The management issues faced by multinationals in host nations are Essay

The management issues faced by multinationals in host nations are merely a magnified version of issues faced by these enterprises in their home countries - Essay Example Globalization and low barriers to trade propose MNEs unlimited opportunities to expend their businesses overseas. Thus, in host countries they face numerous challenges and threats which have a great impact on their profitability and market position. In many cases, the management issues faced by multinationals in host nations are merely a magnified version of issues faced by these enterprises in their home countries. MNEs are vitally concerned with the environment affecting their interests which encompass employment opportunities (i.e., the availability of jobs); conditions of employment, such as employment stability and the potential for advancement, income and the determinants of income, fringe benefits; and the employer/employee representative structures responsible for negotiation and administration of employment contracts. In many cases, environmental factors which influence the corporation are similar to those of the home country (Mckern 2003). Following Mckern (2003): the traditional view of the international environments in which MNCs operate is based on the opposing forces of national responsiveness and global integration. In the multinational the forces for responsiveness are strong and the integration forces weak, as in packaged goods, household appliances, and beverages" (p. 2). Traditional management practices do not change greatly when... This is explained by the fact that MNEs a magnified version of issues and problems faced by these enterprises in their home countries. Organization structure is one of the examples which prove this statement. Organization structure relates to management decision-making authority and the broader issues of autonomy and control. Of special relevance is the organization of the industrial relations function at the subsidiary level and the question of control in industrial relations management (Budhwar & Debrah 2001). The structures are fairly flat at the smaller subsidiaries, such as New England Drawn Steel, Mt. Pleasant Chemical Co., and Fujitsu America. They become more complex at the larger firms, such as Mitsubishi Aircraft, Murata, and Sanyo Manufacturing. At home country, as company size grows, senior management titles tend to change from manager and director to vice-president and executive director. Also, as the complexity and size of the organizations advance, basic line managemen t structures tend to move from the purely functional. Product line development and the nature of the production process are also seen as important influences on organizational development (Rugman et al 2006). MNEs with a narrow product line and a basically single production process, such as Auburn Steel, are typically organized around distinctive functional units. These structures are the same in their local subsidies around the world. Following Mckern (2003) The complexity of the environment of multi-business corporations implies that organization structures and processes need to respond to the special circumstances of each business and region. This imperative suggests an organizational response that is highly differentiated across the corporation's

Baby talk Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Baby talk - Research Paper Example This paper presents an analysis of Baby talk. In particular, it presents 15 baby talk words from a chosen child named Firas who is aged 2 years and 5 months. Additionally, this paper presents a morphological, phonological and syntactic analysis of the baby talk words in the data list. This section of the research paper is structured with reference to Jones (1986), pages 178 to 180 in the East Cree Baby talk file. Finally, this paper presents a conclusion of the findings with reference to the chapter 11, First language acquisition, of the text book. Firas is Arabic, and is brought up with Arabian parents and caretaker in the Middle East. This baby talk represents the Arabic language which has been applied from the 19th century. The Arabic language is characterised with numerous examples of baby talk items that display pharyngeal spirants. However, these are commonly seen as elements that are acquired late in Arabic. For example, labial categorical are present in Arabic baby talk and could be the primary categorical to be acquired by the Arabic young children. This is regardless of the fact that they are insignificant at the adult stage. Phonology - entails the study of speech construction in a language, which includes the trend of fundamental speech elements and the established rules of how to pronounce words identified as phonology. The least element of sounds that compose a language is referred to phonemes. In particular, the word â€Å"Mbuwa† which is Firas’s Arabic baby talk word that stands for drink, consists of five phonemes, the â€Å"mb† stands for one phoneme /mb/, the â€Å"u† maps to the short sound/Ã… ­/, the â€Å"w† stands for /w/ and finally, â€Å"a† to its fundamental sound /ÄÆ'/. Morphology - is the advanced stage of language that entails the study of tiny elements of meaning –morphemes. Morphemes entail foundational words, such as, â€Å"Food†, â€Å"dog†

