The Biochar Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Globalisation’

Globalization seems to bring several changes in human life. It has changed education scenario in India. Looking on its accountability, various institutes are running several regular, basic and vocational courses. Among vocational courses, mba in india has emerged out as a best choice for students. MBA education is a professional degree course which provides a business background to students.

It provides knowledge of management of corporate sector and investment of capital in industry and banking sector. As scientific approach of management education is requirement of company, so management education has become important part of it. Strong presence of IIM in country highlights growth of mba in nation.The Master of Business Administration (MBA) is master’s degree in business administration. The courses contain various fields of business such as accounting, finance, marketing, human resources, operations management and others. The program contains various objectives. Among them few objectives are governance, alignment, assurance, management, integration and finance. Students have multiple options to select of concentration and focus approximately one-third of their studies in this subject. Its wide range of academics attracts people.             Courses like mba accounting, media planning and management program in marketing has become a popular course among student.  After industrialization, various companies call for scientific approaches to management. Thus, the MBA originated in the United States, in late 19th century.MBA education deals with long term improvement program of the company. It aims to provide a strategic aims to the relevant group. In compare to management project, a program is goal oriented plans, which is done looking on the bright future of the company. Whereas, project aims is to show immediate effects on the business of organization. The management of business administration courses teaches student to achieve a desired outcome.

It is a combination of short projects, which creates a platform of long term profit-making. The student here gets lessons of managing of organization in the smooth flow of improvement. Thus its study aims at the technique of framing a base strategy to help the running of multiple projects within the company. For students in india many institutes are offering various program, with relevant to mba study abroad. Few institutes follow the procedure of entrance examination followed by interview. Few allot seats according to All India Ranking in various nationwide tests like CAT, XAT and MAT.  In last few years MBA has got equal popularity to engineering courses. Rise of Indian economy opt a need for quality management education in India.

Top institutes like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and others are doing great effort to provide quality education. With the demand of course various universities started offering online mba in india.  It is designed for those working classes who could not accommodate regular courses. The course composed with characteristics like learn innovative business tools, processes, and insights into leading organizations in the global economy, test new ideas and classroom experience on the job immediately and learn from a diverse group of experienced and intelligent professionals, in a spirit of partnership.For more in mba, log on to mbaeducationinindia.

Professional Interpreting Services Break Down the Language Barrier

Professional interpreting services are more important than ever, now that globalization has made international communications almost routine. Business negotiations, as well as cultural and educational exchange, become far easier when each party is able to speak in his native language with an accurate, real-time translation being provided to the other party so that every point is properly understood.
Even though geopolitical developments over the past 150 years have turned English into a global lingua franca, and the spread of English has become even more intense over the past few years due to the rise of the Internet, communicating is always easier as well as more precise when a non-native speaker of English is able to speak in his own language.

Indeed, complex technical terms and concepts often are difficult to express for a non-native speaker of a particular language. Relying on professional interpreting service providers to translate and explain such terms as necessary ensures that the concepts and terms which are crucial to the success of negotiations or other important conversations are properly understood.

Once professional interpreting services are employed during conversation sessions, all parties can rest assured that everything that is being said is being simultaneously translated for perfect understanding. In addition, professionals who are able to converse fluently in the native or preferred tongue of both parties are trained to make sure that any misunderstanding which arises due to language issues is easily and quickly clarified.

Professional interpreting services today do not include only real-time translation

Interpreters are communications professionals who truly are a gateway to cross-cultural communications. The professional interpreter provides a real window into the culture behind the language that is being translated. As a professional interpreter is as well versed in cultural nuances as he is in linguistic nuances, he provides information on how to best approach a negotiating partner who has been raised in a different culture. Therefore, the professional interpreter contributes even more to the success of the negotiations or exchange by explaining how to best approach issues that may result due to cultural differences.

While globalization has indeed made the world smaller, it has not created a universal culture or language. If anything, the success of the globalization process lies in the fact that it allows speakers of different languages who are members of different cultures and nationalities to interact with each other, especially when they share a common goal that supersedes any linguistic barriers or cultural differences.

Professional interpreting services in essence break down linguistic barriers

Because each party to the negotiations or conversation is hearing what the other has to say in his own language rather than having to rely on his own less than perfect understanding of another language. Once the interpreter breaks down those linguistic barriers, it becomes easier for both parties to cooperate in building a bridge that brings both of them together.

