Relationship Between Architecture and Wellness

Relationship Between Architecture and Wellness ISSUE. The issue of today society on the relationship of architecture and built environment towards human well being is that the architect which is also the builder and the designer often neglected some proper considerations when they designed too egoistically until they have forgotten that architecture and its built environment has the direct impact on human well being. Too often the designer forgets that they design for human to stay in. It is after all for the people. It is understandable that aesthetic is always something impressive but functionality and comfort is even imperative than the look of the building. A research by Dr. Nancy Wells, an environmental psychologist in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell University demonstrates natural and built environments can actually affect people’s mental and physical well-being throughout their lives. This implies that architecture actually does affect human mental health condition, not only the building itself but also the design of the ambiance. In order to produce a design that links architecture and its built environment towards the human well being in a positive outcome, the designer would have to be clear of certain statement such as the look of the building space and how it feels like to design a space that promote psychological and social well-being. Besides that, how would the design and the built environment affect the senses, the emotions, and the mind of the end user? How would it affect behavioral patterns and sense of community? There is this one very common example to look into but not much of us actually take note of it; for research purposes, before we go into designing a real building, it is useful to look at some other useful examples such as ‘zoos’. Why is zoo stated here? In the past few decades, zoo design has gone through a radical transformation. Cages which is used to lock up animals in the zoo have been replaced by natural habitats and geographic clustering of animals. In some places, the animals are totally free running whilst the visitors are enclosed in buses or trains moving along the zoo. As a direct result, animals now exist in mixed species which portray their lives in natural landscapes. And, as in nature, the animals have much stronger self control over their behavior. They can either be on view or out of sight. They forage, play, rest, mate, and act like normal animals. The question for us to ponder now is the reason behind this transformation in philosophy and design? A key factor was concern over the animals psychological and social well-being. We all know that zoos keep animals alive, but the thing is they do not make them flourish. Caged animals often acted very rebellious and have neurotic behaviors such as pacing, repetitive motions, aggression, and withdrawal. In one well known issue, an animal psychologist expert was employed to do a research on a polar bear that swim for the entire day in endless in its small pool. Then the zoo keeper found out that this was apparently not the normal behavior of a polar. After few days of detail observation, the animal psychologist expert decided to do a diagnosis. The bear was confirmed to be bored. To fix for this unfortunate situation, the zoo added facilities and toys for the bear to encourage it to explore more and play. There is another case study done by University Putra Malaysia research student to test the human design on animal before testing it on human itself. Chickens are brought from poultry and placed in a terrace house designed for human and observe how they can survive well in there. Results showed that the chickens get weaker and soon died in the terrace house. We never know that our design do not even fit for animal, even animals like chicken could not live in a house designed for human, what more to say we are the ones that are suppose in stay inside. This can be clearly seen that the modern architecture field is sometimes conquered by certain group of people such the developer that are lack of awareness towards human need but instead most of them only look at the end profit they can get from the residential project. PROBLEM STATEMENT OF THESIS. From the above mentioned examples, there are lessons that we can learn that afterwards can be applied to building design. To produce a building design, we ought to look beyond survival to well-being. We can even build on primitive preferences and emphasizes more on connections to nature. Besides that, making health an explicit component of planning is critical. Apart from architecture design, built environment also has profound effects on public-health. Planning decisions made can affect housing design, parks, location of stores and schools, as well as factors such as traffic density and air and water quality. These characteristics, in turn, affect the well being which is the physical and psychological health for people of all ages. Constant change of environment has been the backdrop to our lives. But now the nature of change has changed. The changes brought about acquire us to rethink almost everything, including architecture and the design of the larger built environment. The preliminary predications are the environmental crisis afflicting the severely overstretched systems of our earth. These encompass the air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, sound pollution and etc. Besides that, the degradation and loss of topsoil and the diminishment of biodiversity to the point where the mass extinction of species appears inevitable are among the problems caused by mass unhealthy design architecture. And, most imperatively the challenge of all is the global warming with all its adverse consequences to be bear by the end users. The obvious alteration of global warming includes the change in weather pattern such as more extreme weather, climate- induced migration of humans and other species. The drastic change of weather and environment as well as global warming has direct impact on human lives so when architecture caused the deterioration of environment, it means it also deteriorate human lives because we cannot be tear apart from our living environment. These are the problems partly contributed by the architects, so it is time for the architect to ponder and produce design that is healthy to both the environment and the people. First and foremost, it is necessary to take stock of the current architectural scene, which in many ways is vigorous, diverse and feverish. However, until less than a century ago the architects seemed to be fine in designing buildings people are fond of and that aggregated into satisfactory urban fabric, any candid assessment must accept that piece, but as time passes, what is being built today has become pretty depress because it does too little to cure the fragmentation of our cities wrought over the last century. As architect, we need to be aware of what is happening to the world and deter problems ranging from the environmental crisis to housing the masses flooding into the cities of the developing world.

