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Devadasi Initiation Among Girls India Health And Social Care Essay

Share this: Facebook Twitter Reddit LinkedIn WhatsApp The paper focuses on female devadasi (temple prostitutes) children in north Karnataka state of India and the provision of support to integrate devadasi girls into the community and improve their psychosocial situation. The paper is designed broadly with cultural practices being taken into consideration and with a community participatory approach to achieve the goal. The objectives of the paper are: Community participation to integrate current devadasi girls into regular community life. Community participation to avoid future initiation of young girls into the devadasi system Meeting the psychosocial needs through health, counseling and economical needs of devadasi girls in the community Assistance to devadasi girls as an alternative to devadasi service in the community. The activities include key community members participation and women’s local self help groups (SHP) networking to support existing devadasi girls to overcome stigma, social discrimination through cleansing rituals and organizing vocational training skills to enhance economic status. Other activities are the integration of primary health care services to these girls and also extending counseling services on sexual health and behavioral practices and also to introduce a micro credit system to existing devadasi girls. The paper draws its conceptual framework from ‘child rights convention’. The paper also uses a psychosocial working group framework to provide comprehensive strategies to address community complexities while implementing the program. A community participatory approach has been to adopt, in order to build a sustainable strategy to provide the psychosocial needs of the girls initiated into devadasi services especially in north Karnataka state in India where it is prevalent. 2. Introduction 2.1 What is Devadasi?, the term devadasi derives from the Sanskrit language, ‘deva’ means God, ‘dasi’ means servant (Goswami 2000). Devadasis are female children dedicated to goddesses through marriage to a deity. After the marriage ceremony they become deities’ wives and continue to perform the traditionally decided duties such as dancing, sexual services to the temple patrons and to the priests (Tarachand 1991). As per O’Neil (2004) the tradition of devadasi is predominantly seen in south India and is popularly known as ‘temple dancers’, the young girls are dedicated to a village temple god through marriage. They may function as servants at village temples once they attain the age of maturity [2] . Traditionally they are expected to perform dancing combined with other local artistic functions with sexual services to patrons and priests of the temple (O’Neil 2004). 2.2 History of Devadasi System Observing recordings of the term devadasi in local language, the beginning of the devadasi system traced back to 1113 A.D. at Alanahalli village of Karnataka state, (Shankar, 1990). The devadasi system continues to be practiced in the majority of villages in certain provinces of India. In the late 19th Century, the colonial government system imposed several pieces of repressive legislation for wider social reforms. During this period the Devadasis position in the society changed marginally. However, the devadasi system continues to exist because of the deep socially embedded ritual of marriage to God (Levine 1994). With the advent of the Karnataka legislation act 1982 to ban ‘Devadasis prohibition of dedication’, the devadasis moderately lost their position of socio-religious status in the society. Nevertheless, significant features of the system persist (Orchard 2007). According to UNICEF (2001) the devadasi prostitution system still continues with religious sanctity in India. The devadasi system (popularly known as temple prostitution) allows the sexual exploitation of young girls by the temple patrons and priests in the name of dedicating such young girls to a God. The religious Devadasi is a form of prostitution continues in southern India (UNICEF 2001). 2.3 Problem Analysis Currently, the devadasi life initiation and practice is largely consistent with the past traditional system. The initiation of a young girl’s dedication to God begins at around 6-9 years old (Neil 2004). Tarachad (1991) states that the initiation ceremony into devadasi typically begins around the age of 5 and 10 years. However, they become devadasis (practice of devadasi service) after puberty to avoid unwanted pregnancies or because of their family’s circumstances (Tarachand 1991). In the majority of the villages the devadasis are not allowed to participate in auspicious ceremonies. The discrimination, social exclusion, the stigma of temple prostitutes and the attitude of the community have forced current devadasis in Karnatka state (India) not to engage in alternate profession (O’Neil 2004). The majority of the devadasis in Karnataka state (India) continue to live in their native villages, where they are degraded by low socio-economic, low caste (untouchables) status coupled with the profession they are in and typically the devadasis usually live separately within larger village communities (Orchard 2007). The reasons for the dedication of the girl child to temple services vary from place to place; however, common reasons identified were: one girl per devadasi family is supposed to be initiated into the system, which is an unwritten rule; an absence of a male child for the family; to please deities during grave sickness or drought, or as a boon to a deity for a particular prayer (Tarachand 1991). The list of possible reasons is given in table No.1 Table no.1 Following are some of the reasons cited for dedication, or parents force to push their girls into a life of prostitution and misery in the name of dedication. 