Project Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Project Managment - Essay Example The activities follow a systematic order according to priority needs while coordination among them is profusely maintained. Distributing the tasks among the project staff is important as this will simplify the activities. Once it is done, collection of articles is conducted in order to proceed for sorting them out. Managing articles is more essential than photo collection as articles are undoubtedly the main focus of the magazine. The project manager (PM) should depend on the shortest time. This will make him organize and systematize activities for a successful and early completion of the project. Besides, coordination among the people in the project is important and the PM should motivate his team for it. Both CPA and WBS frameworks are important for a project. However, WBS as a top-down model can assess only from the top management point of view that may ignore activities happened at lower levels. But CPA is adequate in detailing the activities. Circle and arrow diagram also aptly shows the project details. Significance: WBS, OBS and CPA are essential frameworks that help the project manager to explain people involved in the project about the project details. It is the responsibility of the project management team under the PM to do a WBS or CPA. The University magazine project contains top-down and bottom-up approaches for identifying and organizing the project activities. CPA framework studied the critical issues of the project and prioritized the tasks accordingly. WBS and OBS frameworks are adopted in order to break the project down into smaller segments. The University magazine project adopts CPA, WBS and OBS tools for proper planning and scheduling. These tools divide the project into different smaller segments, which results in speedy development of the project. The new project is expected to update the standard of the university magazine to a

Disaster Recovery Plan Essay Example for Free

Disaster Recovery Plan Essay Disasters have become an inevitable part of businesses and organizations as well. They not only have a major effect on business and organizational continuity; they also result to an overhaul in organizational operational mechanisms (Awasthy, 2009). It is for this reason that many organizations and business resort to preparing business continuity plans and disaster recovery plans that will facilitate better disaster management in future. Effective disaster recovery plans are important to every business and organization (Thejendra, 2008). This is a disaster recovery plan is prepared for Bain Company. This plan establishes goals, objectives and programs for the handling threats and natural disasters. The plan will provide a framework for recovery by anticipating future threats and disasters within or around the organization. It will be aimed at considering the security and protection of the business staff and its clients. It will also ensure that there is a reduced amount of business intermission that disasters are usually associated with. Examples of disasters that may occur within the business are: natural disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, among others; terrorist threats, bomb attacks, strikes and civil riots, fires, among others (Thejendra, 2008). Bain Company Bain Company is a business consulting firm that works with many executives from different organizations to assist and aid them in making proficient decisions, actualize these decisions and enhance business sustainability. Its main objectives include enhancing business ideas into viable actions; to have a paradigm shift in business management and enhance innovations and technologies into business operations. With over 48 offices in 31 countries worldwide, it is a global entity with an edge over the rest. Disaster Recovery Plan for Bain Company The Disaster Recovery Plan that will give reference of how disaster recovery will be done, the responsibilities of each actor, and recovery measures that will be taken in case of occurrence of disasters. The plan will also include the safety measures or proposals for better safety techniques (Menken and Blokdjik, 2010). Confidentiality Statement This document will remain the property of Bain Company and shall not be duplicated or given out under any circumstance; reliant on the fact that the type of information in the plan is endemic to Bain Company. Document Distribution Every member of the management and planning team will keep copies of the manual plan. Distribution will be kept in track by the Disaster Management Board of Bain Company. Plan Objectives †¢ To ensure that the safety and protection of all the employees and customers of the firm is enhanced in case of disasters †¢ To ensure that business continuity of Bain Company is enhanced without much intermission. †¢ To ensure that information is well handled and controlled during the disaster recovery process. †¢ To consider alternative courses of action that will be used in the worst case scenario. Recovery Strategies These are the measures that Bain Company should implement in order to enhance business continuity and avoid rapid losses (Thejendra, 2008). It should have a computing system of business and firm records. This will ensure that data backup is enhanced and therefore during disasters business records of Bain Company still available. This will ensure that the business operations continue to run effectively. The firm should also consider establishing an external facility that will house them in case the building they were housed in previously is destroyed. This will also ensure that the operations