Value Chain Management SALGA

Question: Discuss about the Value Chain Managementfor SALGA. Answer: Introduction The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) is described as a self-directed association of municipalities with its authorization derived from the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. The voice of SALGA is defined by its voice as well as the sole representatives of local government. It edges with parliament as well as provincial legislatives (Fabricius et al. 2013). The report provides an overview about the constraints that are identified in the business. On the other hand, it also highlights the core constraint that has been identified as well as illustrate that particular constraint. Constraints in the Business The four types of constraints that have been identified in SALGA include lack of technical and financial constraints, policy constraints and resource constraints. The lack of technical skills and financial constraints has been identified as it led to environmental performance administration tools being incapable to serve their objectives. Resource constraints have been identified as it is known to hinder the performance of responsibilities of environment management. The one particular core constraint that has been identified is policy constraint that has been identified in the Environment Segment of the Local Government Support Policy. The policy constraint is related to changes in government policy that in turn places extra burden on small trades. The expenditure cutbacks are likely to persuade an imperative revenue source for temporary placement agencies that offers short-term administrative personnel to government agencies. The raising of payroll taxes is likely to augment operati ng costs that could hamper profitability of small trades as well as development policies. On the other hand, fiscal deficits are likely to lead to higher rates of interest that will in turn decrease the profitability. Policy constraints acts as the internal rule that keeps a trade from maximizing the overall amount that is generates (Donati 2017). The theory of constraints thinking procedure involves five methods that facilitate the purposeful improvement of any cognitive system. The constraint that has been identified mostly involves current reality tree that is similar to the present state map that is used by several organizations. It evaluates the network of cause-effect relations between the unwanted effects. It involves evaporating cloud that helps to solve conflicts that mostly continue the causes for unwanted effects. It helps to identify the major causes that are common to most or all problems. The procedures are proposed to help the leaders to increase understanding of cause that leads to constraints (Pereira Librelato et al. 2014). Conclusion It can be concluded that the institutional constraint includes the environmental profile that is not evaluated adequately in order to attract attention as well as support to political leadership. The constraints that includes financial constraints comprises of less developed legislatives in the country. References Donati, C., 2017. Service industries, growth dynamics and financial constraints.The Service Industries Journal, pp.1-16. Fabricius, C., Koch, E., Turner, S. and Magome, H. eds., 2013.Rights resources and rural development: Community-based natural resource management in Southern Africa. Routledge. Pereira Librelato, T., Pacheco Lacerda, D., Henrique Rodrigues, L. and Rafael Veit, D., 2014. A process improvement approach based on the Value Stream Mapping and the Theory of Constraints Thinking Process.Business Process Management Journal,20(6), pp.922-949.

Social Media and Arab Uprising

Introduction World transformation has been a long but intensive process affecting various persons and their activities. The issue of globalization is observed to be divided into various types, which are dependent on the activities that actually transform the human existence at a time. The initial stages of globalization dates back to the thirteenth century when it was entirely based on the globalization of countries.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Social Media and Arab Uprising specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This is evident with persons such as Vasco da Gama who explored other countries for better opportunities after having transformed their home countries. This is referred to as globalization 1.0. Globalization 2, which followed, was based on revolution of organizations. It was experienced from the Second World War to the end of the twentieth century. During this period, the internet which led to further deve lopment was invented. Globalization 3 is mainly based on the development achieved in globalization 2.0. It mainly focused on individual revolution. In its achievement, the internet and its connectivity have been intensively used. Early this year, various revolutions were observed in the Arab spring. This was facilitated by the use of social media, a tool in globalization 3.0. This paper seeks to give an in-depth analysis of globalization 3.0 which was instrumental in the Syria and Libya revolution by the use of social media. Arab Spring The social media was very useful in sharing information in the Libya and Syria during their revolution. During this period, most of the media houses were banned from airing information. This was aimed at ensuring control of the public was easy by the administration. Despite this, the internet was easily available to the citizens through computers and cell phone which enabled them to share information. This was specifically used by the youths who had been having access to social media at their schools as well as through in cyber cafes. In my opinion, I perceive collaboration of the youths through social media to have been effective in sharing information not only to the citizens only but also to other people across the globe. This is evident from the numerous footage videos and chats shared on Facebook and Twitter. There are numerous arguments that have been raised on whether the social media was the reason for the uprising, or just a tool for spreading awareness. In getting an accurate answer to the argument, it is necessary to understand the reason for the uprising. In these countries, the leaders had held power for a long time which necessitated revolution. Moreover, the citizens felt that they were denied freedom in undertaking various activities due to the strict rules imposed in ruling the countries.