The Age of New Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Age of New Media - Essay Example But, the flip side to all such developments is that the technology is also being used by some anti-social groups to carry out some destructive activities. For example, the terror network of groups like Al-Qaida etc. has been quite active in making use of networking, satellite communication etc. to shape up the nasty designs and thus causing tension in the society. Well, such groups have their own versions of truth, which they claim to be the motivation behind such acts. Therefore the governments of the world are supposed to come out with measures which can detect such designs and take corrective steps. The business world today has become quite competitive. With shrinking profit margins and high levels of competition, the corporate world has been trying to minimise the costs associated with the production and manufacturing of goods and services. Minimising the pilferage happens to be another key motive during the production and transportation of goods and services. Therefore the company management tries out ways and means to take effective control of such happenings and plan out strategies to counter them. Similarly, the retail industry is known to have a number of items on display in such a manner that customers can have a reassuring look at the items and if they feel convinced, they can purchase those products. But there are occasions when some unscrupulous elements try to lift the items without the knowledge of the sales person. To avoid such shop-lifting attempts, retail stores are supposed to put in place a mechanism so that they can keep an eye on suspicious elements. All such developments point out to one common phenomenon known as surveillance. If we take a look at the history of surveillance, the image of a burly spy in trench-coat standing on the roadside corner in the rain keeping an eye on the movement of the general public immediately comes to our mind. But the system of surveillance has graduated from this scenario and today the spy is not required to sweat out in the hot summer or drench himself in the rain, he can gather all the information on his desktop, laptop, palmtop, mobile or other handy gadgets, at the press of a button, thanks to the information gathering network. Though the modus operandi defers depending upon the importance and strategic nature of the surveillance, but one factor common in all such acts is the monitoring of our actions in different measure. While on the one hand we have biometrics machines on airports, railway stations, bus station, important offices etc. the RF tagging is used to keep an eye on goods as well as the movement of the workforce at many companies. A report brought out by the surveillance society in the year 2006 pointed out that the heightened concerns in view of the levels of intrusion in citizen's lives2. There are of course the incidents like the 9/11 attacks, the London bombing, the Mumbai shootout, the Pakistani bomb blasts, the Afghanistan war etc. which require intelligence inputs so that the terror elements are not in a position to work out similar incidents, but at

Data analysis and discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Data analysis and discussion - Essay Example Thus, the responses from the participants greatly varied according to one’s opinion on a particular question. The variance and standard deviation for all the baseline variables is relatively low. For instance, a standard deviation of 0.41 for the first question implies that the data points are very close to the real mean. On the other hand, the seventh question’s standard deviation of 0.50 implies that the data points are far apart from each other; spread out in larger ranges of the variables. Looking at the correlation matrix from excel sheet 3, a number of baseline variable have a correlation of 1 whereas others have -1. For instance, variable 1 and 2, 1 and 7, 1 and 5, 1 and 6, 2 and 5, 2 and 6, 2 and 7, 3 and 8, 4 and 8, 5 and 6, 5 and 7 have a correlation of 1 which implies that they have a strong positive linear relationship. Other combinations have a strong negative linear relationship as shown in excel file. It has six questions or variables that seek to know the level of self-efficacy on students’ performance. Just like locus control, this was done on 35 participants (students) who gave different responses for the baseline variables; as shown by their means: 6.43, 6.66, 6.51, 1.97, 6.40 and 6.29 for question 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively. The standard deviation for the second variable is 0.48 implying that the data points in this baseline variable are close to the mean. The highest standard deviation is 1.25 for the fourth baseline variable. This shows that the data points for this variable are far from the mean. From the excel sheet 3, the correlation coefficient differ greatly. For instance, baseline variable 1 and 2 have a correlation of 1 which shows that they have a strong positive correlation. Variable 2 and 8 have a strong negative relationship, a correlation of

Example proposal Essay Example for Free

