SWOT and PESTEL Analysis of Seafood Restaurant

SWOT and PESTEL Analysis of Seafood Restaurant SUMMARY Jack Sprat is the owner of seafood restaurant in a coastal town. He is 60 year old and doctor has advised him to take rest so he had appointed a Manager to look after the business operation and he use to come to see the business once in a week. But once he handed over the business to the manager his business is not doing well and there is continuous declining in the business. So in order to find remedy owner has been approached to the author to analyse the case and suggest as what should be done to bring back the business of the restaurant. Author has analysed the business with the tools of business (case) analysis-SWOT, and PESTLE and further financial data has also been taken into consideration to find out the declining trend and come to a conclusion as why business is going down. In order to evaluate the business operation and put the findings in the report author has done extensive research-secondary research and analysed the case with his valuable suggestions. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Author would like to convey his gratitude to those entire people who helped him to enhance his understanding of the case and analyzed the situation so that a valid conclusion of the case can be drawn. Author has completed this case successfully and has been presenting his findings with suggestion in this report. So author would like to thanks to the Module tutor for kind support and guidance. INTRODUCTION Jack Sprat is 63 year old owner of 60 seat licensed seafood restaurant that is situated in a costal town. Before starting this business Jack was simply a Manager at a local Bluebeckers Restaurant. But an inheritance left this restaurant to him. Since the opening of this restaurant business it has given very good return. The belief of Jack towards success f this business is the Maintenance of high standards in fod production and presentation. Other fact is Menu and beverage list has been fairly constant since beginning of this restaurant. Jack did not change menu and beverage list because business was giving modest return since beginning. But jack is not regular to the restaurant and he has appointed a Manager to manage the business operation and he use to come to the restaurant to see the business operation once in a week. This is because at this age (63) he has been suffering from health problem and his doctor has advised him to take rest. But business of this restaurant has gone down as soon as it was handed over to the manager. Absenteeism of the staff has been increased. Keeping in mind the remedy of the situation author has established aim and objectives of this report, here are the aim and objectives written in detailed: Aim of this report is to find remedy of the existing problem or discrepancies of the restaurant and give valuable suggestions to overcome from these problems so that business can be put on its old pattern-profitable. Objectives are: Finding most important problems Identification of further information that would be helpful in making realistic plans for the future of the business To list the priorities Drawing an action Plan The structure of this report is as follows: First of all main body has been presented wherein SWOT, PEST, and other detailed analysis has been done. Then conclusion has been drawn and bibliography (list of references) has been given followed by appendix section where additional informations has been provided. MAIN SECTION Aim and objective No.1: Finding important problems: Before providing solution of anything one has to find the problems first. So to find problem related to any business it is very first step to conduct SWOT analysis and PEST or PESTLE analysis. Before going for the SWOT analysis of the business concerned it is important to understand SWOT first. SWOT ANALYSIS is the detailed search and listing of factors from situational analysis that might or will impact the businesss strategy. Strategic marketing is based on the SWOT analysis. The process by which SWOT factors are derived is to carefully review the internal analysis for strengths and weaknesses, and the environmental analysis for opportunities and threats, and to then record. (Reich, Z.A, 1997) According to (Morrison, J 2002) The SWOT analysis is a commonly used planning tool, which assesses the firms strategic profile in terms of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Focusing on both internal and external environments, it serves to highlight a firms distinctive competences, which will enable it to gain competitive advantage. Based on the above information from the scholars it is true that business environment can be divided into two part-internal and external environments. Internal environment consists of all factors that is internal part of the business. These internal factors are within the control of the business. Strength and Weaknesses of the business can be found in the internal environment of the business. External factors are those factors which are not within the control of the business and to be into existence business houses has to change in their internal policy and adjust itself to cope with the external environment factors. Opportunities and Threats are the factors that are part of external environment of a business. SWOT : Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat Analysis of Seafood Restaurant Business of Jack Sprat: STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Earlier this business was profitable It is established organization Maintaining high standard in food and presentation Staffs are familiar with their work Customers feel that restaurant is conveniently placed and charges reasonable price Owner is not able to give full time attention to the business Manager is less empowered-as he feels less scope has