of Bain Company continue to run smoothly without breaks (Thejendra, 2008). The management of Bain Company should ensure that the firm runs under insurance. Insuring the firm’s activities will ensure that the firm is able to make up for the lost equipment, furniture as well as data. Consequently, it will make sure that Bain Company does not run at a loss when trying to replace these items (Awasthy, 2009). Disaster Plan Declaration All efforts of the firm are aimed at establishing and developing an active and cyclic planning process and document that will foster innovation and technology and that will ensure that the disaster recovery process is participatory, up to date and timely to meet the objectives of Bain Company. Assessment of security Security measures to be input into the firm to boost disaster recovery process include establishing firm registry in bomb proof vaults that will shield the firm’s documents and data from disasters such as terrorist attacks. Such will ensure that the records of the firm are not tampered with and as such the company is able to run business without fundamental data loss (Menken and Blokdjik, 2010). The company can also ensure the installment of fire extinguishers and fire exit doors within the firm’s premises to create better channels of evacuation during fire outbreaks. In addition, smoke detectors and alarms should also be installed to signify and create warnings in case of such. Establishing access codes to data registries is another security measure that the firm can uphold. This will ensure that confidential data and information is only managed by a certain level of management. In addition, during threats such as civil unrests or riots data will be managed effectively (Thejendra, 2008). Potential disaster scenarios and methods of dealing with the disaster Potential disasters that Bain Company may be faced with include fire, bomb or terrorist attacks, dangerous and threatening situations such as riots or attacks, hurricane, tornadoes and earthquakes, among others (Awasthy, 2009). Fire preparedness In case of a fire the employees should report immediately to the nearest fire department office in the area; notify the Incident Commander or Departmental Manager available during that time. If it is a small fire, the person should try extinguishing it using the fire extinguishers available. If it is a large fire, the person should vacate the building and make no attempts to put it out. Once the Incident Commander is on scene, the decision on evacuation will be made. The alarms should be set on so that other employees can be notified of the events going on in the firm. Evacuation should then be made possible by security personnel or evacuation team present. The employees should be warned not to use the lifts or elevators during a fire incident. Employees should also assemble in areas designated for fire assembly (Menken and Blokdjik, 2010). Bomb/ Terrorist attack Preparedness In case of a notification of bomb or terrorist attack in the firm the first step should be to notify police departments immediately. The attack or threat should then be communicated to the Manager and Incident Commander who will organize for evacuation of the building premises. Other departmental heads and members of other firms within the same building should also be notified (Menken and Blokdjik, 2010). Dangerous Attacks and Threatening Situations These may include hostage situations, dealing with armed robbers and strikes and riots from employees. In such situations, one of the employees who is outside the building at such a time should be notified so that they can notify the police departments of the problem. The security personnel of the building where the firm exists should also be notified. If possible, an effort should be made to understand the motive of these people and thus come to an agreement with them (Menken and Blokdjik, 2010). Disaster Recovery Procedures These are the steps that will guide the whole plan and will be implemented in case a disaster occurs. This process will encompass setting and establishing of a set of laws and disciplines that will guarantee business operations to continue without intermissions (Awasthy, 2009). First, there will be need to set up a planning committee that will foresee the establishment of programs to be done in case of a disaster. The plan should be able to oversee all actions and implementary measures necessary. The next step is risk assessment. This is important so that the management of the firm is able to quantify risk levels against the firm from potential disasters. It will also guide the implementation of safety measur es in the firm (Thejendra, 2008). There would be need to establish and define recovery modes and strategies. These are the strategies that the firm would adopt in case a disaster such as a fire hit them. It would define who will be responsible for doing a particular activity, how they will do it and the time allocation for each activity. Furthermore, the preparation and documentation of the formulated plan of action will be done. This will be important because it will enable every member of staff to have the document, get accustomed to it and internalize it so that they are well prepared in case a disaster occurs. Plan documentation is also important for review it and alteration from time to time (Thejendra, 2008). Consequently, alternative courses of action and a verification criterion is developed. They are important because they give the firm other actions to carry out or work with in case the original plan doesn’t fit the needs of the firm at that moment. They will hence enable business continuity (Thejendra, 