Example proposal Essay INTRODUCTION 1.1 Being an establish company in the region requires the employees to pour in all their efforts in order to for the company to maintain and upgrade its performance in the market. For many years Rare Enterprise has produces to many famous products that make consumer look forward every time the company produces new product in the market. The success of the company produces relies on everybody shoulder from the lowest level to the top level of management as each of them has his/her on responsibilities in ensuring the  targets are well achieved. The expectations and the demands are too high as these may direct the employees to unexpected illness. This proposal is for sell the multiple use table. It to produces new product in market to make company always up to date and make competition with other company. The company needs to invest approximately RM200 000 for the overall set up of the multiple use table with the monthly expenditure RM15 000. 1.2 RARE ENTERPRISE 1.4 OBJECTIVE OF COMPANY Rare Enterprise is a company that produces product that easy to use. Our objectives are: 1) To help customer to manage their life. Our product is simple use and has a lot of functions. 2) Give a different idea and uniqueness in every product that will be produce. Our designer can generate creative and unique idea. 3) Bring Malaysia to world-wide. We will commercial our product to world-wide. Mission and Vision 1.5 Company’s Mission RARE Enterprise willingly provided a product for people especially youth generation to manage their life. We believe that everybody has their own idea that can be shown to the world. Thus, with their own originality, they can show it in our company as employees. Everybody loves selling and buying. So we are using this way to talk with people all around the world. Our mission is to create a product that can make people life more easier, reduce time and more comfortable. 1.6 Company’s Vision Within this coming ten years, RARE Enterprise will be at Paris, New York, Mesir, Chicago and Yemen to produce our product. We will maintain our  quality of product and creativity itself. We are going to born a company that will be well known as international company. We are aiming to commercial our product with international company. Create employees of production to develop our skills so that our product is produce based on interest of society and circulation of time. RARE Enterprise will make sure that our product of is high of quality and satisfied our customer. 3.1 The Vision of Product To make sure our product to be well known after we made the commercial. And we are targeting all school in Malaysia will use our product. 3.2 Aim of the proposed product Aim of the proposed product is to address: To address customers need To address company objective To achieve increased sales To add value in use of an item Taking care of business survival To meet the domestic market and abroad Increasing prosperity To expanding the field effort 6. MARKETING STRATEGY How we are going to let people know about our product is by publicity in local press, radio, television, personal recommendation and endorsement. By the way in every company there have a competition with others company that sell the same product like our company. Of course there have any customer demand for this type of product because many customer are complaining about other product that almost same with us that difficult to use. So we decide to fulfil the customer demand about our product. In our company, when we produce a product we mostly focused to youth generation. So it same like our target market because youth generation always up to date and need something that easy to use. We distribute and sell the product like we sell it in shopping mall, delivery and in our shop. We are chosen promotional medium such as TV commercial, leaflet and billboard. We are chosen that promotional medium because nowadays people always spent time with their family at home  while watching dramas on television. So they can watch the commercial also. Then, sometimes they go to any place and can see the big billboard on the road while they are driving.

Benefits of Informal Communication on Team Performance

Benefits of Informal Communication on Team Performance Organising and Managing for Performance Table of Contents (Jump to) Abstract What is informal communication? Does Gossip motivate? Rumour vs Gossips Does Informal Communication Helps in Team Building? Negatives Consequences of Informal Communication: Personal Experience on informal communication in my organisation Benefits or consequences of Gossips How team members and managers can use informal communication? Between work peers in general Between supervisors/managers and subordinates Conclusion Insights of informal communication- Motivation for team building and Managerial decision-making? Abstract In an organization, team building is a challenging task. It takes lot of time and money to get a team to coordinate for the success of the organization. But can we make a successful team in an organization thorough the informal communication? Does informal communication motivate the team member and increase the efficiency of the work? Does informal communication plays major role in organization decision making? This case study is all about does informal communication has been used as the effective tool in the organization for building the team. What is informal communication? Informal communication can also be known as Grapevine communication, Gossip. Informal communication has received the importance in relation to its role for both the Individuals and groups, which includes the issues of social comparison, identity, and reputation ( Dunbar, 1996, cited in Michelson,G et.al 2010).This is the easiest way to circulate the information among the employees in the organisation. This type of communication does not have any standard format; it can be through any medium among the employees in an organisation such as email, mobile phone, social network and word of mouth. 