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Thus the root cause of the uprising was the long tough ruling of their countries. Since there were restriction on media houses in regard to sharing of information, the social media remained as the only mans of sharing information as the government had not direct control over them. Thus the social media was not the reasons for the uprising but a tool for spreading awareness (Council on foreign relations, 2011). During the uprising, there were no enough media personnel to share the information to others in a professional way as stipulated by their code of conduct. This did not hinder people from taking videos of the situation and uploading them into the internet through social media sites. This is mainly because, in social media communication, quality is not given much attention as the ideas shared. The main tools used for collecting the information included cell phones and digital cameras. In some instances, the credibility of the information shared was doubted bu t through some reporting from professional media personnel undertaking their duties undercover, some credibility was accorded. In acts affecting large part of the citizen, credibility was necessary in order to give the international community authority to intervene in the uprising as stipulated in the international agreements (Pollack, 2011). Due to the continuous development of social media and improved infrastructure, a larger population has got access to it. This has affected the overall interaction of human beings. Through social media such as Facebook and Twitter, one can have friends from all over the world. Through them, communication between various people despite their origin has been essential in reducing racism as well as ensuring that no part of the world is left far much behind in respect to global development. When use of social media is integrated in an individual’s life, it directly influences the society at large since each person is a member of a specific so ciety. Conclusion The transformation of the world has been evident to all in all the stage; globalization 1.0, globalization 2.0 and globalization 3.0. The internet which has been the backbone of revolution was invented in globalization 2.0 with much transformation experienced in globalization 3.0. Through the internet, social media which was essential in creating awareness in Libya and Syria uprising was born. Despite the lack of sufficient professional media personnel, the youth took videos and shared then to the world. In the case of international intervention, credibility of the information was necessary. Currently, due to the integration of social media in a person’s lifestyle, the society has continuously been shaped.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Social Media and Arab Uprising specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More References Council on foreign relations (2011). The New Arab Revolt: What Happened, What It Means, and What Comes Next? New York: Council on Foreign Relations. Pollack, K. (2011). The Arab Awakening: America and the Transformation of the Middle East. Brookings Institution Press. Washington: Brookings Institution Press. This essay on Social Media and Arab Uprising was written and submitted by user Aria Richardson to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

unit1 communication Essay

unit1 communication Essay unit1 communication Essay Unit 1 Developing Effective Communication in Health and Social Care. Communication is the transfer of information, feelings, signals and behaviours and ideas, and as such, is paramount to all relationships. We need far more than just words to communicate effectively. Research has shown people pay far more attention to body language, facial expression, tone and pitch of voice than to spoken word, therefore in the health and social care sector it is vital to be aware of the different ways in which we communicate and the barriers to communication. Failure to communicate effectively may lead to the breakdown of a relationship and ultimately a lack of trust, between the service provider and service user. There are two theories of communication, Tuckman’s theory states that communication happens in four stages; Forming, Storming, Norming and performing. This can be seen frequently within the health and social care sector, for example between a group of people (family and medical professionals) discussing the care of a dementia sufferer. The group forms to discuss the best plan of action, moves on to storming to share opinions and ideas of what will benefit the patient which leads on to norming once an agreement is reached then finally the performing stage where any necessary actions are taken and the conversation moves forward. While this theory is great for group communication it could fall flat in one to one communication. The second theory is Argyle’s theory of communication. This states communication