My Religious Belief System Essays - Belief, Epistemology, Truth

My Religious Belief System My Religious Belief System My religious belief system is embedded in Christianity. I was born into a family who worshiped as Methodist and I am still Methodist. Growing up my mother not only sent us to church, she went with us along with my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. Even though my father did not attend church often, he believed in God and supported my mother's desire to have her children in church. The neighborhood I grew up in consisted of a great deal of my mother's family and everyone served at the same church, right there in the community. My religious beliefs, directed my life in the sense of keeping my family close, taking my children to church, and teaching them the right way. I remember before my baptism, my pastor explained to me the importance of being baptized and partaking in communion. The first time I accepted communion at the age of 12, I felt like I was receiving a part of Jesus in my body as protection against anything and everything. Later, I learned the real reason for communio n is repentance and the need for forgiveness. My nurturing from church became an ethical path growing up. Without this direction in my life, a number of things I have experienced would probably cause me to detour too another way of thinking and doing things. My definition of a religious belief system is believe in God, involving yourself in worship and praise services and comprehending and living by a standard outlined by the word of God. In addition to that my beliefs tie in with the definition stated above. I am a Christian and with that being said, I believe in God and his son Jesus Christ. I truly believe Christ is our Lord and Savior who came into existence because of our sins and for that reason, I believe Christ died after he was crucified on the cross and 3 days later, he rose with all power over everything in heavens and earth. I believe Christ died for the sins of the entire world so that every living being may have life and live it more abundantly and when the time comes for our bodies to return to dust or dirt then our souls will join him in heaven if we believe he is Lord. From what I read and from what I am constantly learning from the Bible, I grasp what is required of me as an individual and as a Christian in associa tion with my conduct, meaning the way I behave toward others, and so forth. The Bible is an excellent guideline of what God expects us to do. By now, it seems obvious what I believe and it appears to be apparent that my belief system is absolutely a religious belief system. I pray constantly without ceasing for my children, my entire family and everyone I consider crucial to me. After analyzing my belief system, I grew into different facets of my religious belief system through phases of my life. For example, I knew several prayers at a young age but I did not understand how crucial prayer was concerning my religious beliefs. I recall as a young girl being on my knees along beside my grandmother saying my prayers. I remember her teaching one prayer for night and one for the mornings. Even as a teenager, I realized some of the proper characteristics of my belief system but being young in mind I did not always adhere to that belief. I always knew deep inside because of what my belief is that some things I will not do. I do not consider myself a saint and I have made some terrible decisions but not to the point where I ig nored my conscious which convicts us. Now that I have reached adulthood and I have experienced other things like marriage, having children, and coping with tragedies the significance of my belief system advanced and I know today I am almost whole. The benefits and disadvantages of acquiring my belief system are a distant stretch. The benefits of my religious belief system is knowing God always watches over me in spite of my faults and

Taxi Driver Wisdom essays

Taxi Driver Wisdom essays Taxi drivers, we see them everyday and can regard them as any other day-to-day worker. However, more than likely, society generally thinks of them negatively. For example, there are commentaries that recommend being careful when riding cabs, especially at night, because cabbies can easily seize the belongings of their passengers by murdering them or letting them faint through a chemical mixed with the airconditioner. Therefore, whenever I see passengers seat themselves at the back, it doesnt take much for me to recognize that the reason they do that is to monitor all the moves the driver makes. Furthermore, not only do I think that cabbies have the potential to be dangerous, but they can be quite such opportunists. I have learned of news extras on TV and newspapers of a number of people complaining about taxi drivers who take advantage of the belongings their passengers have mistakenly left, even if these purses, laptops or file envelopes have contact information. In addition, many c ab operators violate their responsibility to ensure fair and proper service to passengers. To illustrate, when my group of friends tried to hail taxi cabs early in the night in order to go from Ortigas to Libis, the cabbies whom we encountered either refused to give transportation or demanded for discriminatingly high prices to the hundreds. No doubt, I have the impression that taxi drivers are dangerous, opportunistic and unfair. That was the notion that I had of taxi drivers until I held a conversation with one of them. Late in my 4th yr. high school life, I decided to come back home from school by hiring a cab. I stood in front of the Ateneo campus and waved for a vacant taxi. Once I seated at the rear, I kept silent and looked at the drivers ID to verify the cabbie. The middle-aged man had a dark complexion, typical of any other taxi driver I have seen. Then about five minutes into our trip, the man caught my eye in the rearview ...

Shakespeare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Shakespeare - Essay Example Cassio: I do. I would have given all that I am to save Othello’s reputation in the least. I deserved all I got for being drunk and brawling in the streets, destroying my own reputation as well as his. As I told Iago, I would rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a commander with so slight, so drunken and so indiscreet an officer (II, iii). But I was confounded by that evil rogue just as my noble commander. I live my life in darkness thinking perhaps I could have assisted my good commander in his time of confusion. Banquo: Madness can often strike unawares. It did so with my good friend and compatriot, Macbeth. He was always my good friend until the madness of the witches took him and he became convinced I was designing against him. Cassio: Ah, Banquo, would that I could attribute Othello’s madness to something as external as what afflicted your Macbeth. Alas, I fear a good portion of Othello’s madness stemmed from my own actions, ill-advised as they were by the evil Iago though well-intentioned by myself. Cassio: I sought out admission to the lovely Desdemona, Othello’s bride, for assistance in regaining his ear and my position. There was naught in our relations to suspect Desdemona and I had anything other than concern for Othello and a desire to serve him, but Iago was able to convince him, through Desdemona’s pleas for my benefit and my presence with her, that she and I had dishonorable intentions. Had I not sought her assistance, Iago would not have had such a ready weapon to use against so noble a man. Buckingham: You do not hold any blame. A man cannot be expected to do anything other than further his station. You acted correctly in seeking any means possible of regaining your status. You cannot be held to account for the misdeeds of another. Horatio: I disagree. I, too, have held some responsibility for the destruction of a good and noble prince. I knew of Hamlet’s father’s

Interim report Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Interim report - Research Proposal Example Branding is one of those practices that enable businesses to attract and retain customers, who always make comparisons between brands to arrive at the best one that effectively meets their goals and objectives. Having a good business brand is essential in differentiating the goods and services produced by a business to those produced by other businesses1. Additionally, successful business brands and the branding process is essential towards driving customer loyalty. It is important for businesses to understand that the branding process is not meant for multinationals along; instead, it has to be made by all businesses that designs and produces goods and services for people. Brands, as used in business activities can be described from two important approaches, first, a brand can be looked at as a special mark, symbol or image the distinguishes businesses and products of one company to another2. Secondly, branding can be looked at in terms of the thoughts and perspectives that people often have on the business and the products it offers. The process of building successful brands plays an important role in the customers’ decision-making process over products and services they want to buy. In most cases, customers will often go for popular business brands; they often tend to think that these brands have been made under the highest standards. This paper examines the process of creating effective business brands as well as how they help to improve business functions. Brand strategy in business functioning refers to the systematic plan that defines the vision of the business and articulates how the business carries its functions in achieves set goals and objectives3. The strategy illustrates how the business creates its demand and attractiveness for clients that have to make a choice among many products being offered by other business rivals in the environment. It is important to

Summary the article The Power to see ourselves by Paul J. Brower

Summary the The Power to see ourselves by Paul J. Brower - Article Example The only thing professional managers can do to new managers is to help them trust in themselves and understand their own situation. Self-concept has an extensive impact on individual perception and abilities. The author has as well equated self-concept with a filter that screens and eliminates things that people do not want to hear or see and pass on those things that are favorable to individual’s public image. Self-concept also offers eccentric flavor to individual behavior. A part from its significance in understanding the general human behavior, self concept is exceptionally vital in explaining manager development, especially in the situation where the behavioral change is objective. Referring to Brower’s observation, professional behavioral change is in most cases used to explain individual change in self-concept. The term self-concept deals with immediate and immerses changes in managers’ behaviors. As stated by Brower, an individual behavioral change is in most cases influenced by one’s past experiences and age. As people grow, they achieve new experiences and learn new things that are incorporated in their perceptive mass. This change alters individual perception on emerging issues and happenings. As a result, Brower observes change in managers’ behavior as a constant process in their career development (Brower,

Quantitative research

Quantitative research Introduction (150) Quantitative research is the investigation of phenomena that give themselves to exact measurement and quantification, which attached a rigorous and controlled design (Polit Beck 2008). Its has main purpose is to measure concept or variables objectively in numerical and statistical process, also relationship between variables (Parahoo 2006). The research methods are obtained from research design and generally include sample, intervention (if applicable), instruments, data collection, and data analysis (eds. Joyce Meredith 2006). In many instances, the quantitative research needs such as questionnaires or interview, computers and large sample sizes. This article is to explore of a quantitative research by Kalij and William (2009) the view of its data objectivity, sample size and selection, process data collection, data presentation and analysis, using the relevant references to support this discussion. The objectives are to prove with evidences if the Khalij and Williams study (2009) fulfills the requirements of quantitative research. Objectivity (150) Objectivity is amount of involvement of the researcher relates during the collection and analysis of the data (Marcella n.d.a). Polit and Beck (2008) argued objectivity meant researcher tend to stay away any impression of subjectivity or impersonal during study process. Parahoo (2006) explained the data which collected and analyzed are expected to be free from bias between researcher and participants. It means the researcher is detached or does not active participate from practice and there is no intervention between researcher and participant. Also the participants use the same actual measurements for data collection. Further the bias of research can be minimized and the objectivity of the study can be maximized. In The Kalish and Williams study (2009) showed that they did not participate and used measurements to collect the data. It showed in their study that during data collection, they involved staff nurses in four hospitals and used psychometric testing tool. Hard data (148) Hard data is characteristic of quantitative study. Polit and Beck (2008) said that quantitative data are the information obtained during process of study course in a quantified (numeric value). (Janet Houser 2008) argued the other numerical data specific patients symptoms put in rank order the scales which contained intervals, comparisons between subjects. Other instance the researchers with rigorously designed tools should be able to grasp the reality (Parahoo 2006). For example scale of depression and pain in numeric value. That means the data can be measured and quantified in some way. In the nursing practice we always face with the hard data. For instance are physical (height, weight, gender), physiological (vital signs, laboratory results, visual acuity), past medical histories, psychological and social or behavior. This data are shown in Kalish and Williams study (2009) during their study while collected data: sample size, genders, experience, education degree, and work location in quantified data. Statistic (142) Statistic is very important aspect in the quantitative research. After data are collected can be analyzed using statistic and presented in numerical form. Polit and Beck (2008) said that statistic is an estimate of a parameter, calculated from sample data. They emphasized statistics are used to test hypotheses and evaluate the believability of the finding. Researchers usually use statistical computer to expedite calculation and ensure accuracy (ed. Joyce and Meredith 2006). They mentioned statistic methods are used in every process include in the final report to search the correlations, comparisons of means, trend and significance of finding to refute hypothesis. Its reinforce that statistic is one of characteristic in quantitative research. Its applied in Kalishs study process while selecting data sampling and analyzing data which showed in the tables and the data was analyzed by statistical computer, descriptive statistic and inferential statistic. Sample selection (269) Janet Holt (2009, p. 235) said that sampling is the process to select a small group of participant for study with the goal of making generalization from large population based on findings. Polit and Beck (2008) argued that sampling is the process of selecting portion of the population to represent from the entire population element. There are differentiation ways in sample selection; sampling designs, sample size and sampling steps. Polit and Beck (2008) mentioned that there are two sampling designs; probability sampling and non probability sampling. Probability sampling contents; simple random, stratified random, cluster and systemic sampling. The non probability sampling has contents; convenience, quota and purposive sampling. Janet Houser (2008) explained sample size in quantitative research to determine sample in adequacy is power. Its an analysis to indicate the large of sample which needed to adequately detect a difference in result variable. Polit and Beck (2008) suggested the steps in this research sampling as follow; the population identify, the specific eligibility criteria, the specific sampling plan and sample recruitment. They emphasized researcher during sample recruitment to gain the participant cooperation use means of courtesy, persistence, incentives, research benefits, sharing results, convenience, and endorsement. This study sample collection was implemented in the kalishstudy. They used random sampling to collect the participant data from four hospitals in different unit. The study used N symbol which designed for the total number, and n symbol is designed for number of subject. They took large sample size with total samples (N=1098). They applied ratio of sample size during sample collection. They gained the participant cooperation which provided incentives (jumbo-sized candy and bar a pizza party). Data collection (285) Parahoo (2006) said data collection is methods to measure the data sampling which utilized the instrument tools: questionnaires, observation schedule and other measuring tools. He emphasized that the methods should be predetermined, structured and standardized. Polit and Beck (2003) developed data collection plan include identifying data needs, selecting types of measures, selecting and developing instruments, pre testing the data collection package, and developing data collection forms and procedures. They stressed Important aspects should be considered while implementing the data collection plans are the selecting research personal and personal and the training data collector. Nancy and Susan (2007) explained data collection is the process of obtaining the subject and collecting the data for the research. They explained five tasks during data collection process: recruiting subjects, maintaining consistency, maintaining controls, protecting study integrity, and solving the problem. Structure, quantifiability, obstrusiveness, and objectivity are important elements when selecting data collection instruments (Marcella n.d.a). We have to understand and maintain the important dimension the data collection methods when applied in the data collection plan, and implementing. The obtained data should be accurate, valid, and meaningful to respond the questions. Kalish and William implemented the data collection process in their study. They applied the approaching methods to maintain the important dimensions in data collection such as a tool of missed nursing care and reason for missed care. The Data collection plan used to identify data needs for instance in the describing sample characteristic of participants (table 2.). They construct the tool in their survey to gain the quantify data. While implementing data collection, they selected research personal is staff nurse experts. The training data collector was done which distributed a copy of tool, informed consent form and a letter explaining the study. Data analysis and presentation (299) Joyce and Meredith (ed. 2006) said data analysis is a systematic method of examining data gathered for any research investigation to support hypothesis. This system implements in the data analysis process: the data analysis preparation, the sample description, reliability of measurement test, exploratory analysis conduction, exploratory analysis, confirmatory analysis and posthoc analysis conduction (Nancy Susan 2007). Parahoo (2006) stated analysis data can be obtained from measurement level, and then analyzed with statistical level. He mentioned two statistic levels those are descriptive statistic and inferential statistic. There are several statistical computer programs (SPSS, SAS, LISREL, EQS, etc) which help the researcher to calculate these test statistics and their sampling distribution (eds. Joyce Meredith 2006). Marcella (n.d.b) explained there are two types of inferential statistics are parametric (t-test, ANOVA, Multiple regressions) and non parametric (Chi-square, Rank Correlation, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis). Quantitative research result may be presented in the tables, charts and graphs (Michael, Patricia Frances, 2007, cited Russell, 2005). In conclusion that data analysis is systemic method of examination data started from data collection which used measurement level then data were analyzed by statistical level and presented in the tables, charts and graphs to support hypothesis. Kalish and Williams study (2009) implemented the data analysis process which utilized measurement level and statistical level which completed using SPSS in their study. First step is checking of data accuracy using ordinal scale. The second is describing sample, they use central tendency and dispersion to test the contrast validity. The third is testing the reliability of measurement, they applied cronbach alpha coefficient. Fourth they conducted exploratory analysis as the extraction technique and varimax as orthogonal rotation method, also analyzed using oblique rotation. Fifth they conducted the confirmatory analysis used AMOS version 16. Last step they used analysis of variance (ANOVA) to conduct posthoc analysis. Result study was presented in the table presentation. Conclusion (118) This essay has tried to explore the Kalish and Williams study (2009) about the development and psychometric testing of a tool to measure missed nursing care. Their study has approached and fulfilled the major requirement of quantitative research characteristics that include objectivity, hard data and statistic. They applied quantitative study process which consists of conceptual, design and planning, empirical, analytic and dissemination phase as suggested by Polit and Beck (2004). They also utilized data analysis process of Nancy and Susan (2008). In general view of Kalish and Williams study (2009) has applied the quantitative research systematically. Improvement progress monitoring was done, but effectiveness overview the tool is still recommended to apply in the base practice for long period. References: 1. Carol L. Macnee Susan Mc. Cabe (2008) Understanding nursing research: using research in evidence-base practice, 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott and William a Wolter Kluwer Business. 2. Denise F, Polit Cheryl Tatano Beck (2010) Essentials of nursing research: appraising evidence for nursing practice, 7th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincot William Wilkins. 3. Denise F, Polit Cheryl Tatano Beck (2008) Nursing research: generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice, 8th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincot William Wilkins. 4. Denise F, Polit Cheryl Tatano Beck (2003) Nursing research: principle and methods, 7th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincot William Wilkins. 5. Kader Parahoo (2006) Nursing research principles, process and issues, 2nd ed. Hamspire: Palgrave Macmillan. 6. Janet Holt (2009) Reading research series quantitative research: an overview, British Journal of Cardiac Nursing, Vol. 4(5), pp. 234-236. 7. Janet Houser (2008) Nursing research: reading, using and creating evidence, Jones and Bartlett Publisher, Sudbury. 8. Joyce J.F. Meredith W. (eds) 2006, Encyclopedia of nursing, 2nd ed. New York: Springer Publishing. 9. Marcella Hart (n.d.a) Birthing a research project: data collection, International Journal of Childbirth Education, Vol. 22(3) pp. 27-31. 10. Marcella Hart (n.d.b) Birthing a research project: data analysis, International Journal of Childbirth Education, Vol. 22(4), pp. 24-28. 11. Michael Coughlan, Patricia Cronin Frances Ryan (2007) Step-by-step guide to critiquing research. part 1: quantitative research, British Journal of Nursing, Vol. 16(11), pp. 658-663. 12. Nancy Burns Susan K. Grove (2007) Understanding nursing research: building an evidence-base practice, 4th ed. Missouri, Saunders an Imprint of Elsevier.

Adding International Perspectives to Vocational Education Essay

Adding International Perspectives to Vocational Education International work opportunities are increasing as the borders of the U.S. economy expand to embrace international markets. Future workers will need to develop global awareness and an understanding of competitive, cultural, and economic factors that influence ways of doing business in order to work in the international arena. This Digest examines the instructional approaches and strategies used in vocational education to prepare students to work in a global environment. The Industrial Age expanded the vision of U.S. workers beyond their local communities to the country's national borders. The current Information Age moves the focus to global boundaries. To meet the competitive challenges of a global economy, businesses are looking for workers who have cross-cultural knowledge; intercultural communication skills, and an awareness of the political, geographical, and technological conditions that influence work in other countries (Hart et al. 1994; Philpott 1994). In a survey to elicit chief executive officers' expectations of collegiate international business preparation, "84% of the chief executive officers indicated that 'global awareness' is a key ingredient of international business expertise" (Hart et al. 1994, p. 104). The preparation of individuals for work in a global economy is a challenge to educational institutions. Considering the limited international experience of most students, the challenge is formidable. Smith and Steward (1995) contrast the cross-cultural education experiences of U.S. students to those of students from other countries. They note that "currently there are 240,000 Asians studying in the U.S. and less than 5,000 U. S. students stud... ...chool, and Community." Business Education Forum 49, no. 3 (February 1995): 44-47. Pachnowski, L. "The Internet: A Powerful Resource for Educators." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Educational Research Association, Boston, MA, February 1996. (ED 393 447) Philpott, M. "Business Beyond Our Borders: An Integrated Approach." Business Education Forum 48, no. 3 (February 1994): 21-25. Smith, M. O., and Steward, J. F. "Communication for a Global Economy." Business Education Forum 49, no. 4 (April 1995): 25-28. Sutliff, L. "The English Translation." Vocational Education Journal 71, no. 4 (April 1996): 38-39, 57. Wismer, J. N. "Training for Trade: Role of American Community Colleges." Paper presented at a conference of the American Council on International and Intercultural Education, Colorado Springs, CO, April 21, 1994. (ED 371 789)

Integrated Performance Management Through Effective Management Control

9 Integrated Performance Management through Effective Management Control WERNER BRUGGEMAN Performance measurement and performance management are vivid themes in the literature on management control. So, it is only natural that we investigate how this literature has contributed to the field of Integrated Performance Management. The purpose of this chapter is to describe how management control systems can be used to effectively manage company and business performance.First, we define the scope of management control and describe the link with organizational strategy. Then, we focus on the three elements of the management control system: (1) the management control structure; (2) the control process; and (3) the management control culture (beliefs systems). We will describe these three elements in greater detail and give an overview of the findings in mainstream contingency research studying the effectiveness of control systems in various environmental and organizational contexts.Manageme nt control defined Management control and the link with strategy Following Anthony and Govindarajan (1995), management control can be defined as a process of motivating managers to perform actions and activities in line with the goals and strategies of the organization. According to this definition, an organization is ‘under control’ when its members do what the management wants them to do. Management control comprises various tasks, among which are:Planning the future activities of the organization; Coordinating the activities of the various members of the organization; Communicating information; Evaluating this information; Deciding on the actions to be taken; and Influencing people to adapt their behaviour according to the company goals (Anthony and Govindarajan, 1995). Integrated Performance Management through Effective Management Control ? 153 From the definition above, it follows that management control plays a central role in managing the company’s perform ance and the implementation of its strategies.Therefore, it is of vital importance that management behaviour, which is stimulated by the management control system, is consistent with the strategy to be implemented (the so-called ‘intended strategy’ – see also Chapter 6). The starting points of the management control process are the mission, the vision and the strategies of the organization. We refer to Chapter 6 for a more thorough discussion of each of these concepts, but recapitulate them very briefly here. The mission of an organization is a description in general terms of the role of the company towards its stakeholders.It describes the reasons for the company’s existence, its strategic focus and values, as well as how the long-term goals should be realized. The goals are descriptions of the long-term desired future of the company. The mission and goals translate into strategies, which specify the way in which the vision aspired to should be reached. T he strategy in turn is translated into concrete performance objectives or targets. This is usually done through formalized action plans.Management control and goal congruence The purpose of management control is to maximize congruence among the goals of the organization, its various entities and its individual managers. This is called goal congruence. The way in which managers react to management control information depends to a large extent on their personal goals. For effective management control, it is important to be able to measure the impact of these motivators, because they largely determine the behaviour of people in an organization, as well as the desirability of the consequences of their behaviour.Business Management Study GuideThe management control system should be designed in such a way that, whenever managers take decisions that fit into their personal goals, these decisions should also be in the interests of the company as a whole. In other words, the management contr ol system must create the conditions to foster a feeling within the members of the organization that they can best realize their personal goals by contributing as much as possible to the realization of the general company goals.It is clear that the way in which managers are evaluated and financially rewarded for their performance plays a significant role in reaching ‘goal congruence’ (see also Chapter 13). Goal congruence is an important condition for effective performance management. The problem of goal congruence can be described in more detail in the following way. Corporate goals are translated into departmental goals, and in these departments people are working who also have their personal goals. A first problem that can arise is a lack of congruence between the corporate and departmental goals.For example, a department or division of a company can have a long-term vision that says it is desirable to stay small and be profitable (in other words ‘small is 154 ? The Integrated Performance Management Framework beautiful’). On the other hand, top management might be striving for a company goal of strong growth and therefore wants the division to grow. In this case, there is a lack of congruence between the different visions, and a number of meetings will have to be organized to align the goals and strategies.However, there is also the possibility that the division manager is opposed to the growth of his division because he is personally reluctant to make the required efforts. In this case, there is a conflict between the personal goals of the manager and the goals of the company. Role of management control in performance management Verifying whether the company (or the business unit or department) is on track is an important management function. Management control is an important instrument for motivating personnel to act in accordance with the goals and strategies of the organization.This motivation is one of the major driving force s of the performance and the value of the company. The management control system must be adjusted to the goals and the strategies of the company and it must be optimally aligned. The contribution of control to strategy implementation Robert Simons (1995) has outlined how management control can contribute to effective strategy implementation. In his book, Levers of Control, he introduced four key constructs that must be analysed and understood in order to implement strategy successfully: core values, risks to be avoided, critical performance variables and strategic uncertainties.Each construct is controlled by a different system, or lever, the use of which has different implications. These levers are: †¢ Beliefs systems, used to inspire and direct the search for new opportunities. †¢ Boundary systems, used to set limits on opportunity-seeking behaviour. There are three broad categories of boundary systems: business conduct boundaries, internal controls and strategic boundar ies. 1 †¢ Diagnostic control systems, used to motivate, monitor and reward achievement of specified goals.Diagnostic control systems attempt to measure output variables that represent important performance dimensions of a given strategy: critical performance variables. These factors must be achieved or implemented successfully for the intended strategy of the business to succeed. Diagnostic variables should be measured, monitored and controlled, but reporting on them to higher management is on an exception basis only, when a value falls outside a normal control limit and corrective actions must be taken. Interactive control systems, used to stimulate search and learning, allowing new strategies to emerge as participants throughout the Integrated Performance Management through Effective Management Control ? 155 organization respond to perceived opportunities and threats. As a fourth lever of control, these systems focus attention on strategic uncertainties and enable strategic r enewal (i. e. , emergent strategies). Figure 9. 1 Levers of control Source: Simons (1995: 159) Control of business strategy is achieved by integrating these four levers of control.The power of these levers in implementing strategy does not lie in how each is used alone, but rather in how they complement each other when used together. Two of the control systems – beliefs systems and interactive control systems – motivate organizational participants to search creatively and expand the opportunity space. These systems create intrinsic motivation by creating a positive informational environment that encourages information sharing and learning. The other two levers of control – boundary systems and diagnostic control systems – are used to constrain search behaviour and allocate scarce attention.These systems rely on extrinsic motivation by providing explicit goals, formula-based rewards and clear limits to opportunity-seeking. These four levers create tension between creative innovation and predictable goal movement. This tension requires managers of effective organizations to know how to achieve both high degrees of learning (innovation) and high degrees of control (efficiency) (Simons, 2000: 304). Levers of control and the organizational lifecycle Developing an integrated control system does not happen overnight. Managers of small entrepreneurial firms perform their strategic control 56 ? The Integrated Performance Management Framework rather informally. As the business grows larger, however, informal processes become inadequate. Simons (1995, 2000) illustrates how the levers of control can be successfully implemented as a business grows and matures (see Figure 9. 2). Figure 9. 2 Introduction of control systems over the lifecycle of a business Source: Simons (1995: 128) In their most recent book, Kaplan and Norton (2001) point out the importance of using the Balanced Scorecard (see Chapter 3) as an interactive control system.It is clea r from Figure 9. 2 that an organization must have some experience with other control systems before it can exploit the Balanced Scorecard in this way. Diagnostic systems, boundary systems, and internal control systems are all necessary, but they do not create a learning organization aligned to a focused strategy. Some Balanced Scorecard implementation failures occurred because organizations used their scorecard only diagnostically, and failed to get the learning and innovation benefits from an interactive system.The CEOs of successful Balanced Scorecard adopters succeeded because they use the scorecard interactively, for communication and to drive learning and improvement. They set overall strategy and then encouraged people within their organization to identify the local actions and initiatives that would have the highest impact for accomplishing the scorecard objectives. (Kaplan and Norton, 2001: 350) Management control versus task control Anthony and Govindarajan (1995) distingui sh management control, which ultimately is about implementing strategies, from strategic planning and control and task control:Integrated Performance Management through Effective Management Control ? 157 †¢ Strategic planning and control is the process of determining and evaluating the goals of the organization, and formulating or reformulating the broad strategies to be used in attaining these goals. Strategic control refers to the maintenance of the environmental conditions of strategies. Strategic control is used to evaluate the background of existing strategies and the environmental assumptions on which the strategies were formulated.It can also involve the reformulation of strategies. †¢ Task control is the process of ensuring that specific tasks are carried out effectively and efficiently. For example, internal audit and internal control are often associated with task control. Elements of a management control system In the previous paragraphs, we have described the i mportance of management control for strategy implementation and for performance management. In the remainder of this chapter, we go deeper into the details of the management control system and focus on its compounding elements.A management control system consists of three basic elements: (1) the management control structure; (2) the management control process; and (3) the management control culture. The first element, the management control structure, deals with the division of the organization into ‘responsibility centres’. A distinction needs to be made among the various types of responsibility centre, such as ‘revenue centres’, ‘expense centres’, ‘profit centres’, and ‘investment centres’. Determining the optimal structure is part of the task of management control.The second element in a management control system, the management control process, comprises the cycle of: planning for the expected input and output; mea suring the results; comparing plan to reality; and, finally, adjusting if necessary. The third element is the management control culture or the beliefs systems. This is the combination of communal values and behavioural norms, which determine the behaviour of managers and staff. Choosing an effective management control structure To manage an organization according to certain objectives, you must first choose an appropriate management control structure.A management control structure is the system of basic principles for the functioning of the organization or the organizational structure in which the management control will take place. Hellriegel, Slocum and Woodman (1992: 5) define the organizational structure as ‘the structure and formal system of communication, division of labor, coordination, control, authority and responsibility necessary to achieve the organization’s goals’. 158 ? The Integrated Performance Management Framework Elements of a management contro l structure When defining the management control structure, the following questions must be answered: What are the various departments in the organization? †¢ What are the responsibilities of the various department managers? †¢ How are the activities of the various departments coordinated, and what are the coordination mechanisms? Defining the departmental structure In organizing for effective performance management, the company may choose a functional organization structure, a multidivisional structure, a matrix organization or a network organization structure. When choosing the functional organization structure, the tasks are grouped based on the functional specialty to which they belong.Traditionally, the following departments are presented in the organizational chart: ‘Sales and Marketing’, ‘Engineering’, ‘Production’, ‘Distribution’, ‘Purchasing’ and ‘Finance’. An organization can also be co ntrolled within a multidivisional structure, which is a structure based on products or markets instead of functions. If based on products, we have a product-oriented department structure. The sales, development, production and purchasing activities with regard to a certain product are concentrated in one, individual department. On the other hand, the organization could also be structured around markets.In this case, all tasks that deal with a certain geographical market are grouped. The multidivisional structure groups management tasks in divisions, each of which focuses on a certain product or geographical area where the products are sold. Division managers are responsible for the daily operational decisions within their division. Top management no longer wants to engage itself in daily problems, but instead focuses on the important strategic decisions (e. g. , investment decisions, acquisitions and divestments). When designing a multidivisional structure, the business unit concept can be taken as a starting point.In this concept, the organization is structured around strategic business units or SBUs. An SBU is an operating unit of a planning focus that groups a distinct set of products or services sold to a uniform set of customers, facing a well-defined set of competitors. Many companies have a combination of functional and product- or market-oriented structures in their organizational structure. They prefer to work in a matrix organization. On the horizontal line, we find an R&D manager, a production manager, a financial manager and a purchasing manager.On the vertical line, we see the various business or product line managers. They are responsible, first of all, for the marketing and sales of their product line, but they must also take care of the coordination between the various functional departments. Staff members in the various functional departments are thus led by two managers. Integrated Performance Management through Effective Management Control ? 159 Defining the responsibility of managers After determining the department structure by which the organization will be controlled, it is important to define the responsibilities of each department.A department or an organizational unit, led by a manager with clearly specified responsibilities, is called a responsibility centre. An organizational structure is therefore a hierarchy of responsibility centres. Delegated responsibility demands appropriate authority. When assigning the responsibility for a specific output to a certain department, this department should also have control over its output. So, responsibility requires the existence of ‘controllability’. Delegated responsibility also requires an appropriate ‘accountability’.A manager is considered to be ‘accountable’ when he or she is assessed according to the realization of his or her objectives. In other words, performance is monitored, and if his or her performance turns out to be b ad, management will take the necessary actions. A responsibility centre is not only assessed on its output (which result has been achieved? ), but also on its input (how many inputs were used? ). In general, a responsibility centre should be assessed on two basic criteria: efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency is the relation between output and input.The more cars that are made in a car manufacturing company with the same production costs, the more efficient the operation is. The cost per unit (i. e. , the total production cost divided by the number of units produced) is therefore an efficiency norm. Effectiveness expresses the extent to which the realized output is aligned with the goals and strategies to be realized. It could be that the sales department has become more efficient by selling more with the same people, but that the sales efforts were focused on markets in which the company has chosen not to be active for strategic reasons.In this case, the sales efforts were not effective, i. e. , they did not contribute to the realization of the corporate strategy. When designing a management control system, one must determine what efficiency and effectiveness mean concretely for each department and how these can be measured. Assigning responsibilities to the departments means determining the right performance measures. The responsibilities of the manager can be divided into financial, strategic and operational responsibilities. Performance measures must be defined for each of these responsibility areas.We call them financial, strategic and operational performance measures. With regard to the financial responsibilities, we can distinguish among the following types of responsibility centres: expense centres, revenue centres, profit centres and investment centres. †¢ Expense centres are departments that are responsible for the costs they have made (input), but whose output is not measured in financial terms. In a functional organization structure, typic al expense centres are the production department, the R&D department, the purchasing department and the financial department.Staff functions are also usually controlled as expense centres. 160 ? The Integrated Performance Management Framework †¢ Revenue centres are departments in which the output, but not the input, is measured in financial terms. Typical revenue centres are the sales departments. Their management task is not concerned with the costs incurred; instead, they strive to reach a turnover objective. †¢ In a profit centre, the manager is responsible for the costs and also for the revenues of the department. Thus, the ‘profit centre’ manager receives a profit report for his or her department. In investment centres, the profit as well as the investments (‘assets employed’) are measured. The department manager has the authority to take investment decisions and is also responsible for the profitability of the investments made. A typical per formance measure for investment centres is the return on investment (ROI). Regarding strategic responsibilities, a manager’s task not only involves realizing financial goals; the manager and his or her team may also be charged with contributing towards realizing the competitive strategy of their division and the general strategy of the company.For example, the general company strategy may be concerned with growth in all business units and with global operations. Choosing and formulating this strategy may be the work of general management, but translating it into the business unit may be the responsibility of the division manager. The division manager may also be responsible for defining and developing a competitive advantage (in the areas of quality, flexibility and customer service, for example) for his or her business unit. The manager may be responsible for constantly tracking the evolution of customer satisfaction and adapting the competitive strategy in time to this evol ution.When strategic responsibilities are also delegated to a lower level in the organization, the manager responsible should be evaluated with regard to the level of success of the chosen strategies. Performance measures must be determined for this as well. The method of the Balanced Scorecard (see Chapter 3) may be of help here. Finally, regarding operational responsibilities, it is obvious that managers of responsibility centres are also responsible for managing daily operations. A number of ‘key performance measures’ can be defined for this, which are followed up closely by top management.The division manager may be asked to realize objectives with regard to inventory levels, processing times, products out of specification, revision times, etc. Restriction of responsibilities and freedom of action Each responsibility centre is restricted in its activity by a number of rules and procedures. Rules are formal expressions of the behaviours that are permitted and not per mitted to the members of a department. Procedures are descriptions of steps to be followed in executing a task or in making decisions.Rules and procedures provide a detailed specification of the kinds of responsibility and freedom of action the responsibility centre has or does not have. They indicate how the responsibilities and freedom of action are restricted. The Integrated Performance Management through Effective Management Control ? 161 indicated restrictions can be expressed in a positive or negative way. Positive responsibility restrictions describe what the responsibility centre manager may do. Negative restrictions describe what the manager is not allowed to do.Some restrictions relate to responsibilities, others are involved with the manager’s freedom of decision. The freedom of an individual in an organization can also be restricted by general codes of behaviour, which result from existing laws, statutory provisions and ethical values. These are meant to prevent t he potential mix of personal and company interests (e. g. , they indicate in what way confidential information should be treated). Restriction of responsibilities and freedom of action are all part of the boundary systems of a company.These are ‘explicit statements embedded in formal information systems that define and communicate specific risks to be avoided’ (Simons, 1995: 112). Coordination mechanisms When the department structure and the responsibilities of the various departments are defined, rules must be set up with regard to the actions between departments as well. The responsibility for realizing the global company goals and strategies cannot be split up into independent partial responsibilities. Departments and divisions must cooperate in various areas.Therefore, it is important that rules with respect to this cooperation be defined that motivate the managers maximally to target their efforts towards realizing the global company goals. There are two important kinds of rules that coordinate actions between departments: (1) formal coordination mechanisms (task forces, standing committees, integrating managers); and (2) transfer price systems. Choosing the optimal management control structure Designing the management control structure involves a number of choices. The decision can be made to manage in a functional structure or in a divisional tructure. Within a divisional structure, the divisions can be structured around products, markets, business units, or a combination of these. One can also choose to work in a matrix organization. Then, a choice must be made regarding the degree of delegation of responsibilities. A department can be led as an expense centre, a revenue centre, a profit centre or an investment centre. The responsibilities of these centres can be restricted in various ways, and cooperation between departments can be coordinated by several coordination mechanisms and rules regarding transfer prices.In some companies, manage ment control is characterized by a detailed set of formal rules, centralized decision power, limited delegated responsibilities and a strict hierarchy of authority. Such a structure is called mechanistic. At the other end of the spectrum, we have the organic organizations. They are characterized by few rules, decentralized power of 162 ? The Integrated Performance Management Framework decision, group decision-making, broadly defined functional responsibilities and a flexible application of the hierarchic relations.We can now ask the question: Do optimal choices exist? In order to answer this question, we must first define what makes a management control structure optimal. The answer to this question can be found in the description of the task of management control: the objective of management control is to motivate managers maximally to realize the corporate goals and to implement the strategies. So, a management control structure is optimal when it maximally stimulates the desired goal-oriented behaviour and minimally leads to undesired (or dysfunctional) behaviour.To be able to choose a management control structure, one must predict what the effect of the choice will be on the management behaviour and whether the expected effect is desired or not. For example: †¢ A company that wants to realize a competitive strategy of flexibility (custom-made work) in its business units wonders if it is optimal to manage the departments in a functional organization structure, in which the sales department is responsible for the turnover and the production departments (as expense centres) are responsible for the price of the products made.To be able to answer this question, we need to know to what extent the production managers are inclined to handle specific customer demands in a flexible way when the price of the products is the most important performance measure. †¢ Universities lead their faculties and departments as discretionary expense centres with respect to educational activities. In the short term, the deans and department heads are responsible for the costs of their faculties and departments, and not directly for the number of students and the revenues.As a consequence, the professors are not motivated to have many students, and they organize very few (if any) activities to influence and increase the number of students in the short term. Faculties and departments could also be managed as profit centres. The question is: What would be the effect on the management behaviour of deans, chairmen and professors? Would they act in a more commercial way? Would they lose their interest in research? Would this lead to overly aggressive competition among universities and, if so, is aggressive competition a corporate strategic choice within educational policy?To be able to make an optimal choice of management control structure, good insight into the strategy that is to be realized is crucial. The choice of the management control structure mus t be aligned with the strategic choices of the company. Knowledge of how managers will be influenced by certain structural choices is also important. One can learn from one’s own experience or from the experiences of other companies. In most cases, companies learn from their own experience. Setting up a management control structure is a dynamic process. The key is to look forIntegrated Performance Management through Effective Management Control ? 163 both well-motivated and dysfunctional management behaviours in the existing structure. Ultimately, the process should yield new ideas for improving the structure to promote the desired behaviour and eliminate the dysfunctional behaviour. Experiences from other companies can also be helpful. A significant part of the literature on management control focuses on research of the general tendencies and patterns in management behaviour in various types of management control structure.A general conclusion is that there is no management control structure that is optimal for all control situations. The optimal management control structure depends on the situation. The research that studies which management control structure best suits which type of environment is called ‘contingency research’. This contingency research has focused on two major contingency variables: (1) the environment; and (2) a firm’s strategy.Study of the first contingency variable has helped identify the appropriate structures to fit the levels of uncertainty in the environment (Burns and Stalker, 1961; Lawrence and Lorsch, 1967; Galbraith, 1973; Drazin and Van de Ven, 1985). Structure is generally discussed in terms of mechanistic versus organic approaches to organizing, and it is believed that more organic structures are best suited to uncertain environments. These are structures that focus on ‘clan control’, i. e. , social control coordinated by integrative mechanisms such as task forces and meetings.Contingen cy research also shows that management control structures should be well suited to the company’s chosen strategy. Different strategies may require different control structures. A popular typology deals with the strategic mission of business units, which may vary from a ‘build’ strategy, to a ‘hold’ strategy, a ‘harvest’ strategy and, finally, a ‘divest’ strategy. The objective of a build strategy is to increase market share and production volumes, while a hold strategy tries to protect the existing market share and maintain the current competitive position.A harvest strategy focuses on maximizing cash flow and profit in the short run, even if this is at the expense of market share. Last, the divest strategy concerns the decision to withdraw from a certain business. Other strategy typologies that are often used in the management control literature come from Porter (1985) and Miles and Snow (1978) (see Chapter 6 for more infor mation). Evidence from the strategy/organizational design research suggests that for strategies characterized by a conservative orientation (defenders), harvest and cost leadership are best served by entralized control systems, specialized and formalized work, simple coordination mechanisms, and directing attention to problem areas (Miles and Snow, 1978; Porter, 1985; Miller and Friesen, 1982). For strategies characterized by an entrepreneurial orientation (prospectors), build and product differentiation are linked to a lack of standardized procedures, decentralized and results-oriented evaluation, flexible structures and processes, complex coordination of overlapping project teams, and directing attention at curbing excess innovation. 164 ?The Integrated Performance Management Framework Designing an effective management control process Phases in the management control process The management control process can best be represented by a closed loop control cycle (see Figure 9. 3). Th e process starts from the strategy of the company, from which the action programmes are derived. Once the programmes are set up and approved, their financial implications for the coming year can be expressed in a budget. At the end of the budget period, the actual performance is measured and compared to the budget.The results of this analysis are then reported to top management and used in the evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of the responsibility centres concerned and their managers. The management control process thus starts from strategic planning and target setting and consists of the following five phases: Figure 9. 3 The management control process Integrated Performance Management through Effective Management Control ? 165 †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Planning action programmes (programming); Preparing the budget; Executing the plan; Measuring performance, following up the budget and reporting; and Evaluating and rewarding.Important design parameters o f the control process When used in an appropriate way, the budgeting process may motivate managers to improve performance. The motivating impact of the budget is influenced by the following parameters. The level of management commitment to budget targets First of all, companies may use the budget to assess the financial impact of their strategic action plans. In this case, budgeting is primarily used as a feed forward control mechanism and its primary function is to support the planning process (‘budgeting for planning’).Budget targets are an indication and show the direction in which the company wants to go, but managers do not feel a strong pressure to realize the targets. Budget targets can also be seen as commitments for the managers. In this case, the budget is used for control. Top-down versus bottom-up budgeting Budget targets may be imposed topdown by executive management (in consultation with the division managers, or not). Besides this, there is also a bottom- up process, in which each division sets up its own budget, yet within the general goals and directions of the company.The global company budget is then formed by combining the various sub-budgets. The level of participation during the budgeting process When setting up a budgeting process, an important parameter is the level of participation managers may have in the target-setting process. We can talk about participative budgeting when subordinate managers participate in the budgeting process and in defining the budget objectives. Participative budgeting involves back-and-forth communication between superiors and subordinates – they share information and converge on a mutually acceptable budget.It is generally agreed that involvement in setting up the budget leads to higher acceptance than when the budget is imposed fully from the top. Moreover, it is assumed that participative budgeting has a positive effect on the commitment of the division managers who have to realize the b udget later on. The difficulty of budget targets It is necessary to think about guidelines regarding the degree of difficulty in realizing the budgets (‘goal difficulty’). Certain companies have a policy of realistic budgets, where the budget objective will be accepted if it most probably can be reached.Other 166 ? The Integrated Performance Management Framework companies prefer challenging budgets, where top management expects the division managers to work very hard. The basic assumption behind challenging budgets is that managers can always achieve more with their team than they think they can. The task of top management is to stimulate managers to try to excel themselves over and over again. In this situation, managers who submit realistic budgets are evaluated poorly beforehand and a more challenging budget is imposed on them from the top.Whatever the budget philosophy, a budget can be accepted if it holds sufficient task content, i. e. , if the team in the departme nt will have to exert a lot of effort to realize the budget. As a general rule, the set targets ought to be realistic but challenging. This means that they may not be set unattainably high, which results in frustration and manipulation of data, but they may also not be too easily achievable, because then most of the performance stimulus disappears. Tolerance for budget slack It should also be verified whether or not the budget is too pessimistic.Some managers may be inclined to build a certain ‘slack’ into their budget. The phenomenon of budget slack occurs when a manager submits a budget in which a certain ‘buffer’ is built in so that the budget objectives are relatively easy to reach. Indeed, in a participative budgeting process the tendency might exist to ask more than one strictly needs to cover oneself against unforeseen circumstances or out of fear that top management will reduce the budget by a certain amount.For example, if the purchasing department fears that it will no longer be able to buy raw materials at the prices that were budgeted in the past, it can ask for extra means for this part of the budget. It can also be that managers prefer not to set the budget standards too high in companies where their bonuses are calculated on the degree to which they have reached their budget objectives. In all these cases, the general interests of the company are not respected because, by building in budget slack, the company funds are not optimally allocated.Fairness in budget target setting When assessing the budget, one should verify whether the task content of the budgets of the various departments are of equal value. The budget negotiation process is not only a vertical negotiation process in the organization, it is also a process of comparing the planned efforts of the various departments. Dynamic managers, who always work with challenging budget objectives, may become demotivated when they discover that other departments are tole rated when they exert less effort (i. e. , make less profit or be less productive).However, equally balancing the task content of the budgets of the various departments presents difficulties because the management problems may differ widely per department (e. g. , different management functions, product groups, markets, etc. ) and the concept ‘task content’ is difficult to measure objectively. The task content of a budget depends on the experience of the manager and his or her team. There is also a certain Integrated Performance Management through Effective Management Control ? 167 psychological insight involved here.Some managers, along with their teams, feel more quickly swamped with work than others. In any case, clear imbalances in the performances of the various departments need to be eliminated as quickly as possible. For instance, in a profit centre structure, where all divisions are making profits and a certain division is constantly in the red, a thorough restr ucturing plan must be set up in the short run to make the department profit-making as fast as possible. Tightness of budget control With regard to following up the budget, a choice can be made between tight and loose control.The tightness of the control is determined by the degree to which restrictions are imposed on the freedom of subordinates and emphasis is placed on reaching the predefined objectives. In most cases, it is assumed that tight control provides more certainty that the people in the organization will act as is expected of them. This can be done by determining the activities in detail, by following up very accurately the results of the departments, and by exerting pressure on the responsible managers to adjust quickly potentially unfavourable anomalies. With tight budget control, it is frequently (e. g. monthly) verified whether the real costs and revenues are in accordance with the planned short-term objectives. Undesired anomalies in the budget are not tolerated and must be eliminated quickly. The advantage of tight control is that managers become more aware of the importance of costs and profitability, and they actively seek ways to eliminate inefficiencies. However, tight control may also have undesired dysfunctional effects. Focusing on short-term results too intently may encourage managers to organize actions that optimize profitability in the short term, but that are disadvantageous in the long term.For example, in order to reach its budget figures, the purchasing department may decide to buy cheaper, but qualitatively inferior, raw materials. However, this may lead to significant quality problems in production and possibly to lower quality end products, which result in losing the goodwill of the customers. When the emphasis is primarily on reaching budget objectives in the short term, managers may also not be motivated to make the strategic investments that are necessary for the long-term survival of the company.Moreover, excessively tig ht budget control may lead to building in ‘slack’ when setting up the budget objectives or to playing accounting tricks to artificially boost the short-term results. On the contrary, with loose budget control deviations from the budget that arise in between are overlooked by top management, and there is a trust that potentially unfavourable anomalies will be eliminated by the divisional managers at the end of the budget period. The budget is used more for communication and planning, and there is less pressure to undertake immediate short-term actions to adjust the results.The use of budget performance in rewarding managers When setting up the budget, for managers of responsibility centres it is required that the 168 ? The Integrated Performance Management Framework proposed objectives be realized (although we know some companies that start paying bonuses when only 80 per cent – and even 60 per cent – of the budget target is realized). At the end of the yea r, the actual results are compared to the planned objectives and are further analysed by means of variance analysis.In this way, the budget is an ideal basis for evaluating the performances of the responsible managers. Managers who succeed in realizing the proposed objectives must be rewarded for their good performance. This reward may be of a financial nature (e. g. , bonus, salary increase or other financial advantages), but the reward may also be more focused on non-financial motivators, such as promotion, extension of responsibilities and recognition. A bonus for performance relative to the budget can be determined subjectively or by formula.To be effective, the reward system must be designed in such a way that it optimally motivates the managers to act in accordance with the corporate goals and strategies. Optimizing management control process policies A management control process (and more specifically, the budgeting process) is effective when it motivates managers on the vari ous levels of the organization to perform actions in line with the organizational goals and strategies. From contingency research on management control, evidence suggests links between strategy and the characteristics of the management control process.Defenders, and companies with conservative, cost leadership strategies, find cost control and specific operating goals and budgets more appropriate than entrepreneurs, prospectors and companies with product differentiation strategies (Simons, 1987; Dent, 1990; Chenhall and Morris, 1995). Chenhall and Morris (1995) have found that tight control is suitable for conservative strategies; they also found tight control in entrepreneurial situations but, importantly, operating together with organic decision styles and communications.Some research has been focused on the relationship between the chosen competitive strategy and the management control process. Differentiation strategies are associated with a de-emphasis on budgetary goals for pe rformance evaluation (Govindarajan, 1988). Govindarajan and Fisher (1990) found that product differentiation with high sharing of resources (between functional departments) and a reliance on behavioural control was associated with enhanced effectiveness.Bruggeman and Van der Stede (1993) found that business units implementing differentiation strategies based on a make-to-order strategy preferred loose control in budgeting, while business units with a cost leader strategy or a differentiation strategy based on standard products found tight budget control more suitable. They also found that bottom-up budgeting and a commitment to budget targets was considered optimal for all competitive strategies. Overall, Van der Stede Integrated Performance Management through Effective Management Control ? 169 2000) has shown that product differentiation strategies are associated with less rigid budgetary control, but this is also associated with increased budgetary slack. It has also been suggeste d that bonus systems must be suited to the strategy. Anthony and Govindarajan (1995) suggest that formula-based bonus determination approaches should be used with a harvest strategy and that subjective bonus determination is optimal for build strategies. Contingency research has also found relationships between characteristics of the management control process and the level of uncertainty in the environment.Companies operating in an environment of unpredictable change require an appropriate set of control process characteristics. Uncertainty has been related to performance evaluation characterized by a more subjective evaluation style (Govindarajan, 1984; Moores and Sharma, 1998), less reliance on incentive-based pay (Bloom, 1998), non-accounting style of performance evaluation (Ross, 1995), and participative budgeting (Govindarajan, 1986). As environmental uncertainty increases, using more participative budgeting increases performance. In contrast, when environmental uncertainty is low, participative budgeting ecreases performance. In situations where environments are stable and predictable, there is little informational benefit from participation because superiors have sufficient information to develop budgets. Companies may also operate in a hostile, difficult environment. This is an environment that is stressful, dominating and restrictive. Environmental hostility has been associated with a strong emphasis on meeting budgets (Otley, 1978). Hostility from intense competition has been related to a reliance on formal control and sophisticated accounting, production and statistical control (Khandwalla, 1972; Imoisili, 1985).The optimization of target-setting approaches seems to be related to task complexity. Locke and Latham (1990) found that difficult goals lead to higher performance, but this effect is moderated by task complexity. The result leads us to expect that performance will be higher when managers are invited to work towards challenging targets, exc ept when the performance task is too complex. The appropriateness of bottom-up budgeting has been associated with information asymmetry between superiors and subordinate managers (Shields and Young, 1993).When subordinates have much better information about their business than their superiors do, bottom-up budgeting leads to more accurate budgets, arising from the use of the subordinates’ better information. When top-down budgeting is used in the case of high information asymmetry, subordinates may reject the budget because it is not consistent with their information. Top-down budgeting is beneficial in situations where superiors have sufficient knowledge about the subordinate’s activities being budgeted. 170 ? The Integrated Performance Management FrameworkThe role of beliefs systems The management control culture is the third and final part of the management control system. Managers’ behaviours and actions are not only influenced by structural and procedural e lements, but also by the formal beliefs systems in the organization. Simons defines beliefs systems as ‘the explicit set of organizational definitions that senior managers communicate formally and reinforce systematically to provide basic values, purpose, and direction for the organization’ (Simons, 1995: 34).Beliefs systems are an important element of an organization’s corporate culture. The corporate culture is the set of values, beliefs and norms of behaviour shared by members of a firm that influences individual employee preferences and behaviours (Besanko et al. , 2000). Ouchi (1980, 1981; Ouchi and Johnson, 1978) considers culture as an alternative control system in the organization. He introduces the idea of clan control, by which he means control through an internal system of organizational norms and values. Culture influences the behaviour of individuals.Individuals who value belonging to the culture will align their individual goals and behaviours to th ose of the firm and pay more attention to selfcontrol. A culture that is intensively held by most employees is called a strong culture. Culture can support a company’s competitive advantage (Barney, 1986). It is supportive when the values espoused by the culture are very much in line with the chosen direction and the performance objectives of the firm (e. g. , a company with a product leadership strategy where all employees love to change things and learn from new experiences).In this case, we talk about a ‘high performance culture’. In other words, the culture is clearly aligned with the strategy of the firm. Of course, the opposite also holds. If there is a cultural misfit, culture can also be a source of persistently poor performance. This occurs when the values underlying the firm’s culture are in conflict with the chosen strategic direction. For example, a culture stressing efficiency, stability and routine behaviour will not support the implementatio n of a flexibility strategy. In this case, culture may be a barrier to change and managers will experience a ‘low performance culture’.So, it is important that the majority of the employees believe what top management believes. It is the task of management control to define a set of common beliefs. It frequently happens that top managers have explicitly expressed the vision, the mission, the goals, the key values and the strategies of the firm, but lower-level managers and employees do not share the underlying beliefs. Goal statements about creating shareholder value are experienced as ‘grand terminology’ when employees do not feel the passion of working on value-creating projects.A strategy of highquality products will not succeed if all employees are not convinced that they should work to ‘zero defect’ and do their work ‘right the first time’. Many flexibility strategies fail because people do not like ‘to change their Inte grated Performance Management through Effective Management Control ? 171 Figure 9. 4 The origins of unhealthy corporate cultures Source: Kotter and Heskett (1992: 145) 172 ? The Integrated Performance Management Framework plans. ’ In general, successful strategy implementation needs beliefs systems supporting the chosen strategy.The beliefs of employees and managers may be hard to change, but they can be influenced by training sessions, by inspiring leadership, and by demonstrating the success of the new strategy and successful strategic projects. John Kotter and James Heskett (1992) have written a book about corporate culture and performance in which they propose a stepwise approach to the creation of a high-performance culture and focus on the origins of healthy and unhealthy corporate cultures. Their ideas are presented in Figure 9. 4 and Figure 9. 5. Figure 9. 5 The creation of a performance-enhancing culture Source: Kotter and Heskett (1992: 147)Integrated Performance Ma nagement through Effective Management Control ? 173 Conclusion Control and evaluation is the fourth component of our Integrated Performance Management Framework. In this chapter, we have shown the important role of management control for strategy implementation and for performance management. Developing an appropriate management control system is a prerequisite for effectively managing an organization. On a broader level, Simons (1995) has shown that control of business strategy is achieved by integrating four levers of control.These levers create tension between creative innovation (emergent strategies) and predictable goal movement (intended strategies). This proves the crucial role of control in the strategy implementation and performance management process. We then focused our attention on the three basic elements of the management control system: (1) the management control structure; (2) the management control process; and (3) the beliefs systems. We have analysed optimal manag ement control structures and processes from a goal congruence perspective.That is, we have investigated how to design a management control structure and process that maximally stimulates goal-oriented behaviour and leads to minimal dysfunctional behaviour. Attention is also paid to how strategy affects the choice for a particular management control system. It is clear that management control also interacts with the organizational behaviour component. From Chapter 10 on, we investigate this fifth component in greater detail. Note 1 Business conduct boundaries are those that define and communicate standards of business conduct for all employees.Like the Ten Commandments, they specify actions that are forbidden. Internal controls are the policies and procedures designed to ensure reliable accounting information and safeguard company assets. Strategic boundaries define what types of business opportunity should be avoided, thereby drawing a box around the opportunities that individuals a re encouraged to exploit. Strategic boundaries are installed to ensure that individuals throughout the organization are engaged in activities that support the basic strategy of the business (Simons, 2000: 289).

Models Of Forensic Psychology Case Study Social Work Essay Essay Example

Models Of Forensic Psychology Case Study Social Work Essay Essay Example Models Of Forensic Psychology Case Study Social Work Essay Essay Models Of Forensic Psychology Case Study Social Work Essay Essay Andrew is 15. He has been accused of sexually assailing his younger sister and may be charged with this in the close hereafter. Some of his household have a history of mental upset and he has a history of acquisition and behavioral troubles, as a consequence of which he has been go toing a residential particular school. He does non admit the accusals against him and is loath to discourse them. Information FROM INTERVIEW Andrew presents as a tall, slim-built young person who is restlessly dying, looking off for most of the interview, and repeatedly yawning in an overdone mode to bespeak how small he wants to be involved in the treatment. Despite this he is basically polite in mode and replies all inquiries, at least in some step. His evident degree of intelligence puts him in the mild scope of damage, and he is besides really sensitive to anything that he thinks puts him at a disadvantage or makes him look thick . He has some societal accomplishments, although these are non ever used and sometimes he appears socially disinhibited. He has a sensible vocabulary and powers of address. There are no behavioral stereotypies ( insistent seemingly purposeless motions ) and no perseverative behavior ( continuation of behaviors after their original intent has been served ) . However, his powers of concentration are limited and he is easy distracted from treatment. His attending is focused on his perceived likeliness that he will automatically travel to prison, irrespective of whether he is charged or non. He hopes that a combination of his medical history and denial of the allegations will be plenty to acquire him through any legal procedures. Andrew says he has nt been charged with anything because I ai nt done nowt . Nevertheless he is able to state that sexual assault agencies seeking to do person make something have sex, how to do babes and that penetration means seting a finger up person up ( the ) button of adult females . He has already been officially asked on one juncture about for what s traveling on now fundamentally but can depict no inside informations and says that he ai nt bothered because I have nt done it . CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES Andrew has his ain room at his particular school and has made one or two friends. The activity that he enjoys most, and gets most from, is analyzing motor vehicles and he has developed an aspiration to go a mechanic. He comes place for some weekends and for vacation periods. At present he feels he has nt got a life any longer . This is both because of the possible pending charges and because he feels people are dropping dead around me . A close friend ( female ) of his died late, and his life has non felt the same since his male parent died out of the blue the twenty-four hours before his birthday four ago, and his paternal grandma died about a twelvemonth afterwards. He would wish to go a motor machinist, but thinks this will non be possible, unless he can acquire preparation in prison, because of his possible tribunal instance. PERSONAL AND FAMILY HISTORY He is the youngest member of his household, although his ain list of his siblings and half-siblings is somewhat different to that provided by his household. His male parent died from a bosom onslaught and his female parent has a batch of jobs with her wellness. He was excluded from his first school for throwing a brick at a instructor or something like that they were making my caput in all the clip . MEDICAL HISTORY He has been diagnosed as holding ADHD ( Attention shortage hyperactivity upset ) , and says that this is why he is at get oning school. He says that he used to acquire all mad and hatred people and take it out on them but that this has improved more late. Two old ages ago he tried to hang himself with two belts because he merely felt like it I could nt be bothered populating anymore I did it for merriment I thought it was amusing . He besides tried to cut his carpus, and still has a swoon cicatrix from this. He continues to hold periodic ideas about a speedy premature decease as a manner of non holding to set up with life anymore . Although these ideas reflect a down position of life there is no indicant that he presently has a depressive unwellness. He has antecedently taken the antihyperactivity drug Ritalin, but has now discontinued this and describes it as making my caput in . SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT HISTORY He foremost became sexually cognizant at a really immature age, as a consequence of being given information either by one of his sisters or a friend. His male parent told him non to hold sex until he was older so as to avoid holding kids. His strongest sexual experience so far has been with a girlfriend who he described as the nicest individual you could run into even though my sister called her a smackhead . He denies the allegations about his sister and depict them as all prevarications . Questions What identifiable hazards, giving your grounds, does Andrew show a ) in the short term and B ) in the longer term? Rank them one time in their order of certainty, and once more in their order of importance. Construct an interview scheme to assist look intoing police officers farther inquiry Andrew about the allegations sing his sister, explicating your principle. Case Study 2 Mr D Case Study Read the undermentioned instance analyze carefully. Using your cognition of hazard appraisal, mental upsets and piquing behavior and interview and intervention schemes answer the undermentioned inquiries: Describe the type ( s ) of mental upset Mr D may be enduring from See whether those upsets are likely to lend to the hazard he poses of future force Identify those hazards that Mr D poses to himself and others See whether you would dispatch Mr D from infirmary at this clip and give your grounds why ( Point 5 is optional ) Highlight what challenges Mr D may present in intervention and how you might get the better of them. Background Early on Childhood Mr D was born to a 16 twelvemonth old female parent and conceived following a one dark base. Mr D recalled an unsettled childhood due to his female parent handing over his attention to her parents. Mr D described how he liked populating with his grandparents, nevertheless he besides described how his gramps often used intoxicant and his grandma was rigorous and did non let him to socialize with other kids. Behavioral jobs were noted from the age of 4. Throughout this clip period Mr D began holding terrible fits which involved striking and kicking and Mr D was referred to the Children s Hospital at the age of 8. This followed a terrible onslaught levied against his gramps affecting a knife. Throughout the interview procedure Mr D remained closed about his relationship with his gramps. Later studies indicate he was sexually abused by his gramps but Mr D refuses to discourse this topic. Mr D was taken into attention at the age of 8, where once more he reported an unsettled period of clip characterised by isolation and intimidation. Mr D was able to populate with a surrogate household whom he described as supportive for the following two old ages and it is of note that there were no behavioral troubles noted for Mr D within this clip period. Mr D appeared to settled with this household and their two boies, which allowed him to organize secure fond regards with this household. Unfortunately the household needed to emigrate to South Africa, and although he was asked to travel with them, Mr D chose to stay close to his grandparents. Mr D spent the following five old ages in Children s places, interspersed by Foster arrangements which broke down. Mr D returned to populate with his grandparents following this period. Previous studies indicate conflicting points of position about this clip period, some indicating that Mr D had more positive relationships with his grandparents and female parent at this clip, but with others foregrounding that his grandparents did non truly talk to him. Education and employment Mr D attended about five different schools as he was moved due to his populating state of affairs altering. Mr D recalled an unsettled period of clip at school as he was bullied. He besides described himself as hyper, I would shout and shout a batch and recalled happening lessons tiring. Records indicate that Mr D began declining school at the age of 4 and has a important history of hooky throughout his instruction. Mr D left school with no makings but school studies describe him as exceptionally bright. Mr D has neer been in formal employment. After go forthing school he was unemployed for 2 old ages as he reported he could non happen a occupation that interested him and he was holding troubles with his mental wellness. Following this, Mr D has been detained due to the strong belief for his index offense. Substance and intoxicant abuse Mr D reports a significant history of hemp usage and a history of orgy imbibing. Psychiatric History Mr D foremost came into contact with mental wellness services at the age of 8 when he was admitted to the Children s Hospital for 6 hebdomads following a violent onslaught on his gramps. An ECG and neurological scrutiny at the clip were found to be normal, nevertheless Mr D s female parent recalled a black spot being found. Following this Mr D was referred to an Adolescent Unit of measurement at the age of 14 due to behaviour jobs such as declining to go to school and standing naked in the window. Later that twelvemonth, Mr D was admitted to the infirmary and was described by the physician as an isolated and withdrawn person, holding no ego assurance who responded with aggressive effusions when frustrated . Mr D self-harmed by cutting his weaponries with a piece of glass. After being convicted of two incidents of indecent exposure at the age of 17, Mr D received outpatient intervention ab initio, but following another charge for indecorous exposure Mr D was admitted as an inmate. At this point he was speaking about wounding people before they had the opportunity to wound him. On the 9th April 1987 Mr D was once more charged with indecorous exposure and was remanded under subdivision 35 of the Mental Health Act ( 1983 ) . During his appraisal at that place, it was noted that he was hearing voices stating him to perpetrate Acts of the Apostless of force. No specific diagnosing was made at this clip, although a status of abode and psychiatric intervention was made. Following his eighteenth birthday he was moved to Arnold Lodge Hospital. Whilst there it is reported that Mr D s mental wellness appeared to deteriorate and violence towards others increased. At the age of 20 Mr D was transferred to a Hostel in Liverpool as it was thought that he would profit from integrating with other people, nevertheless three months after this he was discharged after assailing another occupant. Mr D managed to populate in the community on his ain for about two and a half old ages before he committed his index offense. At this point he was remanded to HMP Hull for about 2 months. Mr D attempted to hang himself during his first dark in detention. He was so transferred to Wathwood infirmary due to him exhibiting paranoid ideation and sing audile hallucinations commanding him to harm a female prison officer. Whilst at Wathwood Hospital, ab initio Mr D s presentation seemed to better to the point that he was granted conditional discharge by a Mental Health Review Tribunal, nevertheless at this point Mr D s arrested development with a female member of staff began to do concern. Mr D began exposing himself to female members of staff and his mental wellness deteriorated. Mr D s presentation continued to worsen over the following two old ages in footings of incidents of force, aggression and sexually inappropriate. His mental wellness besides fluctuated with episodes of paranoid ideation, psychotic beliefs, ideas of harming himself and incidents of aggression. Forensic History Mr D has three old strong beliefs for offenses of indecorous exposure. There are seven old strong beliefs for driving offenses ( e.g. driving whilst under the influence, foolhardy drive, driving without a licence, insurance and MOT ) and 4 strong beliefs of acquisitive offending ( 2 offenses of shoplifting and2 burglary offenses ) . Mr D has no other strong beliefs for violent offenses apart from the index offense, nevertheless there has been other force evident in Mr Driver s yesteryear when he has been a patient in infirmary. Index Offense Mr D was convicted of the slaying of his neighbor. The offense occurred in the context of ongoing troubles Mr D was sing with his neighbors in footings of loud music they were playing in the early hours of the forenoon. Mr D had raised this job with his neighbors and it is reported that they responded to this in a less than positive manner. Mr D so tried to affect the council to relieve the job, nevertheless this appeared to hold had no consequence. On the twenty-four hours of the index offense, the victim was taking his trash out and Mr D approached him from buttocks and struck him one time in the dorsum with a 5 inch bladed knife. Mr D instantly ran off from the scene and made his manner to the Family and Community Services Department with whom he was in regular contact and the constabulary were contacted and Mr D was later arrested. The victim had removed the arm himself and in the interim had made his manner to nearby premises to seek aid. He subsequently died of his hurts in inf irmary. Mr D s history of the offense is that he had been populating following to neighbors who were noisy . He said he had lived following to them for about six months and I kept knocking, inquiring them to turn it down, they merely said it was their house . When asked how many times this had occurred Mr D said, probably approached them about 5 or 6 times . Mr D stated that he did nt phone the constabulary at all, but that he did phone the lodging association. He said that nil happened as a consequence of this and the music continued. On the last juncture that Mr D asked for the music to be turned down before he committed the index offense Mr Driver stated he started endangering me and said I m non turning the music down and was reasoning. I ca nt retrieve what was being said, but I merely kept inquiring him to turn it down. He was shouting and I think I hit him foremost, we had a hassle and the constabulary were called. The Police told me to acquire in touch with the lodging association . Following this incident Mr D said that a few hebdomads passed and the music continued. Mr D stated that he had been traveling out shopping he had been transporting the same knife that he finally stabbed the victim with. On the twenty-four hours of the index offense, Mr D reported being woken at 9am by music being played. He stated, I felt truly stressed and angry. I got up, got dressed, I was standing in my kitchen and could hear it ( the music ) and I saw him traveling to the bin. I d come to the terminal of how I was experiencing and looking for a manner out . Mr D stated, I got a knife and stabbed him in the lower dorsum. When asked what might hold happened to decide the state of affairs had the index offense non occurred Mr D said, If I had nt seen him, I likely would hold gone on transporting the knife and gone unit of ammunition to his house . In footings of why Mr D felt he committed the offense, he stated, I could nt stand them playing loud music . Mr D went onto say Yes I regret it, its led to me being kept in infirmary. There is nil else I could hold done. He deserved it because he would nt turn down his music . Appraisals Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale -3rd edition ( WAIS III ) This appraisal examines general cognitive abilities, specifically believing and concluding accomplishments. It explores non-verbal logical thinking accomplishments, spacial processing accomplishments, visual-motor integrating, attending to detail and acquired cognition such as verbal logical thinking and comprehension. Mr D presented with a full graduated table IQ of 130. International Personality Disorder Examination Mr D was assessed for personality upset utilizing the International Personality Disorder Examination ( IPDE: Loranger ; 1999 ) . The IPDE is a semi-structured clinical interview developed to measure personality upsets defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition ( DSM-IV ; American Psychiatric Association, 1994 ) and the International Classification of Diseases, 10th alteration ( ICD-10 ; World Health Organisation, 1992 ) . Mr D s current presentation indicates that definite diagnosings of Antisocial and Narcissistic personality upsets are warranted. The Antisocial characteristics most relevant in Mr D include a deficiency of concern for the feelings of others, foolhardy behavior, consistent irresponsibleness, neglect for regulations and penalty, low tolerance to defeat taking to Acts of the Apostless of aggression and force, and a proneness to rationalize and fault others for his ain behavior. The Narcissistic characteristics which Mr D presents with include a grandiose sense of ego, a belief that he should be treated otherwise, an overinflated sense of self-entitlement, haughtiness in his behavior and attitudes, a relentless form of taking advantage of others to accomplish his ain terminals and an unwillingness to recognize or place with the feelings of others. Psychopathy Checklist Revised ( PCL-R The Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised ( PCL-R, Hare 1991, 2003 ) is a strict psychological appraisal, widely regarded as the standard step of mental illness in research, clinical and forensic scenes. It measures different facets of a individual s emotional experience, the manner they relate to others, how they go about acquiring what they want and their behavior. High degrees of psychopathologic traits as measured by the PCL-R are associated with high rates of re-offending and future force ( nevertheless a low PCL-R mark entirely does non connote low hazard ) and can impact on responsivity to curative intercession. Mr D presented with moderate degrees of psychopathologic traits which fell merely below the diagnostic cut off for psychopathologic upset. Items that he scored on include failure to accept duty for his actions, irresponsibleness, deficiency of compunction, indurate neglect for others, grandiose sense of ego worth, use and early childhood jobs. Presentation in interview Mr D presented as a hard and ambitious patient to interview. He was dismissive at times, oppugning my experience, makings and competency. He stated that psychological science was non a proper scientific discipline and would prefer to speak to the proper physician i.e. the head-shrinker. Mr D appeared to hold some cognition of psychopathology and psychological science and used proficient footings throughout. He appeared to hold small penetration into his mental upset saying that he does necessitate to take medicine and that everyone is like him. Mr D stated he does non under stand why anyone would believe he poses a hazard to people and that he should be discharged from infirmary instantly. Case Study 3 Ms W Case Study Read the undermentioned instance analyze carefully. Using your cognition of hazard appraisal, mental upsets and piquing behavior and interview and intervention schemes answer the undermentioned inquiries: Describe the type ( s ) of mental upset Ms W may be enduring from See whether those upsets are likely to lend to the hazard she poses of future force See what techniques/strategies/considerations you would utilize when questioning Ms W Highlight what farther countries of work you may wish to set about with Ms W ( concentrating on what countries of her presentation you would wish to explore/assess farther and why ) Background Early on childhood Ms W was the eldest kid of three, the other two kids being male childs. Ms W recalled an unhappy childhood due to the sexual maltreatment she experienced from her male parent ( for which he received a strong belief ) and so the emotional withdrawal that was evident between her female parent and herself. Social services records support Ms W s history of her early childhood. In add-on to being sexually abused by her male parent, Ms W besides reported being sexually abused by an uncle and a following door neighbor. Ms W besides reported that the relationship between her female parent and male parent was a disruptive one and although she did non witness any physical force, she did hear statements which resulted in her repeatedly slaming his caput against the wall through the emphasis this caused. Ms W s behavior became unmanageable both within school and the community, in footings of contending at school and perpetrating junior-grade offense such as shrinkage. Whilst still populating with her parents, at the age of 14, Ms W became involved in a relationship with a adult male who was much older than her, in his 60 s. This farther contributed to the impairment between Ms W and her parents, and her parents later placed her in attention. Ms W remained in attention until the age of 17, and upon go forthing she was given support from societal services and moved into independent lodging in which she was happy on her ain. Education and employment Ms W reported that her school public presentation was mean ; instructors would non hold found her a direction job, but that she did acquire distracted easy. Whilst at school she was capable to strong-arming from equals and this resulted in her engaging in battles outside of school. Ms W left school with no formal makings. Ms W obtained employment every bit shortly as she left school and worked as a packer , a cleansing agent and in a pet store. All of the employment she engaged in was in a short period after school, with her last occupation being held at the age of 20. Ms W reported that the last occupation she had needed to go forth because her mental wellness was doing her troubles and she needed to go to assorted assignments. Following this period of employment, Ms W was unemployed for the following 16 old ages due to mental wellness, drug and intoxicant troubles. Ms W claimed incapacity benefits and before coming into detention she reported holding an income of about ?800 per month. Substance and intoxicant abuse Ms W reported that she began imbibing at the age of 14 or 15 as she would see saloon with her spouse at the clip. She suggested that she became a heavy drinker at age 20 and that she needed intoxicant every twenty-four hours as otherwise she would endure with backdown symptoms. Ms W would devour about 12 tins of Stella a twenty-four hours or 2 bottles of 2 litre Cider. Ms W s imbibing caused her wellness jobs in the signifier of liver failure and pancreatitis. Ms W was under the influence of intoxicant when perpetrating the index offense and this followed a period where she had tried to travel through a detoxification procedure without medical support. It is of note that Ms W reported hearing voices whilst she completed this home detoxification procedure. In footings of drug usage, Ms W remembered get downing to utilize substances at around the age of 18. She reports utilizing acerb checks, microdots, thaumaturgy mushrooms, velocity, diacetylmorphine ( smoking ) and hemp. She besides reported that she would take prescription medicine if the chance arose. Ms W recalls that she would utilize whenever she had the money to make so and that she would often take drugs and drink at the same clip. She estimated that she would pass about ?14 per twenty-four hours, but that this would depend on what financess she had available at the clip. In the early 1990s Ms W was diagnosed with drug induced psychosis. Psychiatric history Ms W foremost recalled being in contact with psychiatric services in her 20s. She was foremost seen by a head-shrinker due to the hallucinations she was sing and she voluntarily stayed in infirmary for a few months. Ms W had spent clip in group mental wellness places and has had support from head-shrinkers, CPNs and societal workers. Ms W had attempted to perpetrate self-destruction on a figure of occasions through taking overdoses. She was diagnosed with depression in her late 20s and has been on a figure of anti sedative drugs which she combined with drink and non prescription drugs. Whilst in detention Ms W was taking antidepressants, minor tranquilizers and anti psychotics. The latter were prescribed due to Ms W sing hallucinations and besides temper instability. Ms W had most late been diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder with characteristics of depersonalization and derealisation . Forensic history Ms W had three old strong beliefs. Two were received in 1989 which were both fraud offenses, and so the tierce in 1990 for burglary and larceny of a non home. Ms W can non remember specific inside informations sing the state of affairss. Ms W had no other strong beliefs for violent offending, apart from the index offense, but at that place has been other force nowadays in Ms W s yesteryear particularly within interpersonal relationships. Index offense The offense occurred in the shared place of Ms W and her spouse. Two hebdomads before the index offense occurred, constabulary had been called to the place after Ms W had taken an overdose of her spouse s medicine. When Ms W s spouse had attempted to cite aid, Ms W threatened her with a knife to seek and forestall this. On the 10th June 2006 when the offense occurred, it was alleged that Ms W had been imbibing cyder from the early hours of the forenoon. Ms W insists that she was so intoxicated that she has no callback of the stabbing which so occurred and all that she remembered was seeing the blood on her spouse s tummy. After knifing her spouse in the tummy she so threatened to cut her pharynx with the knife. The stab lesions caused a close fatal hurt. The victim was able to biddings assist by triping the exigency pull cord for the adjustment s warden. Appraisals Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale -3rd edition ( WAIS III ) This appraisal examines general cognitive abilities, specifically believing and concluding accomplishments. It explores non-verbal logical thinking accomplishments, spacial processing accomplishments, visual-motor integrating, attending to detail and acquired cognition such as verbal logical thinking and comprehension. Ms W presented with a full graduated table IQ of 75. The appraisal showed that Ms W processes information more efficaciously when presented visually instead than verbally and that she struggles to concentrate for long periods of clip. International Personality Disorder Examination Screening Questionnaire ( IPDE-SQ ) This appraisal is a showing questionnaire which indicates whether there are certain personality traits which need farther probe utilizing the full International Personality Disorder Examination appraisal. The IPDE-SQ indicated the possible presence of paranoiac, schizotypal, emotionally unstable, avoidant and dependent personality upsets but this should non be considered as a formal diagnosing. Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory III ( MCMI-III ) This appraisal is used to measure elements of personality and besides pathological syndromes within psychiatric populations. On this juncture the MCMI- III was used to supply a more comprehensive image of Ms W s personality and presentation in combination with the result of the IPDE-SQ. This step was non used to name personality upset but to lend to the apprehension of Ms W s presentation. The Millon highlighted that Ms W presented with anxiousness, drug dependance and station traumatic emphasis upset and may possible nowadays with thought upset and major depression. Presentation in interview Ms W presented as a shy, pleasant person with really low assurance and who suffered with anxiousness. It was apparent that she was missing in assurance in footings of speech production to people and being certain of her ain sentiments. She had besides seemed to fight in footings of her degree of concentration. Over the class of the Sessionss Ms W s temper could be rather volatile, altering from happy to depressed in the period of a twosome of hours. Ms W systematically spoke of ideas of ego injury throughout the Sessionss and when feeling depressed would project these feelings onto others as holding caused them. Ms W besides presented at times as rather paranoid in footings of thought that people were speaking about her. Ms W besides disclosed that she was sing ocular hallucinations peculiarly when she felt stressed.