Learn All Tenses of the German Verb Sein (to Be)

Barbary Lion Facts and Figures

Name: Barbary Lion; also known as Panthera leo leo, the Atlas Lion and the Nubian Lion Habitat: Plains of northern Africa Historical Epoch: Late Pleistocene-Modern (500,000-100 years ago) Size and Weight: Up to seven feet long and 500 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Large size; thick mane and fur About the Barbary Lion Tracking the evolutionary relationships of the various subspecies of modern lion (Panthera leo) can be a tricky affair. As far as paleontologists can tell, the Barbary Lion (Panthera leo leo) evolved from a population of European Lions (Panthera leo europaea), which themselves descended from Asiatic Lions (Panthera leo persica), which are still extant, albeit in dwindling numbers, in modern-day India. Whatever its ultimate heritage, the Barbary Lion shares one dubious honor with most lion subspecies, having been wiped off the face of the earth by human encroachment and the dwindling of its once-expansive habitat. Like many other recently extinct mammals, the Barbary Lion has a distinctive historical pedigree. Medieval Britons had an especial fondness for this big cat; during the Middle Ages, Barbary Lions were kept in the menagerie at the Tower of London, and these big-maned beasts were star attractions at swanky British hotels. In the latter part of the 19th century, while the species was being hunted to extinction in northern Africa, Britains surviving Barbary Lions were transferred to zoos. In northern Africa, even in historical times, Barbary Lions were prized gifts, sometimes being offered in lieu of taxes to the ruling families of Morocco and Ethiopia. Today, in captivity, a few surviving lion subspecies harbor remnants of Barbary Lion genes, so it may yet be possible to selectively breed this big cat and reintroduce it into the wild, a program known as de-extinction. For example, researchers with the International Barbary Lion Project plan to recover DNA sequences from various mounted Barbary Lion specimens in natural history museums, and then compare these sequences with the DNA of living zoo lions, in order to see how much Barbary. so to speak, remains in these felines. Males and females with a high percentage of Barbary Lion DNA would then be selectively mated, as well as their descendants on down the lion, the ultimate goal being the birth of a Barbary Lion cub!

Messages Of Charlotte Turner Smith - 1476 Words

Jaquelin Govea Professor Patterson English IV DC 7 25 March 2015 Messages of Charlotte Turner Smith Charlotte Turner Smith was a poet and novelist during the time of English Romanticism. She began the revival of the English sonnet and wrote political novels of deep feeling. Smith was a successful writer, publishing ten novels, three books of poetry, four children s books, and other assorted works, over the course of her career. She always felt poetry was her calling although she excelled in her poems. Poetry was considered the most glorious form of literature at the time. Charlotte Smith s poetry was admired by many romantic poets. After 1798, Smith s fame faded and by 1803 she was poor and ill. In 1806, Charlotte Smith died. Eventually forgotten by the middle of the nineteenth century, her works have now been republished and she is recognized as an important Romantic writer. Many of her works today have been further interpreted to contain more messages and meanings behind them. Some of her significant works consist of the poems, â€Å"Written at the Close of Spring,† â€Å"To Sleep,† â€Å"Written in the Church-Yard at Middleton in Sussex† and many more. In the list of these works, Charlotte Smith portrays message based on the life she lived and the time period in which she was from. Smith was part of a wealthy family growing up. She had an education that was typical for a woman during the eighteenth century. Due to her father’s spending, she was forced to marry early in orderShow MoreRelatedAll About Peace Education13195 Words   |  53 Pagesto ensure one’s own survival, security and success in a dangerous, conflicted and violent world. Many teach their children that the most primal and powerful forces operating in life are those of competition and struggle. Children receive the same message from other influential sources of education in their homes, namely television, Internet and games. In school, children once again are introduced to these conflict-based views through the actual experience of school life—with its culture ofRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesElectronic Communications 345 †¢ Managing Information 349 Choice of Communication Channel 350 xiv CONTENTS Persuasive Communications 351 Automatic and Controlled Processing 351 †¢ Interest Level 352 †¢ Prior Knowledge 352 †¢ Personality 352 †¢ Message Characteristics 352 Barriers to Effective Communication 353 Filtering 353 †¢ Selective Perception 353 †¢ Information Overload 353 †¢ Emotions 353 †¢ Language 354 †¢ Silence 354 †¢ Communication Apprehension 355 †¢ Lying 355 Global Implications 356 CulturalRead MoreLibrary Management204752 Words   |  820 Pagesthat brought workers into a central location and into contact with other workers. It was during the development of effective and efficient management control of these newly founded organizations that many management concepts began to emerge. Adam Smith, in his writing, particularly in The Wealth of Nations, described division of work and time-and-motion studies as they should be employed in organizations. Other writers of the period, including Robert Owen, Charles Babbage, and Ch arles Dupin, wroteRead MoreMonsanto: Better Living Through Genetic Engineering96204 Words   |  385 Pages C A S E T H R E E : DAIM LE RCHRYSLER: C O R P O R ATE G O V E R N AN C E 7 8 9 A. Taylor, 2001, ‘Can the Germans rescue Chrysler?’, Fortune, 30 April: 47. W. Hirn, 2002, ‘Die Revolution von Tokio’, Manager Magazin, November: 88 ff. D. C. Smith, 2002, ‘Is this the next chairman?’, Ward’s AutoWorld, November: 48. DYNA M I CS I N A GLO BA L C O MPAN Y 10 J.–H. Wiskow, 2003, ‘Beschrà ¤nkter Durchblick’, Capital, 6 March. 11 Salary levels are for 2001 or 2002. 12 2003, ‘Neue Aufsichtsrà ¤teRead MoreReed Supermarket Case32354 Words   |  130 Pagesthe message. Penthouse magazine continues to attract advertisers for high-value-added consumer durables, such as cars, hi-ï ¬  equipment and clothes, which are geared primarily to a high-income male segment. High reach is necessary when the ï ¬ rm enters a new market or introduces a new product so that information about, for example, the new product’s availability is spread to the widest possible audience. A high level of frequency is appropriate when brand awareness already exists and the message is aboutRead MoreManaging Information Technology (7th Edition)239873 Words   |  960 Pagesdata, images, and so on. Communications products on large computers with many attached workstations have the awesome task of controlling the communications of these workstations, or terminals, with the central computer. This software collects the messages from the terminals, processes them as necessary, and returns the responses to the proper terminals. These products are often designed to work closely with a particular operating system. For example, IBM’s CICS (Customer Information Control System)

Invisible Man Themes - 924 Words

In the earlier 20th century, African-Americans had little to no equality when compared to whites, laws were even made to ensure that African-Americans couldn’t have the same rights that whites had. This idea of segregation and unequal racial power is shown throughout the novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, and is also shown within the poems I, Too and Mother to Son, by Langston Hughes. In Ralph Ellison’s literary work we are shown what the cruel results of systematic racism looks like from the perspective of the African-American, both in the South and up North in New York. Langston Hughes in his two poems gives us a short glimpse of the segregation that followed African-Americans. With such similar stories and perspectives, the literary†¦show more content†¦The theme of race is also is present in the poem I, Too, which also shows the segregation of African-Americans and whites when the narrator has to eat in the kitchen. Both of these literary works express the difference there is based on the color of your skin by providing images of segregation, and the difference of political power. The book Invisible Man gets its title because of the narrator’s race, he feels invisible because people don’t see him for who he is but what he is, a black man. The same example is present in the poem I, Too, the white people only see the speaker as a black person instead of a person who deserves equal rights. Another example of the theme is the college with the statue either unveiling the black man or covering him up. The final common theme of the two writer’s works is ambition. The theme of ambition is seen in all three of the literary works, in the book Invisible Man the author has the ambition to gain more power for himself and for the rest of his race. At the beginning of the book, the narrator states To Whom It May Concern †¦ Keep This Nigger-Boy Running (Ellison 33). This quote shows the ambition and the drive the narrator has at the beginning of the story. Another example of the narrator’s ambition is â€Å"Perhaps everyone lovedShow MoreRelatedThemes in The Invisible Man by H.G Wells902 Words   |  4 PagesThe Invisible Man has many possible themes. There are multiple examples of different themes in the novel. Most of them can almost fall under the same idea. The main theme for the novel is how excessive greed can have unintended consequences. The main character, Griffin, goes