1. Being a blind, a deaf or a dumb or a crippled girl 2. Well being of the family 3. No male issue in the family 4. Mother was a devadasi 5. Only female child in the family 6. Following previous generations 7. Poverty 8. Father had undergone an operation and vowed to fulfill this as a promise 9. It was a religious ritual 10. To appease Gods for the well-being of the family 11. Father’s brother made her a devadasi Source: National Commission for Women 2002, India. Despite the legal implications of the most recent initiative into devadasi system, ceremonies take place in backdoor settings, typically conducted by priests extracting considerable amounts of money for the ceremony service (Tarachand 1991). Although, the devadasi system continues as a combination of cultural practices, socio-economic status, local political views, historical religious belief and ritualized role in the society. Nevertheless, devadasis are forced to undertake their current profession to meet the daily economic requirements of personal and family members. For example, older devadasi women or mothers of girl, typically announce the girl’s sexual maturity [3] to attract potential customers for the ‘first ceremony’. Since it is the first ceremony the Devadasi mother charges more fees (ranging from 1,500-15,000Rs/ 19-150£), gold gifts and other wealth is given to the girl’s family in advance of the ceremony (O’Neil 2004). Blachard et al. (2005) also states that 75.6 % of devadasis confirms that more than half of their income generated from sex work (Blachard et al.2005). This shows that the devadasi system continued to exist primarily because of economic threat and social exclusion to join other profession by the particular identified community, have possibly forced to continue in the devadasi system. 3. Policy concern The background information on devadasi system in India shows the intricacies and challenges to unite devadasi girl children into normal community life. However, pragmatic efforts are essential to integrate devadasi initiated girl children into community life to bring down physical health, emotional, psychosocial consequences. 3.1 Magnitude of the problem The number of devadasis dedications and the total of davadasi girls in north Karnataka is difficult to obtain because: most of the traditional devadasi sex work is now home-based in rural village, the girl continues to serve where she resides; there are also some methodological inconsistencies to estimate; the legal implications of admitting the status; and the stigma of discrimination when disclosing this to outsiders. However, recent estimate have identified that approximately 1,000 -10,000 young girls are introduced into the devadasi system annually in India (Giri 1999; Chakraborthy 2000). The latest available official figure for the key districts in Karnataka state (India) is around 23,000 (NCW 2002; KSWDC 2007). Current number of Devadasis in Karnataka state with district wise Table No.2, Table No.2: Showing number of Devadasi – Karnataka District No. 1 Koppal ………………………………..4886 2 Bagalokot……………………………. 4804 3 Belgaum …………………………… 3600 4 Raichur ……………………………… 2494 5 Bijapur ………………………………..1964 6 Bellary ………………………………..1635 7 Gadag ……………………………… . 1471 8 Gulbarga …………………………… ..991 9 Haveri ………………………………… 617 10 Dharwad …………………………….. 481 Total 22943 Source: Karnataka State women’s Development Corporation, As mentioned in ‘Women Devadasi in, Jogini and Mathamma in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh states, Southern India,ritual slavery’.2007. Maggie Black Anti-Slavery International 2007. Available from http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/resources/PDF/Women in Ritual Slavery2007.pdf 3.2 Effects devadasi system on girl children Psychosocial: The imaginary wives of the God are excluded socially, stigmatized morally, and coupled with widowhood. All these factors may lead devadasis to feel depressed and may manifest itself with abnormal changes in their behavioural pattern. Over a period of time they are likely to suffer from psycho-somatic disorders and may live unnoticed in the community (Kersenboom 1987). Psychosomatic: Young girls’ reproductive function before growth results in stunted skeletal growth, high risk of obstructed labor, and can lead to vesico- vesico or vesico anal fistula, and infection. The health risks are further multiplied by poor nutritional and health support from the family and community. The growth spurt at the adolescent age is further reduced by inadequate nutrition and psychological stress may lead to psychosomatic disorders, and these girls are likely to face 3 times higher complications compared to older women (Harrison 1993). In short, young girls initiated into the Devadasi system are potentially at high risk of becoming victims of health and psychological stress factors. According to a recent survey, in Karnataka state, 26% of female sex workers are entering into sex work In Karnataka through the devadasi system. Most of them are now struggling to develop healthy sexual practices, grappling with the stigma of their profession, HIV and other STDs (O’Neil 2004). Community participation is essential as the devadasi system is deeply embedded in the culture of the community, simultaneously efforts have to be made to build confidence, self esteem, and economic status among devadasi initiated girls. Therefore the paper proposes to focus on psychosocial, health, educational and economic issues. 