Business and Corporate Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Business and Corporate Law - Case Study Example In this assignment the business, which has been trading successfully as a partnership for many years, has decided to become a private company limited by shares. As such, they will be incorporated and registered under the Companies Acts, the main one of which is the Companies Act 1985. Under this act, the company must have a registered office1, which Lorraine and Brenda wish to have at Chancery Lane, London. The Act allows two or more persons to form a company with limited liability for any lawful purposes by following the formal requirements of the Act2. A memorandum and articles of association, which are the rules that govern the running and relationships of the company must be provided to the registrar as part of this process.3 Before getting into the details that regulate insolvency under the act I would like to just review the basics which you may already be aware of. As you have been acting under a partnership for some years you will have a general idea of how your business is performing and the likelihood of its future success. I do not see the change from partnership to limited company effecting your trading prospects materially. Therefore, if you have been successful as a partnership there is every reason to expect this success to continue after the change to company. You will have been used to operating under the partnership in a situation of unlimited liability. This means that in the event of the business failing, you both personally would have been liable for all of the debts of the business and stood to lose your homes and all of your personal assets. Fortunately, under a company, you will be protected by limited liability and this means that your personal assets will not be used to pay off the debts of the company unless some kind of fraud or wrong dealing is at play. However, all the assets of the business will be available to creditors of the business, and therefore, you should be very aware that any assets you transfer to the business will not be protected by the principle of unlimited liability and will be available to creditors should the business fail. Therefore, one way to minimize the risk of such loss is to avoid transferring unnecessary assets from the partnership to the

Gobalisation and Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

Gobalisation and Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example study will focus on the example of a Japanese company, Toyota Motors Corporation, which has slowly but surely gone up in the ranking of profitable automotive manufacturing companies. According to several recent news reports, it has taken over General Motors Corporation as the number one company in terms of sales in the biggest automotive market in the world: the United States of America. The abstract is a 150-word (or less) summary of the key points of the research paper and will inform the interested reader what the research paper is about, how the researcher gathered and analysed information, and what conclusions were formulated. The Introduction contains a brief background of the major topics that would be researched and discussed in the research paper. This also contains the research objectives of the paper, how the research would be carried out (research methods), and how the data gathered would be analysed (methods of data analysis). This portion would also lay out the key terminologies that would need to be defined in the paper, such as globalisation, corporate social responsibility, and production chains. For purposes of this preliminary proposal, the research objective would be as follows: â€Å"To assess and analyse the corporate social responsibility principles and practices of Toyota Motors Corporation (TMC) across its globalised production chain.† For the research study, the primary method for data gathering is through the use of secondary sources which are analysed under the guidance of the research objective. Secondary sources are published materials coming from the company concerned (Toyota Motors) or from other third-party sources such as journals, industry, academic, government or semi-government reports, and newspapers. The Internet would also be helpful in gathering secondary source data. These secondary sources contain important information on the topics being studied, which are the globalisation process, the production chain,

Australia's immigration policies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Australia's immigration policies - Essay Example Ten percent or 4,000 of the annual migrants to Australia are carriers of hepatitis B virus, said Professor Boughton in 1988 (hepatitis vaccine researcher) (Daily Telegraph 1988, as cited in McCormack 2003). Syphilis has drastically increased due to migration since the 1960s (McCormack 2003). Leprosy- and tuberculosis-afflicted migrants also passed undetected during screening according to the Australian Health and Medical Research Council in 1987 (McCormack 2003). These cases of infectious disease carrying migrants and refugees alarm the government as mentioned in the Medical Journal of Australia (McCormack 2003). Dr. Rouch (Victoria Chief Health Officer) reported that 10 African migrants in Victoria were later discovered to have AIDS in 1989 (McCormack 2003). Cases of migrants bringing in diseases with them pose a grave concern for the government. Diagnosis, treatment and indirect cost (e.g. lost productivity, premature death) of the country for Hepatitis B is more than $50 million annually, as reported by Mr. Paul Gross (Director, Institute of Health Economics and Technology Assessment) in 1987 (McCormack 2003). The government is partly to blame for being lax in the screening process. But once discovered, the government resorts to deportation of immigrants instead of providing them with the necessary treatment. In the past, 19 Chinese (should be 20 but one escaped) with leprosy in Little Bay Lazarette hospital (Sydney) were shipped back to Hong Kong (The Age, 1896, as cited in McCormack 2003).