2008). Finally, plan implementation is the last step in the Disaster Recovery Procedure. This is where the planning team will be able to implement the proposals and courses of action that they have developed in the formulated plan. Incident Response Team This is a team of experts who will be included in the emergency response strategy prepared for the disaster recovery plan. They include: First aid teams, fire control teams, security personnel, supplies teams and service teams (Menken and Blokdjik, 2010). Mission Statement The Bain Company Incident Response Team will support the operations of the firm’s resources through the provision of quality, fast and effective response to disasters (natural and manmade) and threats that face the business and adequate response training through research and innovation. Declaration All human efforts will be geared towards ensuring that the safety, protection and security of all employees and data of the Bain Company are at peak during disaster recovery. It will be the priority of the Incident Response Team to ensure that the sustainability of business operations of Bain Company is enhanced. Organizational structure of the Incident Response Team The Incident Response Team shall have the following an incident command center, planning team, logistics team, operations team and finance team. [pic] Proposed Network Architecture The proposed network architecture will involve a computerized back up system for the company that will back up all the data. All the company data will be stored in a backup system that is rigid and devoid of any disaster in an area that is far from the normal company. The arrows in the above diagram show how data is collected from the branch offices of the company to the main office. The data is then collected and backed up in the facility for quick recovery. Roles and responsibilities The team manager is the person that is accountable of all the actions that the Incident Response Team is tasked to do. The manager is the administrator in general of all the personnel in the team. The Planning team is responsible for charting up a plan of how the incident team will operate. The Logistics team inclusive of Intrusion Analysts identifies the actual intrusion point of the disaster in the firm’s operations. In addition, business resource planners are responsible for mobilization of resources within the firm to ensure interruption of operations is minimal. The operations team will include security personnel responsible for raising awareness and warnings, maintaining order and evacuation supervision; fire control team is responsible for firefighting activities; First Aid team responsible for providing basic and advanced first aid to injured people, if any; supplies teams for providing sanitation and medical supplies, food, and blanket supplies; service teams offer transport, shelter and vital records management. The Public Advisory Manager is responsible for relaying information about the disaster within the firm and also to the press and general public Information flow and methods of communication Information flow within the Incident Response Team should be done through the Public Advisory Committee. They should also answer all general public concerns regarding the disaster that the business has encountered. Any information that is trickled out of the firm should be handled carefully to prevent creating unnecessary tension. It should also be handled through a solitary source to prevent distortion of information. The Public Advisory Committee will determine methods of communication such as hourly announcements via public address systems or through the media so that the general public can be aware as well. Services provided by the IRT The Incident Response Team provides the following services such as training the staff of the business to instill in them practicable and viable skills of coping with disasters when they occur. In addition it should offer drilling exercises that will improve awareness of how to act in case disasters such as fires happen to occur (Menken and Blokdjik, 2010). Authority and reporting procedures All authority runs back to the Team Manager or Incident Commander. He is responsible for relaying all commands regarding how activities and procedures will be done within the Incident Response Team. All procedures and administrative actions should have a top-down approach. Conclusion Disaster Recovery Plans are important because they help the organization chart out a way forward when encountering natural or manmade disasters. They should be effective, efficient and up to date to keep up with the organizational trends taking shape in the world today. References Awasthy, A. (2009). Disaster Management: Warning Response and Community Relocation. New Delhi: Global India Publications Menken, I. and Blokdijk, G. (2010). Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity It Planning, Implementation, Management and Testing of Solutions and Services Workbook Second Edition. Brisbane: Emereo Pty Limited Thejendra, B. S. (2008). Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: A Quick Guide for Small Organizations and Busy Executives. London: IT Governance Ltd

Definition of Marketing and Marketing Mix

