Breast Cancer :: essays research papers

Scientists have finally found out why MPA medroxyprogesterone, otherwise known as Provera performs just as well in low doses in small children who are dealing with early sex traits, as it does for women in high doses with breast cancer. You may have heard of Provera before as the drug that delivers hormone replacement therapy for women who are going through menopause. Two scientists, named Lee and Auchus were trying to figure out why Provera is able to treat both early puberty as well as breast cancer. During the pre-teen years a chemical is released in the brain called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). In a normal pre-teen body GnRH tells the ovaries and testes when to start making steroids. Low doses of Provera have shown to bind to the receptors in the brain and block GnRH production. There are certain disorders that children can develop- when their GnRH is not released into the brain. For instance, gonadotropin-independent precocity, this is when the Childs ovaries or testes still make steroids even without the release of GnRH. Since these children are still producing steroids without GnRH being released, low doses of Provera are not effective. For the body to produce steroid hormones it must convert cholesterol into estrogens and other related substances. In order for this process to take place, several steps are involved which are controlled by a certain enzyme. In knowing this, Lee wanted to find out if blocking the action of an enzyme would be reached with high doses of Provera. What Lee and Auchus found out was that Provera could inhibit certain enzymes, (3HSDII) which influence hormone production, that low doses of Provera could disrupt GnRH production and high doses were needed for a therapeutic effect. By knowing all this, it brings about new ideas for drug therapy when dealing with certain diseases. Not only that, but 3HSDII enzyme may be great to treat breast cancer. In this study Lee and Auchus used yeast cells instead of human cells. This allows them to study a single enzyme along with the effects that drugs may have on the production of steroids. Another advantage in using yeast cells is that these cells allow the maximum amount of an enzyme, cholesterol and protein needed, in order for the enzyme to perform. I believe that Lee and Auchus expected these results based on their findings, but at the same time were surprised by some of their findings in regards to other diseases they will be able to treat based on this research.

Outline and Analyze the Challenges Facing Mellon Investor Services Essay

Assignment Task Outline and analyze the challenges facing Mellon Investor Services in their organizational redesign and assess how well the company have dealt with those challenges in how they are approaching and managing the change. Delong, T. and Vijayaraghavan, V. (2002) Mellon Investor Services (ECCH case reference 9-402-036, Harvard Business School) Introduction Mellon Investor Services (â€Å"MIS†) is an investment management and investment services company, focused to help clients manage and move their financial assets and succeed in the rapidly changing global marketplace. Between 2000 and 2001 MIS underwent a substantial organizational redesign, which will be critically considered in this essay. Wittington and Mayer (2002) suggest that organizational performance is driven by the company’s ability to redesign structures frequently, however the change requires participation of people leading the change i.e. agents, organizational structure that welcomes the change and appropriate managements styles. The Chief Financial Officer of MIS, Jim Aramanda led the company for few very successful years, during which MIS was providing new offerings for transfer agent services including issue services, employee plans and direct services, broker / dealer services. The company had five years of successful growth and MIS was meeting and exceeding its financial goals. In Autumn of 2002 Aramanda’s became concerned for the successful future of the company and he recognised few areas that required closer attention: †¢different business units were not consolidating their offerings and taking advantage of various products, which resulted in two Requests For Proposal coming from one client whereby both RFPs were replied to separately, as opposed to a combined and unified response, †¢current successful offering of core products did not guarantee that MIS would grow in future, †¢MIS staff were not building long-term relationship with the clients therefore business opportunities may not be spotted in good time, †¢requirement for new measures of performance and progress, †¢lack of focus on hiring and rewarding talented people, †¢lack of focus on product development, which was manifested in product being offered by the sales department without confirmation that the product may actually be delivered to the clients, †¢Some of the groups, such as technology, were too achievement oriented without being focused. In order to address the above concerns and mould the company to his new vision, Aramanda hired a number of experienced consultants to support his structural redesign of MIS. Aramanda realised that the change would also involve a dramatic shift of vision and attitudes to introduce new systems and subsystems, with the likely result of clash of wills. Buchanan & Badham (2008) argue that such a change can be successful if it involves one person influencing the organization according to their values, and Aramanda had the clear vision and skills to gather a team of knowledgeable people to fundamentally amend and adjust MIS future capabilities. The change that MIS underwent could be classified as ‘strategic’ or ‘transformational’ (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010) and it aimed to redefine the boundaries, methods of problem-solving and doing business in the company. Aramanda acted on his vision in a very organized manner, as he instantly hired experienced, independent and talented consultants, Mary Davis and Jeanne DiFrancesco, and empowered them to accurately assess how the change should be conducted whilst keeping disruption of the day-to-day business activities to the minimum, design a four-phase project that was consistent with Aramanda’s aggressive deadlines, and work alongside all business units to manage the organizational change smoothly and efficiently. Although the organizational change instigated by Aramanda and facilitated by the consultants proved a great success, there were certain areas that should have been dealt with differently. The main challenges I have chosen as a topic of this assignment included overall communication, dealing with resistance to change and managing relationships. 