Douglasian Cultural Model in Indian Context Essay Example for Free

Douglasian Cultural Model in Indian Context Essay Introduction Today’s world is being dominated by daily innovations in technology and increasing globalization which helps organizations to spread and to operate globally in a successful way. Every organisation operating at a global level is trying to improve their financial profits. The success of such organizations greatly depends on their workforce and their decision-making capabilities. Many times the ethicality of such decisions have been questioned because of the profit driven strategies of these organizations. As Nobel Prize winner economist Milton Friedman quotes, â€Å"An executive’s responsibility generally will be to make as much money as possible while conforming to their basic rules of the society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical custom. † The decision-making process and hence ethicality of the decisions in such organisations is greatly influenced by the culture of the workforce. Bartels (1967) was one of the first to note the importance of the role of culture in ethical decision-making. There are different studies which discuss the diversity of ethical decision-making based on different perspective for example, Vitell, Nwachukwu and Barnes, 1993 discuss the effect of culture on ethical decision-making with the help of Hofsted’s typology while Patel and Schaefer, 2009 discuss the same with the help of Douglasian Cultural Theory (CT) perspective in the Indian context. Summary Patel and Schaefer’s article discusses the impact of culture on ethical decision-making from a Douglasian Cultural Theory (CT) perspective. It explains the dynamic ethical behaviour of the individual with four solidarities of CT. The Article also discusses the business ethics in the Indian context. Authors argue that applying static conception of culture to the process of ethical decision-making in business results in several problems. The Authors propose CT as an alternative model to these static conceptions to avoid these problems. The Article says that every social system is ethically plural because of the presence of all four solidarities together. An Individual from different solidarities may have a different perception of an issue’s moral intensity which may lead to different levels of moral awareness and hence to different moral judgements. The Article explores the dynamicity and diversity of ethical decision-making in business using the CT framework within the I ndian context with examples of Amul, SEWA, Tata Steel, ONGC and Reliance. Strengths This article offers an alternative approach of CT stating the impact of culture on ethical decision-making process in business. Authors argue that applying the static conception of culture to the business ethics results in different problems like national stereotyping, focus on only national cultural aspect ignoring the other aspects and broad generalisation of culture at national level. This article strongly supports the scholars who challenge the essentialist culture approach like Hofstedian framework. Singh (1990) and Bosland (1985a) have shown that it is possible to have different scores on the four Hofstedian dimensions within the same country. Hence there is possibility of difference in ethical behaviour within the same country. The Authors also talk about the same ethical dynamicity in behaviour. The article powerfully illustrates the diversity in business ethics within Indian context using CT model. The Article talks about the different cultural patterns existing in same corporation at same time. This article supports the argument by Sathe (1985) which says that although, the term â€Å"corporate culture† is used as if organisations have a monolithic culture, most companies have more than one set of beliefs influencing the behaviour of employees. The Article also supports the Thompson’s (1997 a-c) theory who argues that same individual could be a member of different solidarities in different contexts which explains the different ethical behaviour of an individual at a different social context. Also the article studies the ethical practices of different types of companies and business entities to understand the business ethics beyond large private corporations with respect to all the four solidarities of CT. The article debates about the dynamicity of ethical decision-making by citing the examples of all the solidarities existing in different Indian corporations. Also it talks over about the historical and philosophical background for the adoption of different ethical strategies by different corporations. Weaknesses The article explains the process of ethical decision-making in business from a ‘Douglasian Cultural Theory’ perspective only. The article does not identify many other factors beyond culture that may account for differences in work behaviour across nations. Scholars like Parboteeah and Cullen (2003) have suggested the need to include noncultural factors to isolate the influence of culture on ethical behaviour. Also many scholars have talked about the other personal characteristics like education, age, gender and religion that affect the ethical decision-making but they have not put any light on this part in the