4. Conceptual framework 4.1 Psycho social working group (PWG) framework As mentioned in the situation analysis the integration of devadasis into the community is a complex social and cultural issue. The paper plans to adopt the psychosocial working group framework (PWG 2003) which provides comprehensive tools to design the program as follows. The psychosocial working group defines psychosocial well-being in three main areas: Human capacity Social ecology Culture and values The program challenges in the field could be effectively tackled by a balanced approach of each core area of the framework. Further consequences may be tackled by: Economic resources (micro credit system etc) Physical resources (primary health care) Using the framework the paper’s interventions are planned to improve the resilience of existing devadasi adolescent girls and community participation to prevent future occurrences of such devadasi ceremonies. 4.2 Children’s rights approach The paper proposes to facilitate and integrate the children’s rights as guiding principles to implement the program. The paper’s activities will see obstacles to the children’s rights as one of key reasons forcing female children to undergo life long stress through ritualized marriage to deities. In the best interest of the child the paper incorporates the child development model from children’s rights convention which includes their physical, psychological, social and emotional development. The Children’s Rights Convention is an expression of the essential role of health and psychological, emotional and developmental needs of children. In this context the constitution of the World Health Organization states that: “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease … [that] healthy development of the child is of basic importance; the ability to live harmoniously in a changing total environment is essential to such development … [and that] governments have a responsibility for the health of their peoples which can be fulfilled only by the provision of adequate health and social measures” -Preamble of the Constitution of the World Health Organization The Convention on the Rights of the Child is uniquely positioned to use human rights instruments to implement and help the child to progress (physical/mental/psychological/ social/emotional). The paper plans to implement a children’s rights based approach through community committees and key influencers in the society. The paper will focus on the three main principles of the Convention (UNHCHR 1989) as follows: “… the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.” (Article 3) “… ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child” (Article 6) “… shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.” (Article 12) Since the appropriate needs of female children can best be decided by the ‘child development model’ of the World Health Organization, (the model includes mental, physical, psychological, social, and emotional development), the paper proposes protecting the female children using a children’s rights based approach with the child development model as the basic requirement for dealing with the psychosocial issues through community appraisal. 4.3 The Health Basis of the Convention on the Rights of the Child The girl children are victims of the social cultural practice of devadasi system at a young age. Since they are vulnerable for various health issues (physical and psychosocial) appropriate primary health care and counseling services are essential. The paper will utilize the ‘health basis of the convention on the rights of the child’ (article 24) to provide primary health care needs. Article (24) addresses the right to “necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health care….” (UNHCHR1989) 4.4 Article relevant to girl child The articles relevant to girl child are as follows (Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989) Article 19 1. take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child. Article 34 States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent: (a) The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity; (b) The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; (UNHCHR1989) Article 34 specifically emphasizes the rights of the female child, not just all children. The paper plans to seek specific information about these girls; different ages, psychosocial status, health, educational status, morbidity indicators, specific diseases rates and seeking of counseling and health services. 4.5 Marriage According to Article 1 a child means “every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”(UNHCHR1989). Since marriage confers majority as a culturally defined age, the Articles of the Convention are not of much help. However, a legally [4] defined marriage age could be taken into consideration while implementing the activities as culturally defined ages range from 6-13 years (Tarachand 1991). In the Devadasi system girls are initiated to marry in the name of deity and so they are going to miss the protection under the children’s rights convention. Here activities could be designed so that the community intervenes in the backdoor settings of Devadasi ceremonies (Tarachand 1991), as once girls are initiated into the Devadasi system, there exists the threat of life time attachment of stigma to those girls, and physical and mental health problems stay with them. 4.6 Community participatory approach Since the perpetuated devadasi (temple prostitute) system is ritualized, it is a difficult task to integrate devadasi initiated girls into the community. The paper demands active involvement of community leaders, religious heads, and women’s groups. As the practice of the devadasi system is interwoven with religious worship and practice, there are several practical challenges likely to be encountered. The key challenges could be: a) a traditionally connected power system designed to continue the devadasis system; b) difficulties in initiating the paper activities with devadasi girls that are stigmatized; c) developing contacts, building