Sample Essay

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Globalisation is considered to be the amalgamation of countries, markets and skills in such a way that both individuals and corporations reach other people in a more profound and faster way than ever before. It has also led to a transformation of trade, finance and socio-cultural foundations countries worldwide so that today they more interdependent and closer to each other than ever before. And where products are more homogenised and standardised on a global scale (Levitt, 1984). The article, “Blond and Blue-eyed? Globalizing Beauty” by Geoffrey Jones, (2008) traces the growth of beauty or cosmetics industry from its humble beginning to a truly globalised industry, with different sectors catering to different needs of consumers around the world. Jones (2008) details evolution of beauty industry and discusses the drivers and obstacles of international expansion and also the strategy adopted by different organisations to expand internationally.

Jones (2008) in his article details several drivers which led to beauty industry’s evolution from a minor industry to a global sector. Following are the drivers mentioned in the article:

Emergence of United States as world’s largest homogenised market
Positive relationship between standard of living and use of toiletries
Positive impact of Increase in disposable income and market growth
Global appeal of American cinema and International travel effect of American Culture Value
Economies of scale and high margins for “prestige products” and first mover’s advantage

Similarly he has pointed out several major obstacles to globalisation:

Difference in consumer preferences and difference consumption patterns
Problems with marketing and distribution; restrictions on advertisements
Difference in human physiology of different locations
Difference in governmental  regulations in different countries

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In this globalized world, Globalisation often comes up for discussions and while many speak eulogising globalisation, as many put the entire blame on it for all the ills prevalent across the world. Golbalisation per se is not something worth blaming and as Amartya Sen in his much acclaimed ‘Argumentative Indian, establishes with facts globalisation was very much here and it is not at all a new phenomenon. Trade, travels by great travellers of yore like Huen Tsang, Fahian, Vasco Da Gama to name a few, flourished across various countries since centuries. As we are witnessing today academic pursuits as well as cultural contacts were in vogue in those days. Hence blaming globalisation blindly has no meaning otherwise absolutely meaningless. Unfortunately it has turned out to be a fashion among a lot to cast aspersions on globalisation and they are not to be blamed for it, as they have their own reasons in subjecting it to scathing criticism. Even those who keep soft corner in their minds towards it, of late the negative points far outweigh plus points a stark unfortunate reality.

Many a bad influence affect all countries from across Western countries like sexual anarchy, a permissive society, the inflow of immoral tendencies, selfish, greed, ulteriror motives of the industrial and business communities by flashing obscene advertisements through visual, print media, internet, bad cultural influences, all being aped across the spectrum in India and other such developing and least developed countries. The inundating bad influences especially affect our children and youth alike and all these influences assimilated and practised by a world of cut-throat competition for amassing wealth and way-ward dealings like drug-trafficking, immoral trafficking and child abuse. Nowadays our contemporary film sector is ne of the examples barring a minority of films, obscenity rules roost in majority of films, the purpose behind producing such films remain the greed for more and more wealth and gratification of sorts. Many actors, male and female alike compete with one another to plunge into the tinsel world and thus hog the lime-light and also for piling up crores and crores of money. In their race to grab opportunities they stoop to such low levels like shedding their self-respect and ethical values. Globalisation in fact plays a prominent role bringing the situation to such a pass.

Due to these bad influences, the plus sides are widely neglected like youth and businessmen getting ample opportunities for pursuing higher-studies, to pursue more jobs with attractive career prospects and also for starting new business ventures by the trade and business community. Lakhs benefitted simultaneously benefitting their mother countries through remittances from abroad. The boom period lasted for decades benefitting many nations and many job, business and trade aspirants.

Ever since the unfortunate Global Economic Meltdown in America in 2008 and its repercussions across Europe, even the Asian nations like India inspite of being a regulated economy badly affected, the boom period had to bid good-bye subsequently forcing US and European nations thinking on the lines of protectionist tendencies. Many rendered jobless in fact including educated, employed youth of US and the Indian diaspora. Till then enjoying brilliant career prospects and earning lucrative salaries these Indian youth in droves left to their motherland jobless. A few upon getting depressed bid goodbye to their lives together with their families. The sudden shock on the economy naturally shocked many and those ones who lavishly enjoyed lives till then couldn’t come face to face with the stark reality.

After Barack Obama ascended the throne in 2008, he unleashed a stimulus package of US 9 bn, a meagre sum compared to the magnitude of the disaster and naturally it could only partially benefit the nation.

Many remained homeless, jobless and on witnessing their lot, he mulled restricting the outsourcing of jobs to India by raising tax rates of those businessmen outsourcing jobs to India. In addition to that he raised the H1B and L1 visa fee hikes sharply affecting a lot of Indians very badly. Any reduction of tax-rates on outsourcing of jobs and any reduction of raised visa fees are not even a distant possibility even on the ocassion of Obama’s ongoing visit to India.