been given to him for the development of this business Number of staff has been increased-which is extra burden on payroll expenses of the business. No refurbishment done properly yearly Maintenance and Hygiene problem Insufficient fund/ resources for spending on maintenance and Hygiene Menu choice is stale and boring Improper management of food due to lack of proper forecasting of guests. OPPORTUNITIES THREATS Restaurant is old so having established market Market Image is good- reasonable price and consistent standard Dilution of market share due to inability to refurbishment Environment Health officer may not be informal in future and there will be time when formal notice will be issued. PEST ANALYSIS Before analyzing PEST or PESTLE factors from a business point of view it is important to understand these factors: (Political, Economical, Socio cultural, Technological and Legal). A PEST analysis is an analysis of an external macro environment that affects all firms. Such external factors usually are beyond the firms control and sometimes present themselves as threats. For this reason, some say that pest is an appropriate term for these factors. However changes in the external environment also create new opportunities and letters sometimes are rearranged to construct the more optimistic terms of STEP ANALYSIS. Many macro environmental factors are country specific and the pest analysis will need to be a performed for all countries of interest. Political Factors Tax policy Employment laws Environmental regulations Trade restrictions and tariffs Political stability Economic Factors Economic growth Interest rates Exchange rates Inflation rate Social Factors Health consciousness Population growth rate Age distribution Career attitudes Emphasis on safety Technological Factors RD activity Automation Technology incentives Rate of technological change www.netmba.com/strategy/pest/ Accessed on 2/01/2011 Aim and objective No.2: Identification of further information that would be helpful in making realistic plans for the future of the business: Information needed towards market segmentation-target market: Information to the case is very important to analyze any business health or problem. It is equally important like medical tests are important for human body for remedy of any kind of complain of a patient. There are other tests or scanning is needed for business analysis. Market segmentation is one of them. Market segmentation: market consists of buyers differ in one or more ways. They may differ in their wants, resources, locations, buying attitudes and buying practices. Because buyers have unique needs and wants, each buyer is potentially a separate market. Ideally, then a seller might design a separate marketing program for each buyer. For example a caterer can customize the menu, entertainment, and the setting to meet the needs of specific clients. However, most companies are unable to offer complete segmentation. The cost of complete segmentation is high and most customers cannot afford completely customized products. Companies therefore, look for broad class of buyers who differ in their product needs or buying responses. The restaurant industry offers many examples of segmentation by a variety of variables. (kotler,p 2004) The reason behind knowledge of market segmentation is needed because until unless its not known that which segment is being targeted by the organization concerned (in this case Restaurant of Jack Sprat), it would be very difficult to compare the strength of that segment for the business. In this case its not given in the case so its important to analyse this business from its segment point of view. Information Needed for competitor analysis: To get success of the business its needed to deal with customers, suppliers, employees, and others. In almost all cases there will also be other organizations offering similar products to similar customers. These other organizations are competitors. Objective of the other organizations is the same as yours to grow, make money and succeed. Effectively, the businesses are at war fighting to gain the same resource and territory; the customer. And like in war, it is necessary to understand the enemy: How he thinks; What his strengths are; What his weaknesses are; Where he can be attacked; Where the risk of attack is too greatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. And so on. And like in war, the competitor will have secrets that can be the difference between profit and loss, expansion or bankruptcy for the business. Identifying these secrets is thus crucial for business survival. (http://dspace.dial.pipex.com) accessed on 2/01/2011 Other information needed is about its competitors. Information of competitors is very important to know the business of competitors and further business concerned can be compared with the competitors. So competitor analysis is very important. Aim and objective No.3: To list the priorities: First of all instant action should be taken to solve Hygiene problem. Proper forecasting of guests so that underproduction and overproduction both can be kept under control Extra manpower has to be reduced so that there will be less burden on payroll cost Choice of menu has to be increased Manager should be empowered or can be changed (as information is not given properly and in detailed so it is impossible to say to change) Somehow owner has to be in touch even over the phone to monitor the business operation and if possible frequency to visit may be increased. Local bank should be approached for short term loan for the refurbishment activities. Aim and objective No.4: Drawing an Action Plan: Action plan is a process that includes assessments of own strengths, available resources and market opportunities. There must be idea about marketing objective of the organization concerned then a plan can be prepared and