Cultural Competence Essay

Cultural and linguistic competence in nursing can be defined as a set of related behaviors and attitudes that integrate together within a healthcare system or institution and among the professionals that work within the system or institution with the purpose of enabling effective and efficient delivery of health services in cross-cultural scenario (Jeffreys, 2006). Below is a brief description of the eight principles of cultural competence: †¢ Broadly defining culture This involves identifying the other factors besides race, language and ethnicity that determine an individual’s sense of awareness in relation to other people (HRSA, 2001). This is because health services are delivered to an individual, and group characteristics may not be a reflection of a person’s attitudes and life experiences (Lundy & Janes, 2003). †¢ Valuing Clients’ Cultural beliefs This involves caregivers or professionals in healthcare sufficiently learning the attitudes, knowledge and belief of their target population regarding healthcare and applying what is learned for the delivery of culturally competent care (HRSA, 2001). †¢ Recognizing complexity in Language interpretation This is identifying any hindrances to effective communication and targeted group due to language differences; and laying down strategies to address the same (HRSA, 2001). †¢ Facilitating learning between caregivers and communities This is the creation of environments under which caregivers can learn about the beliefs and attitudes of the targeted cultural group and their impact on healthcare; while the targeted community learns more about how healthcare works (HRSA, 2001). †¢ Involving the community in the defining and addressing healthcare needs This is getting the community to fully participate in the formulation of health policies in the system that serves them so that managed care can be fully culturally competent (HRSA, 2001). †¢ Collaborating with other agencies This is forging working alliances with groups that are familiar with the needs of the targeted community to boost the chances of delivering culturally competent services (HRSA, 2001). †¢ Professionalizing staff hiring and training This is setting cultural competence standards for new caregivers getting into the system; and continually training serving staff in emerging standards of cultural competence (HRSA, 2001). †¢ Institutionalizing cultural competence This is making cultural competence standards an integral part of healthcare planning and optimizing hiring, training and funding to meet these standards (HRSA, 2001). In conclusion, the above principles are very vital to the delivery of holistic healthcare services for healthcare professionals working in cultures different from them (Lundy & Janes, 2003). ? References Health Resources and Services Administration, HRSA (2001). Cultural Competence Works. Retrieved on 14/5/2010from ftp://ftp. hrsa. gov/financeMC/cultural-competence. pdf Jeffreys, M. R. (2006). Teaching Cultural Competence in Nursing and Health Care: Inquiry, Action and Innovation. Springer. Lundy, K. S. & Janes, S. (2003). Essentials of Community-based Nursing. Jones & Bartlett.