trust with devadasis’ families and community; d) older devadasi women likely to exercise their power through the traditional structure of their life. To tackle all the issues systematically demands perseverance and commitment through community participation. Thus community participatory approach is essential to the success of the paper activities. The paper plans to utilize local knowledge, and local community based organizations to connect with the community in order to execute the program. A community participatory approach will also helps to develop ownership of the program and to sustain the paper’s initiatives in the long run. 5. Interventions 5.1 Target Group The current paper proposes to consider the Koppal and Bellary districts (Karnataka state India as shown in the map appendix 5) as they are geographically proximal and operationally feasible, and the researcher of the paper is familiar with the area and served for 4 years in these districts. The number of Devadasi in the Koppal district is 4886, while in the Bellary district it is 1621, so the program will be targeted at a total of 6521 devadasis in these two districts. 5.2 Goal of the proposal The overall goal of the paper is to enable the young girls and women of the devadasi system to cope with the psychosocial and physical health issues and the economic issues in their lives. Enabling them to overcome the traditional system of dedication of young girls to deities and integrating them into the existing social system in the community through community participation. 5.3 Overall Objectives and Activities (Interventions) Appropriate interventions are essential, and use the cultural, social and economic context to empower devadasi girls to integrate themselves into the regular community life. The paper will necessarily focus on the behavioral, and healthy sexual practices needed to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. Simultaneously community education is essential to help remove the stigma and to abandon the practice of the traditional system of blind faith to dedicate girl children to a deity. 5.4 Specific Objectives and Activities Objective-1 Integration of devadasi girls into community life Activity-1 There is a strong network of Self help groups (SHG) of women across the Bellary and Koppal districts of Karnataka state (India) as mentioned in Appendix-5. The paper plans to initiate networking exercises with local SHGs, collaborating with community based organization in the paper area and initiating advocacy and facilitating the participation of families and key community members in an attempt to merge devadasis into regular community life. It will begin with a dialogue with temple priests and other key religious heads, to organize social purification rituals, and will encourage the community to participate in such ceremonies. The involvement of the community is likely to reduce the social stigma and discrimination, which indirectly support the psychosocial stress of devadasi girls. Objective-2: Improve economic status of the Devadasi girls to strengthen resilience capacity. Activity-2 There is already an ongoing job oriented training program at regular intervals to improve the skills of unemployed youths, run by district training centres through government social welfare schemes. Through formal communication to the social welfare department, efforts will be made to impart specific job oriented training programs to identified devadasi girls. The training will be customized in small groups to train in specific areas such as: tailoring, knitting clothes, weaving, candle making, envelope making, vegetable vending, and small provision shop management. Depending on each devadasi girl’s interest and skills, a micro credit loan system will be introduced for economic self sustainability. This effort will attempt to increase confidence, self esteem, and independence. The group interaction may provide enough room to share views, opinions, and emotional and psychological support. Objective-3 : Provide primary health care, health education and counseling services Activity-3 Typically for 2-3 villages there will be one female midwife (field health worker) and one primary health care centre for 8-12 villages (supported by one doctor and supportive nursing staff) in Karnataka state. A separate formal meeting will be organized with primary health care staff to provide specific treatment and nursing service requirements to devadasi initiated girls. Primary health care staff may be trained to provide counseling services to those in need of them. Female midwifes (field health workers) will have access to and will build connectivity with davadasi families. Since female midwifes are culturally accepted, the paper proposes to utilize the services of midwifes effectively to gain access and initiate paper activities with devadasi families. Initially the paper will be provided with good quality medicines, contraceptives, counseling services through primary health care center and midwife field services. This will build trust and confidence in the paper’s activities, and improved sexual health and psychosocial support through counseling services. Objective-4: Assistance to devadasi culture challenged girls Activity-4 The paper anticipates that some of the devadasi initiated girls may not be willing to change their life style. Such devadasis will not be left out of the program. Efforts will be made for such a section or group of girls to participate in job oriented training, the micro credit loan system and the primary health care service provision, and by encouraging them to participate in one to one and group meetings. The conceptual framework of the program is designed so that after a certain period of the paper’s activities, the mutual trust may improve, a significant