Pope Rebuking Priest Using Several Modern Day Christian Thinkers Essay

Pope Rebuking Priest Using Several Modern Day Christian Thinkers - Essay Example According to the church history, a lot has changed where there has been emergence of new technology and practices altering the way religious teaching are being done. Pope Paul III has also raised concerns about the modern changes of Christian teachings; he has pointed various modern day Christian thinkers, who have used their new perceptions, ideas and understandings to alter the traditional Christian religious teachings. These characters include Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Soren Kierkegaard, Pierre Teilhard De Chardin, Rudolph Bultmann, Karl Barth, Karl Rahner, and Dietrich Bohoeffer (Brown). Rogers states that Pope Benedict XVI, who in the past few years has guided the church’s doctrinal agency, delivered his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica during the time that priests recall the swearing they made when ordained (233). He sharply condemned a team of rebellious Austrian priest and laymen for going against major teachings of Catholic Church; this group is of ficially known as Pfarrer initiative and it has posed a lot of challenges to the church on issues such as banning of female priests and priestly celibacy. During a Maundy Thursday gathering in the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI made a speech that he was not to tolerate disobedience. He was actually referring to the current efforts made by priests in both Austria and Europe of disobeying the church. Speaking from the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, Benedict said that despite these priests claiming their concerns for the church, they are influenced by their own ideas and preferences to create desperate actions for changing the church, and that they should instead be turned into radicalism of obedience. In the year 2006, a team of Austrian priest opened the Pfarrer initiative led by Rev.Helmut Schuller; the former leader of a Catholic aid organization, with the intentions for calling for disobedience. Their aim was to abolish priestly celibacy and opening clergy to women in order to relieve priest shortages. However, according to Italian news reports, together with priest across Europe and United states, the Pfarrer initiative claims to acquire more than 300 Austrian priest and deacons together with supporters in other nations. Its influence has therefore increased to such an extent that Vatican officials met with superior Austrian bishops with an aim of discussing on how to handle them. Benedict also mentioned that in June the same year, about 2000 Austria’s priests in the initiative, had essentially threatened a schism, claiming that Vatican’s refusal to consider their protests left them with no option but to follow their conscience and take action independently. These priests made a revised call to disobedience, stating that parishes were capable of celebrating Eucharistic services in absence of priest and that they would make public speech about female and married priesthood. Benedict rejects the dissident’s idea, made during the second Vatican committee, of fossilizing the church and reviews that on the contrary; the development of new religious society in recent decade illustrated the vitality and true rejuvenation of the church by the 1962 to 1965 Vatican II. Benedict’s message is one of the greatest – and most straight- speeches that have mostly been dominated by a scandal of sexual abuse, Vatican hierarchy in disarray and recurring tangles with other faiths. It also has made Benedict discover who has

Relaxing & Energizing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Relaxing & Energizing - Case Study Example George has no idea why his energy level is so different from practices to races, but he sees this problem as a major obstacle to developing as a runner and performing to his potential. Cindy Frederickson, George’s coach thinks he needs to develop relaxation and energization skills needed to control his arousal during practice and competition. Based on your knowledge of both relaxation and energization, answer the following four questions that relate to developing and implementing these critical mental training tools. Explain the rationale for your answers thoroughly, citing important information from the book and lectures. Your rationale will count as much as your actual response. 1. What mental training tool should George use to lower his arousal level when he gets nervous? Relaxation is the ability to decrease unwanted muscular tension, reduce excessive activation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and calm the mind by eliminating unwanted thoughts. a. How about raising his psych level when he’s unmotivated for practice? Energization is the ability to arouse the body by increasing muscular strength and power, stimulate the activation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and invigorate the mind with energizing thoughts. 2. What is the difference between relaxation and energization? Relaxation is to help you lower your arousal. Energization is to help you increase arousal. Between Total Relaxation/ Energization and Rapid Relaxation? Total takes more time. How can George use each? When he is overly anxious he should use relaxation. When he is lethargic he should use

In what sense and to what degree are consumers in China distinctively Essay

