Unemployment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Unemployment - Essay Example An unemployed individual does not currently have a job, has sort for a job in the prior 4 weeks and ready for work as defined by the U.S. Department of Labor (1). This is usually denoted as a percentage. Unemployment is a very significant measure or indicator of the economy and serves to indicate how healthy or ailing an economy is. The unemployment rate, which by definition is the ratio of people who are unemployed to the total number of people in the labor market, is the most common measure used to define and size up employment. There are instances when unemployment is voluntary (Gay 30). This scenario occurs when persons opt not to seek employment due to a number of reasons such as low wages in the market. Unemployment generally significantly affects parameters such as inflation and stock prices. What then is the relationship that exists between unemployment and inflation? Market players, such as the Federal government and corporate world usually relate low unemployment rates are attributed to high inflation levels. Low unemployment is consequently related to an increase in the growth of the economy. These market participants also view the reverse as true, which means that an increase in unemployment and a slow economic growth are indicative of a decrease in unemployment. Theoretically, the relationship between unemployment and inflation is explained by the Phillips curve. According to this theory, unemployment and inflation work in opposite direction. Chang asserts that in a period of low unemployment as compared to a period of high unemployment, there are fewer unemployed laborers in the labor market (Chang 10).

Registered nurse Essay Example for Free

Registered nurse Essay The field of nursing has been well-known since the beginning of civilization. People everywhere are familiar with this field because people have always and will continue to experience illness, pain, suffering and death. The purpose of this report is to provide readers with detailed information about the field of nursing including its history, occupation description, education requirements, employment opportunities, job outlook, job availability and salary. The first roots to the modern nursing can be traced back to Florence Nightingale (Career As a Registered Nurse (RN),6). She has inspired numerous people around the world and was considered a heroine in her time. Nightingale was highly educated and would travel through Europe looking at hospitals trying to educate the staff on better patient care and hygiene. She then served as a nurse for the British government tending to ill and injured soldiers during the Crimean War. Nightingale started the first modern, formal nursing school in 1860, naming it the Nightingale School, after herself. Nightingale is said to have created the healthcare model that we follow today, which treats the patient as an individual instead of a disease. (Career As a Registered Nurse (RN),6). This paved the way for other nurses to step up and make nursing a better field to work in. In the United States, Clara Barton cared for soldiers in the Civil War that were fighting for both the North and the South. Clara Barton later developed the American Red Cross. (Career As a Registered Nurse (RN),7). Developments such as these lead to the first nursing school in the US opening. It was opened by the Bellevue Hospital in New York. (Career As a Registered Nurse (RN),7). This helped girls across the country gain insight into the field of nursing which in turn created new schools and new opportunities for people to join the field. A registered nurse takes care of sick and injured people. They are concerned with the â€Å"Whole Person† rather than the disease an individual may have. Registered nurses help with the emotional, physical and mental needs of the patient they are caring for (Registered Nurse (RN)). In the hospital registered nurse’s work under what they call a head nurse. According to the Registered Nurse (RN) web site, â€Å"Registered nurses usually work eight hours a day, forty hours a week, rotating shifts, holidays and weekends. † Registered nurses perform a variety of different jobs. They observe the patient and record the observations they see, they consult with the physicians and others healthcare clinicians with their observations, and they maintain and disconnect intravenous lines for fluid, give medication, blood, and blood products. United States). RN’s help with the plan of care for their patients; the plan may include their activities of daily living, checking the dosages given to the patient, and administering medication (United States). An RN also helps explain to family members how to take care of their family member after they return home. They may explain their diet plan, nutrition, care needs, and the exercise needed (United States). The RN teaches the patient’s family, along with the patient, how to take care of their injuries or illness (United States). These are only a few things that a registered nurse may do on a daily basis as their jobs are crucial for the recovery of sick and injured individuals. They are different educational paths that a registered nurse can choose from. They can get their bachelor’s degree, an associate degree, or a diploma from an approved nursing program (United States). Many registered nurses choose to complete either a two year program with an associate degree or a four year program with a bachelor’s degree. After