Definition of Marketing and Marketing Mix Application of the marketing mix is no longer relevant for contemporary approaches to marketing. Marketing mix, as a part of marketing strategy, may affect the performance of one company. However, as to whether it still plays an important role in the contemporary marketing, many scholars and academics have various views, and some of them regard it as controversial, see Grà ¶nroos 1994, McCarthy 1960, Kent 1986 for more detail. Based on the previous analysis, this essay mainly discusses the relevance of the marketing mix used in two certain contemporary approaches- customers marketing, and relationship marketing as the limitation study of this essay. The Definition of Marketing and Marketing Mix In order to have a clear idea on marketing mix, first of all, the concept of marketing should be discussed. As reported by Keith Blois (2000, p.517), the American Marketing Association (1985) makes a conclusion of defining marketing as the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing , promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create and satisfy individual and organizational objectives and UKs Chartered Institute of Marketing(1996) defines the marketing as the management process of planning, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. In general, these two definitions focus on the transaction approach in marketing rather than relationship marketing, which the latter one plays a more important role in nowadays marketing approach. As supported by Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrongs (2007, p.5), marketing definition is the process of creating value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return. This is also the reason of choosing customers marketing and relationship marketing as the main contemporary approach to discuss in latter parts of this article. After the figure out the definition of marketing, then it seems necessary to draw a clear picture of what marketing mix refers to, for the reason that many scholars and academic now have different views whether it should be change into 4C, or 4R, or add more Ps. Neil Borden (1975) who may first create the term marketing mix, and made a list of 12 subdivisions as the components within marketing mix, which can be divided into 4 categories, namely, consumer attitudes and habits, trade attitudes and methods competition and government control. as explicated by Baker (2007, p.328). He also discusses many types of classifying the elements of marketing mix, for examples the Albert Freys two dimensions (1961), threefold classification of Lazer and Kelley (1975) and Lazer et al (1973) and a four-way classification of Lipson and Darling (1971), but he prefers the idea of 4Ps-product, price, place and promotion as refer to marketing mix, which firstly proposed by McCarthy (1978). As Baker (2007) points out the 4Ps model simplifies the way to make a clear structure as a whole for marketing managers and guide them to achieve a certain task. Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong (2007) define the marketing mix as the set of controllable, tactical marketing tool s (p.50), in order to get the feedback of the certain markets, and regard the 4Ps as marketing mix. Moreover, according to David Jobber (2001), The strength of the 4Ps approach is that it represents a memorable and practical framework for marketing decision-making and has proved useful for case study analysis in business schools for many years. Therefore, as 4Ps-product, price, place and promotion, are still widely recognized by worldwide scholars as marketing mix, this article will use 4Ps to discuss its relevance of contemporary marketing approach. The Relevance to Customers Marketing The development of the marketing approach and modern technology facilitate the customers to get more chances to be evolved in commercial activities, business communications and collecting data from the internet. Thus, the customer becomes more sophisticated to serve, as E. Constantinides (2006, p.413) illustrates that many researchers agree that modern consumer is demanding, individualistic, involved, independent, better informed and more critical (Capon and Hulbert 2000; Lewis and Bridger 2000). In this case, the marketers need to focus on the individual needs and wants and make the service personalized rather than carrying out the traditional marketing approach as mass marketing. For example, a famous cosmetic band Biotherm makes its products different according to the local markets. A product called corrective make-up base which have four different colors and SPF25 can only be sold in a China. Although it is more related to global marketing, but to some extent, the product is sold based on the local customers need-the skin of Chinese is more sensitive than European country. Another example is Dell Computer Company, which is more concentrate on customizing their products. The company tries very hard to collect as many choices as possible for every single consumer, in order to meet their personalized needs. However, when look into the marketing techniques used by both companies, they all emphasize on customer or consumers needs as the first principles, and it is obvious that marketing mix-product, price, place and promotion, do not contain the element of customer. And according to E. Constantinides (2006), Robins (1991) pointed that 4Ps model of marketing mix concerns the internal elements too much, instead, the external elements such as Customers, Competitors, Capabilities, Company should be also taken into consideration. And Kotler (1984) advocated that as part of marketing strategy, some external and uncontrollable environmental factors are needed to includ e in the marketing mix, namely, Customers Environmental variables Competitive variables. As discussed above, it indicates that, in customers marketing, the markers should think more about how to satisfy their customers, rather than just focus on the product itself. In other words, markers should do something for the customer instead of to them and be more customer-oriented. Today, consumer