article. According to Kracher, Chatterjee and Lundquist, education plays an important and positive role in one’s ethical decision-making. Also Singhapakdi et al.: JBE (1996) talk about the relationship between ethical sensitivity and age being significantly positive. Ameen, et al., (1996) suggests that ethical judgments vary according to gender, where females have historically been more ethical compared to males. According to Singhapakdi et al :JBE (2000), there is a positive relationship between religion and perception of an ethical problem. The article has not mentioned all these perspectives while considering the process of ethical decision-making. Patel and Schaefer explained the ethical behaviour in Indian business context with the help of CT and argue that as CT is not limited in its scope of application, what is true for one country should also be true for other countries. This contradicts the findings of the researchers like Tsui which states â€Å"The major contexts that may separate one nation from another include the physical, historical, political, economic, social, and cultural.† This may cause an individual from another country to behave differently in the same context compare to individual in India. My standpoint The research article applies CT model to explain the ethical decision-making process in business within Indian context which allows us to look beyond static and limited conception of national culture. The authors have explained the ethical behaviours using examples of different Indian business entities. Since India is one of the largest growing economies, this research paper will be useful in providing the insights of the ethical practices in India. In my opinion, the authors have raised valid questions about the studies that link static conceptions of the culture to the business ethics. The authors have successfully associated dynamicity in ethical behaviours with the different cultural patterns as per CT which proves the existence of all the four solidarities in every social system. Paper also gives us insights about how all the solidarities co-exist and try to dominate each other. The Authors explain it in an Indian context citing examples for each solidarity. Moreover, authors have highlighted the important fact that managers operating under different cultural patterns may perceive and attend to information about moral issues differently which results in different ethical behaviours. The article considered the very important factors of history and politics that may have influenced while discussing dynamicity of ethical behaviours within Indian context. I am of the opinion that the Douglasian cultural theory is not sufficient to judge the ethical behaviour in business. There are many other factors like education, age, gender and religion which hold a significant role in the decision-making process. The authors have failed to consider these factors. I believe the consideration of the above mentioned factors would have made this research work more reliable. Also I disagree with the authors’ argument of what is true for India should also be true for other countries since every country has a different political, economical, cultural and physical background. Conclusion Taran Patel and Anja Schaefer have criticized the static and limited conception of culture to ethical decision-making in business. They have provided the alternative approach of Douglasian cultural theory to explain the dynamicity and diversity in ethical behaviours with the help of examples from business entities in India. The Authors advocate that the managers should be sensitive to the beliefs of all the four solidarities to be more effective. The Authors also agree that more empirical and theoretical work is needed to strengthen the relationship between the cultural patterns and business ethics. References Bartels, R.: 1967, A Model for Ethics in Marketing’, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Jan., 1967), pp. 20-26 Vitell S, Nwachukwu S and Barnes J. : 1993, ‘The Effects of Culture on Ethical Decision-Making: An Application of Hofstedes Typology’, Journal of Business Ethics,Vol. 12, No. 10 (Oct., 1993), pp. 753-760 Hofstede, G. 1980. (Revised in 1984). Culture’s Consequences – International Differences in Work-related Values. Sage Publications. Singh, J. 1990. Managing Culture and Work-related Values in India. Organization Studies, 11(1): 75-101 Bosland, N. 1985a.An evaluation of Replication Studies using the Values Survey Module.Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation, Rijks-universiteit Limburg Working Paper 85-2, Maastricht Sathe, V. (1985), Culture and Related Corporate Realities, Irwin, Homewood, IL. Thompson, M.: 1997a, ‘Rewriting the Precepts of PolicyAnalysis’, in M. Thompson and R. J. Ellis (eds.),Culture Matters: Essays in Honour of Aaron Wildavsky(Westview Press, Boulder, CO). Thompson, M.: 1997b, ‘Cultural Theory and TechnologyAssessment’, in F. Fischer and M. Hajer (eds.),Living with Nature: Environmental Discourse and Cultural Politics (Oxford University Press, Oxford). Thompson, M.: 1997c, ‘Cultural Theory and IntegratedAssessment’,Environmental Modelling and Assessment 2,139–150. Kracher, B., A. Chatterjee and A. R. Lundquist: 2002, ‘Factors Related to the Cognitive Moral Development of Business Students and Business Professionals in India and the United States: Nationality, Education, Sex and Gender’, Journal of Business Ethics 35(4), 255–268 Parboteeah, K. P., Cullen, J. B. 2003. Social institutions and work centrality: Explorations beyond national culture. Organization Science, 14(2): 137-148. Patel, T.: 2005, Using Dynamic Cultural Theories to explain the Viability of International Strategic Alliances: A Focus on Indo-French Alliances. PhD Thesis, Open University. Milton Keynes, UK. Singhapakdi, A., S. J. Vitell and K. L Kraft: 1996, ‘Moral Intensity and Ethical Decision-Making of Marketing Professionals’, Journal of Business Research 36, 245–255. Ameen, E., Guffey, D. and J. McMillan. 