they have successfully completed the nursing program, then they must take a national examination in order to obtain a nursing license to practice (Career as a Registered Nurse (RN), 23). They are also advanced practice nurses such as a nurse midwife, nurse practitioner, nurse anesthetist or nurse specialist. Advanced practice nurses need a master’s degree in order to practice (United States). Degrees There are three different educational paths to becoming a registered nurse. They can choose to obtain a bachelor’s degree (BSN), an associate degree (ADN), or a diploma (Career as a Registered Nurse (RN), 22). Bachelor’s degree programs are offered by universities and take an average of four year to complete the program. Associate degree program is offered by community colleges and take about two to three years to complete the program. Diploma programs are completed in the hospital, and they last about three years (Career as a Registered Nurse (RN), 22). After the student graduates from one of the three types of programs, and they complete their licensing examination, they can qualify for the entry-level positions as a staff nurse (United States). Several nurses that have taken the associate program will return to school to obtain a bachelors degree program; they call this an RN-to BSN program (United States). People who have a bachelor’s degree program can return to school to obtain an accelerated master’s degree in nursing (MSN). After completion of the ADN program to receive the BSN and MSN it takes three to four years to complete as a full time student to receive an award for both (United States). The bachelor’s degree program takes about twelve to eighteen months to earn the degree after completion of the associate degree program. For someone who holds a bachelor’s degree who decides to obtain an MSN, it takes an additional two years to receive their master’s degree (United States). When taking classes at college for the associate degree program, the programs includes courses such as anatomy, physiology, sociology, microbiology, chemistry, psychology, and nursing classes. For associate degree programs liberal arts is also a part of their coursework (Career as a Registered Nurse (RN), 23). Students must participate in supervised clinical experiences. These clinical rotations can be done in hospital departments such as maternity, psychiatry, pediatrics, and surgery (United States). Several other health care facilities that offer clinical experience include public health departments, home health agencies, nursing care facilities, and ambulatory clinics. Advantages and Disadvantages When deciding what degree should be obtained, students must consider everything before choosing what program is right for them (United States). If someone has chosen to take an associates program with a two year community college, they could be limited for advancement opportunities (United States). When someone takes a bachelor’s degree or higher with a four year university, they receive more training in areas such as communication, leadership and critical thinking and will have a better opportunity to obtain a higher position than someone with a associates degree (United States). People who obtain a bachelor’s degree have more clinical experience in nonhospital settings (United States). Bachelor’s degrees are often needed for teaching, consulting, and research positions (United States). Licenses In the United States, students are required to graduate from an approved nursing program before they are allowed to practice nursing. Students are required to take and pass the national licensing examination known as the National Council Licensure Examination or NCLEX-RN (United States). After successfully passing the NCLEX-RN exam students will obtain their nursing license. Other Qualifications Nurses are people who should love caring for others when they are sick and ill. They should be responsible and sympathetic for all patients. They need to be able to give people direction and supervise other co-workers who are under them. Nurses should be emotionally stable to be able cope with people who are suffering, dying, and emergency situations (Career as a Registered Nurse (RN), 19). Continuing education credits could be required in some states on regular bases (United States). Advancement Registered nurses most often start out as staff nurses in hospitals. The more experience the nurse acquires overtime, the more often the nurse will move to other departments or promoted to do jobs taking on more leadership roles and responsibility (United States). Registered nurses can advance from a head nurse to a senior-level nurse they are more of a director, vice president, chief of nursing and assistant director (United States). This job requires a graduate or an advancement degree in health services administration, and the administration program works with leadership, communication and excellent judgments (United States). If someone chose to advance in their nurse practice, there are four different advanced practice nurses to choose from they are: clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, nurse-midwife, and nurse practitioners (United States). When a nurse chooses one of the four types of advanced practice nurses, it requires a master’s degree (United States). New graduates should consider if they want to advance in their career when first applying for a job in order to ask the hiring team if there is room for advancement within the facility and the position they will be taking.