is no long the one who just buy the mass products, but the one who personalize the products by themselves and even push forward the one companys creativity. Besides, customers marketing requires more consumer interactivity. As argued by Doyle (1994), and Yudelson (1999) in E. Constantinides (2006), that to get higher value is not as the only purpose to consumer, but they also want to affect on the process of communicating. In this case, the 4Ps marketing mix seems not as relevant to the customers marketing as to other marketing, like transactional marketing. The Relevance to Relationship Marketing Evert Gummesson (2008) defines relationship marketing as an approach to develop long-term loyal customers and thus increasing profitability. And he even develops 30R (relationship) to elaborate the core concept-relationship, network and interaction. Gronroos (1994) argues that the 4Ps model marketing mix is much more clinical approach, restrictive and obsolete, which also makes the buyer a passive part rather then an active part as it should be. Patterson andWard (2000) in E. Constantinides (2006, p.417) illustrate that 4Ps Marketing Mix has a clearly offensive character because the strategies associated to the 4Ps tend to be function-oriented and output oriented. In order to solve the problem caused by 4Ps, he advocates the emphasis should be in managing valued customer relationships, and proposes new Cs, namely, Communication Customization Collaboration and Clairvoyance. From the above statement, it is clearly that the limitation of 4Ps marketing mix in relationship marketing. The 4Ps marketing mix is lack of customer orientation, either in interactive communication or in satisfying the consumers needs. Gronroos (1994) even pointed out that the marketing paradigm will eventually shift to relationship marketing rather than marketing mix management. It seems that the function of 4Ps marketing mix in dealing with customers marketing and relationship marketing is limited. It may due to the following reasons: Firstly, marketing mix is mainly coping with transaction marketing, which is product-oriented, as it is focus on mass markets. As Gronroos (1994) demonstrates that 4Ps model was indeed originally developed for consumer packaged goods marketing where transaction marketing is most appropriate. Secondly, marketing mix is as the dominating marketing function in transaction marketing, but just plays a supportive role in customers marketing and relationship marketing. Finally, compare with customers marketing and relationship marketing, in transaction marketing, customers are more sensitive to the price, as the former one may add additional value to the product, to some extent can fulfill other needs of consumers. So does 4Ps marketing mix really irrelevant to contemporary approach to marketing? Not exactly. As the article just picks up two main marketing methods to discuss, so the conclusion is too earlier to draw. However, when Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong (2007) mentioned about the marketing mix, they indicated that it is better to consider the buyers or consumers view, so they advocate 4C-customer solution, customer cost, convenience and communication, should be thought firstly, then build 4Ps on the basis of 4C, in that case, it will be more successful. Besides this, as discussed above that the marketing mix also supports the interactive marketing as in customers marketing and relationship marketing, so in conclusion, 4Ps is still relevant to the contemporary marketing, but at the same time, we should give priority to the customers wants and the peoples needs. Bibliography: 1. AMA Board Approves New Marketing Definition, Marketing News, 1 March 1985. 2. Christian Grà ¶nroos. (1994) From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing: Towards a Paradigm Shift in Marketing, Management Decision, Vol.32, No.2, pp.4-20. 3. David Jobber. (2007) Principles and Practice of Marketing, 5th edition. Maidenhead, Berkshire, UK: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. 4. E. Constantinides. (2006) The Marketing Mix Revisited: Towards the 21st Century Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 22, Issue 3/4, pp.407-438. 5. Evert Gummesson. (2008) Total Relationship Marketing, 3rd edition. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. 6. Keith Blois. (2000) The Oxford Textbook of Marketing, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 7. McCarthy, E.J. (1960) Basic Marketing, Irwin, Homewood, IL. 8. Michael J. Baker. (2007) Marketing Strategy and Management, 4th edition. Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. 9. Nicole E. Coviello, Roderick J. Brodie and Hugh J. Munro. (1997) Understanding Contemporary Marketing: Development of a Classification Scheme, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 13, Issue 6, pp.501-522. 10. N.H. Borden. (1964) The concept of the Marketing Mix, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol.4, June, pp.2-7. 11. Philip Kotler. (1984) Marketing Management: Analysis, planning and Control, 5th edition, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 12.Philip Kotler, and Gary Armstrong. (2008) Principles of marketing, 12th edition. Upper Saddle River, N.J. Pearson Prentice Hall. 13. Rick Wise and Niren Sirohi. (2005) Finding the best marketing mix, Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 26, No.6, pp. 10-11. 14. Robins, F. (1991) Four Ps or Four Cs or Four Ps and Four Cs, MEG Conference. 15. Walte van Waterschoot and Christophe Van den Bulte. (1992) The 4P Classification of the Marketing Mix Revisited, Journal of Marketing Vol. 56, No.4, pp.83-93.