70 to 80 % of the communication in an organisation is through the informal communication. This influence of gossip among the peers in an organisation is very high. This form of communication can be helpful to one group and same can be harmful to other group. (Beersma B Van Kleef G A, 2012) In addition to its diffusion across different disciplinary areas, gossip also connects well with extant theoretical perspectives. For example, social exchange theory, attribution theory, cognitive dissonance, uncertainty reduction theory, it can all be invoked to explain why and how individuals might engage in gossip and deal with internal conflict about participating in gossip. (Michelson,G et.al 2010) Does Gossip motivate? In an organisation, gossip also plays as one of the motivational factor among the employees. â€Å"Work motivation is a set of energetic forces that originate within as well as beyond an individuals being. It is a psychological process resulting from the reciprocal interaction between the individual and the environment that affects a persons choices, effort, and persistence.† Latham Ernst (2006, p.181) Gossip is a kind of storytelling which engage the people to ask the scope of questions: what gossips about other, who to whom, what, how, and why and also explores where and when gossip might occur? This form of communication is unmanaged and no records in the organisation. This way of communication is through word of mouth or written text which shows the opinions, emotions, beliefs and attitudes about the person organisational life and work experience. Therefore it will be usually talked within the small group with whom the gossiper trust, which helps in improving the group dynamics. A gossip also plays a vital role in maintaining the relationships among the individuals in the team in which it influence about who gossips to whom and what subject and what the effects on the individual or group. In some situation, gossips are accepted as the exchange of information among the individuals which can be used as the attention seeking, creating the self-image and promoting the self-interest through social comparing. (Ben-Ze’ev, 1994 cited in Michelson,G et.al 2010). Rumour vs Gossips Rumour research suggests that rumours (a related type of communication), which are transmitted through gossip, are more likely to occur when anxious individuals find themselves in conditions of environmental ambiguity. Situations of organizational change are often used to illustrate how such environmental uncertainty shapes the frequency and nature of both rumour and gossip. Rumor and gossip are interrelated yet conceptually different as illustrated by the following metaphor: Rumours are speculations that arise to fill knowledge gaps or discrepancies. Additionally, it is suggested that rumours are motivated by a desire for meaning and sense making, whereas gossip seems to be motivated primarily by ego and individual status needs. This function differentiates rumour from gossip, which is meant primarily to entertain or convey mores. Gossip is a tasty hors d’oeuvre savoured at a cocktail party; rumour is a morsel hungrily eaten amid an information famine. (DiFonzo, Bordia, Rosn ow, 1994, p. 52 cited in Michelson, G. et.al 2010). Does Informal Communication Helps in Team Building? Through Formal communication, all the data’s and information will be recorded in an organisation and it will be tough for the employee to talk about his team member through this medium, where one will feel unsecured. To get to know each other in the team better and create the bonding among the team members, most of the organisations arrange the weekend trip or party for their employees. In which people from different cultures join together to social life, which helps to break the barrier among the employees position in the organisation. Negatives Consequences of Informal Communication: Gossip can also be destructive in the workplace. To add more features to the gossip, it has been featured within the organizational and management literature in any of the two ways mentioned below (a) coincidental to the mainstream disciplines and domains, materializing as a by-product (and even waste product) of inquiry into, for example, organizational culture, storytelling, and conflict or (b) as mentioned in the â€Å"popular management† literature, in which it is assumed that informal communication is not ethical to the work morale and productivity and it should not be encouraged in the work culture and therefore it is a problem to be managed in the organisation. (G Michelson et.al 2010) The popular management perspective to some extent exemplifies a view of gossip associated with negative, pejorative, and trivial assumptions, sometimes seen as â€Å"women’s talk,† inauthentic discourse, to be discouraged or banned (Emler, 1994; Jones, 1980 cited in Michelson,G. et.al 2010) Personal Experience on informal communication in my organisation Few years back in my organisation, MSN technologies, located in Chennai, India, in which I was leading the team of 8 members for