Net Privacy Essay -- social issues

Net Privacy The internet has brought mixed blessings to the people who use it. It is a fantastic information source but the relative lack of privacy has brought forth a major problem. Anyone with even little hacking knowledge can track every move that you make while using internet services and/or view private or confidential information. It is now possible for some internet sites can actually find information such as e-mail addresses or the name of the person/people viewing the site without authorisation. This problem can affect everyone who uses any internet services and ultimately can lead to very confidential information(such as credit card numbers) getting into the hands of criminals. Internet services and facilities are now used and provided by many companies and individuals worldwide. Each web site that is visited could have the capability of finding out your name and/or e-mail address and sending junk e-mail or cataloguing this information and then selling it to other companies. The ISP that you connect to the internet also has a record of every bit of information you upload or download, and must keep records for official purposes. Any sites that ask for your credit card number for "pay by use" or restricted services could, in fact, sell or use such information for illegal purposes such as fraud. The actual hardware requirements for using the internet are minimal, only an internet service provider(a company that allows a connection to the internet), modem(to send and receive data transmissions through a phone line), phone line(to dial up the I.S.P,) and a reasonably fast computer(to run the hardware and software) are needed to get onto the internet. This allows almost anyone with a computer to access the internet. Software is needed to browse or view the internet is a browser(such as Netscape Navigator, MS Internet Explorer) and for e-mail services, programs such as Eudora, Netscape Navigator or MS Internet Explorer are needed to send or receive e-mail. Nearly everyone will at some stage in their lives use the Internet. Very minimal skills are needed to use the Internet, and it allows people to access an immense amount of information at the touch of a button. All a person with a little hacking knowledge needs to do to get such information is to use a Trojan horse type program and he or she can follow you around and view the information ... ...er band of people would be willing to visit sites and enter confidential information without any fear of misuse. It must be the future of the Internet. Computer Privacy is a major issue and it does effect anyone who uses any internet service. Something must be done to stop the crimes committed against the privacy of people and people should be allowed to control their personal or confidential information, whether they want it freely available or not. Only through consumer pressure will the internet become more secure as has happened in America. Already people can join up to ISP's with totally secure services with total anonymity. This must be the future of the internet. BIBLIOGRAPHY World Wide Web Electronic Privacy Information Center Authors, Electronic Privacy Information Center, [Online] http://www.epic.org/, 22/4/97 unknown. Who Owns Personal Information?: Junk Mail and Privacy [Online] http://www.epic.org/privacy/junk_mail/ ,24/4/97 unknown. THE FACTS ABOUT COMPUTER PRIVACY, [Online] http://www.203.232.1.23/~org/~itop/priv.html MAILING LIST unknown. Computer Privacy Digest, [e-mail service] mailing list newsletter, unknown. ,20/3/97

Comparing How Two Women Find Their Identity :: Compare Contrast Comparison

Comparing How Two Women Find Their Identity Two women born in the United States, and raised in a small town, both have become important role models of today. They each write wonderful and strong essays describing what they believe in and finding out who they really are. Winona LaDuke and Pythia Peay both come from different backgrounds. LaDuke is a Native American Indian who wrote the essay on â€Å"Reclaiming Culture and the Lands.† Pythia Peay also wrote an essay on â€Å"Soul Searching.† They both share their ideas and experience of how and where they grew up. LaDuke is a mother of two children and lives on the White Earth reservation in Minnesota. She is part Jewish and part Ojibwe. Her parents are two very important people in her life. She was one of the few who grew up around people fighting for what they believe in. In her essay she writes about her religion and culture while trying to make it in the real world. She writes about how her people are there for one another and how they take care of each other’s children. In her essay she states, â€Å"We operate in extended families, and that is how we parent†, (10).She is stating that this is not common among the â€Å"White American Culture†, but among the Native Americans. She tries to teach them the value of life and keeping the tradition of their culture and how important it is to know where they come from. She talks about children learning from experience, having the need to be involved within their community, which will make them better understand their culture. In a way she is saying that seeing is believing! She talks strongly about how Native Americans are â€Å"deculturalizing† (12). She is saying that her people are slowly being pulled away from their native culture and being pulled into the white mans culture. This is what makes her even more determined to keep her culture and religion alive. Peay writes her essay on â€Å"Soul Searching†. She writes about finding her soul after leaving her home town in Oak Grove, Missouri where she grew up. Stepping into the new world full of opportunities is what she has always dreamed of. She traveled from city to city, and within each city she began to discover who she really was. In her essay, she lists some opinions and explains what she thinks of them.

