jung, Kwok & Yang 2007, 198 – 199). The third part of the anthology, Re-orienting We-Self, proposes that in order to avoid alienation, dehumanization all of which are part and parcel of globalization and multicultural existence, we must learn how to reorient our selves or our links with the rest of those around us/ with the rest of the world (Brock, Jung, Kwok & Yang 2007, 168).

The discussion contained in the second half of the book is very authentic and rich in facts and detail. If there is one word that encapsulates all the ‘tasty’ critical studies in the anthology, then it is the word daring. Staying true to the purpose of the anthology, which is to offer Off the Menu Course, the essays saunter into untrodden territories or at least the ‘unfamiliar and the not so popular’. This is where the strength of the anthology lies. It dares to deconstruct views about what it is to be Asian and a woman at that and in a world that is increasingly getting smaller because of globalization. The essays challenge the readers by way of pedagogy, ethnography, logic, and deconstruction to re-inspect every aspect of Asian identity- the self and the community (Brock, Jung, Kwok & Yang 2007, 188).

Conclusion

In summary therefore, Off the Menu is a literary anthology that has great insights some which have been captured in the foregoing discussion. Diversity is one complementary term that best describes Off the Menu. In the preface, the editor previews the diversity that is to characterize the collection as she writes, “Given its inception, PANAAWTM members have recognized the complex, historical, cultural, linguistic, and class backgrounds among us…we became keenly aware that the cultural heritages, struggles, and intellectual traditions of Asian and Asian North American women are diverse…” (Brock, Jung, Kwok & Yang 2007, xiii – xiv). The heterogeneity of Asian identity/make-up is translated into the anthology as the editors choose essays that tackle the divergences while proposing non-standard ways to integrate the dislocated parts for the purpose of solidarity. Off the Menu earns a point for recognizing the diversity among Asians and placing a check mark on the fact that there is no one single definition of Asian. This runs counter to the common belief that a set of characteristics can sum up the Asian identity. Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans may all look alike and their historical backgrounds may converge at one point or another but still each nationality stands unique in relation to the other. No culture among the thousands in Asia is ever a replica of another.

The comprehensiveness of the anthology accounts for the substance. The essays explore a wide range of subjects under the imagined heading, Theology and Religion from the Perspective of Asian Women in a Multicultural Transnational State. Varied aspects of the discourse on Asian Women identity are discussed in the anthology such as historical, religious/ spiritual, environmental and cultural. What further adds to the comprehensiveness of Off the Menu is its multidisciplinary approach. Not content to delve only on theology and religion, the essays take reference from other academic and non-academic sources such as sociology, anthropology, biology, history, economics, philosophy, language, and linguistics. By all means, such kind of a collection cannot slip through the eyes of critique without being branded spectacular, grandeur or an equivalent as far as quality literary prowess involvement is concerned. Inasmuch as the book has a number of its limitations as its sexist perspective of favouring the female gender, it can be justifiable accepted given the setting of the time of its publication which considered the female gender weaker, worthless deserving to be discriminated against. In one word, the book Off the Menu is spectacular both in content and relevant quality!

Bibliography

Brock, Rita Nkashima, Jung Ha Kin, Kwok Pui Lan, & Seung Ai Yang, eds. Off the Menu: Asian & Asian North American Women’s Religion & Theology. Louisville, London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007.

Introduction

There has been a specific discretion among workers in the modern industries today as to what particular capabilities individual applicants have and what particular work requirements they can accomplish. Understandably, it could be observed that this pressure has been heightened especially that modern industries today are focused on expanding their organizations towards the scope of international commerce. These aspects of developments specifically require the performance of highly trained individuals who are able to adjust on the different changes that are presented in the new and changing industry of commerce. How relevant is getting a college degree in facing all of these developmental aspects of industrial advancements? Should graduating in college be considered as a specific necessity for individuals who want to make it good in the field of global development? These questions shall be given particular attention to within the discussion that follows.

What is College Education?

Referred to as the tertiary level of education, college education is considered to be among the highest systems of education anyone could garner especially in the aspect of developing one’s capabilities in handling actual work pressures. Unlike the primary as well as secondary education which is more focused on the generality of several subjects, college education provides mastery of the different aspects of collegiate learning. This allows the students to realize the quality of the education that they are taking in as they apply it in actual fields of working responsibilities. Employers usually look for this requirement among applicants for several reasons. These reasons pertain to work comprehensiveness and capabilities that individuals gain.

Why is College Education Required?

College education is perceived to empower individuals to become the masters of their craft. How? The curriculum of college education specifically promotes focused learning especially on subjects that have been chosen by the students to study which focuses on the ideal consideration of developing expertise among learners aims to provide differential identification between the normalized capability of a person to define his personal ability to work and the enhancement that education itself provides. How is the creation of expertise among student developed through college education? There are actually three particular areas of college learning that makes this possible:

Theoretical lectures that are directed towards relation to actual matters of consideration

This aspect of learning in college opens the door towards expansive understanding of established theories that serve as guidelines in the different subjects of expertise they wish to master. Undeniably, the factor of learning provides the students a clear vision and logical understanding in regards to the system that exists in the society with correlation with the areas with which they aim to develops in themselves.

Actual application of theories in training practices

From classroom setting discussions, it could be realized that instructors try their best to reassess their students as well as allow them the chance to have a hands-on-practice in which they apply the theories they learn from class. This way, the students are given the chance to gain better realization on how practical their lessons from their classrooms are. Instructors are prompted to assist their students in the process of applying their learned aspects of expert work management in school towards the most complicated issues in an actual work arena.

Involvement to actual issues affecting the society

Every college student is given the chance to directly correlates their lessons with the issues that affect the world. Learning how practical their lessons are, they become specifically empowered or motivated to perform at their best as their performance would result to better situations in the society.

Truthfully, through learning the different aspects that make a college education worthwhile, it could be observed why most employers pick first college degree graduate students to fill in the positions they open to the market for job filling. The practical learning and the long-term training that the students get from college universities specifically allow them to set foot in the actual arena of job development in a way that would best allow them to make essential influences to the society that they are living in. With this in consideration, it could then be realized how seemingly important a college education is for current job applicants. It could not be denied that this is a fact that everyone realizes to be true. Question is, why are there many young individuals who are less able to gain better access to college education no matter how hard they desire to?

The Issue behind a Lower Rate of College Graduates

One specific reason behind the lower rate of college graduates in the society today is that of the fact that out of 100 students, only 52 are able to enroll in a college degree and sadly only 23 out of these individuals are able to graduate from their courses. Why is this like so? Primarily, the issue on lacking of financial support becomes a serious matter of consideration. With the entire population of supposed students of college education within the American society, only 43% are able to enroll in colleges (Commission Reports: A National Dialogue: The Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, 2006). Attaining higher education would require higher funding from the students who would want to enroll in courses under it. Practicably, it could be observed that there are instances when the willingness of a student to learn is not enough to get him or her the kind of education that he/she desires. This is the reason why it is very important that government programs be established to support the needs of the people. Observably, the students that are most deserving to get college education must given support and the government should give practical attention towards this social need. Only through this way that they would be able to provide support to those who are willing to learn and are considered to be sources of development in the society. What of those who cannot be supported by the government but still want and desire to attain an educational degree that would provide them better chances of getting a good job in the market? There exists the provision of alternative education. What is alternative education?

Technical Training versus College Education

With the issues of deepened attention to education-before-work requirement on most industrial positions, it could be observed how educational entities tried to help other students to meet the ends to gain better chances of gaining the right education that they need in comparison with their capability to pay and the time that they are willing to spend in learning. This is where technical education comes in. Although it is considered lower than a college degree education, learning from vocational schools also provide ample training to hopeful individuals regarding the kind of skill or craft that they wanting to master. The sad truth upon this fact though is that there are very minimal number of individuals who have finished vocational courses that are given a chance to be promoted to higher positions in a company compared to those others who have finished a college degree. Nevertheless, it gives individuals a better chance to at least get a good job that would hopefully suffice their needs to survive living.

Summary and Conclusion

With this presentation, it could be realized how important a college education is in the current society. College education specifically widens the chance of students who apply for jobs in the market to be promoted later on to higher positions in the organizations they tend to work with. Yes, the sad truth behind the fact that employers choose educated people over the skilled individuals for promotion is a situation that proves the importance of a college education in the current world of global competition as well as development. Through the development of college education curriculums and extending the supporting funds to this particular aspect of social learning, it is expected that the number of college graduates would increase. But then again, this issue is a social responsibility and not a sole responsibility of the government alone.

References:

Bakvis, Herman and David M. Cameron (2000), “Post-secondary education and the SUFA“. IRPP.

Commission Reports: A National Dialogue: The Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, United States Department of Education, 2006.

Davies, Antony and Thomas W. Cline (2005). The ROI on the MBA, BizEd.

Douglass, John A. and Todd Greenspan, eds. “The History of the California Master Plan for Higher Education.” MBA Magazine.

El-Khawas, E. (1996). Campus trends. Washington, DC.: American Council on Education.

Ewell, P.T. (1999). Assessment of higher education and quality: Promise and politics. In S.J. Messick (Ed.), Assessment in higher education: Issues of access, quality, student development, and public policy. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Finn, C. E. (1988, Jul.-Aug.). Judgment time for higher education: In the court of public opinion. Journal of Change, 20(4), 34-39.