is Coding, Transmission and Decoding, and at any time the communication can be distorted and interpreted wrong. This must be considered in the health and social care setting, as dealing with such a wide spectrum of people, with a range of different needs is an everyday occurrence. As an example of this theory in action a care worker is explaining the emergency procedure to a new resident but the new resident is hearing impaired so cannot decode the message properly. In order to overcome this barrier and get the transmission across several things should be considered, not only the tone of voice, body language and hand gestures but does the resident have a hearing aid, is it on the right setting, could we use sign language or symbols instead. As a health and social care worker it is your job to make sure everything is understood by the person you are caring for and if communication breaks down you m ust find ways to overcome it. One to one communication is used in many health and social care settings such as a doctor patient consultation, often in this one to one setting personal details are discussed such as illnesses and available treatments. Given the nature of discussion in this setting it is important to make the patient feel at ease, so many factors must be taken in to consideration; the tone and pitch of the doctor’s voice, the doctor should speak firmly and confidently but with warmth. The way the seating is set up can also impact on communication, in most doctors surgery’s the seating is set up so the doctor is on an angle, not facing the patient head on as this may cause the patient to feel intimidated and thus cause a breakdown

Free Essays on Tax Dollars Should Not Be Used For Private Schools

Tax Dollars Should Not Be Used For Private schools Should parents be allowed to choose their children’s schools? This is a question that goes much farther than simply just choosing schools. Do parents really have a choice? Some parents can afford to send their kids to a private religious school but some don’t have the funds to do this. Some say that the government should offer tuition vouchers so that the poor and minorities can have a choice. This seems to be a good idea but there are many debates in whether or not it is constitutional. In the following I will discuss why vouchers are a horrible idea. Vouchers are plans that allow tax dollars to be used for tuition at private schools, including religious schools. The government pays for each and every citizen in America to go to school. They pay for students to go to a public school within their area but sometimes the public schools in some areas are not very good such as the inner city schools. The idea of vouchers would allow poor students to have the chance to go to a better school and rise out of poverty. Some of the questions that are being asked are will they actually help the low class or will they only help the more advantaged students? Another question is if vouchers are constitutional or not, and have there been any experiments with vouchers yet. Right now there are two programs providing public dollars to pay tuition for low-income students to attend private schools, in Milwaukee and Cleveland. Both include religious schools. These are considered to be experimental programs. These programs have been looked at and the problem so far that seems to be the most apparent is the fact that vouchers may just benefit the more advantaged. According to the Ohio official state evaluation (Metcalf 1998): â€Å"Scholarship students who accepted a scholarship to move from the Cleveland public schools to a private school were achieving at higher levels of achievement tha... Free Essays on Tax Dollars Should Not Be Used For Private Schools Free Essays on Tax Dollars Should Not Be Used For Private Schools Tax Dollars Should Not Be Used For Private schools Should parents be allowed to choose their children’s schools? This is a question that goes much farther than simply just choosing schools. Do parents really have a choice? Some parents can afford to send their kids to a private religious school but some don’t have the funds to do this. Some say that the government should offer tuition vouchers so that the poor and minorities can have a choice. This seems to be a good idea but there are many debates in whether or not it is constitutional. In the following I will discuss why vouchers are a horrible idea. Vouchers are plans that allow tax dollars to be used for tuition at private schools, including religious schools. The government pays for each and every citizen in America to go to school. They pay for students to go to a public school within their area but sometimes the public schools in some areas are not very good such as the inner city schools. The idea of vouchers would allow poor students to have the chance to go to a better school and rise out of poverty. Some of the questions that are being asked are will they actually help the low class or will they only help the more advantaged students? Another question is if vouchers are constitutional or not, and have there been any experiments with vouchers yet. Right now there are two programs providing public dollars to pay tuition for low-income students to attend private schools, in Milwaukee and Cleveland. Both include religious schools. These are considered to be experimental programs. These programs have been looked at and the problem so far that seems to be the most apparent is the fact that vouchers may just benefit the more advantaged. According to the Ohio official state evaluation (Metcalf 1998): â€Å"Scholarship students who accepted a scholarship to move from the Cleveland public schools to a private school were achieving at higher levels of achievement tha...