In what sense and to what degree are consumers in China distinctively different from their counterparts in Western countries - Essay Example Thus, analysing the nature of consumer’s tastes and preferences is important for determining the long run growth of an economy. The essay enumerates the distinctive nature of the consumers demand in China from that of the western countries (Molano, 2009). Consumption in Modern China The framework of the society of China is primarily collectivistic in nature. The people in China give high value to tradition, conformity and benevolence. However, with the emergence of economic growth and modernization, the country has undergone dramatic changes in its cultural and social aspects (OECD Insights, 2013). Chinese society now resembles individualistic and materialistic principles apart from the ancient collectivistic attitude. The trace of modern consumption pattern in China is observed when some detailed analysis is made over the sales of several goods and services in the shopping malls of the country. It was empirically found that collectivism, individualism and materialism were all directly proportional to the consumption values of the consumers in China (EIA, 2013). These values include epistemic, functional, social and emotional principles in them. For the materialistic and individualistic consumers it can be found that they have greatest magnitude of consumption value (Alabama, 2005).The individualistic and materialistic consumers achieve high utility from consumption of goods and services. However, if the underlying disparities are ignored, then it can be analyzed that the overall living standard of the people in China has improved in the recent era. This is because the country has achieved a substantial growth in its Gross Domestic and National Products (USITC, 2011). China is now regarded as an emerging economy in the world. It is included in the group of BRICS, who are the nations showing higher growth rates in the world than the developed economies. It is believed by the analysts that by 2050 China’s growth will surely make it one of the global leaders in the world (World Bank, 2013). Since 1970 the country has undergone rapid development in its industrial sector. Consumer Value Analysis (Source: Alabama, 2005) The above diagram elaborates the idealistic values of the consumers in China in the modern world. Consumer behaviours can be estimated by observing the actual purchase decisions of the consumers in the economy. It can also be estimated by studying the amount of expenditures made by the consumers in China. It is found that the relation between the consumption value and socio cultural value is extremely high in modern China. Those consumers who have high social values are more attracted towards the expensive branded goods and services. These rich consumers invest high in conspicuous consumption. On the other hand, the consumers who have less social values and are not very rich and generally go for less speculative investments (Selden, 1993). On the other hand, most of the emerging economies in the world are enumerati ng high level of debt crisis in their economies. The sovereign debt crisis in the European economy has slowed the velocity of circulation of money in the European nations. Thus, the European Central bank is now implementing quantitative easing by which the commercial banks are able to get access to some fluid fund to lend the borrowers. Thus, the consumers in the western world are now having less purchasing power. Unlike the emerging affluent classes in China the consumers in

Western Dominations as a Menace to Islamic Supremacy Essay

Western Dominations as a Menace to Islamic Supremacy - Essay Example Thus, the Muslim fundamentalist movements advocate an unreserved rejection for the West for "causing" all these social ills to transpire due to Western influences and modernization. This rejection is expressed in their denunciation of and violence on Western countries, their interests and peoples as well as 'impious' Muslim people who have 'embraced' the Western modernization and education. Establishment of states and societies based on Islamic law and traditional mores are the end goals of the Muslim fundamentalists. This is so because Muslim fundamentalists view the world as one to be dominated by Islam, and the Western countries and peoples will waste away to give way to this domination. Thus, in this paper, the key explanatory factors that lead the Muslims towards anti-American and anti-Western sentiments are economic and political domination as well as the imperialistic culture that the United States and the West exhibit, hampering the quest of Islam religion and Muslim governme nt towards world domination. The struggle between Western and anti-Western influences are said to have been traced since the seventh century in the expansion of Islam in the Middle East from 622 A.D. to the present. Lewis emphasized that during Muhammad's lifetime, the Muslims were both a political and a religious community, with the Prophet as head of state who ruled the government and the people, dispensed justice, collected taxes, waged war and made peace.1 This description gives an initial knowledge that the Muslim religion is not at all a plain religion like the Christian religion now, but is also a political embodiment, a way of life, and a set of mores and traditions, which a Muslim must follow at all costs.   As already mentioned, the factors that led towards anti-Western and anti-American sentiments are social, economic, and political ones. The social factors are the staggering global poverty blamed on imperialist influences by the Western countries and the United States, which Lewis covertly mentioned in his book. Extreme economic inequality and problems related to this are also viewed by Islam as being caused by Western domination. Lewis' thesis is that Islam's obsession with the United States is an old occurrence and constitutes the Middle East's escalating hatred for the West.2   The anti-Western and anti-American Muslim sentiments are traced done to the antiquated dominance of Islam, which extended from Morocco to Indonesia, from Kazakhstan to Senegal. It goes back to the mission of the prophet Muhammad in Saudi Arabia during the seventh century and the creation of Islamic community and state.3   