1. Communication Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) note that many managers do not pay attention to communication when implementing change, which may increase employee absenteeism, turnover and low productivity. Furthermore, some of the reasons for employees’ increased expectation during the change process are availability of information through the internet as well as employees’ anticipation to contribute ideas and be kept informed. If these expectations are met, employees feel valued and therefore are more likely to be committed to the company and perform better at their work. Aramanda wanted to be supportive of a certain degree of open communication culture, which was manifested by a requirement for the employees to nominate their colleagues for newly created job posts. This approach was also constructed to represent Aramanda’s interests and to manipulate employee attitudes and behaviours. The nomination process aimed to take advantage of knowledge in the network or informal skills that perhaps could have been difficult to be evaluated by an outsider. The outcome however proved to be different than anticipated, as it created a negative feeling amongst the employees. Furthermore, one of the reasons for hiring consultants in the first place was to take advantage of their impartiality and independence from office politics. Insufficient communication was also evident in Phase One of the organizational change, during which key services, products and activities of the business were analysed. The result was anxiousness amongst the employees, who being afraid of job cuts, would feel that they were disregarded and forgotten, which in return lowered their productivity until the process was complete. As outlined by Buchanan and Huczynski (2010), many companies operate within a range of open and closed communication climate. Open and honest communication leads to employees having realistic expectations, and closed and defensive communication creates an atmosphere of distrust and secrecy. Although Aramanda’s relationship with his superiors was commendable, as he had a very open working relationship with the consultants and his direct reports, the communication with his employees was not as successful. One of the reasons for this situation was a lack of Head of Corporate Communications, whose post was vacant until June 2001, therefore all information during the process of a change was not communicated to the staff. Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) confirm that communication of ideas assists employees see the logic and need for change. The implication for MIS was that employees did not understand what was happening, therefore they were more unlikely to follow management decisions. Issues of communication also affected existing relationships with clients. One of the objectives of the organizational change was to evaluate every job function and employee in line with the new business strategy. This resulted in creation of new key groups, including new ‘business development’ team focused on growth and return on investment in new clients and ‘client management’ team whose assignment was growth and return on investment in existing clients. The new groups comprised of employees that had to move away from the relationships they took time and effort to establish with their clients. Before the change these relationships lead to more sales and generated more business through word of mouth. Furthermore, strong relationships improved the internal organization, morale, increased engagement and lead to greater satisfaction at work. By creation of new groups the above relationships were damaged or broken, which could have lead to a possible revenue loss caused by the impact that the organizational change had on the client satisfaction. 2. Resistance to change Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) confirm that change implies a positive experiment and creation of something new as well as a negative confrontation with the unknown through the deconstruction of familiar arrangements. Some of the MIS employees demonstrated unwillingness to accept the proposed changes, as they perceived them as threatening to the individual. The main causes of resistance to change were as follows: †¢Lack of facilitation and support Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) outline facilitation and support as most helpful, where fear and anxiety lie at the heart of resistance. At MIS some of the managers were not supporting their employees in new roles, as people were expected to continue to take care of their old responsibilities, therefore the new responsibilities had to take second priority. They employees were not given sufficient time to adjust to new jobs or recover after demanding period. †¢Low tolerance for change Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) stress that that people differ in their ability to cope with change and uncertainty, which may lead them to oppose even potentially beneficial changes. Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) agree that if the change is significant and the employee’s tolerance for change is low, he might begin to actively oppose the change for reasons he does not consciously understand. †¢Misunderstanding and lack of trust Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) argue that employees are more likely to resist the change if they don’t understand the reasons behind it. As outlined in the section above regarding lack of communication, it becomes transparent that MIS employees were not told what are the positive implications of change, therefore they believed the change might cost them much more than they would gain. This could be characterised by having a low level of trust between employees and managers and result in misunderstandings and increased perception of threat when change was introduced. 