number of devadasi girls may be willing to change their views, helping themselves to become empowered economically and building confidence in themselves, and eventually integrating within the community. A key community members committee will understand, negotiate and help such girls to overcome from the devadasi system. Religious heads will be motivated to go for more ritual cleaning ceremonies to change the attitude of such unwilling girls. Objective-5: Change of community attitude and practices toward the davadasi system and the building of a sustainable devadasi free community. Activity-5 A community committee will be constituted including the key stakeholders such as village heads, representatives from women’s self help groups, a few devadasi family representatives, the welfare department, primary health care workers, religious heads, and other community based organizations. The community committee members will receive training based on ‘children’s rights’ ‘girl child health and psychosocial’ issues and scope of ‘community participation’ to strengthen the program. The paper will organize: monthly/quarterly meeting; help for the decision making process; ensure attendance; facilitate and prepare agendas; support minute preparation and the sharing of summary points with all stakeholders. The community committee will be responsible for and will oversee: organizing purifying ritual ceremonies at regular interval to promote the maximum number of devadasis to participate; organizing job oriented training programs; and ensuring the adequacy of health and counseling services. The paper will consult committee members on unresolved practical implementation problems such as security issues, to increase the numbers who participate in trainings, and in organizing cleansing ceremonies. The community committee will help to increase the self sustainability of the program, enhance the resilience capacity of target group, and consider cultural and context specific issues in order to strengthen the psychosocial-well being of devadasi initiated girls. 5.5 Time frame It is necessary to fund the paper for a long-term vision. However, to begin with the paper is planned to run for 4 years. This time frame is planned: to ensure the paper initiation to integrate with local communities; to develop and meet measurable indicators; to ensure the acceptability of the initiative to the community and to integrate the program to sustain the activity. 6. Potential risks, assumptions and anticipated solutions This section highlights the main risks identified; their level of probability and their impact on the paper. Suggestions to reduce the negative impact of these risks on the paper are included in table No. 3, appendix 3. 7. Monitoring and Evaluation The activities will be designed in order to protect health and psychosocial development, but progress will be measured under the best of achievable circumstances. The program will include the psychosocial, health services and community behaviors, vocational training skills of devadasi girls as priority concerns in the community. The objectives and connected activities of the paper are designed with situation analysis and using the guiding principles of Ager (2001) as mentioned above and the activities are measurable using both quantitative and qualitative methods within a specific time frame ( Ager, 2001). The outcomes will be measured as below, the measurement and indicators may be slightly changed based on experience in the beginning of the paper and baseline survey data. 7.1 Indicators to measure Table: 4 Expected outcomes Indicators Remarks Quantitative Qualitative Decreased number of devadasi initiated girls -Baseline survey data -Endline survey data -Number of religious leaders organized cleansing ceremonies -Number of targeted group attended -Frequency of cleansing cermonies -Interview of key stakeholders, -Community committee members Better health services, decreased number of health problems -Hospital records – -Interview with devadasi girls -FGDs Reduced discrimination, feelings, emotional balance, -Number of ritual cleansing ceremonies organized -Number of participants -Number of Community members participation in cleansing ceremonies. -random interview with devadasi girls -Focus group discussion -Community opinions/ on acceptance of devadasi in regular community life -Community participation Confidence level, self esteem, self image in the community -Number of public meetings attended -auspicious ceremonies attended -Interview of devadasi girls, Interview of randomly selected community members -Focus group discussion of devadasis Economic empowerment of devadasi girls -Number of job oriented, skill development trainings/workshops organized. -micro credit recipients number -Number of target group attended (attendance sheet verification) -Interview with devadasi girls who underwent training -focus group discussion of devadasi girls -opinion and potential benefit from micro credit system 8. References Ager, A. 2001. Programing and evaluation for psychosocial programs. The refugee experience. Psychosocial training module. Oxford: Refugee Studies Centre. Available from [accessed on 3rd of April, 2008]. Blachard, JF., O’Neil, J., Ramesh, BM., Bhattacharjee, P,. Orchard, T and Moses, S. 2005. Understanding the Social and Cultural Contexts of Female Sex Workers in Karnataka, India: Implications for Prevention of HIV Infection. Journal of Infectious Diseases.2005:191[online]. Available from http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/425273?cookieSet=1 [accessed on 15th of April, 2008]. An attempt to look at the myth and reality of history and present status of Devadasis Chakraborthy, K. 2000. Women as Devadasis Origin and Growth of the Devadasi Pr Share this: Facebook Twitter Reddit LinkedIn WhatsApp