Fictitious Letter to an editor Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Fictitious Letter to an editor - Assignment Example Other disorders include menarche or early puberty, liver disease, anorexia and bulimia eating disorders, high blood pressure, skin infections and respiratory problems. I believe that schools have a critical role in the prevention of childhood obesity. School programs can provide safe and supportive environment through practices and policies promoting healthy behaviors. Parents can prevent obesity in their children through changing the diet of the family and implementing exercise schedules. Children learn best through example and parents can take the opportunity to promote healthy lifestyles. Parents and care givers facing obesity challenges with their children can get help from several local resource information centers. One of them is Elders in Action on SW Washington Street and the Multnomah County Aging and Disability Services Department on Southwest 6th  Avenue. The resource centers are equipped with modern equipment and experienced nutrition professionals to offer appropriate

Justification Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Justification Report - Essay Example It is my hope and faith that this report will be useful in your decision making and that it will lead to useful development. Wal-Mart should invest in the African market and make an early entry. This will help the firm to establish itself in the market which will facilitate its future growth strategies. The African market is growing at a much higher rate than most developed economies around the world. It has also shown a thirst for retail outlets, as indicated by the massive growth of world class shopping malls. Africa is becoming the next hub of business in the global market. Although most of the countries in Africa are still underdeveloped, the rate of economic growth as well as the economic potential that these nations have are commendable (Westen, 2014). At the rate at which the African and the global economy are growing, Africa will be the next big market in the global economy (Larsen et al, 2010). The BRICS provide a good market and an opportunity for firms to grow and expand their business, unfortunately there is high competition there and they may not provide enough market for global development. Looking at most African cities indicate that there is a boom in the retail sector. For instance, many Cities in the African nations such as Nairobi are seeing massive grown in the construction of retail centers such as shopping malls. Nairobi for instance has witnessed the construction of over ten new shopping malls in the last five years. Being a retail organization, this is a massive opportunity for Wal-Mart and it should take it in time not to lose to competitors. African economies are growing at a commendable rate. Most African economies such as Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria are growing at a rate that is much higher than most European nations. Soon, these nations will provide the best opportunity for multinationals like Wal-Mart. Getting in the market as early as possible will be a great advantage for the firm. Those firms which will be able to enter

Stace & Dunphy Essay Example for Free

Stace Dunphy Essay Five dilemmas that have characterised decisions about organisational change: 1. Adaptive V rational strategy development 2. Cultural change V structural change 3. Continuous improvement V radical transformation 4. Empowerment V leadership and command. 5. Economic V Social goals Having discussed the five dilemmas, Dunphy and Stace (1996) differentiate them in terms of `soft and `hard approaches to managing change: Soft approaches are characterised by: adaptive strategy, cultural change, continuous improvement and empowerment. while hard approaches are characterised by: rational strategy, structural change, radical transformation and leadership and command. Introduction to Cultural Change Structural Success in business is often determined by how effective an organization manages cultural change. That is success is not achieved by an executives skills alone, nor by the visible features the strategy, structure and reward system of the organization. Every organization has an invisible quality a certain style, a character, a way of doing things that may be more powerful than the dictates of any one person or any formal system. This invisible quality the corporate culture dictates how effective the organization is in the marketplace. Achieving cultural change to maintain a prime market position has to be a key preoccupation of every chief executive. To understand the soul of the organization and the cultural change required necessitates us probing below the below what is visible, e.g., charts, rule books, machines and buildings and into the underground world of peoples feelings, beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, only then can the corporate culture be defined and cultura l change initiatives be identified. To provide meaning, direction and mobilisation, i.e., the social energy that moves the corporation into either productive action or destruction requires constant cultural change to keep abreast of current management thinking and technology. Many organisations however simply do not recognise the need for cultural change and