mad with the power of being invisible. It gets to the point that he is not even trying to j ust stay hidden anymore, he is just trying to cause as much mayhem in the country as possible. One of the first instances of greed isRead More The Theme of Black Leadership in Invisible Man Essay560 Words   |  3 Pages     Ã‚   Ralph Ellisons interest in effective black leadership is directly reflected in Invisible Man. The characterization of Bledsoe in the beginning of the story is that of a ruthlessly self-serving black leader (McSweeny). In chapter five, a mythic model for black leadership is outlined in the eulogy of the founder of the college, which is given by Homer A. Barbee (McSweeny). While Invisible Man is residing in the apartment of Mary Rambo, she drills into his head the importance of leadershipRead MoreTheme Of Isolation In The Invisible Man1430 Words   |  6 Pagesas The Invisible Man his name was Griffin. He Once was a human but then he discovered a formula that makes him invisible. He is a mad-scientist that over the years has been doing a lot of experiments such as, travelling through time and converting animals into humans. He doesn’t belong with people in the community, he doesn’t have family or friends and he lives in a world where people do not care about hi m at all and all he does is keeps himself isolated. Now he has to see if being invisible makesRead More Themes of Honor and Shame in Invisible Man Essay1383 Words   |  6 Pages EXECUTE SHAME GENTLY Invisible Man is a novel by Ralph Ellison, addressing many social and moral issues regarding African-American identity, including the inside of the interaction between the white and the black. His novel was written in a time, that black people were treated like degraded livings by the white in the Southern America and his main character is chosen from that region. In this figurative novel he meets many people during his trip to the North, where the black is allowed moreRead MoreThe True Maeaning of Invisiblity942 Words   |  4 Pagesscience fiction and deals with the super natural. Upon actually reading it however it becomes painfully obvious that the main character of â€Å"Invisible Man† is quite visible indeed. Fictional or not, he is a regular human being made of flesh and bone, and he even says so in the first sentences of the book. So how can this black man possibly deem himself invisible? Perhaps this nameless protagonist cannot be blamed completely for this freak oc currence. Maybe the invisibility stems from a lack of sightRead MoreInvisibility in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Essay958 Words   |  4 Pagesunseen by anyone. In popular media, the hero is also often portrayed as being invisible, going behind the enemys back to complete his or her mission. In Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man, this view of invisibility is reversed; rather than being invisible and getting noticed, a man is in plain sight of everyone- however, due to a slew of stereotypes and prejudices, nobody recognizes what he accomplishes. Beginning his journey as a man who stays out of the way by doing what he is told, he is quickly forcedRead MoreInvisible Man By Ralph Ellison1303 Words   |  6 PagesRalph Ellison’s Invisible Man is a story about an unnamed African American man trying to find a place for himself in white America. Throughout his life, he believes that his whole existence solely depends on recognition and approval of white people, which stems from him bei ng taught to view whites as superior. The Invisible Man strives to correspond to the values and expectations of the dominate social group, but he is continuously unable to merge his socially imposed role as a black man with his internalRead MoreThe Invisible Man By Ralph Ellison1409 Words   |  6 Pagesin Ralph Ellison’s novel, The Invisible Man, the prologue serves as the beginning of the end, in preparation for an epilogue that revisits the narrator’s original inner conflict at the end of a personal narrative. Situated in a hidden underground cellar, the main character, the Invisible Man recounts the journey of his naive youth from the American south to the seemingly optimistic north in Harlem, New York. However, through several unjust experiences, the Invisible Man doubts the possibility of hopeRead MoreImprovisation Of The Invisible Man1392 Words   |  6 Pagesand Composition III February 15, 2017 Improvisational Music In Invisible Man â€Å"My only sin is in my skin, What did I do to be so black and blue?† The protagonist, the invisible man, is stoned from marijuana as he listened to Armstrong s rendition of What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue and determined that invisibility gives one a slightly different sense of time, you re never quite on the beat. (Prologue.)† The invisible man respected Armstrong for making something beautiful out of invisibilityRead More Ellisons Invisible Man: Invisibility, Vision, and Identity as Motifs749 Words   |  3 PagesRalph Ellison incorporates many symbols into this novel, each providing a unique perspective on the narrative and supporting the themes of invisibility, vision and identity. These themes can many times generally symbolize the strength of the subconscious mind. In this novel I think that there are several visions that symbolize the narrator’s escape from reality, seeking comfort in memories of his childhood or times at the college, often occurring as he fades into his music. Ellison coincidences