further implemented to achieve the determined objective. In other words these informations are basic and needed at very first step towards making action plan: Market and trading environment of the business concerned Decision about market business is targeting to Knowledge about differentiation or advantage of uniqueness of own product and services Deciding marketing mix Estimation of Fund etc. ACTION PLAN: PRODUCT: Option in Menu list will be given PRICING : May charge little higher than what has been charging PROMOTION: There is need to promote the product and create awareness to remove the negative image of the organization. So it can be done through normal aids of advertisement-News papers or T.V Channels. Through T.V Channels it may little costly affair in that point of view daily is better. Other Actions to be taken: It could have opened even on Sunday to attract customers want to utilize their holidays. So it will be open all 7 days. Fund should be managed instantly- It can be done by approaching Commercial Banks for short term loans. Refurbishment will have to be done as soon as loan is approved. Employees have to be re-motivated so that absenteeism of staff can be kept under control. REVENUE (SALES) POINT OF VIEW: Food sales has been increased in 2007-8 by 4.3% compared to 2006-7, and it gone down in the financial year 2008-9 by 3.95% compared to 2007-8 sales of food. Liquor Sales has been increased in 2007-8 by 5.97% compared to 2006-7 and further it increase by 15.59% in the year 2008-9 compared to 2007-8. Overall Total Sales has been increasing in the financial year by 4.67% in the financial year 2007-8 compared to 2006-7, and further increased by 6.57% in the financial year 2008-9 compared to 2007-8. DIRECT COST POINT OF VIEW: In the financial year 2006-7 food cost was 42.05% of its sales and in 2007-8 it became little favorable by going down to 41.16% of its sales figure and in the year 2008-9 in again gone up to 43.63% Direct cost of Liquor is 59.72% of its sales in the financial year 2006-7, and 57.70% in 2007-8 and further 57.91% in 2008-9. So its favorable as its in declining trend. Total direct cost is 54.01%, 55.11% and 52.88% in the financial year 2006-7, 7-8, and 2008-9 respectively which also seems favorable because in 7-8 it gone little up but again it gone down by good margin-around 2 to 3% GROSS PROFIT POINT OF VIEW: Gross profit of food is 57.95%, 58.84% and 56.37% in the financial year 2006-7, 7-8, 8-9. This shows increase in 7-8 and further decline in 8-9. Gross profit of Liquor is 40.28%, 42.30% and 42.09% in the financial year 6-7, 7-8, and 2008-9 respectively. Overall it is in favorable trend. Gross profit in the financial year 2006-7 is 54.01%, 55.11% in 2007-8 and 52.88% in 2008-9 which seems declining trend. In the year 2007-8 it gone up but in 208-9 it came down. This is because there was declining of sales of food in the financial year 2008-9 by 3.95%, otherwise sale of liquor in this financial year was good and direct costs were also behaving favorably. INDIRECT EXPENSES POINT OF VIEW: There are three component of indirect expenses-labour, overheads and operating expenses and maintenance expenses. Amount spent in labour is in increasing order i.e., 29.76%, 31.51% and 33.21% in the year 6-7, 7-8, and 2008-9 respectively. This shows restaurant is spending more % every year in its staffing. Overheads and Operating expenses seems within control as its 8.78%, 7.21% and 8.36% in the year 2006-7, 2007-8, and 2008-9 respectively. Maintenance expenses is 1.61% of sales in the financial year 2006-7, 1.40% in the financial year 2007-8 and 0.91% of sales of financial year 2008-9. This shows that organization is spending very less on maintenance expenses. Overall total indirect expenses is 40.15% of its sales in the financial year 2006-7, 40.12% in 2007-08 and gone up in the financial year 2008-9 to 42.48% NET PROFIT POINT OF VIEW: Net profit is 13.86%, 14.99% and 10.40% in the financial years 2006-7, 7-8, and 8-9 respectively. This shows that Net profit has going down, and in the financial year its gone down with huge gap compared to previous years percentage. Overall its a matter of discussion and management should pay attention to the indirect costs as percentage of indirect cost is very high. As gross profit is in 50% so almost 40% of sales are being spent for indirect expenses. Although management is not spending much in maintenance component of indirect expenses but other components i.e., overhead and operating expense, and payroll expenses are very high that is the reason Net profit of the restaurant is not attractive. CONCLUSION Author has analysed the case of Jack Sprats restaurant and found that major problem is its hygiene and maintenance and indirect expenses. These two of the factors has to be kept under control and converted into favorable mode only then this organization can earn profit like previous time. There are other areas also that needs attention i.e., arrangement of fund, manpower management, empowering manager etc. BIBLIOGRAPHY Britton, C and Worthington. I (2003) The business environment, 4th Edition, UK:Prentice hall. Hooley.G(2004) Marketing strategy and competitive positioning, 3rd edition: UK: Prentice Hall Kotler, P. (2004) marketing for hospitality and tourism, 3rd Edition, Delhi:Person Luck.D and Rubin, S.R (1996) Marketing Research,7th Edition, USA:Prentice hall Morrison, J (2002) the international business environment, 1st Edition, New York; Pal grave. Reich, Z.A (1997) Marketing Management for the hospitality Industry,1st Edition,: Wiley and sons Canada. Wearne.N (2001) Hospitality Management, 1st Edition, New Delhi: Global www.netmba.com/strategy/pest/ Accessed on 2/01/2011 http://dspace.dial.pipex.com) Accessed on 2/01/2011

How far has current social work organisation and practice been shaped by the values of the Enlightenment?