Labour And Productivity Definition Important And Measurement Economics Essay

python assignment help In whole economics, labour is one of the general bodies of wage earner. But in classical economics, labour is one of the three factors of production that along with capital and land. Besides that, labour can be used to describe the work performance that include any valuable service showed by a human agent in the production of wealth, which other than accumulation and provide capital. In the modern economic life, labour is performed for the sake of its product or a share of the aggregate product of the community’s industry. The wage rate or price per unit of time is commanded by a particular kind of labour in the market. It depends on a number of variables such as the technical efficiency of the worker, the demand for the person’s particular skills and also the supply of similarly skilled workers. Other variables that influence labour are included training, experience, intelligence, social status, prospects for advancement and also the relative difficulty of the work. All of these factors will make it impossible for economists to distribute a standard value to labour. Instead, economists always quantify labour hours that according to the quantity and value of the goods and services which produced in the market. Besides that, the labour also can be defined as the aggregate of all human physical and mental effort that used in creation of goods and services. Because of the labour is primary factor of production. The size of a nation’s labour force is determined by the size of population and extents to community are either working or prepared to offer their labor for wages. There are several characteristics of labour. First, labour is inseparable from labourer. This is because labourer cannot work without his labour. Whatever the labour performs is based on their result of their mental and physical exertion. Therefore, labour and labourer cannot be separated from each other. Another reason is the main driving force of labourer is their labour. It may not happen that when labourer remains at home and ask their labour to go for work. It is covert to present within a human being. The second characteristics of labour are a person is indispensable for production. The matter of fact production is not possible without labour. This is because labour is necessary to activate the production process. The reason is every aspect of production ranging from purchase of raw material to final distribution in market completely depends upon labour. As a general rule, the efficient labour in the industrial will gives the efficient production. Third, the other important characteristics of labour are a person is perishable by natural law. It perishes with a passage of time. Since labour is present within a human being, so at the end of the laboures life means an end of labour as well. Besides that, the labour cannot be stored. Once we lost of the labour, it may be difficult for them to make up every single production. Another reason is the unemployed workers cannot store their labour for their future employment. The fourth characteristics of labour are the person actively in the factor of production. Under the factor of production, labour to be a human being and has its own feeling and thinking power to achieve a better quality and level of production. Since the land and capital are employed properly in close association with labour, therefore without labour we cannot imagine the smooth in conduct of production. The labour will give production itself. The nothing has to apply to start work without labour itself that gives the performance and activates the production process. Another feature of this characteristic is other factors of production cannot produce anything without aid of labour. Fifth, other characteristics of labour are the person is both means and ends of production. The labour is not only meant for producing. They are fully empowered to use whatever they have to produce. The being human being the labour works for satisfaction is based on their wants and their labour act as the means to achieve their ends. Lastly, the characteristics of labour are a person is mobile in nature. It may be shifted from one area to another whenever and wherever it is needed. But when getting a set at the particular working place, the labour is not easily get move from one place to another place it is because they may be fully satisfied in they own working area. 1.2 Definition of productivity Productivity can be defines as the quantitative relationship between output and input. This definition will enjoys general acceptability that because of the two related considerations. First, the definition suggests the productivity is thought of to be in the context of an enterprise, an industry and an economy as a whole. Second, it will regardless of the type of production, economic and political system, which the definition of productivity remain the same with the basic concept that the relationship between the quantity and quality of goods and services produced and also the quantity of resources used to produce them. Besides that, productivity is also a ratio of some measure of output to some index of input that uses to produce. The productivity is a nothing more than the arithmetic ratio between the amount to produce and the amount of any resources used in production. Therefore, this conception of productivity goes to imply that it can be perceived as the output per unit input and the efficiency with any resources are still utilized. By the way, the example of the productivity ratio is kilometers driven per gallon of petrol, which the petrol is input and kilometers are covered by output. However, the measurement of input like petrol is not used to determine the efficiency of the car’s performance. Others related factors are equally involved in the computation of the input index, such as speed, traffic flow, the engine’s efficiency and also the fuel’s efficiency. Besides that, the measurement of the output like kilometers driven will becomes a gauge of the magnitude and effectiveness of the results achieved. Based on the example above, the productivity can expressed simply as below: Productivity = total output/ total input which is identical to total results achieved/ total resources consumed or effectiveness/ efficiency It is usually expressed productivity in one of three forms, which are the partial factor productivity, multifactor productivity and the total productivity. In the partial factor productivity, it is only considers a single input in the ratio. The managers are generally to utilize the partial productivity measurement based on the data is readily available. Since the total of multifactor measures provides an aggregate perspective, but the partial factor productivity measures are easier to relate with a specific processes. Besides that, the other partial factor measure options could appear like output/ labor, output/ machine, output/ capital, and also output/ energy. The term that applied to the partial factor measures is included a capital productivity (using machine hour), energy productivity (using kilowatt hour), and also the materials productivity (using inventory dollars). Besides that, the multifactor productivity is one of the forms of productivity. In this form of productivity, it measure utilizes more than a single factor, such as both labour and capital used to produce output. Hence, multifactor productivity is the ratio of total output to subset of inputs that might consists of only labor and material or it could include capital. For example, when one industry wants to produce stationary, they need labour and raw material to complete the production of stationary. Based on this example, the output for the industry need more than one input to produce, which mean is multifactor productivity. The last form of productivity is the total factor productivity. It is measured by combining the effects of all the resources that used in the production of goods and services which the resources include labor, capital, raw material and energy and dividing it into the output. One of the example is a ratio is computed by adding standard hours of labour that actually produced, plus the standard machine hours actually produced in a given period then to divide by the actual hours available for both labour and machines in the period. 1.3 Definition of labour productivity Labour productivity can be defined as a measurement of economics growth of a country. It also measures the amount of the goods and services that produced by one hour of labour. To become more specifically, labour productivity is measures the amount of real gross domestic product (GDP) that produced by an hour of labour. The grown of the labour productivity is depends on three main factors, which are investment and saving in physical capital, new technology and also the human capital. For example, suppose the real GDP of an economy is $10 trillion and the aggregate hours of labour in the country was 300 billion. Therefore, the labour productivity would be $10 trillion that divided by 300 billion, then equaling about $33 per labour hour. The growth in this labour productivity can usually be interpreted as improvements and rising a standard of living in the country. Besides that, the labour productivity is a particular important in the economic and statistical analysis of a country. It is a revealing indicator of some economic indicators as it offers a dynamic measure of economic growth, competitiveness and standard of living within an economy. The measurement of labour productivity can help to explain the principle economic foundations that are necessary for both economic growth and social development. In the labour productivity, the ratio used to calculate is to provide a measure of the efficiency with which inputs are used in an economy to produce goods and services. The labour productivity is equal to the ratio between a volume measure of output and a measure of input use. Labour productivity = volume measure of output/ measure of input use Based on the equation above, the volume measure of output is reflects the goods and services that produced by the workforce. This volume measure of output is the numerator of the ratio of labour productivity, which measured either by GDP or gross value added (GVA). At the same time, the measure of input use is reflects the time, effort and skills of the workforce. And it is a denominator of the ratio of labour productivity and also most important factors that influences the measure of labour productivity.