The Role of Travel Essay -- Traveling Sociology

Travel is an effective way to experience other nations and their cultures. Open minded traveling allows people to immerse themselves in the culture of foreign nations. But, there are some forms of travel that revolve around a different mindset, a mindset in which the goal is to impose your culture on another’s culture. Examples of this negative imperialist type of travel are the travels of exploration done by Christopher Columbus’ in the Americas and, American soldiers in Vietnam, depicted in Francis Coopla’s film â€Å"The Apocalypse Now: Redux.† The negative effects of other forms of travel include the travels of migration to London by Caribbean’s in Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners. Through travel you are provided with means to learn about a nation and to engage in foreign cultures firsthand nevertheless, some forms of travel are unconstructive towards the learning process. In letters written by Christopher Columbus, his accounts of the exploration of the Americas showed how travel can be negative. Columbus wrote to Argon sovereigns, Santangel and Sanchez, about his time in the Americas. Their only source of information about the nation and its culture came from Columbus’ narratives and stereotypes. His letters flirted with the truth; it seemed Columbus’ intentions were to make the people of the Americas appear inferior and to make conquering them sound like an easy task. Throughout his letters Columbus shows a lack of respect for the people of the Americas and their culture. In the quote, â€Å"I found innumerable people and very many islands, of which I took possession in Your Highnesses’ name,† Columbus neglects the fact that the islands were already inhabited by the people of the Americas. (Zamora, 3). Columbus is a good ex... ...tives and misconceptions to be a part of their trips nations and their cultures will continue to be misrepresented. The negative aspects of travel are found in Columbus ‘exploration of the Americas, the conquest of Vietnam in the film The Apocalypse Now: Redux, Caribbean’s migration to London in The Lonely Londoners. But if travelers became more self aware perhaps more trips would be like self-defining like Stella’s in How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Travel is an essential part of our lives and it will only be a positive part if we allow ourselves and our minds to be open to other nations and their cultures. Work Cited: The Apocalayse Now: Redux.Dir.Fracncis Ford Coppola. Paramont Pictures,2001 McMilan, Terry. How Stella Got Her Groove Back. New York: Penguin Group, 1997. Selvon, Sam. The Lonely Londoners.Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Education Limited,1956.

Analyse the reasons why GBK can achieve higher levels of added value than McDonalds Essay

Customers are more concerned with eating healthier; and have also become increasingly more interested in the quality of food they are eating. Although they want to enjoy a burger they also want to know it’s of good quality. Unlike fast food restaurants like McDonalds, Gourmet burger Kitchen (GBK) offers this higher quality food. By offering this higher quality food it attracts customers, it also allows them to charge more as people are more willing to pay more for a better quality product than a low quality product, this therefore results in GBK achieving higher levels of added value than McDonalds due to this higher quality product. GBK offers a smarter environment than traditional fast food restaurants. This means that the level of service offered is much higher. This allows GBK to achieve a higher level of added value as they are offering something McDonalds isn’t. This is one of their unique selling points. By offering this service it allows them to charge more because the environment people are eating in is smarter, this therefore means an increase in there added value. Robert Tame, founder of fine burger company believes that â€Å"it’s not just about the product. It’s also about the environment you are presenting the burgers in† Food at GBK is considered to be healthy in comparison to the food sold at McDonalds. Customers are more concerned about eating healthier than they have been before, and GBK offers a more varied and less calorie menu. This means that GBK can achieve a higher level of added value than McDonalds because customers don’t mind paying more for something if it’s more beneficial to them than another product on the market. This therefore means that they can achieve this higher level of added value than McDonalds.