In the following assignment, I will briefly define the ‘Enlightenment' and the specific circumstances when it emerged. I will identify and discuss, if the ‘Enlightenment' has core values and I will give reasons to backup my decisions. Then there will be a brief discussion about the current features of Social Work organisation and anti-discriminatory practice in relation to women. I will explain if the current feature of Social Work Practice demonstrates any link with the ‘Enlightenment' values. Due to word limitation, it is difficult to discuss and analyse all of the ‘Enlightenment' values. I will focus on two of the values: ‘tolerance and freedom' to discuss and analyse them with the conjunction of the Social Work Practice. Benson et al (cited in Spybey, T. 1997) explains that â€Å"The ‘Enlightenment' is a term used to describe those thinkers of the eighteenth century who established the basis of looking at the society in a scientific way†. The' Enlightenment' movements started in 16th and 17th century. Thus â€Å"It's roots go much farther back in western history and it continued to develop long after the 18th century, Hollinger (1994) calls it â€Å"a programme for improving human life was worked out†. It took place in 18th century but mainly in the second half of the18th century, French educated men and women called themselves ‘Philosophes' who became known as the ‘Enlightenment'. According to Porter (1990 cited in Hall et al 1992: 24) â€Å"The Enlightenment was the era which saw the emergence of a secular intelligentsia large enough and powerful enough for the first time to challenge the clergy. The key domain in which ‘Enlightenment' intellectuals involved in supporting existing, man and society, which was sustained by the church authority and it's monopoly over the information media of the time†. The ‘Enlightenment' challenged the traditional and religious views and ideas. The society, the world, human-beings and nature, all were seen in the light of the traditional and religious views which were dominated by Christianity. Hamilton (1997 cited in Handouts, 2003) and Hall et al (1992: 7) explains that â€Å"From around 1760, â€Å"A perspective summed up in Voltaire's phrase ‘à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½crasez l'infame': means ‘crush the infamous thing' and †¦ it became a nutritious catchphrase†. It opposed the Catholic Church and religious beliefs for example Script of Bible, miracles associated with Jesus and other prophets, God and angel's existence, the church's authority and people's beliefs were criticized, which were based on the religion and tradition. Hall et al (1992: 20) expresses that â€Å"The ‘Enlightenment is the foundation of ‘Modernity' and ‘Modern Social Science'. It changed the way of thinking by comprehending it as systematic, scientific and practical†. Its emergence gave ‘Philosophes' a wider scoops to explore beyond their religious and traditional beliefs. It created an atmosphere for ‘Philosophes' to believe in the â€Å"pre-eminence of empirical, materialist knowledge: the model in this respect furnished by science, an enthusiasm for technological and medical progress and a desire for legal and constitutional reform† (Johnson, I. Handouts: 2003). Basically, the ‘Enlightenment laid a foundation for people to think liberally and have some sense of equality in the society. In my view, the above significant factors were the bases of the ‘Enlightenment's values, which let the ‘Enlightenment' develop and progress steadily. Because it was the first time when it was made possible for people to explore and express their personal beliefs and view and test the validity of their thoughts, through scientific, systematic ways and without being bounded by religious and traditional restrictions. The ‘Enlightenment' values brought in changes and development in the society and in the people's views and thoughts. It set the milestone for our new modern world that we live in today. It also opened up the opportunities for ‘Philosophes' to work, explore and experiment in a wider context and relay their ideas and views with some freedom. It abolished the traditional and superstitious thoughts and prejudices. It created opportunities for legal and religious reformation to take place. I think that all the changes and development have only taken place because the ‘Enlightenment' values were in existence and were strong enough to challenge the strongest authority; the churches of that time. As churches and its authorities have had a great influence and power over people, economy, politics, law, social, every day life even the ruler/s of that time. Hall et al (1992: 21-22) had defined the core values of the ‘Enlightenment' which are summarised as the following: * Reason (nationality): systemized acquaintances (pragmatic or experimented). * Empiricism: human-beings; views and awareness that being gained through their perceptions and judgements. * Science: based on scientific methods and theories and can be tested systematically and scientifically. * Universalism: motives and science can be functional in all and every situation; if the principal were the same. * Progress: the concept of improvement in the natural and social conditions of human beings. * Individualism: a society is based on the thoughts and beliefs of its members and each member id origin of all â€Å"knowledge and action and his reasons can not be subjective to a higher authority. * Toleration: the notion of that all human-beings are essentially the same, despite their religious or moral convictions and that the beliefs of other races and civilization not inherently inferior to those of European Christianity. * Freedom: an opposition to feudal and traditional constraints or on believes: trades, communication, social interaction, sexuality, and ownership of property (although as we shall see the extension of freedom to women and the lower-classes was problematic for Philosophies)† (Hall et al. 1992: 22-23). * Uniformity of human nature: all the