Performance Management at Vitality Health Essay

Situational Analysis: Introduction: Vitality Health Enterprises initially started its business as Vitality by importing small quantities of cosmetics from Japan. Initially it started marketing in its neighbourhood and to local organizations. Slowly it started expanding and in 1989 it changed its business model by establishing its own manufacturing facility in the US. Its business continued to grow into various markets as it leveraged its unique supplier connections and technological superiority. Its venture of acquiring HerbaPure Nutraceuticals helped it expand into a new domain of health care and Vitality became Vitality Health Enterprises. It continued its growth by expanding into new geographies until 2008 when its growth began to stagnate. This led to the formation of its new business strategy where a committee was appointed to review the policies and methods of tracking the performance goals of all non-sales and non-executive employees of the company. Drawbacks of previous PMS: PMS scale had 13 different levels of ratings. This scale posed a problem as managers avoided either the pain of evaluating or offending their sub ordinates by giving average rating of ‘B’ or ‘C’ to most of the employees. They avoided giving ‘A’ even to the top performers with a fear of upsetting the spirit of teamwork among others. Therefore the top performers lacked motivation to continue performing better as they received similar kind of merit based incentives and rewards as their less productive co-workers. Also there were flaws in the current methods used to measure performance. The compa-ratio takes into account the number of years an employee has worked with the company. Hence the tenure brings them with high incentives even though their performance wasn’t up to the mark. For example an employee with larger work experience at Vitality would be paid more when compared to other employee who had joined recently for the same output or sometimes even for a lesser output, which brought discrimination and dissatisfaction among the  employees. One advantage was that the compensation provided is 7-8% higher when compared to competitors. But the component of bonuses and variable pay was low in the current structure, which added to the disappointment of the high performers. Therefore even though turnover rate reduced at Vitality due to high compensation, there was turnover among the more productive scientists and product engineers as they moved to companies where their hard work and talents are rewarded better, which was a great loss to the company. Hence the very purpose of PMS that is identifying performers to reward them and non-performers to train them better or in the worst case steer them out was not achieved through this system. So a large section of the employee community wasn’t satisfied with the existing system. Also in a highly competitive market as personal care products, Vitality can’t afford to lose its top talent to its competitors. Additionally its product managers need continuous motivation to innovate and develop new products to withstand the competition. Hence there was a need for a coherent performance management system that held employees accountable for their actions and incentivized employee performance by offering compensations including salaries, bonuses and equity. So a new performance management system was launched. Problem Statement Was newly implemented performance management system in ‘Vitality Health Enterprises Inc.’ effective? Pros of Newly implemented PMS: The revised system is more apt to recognize highly contributing employees by strictly following the distribution model of performance rating. New PMS changed the absolute ranking to relative ranking system which helps to rank the employees based on relative performance basis. This eliminates a key problem of rewarding bulk of employees when their department was failing to meet development and production goals. This plan incorporated a new system of performance-related short and long term cash and equity bonus rather than relying only on salary increases. The newly designed system follows 4 point scale instead of 13 point scale which made the manager task easier in evaluation. Cons of Newly implemented PMS: Some employees were reluctant to perform their duties outside the job as those responsibilities were not in the review system. So they preferred only to work in the domains which were taken into consideration for their reward. Some managers felt that the new distribution system to be very rigid. High performing team need to come up with the targeted number of achievers even though they had many of them. On the contrary, the low performing team also had equal number of top achievers. The new PMS uncovered some managerial dissembling. Because managers allotted ‘Not Rated’ ranking to new members and saved the higher rankings for their veteran employees irrespective of their performance. Hence the new member in team might be de motivated. Some managers were reluctant in differentiating between their employees and allow any unfamiliar person to evaluate them. Because of this true performer might miss his/her rewards and incentives. Some managers rotated the highest ranking between their employees from one year to the next. So the objective of developing new evaluation system was unfulfilled. Recommendations The new performance management scored well in the survey which collected response from all the affected employees. Around 54% of the employees were happy with the new system whereas nearly a third (31%) preferred the old system. The employees who were happy with the new system might be high performers whereas the low or mid performers might have not been happy with the new system and were recommending old system. Managers were not happy with the rigid system because it added complexity in grading and might have been forced to give detailed explanation to offended employees. However there were few issues with the new system, which can be addressed with the measures listed below: Modification of the pay structure by incorporating performance benefits tied to the below: Organization Building: Employees need to contribute for the growth of the organization beyond their core responsibility. This will help in organizational growth and trickle-down effect to the bottom of the organization. So their pay structure will also involve a component that corresponds whether the company as a whole is performing well or not. Team Building: The performance of the team or  division will also impact the rewards being distributed. If a division does well, all its members get benefitted and vice versa Individual Efforts: Like before, individual component will also weigh for performance appraisal. This will have a different weight age for different job descriptions, as per the requirement. For example: A marketing employee will have a higher component of organization building than a R&D scientist who will have a higher individual component E.g. Say a R&D scientist has a base salary of ‘x’ and the weights allocated to organization building, team building and individual efforts as w1, w2 and w3 with per component increase of $p, $q and $r. Hence pay policy line= x+ (w1*p) + (w2*q) + (w3*r) Mixed component of absolute and relative: Employees will be graded against one another only when they are able to fulfil their core responsibilities and perform to a certain benchmark level. As the managers used to assign a Not Rated ranking to any employee who had been in the group for less than a year, regardless of actual performance. Not Rated ranking should be removed and appraisal should be conducted without grading for employees who have not completed a year. Pay structure of Managers: Managers have secondary responsibility of fulfilling staffing needs, their effectiveness in training, development and employee relations. The weight age of secondary component should be increased in such a manner so that they don’t delegate this responsibility to HR, which will be possible if their pay structure will be linked to it. Differential rating points for different divisions: Different division should have a different weight age system of organization growth, team growth and individual efforts in their pay structure and it should be appropriately distributed to all divisions so that rewards are not concentrated in a particular division. Feasibility of recommendation The company is growing at a good rate and hence any recommendation should be careful analyzed for its feasibility. Having different weight age for KRA’s of each division is difficult to formulate and can also lead to conflict between divisions which can lead to loss in synergy across the organization. All the divisions should be kept in confidence while formulating KRA’s and their respective weight ages. As the company is growing, the divisions will also increase and hence this plan’s sustainability is questionable. Pay  structure modification can be met with resistance from employees who will not be ready to accept too many variables in their salary. However educating employee about the benefits of this modification can solve this issue. Creating a separate process for employees who had completed less than a year in a team can easily eliminate not Rated ranking.