Please respond to the following UOS8100PHDBI SECTION 1 Discussion Week 1 Academic Skills

Please respond to the following UOS8100PHDBI SECTION 1 Discussion Week 1 Academic Skills. I’m studying for my Business class and don’t understand how to answer this. Can you help me study?

UOS8100PHDBI SECTION 1 Discussion Week 1 Academic Skills
Unit 1: Academic Skills

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Unit 1 Learning at the Doctoral LevelINTRODUCTION Learning at the Doctoral LevelTranscriptYou are bringing a wealth of education and experience that you will draw from as a doctoral learner. Becoming a scholar-practitioner will involve applying knowledge and improving academic skills that you already have, as well as developing new skills. As you progress through your courses, you will use these skills when you are gaining new knowledge and researching in the library, reading scholarly articles, and writing discussion posts and assignments. This unit is designed to help you assess the skills you have, identify gaps, and offer resources on the Campus website to help you. You will also have an opportunity to practice some of the common skills you will need for your program, such as identifying scholarly articles and using the APA style manual and format in your writing. Along the way, you will practice using the courseroom and navigating the Capella Campus website.Click Learning at the Doctoral Level to watch the video introduction for this unit.Exploring all information and resources provided in this unit could take up to 3 or 4 hours. How long you actually spend depends on you. Based on your previous educational experiences, you may spend slightly more or less time.After reading through this introduction, work through the unit studies, discussion, assignment, and quiz.OBJECTIVESTo successfully complete this learning unit, you will be expected to:

