Academic paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Academic paper - Essay Example These common images of nursing contribute to the willingness of students to enter nursing programs. Some consider that the nursing shortage that has existed from 1998 (Seago, 2004) has been caused by the negative image the public sometimes has of nurses. Therefore, public images of nursing have consequences in many areas of society. As the public has its images of nursing and what it means to be a nurse, youth are influenced by those ideas. What students believe of nurses will alter their desires to enter the nursing field. This, in turn, contributes to the shortage of nurses in the United States. Of students who choose to enter the nursing field, often their images of nursing change as they enter clinicals (Sand-Jecklin). Nursing students hold images of nursing that evolve, while students who leave nursing programs maintain the stereotype that they’d had previously. This seen, it is obvious that in order to break stereotypes of nursing, one must actually be a nurse and encounter a nurses’ experiences. It is difficult to change society’s perception of nursing. In terms of nursing students, it has been shown that their ideals, stereotypes, and impressions of nursing alter with their experience. Sand-Jecklin studied demographic data of 150 nursing students. Their motivations for entering the nursing field were reported. Twelve percent chose nursing for the variety of positions the profession entails; other reasons were job security, salary, and challenging career. Across the literature, findings show that among the positive perceptions of nursing, mainly found from studies on nursing students, are job opportunity and salary. An aspect of Dr. Sand-Jecklin’s study that gauged the public perception of nursing was the report the perceptions students have of nursing prior to entering nursing programs. Most often, students entered nursing programs with altruistic reasons. This phenomenon is often

Long-range planning is nowdays seen as an academic exercise Essay

Long-range planning is nowdays seen as an academic exercise - Essay Example It must be understood that planning is done to achieve certain goals. Long term goals can specify where the organization would like to be a few years in the future. Goals are stated as the intention of the organization that are specific, measurable, cover key result areas, challenging, and should have defined time periods. For individuals and workers at a given company, the goals may be linked to rewards (Welch, 2005). At the same time, planning specifies the means for achieving the organization’s goals (Daft, 2000). However today’s businesses operate in a highly volatile environment and managers are concentrating more and more on short term results. The statement given at World Economic Forum correctly suggests that ‘Long-range planning is nowadays seen as an academic exercise’ and this is fast becoming a widely accepted truth. Nevertheless in the interest of business as a going concern, the validity of the statement and legitimacy of long range planning needs to be re-evaluated. This paper focuses on discussing the merits and demerits of long range planning and aims to answer if it still is a necessary exercise or merely an academic exercise which can be ignored if other functions of management continue to perform at or better than expected levels. Before such an analysis is undertaken, it is important to know why the focus on the short term results is so predominant. Long term planning is getting more difficult and focus is shifting from it due to basic reason of increased volatility in the worldwide corporate as well as business environment. On top of that, the present financial community including stock/company analysts and mutual fund managers often evaluate the performance of many securities based on short term results. This means that a company presenting strong short term results can have its stock be given better performance reviews by peers. For individuals within the company, rewards such as bonuses, promotions and the like could