buy custom Why an Increase in Medical Radiation essay

buy custom Why an Increase in Medical Radiation essay Medical radiation is a discipline in healthcare or medicine that is growing very fast. It has continually accepted the improvement in technology, digital imaging and instrumentation. Because of the increased improvements in technology, medical radiation has become one of the most advanced and dynamic areas of clinical medicine today (National Research Council, 2000). Even though there has been an increase in complaints of the harm that radiation has on human bodies, medical radiation of the right dosage is beneficial to human beings. As long as radiation is not abused then it can be of great benefits to human beings. Patients are usually constantly exposed to radiation rays. This occurrence is, however, the most popular with cancer patients who have to undergo the radiation process as part of their treatment. There has been an increase in the use of medical radiation in many medical centres even though there have also been improvements in technology. The increase in medical radiation doses is because of the many health benefits that radiation has on patients such as cancer ones. Patients are constantly exposed to radiation rays from diagnostic examinations even though the level or rate of exposure is generally low (National Research Council, 2000). The medical radiation doses have therefore increased because of the justified benefits of accurate diagnosis of the disease at hand. There has not been any valid and solid proof of radiation causing any harm especially at the low levels of exposure under which the diagnostic radiological examinations are carried out. According to Oxtoby (2007) there have been only theoretical evidence and no practical evidence of the harm caused by medical radiation. Even the theoretical evidence shows low cancer risks because of the low levels of radiation rays that are used during the examinations and diagnoses in medical radiation. Medical radiations have low risk levels as compared to the natural r adiation. The radiation doses given to patients should be regulated to ensure that they are not exposed to a lot of radiation rays which might be harmful to them. It is, however, very difficult to determine the right dosage for medical radiation. The dosage for medical radiation also varies between different cases of different patients. The dosage will also change depending on different variables that will have an effect on the whole radiation process, for example, the settings of the machine that is used to produce the radiation rays (Oxtoby, 2007). If the machine is set to produce more rays then the risks of exposure and harm from radiation rays will be more as compared to when the machine is set to release or produce little rays. Doses in Medical Radiation The radiation doses given to normal individuals or patients are different to that given to pregnant women. In medical radiation, high doses are given so that the cancer tissues can be destroyed. According to Powrie (2010) it is usually very tricky and challenging to give a dosage that is enough to destroy the cancer cells but at the same time not too much to have a negative effect on the patient or to be harmful to the patient. Special care is usually given to women who are pregnant. This is because of the sensitivity of the embryo to radiation. It is, therefore, advised that if there is a possibility of anothe option rather than radiation to be used on pregnant women then the other option should be fully utilized. If radiation dosage is necessary for the pregnant woman then precautions should be taken to ensure that the embryo is not affected or that the dosage is as little as possible to reduce the risks of exposure (Powrie, 2010). For patients who have a child bearing history or t he women who have had children before, a pregnancy test should be administered to them before they undergo any medical radiation process or examination. The dosage is usually regulated in different ways, for example, some techniques are usually used to focus the radiation dose only in the areas where the radiation rays are intended to reach while, on the other hand, administering lower doses to the normal tissues that are not affected. The radiation rays that are placed in direct contact with the tissues should be in very small quantities so as to avoid any harm that may be caused on the other healthy tissues that are around the cancer tissues. Risks of Medical Radiation Exposure There has been a constant debate on whether exposure to radiation rays is harmful or beneficial to human beings. The fact is that radiation can cause harm even though not practically proven and it also has its benefits. Every amount of radiation has an element of risk in it and, therefore, the greater the amount the greater the risk. The risks of harm from radiation as earlier mentioned depend on different factors such as the size of the dosage and the rate at which the dosage is administered. Other factors include the type of radiation ray that has been