Virtue ethics Essay Example for Free

Virtue ethics Essay Virtue ethics belongs to the branch of philosophy called ethics. Virtue ethics is also a sub branch of normative ethics and it contrasts with disteleology because normative ethics is more concerned about characteristics of a person rather than the moral duties and laws they must abide, so Natural Moral Law, Kantian ethics and Divine Command are usually dismissed by Virtue Ethics. This ethical theory also contrasts with consequentialism e. g. Utilitarianism which is more focused on results and outcomes. Virtue ethics was first introduces by Plato and was further developed by Aristotle. Virtue ethics is based on the focus of characteristics, also known as virtues. This means the good character traits an individual has- and the opposite of a virtue (a vice) which are the negatives traits of an individual. Virtue ethics can be seen as an anti-theory because it is not concerned about the theory aspect but rather it is about the practice of it. In other words Virtue ethics focuses upon what kind of human being you ought to be rather than the actions of a human being. Plato, in his book â€Å"Republic†, focused on justices and further on argues that, with his beliefs about the soul, that there is a virtue connected to such part of the soul. These different parts of the soul, are called imperative and it is divided into three parts, with a virtue connected to it. These virtues are the cardinal virtues; thus reason and wisdom are one, the human spirit performing well is paired with courage and destiny which is paired with temperance or otherwise known as moderation (self-control). If we have all these virtues we can obtain justice, the fourth virtue. According to Plato, justice is an important virtue because it balances out the interrelationship between the parts of the soul. There is justice when reason rules over spirit and desires. Wisdom is the knowledge of Forms especially the knowledge of the Form of God, having to know what goodness is itself. The forms are the fixed, unities and unchanging concepts that are ultimately real. This type of thinking presupposes both anthropological dualism and ontological dualism. The problems with Plato is that he has based his argument on a questionable metaphysic cleansing that we cannot prove something we have little to no experience to. The concept about the soul and the priparte are criticised because there is no empirical evidence to support it, it is only logic and reason. A fortiori is the criticism of the preparative soul because there is no solid empirical evidence to support it. Furthermore there is no evidence to support the claim that there are forms, again it is only a concept based on reasoning. Lace Wing presents the argument that even if ontology accepted Virtue Ethics, then it is unclear what the practical implications are. If Virtue Ethics is an anti-ethical theory then to how would you practice it? What would you do afterwards? How would knowing these virtues and forms affect you? In the hope of rescuing Virtue Ethics, Aristotle (Plato’s student) delivers his interpretation of this ethical theory. Aristotle does not necessarily agree into Plato’s metaphysic, epistemology or ontology but he does agree with Plato that reason is vital to virtue’s. This is because human’s are rational animals and agrees that virtue’s are vital to human flourishing otherwise known as â€Å"eudsimonia†. Unlike Plato, Aristotle believes that there are only two kinds of virtues; intellectual virtues and moral virtues.

Womens Heart Health Promotion in New Zealand

Womens Heart Health Promotion in New Zealand Karenne Melo Rosarie Ann Nicole Trespeces Joanne Tolentino Fight Against Heart Disease in Women: A Health Promotion Plan Health Promotion is the process of enabling people to have a control over their wellbeing—physical, emotional, socio-cultural and spiritual. Without encouragement from health professionals, improvement of health and reduction of the incidence of illnesses and disabilities is impossible to attain. Thus, health strategies in promoting health must take priority. In this paper, a health promotion plan on Heart Disease in Women, which is one of the objectives of the New Zealand Health strategies will be presented. New Zealand has a growing frequency rate of heart disease mainly because of its rising population, an ageing population and lifestyle variations such as smoking, having secondary lifestyle or physical inactivity and changes in diet. According to the Ministry of Health (2014), heart disease is the number one cause of mortality in New Zealand and is responsible for 30% death cases per year. One dies from heart disease every 90 minutes, giving a total number of 16 deaths per day in New Zealand. The Health Strategy for New Zealand gives a background for the health sector to inflate the total health status of New Zealanders and to lessen inequalities amongst New Zealanders. The unequal distribution of social determinants in terms of age, sex, hereditary factors, financial, education, occupation and housing conditions are associated with health inequalities. According to Ministry of Health (2012), â€Å"addressing these social determinants of inequalities requires a total health approach that takes justification and explanation of all the influences on health and in what way they can be commenced to improve overall health status. This method necessitates both intersectoral action that addresses the social and economic determinants of health and action within health and disability services.