humankinds are the same all around the world. * Secularism: non-religious and non-traditional authorities and an opposition to the traditional religious authority and myths. Now, I will discuss the ‘Enlightenment's values: ‘toleration' and ‘freedom' in the correlation with the current Social Work practice especially in relation to anti-discriminatory practice regarding to women, to establish if the Enlightenment's values are linked or have influenced Social Work practice. I have experienced through my work experience with different communities that generally, women are treated unfairly and unequally in the society at most levels. Women have less freedom and rights than men. Globally, the women of 21th century are still struggling to gain an equal place as men in the society. Guru (2003: class-notes) stresses that â€Å"From birth to death women have to struggle in their lives to access their rights e.g welfare, personal, social, political, human, cultural, traditional, religious, labourer, employment†. The Social Work emphasises strongly on anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice. â€Å"During the late 1980s social work education became increasingly aware of the impact of oppression and discrimination on clients and communities. There was a growing and recognition of relative neglect of such issues in traditional approaches to social work in 1989, the Central Council for Education and Training in Social (CCETSW) laid down the regulations and requirements for the students† of Social work to practice in anti- discriminatory ways. †¦CCETSW also seek to ensure that students are prepared to combat other forms of discrimination based on age, gender, sexual orientation, class, disability, culture or creed† (CCETSW 1989: 10 cited in Thompson, N. 1997: 1). The change in the CCETSW's regulation indicates that the discrimination still exists especially against certain groups and women are one of them and there is a need to combat discrimination. Moreover, it also states that it was recognised that the discrimination was linked with ‘traditional approaches'. It may mean that the ‘traditional views' still exists in our today's society, which the ‘Enlightenment' wanted to get rid of, to give people ‘freedom' and to promote equality for all individuals without their differences they had through ‘toleration'. Obviously, the â€Å"Enlightenment certainly propagated concept of equality (limited), democracy and emancipation †¦.† (Hall et al.1992: 33). But when it comes to women then it seems like that the women were almost invisible in the ‘Enlightenment'. Hall et al (1992: 60) expressed that â€Å"There was no Enlightenment for women. However they (Enlightenment) challenged the champion the rights of commons, the rights of Citizens, slaves, Jews, Indians and children but not those of women†. Under the ‘Enlightenment's values of ‘toleration and freedom': â€Å"all the human-beings are essentially the same† but it was not applied to women. Porter (2001: 69) explains that â€Å"The ‘Enlightenment' helped to free a man from his past†¦.by declaring that â€Å"all human-beings are equal despite their race, religion, beliefs, civilization and moral convictions†¦ and Lock (1992 referred in Hall et al. 1992: 66) adds in that according to the ‘Enlightenment', â€Å"Every man has an equal right ‘to his natural freedom†. Similar, the ‘Code of Practice for Social Care Worker (CPSCW) requires that the social care workers must â€Å"promote equal opportunities for service users and†¦ respecting diversity and different cultures and values† (GSCC, 2002: 1.5-1.6). Moreover, the Social work values emphasises that the social workers should â€Å"identifies and question their own values and prejudices, and their implication of practice;†¦ and they should â€Å"Respect and value uniqueness and adversity†¦.and identify (discrimination), analyse and take action to counter discrimination, racism, disadvantage, inequality and injustice using strategies appropriate to role and context† (CCETSW, paper 30 referred in UB. 2002: 6). Social work is not focusing on certain and specific groups or people where as the ‘Enlightenment' was concerned with the specific group/s of the society. The ‘freedom' and ‘toleration' was for certain maters and specific groups but there were n laid rules or principals for ‘Philosophes' to follow and the ‘Philosophes' themselves were a small group of people. Therefore, the social work value gave people a direct power to clients by letting them choosing and decide for themselves and social worker are advised to â€Å"promote opportunities for people to use their own strengths to make decisions for themselves (CCETSW, paper 30 cited in UB. 2002: 4). In other words, social work has widened the concept of ‘freedom' and ‘toleration' by being considerate for all members of the community, which is now-a-days known as ‘anti-discrimination', freedom of choice' and ‘equality'. It demonstrates that the ‘Enlightenment' have given the idea and Social work made it possible for people by assisting clients and by practicing it physically. That does not mean that the social work have followed the ‘Enlightenment' concept and values unswervingly. But initially, the idea was there to follow and it may be possible that the ‘feminist' movements got the idea from the ‘Enlightenment' and modified it according to the current needs. Thompson (1997: 8) described that the â€Å"influence of feminism in sociology was beginning to extend to social policy in general and social work in particular†. Lagan et al (1992: 112-120) agreed with this statement by accentuating that the feminism had great influence on social work theories. Social work had contributed to help women to achieve political, economical, educational, legal and social rights. For example, Beloff (1976 referred in Thompson, N. 1997: 5) argues that the â€Å"legislation changes were part of women liberal programme of reform e.g. rights for divorce, Equal Pay Act 1970 , Sex Discrimination Act 1975†. The social work worked