Forest, James and Kevin Kinser (2002). Higher Education in the United States: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.

Green, Madeleine, F., ed. 1988. Leaders for a New Era: Strategies for Higher Education. New York: Macmillan.

Crisis is of different types, they can be classified as creeping, sudden and periodic and each requires a different type of response (Jarman & Kouzmin, 1990). Creeping crisis is systematic and can be anticipated and is inevitable like for example, employee discrimination etc. A sudden crisis occurs all of a sudden “A sudden crisis is one that occurs seemingly from nowhere and often appears overwhelming” (Walker & Hampson, 2003). This kind of crisis is very common in the construction industry. Periodic crisis is crisis that occurs during various periods such as the effect of business cycles, economic cycles etc., wherein it is difficult to predict the occurrence of such crisis. This kind of crisis is quiet common in industrial organizations. Being prone to crisis like for example the construction industry where frequent accidents occur is known as crisis proneness and being prepared to face the crisis with adequate backup plans, appropriate crisis management processes, and alternate strategies is known as crisis preparedness. In this assignment we discuss the differences between crisis proneness and crisis preparedness in business continuity/disaster recovery within organizations.

Crisis Preparedness

Occurrence of a crisis in an organizations was perceived as matter of management failure but now there is an increasing realization that crisis is inevitable in life and an healthy part of any organization’s life that has to be planned (Pascale 1991). A crisis may destroy an unplanned organization but it will benefit an organization that planned for it by helping the organization tap into the greater opportunities that the crisis creates.

Crisis preparedness involves determining how well we are planned to face a crisis in case we come to face it. Crisis preparedness involves planning and “Crisis preparedness planning should be built into the operational infrastructure and management processes of the organization as much as any other management process or ongoing part of doing business in response to customer or patient needs” (Malloch & O’Grady, 2009). A crisis plan provides direction to an organization as well as provides life to it in the event of a crisis because an organization would come across some form of crisis at some point in time during the course of its existence and leaders of an organization should recognize this fact and be prepared for it. The best way to prepare for a crisis is to gather as much information about possible crisis situations and impending crisis and also to be prepared for it. Information gathering is about collecting information about the business environment and scanning it for any possible crisis.

Crisis preparedness in an organization is affected by the way in which the organization is clear about the crisis and its preparedness to face it. Therefore, crisis management skills are as important as any other type of skills like say, human resource management. The potential for crisis is always constant and supporting crisis management tenets should be part of our work management requirements. Therefore, an organization should clearly state that its policy, performance and role evaluation will include the organization’s expectation of a management employee to clearly comprehend and apply environmental scanning skills, interpreting and implementing crisis prediction and planning processes and executing the crisis plan. A crisis plan must clearly define the role and performance expectation from leaders of the organization, full participation in the design, development and implementation of the crisis plan, processes for identifying signal changes and trigger events, and the design, development and implementation of specific plans for specific crisis capabilities.

Today no business is immune to crisis and any form of crisis may hit an organization any time any day of the week. Therefore, crisis management and public relations are closely linked as far as a company goes and it affects a company’s pride and image.

The entire process of crisis management should be institutionalized by its core management team that includes the chief executive office of the company. The crisis management process should anticipate, prepare and be ready to mitigate a crisis. For the crisis management system to be effective it should receive good support and participation from the core management team of a company.  The draft crisis management policy should contain a commitment from the leadership and general guidelines for action to be taken in the event of crisis. This draft crisis management policy should also contain the goals and purposes of the crisis management plan to be created and this should be in consonance with the philosophy and values of an organization. The next step is to create a crisis management team that identifies all possible crisis that the company may face and develop plans, roles and responsibilities for alleviating the crisis. At this stage the role of the leadership is to enable the crisis management team to analyze the various forms of crisis. The third step is to establish an effective communication strategy to maintain communication with stakeholders. Crisis preparedness plans may be designed meticulously and painful drills conducted to test its effectiveness but ultimately it is organizational values and the chief executive’s beliefs that decided an organization’s response to a crisis. An example of a successful crisis management event is the handling of the Tylenol crisis by Johnson & Johnson in the 1980s. James Bruke, the CEO, led the team as per the directions provided by the management of Johnson & Johnson that placed the company’s responsibilities and commitments to customer over and above that of its own stakeholders, employees, and shareholders (Alagse).

Crisis Proneness

Proneness to crisis varies from activity to activity. For example, a person involved in demolition of a house is more prone to a crisis than a person involved in the building of a house. Likewise, a company involved in complex, non-routine and innovative business activities is prone to more risk than a company that follows established business activities. But the fact of the matter is that crisis proneness depends on the way an organization is managed and most crisis prone organizations have certain characteristics in common (Pauchant & Mitroff, 1992), they are, “mistrust, inequality, suspicion and a short-termism” (Walker & Hampson, 2003). They are also inflexible, have a short-term approach, they are formal, penal, exploitative and task-oriented. This is due to such an organization’s management having the impression that such crisis is someone else’s responsibility, they have negative frame of mind and carry the thinking that this happens to others also. Crisis prone organizations are basically reactive in nature and they do not encourage learning from the crisis while at the same time precipitating the crisis, mismanaging it and then causing further major damage. A crisis prone organization does not re-examine the organizational practices in the aftermath of the crisis because they have a short-term mindset and transitional relationships with the perception that the causes for the crisis are not likely to occur again.

Business Continuity Planning

Business continuity planning (BCP) or Business continuity & Resiliency Planning (BCRP) “planning which identifies the organization’s exposure to internal and external threats and synthesizes hard and soft assets to provide effective prevention and recovery for the organization, whilst maintaining competitive advantage and value system integrity” (Elliot, Swartz & Herbane, 1999). The plan that is used in BCP is known as business continuity plan. The purpose of a BCP is to ensure smooth continuity of business and it defines how business should be conducted in the event of a disaster or calamity. BCP training is imparted to employees to reduce operational risk arising out of poor implementation of information management controls. A BCP cycle is said to be implemented only with the availability of a printed manual that is available as a ready reference in the event of disruptions. The aim of a BCP is to reduce adverse implications for stakeholders that is determined by the scope of the disruption. Business Impact Analysis (BIA) zones are classified into different types based on the different types of threats like civil, economic, natural, technical, secondary and subsequent.

An example of business continuity practices was the computer failure or Y2K problem and many governments anticipating this problem with respect to the scope of the problem in utilities like banking, power, telecom, health and finance. Regulatory agencies like American Bankers Association and Banking Administration Institute required their members to have operational continuity practices in place that protected public interest. Newer regulations were put in place based on standards like ISO/IEC 17799 or BS7799 or BS25999. But somewhere in 2000 after the Y2K problem was seen through the governments and businesses started to become lax and this came to the fore when disasters like the terrorist attacks took place in September 2001, the disaster caused by hurricane Katrina and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill took place, which envisaged a “worst case scenario” (Honour, 2003) paradigm for business continuity planning.

Crisis Preparedness – Hurricane Katrina and Disaster Planning – A case study

We all know about the trail of destruction that Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent damage that occurred due to poor disaster planning and coordination. In the aftermath of the Katrina disaster President Bush decided that partnerships with the state and local agencies were no longer effective and as such decided to implement policies that require proactive intervention by the federal government when it anticipates a disaster. The disaster planning would be implemented by the US military’s Northern Command, after review by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The impact of Bush’s decision was that when Hurricane Wilma threatened Florida, he overruled his own brother and Florida governor Jeb Bush and made a three-star general the primary leader for the implementation of the National Response Plan (NRP). In this case the main lesson learnt post-Katrina hurricane damage was the superiority of a pro-active leadership over partnership.

This kind of proactive leadership that shows crisis preparedness is what is required in today’s organizations so as to avoid disasters and aid business continuity. Business continuity that stemmed out of disaster recovery is changing and the methods that were adopted some years ago are irrelevant in today’s world. It is true that business continuity plans or BCP is well-documented but what is largely ignored is the fact that the business continuity requirements have changed due to globalization and a high-tech society that we are living in today, thus requiring a change in BCP for most organizations. The concept of business continuity even now focuses on response and recovery as in the past when it grew out of disaster recovery but what is currently needed is zero-downtime of mission-critical processes, this means prevention rather than disaster recovery.  Therefore, a total shift is required from the traditional approach to business continuity.

Crisis Preparedness – Tsunami Awareness activities– A case study

The Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) and the South Pacific Geoscience commission developed computer modeling applications and other tools that helped the prime minster of Fiji to understand the impact of Tsunamis on his community and it is designed to help other leaders in the other Pacific islands to understand the hazards that Tsunamis cause to their countries and their people. Another tool of the PDC known as the automated Tsunami alert system alerts officials with travel-time information on a Tsunami as and when it occurs. The system based in Hawaii improves the emergency officials’ response in three ways, that is, they deliver emergency Tsunami warning information to the emergency managers through pages and cell phones, posts the bulletin automatically to the PDC’s operational website and posts the Tsunami travel times to Hawaii on the internet through PDC computer models (Pacific Disaster Center). This is a classic case study of crisis preparedness, here constant research is on at the PDC on the ever changing requirements of crisis preparedness and up-to-date strategies are used to counter the threats posed by Tsunamis all over the world.