† Ministry of Health (2012), recommend philosophies in health that should be applied to any activities to safeguard inequalities in health in those activities. In the proposed framework, it includes making and imposing extensive strategies which are the following: Structural – social, financial, national and historical health inequalities root grounds identification Intermediary pathways – comprises psychosocial and behavioral factors that intercede the influence of structural factors on health Health and disability services – it is a thorough actions undertaking Impact – on socioeconomic situation minimization (MOH, 2012) Further, the key to Health Promotion here in New Zealand is the founding document of the Treaty of Waitangi. It is an agreement between the relationship of the Crown and the Maori. The crown represents the non-Maori people and the New Zealand government. The treaty of Waitangi is a document that provides the framework of Maori and non-Maori health development and well-being. This is to ensure that both parties are equally respected in terms of providing their health care needs. Also, to reduce the incidence of inequities between the Maori and Non-Maori, it is very important to acknowledge the Treaty of Waitangi and the treaty principles which is participation, partnership and protection. In participation, it emphasizes the involvement of Maori in planning, monitoring and evaluating programs. While the principle of partnership, refers to the relationship of Maori and non-Maori in making health plan, policies and programs. In making all these strategies and health promotion, it is important to include the principle of protection. This is to ensure that the interest of the Maori is protected and both Maori and Non-Maori have equal health status and outcomes (Ministry of Health, 2003). Moreover, the Ottawa Charter was first created during the first international conference on Health Promotion which was held in Ottawa, Canada in November, 1986. It is the key founding document of health promotion in New Zealand. This framework has provided a useful tool guide for actions and implementation of health promotion (Ministry of Health, 2003). Health Promotion Plan on Women’s Heart Disease The annual plan includes assessment, prevention and control programs, monitoring and evaluation, indirect management and administrative operations. Goal: The program aims to reduce the incidence of Women’s heart disease and control its complications by ensuring that Women in New Zealand have opportunities to access the health services/ programs. General Objectives: To conduct health assessment of women who are at risk for developing heart disease; To implement prevention and control program, such as eat well and be heart healthy, stretch and sweat, and fight against tobacco related death; To monitor and evaluate improvement of health and effectiveness of programs; To ensure practitioners are skilled and well-trained to be efficient in providing health promotion campaigns and education; To support operations in the conduct of the programs; Health Control and Prevention Programs Title: How’s your heart? Heart disease assessment and education Rationale: Screening tests and knowledge on heart disease are the keys to prevent cardiovascular disease (American Heart Association, 2014). Regular screening tests should begin at age 20 because this would serve as an eye-opener for women to modify their lifestyle or make necessary changes to prevent development of heart diseases. Education provides knowledge to women on how to make heart healthy and how to prevent heart diseases Goal: To provide free heart screening services in public health hospitals or centers monthly and provide regular health education campaigns and educational materials such as brochures, flyers, posters, pamphlets. Target population: Women living in New Zealand starting age 20. Strategies: Actions: Communicate and ask support to the Ministry of Health and Board of Trustees of the hospital for the implementation of the program, Involvement of Maori, Pacific, and other locals or migrants to support, contribute and participate in program development. Range of Activities: Vital screening tests are blood pressure, body weight, Fasting Lipoprotein Profile (cholesterol and triglycerides), blood glucose. Health Education Settings: Public Health Hospitals and Community Health Centers for the screening, University and Workplace for Education and a door-to-door campaign Title: Eat well and be heart healthy Rationale: Improving nutrition to reduce the prevalence of weight gain or obesity, a precursor to heart disease takes priority and be addressed (Willett, Koplan, Nugent, Dusenbury, Puska, Gaziano, 2006). In New Zealand, obesity is also one of the targets Health Strategies. Goal: To ensure mothers’/ women’s class shall be conducted to provide adequate knowledge on proper diet and menu preparation. Target population: Women living in New Zealand starting age 20. Strategies: Actions: Communicate and ask support to the Ministry of Health and Community authorities for the implementation of the program, Involvement of Maori, Pacific, and other locals or migrants to support, contribute and participate in program development. Range of Activities: Healthy food policy development, Food diary and menu planning, Health Education Settings: Public Health Hospitals and Community Health Centers, University and Workplace for Education and a door-to-door campaign Title: Stretch and Sweat Activities Rationale: Sedentary activity among women is known to be a major risk factor in developing