1996. Gender Differences in Determining the Ethical Sensitivity of Future Accounting Professionals. Journal of Business Ethics 15: 591-597. Singhapakdi, Anusorn, Janet K. Marta, Kumar C. Rallapalli, and C.P. Rao (2000), Toward an Understanding of Religiousness and Marketing Ethics: An Empirical Study, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 27, No. 4, 305-319.

Knowledge Based Practice in Substance Abuse Interventions

Knowledge Based Practice in Substance Abuse Interventions Knowledge based practice Introduction This paper will look at how research informs practice. I will be looking at young people and substance misuse and older people and how research might inform or affect my practice. Good professional practice is knowledge based practice which often means that it is practice based on what others have done, or research that others have undertaken. Research is an important part of most aspects of the human services. In health, in education, and in social work research is important informs our view of the world and can provide a framework for dealing with a particular subject or case. Research has a prominent place in the social services and it is important to the social worker. When people undertake research into areas of social and health care, then these findings and recommendations are generally used to inform practice. Not only is research important in informing social work practice, it is also important when it comes to Government policy. Like most social workers I have found some research an invaluable asset when dealing with disaffected and vulnerable groups such as young children and socially excluded young people. Some research may have been undertaken some time in the past but its findings still prove to be useful today. Willis’ (1977 in Giddens 2001) used group interviews (what are sometimes called focus group interviews) in his study of working class boyS and the ways in which the education system attempts to prepares them for the labour market. Both individual and group interviews were used in collecting this data, and while the work has been criticised it provided, and continues to provide useful information about how working class boys communicate and interact. This type of research is a source of invaluable knowledge to someone working with young people. It provides some insights into why youngsters react against authority and why they might act the way they do. Research can be a two edged sword, on the one hand it informs, and on the other it can produce lasting impressions that can lead to oppressive policy making. While Government papers on young people set a framework for soc ial workers, this kind of early research is useful when dealing with them in a practice context. Yet another valuable, yet some might say, problematic, source of information is Bowlby’s (1946) work on why young people commit crime or get involved in substance abuse. While Bowlby’s work, (which points to maternal deprivation as a cause of problematic behaviour in young people )has been deeply criticised within academic circles his ideas still have a significant impact on current Government discourses on youth. Certainly many social workers find themselves dealing with youngsters who have substance abuse problems and may feel themselves in an ethical dilemma when confronted with some of the policies in this area. One of the worst influences that work such as this has had is the growing tendency to treat anyone who does not conform to society’s norms as sick and deviant. Government initiatives on drugs, more often than not, appear to be targeted at poor and working class communities. Further there is a tendency for these initiatives to link poverty and drugs in the minds of other people. If an adolescent comes from the poorer part of town and is perhaps unemployed then this can lead to people in authority thinking that he/she is more likely to be seen as a drugs user even if they are not. Eley (2002) maintains that this leads to the association of drugs and crime with those who are already underprivileged in society. For social workers this is can be an extremely problematic situation. Do I as a social worker automatically assume something about a young person who is in trouble, and label them as sick and deviant, or do I adhere to what I believe to be the case, that everyone is of equal worth and therefore deserves an equal chance. If I am to abide, in my professional capacity by the 1998 Human Rights Act, then ethically, I could be duty bound to ignore Government