Similar is the case in Britain, where immigration rules have been tightened raising the visa fees for students and skilled employees. That nation also seems to be moving on the path of Protectionism, another threat to Indian students and skilled workers.

Venkita Raman Ramakrishnan, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 2009, India’s pride, reportedly has come down on tightening of immigration rules where he is immersed in research in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) at Cambridge. He went on with his observation that if the immigration rules that he witnesses today were in force at the moment of his hope of flying to Britain he would never have even imagined about landing in Britain to follow his research.

Britain’s new immigration rules according to Venkita Raman Ramakrishnan are bound to affect badly the Indian students intending to pursue higher academic studies in Britain and which would ultimately affect not only those students but the entire world in the coming days ultimately stagnating the progress of academic pursuits and employment.

As austerity measures across European countries become rampant protectionist tendencies are expected to rise alarmingly and at present there seems to be no way out.

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The only thing constant in this world today is ‘CHANGE’. The human race has evolved from a leaf-clad nomad to a highly modern civilization. The major factors, which have contributed to these enormous and apparent changes, are ‘Technology and Globalisation’. This terrestrial ball which we call the globe has shrunken down into an urban village where everyone has the access to the other end at all the times. But still there is a gap between the various sections of the world; the reason: EDUCATION.

We know in the global society today the aspects of rapid change, lifelong learning, flexible routes to learning and the use of technology have a major impact on all the areas of education. And one such area is the ‘Teacher Education’.

As already stated earlier, we are completely under the influence of the growing demands and needs of the newly born and evolved society, so we have to bring about drastic changes in our teacher education programmes. The schools of today not only need a well educated teacher who has loads of content knowledge but also the one who has several other traits of personality which are the need of the hour.

Professional and teacher development has become increasingly important across all sectors of education pertaining to the significant changes in this sector due to the impact of new technologies and the increasing drives of accountability and recognized validity by the society and the government.

In accordance to these changes the teacher educators of today should produce teachers who can confidently and whole heartedly welcome these changes and blend them in their ways and methods of teaching.

It now depends upon the teacher educators how they do so. I feel that no matter how advance the technologies are, one comes back to his/her own culture and society. So we should completely agree to the fact that because it is a growing world we will have to grow along with it as per its requirements but then always stay connected to our own individualities as well.

I would like to quote here a few words by DRUCKER (1993)—

   “Tomorrow’s Educated persons will have to be prepared for

living in a global world. It will be a Westernised world.

But the Educated Persons will also live in an increasingly

tribalized world. They must be ‘citizens of the world’ – in

their vision, their horizon, their information. But they will

have to draw nourishment from their local roots and, in

turn, enrich and nourish their own culture.”

All that I wish to say here is that to make a stand in today’s progressive community we have to make use of the new approaches of teaching which cater more to the student’s needs and use the latest means of technology like the role of ICT etc. But at the same time never forget that  these new globally accepted machines are just the sources to impart our culture and ethics to our children so that in this phase of cosmopolitanism and globalism they stand upright and high with a difference and uniqueness from the rest.

So, I shall like to conclude by saying that in this era of globalisation, the out sourcing of teacher education is a must in order to draw out the maximum results worldover equally.

It is through teacher education only that we shall get all the answers to the curiosities and queries of the future generations because it is the teacher who is to train and shape the potential citizens of tomorrow who in turn shall participate in the global race.

In Good Company is a refreshing comedy, rallying against
corporate treachery and mass globalisation. Behind the laughs,
the Hollywood blockbuster carries some important lessons for the
first days on your new job!

First Impressions

Why do actors get typecast? Keanu Reeves finds it easier to
shake off a legion of demons than his Neo character in
Constantine; Bruce Willis dies hard even as a doting father in
Unbreakable; and Cameron Diaz by any other name is still as
sweet. Because it saves the director some very precious screen
time presenting a character to the audience. Need to portray a
middle-aged advertising sales manager who has dedicated 20 years
to the job? Dennis Quaid fits the bill perfectly. And one look
at Topher Grace already prepares you for his hilarious rendition
of a whiny and inexperienced marketing whiz kid.

What first impressions do you create? People typically make up
their minds about you two minutes after shaking your hand.
That’s 120 seconds. Or approximately the time it takes to dig
your nose in public – which, incidentally, kills your image and
is a huge no-no. Make the effort to wake earlier on your first
day, arrive 10 minutes ahead of time, and dress sharper than
usual. First impressions last, and you do not want to be
remembered for the cabbage in between your teeth.