3. Networks and relationships Another challenge facing the organizational change of MIS was managing existing relationships and creating new networks. One of aims for the reorganization once MIS services and products and market needs were analysed, was to break down capabilities into building blocks and then to recompose the blocks to fit within the new strategy. In practice this meant changing the divisional structure of the organization from service-based to customer-based. The change from ‘squares’ to ‘squares and triangles’ caused a large power shift and a felling of unrest and injustice to many employees. In the new organization chart the ‘triangles’ comprised of market-facing professionals and were perceived as the ‘winners’. The triangles included new business development, client management, product management & development and business management & analytics units. A triangle holds its place as a symbol in the mathematics of ideal proportions and in the MIS reorganizational design employees chosen to become a part of new teams were deemed as ‘drivers’ having a superior status. This formal status was closely related to the leadership, generally accepted by the others with a power to influence and control other groups. On the other hand, the ‘squares’ represented all other employees in the company and were perceived as the ‘losers’ and ‘followers’ and deemed to have an inferior status. Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) note that lower status groups have less power and tend to be less influential, therefore employees actively seeking status in order to fulfil their self-esteem may experience personal dissatisfaction. Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) note that this method of implementing organizational change can cause confusion and increase employees’ level of stress. The MIS consultants hoped that by dismantling of social networks, new networks would grow very quickly. The presumption was made that the existing social networks used to compensate for the inefficiencies in the old system, so now they should accelerate the efficiencies of the new system. Some employees viewed this as a positive move, as it allowed transitioning some people to other teams to build communication and continuity based on their prior experiences in other business areas. This however had a more political aspect as many managers when switching roles from ‘triangles’ to ‘squares’ in their self-interest wanted to take the good people with them. In practice, whereby poor communication was also a contributing factor, the new social networks were not created as rapidly as anticipated and had a negative influence on employee engagement and work performance. Another reason for changing the divisional structure of the organization was MIS’ lack of integration. Child (2004) stresses that integration is a vital product of good organization, whereby different activities collectively create value. One of identified reasons for change at MIS was to consolidate their product offering to create more value for the customers. Although it is relatively easy to state the requirement for integration, it is not so straightforward to achieve it. The problem of integration presents itself most noticeably in the relations between functions that are responsible for producing services according to predetermined parameters established within the company, and functions that have to continuously adapt to the external environment. The organization cannot remained viable without this integration. Teams are one of the most commonly used means for achieving integration, however during the implementation of change at MIS these were taken apart under conditions of uncertainty and pressure. One of the signs that the integration needs were not sufficiently met by the new teams was conflict between departments, mainly between ‘triangles’ and ‘squares’. This situation would require ongoing monitoring to ensure that the conflict does not become persistent and threat overall teams’ performance. Summary As outlined above, the main challenges of the organizational change instigated by Aramanda included overall communication, dealing with resistance to change and managing relationships. The organizational change was possible due to a great contribution from the consultants, who appreciated that an organizational change is a complex process to dramatically adjust organization vision, structure and culture in a continuous effort to improve the performance. Reference list 1.Buchanan D., Badham R. (2008) ‘Power, politics and organizational change: Winning the turf game’, p. 9. 2.Buchanan D., Huczynski A.A. (2010) ‘Organizational behaviour’, pp. 329-330, 562-564, 570-573. 3.Child J. (2004) ‘Organization: Contemporary Principles and Practice; Chaper 4: Achieving Integration’, p. 81-82. 4.Kotter J. P., Schlesinger L.A. (1979) ‘Choosing strategies for change’ Harvard Business Review, March – April pp. 108-109. 5.http://www.bnymellon.com/about/index.html, accessed on 18 June 2012.

Coping with Stress in an Organization - 2242 Words

Coping With Stress In An Organization 26 November 1994 Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Defining Stress III. Types of Stress IV. How to Handle Stress V. Recognizing Stress VI. The Military and Stress VII. Summary I. INTRODUCTION Since the beginning of mankind there has always been some kind of stress affecting how people feel, act and cope with situations. In this paper we will look at the definition of stress and what causes people to have stress. Then we will see how different people handle stress and show how not all individuals have the same tolerance for stress. The next thing that will be discussed is how managers in organizations can recognize and reduce the negative†¦show more content†¦When people think of physical work environment they usually think of some type of hard labor. But its not confined only to physical labor, it also encompasses other factors such as noise, temperature, lighting, and pollution.4 So that means even people in business and people in construction both have some kind of physical work environment stressors. Stress from noise doesnt have to be caused from loud sounds. It could be the sound of the air conditioner or maybe even the silence of some one who is sitting next to you and you know they are watching what you do. Temperature also adds to frustration and therefore causes stress. Whether its from working out in the blazing sun or from sitting beside the air conditioner, they both can lead to stressful situations. Light can cause stress because of being to