therefore this social energy has barely been tapped; whether diffused in all directions or even deactivated, it is not mobilised to help the company. Most members seem apathetic or depressed about their jobs and no longer pressure one another to do well. Even cultural change pronouncements by top managers that they will improve the situation fall on the deaf ears of employees who have heard these promises before. Consequently, without cultural change being itself part of the culture, the soul of the organisation slowly dies. The crucial role of corporate cultural change in shaping behaviour, and the especially powerful effects of group norms, one way to turn around a maladaptive company is to effect cultural change by managing its norms. Even cultural norms that dictate behaviour, opinions style and attitudes, etc., can be brought to the surface, discussed and altered by cultural change initiatives. Experience of corporate consulting work, has revealed it helpful to have all group members (generally in a cultural change workshop setting) list the actual norms that currently guide their behaviour and attitudes. This can be done for one or many cultural change groups, departments and divisions. Sometimes, it takes a little prodding and a few illustrations to get the process started, but once it begins, cultural change group members are quick to suggest many norms. In fact, they seem to delight in being able to articulate what was never written in any document and rarely mentioned even in casual conversation between themselves. What is Structural Change Structure is the place where culture grows. The structure of the organization, its physical structure, its work processes and systems support and create the behavior of the people who work there. Often organizations distribute new mission statements, beautiful posters with new values on them, but since the structure of the workplace does not support the mission or values, they are doomed to disappear. The networks of an organization function as culture maintainers organization members who communicate in predictable ways about predictable things based on history. Fundamental and lasting change requires the transformation of the networks that are the foundation for communication and relationships within the organization. By changing the way people sit, the processes they use, the structure of relationships between departments new networks form and old ones fade away. The structural changes should be small, many and high leverage. The changes should be small so that small numbers of volunteers can implement them quickly. Changing many things at the same time destabilizes the old, out-dated systems and processes. High leverage changes have a profound impact on the whole system. New structure forces new behaviors, just as changing the position of a wall in a room, or taking it away all together, causes people in the room to move and to change their focus. (Ref: Johnson Gerry and Scholes Kevan, (2002), exploring corporate strategy, 6 e/d, Printice Hall, UK) Structural change is enduring and difficult to undo. Once new walls, new systems and new processes are built to replace old structures, it is hard to return to the old way of doing things. Remember when the typewriter and the computer sat in side-by-side in the offices and how the people continued to use their typewriters? As soon as the typewriters were gone, people switched to computers. A test for structural change is an econometric test to determine whether the coefficients in a regression model are the same in separate subsamples. Often the subsamples come from different time periods. CNN has picked up on a report by the New York Federal Reserve Bank that suggests that the recovery is jobless because there is a restructuring beginning to happen. In a recent report, economists at the New York Fed suggest that what is happening is structural. In past recessions job losses were far more cyclical: The economy turned down, your company laid you off, but as soon as things got better you got hired back. Lets discuss an issue on structural and cultural change on The causes of Poverty in U.S. There are many competing theories about the causes of poverty in the United States with mountains of empirical evidence to justify support for each. The debate among theorists and policymakers is primarily divided between advocates who support cultural/behavioural arguments and those who support structural/economic arguments. This debate tends to manifest itself across political party lines with republicans supporting the cultural/behavioural thesis and democrats looking more to structural causes. (Ref: http://www.canberra.edu.au) Structural Causes Supporters of the structural school of thought argue that most poverty can be traced back to structural factors inherent to either the economy and/or to several interrelated institutional environments that serve to favor certain groups over others, generally based on gender, class, or race. Of the various institutional environments that tend to sustain a multitude of economic barriers to different groups, it is discrimination based on race and gender that create the most insidious obstructions. The disproportionately high rate of poverty among women may be viewed as the consequence of a patriarchal society that continues to resist their inclusion in a part of society