guidelines in this area. Moore (1996) says that Government overstates the case on drug misuse when it refers to drug users as addicts because, he argues, most of the drug use that takes place in Britain is recreational This implies that those who use them are in control of the situation with regard to when they take drugs e.g. weekends, and how much they spend. Theorists are divided on why adolescents take drugs therefore it might be argued that the reason adolescents use drugs are quite complex and differ from person to person. This means that a social worker should act in accordance with the Human Rights Act when dealing with the problems of young people because that also implies treating each case on its individual merits Becker (1963) has argued that young people are often viewed as delinquent because of the way society viewed certain acts, such as drug taking. Calling or labelling a young person as deviant is problematic because it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Those in authority often take the view that young people, and particularly underprivileged young people are deviant and if the label is applied often enough, and by those with the power to apply it, then that is how the adolescent may come to view themselves. Taylor, Walton and Young (1973) however, say that no theory is sufficient unless there is also an analysis of the power relationships that exist in society. Hall (1978) maintains that the way in which adolescents are represented in the media has a huge effect on the way in which they are viewed by others. This can then have a further effect on their actions. In my own professional practice I have to be aware of such theories and how they inform public perception and Government policy. I also have to be aware of them in my practice and this might involve questioning the assumptions and methods behind certain research findings i.e. I am questioning their theories. Theories aid us in making sense of the world, one explanation of theory is an observation of observed regularities for example that women do more housework than men. Many things are not self-evident but need an explanation, thus Abbott and Wallace (1997) maintain that all of us are theorists because of the need to analyse and interpret our ordinary everyday experiences in order to make sense of them In sociological theory, some theories are extremely abstract, for example critical theory. Merton (1967 in Giddens, 2001) has called these theories ‘grand theories’ because they operate at a general and abstract level, theories such as those of Willis and Bowlby are middle range theory, because they are looking at an aspect of social life. Usually Merton (1967in Giddens 2001) maintains it is the middle range theories that are more likely to guide research. Labelling theory and Becker’s work, for example is a middle range approach to research that was developed out of the sociology of deviance. The problem is that while I as a social worker dealing with a young person with substance abuse issues might prefer to treat that person as an individual, and ethically I am bound to do so, Government discourses take a quite different view. Drug abuse and crime as mentioned earlier are closely associated in public discourses with poverty and this is evident in recent policy making. When evaluating research and research findings social workers need to find some sort of framework within which to evaluate the work this might be the 12 step approach advocated by Locke or it might be something as simple as using a content analysis approach to evaluate what the researcher has done and decide how effective that research may be. The Government’s report, No More Excuses (The Causes of Youth Crime) states that deprivation and poverty are usually a contributing factor in youth crime.[1] Government research suggests that while young people who offend may not do it very often, there are a few persistent offenders who are responsible for the greater part of youth crime new Youth Justice reforms will concentrate on preventing crime and on early intervention where children and young people are at risk of becoming involved in crime.[2] Leitner et al (1993) maintain that the British public is concerned about drug use, drug dealing, and the crime that is associated with this. Pudney (2003) maintains that if young people take soft drugs such as cannabis then they are more likely to progress to hard drugs and to criminal activity. He also argues that such behaviour is strongly associated with unobservable personal characteristics and New Labour have consistently targeted drugs initiatives at underprivileged commun ities. Working with young people means that I have to take into account Government reports as well as other research findings. At the same time I, like many other social workers, have as Moore (2002) points out, entered social work because of a commitment to social justice, or at the very least a desire to help others and to see improvement and positive change in people’s lives. Some critics maintain that the way in which social services often operates is self-serving rather than serving the needs of the clients, yet social workers do police themselves and their profession. The way in which they do this is to think critically