Verify that your system and software meet minimum requirements.
Participate in a discussion and an assignment in the courseroom.
Explain how resources and strategies can be used to help improve academic skills.
Identify differences between scholarly and non-scholarly articles.
Practice using doctoral academic skills.
Strengthening Academic SkillsAs you begin your doctoral program at Capella, you may be new to online learning, returning to school after a long break, or transitioning directly from a master’s program. No matter where your starting point is, you are coming to Capella with skills and experience that will be an asset to you in your program. However, it is important to keep in mind that improving and growing is a part of every doctoral program. In this discussion, you will reflect on the skills you will need as a doctoral learner and the strategies and resources you will use to support you.For this discussion, complete the following:

Watch the Doctoral Learning video, linked in the Resources, to learn more about academic skills and doctoral learning.
Reflect on the following questions and then write and post two to three paragraphs, addressing all of the questions.

How do you think your doctoral program will be different than other academic programs you have completed?
What skills will you need to develop as a doctoral learner?
Which resources or strategies could you use to support you? How will you use them?
How might your mindset help you overcome challenges?

To create a discussion post, click u01d1 Unit 1, Discussion 1, and click Create Thread. Write a response to the questions as your initial post. Refer to How to Join a Discussion in the Resources for step-by-step instructions.

Please respond to the following UOS8100PHDBI SECTION 1 Discussion Week 1 Academic Skills

Strayer Wk 2 Business Competitive Strategic Levels Amazon Case Study Questions

Strayer Wk 2 Business Competitive Strategic Levels Amazon Case Study Questions.

WK 2 Can any firm beat Amazon in the marketplace? If not, why not? If so, how can they best do so? How formidable a competitor is Google for Amazon? Please explain. Given the importance of understanding the external environment, why do some firms fail to do so? Provide examples of firms that did not understand their external environment. WK4 Assess your satisfaction with Aldi and make recommendations about how the company could modify its business-level strategy to both increase your overall level of satisfaction and to attract new customers. Provide specific examples to support your response.Analyze the five business-level strategies discussed in Chapter 4 to determine which strategy most likely applies to Aldi. Determine how a shopper’s experience might change if it switched to one of the other four strategies (your choice). Explain your rationale. WK5 Evaluate the business-level strategy of either Starbucks or Lockheed Martin to determine whether you believe the strategy is appropriate to offset forces in the industry. Provide specific examples to support your response.Make recommendations for improving this strategy as well as describing any challenges you foresee in executing those recommendations. Provide specific examples to support your response. Wk6 Using the Internet, research acquisitions that are currently underway and choose one of these acquisitions to discuss. Based on the firms’ characteristics and experiences and the reasons cited to support the acquisition, do you feel it will result in increased strategic competitiveness for the acquiring firm? Why or why not?Of the problems that affect the success of an acquisition, which one do you believe is the most critical in the global economy? Why? What should firms do to make certain that they do not experience such a problem when they use an acquisition strategy? Wk 7 What incentives influence firms to use international strategies? What are the three basic benefits firms can gain by successfully implementing an international strategy? Why?Determine why, given the advantages of international diversification, some firms choose not to expand internationally. Provide specific examples to support your response.As firms attempt to internationalize, they may be tempted to locate their facilities where business regulation laws are lax. Discuss the advantages and potential risks of such an approach, using specific examples to support your response. Wk 8 Top executives and members of a corporation’s board of directors have different roles and responsibilities. Traditionally, executives have been responsible for determining the firm’s strategic direction and implementing strategies to achieve it, whereas the board of directors has been responsible for monitoring and controlling managerial decisions and actions. Some argue that boards should become more involved with the formulation of a firm’s strategies. How would the board’s increased involvement in the selection of strategies affect a firm’s strategic competitiveness? What evidence would you offer to support their position?
Strayer Wk 2 Business Competitive Strategic Levels Amazon Case Study Questions