a particular e-books conversion projects. My organisation, where we are IT and ITES solution provider. We also develop web tools and publication tools, eBooks conversion, digitalization process for the publication companies. This was my first experience in leading the operation team. I was also the managing partner of the company which gives me more responsibility in handling the team. This project was around 6 months and I went to various phase in building up the team in this 6 months. We recruited and trained the team. We use to communicate with all the 8 members very formally through the mail and group meeting. In which I used to communicate with the client end for the queries and project delivery on day today basis. My team: My team consists of 8 people (Three men and Five Women) from different educational background, different states of India with different culture and Language. All eight members were new to the organisation. As this is the newly started company. So it’s always challenging to work with the people from different work culture and challenging to lead the group of team as well. Phase 1: At the Initial stage of the project, I allotted the work to the group and getting the hourly updates from them and I was working with the team as well but still I couldn’t able to get the quality expected by the client and I was in the verge of losing the project and business. In which my company will face the huge lose. I use to show the frustration and anger towards the team and I can’t able to find where the mistake is going on. We use to have 15 minutes of meeting every 4 hours in a day to get the feedback for the project. But in meeting most of the time only I will be giving the instructions and commanding the group. But still I couldn’t able to find the improvement in the project. But I could sense the some sort of tension and unrest going around the team and the organisation. Most work relationships involve two different types of interaction task-related and social-interpersonal exchange. Better social relations result in more cooperation, better communication, and greater effectiveness. Managers and supervisors have to look after both task performance and the welfare of subordinates (Argyle, 1972 cited in Henderson M et.al, 1986 ). Statement from Managing Director, Dilip Prabhakar, MSN Technologies, â€Å" It was the first project from one the Top Publishing company, and the whole operation team is new to the company and he (Krish) got the major role to play in successful completion of the project. But our management was not satisfied with the working style and the way he was managing the team. He (Krish) said that, there is the unrest among the employee in allocating and completing the day-to-day task and team members are not comfortable to each other, in which the team communication was poor. So we decided for the team outing to improve the team stability and to get to know each other well. So that the bonding will be strong among the team members to work for our organisation.† Group Outing: I organised the group outing on the weekend to make my team to free themselves from the office environment. We conducted lot of group tasks and getting to know the strength and weakness of every individual. At the end the team outing, team members came to know each other well and all having the different views on organisation and sharing lot of personal experience and helping each other in all the tasks. This group meeting outside the office breaks the barrier among the group. I took time to talk with each member of the group and now we came to know the strength, personal life of each member of the team. I came to know the individual problems of the team members facing in the company. There were few gossips going around the office. This helps me to know about the group strength. Phase 2: I was trying to make change in my approach towards the team. I came to understand the strength and weaknesses of the individuals and personal characteristics among the each member in the group. So I tried to allocate the work among the group in which each individual are comfortable and easy to work. We played one of the games in team outing in which each member as to select the individual partner in the team to play that particular game, this makes easier for me to know about each member, with whom each one is more comfortable to work with. So I divided the operation team into three team such as Coding team, proofreading, and QC team in which I selected the team members in which each one is more comfortable to work. This change in the operations and task allocation among the team members helps the productivity of the project. This change paid off and the result was really satisfying by the organisation. Statement from Pradeep, One of the Coding team member from my organisation,† Working with this organisation for the first few weeks was very difficult, as the entire team is new and we were given less information about the project and not sure about the task allocation to each other which makes us more difficult to understand our work. Initially, I was not feeling comfortable with my group as we had a fear factor among each person to convey the discomfort to the organisation. I also heard few gossips from the other employees about the team leader and other management members in the organisation. But our First team outing gives me the opportunity to break the fear factor and makes me easy to talk to my manager without any formal mail communication and it also gives me the opportunity to know about the each member of the team. After our first team outing, I could also feel the change in the management style in handling our group.