After Work Fun

Dan Foreman shows off some fancy moves when his advertising
sales team takes to the court in the department basketball
match. Determined to prove he is a winner, despite his
considerable age, he inadvertently injures himself in the
process. While we snigger at the pre-historic Dan, this episode
shows how you, too, can score points outside the office.

Many companies have formal or informal after-hour activities,
ranging from football games to a couple of drinks at the nearest
watering hole. These are excellent opportunities to bond with
the new colleagues. Get involved, but do not overdo it. As in
all things, moderation is the key. You do not want to end up
with a cast on your arm, nor insanely inebriated after happy
hour.

Personal Business

We see Dan taking his daughter Alex out for a game of tennis
during office hours, which could be acceptable – or not,
depending on company policy. But when Carter Duryea takes the
abovementioned out for lunch, stares smitten at her photograph
on his computer monitor, and starts a relationship with her,
alarm bells go off.

Studies reveal that most of us are guilty of sneaking in some
amount of personal business on company time: Checking email,
buying stuff online, instant messaging. The aim is to keep these
private distractions to a minimum and stay focussed on work. Two
more rules here. Number one: You do not start dating the
daughter of the man whose job you are taking over. And number
two: You do not violate rule number one. Such romances only
serve to complicate matters and are advised against, especially
on the first day of the job!

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Most people would agree that the concept of a job today is vastly different from that of 20 years ago. Organisations are changing at speed, technology has changed the face and pace of work, and globalisation is pushing every business to examine it’s operations in a totally different context.

How do we, the people that work within this changing environment, manage our own needs and wants.

Over the last 10 years I have had contact with many individuals searching for their place in the working world. For many, a growing sense of dissatisfaction with their work, or a general feeling that things aren’t as they should be, has left them with two questions to answer – “Why am I here?”, and “What would I really love to do for a job?”.

The concept of the ideal job is, I believe, fraught with danger. As long as we believe that there is a single job that will make us truly happy, then we are immediately limiting our actions and beliefs in searching for it. We set ourselves up for failure with expectations that the answer will “come” to us, or that a job needs to be perfect.

The truth is that there is rarely a single outcome in the search for the ideal job. A career is only a part of a lifestyle – a lifestyle encompasses all aspects of our life. Those who consider their career in isolation of their desired lifestyle may end up making less than ideal job-related choices. 

So is it really about planning a career, or is it more about planning a lifestyle, of which work/career is one component?

A clearly structured process will help you to define the parameters of work that are important for you, rather than specific jobs. For example, preferred industries, work type (full or part time etc), working hours, travel, level of autonomy or team work, desired income, responsibility, skills you want to use, location and so on. Once you are clear on your parameters, perhaps have even prioitised them for their importance to you, you can evaluate your career options against them. With this approach, the weight of expectation is lifted, the burden of finding the “one and only right answer” is gone. You have the freedom to consider a large number of roles knowing that you will make a choice based on your personal criteria.

At the end of the day, career decisions are about making choices not finding right and wrong answers. Give yourself parameters, and put the power of choice firmly in your hands – where it belongs.

 Where are we heading in “Modern” Health Services?

Although I am aware that there are significant differences between health services in different countries -and in fact within the same country-; as health worker, we all share an underlying commonality to a certain degree. I am writing this article under the assumption that, in this current era of “globalisation” and “standardisation”, there is a universal demand for the “modernisation” of health services. The health system has been forced to incorporate, within its constitution, terms such as health delivery management, strategic planning, strategic improvement, governance and quality, amongst many other fashionable words brandished around these days (the likes of which, yours truly finds confusing sometimes). However, we must accept that all of the above are part of the continuous evolution of the health service.

Before I proceed further, I would like to clarify to the readers the use of the word “modernising” in the context of this article. Here, I am referring to the involvement of numerous and diverse areas of expertise (e.g. business, aviation) within the field of health. This new approach has placed additional expectations on the clinicians, requiring them to possess reasonable knowledge in various fields. These skills include management, budgeting, cost, strategic development and other tasks which were previously left to the administration ‘to deal with’, whereas we clinicians were expected to focus on improving our clinical skills and, even more importantly, satisfying /managing our patients. I imagine that many of you will agree with me that this is a very nostalgic view, which is rarely found in this modern day and age.

I am not going to bore you with details about the health service where I work, as I do not believe it to be of significant importance; it would in fact defeat the purpose of provoking a debate relating to the key question of this article (i.e. the title). It would suffice to say that there is a pressure, as a health provider, to embrace a great deal of management, business and budgeting concepts. I am like most clinicians; work in a rapidly “modernising” health system.  Hopefully, once the reader continues scanning through the article, they will understand why I elected to use this generalization.