Case Digest Aglipay vs Ruiz

Facts: In May 1936, the Director of Posts announced in the dailies of Manila that he would order the issuance of postage stamps commemorating the celebration in the City of Manila of the 33rd International Eucharistic Congress, organized by the Roman Catholic Church. The petitioner, Mons. Gregorio Aglipay, Supreme Head of the Philippine Independent Church, in the fulfillment of what he considers to be a civic duty, requested Vicente Sotto, Esq. member of the Philippine Bar, to denounce the matter to the President of the Philippines. In spite of the protest of the petitioner’s attorney, the Director of Posts publicly announced having sent to the United States the designs of the postage for printing. The said stamps were actually issued and sold though the greater part thereof remained unsold. The further sale of the stamps was sought to be prevented by the petitioner.Issue: Whether the issuance of the postage stamps was in violation of the Constitution. Held: Religious freedom as a constitutional mandate is not inhibition of profound reverence for religion and is not a denial of its influence in human affairs. Religion as a profession of faith to an active power that binds and elevates man to his Creator is recognized. And, in so far as it instills into the minds the purest principles of morality, its influence is deeply felt and highly appreciated.When the Filipino people, in the preamble of their Constitution, implored â€Å"the aid of Divine Providence, in order to establish a government that shall embody their ideals, conserve and develop the patrimony of the nation, promote the general welfare, and secure to themselves and their posterity the blessings of independence under a regime of justice, liberty and democracy,† they thereby manifested their intense religious nature and placed unfaltering reliance upon Him who guides the destinies of men and nations.The elevating influence of religion in human society is recognized here as elsewhere. Act 4052 contemplates no religious purpose in view. What it gives the Director of Posts is the discretionary power to determine when the issuance of special postage stamps would be â€Å"advantageous to the Government. † Of course, the phrase â€Å"advantageous to the Government† does not authorize the violation of the Constitution; i. e. o appropriate, use or apply of public money or property for the use, benefit or support of a particular sect or church. In the case at bar, the issuance of the postage stamps was not inspired by any sectarian feeling to favor a particular church or religious denominations. The stamps were not issued and sold for the benefit of the Roman Catholic Church, nor were money derived from the sale of the stamps given to that church.The purpose of the issuing of the stamps was to take advantage of an event considered of international importance to give publicity to the Philippines and its people and attract more tourists to the country. Thus, ins tead of showing a Catholic chalice, the stamp contained a map of the Philippines, the location of the City of Manila, and an inscription that reads â€Å"Seat XXXIII International Eucharistic Congress, Feb. 3-7, 1937. † The Supreme Court denied the petition for a writ of prohibition, without pronouncement as to costs.

Final Examination and Turkish Economy Essays

Final Examination and Turkish Economy Essays Final Examination and Turkish Economy Essay Final Examination and Turkish Economy Essay ATD457-1 Turkish Industry Fall 2013 Instructor Lecture Hours Classroom Contact : Prof. Dr. Mehmet Hseyin Bilgin : Thursday: og:oo-11 : 309 : [emailprotected] com Main Books: Undersecretariat of Treasury, Turkish Economy, January 2012. Ministry of Industry and Trade, General Assessment of Turkish Industry Sectors 2010, March 2011. Suggested Readings: TsiAD, Turkiye Ekonomtst 2013, December 2012. Ministry of Industry and Trade, Turkish Industrial Strategy Document: 2011-2014 (Towards EIJ Membership), 2010. State Planning Organization, Sector Profiles of Turkish Industry, February 2004. Course Description: This course aims to introduce students to the Turkish economy and provides the students a comprehensive understanding of concepts used in the Turkish economy and industry. The course will give an overview of the industries of the Turkish economy, but the emphasis will be to understand the fundamentals of the Turkish economy and industry. Exams: There will be a midterm exam, a term project, and a final exam. The midterm exam will consist of multiple-choice questions and short answers/definitions, including application problems. It will be held as scheduled and will count toward your final grade (20%). The final exam will consist of multiple choice, short- and long-answer questions, application problems, and figure labeling. It will be comprehensive, covering all required materials through the date of the final exam. It will be held at the end of the semester. The final exam will count for 60% of the final grade. All exams will be closed book and notes. Term Project: You will be assigned a term project to be completed before the end of the term. The erm project topic is The International Competitiveness of the Turkish ABC Industry. : Please choose one industry of your interest and analyze its international email to [emailprotected] com. The deadline for submission is December 27th, 2013. The project will count for 20% of your final grade. Grading/Assessment: The final grade will be determined as follows: Midterm Exam Term Project Final Exam Course Outline: PART l: TURKISH ECONOMY Week 1: Turkish Economy in the World Week 2: Demographic Profile; Growth; Employment; Inflation Week 3: Foreign Trade and Balance of Payments Financial Sector Week 4: Public Finance Debt Management Week 5: Market Indicators Investment Environment Week 6: Social Security Labor Market week 7: Energy sector Week 8: Relationship with the IMF and EIJ THE MIDTERM EXAM PART II: TURKISH INDUSTRY SECTORS Week 9: Turkish Automotive Machinery Sectors Week 10: Turkish Base Metal Sector Week 11: Turkish Electrical Electronical Sector Week 12: Turkish Textile, Apparel, Leather and Leathe Products Sectors Week 13: Turkish Chemical Glass Sectors Week 14: Turkish Cement Furniture Sectors THE COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM

Reflection Essay The WritePass Journal

Reflection Essay Reflection Essay IntroductionDescriptionFeelingsEvaluation AnalysisTeam workingDecision making Ethical concerns Diversity and difference Management of power and conflict Clinical reasoningConclusionBibliographyRelated Introduction I have recently completed a unit on facilitating collaboration in professional practice, which formed a part of my Diagnostic Radiography course. During this unit, my tutor introduced the class to the skill of reflective writing and its important role in both formal learning and personal development. In order to have an opportunity to practise this skill, we were each assigned groups tasks. I was part of a group of 10 people whose task it was to promote a governmental campaign aimed at publicising the Allied Health Professions. The campaign in question needed to target three key groups, namely primary school children, year 11 school children and graduates not taking healthcare courses. In this essay, I will be reflecting on the experiences that I had as part of the larger group of 10 students, as well as how I found the process of dividing into smaller sub-groups of four people for part of the activities. Underpinning my personal reflections, and providing my essay with a coherent structure, will be Gibbs’ (1988) reflection model as outlined by Cooney (1999). This model describes a process of description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, and conclusion, and, as such, my personal reflection will also be organised under these headings. Description The group work in which I participated took place over the course of a week. The first day was spent in collaborating on a variety of group activities. The participants in these groups were all from different backgrounds and included students taking courses in a variety of healthcare areas including radiography, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, and occupational therapy. Although the students were all from such allied health professional groups, there was a mixture of postgraduates and undergraduates, and the vast majority of the students had not met each other before. In order to tackle the task, we decided to separate it into smaller tasks according to the three target audiences involved, dividing ourselves into three smaller groups and working on one target audience per sub-group. At this point, I was part of the group of four people who were responsible for considering the campaign to target graduates not taking healthcare courses. As some group members had responsibilities outside the unit, we decided as a whole that it would be useful to utilise the discussion boards via Blackboard to communicate with other members of the larger group. Our smaller sub-group decided to have meetings at the university during the week in addition to this means of contact. The work progressed in this way for most of the week until, on the last day, the groups joined together for one key session in the afternoon. At this time, we worked together to give our presentation for the campaign that we had devised, for which we had a 10-15 minute window. In preparation for this session, our three sub-groups had a meeting in the morning to discuss the presentation and finalise issues such as how the material was going to be presented and who would be acting as our group’s spokespeople. We also made use of this final discussion session to voice whether we agreed or disagreed with several assertions that had been raised through working on the campaign. This session went well in general and was successful. I found that I did participate, but perhaps not to the extent that I would have liked. Overall, I experienced that all of the group members came to know each other on a personal level through working together over the week to complete our tasks. Feelings Although I was relatively quiet at the start of the session, I became more comfortable as time went on and, by the end of the session, I had begun to contribute my views and ideas to the group discussion. I believe that this initial quietness was a manifestation of my inner feelings of being intimidated by the group. Interestingly, the overall session actually went well and many group members expressed their enthusiasm about the discussion topics. These feelings of intimidation were more acute after the sub-groups reunited as a larger group of 10. I believe that this was because I had become accustomed through the week to working in a small group of only four people, and suddenly becoming part of a much larger group threw my habitual role in the group into uncertainty. I usually experience myself as a very confident person who finds it easy to take charge of situations and engage with activities in a proactive way. However, this was not the case during the aforementioned group sessio n. In retrospect, if I had been in a group of people with whom I had felt comfortable then, regardless of the size of the group, I believe that I would have participated fully in the discussion by contributing as many ideas as possible. In this scenario, I would neither have felt anxious about making a mistake nor experienced the self-censorship that came as a consequence of this anxiety.    