heart disease next to smoking. In the year 2009, 246 New Zealanders had premature death caused by lack of physical activity). Failing to do physical inactivity can highly contribute to another risk factor like high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Sedentary activities may lead to poor health outcomes (Auckland Council, Waikato Regional Council, and Wellington Regional Strategy Committee, 2013). Evidently, active physical activities are beneficial to maintain a good health. It is helpful for maintaining a healthy heart and body. It is not only considered to be a preventive measure, but also a treatment itself (Auckland Council, Waikato Regional Council, and Wellington Regional Strategy Committee, 2013). According to Heart Foundation (2004), active physical activity can reduce up to 50% of incidence and fatality rate of heart disease. While, those with existing heart disease will have 25% decrease chance of dying from another heart attack. Goal: To incorporate 30 minutes of moderate to intense physical activities into the daily activities of women at least 5-7 times a week (Heart Foundation, 2004). Target Population: To achieve a maximum health benefit, it is important for people to be physically active. According to Active New Zealand Survey (2015), they identified that women are most likely to be inactive than men. This is due to the different factors that hinder them from participating in any physical activities. As stated by the World Health Organization (2015), lower income of women may be a barrier to access physical activity. Aside from that, women have limited time to engage in physical activities because of their caregiving roles at home. Strategies: Actions: Communicate and ask support to the Ministry of Health and Community authorities for the implementation of the program, Involvement of Maori, Pacific, and other locals or migrants to support, contribute and participate in program development. Range of Activities: Free yoga every Tuesday and Thursday morning and afternoon, Free Zumba class during weekends, Fun run activities and bike and hike activities Settings: Parks and open fields Title: Fight against Tobacco related death Rationale: According to the Ministry of Health, the main cause of avoidable morbidity and mortality in New Zealand is tobacco use. It is responsible for an estimated 4,300 to 4,600 deaths per year and it contributes considerably in the development of some heart disease. Tobacco consumption is one of the health inequalities in New Zealand as increased smoking incidence are seen amongst groups that have low income. On the other hand, approximately 1.3 billion individuals uses tobacco worldwide and it causes five million premature deceases annually. At the present stage, it is responsible for the mortality ratio of one in ten adults worldwide. As per WHO (2014), tobacco usage will result in to 10 million deaths annually by year 2020 if present patterns remain. Goal: The three key objectives of tobacco control strategies are to lessen initiation of smoking, to double the likelihood of quitting and to lessen the exposure to second- hand smoking. Target Population: The no smoking strategies are intended to become routine practice for all health care workers in connection to those individual who smoke. Nevertheless, within the population of individual who consumes tobacco there are specific target population. These are Maori and Pacific people as these population display considerably increase incidence of tobacco use compare to other population. New Zealand Health Survey 2013, found out that Maori women were two times probable to be a smoker in comparison in women in entire population while both Maori and Pacific men were 1.5 times probable to be smoker in comparison in the entire population. Another important target population are parents’ ages 15 to 45 years of age. Helping parents to stop smoking is vital to further lessening smoking initiation by children and young age. Strategies: Actions: Communicate and ask support to the Ministry of Health and Community authorities for the implementation of the program, Involvement of Maori, Pacific, and other locals or migrants to support, contribute and participate in program development. Range of Activities: Health Education, Smoke free celebration activities, individualized quit smoking plan, house-to-house monitoring, also promotion of nicotine replacement therapy. Nicotine Replacement Therapy comes in five forms that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These are nicotine patches (transdermal nicotine system), nicotine gum (nicotine polacrilex), nicotine nasal spray, nicotine inhalers and nicotine lozenges.These are locally available which can be consumed for eight weeks, and double the chances of quitting as these will diminish smoking cravings without affecting one’s health. Monitoring and Evaluation: Each program must be monitored and evaluated whether effective or not in order to modify the program and conduct research studies on how to improve health. Indirect management and administrative operations: Attendance to meetings, convention, trainings, and summit is very important to ensure that the practitioners are skilled and effective in promoting health on heart disease. Support to operations: The funding and budget allocated for the health programs, which includes the education and campaign materials By and large, health promotion is critical in the health care delivery system, and that must be practiced to prevent or eradicate onset of diseases. Further, the involvement and consultancy of the people in the community in the development of programs are extremely significant to identify health threats and problems properly, and make necessary intervention