Internal Factors Affect Change of Leadership in Organization

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/1753-8351. htm IJWHM 2,1 Work-related health attributions: their impact on work attitudes ? ? Sara Goransson, Katharina Naswall and Magnus Sverke 6 Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to introduce the concept of work-related health attributions and investigate the effects of such perceptions as well as of health status on work-related attitudes and turnover intentions.Design/methodology/approach – Building on attribution theory, the study tests the assumption that negative work-related health attributions impair employee work-related attitudes and intentions, and moderate the relation between health status and work-related attitudes. Cross-sectional questionnaire data from 785 Swedish retail white-collar workers are collected to test these assumptions by utilizing moderated regression analyses.Find ings – The results show that negative work-related health attributions are related to lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment as well as higher levels of turnover intention, even after controlling for demographics, work climate variables, and mental distress. Further, the signi? cant interaction between attributions and mental distress indicates that it makes a difference for employees’ turnover intentions if an individual with high mental distress attributes it to work or not.Practical implications – Work-related health attributions should be taken into account in order to avoid impaired levels of employee work motivation. The measure introduced renders it possible to identify and help those individuals who believe that work affects their health negatively. Originality/value – The results underscore the relevance of how individuals think their health is affected by their work, and contributes to the understanding of how health stat us relates to work-related attitudes.Since the measure of work-related health attributions is easily administered it is also valuable for practitioners working with employee health and attitudes. Keywords Personal health, Job satisfaction, Employee turnover, Sick leave, Sweden Paper type Research paper International Journal of Workplace Health Management Vol. 2 No. 1, 2009 pp. 6-21 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1753-8351 DOI 10. 1108/17538350910945974 1. Introduction The high rates of sick leave and the evidence regarding the effects of work on employee health in general have received increased attention in both research and media as of ? ate (Catalan Matamoros et al. , 2007). This increased attention, along with the importance of work and health to individuals, is likely to have contributed to an increased interest among employees in how work actually affects their health (Harding and Hikspoors, 1995; Harpaz, 2002; Kallenberg and Larsson, 2000). The Third European Study on Wor king Conditions indicates, for instance, that 27 percent of employees believe that their health and safety are at risk because of their work (European Foundation, 2001).Further, a Swedish study on persons on long-term sick-leave found that 66 percent of those asked named work as the underlying cause for ? their sick-leave (Goransson et al. , 2002). Moreover, Ettner and Grzywacz (2001) found that individuals’ perceptions of how work affects health tend to differ between different work situations, even after dispositional differences were controlled for. None of these studies, however, have studied how employee attitudes and behavioral intentions may be affected by such a negative view of how work affects health.We introduce the concept of work-related health attributions, which we argue may add to the understanding of the factors that contribute to variation in job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and the will to stay with the organization. Whereas numerous studies hav e documented ill-health at work to be related to low job satisfaction (Bradley and Cartwright, 2002; Fairbrother and Warn, 2001; Judge and Watanabe, 1993; Spector, 1997; Wright and Bonett, 2007), low organizational commitment (Leong et al. 1996; Mathieu and Zajac, 1990), as well as turnover cognitions and behaviors (Houkes et al. , 2001; Lee, 1988; Wright and Bonett, 2007), a closer examination of these studies reveals that there are differences in the strength of the association between ill-health and various outcomes depending on the measures used, but also between studies using the same measures. We propose that work-related health attributions can be an important part of the mechanism determining the relationship between ill-health and various outcomes.It is likely that an individual who is not feeling well and who attributes this to factors at work will be less satis? ed with work, less committed, and more prone to leave the organization, compared to an individual with same lev el of ill-health but who does not associate their health status with factors at work. The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether negative work-related health attributions are separate from ill-health, and if the concept contributes to the understanding of negative attitudes towards the job and the organization, and turnover intentions. . 1. Work-related health attributions Work-related health attributions concern the degree to which the individual considers working conditions to be a strong contributing factor to her health status. The perceived contribution of work to health can be positive, negative, or none at all. We propose that work-related health attributions represent an important factor in explaining the link between health and work-related attitudes.By taking work-related health attributions into account it is possible to study differences between those who experience ill-health and attribute this to working conditions and others with ill-health which they do not believe is caused by work. According to attribution theory, people tend to look for causes for events and situations they experience (Michotte, 1963; Weiner, 1985; Stratton, 1997), especially when the outcome is negative, such as in the case of ill-health.Work-related health attributions, then, can be viewed as a type of attribution, since they entail the individual’s explanation of events (in this case how work in? uences health). Furthermore, work-related health attributions focus on how the individual evaluates the contribution of work to her current or future health status, implying that even if the individual