† Benefits or consequences of Gossips Gossips encourage the development of social network among the team members and it also allows employees to understand and predict their boss personal characteristics and behaviour. This also helps the organisation to grow and used to ruin the competitors’ reputations. (Doyle, 2000, p. 8 cited in Michelson, G. Et.Al. 2010) There are many number of ways in which the informal communication can be more significant in an organisation, group and individuals. One of the major factors of informal communication is its ability to provide more context-relevant information and through this medium of communication individuals relieve feelings of tension and anxiety, especially during the periods of organisational change. Gossip helps in shaping and reshaping the meaning and enables the organisation culture and learning. Gossips can give voice and power to individuals in the organisation. (Ogasawara, 1998 cited in Michelson, G. Et.Al. 2010), for example, showed how women clerical workers in Japan were able to exercise some power over their male managers by virtue of their ability to influence the reputations of these managers through their gossip. Reputation was regarded as important by the managers because it had an impact on their future promotion prospects. How team members and managers can use informal communication? Organisation doesn’t have any rules for informal communication, however there should be rules among the team mates, supervisors and subordinates, in which cooperation, help and fairness should be strongly applied among team mates, and also supervisors should have the rules about consideration and skilful use of power, rules about using initiative and accepting orders and criticism to subordinates. (Henderson, M. and Argyle, M., 1986) Between work peers in general There should be rules about equity and fairness in dividing the rewards if each member is seeking financial or other rewards for himself. Colleagues or peers, who are working in the organisation, may also be seen as friends. Individuals may often in need of advice and help. Work mate should always provide help to each other whenever it is needed so that work groups are more effective. If people do not sustain the positive relationships among others, that are to keep friendly terms on with one another, then cooperation in work groups is likely to fail. There also develop strong common interest. Its important factor for members in the team to be loyal to the group during the tough phase like even if it goes against the management directions in case of the output result. (e.g. Goldthorpe, Lockwood, Bechhofer and Platt, 1968 cited in Henderson, M. and Argyle, M., 1986). Between supervisors/managers and subordinates The manager or supervisor’s main role in an organisation is to manage and supervise effectively, which involves giving the proper guidance and instructions to his subordinates and organise the work effectively. Manager or Supervisor should also look after the welfare of his team mates Supervisors will be giving orders and subordinates are expected to carry their orders The manner of giving directions varies from authoritarian to democratic/ persuasive. There appears to be no general rule about this, since the preferred and most effective style varies with size of group, urgency of decisions, culture, and other variables. (Henderson, M. and Argyle, M., 1986) Conclusion: Informal communication can be used as one of the effective tool by the manager for decision making in an organisation and for building the team and it also motivates among the individuals in the team. However, this also has negative impact on the organisation if it is not used in proper way by the team members in the organisation. Individuals may also follow from set of rules by themselves to have a healthy gossips and growth in the organisation. Bibliography Beersma, B. And Van Kleef, G.A. 2012.Why People Gossip: An Empirical Analysis Of Social Motives, Antecedents, And Consequences.Journal Of Applied Social Psychology. [Online]. 42(11), 2640-2670. [Accessed on 24th December 2013].Available From: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com Baker, J. S. And Jones, M. A. 1996. Poison Grapevine: How Destructive Are Gossip And Rumor In The Workplace? Human Resource Development. [Online] Quarterly, 7, 75–86. [Accessed on 24th December 2013]. Available From: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com Baumeister, R. F. Et.Al. 2004. Gossip As Cultural Learning. Review Of General Psychology. [Online] 8, 111–121. [Accessed on 27th December 2013]. Available from: http://ovidsp.uk.ovid.com/ Baumeister, R. F. And Leary, M. R. 1995. The Need To Belong: Desire For Interpersonal Attachments As A Fundamental Human Motivation. Psychological Bulletin [Online] 117, 497–529. [Accessed on 24th December 2013]. Available From: http://ovidsp.uk.ovid.com/ Beersma, B. And Van Kleef, G. A. 2011. How The Grapevine Keeps You In Line: Gossip Increases Contributions To The Group. Social Psychological And Personality Science. [Online]. 2, 642–649. Available from: http://spp.sagepub.com/ Dunbar, R. I. M. 2004. Gossip In An Evolutionary Perspective. Review Of General Psychology. [Online]. 