administered or prescribed and the age and health of the individual that is getting the dosage. Small doses of radiation usually increase the risk of getting cancer. Warrell (2003) explains that these risks are, however, small as compared to the risks posed from other factors different from radiation such as flying in airplane or driving a car. The risks of getting cancer from exposure to radiation rays is very small when the individ ual is exposed to other harmful factors such as smoking and alcohol which might also lead to the patient getting cancer. Many people, however, usually misperceived the risks of getting cancer from radiation exposure. This is because of the negativity that has been there towards the use of radiation for medical purposes. National Research Council (2000) believes that the effects of radiation on patients of human beings are divided into two categories, namely, stochastic and non-stochastic effects. The stochastic effects will be there even at low dosage of radiation because they do not have a threshold in which they occur. The non-stochastic effects occur only when the dosage exceeds a certain threshold for example if the radiation dosage is higher than normal. These effects are, however, not as severe as the stochastic effects. The risk of harm from radiation rays is different in different parts of the body. This is because different parts of the body have different levels of sensitivity towards the radiation rays. For example, radiation rays administered on the hand will have a different effect than the radiation dose administered on the reproductive areas. The effects in the reproductive area will be bigger because the reproductive area is more radiosensitive than the hand and, therefore, will bbe more and easily affected by the radiation dosage (Warrell, 2003). Managing Risks of Exposure to Radiation Radiation rays should be applied to only affected areas. This will help in reducing the risk of harm to other areas which are not affected. There should, therefore, be valid reasons why radiation dosages should be administered to a patient. For example, the patient has to be confirmed to be having cancer tissues before administering the radiation dose. A mere speculation is not enough reason and this may increase the risks of exposure. A justification is, therefore, needed for a radiation dose to be administered. The radiation dose should also be administered to the affected areas only by using the most dose effective settings on the machine administering the dose. This will ensure that very low levels of radiations are administered. Risks of exposure can also be reduced through consultations between patients and physicians before any dosage of radiation is administered Reasons for Increased Use of Medical Radiation There has been an increase in the use of medical radiation despite the constant developments in the technological fields that can be used instead of the radiation process. The growth has been caused by the increased usage of medical radiation or the increased use of radiation in medical services. The most well-known use of radiation for medical services is x-rays. X-rays are usually used to determine whether bones are broken. Yarbro (2011) further explains that other branches of radiology used for medical purposes are the mammography, computerized tomography which is popularly known as the CT scan and nuclear medicine. Cardiology is also another field of medicine where radiation is used. Radiation is also used for treatment of diseases such as cancer. The increased use of radiation technology in medical field has been because of the various benefits that radiation has on the field of medicine. X-ray is the field of medicine that uses radiation the most in detecting whether bones are broken or not. Despite the developments of new ways of detecting and treating broken limbs, the use of radiation rays is very important and almost mandatory in the confirmation that the limb is actually broken (Yarbro, 2011). Other technologies and methods might be important in speculating but it is the radiation rays that will confirm whether the limb is broken or not. There has also been an increase in the use of radiation despite the development of other methods and modern technologies because of the ability to control the risk of exposure of patients or healthy tissues to radiation rays. There are several ways in which the risk of exposure can be reduced when radiation is being used. The dosage of radiation is usually monitored and controlled throu gh the settings of the machine that is administering the radiation rays. This usually helps in reducing the levels or radiation rays that are administered to the affected areas and this will reduce the effects of the radiation rays on the healthy tissues that are surrounding the healthy tissues. Medical radiation will, therefore, be used more frequently even though there are new technologies that have been developed. This is because of its accuracy and its effectiveness in its treatments. Buy custom Why an Increase in Medical Radiation essay