that has been historically dominated by men, and as a consequence, welfare programs have been designed in ways that stigmatize public support for women as opposed to marital support; both arrangements tend to reinforce patriarchy. In this regard, the rise in poverty among women is an important structural level variable t o consider, but the lack of reliable data going back to 1947 makes testing difficult. This view is in part analogous to spatial mismatch theory, which generally hypothesizes that the location and relative access to jobs of the disadvantaged group is more operable than race per se. In a comprehensive literature review, Holzer concludes that spatial mismatch has a significant effect on Black employment and is primarily due to the low availability of well-paying jobs in the inner-city; a situation brought on by job decentralization and increasing commute times to distant jobs. However, Holzer suggests that the root cause of higher unemployment among inner-city Blacks may not be clearly distinguishable between the characteristics of the people who reside in each place as opposed to the problems created by location per se.. Structural economic factors include the level and variation in unemployment, median income, and measures of income inequality. The effects of unemployment and rises in median income are well documented and their relationship to poverty is intuitive. The rate of poverty tracks very closely with median income and in general, rises in median income has positive benefits for all classes, including the poor. Over the last half century, as median income has risen, the rate of poverty has decreased in close correlation. This relationship lends credibility to the argument that work is the best mechanism for lifting people out of poverty. Indeed, one of the clearest strategies for fighting poverty should be to focus on ensuring a strong and growing economy. However, for individuals to take full advantage of a strong and changing economy, they need education. Rises in income are positively correlated with educational attainment. Yet education is not equally accessible by all members of the pop ulation. Since property taxes represent the largest share of local school funding, the quality of education will necessarily vary relative the economic wealth of the locality. Federal and State funding represent smaller shares and are meant to level the playing fields somewhat, but they do not. It is education that allows people to adapt to changes in the economy and by extension changes in the demand for labour. During the latter half of the 20th Century, the American economy shifted from one based on manufacturing to one based on services. The gains in wages and working conditions that were made in the manufacturing sector have been weakened by the service economy. For example, Wal-Mart offers its employees one of the weakest wage/benefits packages of any corporation of its kind and continues to fend off unionization; it is now one the most powerful corporations with a huge market share and monopsony power over its suppliers. The gains in US GDP are in part due to the success of a consumer economy that rewards Wal-Mart and its cousin conglomerates, but at what cost to the Americans working low wage/benefit jobs. The barriers created by these trends are difficult for the poor to overcome. How is the poor parent supposed to take care of his/her family based on a near minimum wage job with poor and/or expensive health coverage and child care? A publication by the Institute of Womens Policy Research demonstrates that many among the poor rely on several sources of income in order to get by, including government assistance, income from other family members, child support, and job income. These multiple sources of income along with the stresses inherent to the pursuit of each would not be as needed if sufficient employment were available for livable wages and benefits. Economic Vs Social goals Some obstacles to the development of new forms of work organisation have been recently reported : low level of awareness, poor access to evidence-based resources, ountervailing trends, distribution of the relevant competencies. When thinking of the impact of industrial relations on organisational innovation, another sociological factor may be stressed: Whatever the necessary roles of the collective social actors in the work organisation, employees are now definitely the key actors in this respect. However, in many countries, the history of industrial relations systems, the actual balance of power between employers and employees in companies and the growing social insecurity based on flexibility, lead many employees to wonder about the aim and the effects of the new forms of work organisation. They consider that companies are asking them for more efforts in their single interests (productivity, quality of product) without any evidence that it may improve employees ones ( working conditions, job security, wages, industrial democracy). For them and for some of their unions, closing the gap with stakeholders is an illusion, and improving workers involvement requires a real balance between economic and social goals in organisational innovation. Therefore, in some industrial relations systems, even more than technical tools, learning processes, used rhetorics or formal provisions, this balance