Crisis Proneness – The Gulf of Mexico oil spill – A case study

A clear indication that business continuity processes keep changing is the case of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico installation of British Petroleum (BP) an oil producing major headquarted in London, UK. Though BP had well-documented disaster recovery plans in the event of an oil spill it did not have a plan to stop a deep sea spill (Ian Yarret, 2010). BP’s oil spill response plan talks of protecting walruses, sea lions, sea otters and seals etc., animals that do not exist in the Gulf of Mexico. This suggests that portions of some other plan have been used in this document. The plan however considers scenarios like a blowout that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico but it did not offer response options to a deep sea spill out. In the plan there is no specific mention of procedures like laying out containment domes, top kill or junk shots but it mentions about using dispersants, boats, and booms to skim the oil from the surface of the ocean (Ian Yarret, 2010). This clearly proves the crisis proneness of the BP’s disaster recovery plans and as such BP should take the initiative to create disaster recovery plans that suit the changing environment in which it operates. Only appropriate disaster recovery plan or business continuity plan that keeps pace with the changes in the business environment will be able to ensure smooth business continuity for any organization in the event of a disaster.

The BCP should be scalable depending on an organizations size and complexity. Any type of organization may have a BCP manual and if the organization plans to survive and be successful in the industry to which it belongs then it is advisable for it to have a BCP. Companies that do not have a BCP have gone out of business when they suffered a disaster like say fire. For example, as many as 150 of the 350 businesses failed to survive the 1993 world trade center bombing (Naef, 2003) and went out of business, whereas companies that were affected by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that had well developed BCP manuals survived the disaster (Stohr, Rohmeyer & Shaikh, 2004).  A BCP manual may contain needed information in the event of an emergency like for example, names, addresses, phone numbers of crisis management staff, clients, location of offsite data backup storage media,    secondary worksite, technical readiness, work recovery measures, means to reestablish physical records, new supply chains, new production centers etc.

Crisis-proneness – The Challenger Case study

NASA had twenty-four successful launches to its credit before the Challenger space shuttle disaster happened. The organizational culture in NASA can be best described in the words of Starbuck-Milliken “When an organization succeeds, its managers usually attribute this success to themselves, or at least to their organization, rather than to luck. The organization’s members grow more confident of their own abilities, of their managers’ skill, and of their organization’s existing programs and procedures” (Starbuck-Milliken, 1988). There were many successful launches by NASA since its first launch in 1958 and with each successful launch NASA started creating an image of itself as a company that does not commit any mistakes. NASA slowly started creating an impression about itself has not being an organization. Instead, “It had a magical aura. NASA had not only experienced repeated successes, it had achieved the impossible. It had landed men on the moon and returned them safely to earth. Time and again, it had successfully completed missions with hardware that supposedly had very little chance of operating adequately” (Boffey, 1986a). This was the thinking and approach with which NASA operated until it was awakened by the Challenger disaster in 1986 to the realities and fallacies of its own shortcomings. NASA had failed to prepare for a crisis. In fact, NASA did not have an effective crisis management plan to deal with the Challenger disaster. The Challenger disaster occurred because of NASA’s desire to go ahead with the scheduled launch despite objections from the engineers of its contractors Morton Thiokol and Rockwell International. It is a different issue that the management of Morton Thiokol and Rockwell International had overruled their engineers and given the go ahead to the launch, which was later attributed to influence from NASA.  Space shuttle Challenger broke apart within seconds of being into the flight leading to the death of all the crew members. The reason attributed to the failure of the shuttle was the failure of an O-ring seal in its right Solid Rocket Booster (SRB). The O-ring breached the SRB joint that it sealed thus allowing pressurized hot air gas from the solid rocket motor to move out and hit the nearby SRB attachment hardware and fuel tank. This incident caused the separation of the right-hand SRB’s aft attachment and failure of the external fuel tank, which resulted in aerodynamics breaking up the shuttle. NASA’s managers had known for a long time that Morton-Thiokol’s design of the SRBs had a disastrous flaw in the design of the O-rings (Brian, 2011) but it was not addressed properly and not only this they had disregarded warnings from Rockwell International’s engineers regarding the dangers of launching the space shuttle in cold temperature and went ahead with the launch and this caused the disaster. Had there been a crisis management plan in NASA these kinds of issues would never have happened and issues related to the O-rings would have been addressed. The warnings to delay the launch of the space shuttle due to cold weather would have been heeded to by the crisis management team and the launch would have been postponed to some other day. There were no crisis-management processes that were followed at NASA and this resulted in the Challenger disaster which threw light on the crisis-proneness of NASA at that time.

Later on, the Rogers Commission appointed to investigate the accident by the US president had found out that NASA’s organizational culture and decision making processes had contributed to the disaster and asked NASA to implement nine recommendations that the commission had suggested before it resumed the shuttle flights.

Development of a Crisis Management or Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Manual

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) manual has a five-stage development process; they are the Analysis phase, Solution Design, Implementation, Organizational acceptance, and Maintenance phase (Disaster Recovery Templates, 2009).

Analysis Phase

Two types of analysis are carried out; they are the impact analysis and the threat analysis.

Impact Analysis

During this phase all critical and non-critical organizational activities are identified and differentiated. A function is identified as critical if damage to that function would affect the stakeholders and the organization very badly. The level of acceptance of disruptions to these functions may be altered by the cost of establishing and maintaining the right kind of recovery solutions. A function may be classified as critical if it is required by law. For a critical function two different types of values are assigned, they are, Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO). RPO is the data latency at the time of recovery and RTO is the amount of time needed to restore the function. The maximum tolerable data loss should not exceeded by RPO and the maximum tolerable period of disruption should not be exceeded by RTO. The impact analysis results in the recovery requirements for each critical function. Recovery requirements can be classified as business requirements for the recovery of the critical function and technical requirements for the recovery of the critical function.

Threat Analysis

The next phase is the documentation of the likely threats, the threats may be earthquakes, terrorist strike, an hurricane, flood, fire etc., and the threats have one impact and that is damage to organizational infrastructure. After documenting the threats, one should define the impact analysis scenarios that are the basis of the business recovery plan. The impact analysis scenario should take into account larger problems rather than small problems, as all small problems form part of a large problem.

After completing the analysis phase a documentation of all business and technical requirements should be carried out to start the implementation phase.

Solution Design

The solution phase is the phase where you identify the most cost effective disaster recovery solution that satisfies the business and technical requirements that we discussed during the impact analysis phase. The solution phase determines the crisis management structure, location of the secondary work site, the communication structure between the primary and secondary locations, the software requirements at the secondary work site and the type of physical data requirements at the secondary work site.

Implementation

This is the phase where the solutions identified during the solution design phase are implemented. The identified solutions are tested at the workplace and it is known as organizational testing.

Organizational Acceptance Test

During this phase we test the solutions designed at the implementation phase, whether the solution satisfies the organizational recovery requirements. A solution that was implemented may fail during this phase due to erroneous or insufficient recovery requirements, design solution flaws, implementation errors etc.  The tests that are part of this phase are call-out tests, technical swing test from primary to secondary and back from secondary to primary work sites, application and business process tests.

The British Standards Institute has identified three types of exercises that can be used to test business continuity plans, they are, simple, medium and complex exercises.

Simple exercise

A simple exercise involves a small number of people on specific aspects of an exercise but one advantage of a simple exercise is that it can be executed on not only a small number of people but also on a large and complex group.

Medium exercise

This is conducted in a computerized environment and it would involve several departments, teams or disciplines and it would concentrate on more than one aspect of the BCP. A medium exercise should last two or three hours over a fixed number of days and it should involve interaction between teams.

Complex exercise

This will have all the characteristics of a medium exercise with more additional tasks like no-notice activation, actual evacuation and actual invocation of a disaster recovery site. A start and cutoff time for this exercise would be decided upon but the duration of this exercise may be unknown if the events in the complex exercise are allowed to run their course of time as in a real situation. The expected time to get to the Disaster Recovery site in a complex exercise is forty-five minutes but there should be scope for flexibility in the event of more time being taken to reach the DR site.

Maintenance

During this phase the BCP functions are broken into three periodic activities and they are information confirmation, solution testing and verification to verify if they confirm to established standards for recovery operations and finally the testing and verification of documented organization recovery procedures.

Information Confirmation

As organizations change over time so does their BCP. A call tree testing is done to verify the efficiency of the notification plan and the accuracy of the contact data provided. The changes that would be identified and updated in the manual are, staffing change, staffing personal,  changes in clients and their contact details, departmental changes etc.

Solution testing and verification

Any technical deployments that are done should be tested for its functionality; the checks may be a data verification, application operability check, computer hardware operability check etc.

Testing and verification of documented organization recovery procedures

Work processes change with time and so is the documented organizational recovery procedures. Therefore, all work processes should be checked and it should be verified if all critical work process functions are documented, verification of systems used in the execution of critical functions to check if they have changed, check for change in documented check lists, verify if the documented work processes would enable the staff to perform a recovery within the determined recovery time etc., should be checked for all work processes.
Therefore, the main difference between crisis preparedness and crisis proneness it that in crisis preparedness there is a crisis management plan or business continuity plan in place and this plan is followed by the organization when a disaster strikes the organization, on the other hand in crisis proneness there is no crisis management plan or business continuity plan and this would leave the organization vulnerable to disasters. Ultimately a crisis prone organization is bound to be destroyed or badly damaged by a disaster as and when it takes place.