itself and worked with ‘feminist and liberal movements' to fight for ‘women's rights'. Although, the social work has adopted the ideas from ‘feminists' or other liberal movements but the social work can be distinguished from other movements. Initially, it worked with and for all groups and classes. Second, it developed rapidly and extensively in many areas of social issues such as children, disabled people, aged, ethnic minorities, poor and others. The women have developed and have gained rights with the help of social work. Social work has made and is making a useful contribution for women rights and for their development. Lagan et al (1992: 40) emphasis that the â€Å"Social work is mainly done by the Female Social workers and with the Female clients†¦. As being women, Social workers shared the common understanding and experiences, as very much like their clients†. That made the social work to approach most women in the society at all levels and to help eliminate women's social problems and raise issues which needed to be address to combat oppression and discrimination. We see the Western Women as ‘Modern', independent, intellectual, and strong. But it can be argued that the women are still at disadvantage in the society. Many national studies and statistics show that â€Å"Overall, women are disadvantaged in health, education, economy, politics, and employment and through out the system† (Carter, A. 1988: 77-112). However, we can not deny the fact that women have been victimized by the system and the society. Despite the social work practice and attempts for women's rights, â€Å"there are still gaps and work needs to be done in accordance to give women equal rights† (Surrinder, G.2003). It is true that media has blamed social work practice in the past and social workers are seen as government's representatives and according to Murphy (2003: 7) the Social workers are not very much liked by the general public. There are also issues regarding to social worker's practice e.g. practicing in ‘traditional' way due to personal prejudices, which has oppressed the clients and has stigmatized the social work itself. Thompson (1997: 11) emphasise that the â€Å"†¦social work practice which does not take account of oppression and discrimination can not be seen as ‘good practice†¦.†. The ‘bad practice' is portrayed through the media but the good practice is not awarded and neither praised by media. The social work constantly reviews the policies to encounter prejudices and emphasises high on anti-discriminatory practice. In conclusion, I agree with Hall et al (1992: 266) that the â€Å"Enlightenment' played a part in †¦abolition of prejudice and superstition†¦and has given freedom to man†. I would say that where the ‘Enlightenment' movements have played a vital role in the modern thinking and have given the initiative idea of the ‘Toleration and freedom', which now has taken a new shape of ‘equality and anti-discrimination' within a broader context. But at same time, the ‘Enlightenment' has indirectly contributed against women. Maybe it was due to ‘unintended consequences' (Johnson, I. 2003: 2), which were not identified, measured and recognised by the ‘Enlightenment' or may be ‘Enlightenment did not want to recognise it. As ‘Enlightenment' was a men dominated movement. It may have contributed to prejudice and discriminate women by not including and involving them at the very early stage of the ‘Enlightenment' movements. And that could be the cause that women's voice for their rights was an echo in the vacuum and was not heard till lately. Therefore, social work has worked extensively for women's rights but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. My suggestion is that the social work should identify oppression and discrimination and combat it at personal levels first and then at institutional levels. This action should not only be taken by the professionals but all the individuals should get involved in it. Otherwise, just like the ‘Enlightenment': left the women behind, the individuals will be imperceptible and power will shift to the professionals who will take over. If it will happen then it may take us back to the early ‘Enlightenment' age, where only the ‘Enlightenment' educated, had the power and voice.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Profit Essay

The question which stands before is whether the Founding Fathers were democratic reformers. It is an excruciating and complicated task to come to a conclusion upon this inquisition. To find this answer it can be readily simplified by taking a look at two contending arguments found inscribed in the book Taking Sides: Clashing Views in United States History. In the text lies the position of Howard Zinn and John P. Roche who are great historians; one writes controversially and radically, and the other writes in conformity to government, and conservatively. The position of Howard Zinn is that the founding fathers were not what they have been illustrated to be. That is that they were not concerned with democracy but were really just concerned in their prosperity, in their property, their money, and their freedom, but not concerned with the peoples liberties. Freedom was a new word at the time, which many knew little of, it was but the elite who had an understanding of this sort of philant hropy. â€Å"What was not made clear-it was a time when the language of freedom was new and its reality untested-was the shakiness of anyone’s liberty when entrusted to a government of the rich and powerful(Zinn, Howard, A People’s History of the United States P. 99).