8, 100–110. Accessed on 27th December 2013 Available From: http://ovidsp.uk.ovid.com/ Dunbar, R. I. M. Et. Al. 1997. Human Conversational Behaviour. Human Nature [Online] 8, 231–246. Accessed on 3rd January 2013. Available from http://link.springer.com/ Filev, A. 2013. Virtual Watercooler Breaks: The Value of Informal Communication in Remote Teams [Online]. [Accessed on 27th December 2013 ]. Available From: http://www.wrike.com/projectmanagement/07/31/2013/Virtual-Watercooler-Breaks-The-Value-Informal-Communication-Remote-Teams Henderson, M. And Argyle, M. 1986. The Informal Rules Of Working Relationships. Journal of Occupational Behaviour. [Online] 7, 259–275. [Accessed on 27th December 2013]. Available from http://www.jstor.org Michelson, G. Et.al. 2010. Gossip In Organizations: Contexts, Consequences, And Controversies. Group And Organization Management. [Online] 35. 371–390 [Accessed on 29th December 2013]. http://gom.sagepub.com/ Noon, M. And Delbridge, R. (1993). News From Behind My Hand: Gossip In Organizations. Organization Studies. [Online]. 14, 23–36. [Accessed on 27th December 2013] Available from https://www.proquest.com/ Stirling, R. B. 1956). Some Psychological Mechanisms Operative In Gossip. Social Forces. [Online] 34, 262–267. http://0-web.ebscohost.com.wam.leeds.ac.uk

History of Throgs Neck and Maritime College Essay -- essays research p

History of Throgs Neck and Maritime College. â€Å"In September 1642, John Throgmorton , with 35 families applied to the Dutch authorities in Niew Amsterdam for permission to settle in. Permission was granted in October 1642, and the conlonists settled on the long neck lying south of what is Eastchester Bay today and named it Throgmorton’s Neck after their leader. By the time of the American Revolution, the name had been contracted to Throgg’s Neck. Throgmorton and his colony thrived for short time, for in the later part of 1643, the Siwanoy Indians attacked the colony and destroyed it. Eighteen persons were massacred. Fortunately, at the time of the attack, a passing boat managed to land at the Neck and helped the remaining colonist to escape to safety. Throgmorton escaped but didn’t return to his colony after the massacre. â€Å" (Hamilton, Harlan. Throgs Neck Light. 1-2) Fort is built at Throgs Neck. â€Å"As New York City developed into the nations largest seaport and business center, the strategic value of Throgs Neck as a site for defense of the seaward approaches to the city from Long Island Sound became apparent. Construction of a fort was considered in 1818, and on July 26, 1826, the federal government purchased fifty-two acres of land from William Bayard. Construction of a fort began in 1833 with I.L. Smith as the architect. New England stone masons erected the thick walls of the fort using granite blocks ferried down from Greenwich, Connecticut. Irish laborers did much of ...

Discuss the Art Photography of the British Linked Ring Brotherhood :: essays papers

Discuss the Art Photography of the British Linked Ring Brotherhood The term ‘Art Photography’ was not really recognised during the early days of Victorian photography when the camera was employed and regarded as a medium for purely recording and ‘for looking at’ objects and considered a scientific device. ‘Art Photography’ was the name that was given to the work produced by the very few photographers who found themselves interested in producing photographs in the late 1880’s that had other qualities in mind than just recording information like P.H.Emmerson who took pictures that conveyed mood and feelings. The development of photography as art took significant strides forward with the idea of pictorial photography which emerged around 1896 when the Victorian writer and photograopher Henry Peach Robinson identified the camera as a tool for expression and creativity. More simply he argued strongly that it could be an artistic medium, combined with the dark room, equal to the hand and the brush. His work reflected his ideas about pictorialism which were based on the idea that a photographer could produce a picture that reflected the expression of an individual and an artist and in doing this they leave a particular signiture or mark of the artist that the content or style would suggest. He achieved much of his pictorial work through combination printing, a dark room method of developing several seperate images and combining them into one image that appeared to be a single photo, a creative process that is the forefather of today’s universally recognisable computer features â€Å"cut and paste†. One of his most effective and striking photographs and an excellent example of Robinson’s skilled method of combination printing is ‘Fading Away’ where the image is so smooth and so perfectly put together, in particular the shadowy figure at the window, that you can’t imagine it being made up of five prints. The picture also conveys a very real sense of death and with the knowledge that this is a combination print it comes across as though Robinson has assembled his characters and has arranged them in this tableaux to express his idea of death. There were many like minded individuals living in London and some abroad at this time and it was becoming a growing trend within photogrophy to form a society (an early model for the Ring was the â€Å"sette of odd volumes†) with others who shared the same views.