References

Walker, Derek. Hampson, Keith. 2003. Procurement Strategies – A Relationship based approach. Blackwell Science Ltd., ISBN 0-632-05886-2

Kouzmin A. and Jarman A.M.G. 1990. Towards Comprehensive Planning in Australian Crisis Management’, Asian Review of Public Administration , Vol. 2, Nos 1-2, January-December, pp. 99–113.

Malloch, Kathy, O’Grady, Tim Porter. 2009. Quantum Leader. Applications for the New World Of Work. Jones and Bartlett Publishers International. Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data. ISBN 978-0-7637-6540-8.

Elliot, D.; Swartz, E.; Herbane, B. (1999) Just waiting for the next big bang: business continuity planning in the UK finance sector. Journal of Applied Management Studies, Vol. 8, No, pp. 43-60. Here: p. 48.

Honour, David. 2003. Paradigm shifts in business continuity. Continuity Central. Portal Publishing Ltd.

Yarret, Ian. 2010. Why Wasn’t There a Better Plan? Before flooding the gulf with oil, BP’s plan to handle a disaster was alarmingly short on solutions. Newsweek.com. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/28/why-wasn-t-there-a-better-plan.html

Pascale, Richard .T. 1991. Managing on the edge: how the smartest companies use conflict to stay ahead. Simon & Schuster. ISBN: 0671732854, 9780671732851.

Pauchant, Thierry .C., Mitroff, Ian.I. 1992. Transforming the crisis-prone organization: preventing individual, organizational, and environmental tragedies.  University of Michigan. Jossey-Bass Publishers. ISBN 1555424074, 9781555424077.

Crisis management – a leadership challenge. Promoting Thought Leadership. Alagse.com

Tsunami Awareness Activities. Pacific Disaster Center -Fostering Disaster – Resilient Communities. http://www.pdc.org/iweb/projects.jsp?subg=4&pj=tsunami&type=cs

Brian. 2011. Remembering the Challenger Shuttle Explosion: A Disaster 25 Years Ago. Outer Space Universe.

Stohr, Edward. A.,Rohmeyer, Paul, Shaikh, Matin. 2004. Business Continuity in the Pharmaceutical Industry.

Naef, Wanja Eric. 2003. Business Continuity Planning – A safety net for businesses. IWS – The Information Warfare Site. Infocon Magazine Issue. Retrieved on 1-Oct-2003. http://www.iwar.org.uk/infocon/business-continuity-planning.htm

2009. How to develop a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) manual in 5 simple steps. Disaster Recovery Templates. Disasterrecoverytemplates.com. http://www.disasterrecoverytemplates.com/how-develop-business-continuity-plan-bcp-manual-5-simple-steps

Starbuck, William, Milliken, Frances. 1988. Challenger: Fine-Tuning the Odds Until Something Breaks.Journal of Management Studies 25(4), July 1988.

Boffey, P.M. 1986a. “NASA Soon To Get An Outside Chief, Reagan aides say”, New York Times, February 22, pp. A1, A29.
Barnes, James. C. 2001. A guide to business continuity planning. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2001. ISBN 0471530158, 9780471530152.

Fulmer, Kenneth .L. Rothstein, Philip Jan. 2004. Business Continuity Planning, A Step-by-Step Guide with Planning Forms on CDROM. Rothstein Associates Inc Publisher. ISBN: 1-931332-21-5.

Introduction

Artificial intelligence is the area of science that focuses upon creating machines that have the ability to behave more intelligently than human beings. The potential to develop intelligent machines has fascinated human beings for several centuries. The introduction of computers and over 50 years of research in techniques of artificial intelligence programming have led people to believe that the dream of such smart capabilities will soon become a reality. The main issue of artificial intelligence is the challenges that have not yet been met and scientists are not yet aware of how to resolve the issue in terms of manufacturing intelligence. The issues related with determining the very meaning of intelligence and consciousness have adversely impacted the progress in innovating systems that equal human levels of intelligence. Another reason why such a possibility remains quite remote is that the search is not being done in the right direction.

Researchers have started developing intelligent systems that can perform almost the same functions as the human mind, in addition to understanding speech and performing several other functions that were not possible earlier. It is now possible to ascertain how militaries of different nations make use of artificial intelligence techniques in developing their high-tech systems. This paper will thoroughly examine the history of artificial intelligence and the development that has taken place in this regard over the last few decades in providing human beings with better facilities and higher standards of living.

Main Body

Artificial Intelligence and Technology

The phrase artificial intelligence was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy, who was a computer science professor at Stanford University. According to him, artificial intelligence implied the engineering and science of creating intelligent machines. During the initial years of the development of artificial intelligence there was considerable excitement and the pioneers of the concept had made confident and forthright predictions. Herbert Simon was an innovator of artificial intelligence systems and had predicted in 1965 that within 20 years machines will be capable of doing everything that human beings can do. Two years later, MIT scholar Marvin Minsky predicted that the next generation will be able to get over the complexities associated with creating artificial intelligence systems. In keeping with such determination amongst researchers, popular culture started taking for granted that artificial intelligence will be able to provide man with robots that could perform all human functions.

Movies such as Jetsons, Star Wars and Rosy the Robot were instant successes and created a wave of popularity whereby high expectations were raised in the context of artificial intelligence. However, after a few decades of such assertions people have started questioning what artificial intelligence has done for humanity. Many believe that if artificial intelligence is defined as a means for self learning and self-awareness, then it has obviously proved to be a big disappointment (Scientific American, 2002).

Accessibility to Tools

Every time that people search through the worldwide web they get responses from NetFlix and are prompted to give further feedback in order to allow artificial intelligence systems to provide the required results. They may also get opportunities to speak on telephone voice recognition systems that are tools devised for making constructive use of intelligent machines. It can be said that people may not be having the facility of fully functioning robots that perform all human functions, but it is also true that artificial intelligence is now ingrained heavily in people’s everyday lives. Amongst the most influential factors that have boosted artificial intelligence is the Moore’s Law because artificial intelligence cannot do without power from the CPU. This is corroborated by the fact that the world had take twenty years to transform from 5MHz technology to 500MHz technology but only eight months were required to transform to 1GHz technology. Scientists such as Burrus have argued in favor of expert systems and artificial intelligence that work in the background of different functions.  According to him, the initial applications that allowed artificial intelligence to succeed were made in the financial services sector in the context of loan approvals.

The introduction of artificial intelligence systems in financial institutions reduced the time taken in the servicing and approving loans from two weeks to a few minutes. In addition, there are several other examples of artificial intelligence such as air force pilots being able to land their planes on aircraft carriers. Expert systems are now widely used for the management of room service orders in luxury hotels. Artificial intelligence allows hotel staff to know when they should start cooking and when they should deliver the food. Hotels that use artificial intelligence systems convey to their guests the exact time of delivery of breakfast while other hotels have to give the approximate time of delivery. Therefore, such hotels enjoy competitive advantages.  Although energy prices are rising consistently the cost of artificial intelligence systems has been constantly going down, obviously because appliances are becoming more intelligent.

Barriers

Artificial intelligence allows users to get access to software tools, which has enabled several government agencies to make use of the services of robots and of language processing. NASA is an agency that was very successful in getting public response from its Mars Rovers. Techniques of artificial intelligence have been providing opportunities of varied nature around the world. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is known to have made huge investments in meeting the challenges of developing the Internet during its earlier phases. The agency now sponsors contests to make innovations in building autonomous vehicles involving artificial intelligence systems. This practice allows teams to amalgamate varied disciplines such as problem-solving, learning systems and machine vision while researching in unknown areas. Amongst the most successful products relative to artificial intelligence is the iRobot, which is a home training vacuum product that has been purchased by more than 2 million families across the world. Surveys have revealed that almost half of the customers have given pet names to their machines in keeping with the intense emotional attachment they have developed for them. With the success of this product, more and more people have now started accepting robot appliances.

Just as one can have expectations from a manufacturer that makes tools for the actual world, artificial intelligence and robots comprise of software and codes that can be used again and again at different platforms. These products can be successfully used in low level functions in order to take care of varied situations by avoiding obstruction, which is considered to be the most successful attribute of artificial intelligence. Researchers have referred to this quality of artificial intelligence as bottom heavy cognition.

Artificial intelligence is known to suffer from language barriers. Machine vision is also a barrier for the navigation and movement of robots in any given environment. But language barriers continue to loom, although the pattern is declining. Researchers have been able to develop more feasible systems through the introduction of voice recognition systems that allow robots to be trained in the given language or to respond to a given vocabulary of different groupings.  Google regularly uses techniques of artificial intelligence in its different functions relating to language analysis and words stemming, after which the given results are applied to the relevant index. Word stemmers are true examples of artificial intelligence tools that have become quite common in program modules across the world. It is now possible to buy these products easily across the shelf and consumers can start using them immediately without any technical complexities. It is also possible to choose the kind of language and rules that users wish to use are required because every language has different rules of usage.

Research in Artificial Intelligence

Eric Horviz of Microsoft has said that “about a quarter of all Microsoft research is focused on AI efforts” (Russel, 1995, p.102). Microsoft Research is known to include more than a thousand Ph.D level researchers in its eight campuses spread across the world. The company has a substantially broad based research and publishing environment. “It’s a think tank, but not a captive one. We have an open publication model” (Russel, 1995, p.113).  The main goal of researchers in the companies is to work in a pattern whereby they can come out with new state of the art products. Horviz claims that “researchers do their best work, publish in journals, and then work with product teams to build the best software or service” (Russel, 1995, p.134).