is a basic precondition for most employees to implement and develop new forms of work organisation. In order to meet this precondition, i.e. to ensure both economic and social goals in work organisation, a major tool is employee representatives participation in the decision making, the monitoring and the evaluation of organisational changes at every regulatory level. Proposals are already on the table that actors should build coalitions or should have a proactive role in developing these changes. But in many countries, such proposals cannot be implemented if employers or managers remain the only decision makers in work organisation. Confirming this approach, the EPOC results (Employee Participation in Organisational Change, a programme including a survey on 5800 European companies) reported that, from most managers point of views, the more employee representatives are involved in the regulation of direct participation, the more this participation is efficiently implemented, with a good impact on cost reduction, improvement of quality of product/service, absenteeism. In the same way , in France, reducing working time by law finally was, in many companies, the best way for actors to co-operate in changing work organisation. The deal was clear, with advantages for both partners. Such a social actors involvement in regulation of work organisation is now converging with a more general trend in industrial relations systems towards what may be called a multilevel model of regulated autonomy, involving social partners in co-producing rules at most interlinked levels of work regulation, from the European level to the workplace one. Moreover, this model itself between deregulation and old top-down regulation- is clearly aimed at introducing regulatory flexibility at local levels while common rules may be kept at upper levels. The Auroux Law was the first example in France of such a model. So, in order to establish balanced goals and advantages in organisational change, and more generally in order to co-produce work regulation, employees representatives are or should be at the core of the system. But a major problem then appear. Their weakness in many countries, specially at company level, is often leading to u nbalanced situations in which they dont have the power to play their roles of counterpower. In the long run, the results of the bargaining between unbalanced partners often look unbalanced and not satisfactory for workers, for instance about employment, precariousness or working conditions. (Ref: Lynch Richard, (2000), corporate strategy, 8 e/d, Prentice Hall, England.) Empowerment Leadership and command Empowerment evaluation is part of the intellectual landscape of evaluation. It has been adopted in higher education, government, inner-city public education, nonprofit corporations, and foundations throughout the United States and abroad. A wide range of program and policy sectors use empowerment evaluation, including substance abuse prevention, HIV prevention, crime prevention, environmental protection, welfare reform, battered womens shelters, agriculture and rural development, adult probation, adolescent pregnancy prevention, tribal partnership for substance abuse, self-determination and individuals with disabilities, doctoral programs, and educational reform (the Accelerated Schools Project a national educational reform movement). Descriptions of programs that use empowerment evaluation appear in Empowerment Evaluation: Knowledge and Tools for Self-assessment and Accountability (Fetterman, Kaftarian, and Wandersman 1996). Foundations of Empowerment Evaluation presents a complete description about how to conduct an empowerment evaluation (Fetterman, 2001). The definition of a leader is someone who has followers. To gain followers requires influence but doesnt exclude the lack of integrity in achieving this. Indeed, it can be argued that several of the worlds greatest leaders have lacked integrity and have adopted values that would not be shared by many people today. Empowerment evaluation has three steps. The first step is establishing a mission or vision statement about the program. Some groups do not like the terms mission or vision and instead prefer to focus on results. They state the results they would like to see, based on the outcome of the implemented program and map backwards endash;- specifying activities required to achieve those processes and outcomes. The second step, taking stock, involves identifying and prioritizing the most significant program activities. Then program staff members and participants rate how well the program is doing in each of those activities, typically on a 1 (low) to 10 (high) scale, and discuss the ratings. This helps to determine where the program stands, including strengths and weaknesses. The third step involves charting a course for the future. The group states goals and strategies to achieve their dreams. Goals help program staff members and participants determine where they want to go in the future with an explicit emphasis on program improvement. Strategies help them accomplish program goals. These efforts are monitored using credible documentation. Empowerment evaluators help program staff members and participants identify the type of evidence required to document progress toward their goals. Evaluation becomes a part of the normal planning