Effect of Christianity on Cabeza de Vaca and the Natives...

The Effects of Christianity on Cabeza de Vaca and the Natives On June 17, 1527, Cabeza de Vaca set sail on the order to conquer and govern the lands from the Rio Grande to the cape of Florida. However, during his journey he encountered much devastation such as the wrecking of his ship which resulted in his separation from the majority of his Christian companions. Praying to God after every ordeal, Cabeza routinely sought after his Christian religion to guide him through his unexpected journey. While traveling through the interior of America, he also encountered many native tribes which inhabited the land. While most of the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century spread their religion through warlike ways and rearranged societies†¦show more content†¦This ideology is why he states that Clearly, to bring all these people to Christianity and subjection to Your Imperial Majesty, they must be won by kindness, the only certain way (Covey 123). As for the question of whether the Indians could understand the concept of religion and God, the answer is yes due to their own religious practices separate from Christianity. Cabeza learns that the natives worship a God named Aguar in whom They said they believed he created the whole world and everything in it (Covey 131). Cabeza interpreted this as an indication of a readiness for the acceptance of Christianity (Petty 2). Cabeza may have taken the viewpoint of peaceful conversion rather than that of most other Spanish explores, who would use terror and violence for conversion, due to his experience with certain natives after the capsize of his boat. In reaction to their sight The Indians, understanding our full plight, sat down and lamented for half an hour so loudly they could have been heard a long way off (Covey 57). Cabeza then says in reaction to the natives actions It was amazing to see these wild, untaught savages howling like brutes in compassion for us (Covey 57-58). The mindset of peaceful interaction between the Indians and Europeans in Cabezas crew might have been confirmed after this encounter. Also after the wreck of the ship, Cabeza was brought to the natives village and was given a place to sleep and was fed in the morning. This gestureShow MoreRelatedEffects Of Christianity On Cabeza De Vaca And The Natives1620 Words   |  7 Pages7A Professor Delay 14th September 2015 The Effects of Christianity on Cabeza de Vaca and the Natives On June 17, 1527, Cabeza de Vaca set sail west on a expedition to conquer and govern the lands from Mexico to the cape of Florida. However, during his journey Cabeza was faced with much devastation such as the wrecking of his ship which resulted in his separation from the majority of his Christian companions. 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