about what they are doing, why they are doing it, and what moral implications this may have. Certainly social work ethics should not lead anyone to believe that the social work profession should serve itself, rather the needs of the client should be most important. One of the ways this is achieved is by establishing clear relationship boundaries early on and thi s is vital when working with young people who have issues around substance misuse. The BASW has to say about social work ethics and values. The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work (BASW,2001). [3] Social work practice, in order to be ethical practice must be centred on the needs of service users Social workers of necessity intervene in people’s lives and have an influence on situations, ethical decision making is therefore a vital component of social work practice (Osmo and Landau, 2001). Yet another area where social work practice can be a minefield is in working with older people. When working with older people a social worker has a duty to abide by the 1990 NHS and community care act. Working with older people can be difficult on the one hand there is what you want to achieve as a social worker and on the other there are guidelines that may prevent you from doing your best for a client. There are an increasing number of legal and policy requirements that the social worker dealing with an older person must adhere to. It is difficult for the social worker to negotiate the needs and wishes of the client while remaining within the legislative framework. Working together is not always straightforward. The more recent Health and Social Care Bill of 2001 gives Government powers to require health bodies and local authorities whose services are failing to pool their resources. Parrott (2002) undertook research into the care management process and how it affects social worke rs and service users. He points out that there is often no common guidelines on which services should be provided, or the standard of care to expect. The social worker may find that he/she has to perform most of the assessment and to discover whether an older person’s family would be prepared to help so that he/she could remain in their own home. Whatever the decision the social worker would also need to ensure that the client could, at some level, participate in the decision making process. Thus the process is fraught with problems, for example a social worker might assess a person as needing a certain level of care but this has to be agreed with the social worker’s supervisor and with care management. So the person may not receive the care that the social worker deems appropriate. Thus the social worker has a dilemma. While knowledge does inform practice it is not the only thing that the social worker has to deal with, management decisions also affect the process as Parrott’s research shows. One thing that has become apparent to me is while research can inform practice, it should not be allowed to determine it, if and when it does this can result in oppressive practice and a complete disregard of the rights of the service user and this is against ethical practice as outlined by the BASW. Conclusion This paper has looked at knowledge based practice and how research informs what a social worker does. When dealing with research one is not looking at it in isolation but also having to deal with policies that emerge as a result of that research. Many of the funding restrictions that social workers have to deal with are a result of the 1988 Griffiths report which found that getting organizations to work together, and using a market based approach to social care would save the Government money. Bibliography Abbott and Wallace (1997) An Introduction to Sociology: Feminist Perspectives, London, Routledge Becker, H.S. 1963. Outsiders. New York, Free Press. Bennet, T. Holloway, K. and Williams T. 2001.Drug use and offending: Summary results of the first year of the New-ADAM research programme. Home Office Research Study 236 Home Office London Blaxter, L, Hughes, C and Tight, M (1996) How to research. OU press Bowlby, J. 1946. Forty-four Juvenile Thieves. London, Tindall and Cox. British Association of Social Workers (2002) The Code of Ethics for Social Work.http://www.basw.co.uk/. Bryman, A 2004 Social Research Methods 2nd ed. Oxford, Oxford University Press Eley, S. 2002. â€Å"Community-backed drug initiatives in the UK: a review and commentary on evaluations.† Health Social Care in the Community10(2),99-105. Giddens, 2001 4th ed. Sociology Cambridge, Polity Hall,S. Critcher, C. Jefferson,T. Clarke, J. and Roberts, B. 1979 Policing the Crisis. Mugging, Leitner M., Shapland J. Wiles P. 1993. Drug Usage and Drugs Prevention: The Views and Habits of the General Public. HMSO, London. Moore, S. 2002 3rd Edition Social Welfare Alive Cheltenham, Nelson Thornes Moore, S.1996 Investigating Crime and Deviance London, Collins Educational Parrott, L 2002 Social Work and Social Care London, Routledge. Taylor Walton and Young. 1973. The New Criminology. London, Routledge 1 [1] http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/nme.html#CHAP1 [2] http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/nme.html#CHAP1 [3] http://www.basw.co.uk/articles.php?articleId=2page=2