Clinical In CVAD Dressing And Maintenance - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss about the Clinical In CVAD Dressing And Maintenance. Answer: Introduction The CVAD (Central Venous Access Devices) are used for several short and long-term care interventions. The general use of CVAD devices are to provide different fluids, medicines, parental nutrition, blood products, to collect blood samples, the to obtain the central venous pressure monitoring. Dressing of these CVAD areas should be done properly as improper dressing of that site further could lead to Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLABSI (Unnithan et al. 2014). The objective of this clinical audit was to understand the level of acquiescence with that of the standard of dressing of the CVAD site available against the current practice and guideline that are implemented in the healthcare settings. The procedures of clinical audits are crucial in healthcare settings as these audits are important part of the professional practices and improvement of the quality. Every clinical setting should comply completely with the policy and procedures and the main aim of this clinical audit is to identify those areas that fails to comply with the policy and procedures. Further, the identification of such processes will be helpful in developing opportunities for the quality improvement of healthcare settings (Gillam and Siriwardena 2013). The prime aim of this report is to discuss the process of conducting a clinical audit regarding dressing change on the site of CVAD. This assignment is going to cover different aspects of clinical audit and will discuss the clinical risk and background of clinical audit. Further, a clinical audit tool will be developed and critique for it will be mentioned. Result of the audit and discussion about the result will be put up and the assignment will provide recommendations for improving the quality of healthcare system. Background and clinical risk CVAD or the Central Venous Access Devices are small and flexible tubes that needs high quality care and maintenance as this tunnel provide food, medicine, blood and other important fluid to the body. Improper maintenance can lead to infections or injuries that extends the difficulty of the patient and the hospital stay also increases. There are several aseptic techniques and the insertion site should be protected from any kind of contamination such as microbial, chemical or biophysical contaminations (Moureau et al. 2013). The Australian Government has several health promotional policies that are divided in different local versions of CVAD management and dressing policies such as NSW (New South Wales) CVAD policy, Melbourne CVAD policies and the healthcare facilities has to comply their CVAD care policies with that of the states CVAD policy (Central Venous Access Device Insertion and Post Insertion Care 2018). The prime purpose of these healthcare policies is to minimize the level of complications related to the insertion, management and access to the CVAD devices. Furthermore, by doing so these policies also protects the patient from the bacteremia blood stream infections. All the healthcare providers and the staffs that perform this CVAD insertion and management need to comply with the process and policies of these CVAD maintenance policies (Chong et al. 2013). The Audit process and tool with critique Clinical audit is termed as a quality improvement process that helps to improve the quality of healthcare and its outcomes by reviewing the care provided to each patient through given criteria using systematic review processes. This process helps to implement necessary changes in the system and further monitors it to confirm the improvement in the healthcare system (Gillam and Siriwardena 2013). Therefore, this quality assurance process was carried out in the healthcare facility to monitor the level of compliance between the policy and procedures mentioned in the standard criteria and that in the healthcare facility. The policy of the Australian healthcare framework for dressing and maintenance if the CVAD site was assessed for the healthcare facility (Annal, Zahid and Tayyeb 2016). The hospital, in which the clinical audit was conducting, follows the Australian healthcare policy and the audit was aimed to observe