Evaluation Overall, I found that the experience of group work was very useful in that it gave me the opportunity to learn a great deal about the topics being discussed as well as helping to illuminate my weaknesses when working with unfamiliar groups. As Moon (1999) asserts, the importance of experiential learning is that it entails organising and developing learning through reflection on practical situations, such that they can lead to improved action. My experience of the group work has made this developmentally valuable reflection possible. The tasks also gave me the opportunity to come into contact with a variety of people from different professional backgrounds, some of whom were older and much more experienced than I. Working in a multi-professional group allowed us to benefit from a number of different perspectives on the task as well as a wide variety of knowledge and experience. This made our presentation much more well-rounded and multi-faceted than it would have been if my group had contained only other radiographers. As the group work progressed, I also began to realise that I was, in fact, more than capable of fulfilling my part in this mixed group and this gradual self-confidence enabled me to overcome the feelings of intimidation that being on unfamiliar territory had initially elicited within me. Towards the end of the session, I began to wish that we could begin the session a second time to allow me to contribute more and be perceived as an active member of the group. Looking back, I would attribute my onl y regrets regarding the group task to this inability to contribute more, perhaps even to the extent of acting as spokesperson during the presentation itself. Initially, I was somewhat sceptical about the idea of the group sessions as I did not appreciate that there was anything valuable to be learned from the collaborative process. However, by the end of the process I had learnt a great deal about the complexities of group work and the way in which people from different professional backgrounds can complement the task by offering a much greater depth of experience. I also increased my knowledge of a number of topics to which I may never have exposed otherwise. The group work also revealed that I rarely make a substantial contribution to group discussions or volunteer for leadership roles in group tasks, preferring instead to avoid the limelight and allow another group member to take the lead. My contributions are then made on the basis of topics already raised by others. This weakness does not stem from a lack of intellectual understanding but rather from a lack of confidence in my own ideas, even when these are valid. An awareness of this tendency to pass the buck will inform my future group interactions and, I hope, facilitate my taking a more proactive role in dictating the course of discussions. Analysis Team working According to the Belbin theory of team roles, I would assess myself as naturally occupying the roles of Team Worker, Resource Investigator and Implementer. The reason why I have identified myself as an Implementer is based firstly on the fact that I took on the responsibility for carrying out the task of researching the use of social networks in our campaign and I enjoyed executing this plan, which we had agreed amongst the group as a whole, in a systematic fashion. The title of Resource Investigator also applies to me as I used these social networks as one of a variety of means to search for useful contacts. As the Belbin theory states (2010), a Resource Investigator explores opportunities and makes useful links with internal and external contacts. Also, I received high marks from my peers for the ability to ‘identif(y) sources and other resources to aid team progress’. I believe that the title of Team Worker also applies to me as, even though I felt that I could have c ontributed more, my peer feedback actually shows that I was perceived by other group members as a good team player. I received high marks for the category of contributing to a collaborative team environment and the comments given on my feedback sheets included ‘active and excellent team member who can be relied upon’ and ‘considerate and pleasant group contributor’. These comments demonstrate that I was seen by others as an important and active member of the team. Decision making My experience of working in my group was that we developed a good decision-making process which we were able to use to come to a mutually-agreed conclusion on the majority of topics that we discussed. We also set clear boundaries about how the group would operate; for example, the ground rules that we devised on the first day were as follows: There will be three individual threads for discussion by each sub-group. On Thursday everyone is to check in to ensure that all work is ready. The sub-groups will send their PowerPoints to David by 3pm on Thursday so that he can amalgamate the PowerPoints into one presentation. The whole group is to meet at 11am on Friday in the cafà © outside the library to prepare for the presentation. A room will be arranged. A poster will be produced for each category. The sub-groups will arrange amongst themselves which method they wish to use to communicate and prepare for the presentation. The sub-groups will decide the media which they will use to promote the AHP. I found these ground rules very useful in giving the group clarity and structure and allowing us to work effectively on common goals. This experience highlighted to me the importance of the ‘forming’ stage as described by Tuckman in his Group Development Model (1965). Although at this stage each team member is keen to be accepted by others, and serious issues are therefore usually avoided, it is a very important stage in team-building. I