Another example of artificial intelligence can be witnessed in the project called ClearFlow, which is a desktop application for managing traffic. The idea for the project was born in attempts to resolve the intense problems associated with traffic congestion in Seattle. Researchers examined several routes used by commuters on the assumption that the flow of local street traffic reacted to the frequency of accidents on different routes. In having realized that side streets get blocked when drivers try to escape jams on the highway, a viable solution was found by devising ClearFlow. Microsoft provided details of traffic movement on its website maps.live.com that also gives suggestions to commuters for taking the best possible routes.

However the intense and artificial hype created about artificial intelligence from the 1950s to the 1990s has made the public to become fed up because of promises that remained unfulfilled.  Although every consumer electronic product has some element of artificial intelligence, the tools inside the product never include artificial intelligence in the functioning of the gadgets.  Artificial intelligence is incorporated in several consumer products and continues to be used in every part of the world. However, instead of calling such products as artificial intelligence, manufactures have adopted the pattern of calling the technology developed by this artificial intelligence as only tools of convenience. It has to be remembered that while conducting a web search, artificial intelligence does all the heavy work that was previously done through a chain of events that involved several people, such as the role of the Post Office.

John McCarthy has defined artificial intelligence as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically observable” (Russel, 1995, p.132).  It is quite difficult to believe in today’s world that one can buy a machine that has the ability to play chess at advanced levels.  The machines have the potential to defeat any world champion in view of their ability to view ahead 200 million positions every second. In the common man’s language, artificial intelligence can be understood as a study of computer related systems and devices that can be produced in acting in ways, which is why they are spontaneously called intelligent. Immediately after the Second World War a number of scientific people started working on ideas of developing intelligent machines. These were the people who succeeded in programming computers instead of just producing machines.

Artificial Intelligence Examples

Common examples of artificial intelligence in the contemporary world can be found in game playing activities such as puzzles, backgammon, chess, checkers and cards. Voice technology has been intended for use of artificial intelligence systems that are not only inclusive of emerging technology but are also adopted by most of the large corporations of the world. Artificial intelligence is used in computer vision for functions such as image guided surgery, image recognition, facial recognition and virtual reality. Voice recognition is now being extensively used in several functions such as customer service and banking as also for dictation software and in assisting handicapped people. Deep Blue is a program developed by IBM for playing chess.  This program had beaten the world chess champion Garry Kasparov. Proverb is an artificial intelligence system that can solve crossword puzzles more efficiently than human beings. Watson is a version of the answering machine that can make different TV game shows. Infotame is a text analysis search capability that was initially devised by the Russian KGB for intercepting communications.

The Reality of Artificial Intelligence

It cannot be denied that McCarthy’s vision has actually become a reality. In the current popular culture, artificial intelligence continues to conjure up visions of intelligent robots. Films such as Star Trek and the Matrix demonstrated super intelligence that was much superior to human beings, especially in the context of problem solving and reasoning. Nevertheless, the truth about artificial intelligence technology cannot be said to have achieved the far reaching vision of science fiction. But it is possible for scientists at least in the near future to create artificial intelligence machines that possess human abilities. Kewin Warwick, who teaches cybernetics at the University of Reading strongly believes that super intelligent artificial intelligence systems will arrive in the coming future and usher in a speedy and changing technology, which he has referred to as singularity. He holds that,

“I feel that by 2050 that we will have gone through the Singularity and it will either be intelligent machines actually dominant – The Terminator scenario – or it will be cyborgs, upgraded humans. I really by 2050 can’t see humans still being the dominant species. I just cannot believe that the development of machine intelligence would have been so slow as to not bring that about” (Minsky, 2005, p.104).

At the core of artificial intelligence there is a challenge that has not yet been solved and scientists are not yet aware of how to resolve the issue in terms of manufacturing intelligence.  The issues related with ascertaining the very meaning of intelligence and consciousness in this regard have adversely impacted the progress in innovating systems that equal human levels of artificial intelligence. Another reason why such a possibility remains quite remote is that the search is not being directed on the correct route.  According to Reading’s Warwick, “I think in the ’60s, ’70s people were maybe making predictions – we were going to have AI systems like the human brain in 10 years and things like that – maybe they were completely unrealistic scenarios but we’ve tended to use AI systems for specific areas. We’ve not been looking at recreating humans” (Minsky, 2005, p. 136).

Machine learning is a central concept of artificial intelligence and the two are often used interchangeably in meaning the same things. The assumption is that instead of programmers attempting to devise comprehensive and direct sets of instructions that systems should essentially follow to achieve their goals, they are provided with several examples of related data so that they can develop their own recognition systems and rules for operation. An example in this context is the character of the data and information in terms of thousands of images that can be developed through different sources of knowledge in order to recognize words in different settings and handwriting. Alternatively, they can perform better jobs of recognition as compared to systems that are not provided with a regular dose of related data.

Presently, spam filters are also artificial intelligence systems that are learning adapted because they prompt e-mail users to identify what they feel is spam so that the performance of the website is improved. Machine learning is very strong because it provides systems with solutions to effectively manage the complex environment that they have to function in. They have to also develop, improve and efficiently manage the changes that keep being introduced in the operational systems. The bottom line in this context relates to the fact that systems have the ability to become aware of operating different strategies more efficiently than human beings.

Researchers have now started making efforts at including artificial intelligence into more efficient and electronic systems so that power flows in both directions and can be equally distributed as per requirements. McCorduck has said in this regard that “This is one of those cases where people can try and engineer this in advance but I think that just like in other applications it will be demonstrated that a learning adapted system just does a much better job than something that people could engineer with their own perceptions of what’s going to happen” (McCorduck, 1979, p.29).

Machine learning is considered to be a central norm that is repeatedly being used in artificial intelligence and at times is used to mean the same things. Several breakthroughs have been made in the context of artificial intelligence in recent times. They have become possible largely because of modern methods of development in machine learning. Just as one can have expectations from a manufacturer that makes tools for the actual world, artificial intelligence and robots comprise of software and codes that can be used again and again at different platforms. These products can be successfully used in low-level functions in order to take care of varied situations by avoiding obstruction, which is considered to be the most successful attribute of artificial intelligence.

Conclusion

Although there is no established paradigm or theory that helps in guiding research in artificial intelligence, researchers are not in agreement over several issues. Some of the issues that continue to remain unresolved relate to whether artificial intelligence simulates natural intelligence through the study of neurology or psychology. Another issue is whether human biology is relevant to research in artificial intelligence. Intelligent behavior cannot be explained with the use of simple concepts such as optimization and logic. Researchers are in disagreement whether intelligence can be produced by making use of high level symbols such as ideas and words. Researchers have started developing intelligent systems that can perform almost the same functions as the human mind in addition to understanding speech and performing several other functions that were not possible earlier. It is now possible to ascertain how militaries of different nations make use of artificial intelligence techniques in developing their high-tech systems.

Once digital computers became a possibility during the 1950s, research in artificial intelligence had started exploring possibilities of human intelligence being reduced to manipulation through symbols. However, artificial intelligence continues to be a common area of discussion in both predicting the future and in science, in the context of technology use in societies. The presence of artificial intelligence that compares with human intelligence creates strong ethical considerations. Moreover the power and potential of technology raises both fear and aspirations.

References

Image 1 borrowed from AI’s album cover art from the album “Artificial Intelligence”,

http://theband.hiof.no/albums/artificial_intelligence.html.

John McCarthy, (2011). What is artificial Intelligence, Accessed from

http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/whatisai/whatisai.html.

McCorduck, Pamela. (1979). Machines Who Think, W.H.Freeman & Co Ltd.

Minsky, Marvin (2006). The Emotion Machine. New York, NY: Simon & Schusterl.

Music by Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album “On the Run”, my personal music library

on iTunes.

Russel, S.J. (1995). Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, Prentice Hall.

Scientific American. (2002). Understanding Artificial Intelligence, Grand Central Publishing.

Karl Marx, the man behind communism and Durkheim, the founder of ‘organic solidarity,’ shared a little in common and a lot in difference. For Durkheim, the focus from Mechanical Solidarity to Organic Solidarity took place in 1871, when there was an attempt to create a socialist movement among the Paris commune, and the rise of division of labor where the Jews represented modernity. For Marx, the issue of division of labor (DOL) was most important factor in societal development.

While attacking Marxism indirectly, Durkheim is critical about Marx’s view of DOL. To Durkheim, DOL is associated with solidarity, while Marx considers solidarity of capitalism to be bad. Durkheim believes that solidarity focuses on oneness and quotes the example of a man and woman who are married and have sex. They compliment each other and it is because of their marriage or solidarity that they are able to adjust their intellectual and effective differences. This, he says, is because of their solidarity which comes from their likeness (Mechanical solidarity) and complimentary differences (organic solidarity). Marx cites the need or necessities which drive a man and that in addition to it being a means to satisfy material needs, it was also necessary in one’s self-development and self-realization. This he stressed, could only come about if man had time for himself too. There are two classes of people in society, the labor class and the capitalists, and under the eyes of the law, they should both be treated equally.

1a. Both, Marx and Durkheim were known for their struggle for freedom of labor. While Marx sought freedom and equality, Durkheim fought for the abolition of division of labor and ‘organic solidarity.’