high, to low, or the wrong type. Any of these can make a person strain their eyes thus make them more susceptible to stress. When you put all the individual and physical stressors together you can see why job stress is drawing more and more attention. IV. HOW TO HANDLE STRESS Although every person handles stress in their own particular way they all basically go through the same stages. Professor Hans Selye called these stages the general adaptation syndrome.5 He says that the body adjust to stress in three stages; (1) alarm reaction, (2) adaptation, and (3) exhaustion. Alarm reaction is where aShow MoreRelatedCompetitive Advantage And Stress Of Organizational Health1459 Words   |  6 Pages Competitive Advantage and Stress Organizational health means profit; therefore, to gain profits organizations must secure and grow their competitive advantage. Competitive advantage is the means of strategically differentiating products and/or services an organization from its competitors, such as branding, customer base, product quality, reputation, leadership, organizational culture, innovation, intellectual property, patents, leadership, and customer or governmental relationships, to reduceRead MoreSignificance of Psychosocial Competence in Youth1468 Words   |  6 PagesSignificance of Psychosocial Competence in Youth Executive Summary Stress is one of the top ten health concerns in adolescence and is getting worse. Adolescents experience many changes in their daily lives, however are not sufficiently equipped with skills to help them deal with the increased demands and stress they experience (World Health Organization, 1997). Psychosocial competence in youth was researched in order to better understand their abilities to make the best choice as related to mentalRead MoreCoping In Mental Health885 Words   |  4 Pagesdisabilities or an illness (Gouin, Estrela, Desmarais, Barker, 2016). A coping system for dealing with mentally ill patients vary from one family to another for different of reasons. There have been studies that show that a person who is taking care of someone who is mentally ill will possibly go through a mental illness (Bevans, Sternberg,2012). According to Chiou, Chang, Chen and Wang (2009), caregivers can also experience stress because they are not spending enough time with their loved one butRead MoreStress Management Essay1503 Words   |  7 PagesStress is defined as â€Å"any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and thereby tax one’s coping abilities† (Weiten Lloyd, 2006, p. 72). Stress is a natural event that exists literally in all areas of one’s life. It can be embedded in the environment, culture, or perception of an event or idea. Stress is a constant burden, and can be detrimental to one’s physical and mental health. However stress can also provide beneficial effects; it can satisfy one’s need forRead MoreThe Effects Of Affet Resilience On Stress Management Strategies 741 Words   |  3 Pages(self-efficacy, life stress , coping strategies , recovery scale and adult scale) then answers were measured by different statically techniques (chi square, CFI, NFI,RMSEA). They found that USA, Chinese and Taiwanese were using almost the same stress coping strategies (planning, refining problems, avoidance coping strategies, problem solving, alcohol drinking, smoking, social programs, sleeping and tobacco addiction). The effect of secure attachment self-efficacy, trait resilience on stress management strategiesRead MoreCoping With Extreme Stress And Its Effect On The Stress Of A Person1569 Words   |  7 Pagesof work-related stress. One of the serious employment-concern, that eats away revenues, lessens efficiency and marks good employees’ hand their notice is workplace stress. There are workplace stress that is moderate, while extreme stress could be a hindrance to employees’ efficiency, commitment and satisfaction in the organization or m anagement. Coping can fundamentally aid in reducing the stress of a person. Coping has two broadly acknowledged main functions: problem-focused coping and emotion-focusedRead MoreThe Role Of Personality And Perception With Stress1410 Words   |  6 PagesStress is all in the mind â€Å"I cannot and should not be cured of my stress, but merely taught to enjoy it.†-Hans Selye. Stress is every day fact of life. We can’t avoid it. It is believed to account most types of disease and illness and affects all the dimension of life. The World Health Organization calls stress as ‘a global epidemic’.In fact, stress is not only desirable it is also essential to life. According to Cardwell et al. (2002), stress is defined as a gap between the perceived demands onRead MoreStress Of Nursing Leadership And Management1549 Words   |  7 PagesStress of Nursing Leadership and Management On a daily basis, everyone experiences stress. Stressful situation without making adjustments can effects your health and well-being. For example, I worked as a charge nurse and mostly as a RN supervisor. This job requires to use managerial skills as well as clinical expertise. The work environment of the skilled nursing facility was mostly short staffed, lack of resources, and overloaded. I, as a charge nurse, was expected to always be available, to beRead MoreDual Career Coupling: An Emerging Paradigm In Banking Sector.1413 Words   |  6 Pagesmajor role to live happily. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW: Lazarus Folkman (1984) examined marital quality in Dual-Career marriages from the perspective of stress and coping theory, which posited that stress is a process that ultimately has both personal and relational consequences. Pearlin McCall (1990) explained that marital partners utilized relational coping resources that encouraged interaction and appeal to the partner in such a way that the partner takes supportive actions. One way this can occur isRead MoreMy Personal Narrative Of My Life1261 Words   |  6 PagesFurthermore, the current stressor affecting my life is time management. After learning about epigenetics and how lifestyle choices and stress can alter your gene expression, this paper came at a perfect time to develop a few coping strategies. My poor time management has led me to frustration, external conflicts, health problems, and much more. I’ve always known that stress can harm your health, but to actually experience my health deteriorating is quite alarming. Furthermore, I’ve learned that time