programs tailored to their needs. Consequently, would address and prevent health inequalities and improve health outcomes. References Auckland Council, Waikato Regional Council, Wellington Regional Strategy Committee. (2013). Information for General Practice on Physical Activity and Heart Disease. Retrieved on March 30, 2015, from http://wellington.govt.nz/~/media/about-wellington/research-and-evaluation/people-and-community/2013-costs-physical-inactivity-regional-accounting-perspective.pdf Active New Zealand Suvey. (2015). Part 1: How active are we? how active do we want to be? Retrieved on March 30, 2015, from http://www.activenzsurvey.org.nz/Results/NZ-Sport-and-Physical-Surveys-9701/SPARC-Facts-97-01/Part-1/ American Heart Association. (2014). Heart-Health Screenings. Retrieved on March 30, 2015 from http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Heart-Health-Screenings_UCM_428687_Article.jsp Heart Research Institute. (2013). Heart Disease in New Zealand. Retrieved on March 18, 2015, from http://www.hri.org.nz/about-heart-disease/heart-facts/ Heart Foundation. (2004). Information for General Practice on Physical Activity and Heart Disease. Retrieved on March 30, 2015, from http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/GP-PA-and-heart-disease.pdf Ministry of Health. (2003). A Guide to Developing Health Promotion Programmes in Primary Health Care Settings. Retrieved on March 31, 2015, from http://www.hauora.co.nz/assets/files/PHO%20Info/dvpinghealthpromotionprogs.pdf Ministry of Health. (2013). Implementing the ABC Approach for Smoking Cessation. Retrieved on March 18, 2015, from https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/implementing-abc-approach-smoking-cessation-feb09.pdf Ministry of Health. (2013). Reducing Inequalities in Health. Retrieved on March 18, 2015, from https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/reducineqal.pdf Quitline. (2013). Nicotine patches, gum and lozenges. Retrieved on March 18, 2015, from http://www.quit.org.nz/62/help-to-quit/nicotine-patches-gum-and-lozenges Willett, W.Koplan, J.Nugent, R.Dusenbury, C.,Puska, P. Gaziano, T. (2006). Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries 2nd ed. Retrieved March 29, 2015 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11795/ World Health Organization. (2015). Physical Activity and Women. Retrieved on March 30,2015, from http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_women/en/ World Health Organization. (2015). Health Promotion. Retrieved on March 30, 2015, from http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/conferences/previous/ottawa/en/ World Health Organization. (2014). Why is tobacco a public health priority? Retrieved on March 18, 2015, fromhttp://www.who.int/tobacco/health_priority/en/print.html.

Importance of Human Resource Development

Importance of Human Resource Development Importance of HRD Companies derive competitive advantage from training and development. Training and development programmes, as was pointed out earlier, help remove performance deficiencies in employee. This is particularly true when (1) the deficiency is caused by a lack of ability rather than a lack of motivation to perform, (2) the individual(s) involved have the aptitude and motivation need to learn to do the job better, and (3) supervisors and peers are supportive of the desired behaviors There is greater stability, flexibility, and capacity for growth in an organization. Training contributes to employee stability in at least two ways. Employees become efficient after undergoing training. Efficient employees contribute to the growth of the organization. Growth renders stability to the workforce. Further, trained employees tend to stay with the organization. They seldom leave the company. Training makes the employees versatile in operations. All rounders can be transferred to any job. Flexibility is therefore ensured. Growth indicates prosperity, which is reflected in increased profits from year to year. Who else but well-trained employees can contribute to the prosperity of an enterprise? Accidents, scrap and damage to machinery and equipment can be avoided or minimized through training. Even dissatisfaction, complaints, absenteeism, and turnover can be reduced if employees are trained well. Future needs of employees will be met through training and development programmes. Organizations take fresh diploma holders or graduates as apprentices or management trainees. They are absorbed after course completion. Training serves as an effective source of recruitment. Training is an investment in HR with a promise of better returns in future. A companys training and development pays dividends to the employee and the organization. Though no single training programme yields all the benefits, the organization which devotes itself to training and development enhances its HR capabilities and strengthens its competitive edge. At the same time, the employees personal and career goals are furthered, generally adding to his or her abilities and value to the employer. Ultimately, the objectives of the HR department are also furthered. Reasons for managers having poor views of training There are many impediments which can make a training programme ineffective. Following are the major hindrances: Management Commitment is Lacking and Uneven Most companies do not spend money on training. Those that do, tend to concentrate on managers, technicians and professionals. The rank-and-file workers are ignored. This must change, for, as a result of rapid technological change, combined with new approaches to organizational design and production management, workers are required to learn three types of new skills: (i) the ability to use