For Marx, he was always in support of equality and support of labor. It is in this regard that he says that capitalism as a mode of production and circulation (of commodities) is essentially an exchange of equivalents. It is here that the realm of freedom is determined by necessity. While its true that as demands for physical necessities expand, so too does the challenges that accompany it. While it would be difficult to achieve one without the other, it is imperative that freedom remains a necessity. A strong example of this would be the appropriation of working hours to allow freedom of expression and work (Marx, 1971:820).

According to Marx, there are two realms within communism and life; The Realm of necessity, and the Realm of freedom (p.441).  While the realm of necessity is generally associated with working, the realm of freedom is where one develops their skills.

In class society, the ruling class always bullied the labor class, and by virtue of its domination, influenced all other classes to its advantage. This was disparity and rape of the common class. Marx believed that workers and capitalists should meet each other in the market on equal terms and rights, with the difference being that while one was the buyer the other was a seller. Because of this, there is no root for difference among the two classes, and they should both be looked at as one in the eyes of the law. Marx said that during production, workers sold their labor-power to a capitalist (industrialist) for a price, and the capitalist used this power to produce a commodity which became his property. While labor generated a much larger volume of produce in terms of product and income in comparison to their returns and surplus value (Smith), this form of functioning was inappropriate and highly biased. This theory is substantiated by Sayers (1998: Ch.4), when he says that “the idea that economically necessary work can be free and fulfilling is fundamental to Marx’s outlook.” Work is a necessity for human beings as it “not only a means to satisfy material needs, but also in self-development and self-realization.” Thus, while work is a way to fulfilling one’s needs, “it is in the ‘realm of necessity’” (Marx 1975a, 329)

For Durkheim, the division of labor to beget a ‘good society,’ or as he calls it, the ‘organic solidarity,’ work should be designated or selected according to one’s merits. There was no use in trying to let a labor try his/her hands at a highly sophisticated machine if they are not competent to operate it. If work is thus undertaken according to their strengths and without any external conditions, which bind them to their work and division of labor is set out under this natural cause, there would be no competition working against organic solidarity. However, in order to negate the natural course of division of labor and work toward organic solidarity, Durkheim says that there are two ways to achieve this:

Dissolving the practice of wealth gained through inheritance

Including education for all members of society (Durkheim: 314)

By doing so, there would be no advantage, and all members of society would get equal opportunity to become capitalists. In addition to this, should education be imparted to all members of society, there is every possibility that work delegation would be based on an individual’s abilities which again would not be biased. This is the true reflection of an ‘organic solidarity.’ It is only when there is cooperation and strong moral ties among the societal members; which can come about when there is no segregation of labor and each individual works according to his/her abilities or follows their interests, that can an organic solidarity come into being (Durkheim: 172). Unless there is a central uniting factor, like the one discussed above, there will be division of labor and the rise of an organic society which is detrimental to growth and harmony, so essential for a good and healthy society.

1b. Marx and Durkheim had different views on what was a good society, and each went about substantiating their cases based on their assumptions on what was equality or organic solidarity. In order to understand them and how their theories compared or contrasted with one another, it is fair to understand the historical relevance of their origin.

Marx was writing in the middle of nineteenth century (Marx, 1967: Ch.10), when, due to industrial revolution, the working class was subjected to extreme hardship and long working hours. From Marx and Engel’s Theory of History, one understands the evolution and struggle of classes. From Tribal to Communism, the DOL has undergone various degrees of change. The changes were brought about by the needs or necessities which they developed and required from Tribal – Ancient Communal – Feudal – Capitalist – Communist, and these were also attributed to the social and political changes which took place at that time. While Marx was not against work and sought to downplay any misunderstandings on what he sought, he believed that while work helped individuals in liberalization and also in fulfilling their ‘necessities,’ work shouldn’t be construed as being the only activity for an individual. Marx believed that a man was not born to only work to meet his necessities, but also because he should have time for other things in life too. Working long hours to please their capitalist bosses was not why they were born, nor was it the birth right of the capitalists, therefore, while it was necessary for the labor class to work to earn their necessities, they also should be given the time to enjoy other aspects of life. People should have the choice to choose work as a free activity, and not thrust on them. It was during the mid-19th century that saw the rise of oppression, and unfair practices against a certain class of people in society. It was during this period that there grew awareness for the constructive social activity of the state which acted in favor of the interests of the individual. Capitalists, the ruling class, bullied the labor class, and by virtue of its domination, influenced all other classes. Marx’s conception of history is based on:

Succession of DL

History of MoP

History of the labor class (Marx, Marx And Engel’s Theory of History)

In highlighting this, Marx’s theory of historical materialism believes that:

Both workers and capitalists will engage in relations that are both indispensable and interdependent on their own will

The marriage of the two leads to the creation of an economic structure which will in time lead to class solidarity

With growth, the economic foundation of the social structure will also change

The history of the different modes of production as shown above is necessary for communism (Marx: 4-6)

Communism gives rise to multi-faceted individuals who hold multiple talents and abilities, and who are specialists in their respective fields (p.160)

What stands out in their arguments is that, while Marx is against division of labor, and approves of equality among the labor and capitalist group, Durkheim believes that since DOL increases both the reproductive capacity and skills of the workman, it is a necessary condition for the intellectual and material development in societies (12). However, this is not to infer that there should be the class distinction, but one that creates a feeling of solidarity between two or more people (17) and which is governed by a law. It is this law which should have the vested power to govern and ensure respect for collective practices and defend the common consciousness from its ‘enemies’ (43). While claiming that social intervention is on the rise, and the legal obligations which society imposes on its members is becoming far too complex, with DOL growing proportionately with the increase in the density of the population, labor will become increasingly divided and the struggle for existence will become extremely strenuous (208). Thus, there must be solidarity that will control the spread of differentiations of labor.

Post One:

Different classes in a society are inevitably significant because it integrates a structure to keep social equilibrium. The end results of categorization and stratification is the wider gap between the rich and poor. Naturally, there is no distinction between members of the society in terms of rich and poor but seemingly it has become one fact on which social interactions take place now. The reduction of such a gap is impossible because the ideals between classes have become the basis of social institutional executions (Collado, 2010). Social processing and operations of social institutions have now become so diverse that the gap is less likely to be removed. Governmental authorities and citizen roles are often questioned when the reduction of gap between rich and poor is discussed. The philosophy of rich gets richer and poor gets poorer reflects modern way of social interaction that cannot be wiped off in any way (DeBruhl, 2006).

Post Two:

It will not be incorrect to agree with the fact that the gap between rich and poor has now become a norm. As posted earlier by Shana-kay-Nembard, despite making efforts in the past by different societal movements, the gap between the rich and poor seems to be terminal. Factors such as motivation and determination that are taken into consideration to bring about a change have long gone from poor class. Members in a society have considered to remain in the same class because they believe it that the contrast shall always be there between poor and rich. Considering the fact of way outs to counter the problem, several modifications have been enlisted so far. The predictions made by social scientists such as Max Weber and Emile Durkheim regarding rich and poor classes prove themselves accurately applicable.

List of References

Collado, E. (2010). The Shrinking Middle Class: Why America Is Becoming a Two-Class Society. Bloomington: iUniverse.

DeBruhl, A. (2006). The Ultimate Truth. Iowa: Cydonia Group LLC.

The current Immigration and Nationality Act provides that all foreigners must enter the United States pursuant to the INA. Aliens without proper authorization are known as illegal immigrants and include also those who stayed beyond the expiration date of the visa (Wasem 1). Illegal immigration is a controversial subject that is thus known to refer to the act of foreign nationals’ violation of the American immigration laws and policies by residing in the U.S without the necessary permission from the federal government. This could be the result of a visa overstay, visa fraud or illegal entry into the country. Though the debate is old, it continues to be nevertheless fueled by acts and laws that seek to enforce the immigration laws across the country. For example, the immigration debate has been not long ago strengthened by the passage of an Arizona law which defines the presence of an alien citizen without valid registration documents in Arizona as an act of state misdemeanor. In addition to this, the law aims at discouraging citizens who help foreign illegal residents through stronger measures that generally reinforce the already existing laws of Federal immigration. This simply means that sheltering, hiring or transporting illegal aliens is strictly forbidden under the current Arizona law. The Arizona case is interesting and important to refer to as it is a valid and relevant example that sheds light on how states can take a step towards reinforcing the existing federal laws. Specifically, the concept of supervision during the enforcement process is highly advocated to ensure the enforcement of the laws. A recent report issued by the Department of Homeland Security maintains that Congress’ failure to institute and enforce immigration reform has created chaos among anti-immigrant policemen who are “running amuck throughout the country” (Apsan). Supervision of these local forces by the federal and state governments remains crucial to ensure proper enforcement of the immigration reform law.

Illegal immigration began to grow as a social problem in the second half of the twentieth century. This is easy to comprehend. Due to the problem of labor shortage, the federal government set up a program that aimed at importing Mexicans to work in the fields of agriculture. The program was referred to as the Bracero Program. Millions of Mexicans came into the United States under this program; a grand result that was contributed to by employers’ preference of Mexicans because of their cheaper labor. From hence on, illegal aliens entered the United States raising thereby concerns about the negative impacts on wages and the national economy. Problems of corruption resulting from the profits made from illegal labor surfaced from this period onward leading to several governmental programs to curb illegal immigration including for example the installment of Border Patrol agents. After the 1965 Immigration Act, legal and illegal immigration both increased sharply (US Immigration Support). Mexico rose again within this context as the primary source of both legal and illegal immigration.