† John P. Roche dedicates his attention to the giving the founding fathers their veil of liberators and democratic reformers, and depicts them as gentlemen of good nature, and of having the highest intrinsic values; he portrays them as benevolent wise men, which based the constitution on the needs of the people. â€Å"They were first and foremost superb democratic politicians†¦they were committed (perhaps willy-nilly) to working within the democratic framework, within a universe of public approval (Wikispaces.com, Taking Sides Issue Seven: Were the Founding Fathers Democratic Reformers, P. 3)†. Between the two representations of the issue in question, the more persuading argument 10is towards Howard Zinn who viewed the founding fathers to not have been democratic reformers. The Founding Fathers were not  democratic reformers; rather they were an elite group of men who came up with the Constitution to find compromise â€Å"between the slave holding interest of the south a nd the money interest of north† (Zinn, Howard, A People’s History of the United States P. 98)†, their true motives for uniting the thirteen states was to create a vast market for commerce and not to create a democracy. The Founding Fathers always depicted the majority of men as ignorant and irresponsible. For them to be democratic reformers they would have needed to add literacy and education as necessary for the creation of a democracy in the writings of the Constitution. Instead they persisted to argue that the populous was ignorant, â€Å"†¦Federalist Paper #63 argued the necessity of a â€Å"well-constructed Senate† as â€Å"sometimes necessary as defence to the people against their own temporary errors and delusions† Zinn, Howard, A People’s History of the United States P. 98)† rather than adding that citizenry should be educated and informed so that they would be able to take part in the democratic processes of political and economic policy making, therefore they were not democratic reformers. John P. Roche tends to be overly conservative, to actually make a compelling argument, and Howard Zinn might appear to be radical but he is factual and presents both sid es to an argument and does not rely solely on emotions and in his political idealism as does Roche. Howard Zinn gives the more profound argument. Howard Zinn rather than making statements based on nationalism or patriotism brings up logical inferences and although it is impossible to give an unbiased approach to the question, Zinn gives the less bias approach of the two. When he presents his reasoning he tends to bring up both sides to an argument, one at least opposed to what he wants to represent and one at least supportive of what he is more in favor to represent.   As when he mentions Robert E. Browns point that the Constitution omitted the phrase â€Å"life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness† from the Declaration of Independence to â€Å"life, liberty, or property† to the Constitution, he presents the acknowledgement that people did have property, but stands to say that it was misleading to make this statement for only 3 percent of the population had enough land to be considered wealthy (Zinn, Howard, A People’s History of the United States P. 98). On the other hand John P. Roche presents most of his views by using words such as â€Å"national interest†, â€Å"public approbation†, and always tends to give reason to why some of the things they did that were  not democratic were indeed democratic. Although the drafting and signing of the constitution was held in secrecy, according to Roche, â€Å"They were practical politicians in a democratic society†(Wikispaces.com, Taking Sides Issue Seven: Were the Founding Fathers Democratic Reformers, P. 8). The Founding Fathers did not have it in their interests to be democratic reformers. They had in their interests to create a new nation which would create a certain order to keep the nation’s wealth in the hands of a few and to maintain their privileges, â€Å"Charles Beard warned us that government-including the government of the United States-are not neutral, that they represent the dominant economic interests, and their constitutions are intended to serve their interests† (Zinn, Howard, A People’s History of the United States P. 98). The Founding Fathers were afraid of a majority faction and opted for a Republican form of government to keep the country divided so that the populace could not come to the same conclusion and unite to fight against the tyranny of the minority, they had to make it possible for the existence of minority factions to prevent from a future insurrection. This can be noted in Federalist Paper #10 in which James Madison makes the following statement, â€Å"it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength, and to act in unison with each other†¦The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other states† ( Zinn, Howard, A People’s History of the United States P. 97). They also had to make the Constitution appealing to the people. It needed to give a few rights and liberties to the citizenry to keep a revolution from arising from the monopolizatio n of wealth that they were creating. It needed a Bill of Rights, â€Å"The Constitution became even more acceptable to the public at large after the first congress, responding to criticism, passed a series of amendments known as the Bill of Rights† Zinn, Howard, A People’s History of the United State, P. 99). They needed soldiers for the revolution; they had to appeal to the people, they used the words freedom, liberty and equality to get them to fight. It is has been the history of revolution through the ages that a few educated men can persuade a majority to fight for liberty or for a common goal and after the revolution is over they put into place a government for their own privilege. The United States has not been the exception. They used the same pretexts as  the revolutionaries of anytime to create a society after their own image based on their principles, privileges and their ruling ideas, â€Å"The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force† (Marx, Karl, The German Ideology, P. 64). Their ideas were not ideas for the founding of a democracy. â€Å"Still the mythology around the Founding Fathers persists. To say, as one historian (Bernard Bai lyn) has done recently â€Å"the destruction of privilege and the creation of a political system that demanded its leaders the responsible and humane use of power were their highest aspirations† is to ignore what really happened in the America of those these Founding Fathers†( Zinn, Howard, A People’s History of the United States P. 101)† Zinn then states that the Founding Fathers wanted to create a balance between the forces which were dominant to that time, and not a balance â€Å"between slaves and masters, property less and property holder, Indians and white ( Zinn, Howard, A People’s History of the United States P. 101).† His arguments continue to be reinforced by bringing into account many different views from other historians and by presenting documents from that time and by bringing into account the writings of the Founding Fathers themselves. He clearly reinforces the argument that the founding fathers were not democratic reformers. In reading both sides of the argument one can acquire an unbiased approach to the question, yet it is impossible to remain without any sort of bias, to be working class or being wealthy will play in the outcome of any given men’s stance to the question. The level of education that a person may have acquired will also depend on his view, and also his or her sus ceptibility to what stands as a norm will also give his reasoning a bias approach. Just as well as a person’s idealism being it political, economic or social or even of the combined three will not allow an unbiased standpoint from him/her. Howard Zinn makes the most compelling argument, his answer to the question holds the most validity in the two clashing responses, it is brought upon with great historical anecdotes, it is fairly easy to find the historic facts that he represents in his outlook of the issue; and it is the more logical of the two. Zinn does not speak with emotions of nationalistic fervor, or political idealism, nor does he stay compelled to the narrowness of a one sided argument, but looks upon both sides. â€Å"As Brown says about Revolutionary America,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"practically everybody was interested in the protection of property† because so many Americans owned property† (A People’s History of the United States P. 98). His response to Robert E. Brown (Charles Beard and the Constitution), who is a critic to Beards approach was, â€Å"However, this is misleading. True, there were many property owners. But some people had much more than others†¦Jackson Main found that one-third of the population in the Revolutionary period were small farmers, while 3 percent of the population had truly large holdings and could be considered wealthy (A People’s History of the United States p. 98).† The people of the Americas did not fight a revolution for their freedom, not for equality, they fought the revolution of the elite, they won them a political victory, handed them the wealth of the nation. The slaveholders of the South found compromise with the money interest of the North and the Founding Fathers were able to create the great market of commerce they envisioned when they came to the conclusion for independence from Great Britain. The People of America in that time fought a Revolution for the Founding Fathers who were not democratic reformers.

Effects of Alcohol and Nicotine on Fetal Development and...

Maternal smoking during pregnancy (SDP) is associated with numerous adverse outcomes in offspring, such as cognitive problems (Batty et al. 2006; Gilman et al. 2008a, b) and criminal behavior (D’Onofrio et al. 2010a, b; Brennan et al. 2002; Wakschlag et al. 2002). These associations are often attributed to the causal effects of teratogenic insults on the developing offspring (for reviews, see Wakschlag et al. 2002; Cornelius and Day 2009). Several lines of evidence support this causal inference, as animal models have suggested neural mechanisms (e.g., interference with cell proliferation and growth; Guerri 1998) by which neurodevelopmental effects may occur (Nordberg et al. 1991); dose-dependent effects have been found in which greater†¦show more content†¦2012; Agrawal et al. 2008; D’Onofrio et al. 2003). Co-occurring environmental and genetic factors may, therefore, confound the association between maternal substance use during pregnancy and offspring functio ning. In addition to genetic and postnatal environmental risk factors, maternal SDP co-occurs with prenatal exposure to other drugs that also are associated with adverse offspring outcomes (for review, see Huizink and Mulder 2006). For example, prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with psychological offspring outcomes, such as cognitive functioning (Mattson et al. 1997) and childhood externalizing outcomes (D’Onofrio et al. 2007; Disney et al. 2008). Although SDP co-occurs with use of other substances of abuse, many studies have not taken into account prenatal exposure to other substances when investigating the effects of maternal SDP in offspring. The need to account for such exposure is highlighted, however, by quasi-experimental studies on the effects of PAE (Gray et al. 2009), the results from which suggest that the associations between PAE and offspring functioning remain after controlling for specific confounds (e.g., parental externalzing behavior; Disney et al. 2008 ; Knopik et al. 2009) and general confounds (e.g., in a sibling-comparison study; D’Onofrio et al. 2007). Most studies of SDP on offspring outcomes have controlled for specific, measured confounds (e.g., parental education) and have yielded robust,Show MoreRelatedPsy 244 Essay10464 Words   |  42 Pagesthese changes c. to explain how and why they occur (e.g., how and why they occur in a certain order, or sequence, and at certain times rather than at other times) d. all of the above are parts of the basic task II. History of the Study of Development A. Ancient Greece and Rome 1. In his treatise, Gynecology, the Greek physician Soranus gave careful instructions for how infants should be swaddled: in soft cloths and strips of fabric from the head to the very tip of the toes. What was