technology, (ii) the ability to maintain it, and (ill) the ability to diagnose system problems. In an increasingly competitive environment, the ability to implement rapid changes in products and technologies is often essential for economic viability Aggregate Spending on Training is Inadequate Companies spend minuscule proportions of their revenues on training. Worse still, budget allocation to training is the first item to be cut when a company faces a financial crunch. Educational Institutions Award Degrees but Graduates Lack Skills This is the reason why business must spend vast sums of money to train workers in basic skills. Organizations also need to train employees in multiple skills. Managers, particularly at the middle level, need to be retrained in team-playing skills, entrepreneurship skills, leadership skills and customer-orientation skills. Large-scale Poaching of Trained Workers Trained workforce is in great demand. Unlike Germany, where local business groups pressure companies not to poach on another companys employees, there is no such system in our country. Companies in our country, however, insist on employees to sign bonds of tenure before sending them for training, particularly before deputing them to undergo training in foreign countries. Such bonds are not effective as the employees or the poachers are prepared to pay the stipulated amounts as compensation when the bonds are breached. No Help to Workers Displaced because of Downsizing Organizations are downsizing and de-layering in order to trim their workforces. The government should set apart certain fund from the National Renewal Fund for the purpose of retraining and rehabilitating displaced workers. Recommendations The last stage in the training and development process is the evaluation of results. Since huge sums of money are spent on training and development, how far the programme has been useful must be judged/determined. Evaluation helps determine the results of the training and development programme. In practice, however, organizations either overlook or lack facilities for evaluation. Need for Evaluation: The main objective of evaluating the training programmes is to determine if they are accomplishing specific training objectives that are, correcting performance deficiencies. A second reason for evaluation is to ensure that any changes in trainee capabilities are due to the training programme and not due to any other conditions. Training programmes should be evaluated to determine their cost effectiveness. Evaluation is useful to explain programme failure, should finally, credibility of training and development is greatly enhanced when it is proved that the organization has benefited tangibly from it. Principles of Evaluation: Evaluation of the training programme must be based on the principles: Evaluation specialist must be clear about the goals and purposes of evaluation. Evaluation must be continuous. Evaluation must be specific. Evaluation must provide the means and focus for trainers to be able to appraise themselves, their practices, and their products. Evaluation must be based on objective methods and standards. Realistic target dates must be set for each phase of the evaluation process. A sense of urgency must be developed, but deadlines that are unreasonably high will result in poor evaluation Criteria for Evaluation: The last column in Fig. 9.1 contains a number of potential goals Training validity: Did the trainees learn during training? Transfer validity: What has been learnt in training, has it been transferred on the job enhanced performance in the work organization? Intra-organizational validity: Is performance of the new group of trainees, for which the training programme was developed, consistent with the performance of the original training group? Inter-organizational validity: Can a training programme validated in one organization be used successfully in another organization? These questions often result in different evaluation techniques. Techniques of Evaluation: Several techniques of evaluation are being used in organization may be stated that the usefulness of the methods is inversely proportional to the ease with which evaluation can be done. One approach towards evaluation is to use experimental and control groups. Each group is randomly selected, one to receive training (experimental) and the other not to receive training (control). The random selection helps to assure the formation of groups quite similar to each other. Measures are taken of the relevant indicators of success (e.g. words typed per minute, quality pieces produced per hour, wires attached per minute) before and after training for both groups. If the gains demonstrated by the experimental groups are better than those by the control group, the training programme is labeled as successful. Another method of training evaluation involves longitudinal or time-series analysis. Measures are taken before the programme begins and are continued during and after the programme is completed. These results are plotted on a graph to determine whether changes have occurred and remain as a result of the training effort. To further validate that change has occurred as a result of training and not due to some other variable, a control group may be included. One simple method of evaluation is to send a questionnaire to the trainees after the completion the programme to obtain their opinions about the programmes worth. Their opinions could through interviews. A variation of this method is to measure the knowledge and/or skills that employee possess at the commencement and completion of a training. If the measurement reveals that the results after training are satisfactory, then the training may be taken as successful.