Today, the debate regarding illegal immigration questions also the law of ‘birthright citizenship’ or in other words: anchor babies. These babies are referred to in this manner as they securely anchor their families in the United States. These babies qualify for welfare, subsidized housing, Medicaid, and other forms of public assistance which of course benefits also the illegal parents. It is no secret that many illegal residents use this immigration law to gain permanent residency or even citizenship. This is all the direct result of the 14th amendment granting of citizenship to those born on American soil. In addition to this, many seek residency by means of fraud mainly through the obtainment of a visa under false pretenses. The most common form is the so-called ‘green-card marriage’.

The efforts to combat illegal immigration continued over the course of the last few decades and during different presidencies. The eight years of President George W. Bush witnessed however a rise in illegal immigration and a drop in attempts to enforce the law. This is what reinforced the problem that persists today nationally. Today, around a half million aliens enter the country annually, mostly from Mexico and other Latin American countries. Approximately half of the illegal immigrants overstayed their visa. The estimates of illegal immigrants range between the 12 to 20 million. This has all resulted in a nationally serious problem that greatly impacts the American economy. Illegal immigration is for example very costly due to the law enforcement expenses. In addition to this, illegal immigration has also considerable impact on the environment and national security. (US Immigration Support) For these reasons, the federal government is currently encouraged to increase the enforcement of entry restriction/regulation and deportation measures and maintain tight supervision of the enforcement of the laws nationally in order to discourage aid to any illegal resident through the form of employment and housing.

A program known as 287 (g), in reference to the clause of the immigration law that established it, seeks to establish a partnership between state and local enforcement entities on the one hand and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the other. Today, there are around 60 country and state police forces that work with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and consequentially receive delegated inspections and authority for immigration enforcement in their jurisdictions. ICE perceives in the partnership a beneficial advantage given the increase of forces for the organization. However, the program has been criticized for lack of efficiency. Local police men’s training is for instance often insufficient in comparison with the ICE forces. The program’s intent is also focused on the hunting down of criminal immigrants, whilst local forces tend to often focus also on non-criminal immigrants.  This program is also criticized for failing its main aim: providing constructive supervision to local authorities (Apsan). Supervision and immigration reform remain intertwined in a compacted way.

illegal immigration has many negative impacts on the American economy. This is the result of the millions of aliens’ requirement of social services such as healthcare, education and law enforcement. Thereby, illegal residents affect the wages for lower-skilled workers. For example, research conducted by George J. Borjas and Paul Samuelson has demonstrated that illegal immigration contributes to the overall reduction of the status of the United States as a strong economic power. Illegal immigration benefits only a small portion of citizens: the wealthier class. Illegal immigrants are a source of cheap labor which drives the wages down affecting thereby many legal American citizens and creating with that a wider gap socially between the poor and the rich (Borjas). Thereby, illegal immigrants impact the economy through the law enforcement measures. The usage of specific and updated technology to capture immigrants, prosecute and repatriate them back is very costly. For instance, detainment of a certain apprehended migrant by the border control costs around 90$ a day. In addition to this, the impacts of illegal immigration on the economy are interestingly enough evident through the social problem of identity theft. Identity theft has become increasingly associated with illegal immigrants who use American citizens’ social security number to obtain fake work documents. Last, drug trafficking is also associated with illegal immigration and is known to have grave social and economic impacts. 14 trans-border tunnels, used to smuggle migrants and drugs, were discovered along the border of California-Mexico between 2001 and 2004 alone. Mexican drug cartels have also played an important role in destabilizing certain southern American regions, such Arizona, over the last few months. This is why illegal immigration is increasingly perceived to be a great harm to the American economy.

Illegal immigration constitutes also a serious national security problem. For example, two of the terrorists involved in 9/11 were living in the United States on expired visas at the time of the attack. In fact, this event served to shed light on the weakness of the government in ineffectively supervising the tracking of those with expired tourist or student visas. For instance, two of the other terrorists in 9/11 were wrongly granted a visa extension after their death.  Research demonstrates that around half of the Al-Qaeda terrorists involved in the carrying out of crimes between 1993 and 2001 were either visa overstayers or illegal aliens. This is reinforced further by Vice Chair Lee Hamilton of the National Commission on Terrorist Arracks upon the United States: “Two hijackers could have been denied admission at the port on entry based on violations of immigration rules governing terms of admission. Three hijackers violated the immigration laws after entry, one by failing to enroll in school as declared, and two by overstays of their terms of admission” (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States 20). Thereby, illegal immigration is a threat to national security due to its creation of the problem of gang violence. Drug cartels from Mexico are a prominent example in this context. For instance, the recent instability in southern Arizona is what, among others, led to the reinforcement of the illegal immigration laws feared by some to create the problem of racial profiling. However, the threat of the gang violence and competition between different Mexican drug cartels is nothing that should not be dealt with cautiously and meticulously. This underscores the problems created by weak supervision in clarity. Hence, the call for more regulated enforcement is no surprise in the context of these facts.

The opposing side states on the other hand that illegal immigrants are a substantial source of tax money and perform work not done by American citizens. The argument is for instance that the amount the states and local governments spend on illegal immigrants is substantially less than that spent on residents while tax revenues generated by illegal aliens do not offset the total cost of services provided for these immigrants. However, the disadvantages of illegal immigration are indeed substantially more numerous. The impacts are not only economical but extend to include the environment and overall social stability. For all these reasons, it is the federal government’s responsibility to greatly increase the enforcement of illegal immigration.

It has become clear from the aforementioned that illegal immigration is indeed a serious social problem that ought, as suggested today by a growing number of American citizens, to be dealt with immediately by the federal government through significantly increased reinforcements of the law. It is advocated that this could be achieved through stricter supervision of visa fraud and visa overstays. Thereby, tighter and continuous technological adjustments will keep the Border Patrol in control of apprehending most of those seeking illegal entry to the country. Strict punishments of legal citizens helping illegal aliens, whether through the provision of work or shelter, should be reinforced while laws permitting law enforcement officers to seek illegal immigrants ‘out of the crowd’ should be available regardless of fears of racial profiling. Problems as the so-called ‘green-card marriages’ or ‘anchor babies’ should be also reconsidered more thoughtfully.

References

Apsan, Moses. “Obama’s failure with immigration reform results in anti-immigrant police forces .” Jornalus News Agency. n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://news.jornal.us/article-4828.Obamas-failure-with-immigration-reform-results-in-anti-immigrant-police-forces-.html>.

Birth Certificate Replacement.” United States Immigration Support: Green-card, Visas and U.S Citizenship. n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <https://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/birth-certificate.html>.

Borjas, George J.  “Immigrants in, Wages Down. How to do the Figuring.” National Review LVIII.8 (2006) National Review Archives. Web. 29 Mar. 2011.

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States: hearing before the Select Committee on Homeland Security, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, second session, August 17, 2004. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania: DIANE Publishing, 2004. Print.

Wasem, Ruth Allen. “Temporary Protected Status: Current Immigration Policy and Issues.” CRS Report for Congress. 18 Sept. 2008. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/crs/rs20844.pdf>.

Methodology

This study will examine and correlate the relationship between multiple variables. It will explore the relationships between the variables: work-family conflict, family social support, and administrative support. It will then delve further and look at the relationship it has on job performance, job satisfaction, and emotional well-being in that particular individual. This study is a qualitative evaluation research project. “Evaluation research is carried out in a range of settings across both public and private sectors. One of the reasons for carrying out evaluation research is the increasing public accountability of those initiating and carrying out (expensive) activities to address social problems and improve the quality of public-sector services. (Seale et. al, p. 409)” The goal is that this research will improve the nursing working world. Hopefully the findings can be used in making decisions that fall within the realm. This chapter explains the research aim, the nature of the research and the research method. This is followed by a look at the research methodology, i.e. the data collection method and the data analysis method, utilized in this dissertation.

Research Aim

The aim of this research was to correlate the relationship between the multiple variables; work-family conflict, family social support, and administrative support, and assimilate its relationship to job performance, job satisfaction, and emotional well-being.

Nature of the Research

This dissertation intended to answer whether the relationship between Work-Family Conflict, Family Social Support, and Administrative Support, affects Job Performance, Satisfaction, and Emotional Well-being in Nurses and Nurse Managers/Administrators. In order to assess this, information from various sources were collected to understand whether ‘work-family conflict, family social support, and administrative support, affected job performance, job satisfaction, and emotional well-being of nurses, nursing managers and administrators.’

Work-family conflict can contribute detrimentally to the nursing profession. It has major implications for job duties, mental health, and job satisfaction. While quite a few studies have targeted the effects of work-family conflict on workplace behaviour and within the family, not much has been recorded to show its effect on nursing. Since most of the researches involved qualitative research methods, this paper interface two qualitative and one quantitative in the current study.

Research

There were two qualitative and one quantitative methods used in this paper.

In the first study, researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine conducted a qualitative research method to determine how often work-family conflict occurs amongst nurses. This study was an attempt to gauge the frequency at which work-family conflict occurs amongst nurses. Results indicated that the majority of nurses experience work-family conflict. “Without clear estimates of the proportion of nurses who experience work-family conflict and how frequently it arises, it is difficult for decision makers to justify investing energy and resources in resolving the work-family challenge (Harrington & James, 2005)” (Grzywacz et al., 415). It sought to clarify an extremely under-researched component of the work-family conflict in nursing.