Evaluation of Cardiovascular and related Health Interventions in the Uk

Abstract This research proposal focuses on the healthcare initiatives in the UK pertaining to cardiovascular and related diseases. Using journal articles and government reports as secondary sources and comprehensive questionnaire based interviews and direct telephonic surveys as the primary input, the study aims to evaluate the preventive health programs to ascertain their effectiveness. These results would serve to help in adapting polices suitably so that the ideology of preventive care could be translated into a pragmatically feasible approach. Introduction The National Health Service has transformed phenomenally over the last two decades and the UK government has been at the forefront of health policies driven with a preventive focus. Cardiovascular diseases are still the number one killers in the UK. (BHF, 2010) The rapidly aging national population is set to cause a severe burden in terms of allocation of funds and quality of treatment delivery in the coming years. Let alone the burden of caring for an aged population, the general health level of the working age population is also on a decline. Around 2.6 million people are already on the government incapacity benefits while every year almost 600000 people are claiming these benefits. The costs of health related absence from work in the UK is estimated at a staggering ?100 billion which is equal to the entire annual costs of the NHS. [DH, 2008] There is a pressing need and a sense of urgency to plan for the management of this growing burden. This study aims to examine some of these health care initiatives and policies aimed at preventing cardiovascular and related diseases and evaluate their effectiveness. The government has created lot of independent bodies that check the progress of these health initiatives and assess their health impacts. This study will include a literature review of both local and nationwide preventive interventions. Academics and research workers would be consulted to get their perspectives of these programs and their evaluation. The objective of the study is to assess the effectiveness of these interventions and the evaluation procedures in order to provide a strategic focus for the future. Literature ReviewWhy the need for a Preventive Focus on Health programs?There is an overwhelming burden on the NHS to deliver quality healthcare when there are severe financial constrains. There is an urgent need to shift from ideology to pragmatism. New health perspectives are called for. Prevention is better than cure and the financial benefits of a preventive approach are dearly welcome for the cash constrained NHS. One of the significant achievements from a nationwide strategic preventive health program is the National Service Framework initiated program for cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment in 2002. Within 2 years of the implementation of this nationwide initiative a significant decline in cardiovascular mortality rates (40%) among the population aged below 75 years was reported. It is estimated that the Preventive drive from NSF saved around 22,000 lives in 2007. (DH, 2007) Life style disorders and physical inactivity have contributed to a significant rise in Obesity, diabetes and other health risk factors for cardiac diseases. (Allender et.al, 2007) In a recent health survey of England, acceptable physical activity levels were reported at 39% and 29% for men and women respectively. Accelerometry data however, revealed a very low percentage of men and women (6% and 4%) met the recommended activity levels. (BHF, 2010)There is an urgent focus on increasing physical activity (Walk to Work Program) as an effective method to counter the obesity epidemic and its cardiac complications. The anti smoking campaigns and the ‘NHS Diabetes’ programs are aimed at mitigating the risk factors for cardiac diseases. The most recent initiative is the Destination 2020 project, which is aimed at improving the awareness of the public in recognizing the commonalities between cardiovascular diseases and related disorders. This project calls for a cardiovascular c oalition (CVC) to put a practically effective and comprehensive preventive approach against heart diseases. (BHF, 2009)Evaluation of Preventive Health ProgramsAs mentioned before evaluation of the effectiveness of health interventions is vital. The growth so far achieved by the NHS has to be sustained and made more effective by adapting them to local communities in order to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment delivery. There are quite a few government organizations that are entrusted with overseeing the implementation and auditing of the preventive health intervention programs. This study will focus on some of these evaluations. The National Institute for Health and Clinical excellence (NICE) offers evidence based practical guidelines to the implementation and assessment of such programs. The recently initiated NIHR Public Health Research program is designed to evaluate current programs and offer evidence based approach for future. In particular, the NIHR research program focuses on the practicalities and to address issues such as social inequalities in the implementation of a health initiative. (NHS, 2011) Similarly the NHS Health Scotland evaluates preventive interventions in the country and provides