that the hospital policy complies with that of the state policy of Australia especially in CVAD site dressing. The hospital had 33 beds and there were 28 patients, who had CVAD tubes inserted in their body. Therefore, for the clinical tool, those 28 patients were assessed. A new clinical audit tool was developed for the hospital, in which the audit is supposed to occur and the researchers set their questions to identify the topics or issues the hospital faces while providing care and maintaining the CVAD site of patients. The audit lasts for 24 hours and each of the patients were analyzed for the maintenance and dressing of the CVAD site. One of the auditor (myself) was obliged to perform the task in the first half of the working hour and after that, it was mandatory to answer 10 close-ended questions regarding the process and dressing techniques for C VAD. The qualities of the questions were high enough to obtain reliable answers and therefore the observer bias was reduced using explicit statements. Results Within 24 hours of the clinical audit, each patients dressing, maintenance of the CVAD site was assessed, and the auditor was destined to produce 100 percent compliance to the audit criteria. However, the result, which was achieved, had 13 completely met results, 9 partially met results and 11 not met results. Within the not met results, 2 was resulted as the nursing and physician staff were unable to comply with that of the Australian CVAD site dressing procedure, 3 of them did not followed the sanitation and cleanliness policies and further 1 did not informed the family or the patient prior to the application of the intervention. Furthermore, 2 of the not met results were due to the lack in the documentation procedure of the dressing and, maintenance of the CVAD site (Quality and Patient Safety Directorate 2018). Handover Compliance with Standards Group of bed No of beds Met Partially met Not met Group of beds, in which completely met result was found 13 Group of bed in which partially met result was found 9 Group of bed, in which not met results were observed 6 Patients of those 13 beds were provided with all the safety measures and while changing the dressing of the CVAD site, the proper cleaning, maintenance and securement of the site was determined. Within those 13, 9 processes met the audit criteria and compliance with the process by 100 percent. Further, 4 of them missed very negligible points and therefore met the criteria with 93 percent. They did not ensured only two-closed site in the CVAD, in which one is close to the insertion site, therefore 93 percent compliance was assigned. Discussion and analysis The prime problem, which was observed while the clinical audit process for the dressing and maintenance of the clinical audit process was noncompliance to the dressing and maintenance process and policy of the Australian government. The registered nurses that were assigned with the duties of dressing of the CVAD site of patients of those 9 beds, were not able to recall the steps of dressing technique. They missed on sanitization and cleaning process. Further, involving the patients or families in the process prior to every dressing is mandatory, which was not done in 2 of the cases. Despite of these factors, there are evidences that better dressing and maintenance of the CVAD site and the patients can be saved from different infections such as bacterial infection, blood stream related infection and many more. Further, the documentation of these dressings can help in maintaining update information, and involving the patient and their families in the care giving process. However, according to Ulman et al. (2017), patient and the nursing staff are the constants of the care giving process therefore; the understanding between them should be clear and honest. The nursing staff should be provided with training of the dressing and maintenance techniques for CVAD site. Practice improvement is necessary for the expected standard of care. The partially met results also need to be analyzed as the steps, which was missed by the healthcare professionals while taking care of the CVAD site of 28 patients. Those steps were very crucial and could have become the reason for the de terioration of the health of the patient. Each of the audit process was carried out under surveillance of bias-less auditors and therefore, this much clinical faults were highlighted in this clinical process (Gillanders et al. 2012). Quality improvement and recommendations The process of quality improvement is followed in any organization to improve the quality of the process by adhering to the current standards of the process and further provide service delivery to the customers or adjacent clients. Such quality improvement program should be properly designed, addressed for the users and should be monitored and evaluated by an authority of the organization (Broadhurst, Moureau and Ullman 2017). The change in the attitude is necessary for the hospital staff and registered nurses so that the high-risk activities like CVAD site dressing and maintenance can be done with proper dedication. Further, the improvement should be made in the process of dressing change. The associated workers should be provided with training and incentives so that they can stick to the core process and reduce their number of faults (Officer 2017). Two main stakeholders of the healthcare facility that is the end user or the patients and the care providers such as the registered nurses should be given with the power to implement changes that are beneficial for the entire care process. The opinions of the care providers or the nurses should be taken into consideration. The hospital authority should also come up with policies that can uplift the quality of the CVAD care and the nursing staff can learn the process within shorter time. The clinical audit team recommended the hospital authority that they should take their role seriously by reviewing the processes and implementing necessary changes. An evaluation plan should also be prepared so that the pre and post audit situation of the healthcare unit can be properly understood (Broadhurst, Moureau and Ullman 2017). Conclusion As mentioned earlier, audit is one of the vital processes that should be held in any productive organization to maintain the quality and understand the loopholes that prevent the organization to attain perfection. CVAD maintenance is one of the vital processes in clinical settings and the patients are vulnerable to different infections. Therefore to maintain the standards of CVAD care, dressing technique, sanitization process and maintenance, the Australian government has set out a policy, which is divided and adapted in different regions of Australia differently. This assignment discussed about a clinical; audit in healthcare setting and the audit was to identify and assess the CVAD dressing technique and care process. The results of the clinical audit indicated that the process contains some loopholes that need to be filled up within shorter period. A set of recommendations were provided for the same. This audit was about quality assurance and the prime aim was to comply the curren t process of CVAD dressing technique comply with the national standard completely. References Annals, K.E.M.U., Zahid, B. and Tayyeb, R., 2016. Clinical Audit of hysterectomies.Annals of King Edward Medical University,11(3). Broadhurst, D., Moureau, N. and Ullman, A.J., 2017. Management of Central Venous Access Device-Associated Skin Impairment: An Evidence-Based Algorithm.Journal of Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nursing,44(3), p.211. Central Venous Access Device Insertion and Post Insertion Care (2018).Central Venous Access Device Insertion and Post Insertion Care. [online] Www1.health.nsw.gov.au. Available at: https://www1.health.nsw.gov.au/pds/ActivePDSDocuments/PD2011_060.pdf Chong, L.M., Chow, Y.L., Kong, S.S.C. and Ang, E., 2013. Maintenance of patency of central venous access devices by registered nurses in an acute ambulatory setting: an evidence utilisation project.International Journal of Evidence?Based Healthcare,11(1), pp.20-25. Gillam, S. and Siriwardena, A.N., 2013. Frameworks for improvement: clinical audit, the plan-do-study-act cycle and significant event audit.Quality in Primary Care,21(2). Gillam, S. and Siriwardena, A.N., 2013. Frameworks for improvement: clinical audit, the plan-do-study-act cycle and significant event audit.Quality in Primary Care,21(2). Gillanders, L., Angstmann, K., Ball, P., OCallaghan, M., Thomson, A., Wong, T. and Thomas, M., 2012. A prospective study of catheter-related complications in HPN patients.Clinical nutrition,31(1), pp.30-34. Moureau, N., Lamperti, M., Kelly, L.J., Dawson, R., Elbarbary, M., Van Boxtel, A.J.H. and Pittiruti, M., 2013. Evidence-based consensus on the insertion of central venous access devices: definition of minimal requirements for training.British journal of anaesthesia,110(3), pp.347-356. Officer, C.O., 2017. Care of Central Vascular Access Device:-Tunnelled.Policy. https://extcontent.covenanthealth.ca/Policy/vii-b-385.pdf Quality and Patient Safety Directorate (2018).Clinical Audit - Ireland's Health Service. [online] Ireland's Health Service. Available at: https://hse.ie/eng/about/Who/qualityandpatientsafety/Clinical_Audit/ Ullman, A.J., Cooke, M., Kleidon, T. and Rickard, C.M., 2017. Road map for improvement: Point prevalence audit and survey of central venous access devices in paediatric acute care.Journal of paediatrics and child health,53(2), pp.123-130. Unnithan, A.R., Gnanasekaran, G., Sathishkumar, Y., Lee, Y.S. and Kim, C.S., 2014. Electrospun antibacterial polyurethanecellulose acetatezein composite mats for wound dressing.Carbohydrate polymers,102, pp.884-892.

Human Resource Management in the Present Times

Question: Describe about for the Human Resource Management in present times. Answer: Abstract The basic purpose of this assignment is to gain a thorough understanding on two of the most important concepts, which are being used in the present day world, for improving the conditions of the workplace and providing a great job satisfaction to the employees. The concepts being studied in this assignment are work life balance and workplace flexibility. The report has been helpful in finding out the negative impacts of long working hours on the human resource of a business firm and that the concept of flexibility is still one of the best approaches that can be used to enhance the quality of workplace environment. Introduction The report aims at studying work life balance and flexibility, which are the most debatable topics under human resource management in the present times. The report aims at studying the difference that might have erupted in the concept of flexibility and how it is being presumed by the employers and the employees today. To gain a thorough understanding of the topics, we would consult a number of websites and journals to draw a conclusion about the present and future prospects of the concepts. The report also aims at discussing the negative impacts of long working hours or overtime on the employees of an organisation. Finally, the report would discuss a number of ways in which business firms can promote and help the employees in maintaining their work life balances during economic downturns or recessions. Flexibility In the modern day business world, the competition amongst rival firms has reached a global level, which has added up new complexities in the already complex environment. The result is that the companies are striving to survive in the industry because they have become highly vulnerable to external and internal environment factors. In such a scenario, the companies cannot just merely rely upon their products, services or processes to gain a competitive edge as they can be easily replicated. Instead the companies are now trying to use their human resources to gain a competitive edge in the market. Therefore, it is highly important for business organisations to provide a good working environment to their employees so that they can work at their best potentials to achieve the maximum productivity for the organisation. ("Why is Human Resources Important? | Importance of an HR Department | TriNet", n.d.) Flexibility is defined as a strategy in human resource management that aims at providing a better work environment to the employees by bringing the employees and the employer closer and allowing them to collectively decide the working conditions that would suit both the parties. The basic objective of implementing flexibility at workplace is to bring down the operating costs, maximise the productivity and efficiency and to provide an approach to the employees that would help them in maintaining a better balance between their personal lives and their work lives. ("Flexibility in the workplace Employee entitlements Fair Work Ombudsman", n.d.). Some advantages of implementing workplace flexibility are discussed below: It increases the feeling of organisational commitment and loyalty amongst the employees and makes them more satisfied with their jobs and the management. It helps in uplifting the quality of lives of the employees as well as of the employers. The biggest advantage of implementing flexibility in the workplace is that it helps in optimisation of productivity and efficiency in the organisation. Workplace flexibility is not a new concept and was introduced a couple of decades ago. The business organisations that have been able to implement it successfully are enjoying the benefits that it brings along while the others are still trying their best to introduce the concept as it can actually improve the conditions of a workplace. The concept of flexibility is in a great demand today as the employees feel obliged to work with a company that gives adequate value to their personal lives and is not just worried about the work that the employees do. Flexibility at workplace has also proven to have positive impacts on the health of the people as they feel reduced levels of stress. ("WHY EMPLOYEES NEED FLEXIBILITY", n.d.). Workplace flexibility is a very crucial concept in the management of human resource and the organisations should definitely implement it when they want to achieve better results. Business organisations that have strict timings and are very roust about their work are less preferred by the employees and the employees tend to stay away from such companies or leave them altogether ("A Revolutionary Change: Making the Workplace More Flexible | Solutions", 2011). According to Juliet Bourke, the concept of flexibility has lost its paradigms because the concept implies that the same amount of work would have to be accomplished by a lesser number of workforces. The viewpoint of Juliet Bourke is wrong to a great extent as the fault is not in the process but is in the way in which a company implements it. Millions of firms have succeeded in achieving success by implementing workplace flexibility while the others have worsened their conditions by not implementing the concept properly. Thus, it c an be said that the concept itself is quite tricky and the companies have to ensure effective strategies to actually implement the concept. It can be clearly stated that flexibility is still one of the best concepts to manage the human resource of a business firm and has not lost its original paradigms. Implications of Long Working Hours on Employees Long working hours or overtime is a concept where the employees can work for a duration that is more than their regular work hours while they get compensated for the extra hours that they work for. The concept of overtime or long working hours is extremely beneficial as it helps the company in compensating for unexpected changes and absence of human resource without having to hire additional human resources. However, the negative impacts of long working hours have been noticed in the case of employees. Some of the negative impacts of long working hours or overtime are discussed below: Increase in health related problems a number of researches and scientists have concluded that there is a strong and positive relation between long working hours and health related problems in the employees. Some common health related problems that have been found to occur in employees that spend a lot of time working during overtime hours are: Possibilities of injuries in the lower back due to too much physical exertion People performing white collar jobs are found to experience higher blood pressures Increase in the possibility of mental health problems A decrease in the birth weight and gestation age in women An increase in the consumption of alcohol amongst men An increase in the rates of suicides Further studies have also concluded that the employees working for more than 50 hours a week are found to have a higher rates of family conflicts, reduced mental health and alcohol problems ("5 Negative Effects of High Overtime Levels", 2016). Decreased productivity some managers are of the belief that they would be able to increase the overall productivity or efficiency by making the employees working for longer hours while the case might be totally opposite. A number of scientists and researchers have concluded that the overtime working hours can in turn hinder the productivity or efficiency of the organisation. In many cases, it has been observed that the employees become bored and tired of their jobs and the tend to leave their jobs as early as possible. Increased absenteeism long working hours or overtime can also bring about an increase in the absenteeism in business organisations. Workers tends to get bored with their work if they keep on doing the same work time and again. Further, further, they also experience a decline in their work life balances which they are generally not able to tolerate. As a result, sooner or later, they start feeling like taking their time off from their jobs and spend some time with their families. Stalled work Another major negative impact of long working hours is that the employees might stall the work altogether if they think that working on the same project during the overtime hours would help them in achieving additional advantages. In such conditions, the performances of the employees might drop down, which is even lesser than what is actually expected from the employees ("How Does Overtime Affect Employee Performance?", n.d.) Work Life Balance in Economic Downturn Work life balance is one of the hot favourite topics in the present day business world and each and every business organisation is trying to introduce the concept of work life balance inside the company. In simple words, work life balance can be defined as the balance that the employees are able to build between their work lives and their personal lives. The existence of a good balance between the work life and the personal life of an employee is highly recommended in the present day world as it can highly interfere with factors such as job commitment, job satisfaction, stress, etc. In some cases, there can be period of economic downturns or recession where the companies are not able to carry out their business activities as planned and have to come out with new and innovative ideas to bring improvements in the strategies. A period of an economic downturn is when the economic conditions in a country are not well and do not promote the industry in which a company is competing. There have been a number of benefits that have been identified with work life balance and thus, it becomes important for the organisations to implement such measures that would help in increasing the work life balance of employees during an economic downturn. Let us now discuss a few strategies that a firm can use to facilitate work life balance at the workplace: Part time arrangements and job sharing one of the best ways to encourage a healthier work life balance at the workplace is by allowing the employees to choose from part time jobs. It not only helps in improving productivity but also helps in saving operating costs (Buchholtz, 2016). Sabbatical leaves these leaves are defined as those leaves in which an employee is not expected to report to the employer but is still considered to be employed under the same company ("Sabbatical leave dictionary definition | sabbatical leave defined", n.d.). Term time term time is a comparatively new concept. In term time, the employees get to work more in a particular period so that they can work less in some other period. If the business organisation has seasonal demands, term time proves to be one of the best ways to encourage a healthier work life balance. E-working e-working or work from home is another strategy that can help the management in reducing its operating costs to a very large extent and to provide a perfect work life balance to the employees. Using e-wokring, the employees can be allowed to work from home by making use of internet and information systems (Buchholtz, 2016). Conclusion The journals and the website consulted for the purpose of gaining information on the topic clearly show that flexibility and work life balance are very closely related and it is very important to introduce flexibility if a company wants its employees to have a work life balance. Though some people might say that the concept have now grown obsolete or have lost their original purpose but they have actually held their purpose till now and are still two of the most important concepts in the management of human resource. The study helped in making a clear conclusion that it is very important to facilitate work life balance for employees, even if a company is going through an economic downturn. References 5 Negative Effects of High Overtime Levels. (2016). Circadian.com. Retrieved 18 May 2016 A Revolutionary Change: Making the Workplace More Flexible | Solutions. (2011). onal.net. Davis, M. (2008). The Impact Of Recession On Businesses | Investopedia. Investopedia. Flexibility at work - the business case - Professionals Australia. (1969). Professionals Australia. Flexibility in the workplace Employee entitlements Fair Work Ombudsman. Fairwork.gov.au. How Does Overtime Affect Employee Performance?. Smallbusiness.chron.com. How Risky Is Overtime, Really?. (2007). Harvard Business Review. Managing work-life balance in a recession. W3.unisa.edu.au. Morgan, H. (2015). 3 Benefits of Workplace Flexibility. Naithani, P. (2010). Recession and Work-Life Balance Initiatives. Research Summary: The impact of overtime and long work hours on occupational injuries and illnesses: Sabbatical leave dictionary definition | sabbatical leave defined. Yourdictionary.com.