indeed found this stage to be the time when the group members were getting to know each other, on both a personal and professional level, and forming an idea of how the group would be working together over the forthcoming week. I believe that, without this ‘forming’ stage being completed successfully, we would not have had the basis of understanding that enabled us to progress to the ‘storming’ stage, in which we came up with a number of different ideas, the ‘norming’ stage, when we came to make the mutual decisions about how to write our campaign presentation. This early decision-making process was important as it allowed us all to participate and to feel motivated in working towards the group’s eventual success in producing a good-quality presentation. Ethical concerns The main ethical concern that I had when embarking on this group work exercise was to ensure that each member of the group, including myself, would be treated with respect and in a polite manner. As stated by Dubrin: ‘Showing respect for team members is a general technique for building teamwork’. (2011, pp.487) My experience of treating others with respect, for example by asking whether someone has managed to finish their part of the task rather than demanding that it be ready, certainly reinforced this theory as I was marked highly by my peers for facilitating communication and cohesion within the group. Diversity and difference There was a diverse range of people in the larger group of which I was a part; both males and females, undergraduates and postgraduates of varying ages, and also many different personality characteristics including introverts, extroverts, those who were better at coming up with ideas and those who were better at the organisational side. Rather than causing difficulties, these differences actually meant that our discussions were more varied and interesting, and that our team functioned well through each member playing to their respective strengths. I personally learnt a lot from the group members who were older than me, and felt that I benefitted a great deal from watching the mature way in which they went about resolving conflict to come to a good group consensus. The way in which we all participated in devising the ground rules on the first day created a strong team spirit, an important aspect in the successful management of diversity as Klarsfeld mentions in his recent book (2010). Management of power and conflict Conflict naturally occurs in most group tasks as a consequence of group members having different values, skills and experience. Indeed, Rahim cites a study carried out in 2005 to assert that: ‘a moderate level of substantive conflict is functional, as it stimulates discussion and debate.’ (2010, pp. 122) This was also my experience of the group work.   At points throughout the process there was an element of natural disagreement about the direction that our campaign presentation would take and the best way to complete our activities. I found that this motivated other group members to join in more and also lead to interesting discussions that created further good ideas. I found that the power balance was fairly equal in our group, despite the range of ages and personalities that were represented. The only issue that arose was that one of the girls in the group attempted to dominate at times by getting others to think in the same way as her. As the other group members were more mature and open to other people’s input, we were able to manage this by steering the discussions down a more collaborative path. Clinical reasoning From a clinical point of view, this experience will stand me in good stead for the future. In clinical settings health care professionals are most commonly called upon to work in teams that span different areas such as nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy in order to provide the best all-round care for their patients. Radiographers such as myself also work in teams of two most of the time so it is very important to understand how to co-operate with others in a professional setting. Conclusion In conclusion, I found the group work to be a very educational experience concerning the importance of being able to work well in a team. I have been alerted to aspects of my behaviour and personality, particularly with regards to interactions with unfamiliar people, of which I may otherwise have remained unaware. The main aspect that I would like to improve is my confidence, which will enable me to contribute more of my ideas to group work. This will help me at university as well as in my future work as a professional radiographer collaborating with a multi-disciplinary team. Overall, I found Gibbs’ model helpful in focusing on each of the different areas of the experience in order to evaluate my strengths, such as good teamwork and carrying out tasks in a systematic way, as well as areas such as those mentioned above that I would like to improve. Bibliography Belbin, M., 2010. Management teams: why they succeed or fail. 3rd ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Cooney, A., 1999. Reflection demystified: answering some common questions. British Journal of Nursing. 8(22), 1530-1534. Dubrin, A.J., 2011. Essentials of management. Andover: Cengage Learning. Gibbs, G., 1998. Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning. London: FEU. Klarsfeld, A., 2010. International handbook on diversity management at work: country perspectives on diversity and equality. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Rahim, M.A., 2010. Managing conflict in organizations. 4th rev. ed.   Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers. Tuckman, B., 1965. Development sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin. 63, 384-399. Word count: 2609.