extensive reports pertaining to the programs locally. Furthermore, five independent research bodies namely Fuse, DECIPHer, ‘Northern Ireland Centre of Excellence for Public Health’, CEDAR and UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies provide research based evidence for implementation and evaluation of public health programs. (NOO, 2011) While some programs have been touted as vastly successful others are found to be lacking in terms of practical results. This study aims to have a closer look into these disparities and arrive at some improvements.Research QuestionHow effective are health organizations in designing and implementing preventive health initiatives to control Heart diseases Is the strategic drive by the UK government health depart ment to control cardiac diseases by preventive programs such as anti smoking campaigns, Physical activity programs, and Obesity and diabetes control programs effective and bearing resultsThere are certainly differences of opinion regarding the answers to these questions. This research seeks to more closely examine the relevant issues and answer these questions. MethodologyResearch StrategyThis research is based on an objective, scientific methodology. This research proposes to use both primary and secondary sources. Articles from databases of published research materials and government publications constitute the secondary sources (Wrenn et. al 2006). These would be obtained by using appropriate keyword based search. The combination of keywords would constitute effective exclusion criteria so that unrelated material could be avoided. For the primary sources of information many government agencies and people responsible for overseeing and evaluating health intervention programs would be contacted over phone and email. The questionnaires for these respondents would be designed based on research findings obtained from the secondary research. In this way it is possible to ascertain if the primary sources of information agree with the conclusions of the previous research findings. Rating scales would be used to assess the effectiveness of he alth interventions and semi structured questionnaires would be employed to gather information directly from the persons who supervised these programs. (Babbie 2010) The advantage of using semi structured questions is that it would help extract more information about the success or failure of these programs.Access/Ethical IssuesTelephonic interviews and email based questionnaires are the main access methods in this study. Since the people currently representing an organization would be contacted and their opinions about current and past health interventions programs will be gathered, it would cause an ethical predicament. The opinions of people in charge of these programs might affect or jeopardize their career with the organization if their views about these programs are unintentionally leaked out. A confidentiality agreement would therefore be necessary to encourage people to talk openly and disclose information related to the health projects.Limitations of the ResearchIt takes a lot of time for large-scale projects to take effect and hence evaluating health projects could have to be undertaken over an extended period. Especially, since some of the new cardio vascular health programs such as ‘Destination 2020’ have just commenced it would not be possible to assess the effects of these and other such new initiatives in this study. Conclusion This proposal outlines the research question concerned with the evaluation of health projects aimed at preventing cardiovascular and other related diseases in the UK. The literature review uses reports from government organizations and clearly highlights the immediate need for intervention and a strategic focus for controlling cardiac health problems across the country. The research methodology is useful to evaluate these programs and to analyze their impact. These results would serve to help us in adapting polices suitably so that the ideology of preventive care could be translated into a pragmatically feasible approach. Time Chart ActivityTime Scale Research Design Planning Review of Literature Research Objectives Preparation of Questionnaires Contact Primary sources Survey Analysis of Data Draft of Dissertation Final Dissertation References Babbie, E R (2010), The Practice of Social Research (12th Edition.), Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA British Heart Foundation (2009), Destination 2020: A Plan for Cardiac and Vascular Health, British Heart Foundation, London. British Heart Foundation, (2010) Coronary Heart Disease Statistics: Behavioral Risk Factors, University of Oxford. Department of Health (2007a), The Coronary Heart Disease National Service Framework: Building for the future – progress report for 2007. DH, (Nov 2008), Improving Health and Work: Changing Lives, Crown Publications. UK National Obesity Observatory (2011) ‘Evaluation Websites’ Viewed Jan 16th 2012, NHS (2011) ‘Research to improve the health of the public and reduce inequalities in health’, Viewed, Jan 16th 2011, http://www.phr.ac.uk/ Steven Allender, Charlie Foster, Peter Scarborough, Mike Rayner (2007), The Burden of Physical Activity related ill Health in the UK, J Epidemiol Community Health ;61:344-348 Wrenn, B, Stevens, R E and Loudon, L (2006) Marketing research: text and cases (2nd Edition), Routledge, UK