My guess is when we look at “modernizing” health services in different countries there appear to be a significant difference between them at first glance but once we “dig deep” and examine in depth the fundamental structure of most of the health services (wither it is private, governmental, insured, free or hybrid) I assume that the reader will find common points, at least partially.

 I, as a health provider find myself in a strange position of being instructed to be knowledgeable about “quality ” , “management”, “strategic planning” ,”updating my evidence based knowledge” , “understanding the fundamentals of accounting and budgeting”  amongst many other words, which my memory could barely remember ,let alone grasp.

The main problem is all of the above are dictated to me by different parties whose priorities (rightly or wrongly) lie within their own “primary target”.  

One could argue that all of the above could be part of one thing and by doing one; this will lead to the achievement of the others (i.e. domino effect). This is a point which I hope my article would encourage debating.

From my humble point of view, I still cannot cope with all “the priorities” I am bombarded with and I do find contradiction in many of them; especially when it comes to (if we break it down in to a simple, old fashioned targets) patients’ care versus cost which- rightly or wrongly- in my opinion, what the main issue boils up to (this is again a controversial statement and subjected to debate).

I am here not to find a solution or to offer an “ideal” way to balance a juggling act, as I am still picking up the pieces and trying again and again to be able to pull up the act efficiently in front of many anticipating audiences, each looking at me from a different angle with different expectation.

I wish that I could say that I managed but the reality is that I could not. My department and my hospital could not and more importantly my health service leaders cannot which is the most worrying concern because it is these “experts” who are suppose to guide us,  yet sometimes you feel that the blind leading the blind.

So what happened in a decade or so to lead us; and I apologies for the generalization; to be entangled in this “modernizing” health service?

I myself are nostalgic for the day when we say patient comes first and we DO mean patient comes first. Yet, I find myself focusing less on patients and looking more at statistics, strategies, missions, visions, audits, surveys etc and although (please do not get me wrong) I am all for the above, but it is becoming harder and harder to balance my already flawed juggling act.

Allow me to give an example to demonstrate what I mean. As a consultant psychiatrist, I obviously posses skills that my colleagues may lack or are not be “privileged/ technically speaking” to carry. An example for a surgeon is a type of surgical procedure, for a radiologist a special radiological technique. In my case a therapy for certain disorders that required years of supervision and learning. Again, one may argue that I should take responsibility and that this is my own fault as I should transferred my knowledge to my colleges, but here where the dilemma lie, as time, ethics are against me. Clinically I am expected to priorities my time but this raises another dilemma as my time is not entirely in my hand and the vicious cycle goes on.   

Let me give a real life example which I hope will demonstrate the above argument. When I joined my current department I started (naively) to accept undertaking therapy for patients with personality disorder (i.e. a condition which requires specific skills learned through years of supervision and practice) as the waiting list was long, and I was the only person with the expertise to manage this population. I went to my secretary and with an authoritative instruction, told her to arrange booking one hour a day every Tuesday at 11am for at least 20 weeks minimum, with the possibility of increasing the number of session. The poor secretary looked at me and did the necessary.  After two sessions of relatively positive rapport building with my client, the time for the third session approached.  As the time for the session came my secretary called and informed me that there is a “mandatory” emergency meeting for all heads of department with the human resources to discuss an extremely important issue. Dilemma again, what should I do?  I thought that our motto of “do no harm” and ethically as my patient has a real risk of feeling abandoned (which could have a catastrophic effect on therapy) and more important could lead to risk of serious self harm, I made the decision not to attend the meeting and see the patient instead.

Next day, a warning letter was delivered to me through my work email and due to my absence (even though I have sent the reason, and asked one of my colleges to attend the meeting) our department has lost in term of some administrative decision making.

That was my baptism of fire and my welcome to the modern health care. As a head of department I find myself more and more involved in writing the ideal setting to serve our clients but the time consumed in this preventing me from doing exactly what I am writing!.

I wish that the issue is related to me only, but even down the “chain of command” each member of my staff is finding it more and more difficult to focus on patient, and more of their work involving replaying to emails, cutting cost, achieving targets, filling endless forms, auditing, teaching, gathering educational hours, coming with initiatives, fulfilling their objectives in the appraisal and much much more.

I hope that my experience and my words echoes with similar experiences with the readers and as I have mentioned in the beginning, I am not looking for solution but I am hoping to provoke a serious debate about where are we heading in this era of so called “modernisation” and is the involvement of many parties and philosophies in the process beneficial to the end result (patients)?.

I am looking forward for a thought provoking debate and would be grateful for any of the readers from different evolving health services to share their thoughts and opinions.