In the second qualitative paper by Yildirim and Aycan, a research was conducted and completed in Turkey in which they sought to correlate the relationship between nursing work demands and work family conflict. This research study looked at the negative relationships between work demands, work-family conflict, and life and job satisfaction. It also looked at the role of supervisory support.

The third and final research was conducted in Italy. This article parallels most closely to coming to a conclusion on whether the relationship between Work-Family Conflict, Family Social Support, and Administrative Support, affects Job Performance, Satisfaction, and Emotional Well-being in Nurses and Nurse Managers/Administrators. This study by Cortese etc. was completed in Italy, further proving that this topic has been under-researched in the United States. The aim of the study was to explain the causal relationship on an Italian nurses’ views of job satisfaction and the precursors to work-family conflict, job demand, emotional charge, and social support

The research findings collected were then analyzed to arrive at a consensus that answered the question whether work-family conflict, family social support, and administrative support, affects job performance, satisfaction, and emotional well-being in nurses and nurse managers/administrators.

Participants and Research

The participants in the study were all registered nurses. There were no specific criteria in terms of the area of nursing that they worked in, hours worked, job duties etc. They are only required to be a registered nursing professional and work in a hospital. They were randomly selected from the hospitals. The only decisive factor was their willingness to participate.

The nurses were asked to complete a questionnaire about work-family conflict. They were asked questions that determined how often their work interfered with their family life activities such as childcare, cleaning, cooking, and spending time with family. The reversal of family life imposing on work life was assessed. Questions were asked about family life interrupting them at work and prohibiting them from getting to work on time or spending time working on their career. The subjects were nurses from metropolitan areas. The researchers sent out a total of 4,000 surveys and had a 48% response rate. They restricted the sample to nurses currently employed in the field that were “(a) women; (b) 65 years old or younger; (c) worked at least 10 hours per week; (d) had no missing data on the variables used” (Grzywacz et al., 416). Demographics that were measured include age, race, education, income, marital status, parental status and number of children, work setting, position, hours worked, shift worked, and years on the job. Work-family conflict and family-work conflict was assessed over a six-month period.

Limitations of the Study

In the first qualitative interview, because of the limited number of materials available to make a comprehensive study and derive at a conclusive result, and because getting nurses to give interviews on this subject, the project was more observatory than factual. Although a list of topics and questions were already prepared, the interview could introduce new questions that were decided by the mood and involvement of the participants.

Questionnaire

The most important aspect of this research was the interview. An unbiased response to the dissertation was formulated by asking respondents intelligent questions. List of issues to be addressed or questions to be asked in this research were devised using an interview guide. This could be generated from existing a literature and discussions with colleagues. The questions followed a logical sequence of ‘order – structure – value’, to extract important information.

Empirical Findings & Analysis

Research I: The results of the survey found that interference with work and family was chronic rather than episodic. Family interference was more episodic than constant. In the individual demographic category, predictors of work-family conflict were age, education, and earning. Older age was associated with less conflict. Higher nursing education was associated with more frequent family interference. They restricted the sample to nurses currently employed in the field that were “(a) women; (b) 65 years old or younger; (c) worked at least 10 hours per week; (d) had no missing data on the variables used” (Grzywacz et al., 416). Demographics that were measured include age, race, education, income, marital status, parental status and number of children, work setting, position, hours worked, shift worked, and years on the job. Work-family conflict and family-work conflict was assessed over a six-month period.

Research II: The results of the study found that none of the variables contributed to family-work conflict except for time spent assisting children under 19 years. There was significant time-based work-family conflict in the care-giving and support roles. Nurses who had children under the age of 19 had increased work-family conflict, but nurses with supportive administration had less time-based work-family conflict. Work-family conflict was rampant in time-based conflict when the “greater the quantitative workload (the perception of having too much to do) and the lower perceived organizational and family support” (Gottilieb, Kelloway & Martin-Matthews, 1996).   “Nurses who felt they had too much to do were less satisfied with their jobs” (p. 111), but were satisfied with their jobs when they felt supported by co-workers, which supported their home life.

Research III: The questionnaire had an 88.4% return rate, and the final sample was based on 299 complete questionnaires. All antecedents were measured using Likert-type scales. The results correlated with their hypothesis; Work-family conflict had a negative relationship with job satisfaction, job demand, and emotional charge, but correlated positively with supportive management and colleagues. Job demand had more of an influence on job satisfaction than emotional charge, while work-family interaction had the biggest influence on job satisfaction.

Questionnaire

Demographic

How old are you?

What is your ethnicity?

What is your highest level of qualification?

Are you married or single?

What is your present salary?

Do you have children?

How many children do you have?

Do you have children below 3 years who might need a lot of your personal care?

How much time do you spend at work?

What is your current designation at work?

How much time do you spend on your job every day?

Do you also work in shifts?

How often do you work in shifts?

How much time do you spend on shifts?

How long have you been working?

Where are you working currently?

In which unit are you currently working in?

Work-Family Conflict

1.  As a nurse, how much of quality time have you been able to offer your family?

2.  Are you happy with the time you spend with your family at present?

Are you able to spend the kind of time that you would like in responding to your duties at home?

Do you find enough time for childcare?

Have you been able to balance your time with your household duties and work?

Are you able to find sufficient time to do your household chorus, which includes cooking and cleaning, to spend time with your family?

Are your family members happy with the time you spend with them because of your nature of work?

Has your duty as a nurse hampered or come in the way of your family life?

Are your family members accommodative to the fact that you, as a nurse, has to compromise with your family life?

How have they reacted to your time spent with them?

Do they feel neglected?

Has this led to relationship problems among the family?

Have they been supportive or do you react differently when they find that you have little time for them?

Has this caused relationship problems at home?

Who has been the more difficult person to pacify at home because of your work?

What is the status of your relationship with this person now?

Has this relationship problem become a serious issue in the family?

Have you had difficulties in performing your duties because of the pressure faced at home?

Has the demand for more time at home also made you come late to work at times?

Do you feel that the pressure at home has affected your work as a nurse?

Do you think that because of this, you are not able to concentrate on your duties as a nurse?

Have you found your jobs to be too demanding considering that you are not able to meet the standards of your work?

Do you think that because of the pressure at home, it has come in the way of your professional progress?

Job Satisfaction

Are you happy to be working as a nurse?

How comfortable are you in your present occupation?

Are you finding it difficult to balance your time between your work and your time at home in childcare?

What kind of job satisfaction do you derive from your current profession?

Are you happy also with the time that you have to spend at work?

Doesn’t overtime or working in shifts bother you?

How has this affected your family life?

What kind of personal problems do you face because of this?

Would you rather work the standard 9-5 job or work shifts?

Do you find your workload more or are you comfortable with the current arrangement?

What is the current arrangement at work?

Have you been able to manage your time at work and home equally well?

Doesn’t your work hamper your time for the kids?

Has this affected your work in the hospital?

What is the most likely cause for work-related problems at home?

Family Social Support

Has your family been supportive of your career growth?

Do you find them to be supportive and encouraging despite the limited time you have for them at home?

How has your family reacted to your career?

Do they see you as a person who strives to dedicate her time for a social cause?

Doesn’t this cause embarrassment to you and your family that you spend more time with other people at work and not with them at home?

Does your husband approve of your long-hours at work?

How supportive is he to your career growth?

Does he help out with the family chorus since you are tied up with your work most of the time?

Does he let you work without interfering in it at any point of time?

Are your children big enough to do their work without your physical support?

What is the most likely cause for work-related problems at home?

“The WFC was measured using five items with a seven-point Likert scale from 1 = never to 7 = always. The items were adopted from the Italian version (Colombo & Ghislieri 2008) of the Netemeyer et al. (1996) questionnaire.
Job satisfaction was detected u “The WFC was measured using five items with a seven-point Likert scale from 1 = never to 7 = always. The items were adopted from the Italian version (Colombo & Ghislieri 2008) of the Netemeyer et al. (1996) questionnaire.
Job satisfaction was detected using 44 items of the Work Satisfaction Index section B (Stamps 1997, Cortese 2007). The items are measured on a seven-point Likert scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree.
Job demand was measured using six items with a seven-point Likert scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. This scale was developed in Italy by Cortese et al. (2008a).
Emotional charge was detected using a scale composed of six negative emotions taken from Warr (1990) with a seven-point Likert scale from 1 = never to 7 = always.
Supportive management was measured using two items with a seven-point Likert scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree, whereas the presence of supportive colleagues was detected using two other items with a seven-point Likert scale from 1 = disagree to 7 = agree. Both measures were adapted from Clark_s (2001) instrument measuring support from management and colleagues and used in former studies (Ghislieri et al. 2008). The reliability of the scales that were used in this study was good (Table 2).” sing 44 items of the Work Satisfaction Index section B (Stamps 1997, Cortese 2007). The items are measured on a seven-point Likert scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree.
Job demand was measured using six items with a seven-point Likert scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. This scale was developed in Italy by Cortese et al. (2008a).
Emotional charge was detected using a scale composed of six negative emotions taken from Warr (1990) with a seven-point Likert scale from 1 = never to 7 = always.