and management of the program, which is a means of institutionalizing and internalizing evaluation. Empowerment evaluation is fundamentally a democratic process. The entire group not a single individual, not the external evaluator or an internal manager is responsible for conducting the evaluation. The group thus can serve as a check on its own members, moderating the various biases and agendas of individual members. The evaluator is a co-equal in this endeavor, not a superior and not a servant; as a critical friend, the evaluator can question shared biases or group think. Conclusion on Dilemmas While measurement issues remain, including the applicability of a national level analysis to various regions and cities each with potentially differentiated forms and causes of poverty, the final Model V of this analysis provides a useful framework for understanding the general causes of poverty at the national level. Contrary to the hypothesis of the paper, the cultural variables employed could not be integrated with the structural/political variables into a larger model that demonstrated the dynamic interrelation between the structural environment, cultural processes, and behavioral outcomes as theorized by Orlando Patterson Empowerment evaluation has three steps. The first step is establishing a mission or vision statement about the program. Some groups do not like the terms mission or vision and instead prefer to focus on results. They state the results they would like to see, based on the outcome of the implemented program and map backwards endash;- specifying activities required to achieve those processes and outcomes. The second step, taking stock, involves identifying and prioritizing the most significant program activities. Then program staff members and participants rate how well the program is doing in each of those activities, typically on a 1 (low) to 10 (high) scale, and discuss the ratings. This helps to determine where the program stands, including strengths and weaknesses. The third step involves charting a course for the future. The group states goals and strategies to achieve their dreams. Goals help program staff members and participants determine where they want to go in the future with an explicit emphasis on program improvement. Strategies help them accomplish program goals. These efforts are monitored using credible documentation. Empowerment evaluators help program staff members and participants identify the type of evidence required to document progress toward their goals. Evaluation becomes a part of the normal planning and management of the program, which is a means of institutionalizing and internalizing evaluation. Empowerment evaluation is fundamentally a democratic process. The entire group not a single individual, not the external evaluator or an internal manager is responsible for conducting the evaluation. The group thus can serve as a check on its own members, moderating the various biases and agendas of individual members. The evaluator is a co-equal in this endeavor, not a superior and not a servant; as a critical friend, the evaluator can question shared biases or group think. As is the case in traditional evaluation, everyone is accountable in one fashion or another and thus has an interest or agenda to protect. A school district may have a five-year plan designed by the superintendent; a graduate school may have to satisfy requirements of an accreditation association; an outside evaluator may have an important but demanding sponsor pushing either timelines or results, or may be influenced by training to use one theoretical approach rather than another. Empowerment evaluations, like all other evaluations, exist within a context. However, the range of intermediate objectives linking what most people do in their daily routine and macro goals is almost infinite. People often feel empowered and self-determined when they can select intermediate objectives that are linked to larger, global goals. In addition, a self-evaluation is more meaningful when linked to external requirements and demands. Empowerment evaluation also empowers external evaluators. Specifically, the external evaluators role and productivity is enhanced by the presence of an empowerment or internal evaluation process. Most evaluators operate significantly below their capacity in an evaluation because the program lacks even rudimentary evaluation mechanisms and processes. The external evaluator routinely devotes time to the development and maintenance of elementary evaluation systems. Programs that already have a basic self-evaluation process in place enable external evaluators to begin operating at a much more sophisticated level. References * Lynch Richard, (2000), corporate strategy, 8 e/d, Prentice Hall, England. * Channon Derek f., (1999), Encyclopedic Dictionary of strategy management, Blackwell Business, UK. * Lynch Richard, (2000), corporate strategy, 8 e/d, Prentice Hall, England. * Channon Derek f., (1999), Encyclopedic Dictionary of strategy management, Blackwell Business, UK. * Johnson Gerry and Scholes Kevan, (2002), exploring corporate strategy, 6 e/d, Printice Hall, UK. * Robson Wendy, (1997), strategic management and information system, 2 e/d, Prentice Hall, England. * http://www.canberra.edu.au * http://www.drew-associates.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk