In social work practice and in program development, it is possible to make faulty assumptions about what clients need and what social work activities will lead to. Consider the following:

A team of social workers meets to discuss their services to low-income young mothers. One social worker states that what the young mothers need most is information about community resources. She proposes that the social workers’ activities consist of making referrals to programs for public assistance for income support, food stamps, medical insurance, employment agencies, and educational resources. However, another team member points out that most clients are referred to their program from the public welfare office and health care programs. This suggests that the clients tend to possess knowledge of these common resources and have been able to access them.

How might the team explore what problems bring the clients to their agency? What might the team learn from client assessments? How can the team verify the desired outcomes of their services? Developing a logic model will help the team see a logical connection between problems, needs, intervention activities, and corresponding outcomes. This series of logical connections leads to formulating a theory of change, that is, a theory about how our work leads to the outcomes for clients.

To prepare for this Discussion, imagine that you are part of a work group charged with creating a logic model and generating a theory of change. Select a practitioner-level intervention for which you are interested in analyzing connections. Consider how a logic model might be applied to that practice.

Imagine that two focus groups have been conducted in an Asian American and immigrant community in a large urban city. The rationale of conducting the qualitative study was because it has been noted that many Asian Americans and immigrants are reluctant to seek mental health services. To further understand this issue, service providers including social workers, counselors, doctors, and nurses were recruited to discuss the barriers in implementing mental health services targeted to Asian Americans and immigrants. After the focus groups were transcribed, two research assistants were hired to conduct a content analysis of the transcripts. Refer to the Week 5 Handout: Content Analysis of Focus Groups.

As the social worker, you have been asked to analyze the focus group data and are charged with working with an advisory board in the community to formulate social work practice recommendations using the ecological model.

To prepare for this Assignment, review Week 5 Handout: Content Analysis of Focus Groups (included).

Submit a 4-page report of the following:

1. Discuss the themes found in the Week 5 Handout: Content Analysis of Focus Groups. Based on this data, what is your analysis of the current barriers to services?

1. Create two recommendations to address a current barrier and explain how the recommendation proposed addresses the findings.

1. Discuss how you would collaborate with the research stakeholders (e.g. service providers and community members) to ensure that the data are interpreted accurately and that the practice recommendations made will be culturally appropriate.

1. Critically reflect on your own culture and explain how your cultural values and beliefs may have influenced how you interpreted the focus group data. What specific cultural knowledge do you think you need to obtain to conduct culturally sensitive research with this group?

Scenario 1

A 25-year-old woman presents with a complaint of rash that has developed over the past several weeks and seems to be progressing. On examination, she is noted to have several plaque-like lesions over the extensor surfaces of both upper and lower extremities as well as similar lesions on her scalp. The plaques are erythematous, with silvery scales, and are sharply marginated.

To complete:

• Identify the condition being described in the chosen scenario (plaque psoriasis).
• Describe the pathophysiology of the condition and associated signs & symptoms specifically rash.
• Discuss 1-2 other conditions that have a similar presentation to the scenario selected.
• Consider the patient factors of genetics, gender, ethnicity, age, and behavior influence on the condition depicted.

Assume: Your CEO has asked you to carefully consider an emerging technology or project that offers your industry great potential benefit, yet holds significant risk for injury to people, property and/or the environment. She has asked for your opinion regarding the level of risk from the technology/project that the organization should be willing to accept to derive its potential benefits.

Assignment:

1. Identify a relevant emerging technology or project from your own industry and make a cogent argument for an objective definition of acceptable risk, which your CEO could carry to your company’s Board of Directors.

Culture Analysis

Introduction

There have been so many definitions of what organizational culture is over the years as many scholars have investigated and come up with different dimensions. According to Alvesson & Sveningsson (2015), culture encompasses a set of beliefs and guiding values that guide people in any given organization. It is a set of shared understanding by organization members about what is termed as right and wrong behavior in the organization and it is taught to new members. On the other hand, organizational culture has been defined as the norms and values of an organization, management styles, interpersonal behavior and priorities that prevail repeatedly over the course of time (Hogan & Coote, 2014). Together, all these things create an influential climate to the members of the organization and they end up controlling the way they carry out their. This part of my research paper is an analysis of organizational culture and I will collect and analyze data from the organization I work with to explain concept along three dimensions: values, artifacts and underlying assumptions.

Data collection

The research in this study will be conducted mainly using qualitative research method because the main aim is to reach an in-depth understanding of the concept of organizational culture based on people’s behavior, feelings, opinions and personal experiences. As opposed to quantitative research method that strives to use numerical statistics, qualitative research method helps the researcher investigate certain meanings that people ascribe to their feelings and behavior as well as their actions when interacting with each other. While quantitative research is best used to determine relationship between variables such as the relationship between organizational culture and performance, qualitative method of research is the best method to shed light as to why such relationships occur by going directly to the people affected by the subject under investigation. This makes qualitative method the most suitable method for this study. Therefore, I will make use of primary data sources like observation, interviews for this research.

Observation is one of the best methods to analyze people’s daily routines and so I decided to observe how people behave in my organization for two weeks. By definition, observation in qualitative research is a type of correlational research whereby a researcher observes a natural phenomenon continuously to understand their behavior (Merriam, 2015). One of the main advantages of using this method of collecting data is that it is highly flexible in that it allows the researcher to observe and record exactly what people do or say as opposed to what they say they do through reports and other forms of records. In addition, I chose this method because it can access situations and people where other methods such as interviews and questionnaires cannot access. In addition, I found the method of observation quite appropriate because I work in this organization which means I participate in tremendous activities and projects with my fellow employees as well as individually. Therefore, I will be able to determine the feelings, opinions and behavior that can help me analyze organizational culture in different dimensions including individually, from a group setting and from an organizational level. I will be able to sustain my findings from the beginning of the day to the end with lunchtime and other breaks included because I am part of this organization. Therefore, I will have hand on information on everything I need to help me analyze organizational culture without missing out on some important things. More so, observation will also cover other things such as rituals and symbols within the company, something that other methods such as interviews may not cover.

I will also collect data using interviews with different people in the organization to ensure that the data is accurate and reliable. For the sake of reliability, I choose to use unstructured interviews whereby there will not be a specific number of pre-planned questions although I already have the specific set of topics that I desire to ask. Using unstructured interviewing will increase chances of me getting more information about the topic under investigation because it is quite informal and the interviews will flow like normal daily conversations that I have with my co-workers (Merriam, 2015). This will make them feel free and more comfortable to speak freely. The interviewees for this research will be randomly selected. Since the topic under investigation is organizational culture, I will stick to asking questions comprehensively related to organizational culture.

However, I cannot ignore the fact that interviews deal with past events and second-hand information rather than what the researcher observes directly. Dealing with the unconscious is very important because true motivations and feelings are captured as opposed to when the subject knows that they are under investigation (Merriam, 2015). On the other hand, there are several activities that cannot be investigated using observation such as the sexual relationships and what they mean in organizational culture. In light of these weaknesses, I will also incorporate other secondary methods of collecting data to support the data collected through interviews and observation.

Secondary data sources used in this research include historical data and information and previous research on the topic. Historical data such as archive materials stored by the organization as well as documentaries preserve by the organization will be used to support real time perspectives determined using primary data sources (Heaton, 2008). Historical data will be very convenient for this research because it will inform me on the organization’s past culture and social interactions that relate to organizational culture. I will also refer to previous literature on organizational culture to know what other researchers found on organizational culture and then relate it to the information I will acquire through observations and interviews with the case organization. I will then interpret and summarize the collected information through interviewing and observation according to the major components of organizational culture which include values,   artifacts and assumptions.

Data analysis

Following the already existing literature about organization culture, several researchers have come up with different definitions of organizational culture. However, most of them have characterized organizational culture as a factor that deals with people in the organization and their distinctive qualities and styles of doing things. The most outstanding thing about culture from the existing definitions, from the conducted interviews and observation as well as the historical data acquired is that it comprises of three dimensions namely: values, artifacts and assumptions.

Members of an organization eventually come to sense the unique culture of their organization following these specific dimensions. From the data collected, it is evident that organizational culture is one of the most difficult terms for employees to distinctively express but once they sense it, they automatically know it. One can tell the culture of an organization by basically looking at the type of furniture and its arrangement, by listening at what people talk about most of the times, by looking at what the employees wear and how they address each other among other things. One of the findings deduced from the collected data is that organizational culture is what improves and strengthens the cohesion and oneness in an organization. It is also what encourages and motivates employees to be more enthusiastic about their job and to be more creative to add value to the organization. Additionally, organizational culture greatly impacts on the overall behavior of the employees.

Consequently, the findings are such that an organization’s values are a central part of its culture. From the interviews I conducted, most employees stated that the vision of the organization articulates the main goal and purpose of the organization but it is the values of the organization that offer guidelines towards their behavior and way of thinking and this is what contributes to their daily focus towards attaining that vision. The case organization sells its values to the employees using certain artifacts. For example, they have different symbols symbolizing that it is a corruption free entity. Most employees that I interviewed are very much against corruption because it is one of their most essential values. I also learned through observation that they the employees are fair and they treat all the customers equally which is a sign that they are very ethical and they recognize what is right and wrong and act accordingly.

I also found out that both the management and the employees are highly committed to each other in that employees work very hard to add value to the organization while the management does everything possible to make the employees comfortable. According to the interviewed subjects the management is very committed to honoring their life and work balance, leave policies and training opportunities. Additionally, it is part of this organization’s culture to empower each other as seen in several symbols with slogans such as “be your brother’s keeper”. Through observation I learned that all employees are ready to help each other because they are working in solidarity towards a common goal.

Artifacts, which are the physical parts of culture are easily formulated and this organization has a tone of them. From the interviews, almost all the employees stated that they highly uphold the ceremonies carried out in the organization including training of new employees and orienting them, offsite meetings and the annual conferences that they hold each year. There were also several symbols and slogans which the employees identified as the summary of the organization’s internal behavior. For instance, in the historical data that I analyzed, there is a list of awards such as employee of the month and the best new employee of the year. All these were identified as symbols of preferred behavior by the interviewed employees. Consequently, the historical data consisted of stories about the founders of the organization, its leaders and the challenges they faced as well as how they dealt with them. Employees related to these stories and I concluded that they act as the medium towards creating their own legacies.

Finally, I deduced that both values and artifacts give rise to assumptions because the employees that I interviewed drew from them to explain what they understood to be organizational culture. These assumptions are what guided what they determined as good and bad behavior. They also guided their emotions and feelings about their jobs and the organization in general.

References

Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Routledge.

Heaton, J. (2008). Secondary analysis of qualitative data: An overview. Historical Social Research/Historische Sozialforschung, 33-45.

Hogan, S. J., & Coote, L. V. (2014). Organizational culture, innovation, and performance: A test of Schein’s model. Journal of Business Research, 67(8), 1609-1621.

Merriam, S. B. (2015). Qualitative Research: Designing, Implementing, and Publishing a Study. In Handbook of Research on Scholarly Publishing and Research Methods (pp. 125-140). IGI Global.

Criminal Evidence

You  are  the  solicitor  for  Prakash  and  Bill,  who  have  been  charged  with  assaulting  Rob  in  a Wolverhampton park. Prakash and Bill were playing football near Rob and Claire, who were sitting on a  bench.  Prakash  kicked  the  football  and,  by  accident,  the  ball  hit  Claire  full  in  the  face.  The prosecution  case  is  that  Prakash  then  punched  Rob  in  the  face  a  number  of  times  when  Rob complained  about  the  ball  hitting  Claire,  and  that  Bill  also  kicked  Rob  in  the  head.  Both  Prakash  and Bill are charged with offences under s.20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

When they were arrested, both defendants told the police that they were not present at the scene of the  crime.  However,  both  Prakash  and  Bill  later  inform  you  that  they  do  not  have  alibis  and  were there. Bill says that he and Prakash are in a ‘street gang’ and he was obliged to come to the defence of Prakash, who he believed had been attacked by Rob. Bill says that if he did not do so, the gang’s ‘code of honour’ would mean that he would be seriously injured or even killed for breaking the code. Thus, he has a possible defence of duress

When  Prakash  was  arrested  later  he  was  searched  and  an  orange-handled  knife  with  a  blade,  which measured  about  2½  inches,  was  found  in  his  inside  left  jacket  pocket.  Prakash  was  charged  with possessing  a  knife,  contrary  to  the  Criminal  Justice  Act  1988,  s.139(1).  Prakash  told  the  constables who arrested him that he had a good reason for having the knife, namely for cutting lino, and so has a potential  defence  under  s.139(4)  of  the  Criminal  Justice  Act  1988.  He  also  denied  knowing  anything about the incident in the park

Nina,  a  witness  to  the  park  incident,  described  one  of  the  attackers  as  wearing  a  red  England  2014 World Cup football shirt, blue jeans and distinctive yellow trainers, but did not get a very good view of the  person’s  face.  It  was  going  dark,  drizzling  and  the  park  was  not  well  lit,  although  nearby streetlights provided some illumination. Nina estimated that she was about 50 metres away from the incident. She thought it was possible, although she was not sure, that she recognised the attacker as someone with whom she went to school.

Richard, another witness, watched the incident from about 200 metres away and saw a male kicking someone in the head. He provided a description of the male as about 6 feet tall, about 19-years-old, with blond hair, and dressed in blue jeans and a blue cardigan. Bill was later arrested after the police drove Richard around the local area, shortly after the incident. The police pointed out Bill to Richard and Richard then identified Bill as the man that he had seen hitting the seated man.

Bill  has  a  low  mental  age  and  although  the  custody  sergeant  suspected  that  Bill  might  be  mentally vulnerable she permitted PC Morris and PC Gomez to interview him on his own. Bill told officers that he ‘liked playing football and might have kicked something that wasn’t a ball, like a head, for example’ and  laughed.  He  also  made  other  damaging  comments  and  was  charged  with  the  s.20  offence.  Bill now says that he only confessed because he is a heroin addict and wanted to go home for a ‘fix’. He says he was prepared to say or do anything in order to gain his release

Acting  on  information  received,  PC  Morris  and  PC  Gomez  later  arrested  Prakash  at  his  home  and interviewed  and  charged  him  with  the  s.20  offence.  During  the  interview  PC  Morris  read  out  Nina’s description and stated that, as Prakash was wearing a red England football shirt when arrested, that he  believed  that  he  was  the  man  that  Nina  had  seen  attack  Rob.  Prakash  made  no  comment.  His solicitor  stated  that  Prakash  was  remaining  silent  because  Prakash  felt  unwell  and  because  he  [the solicitor]  had  not  been  allowed  to  see  any  prosecution  witness  statements  before  the  interview. Prakash, like Bill, also maintained his silence at trial. Prakash’s solicitor asked for Prakash to be subject to an identification procedure at the police station but the police refused, as they stated this was not a case for which identification was relevant.

ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS BELOW:

1.

1. a) Explain how the legal and evidential burdens will apply to the prosecution of Prakash and Bill

for  the  offences  under  s.20  of  the  Offences  Against  the  Person  Act  1861  and  s.139(1)  of  the

Criminal Justice Act 1988.

1. b) Explain how  the  legal  and  evidential  burdens  will  apply  to  Bill’s  potential  defence  of  duress

AND Prakash’s potential defence under s.139(4) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

2. Advise Prakash and Bill on the admissibility of the identification evidence.
3. Advise Bill on the admissibility of what he said to police officers at the police station.
4. Advise Prakash on his decision to make no comment in his police station interview AND at trial.

Employment and Labour Law

Assignment Requirements:

1. Please answer the questions in an organized and coherent way.
2. Please do not include an introduction and conclusion.
3. You are not required to use external sources.
4. You are required to refer to relevant Canadian legal tests, cases and legislation to support your arguments.
5. Be sure that you accurately cite and quote all sources used to avoid academic misconduct.

Choose one of the following topics to write a 3-page essay (app. 750 words). Provide specific evidence from the text to support your argument as you write (refer to specific events in the novel). You must:

• Use at least one “direct quotation” from the novel, cited in APA format
• Write a reference page for the novel at the end of your paper in APA style.
• If you use outside sources (this is NOT required), be sure to acknowledge them and cite them in APA.
• Submit to Turnitin.com

1. Why are the ponds important in the novel? The ponds are mentioned throughout the story, and the story ends by mentioning the ponds. Discuss the use of the ponds as a symbol.

1. Early in the novel, we are told that “thou shalt not emote” is a Morrison family rule. Discuss Kate in terms of her communication and her emotions throughout the novel. What does she learn about emotions and communication by the end of the story?

1. Kate has experienced different types of education. Discuss three ways she has been educated and describe how each type of education has shaped her identity.

1. Analyze the different meanings of success in the novel by referring to at least two characters. What factors led to their success? Discuss what the novel shows us about work, effort, opportunity and success.

1. Compare the Pye family with the Morrison family as two examples of families from the countryside (rural families from a small town). What, in your opinion, led to greater happiness and success for one of the families and not the other?

1. Explore the ways that the “nature / nurture debate” is discussed in the novel by comparing Daniel and Matt. What does the novel suggest about success?

1. Discuss Kate’s successes as a woman from a small town who becomes a professor. What personality characteristics helped her succeed? What motivated her?

1. Bernice is 42 years old and a single parent. She recently moved into a new apartment and started college. She is Hispanic and suffers from diabetes. She is pregnant and also overweight, mostly due to her diet, which consists of lots of processed foods and fast food. She has full-time employment, and she is valued at her job due to her bilingualism, knowledge of computers and warm personality. Identify the life stage that Bernice is in and identify all of the underlined factors as either physical, cognitive, or socioemotional processes of development.

2. Jennifer is 38 years old and she drinks alcohol and smokes cigarettes regularly. Jennifer also just learned that she is 8 weeks pregnant. What risk factors are present in Jennifer’s pregnancy? What are the potential consequences of these risk factors? What are some prenatal diagnostic tests that Jennifer can expect to take in the next month? What information can these prenatal diagnostics provide, and what risks (if any) are associated with these diagnostics? Furthermore, what stage of prenatal development is Jennifer’s baby currently in and what major developments associated with this stage prenatal development?

3. Ashlyn is 5 years old. She loves to draw pictures of her family and have tea parties with her stuffed animals, where she gives them all different voices. Ashlyn also enjoys playing hide and seek with her older sister, Samantha, who is 10 years old, but she is not very good at it. Samantha normally finds her very quickly because Ashlyn tends to “hide” by covering her eyes. In the last tea party they played together, Samantha tricked Ashlyn by offering her three small cookies in exchange for one large piece of chocolate cake. Ashlyn was excited because she recently learned to count and knows that three is greater than one. Identify the life stage of Ashlyn and Samantha, and using the information given as well as Piaget’s cognitive development theory, describe Ashlyn and Samantha’s cognitive development in terms of stages, cognitive abilities, and cognitive limitations.

4. Brandon’s friends keep talking about an “awesome new video game” that he hasn’t had a chance to play yet. He feels left out of the conversations, so he asks his parents if they can buy him the game for his birthday. He shows them an online preview of the video game, which contains vulgar language, violence and sexual content. Explain the difference between Authoritative, Authoritarian and Permissive parenting styles, describe how a parent from each style would likely respond to Brandon’s request, and furthermore explain how these parenting styles can impact child development.

Each student in the course will be asked to write a polished original research paper in healthcare quality management. The research paper will increase the student’s critical perspectives, awareness, and knowledge in a course subject area. Each paper will focus on a specific and narrowly defined course related topic. The topic could be related to a system approach of quality management, could be on a specific practical tool for real-world improvement and problem solving, could be on patient safety, could be a case study illustrating what is required to set the stage for healthcare organization success, and could be nuts and bolts of achieving quality results in complex system. Students choose the focus of their papers based on their professional and academic interests within the course’s context. Topics could be related to any textbook chapters. Students may consult individually with instructor as they formulate research topics, collect sources, draft their papers, and revise work for final submission.

The paper should demonstrate that the student has read widely and critically in the relevant field. The student has a chance to present his/her point of view through a well-structured and compelling paper while properly citing others’ ideas. The paper’s references section should include at least 5 reliable, current, and professional sources.

The paper must be at least 9 pages long including an abstract, with 12-pt font double-spaced, and 1 inch margins all around. The paper should adhere to the American Psychological Association style manual, and must be submitted to the Canvas before the deadline. According to school policy, student papers will be checked by Turnitin, a plagiarism detection software in Canvas. Violations of the student code of conduct (plagiarism, cheating) will result in an F being assigned for this course.