currently does not experience any ill-health due to work, she may see a risk of work affecting her health negatively if the situation does not change.Drawing on theories on social representation (e. g. Moscovici, 2000), we also suggest that beliefs are formed from individuals’ experiences as well as socially created and shared ideas and knowledge in gr oups. Such knowledge may consist of health complaints and sickness absence among people surrounding an individual, as well as the way work and its in? uence on health is discussed in research and media (see, for ? example, Catalan Matamoros et al. , 2007), and is important in shaping the individual’s perceptions of the impact of working conditions on health.Thus, negative work-related health attributions may arise both from an individual’s own experiences of a negative impact of work on health and from the individual’s awareness of a connection between Work-related health attributions 7 IJWHM 2,1 8 work and ill-health in the organization and society. The social aspects in the formation of attributions have been observed in previous research such as, for instance, a study where it was found that norms and social debate affected the overall attitude towards absenteeism in organizations (Van Vuuren et al. 2003). At this point, one important distinction should be ma de. We consider work-related health attributions to be separate from actual ill-health at work. Actual ill-health is a general concept and takes a person’s current health status and well-being into account, including such factors as problems with social functioning, sleeping problems, low self-esteem, and depression. Work-related health attributions, on the other hand, are work-focused and entail to what extent individuals perceive that work in? ences health, and do not have to be connected to actual symptoms or health status. Work-related health attributions can, in other words, be negative in spite of a person being in good health. Conversely, an individual can have symptoms of ill-health but believe that work has nothing to do with these symptoms. This discrepancy between health status and work-related health attributions may be due to early signs of health problems, or a conviction that the current work situation is not bene? ial to one’s health in the long run, bu t it is ultimately based on the individual’s evaluation of the situation. Figure 1 summarizes the relation between ill-health and work-related health attributions, and how they are expected to relate to work attitudes and turnover intentions. 1. 2. Consequences of work-related health attributions Expectancies and beliefs, of which work-related health attributions are one example, tend to affect attitudes and behaviors (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Holland et al. , 2002; Weiner, 1985).In addition, the value placed on an object of interest plays an important part in shaping the attitudes toward that object (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Since health is important and highly valued by most individuals, we expect that individuals with negative work-related health attributions also hold more negative attitudes towards work, such as lower job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and higher levels of turnover intention, compared to individuals with less negative work-related health attributions.In all employment relationships, it is the employer who is responsible for providing a decent work climate, preventing health risks at work, and making efforts to keep the employees healthy (Walters, 2002). Employees expect to stay healthy at work because of labor legislation which emphasizes the employers’ responsibility for occupational safety and health. Employers who take measures to safeguard the work environment show that they value their employees and care about their well-being, and reinforce the Figure 1. The relation between ill-health and work-related ealth attributions and their impact on work-related attitudes employees’ expectations of fair treatment in the employee-employer relationship. In response to such support from the organization, employees may develop more positive attitudes toward the job and increase their loyalty towards the organization (see Robinson et al. , 1994; Shore and Wayne, 1993). However, employees with negative work-rel ated health attributions probably hold their employer more or less responsible and exhibit strong negative reactions toward the organization (cf.Robinson and Morrison, 2000; Shore and Tetrick, 1994). Such reactions can include feelings of anger, disappointment, or resentment toward the party perceived as being responsible, which can be manifested as lowered satisfaction with the job and decreased commitment to the organization. Moreover, it has been argued that employees (especially those most quali? ed) tend to leave the company when they experience unfavorable working conditions (e. g. Hirschman, 1970; Pfeffer, 1998).The same might apply to individuals high on negative work-related health attributions; those who have the option may very well leave the organization if the employer does not take steps to remedy the conditions perceived to be threatening the individual’s health. We suggest that work-related health attributions should be taken into account when studying the rel ation between employee health and attitudes toward the organization, especially given that previous research on this relation has found differing results.However, the studies conducted consistently indicate that employee health may have a negative impact on job satisfaction, commitment and the intention to remain with the organization (see, for example, Leong et al. , 1996; Wright and Bonett, 2007). We believe that work-related health attributions make up an important part of the mechanism between employee health and its potential outcomes. 1. 3. The present studyThe purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of work-related health attributions in the context of mental distress and work-related attitudes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment) and behavior (turnover intention). We propose that low employee well-being and negative work-related health attributions, respectively, are associated with lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and higher levels of turnover intention.We also propose that work-related health attributions moderate the relation between mental distress and work-related outcomes, in the sense that the negative effect of ill-health on work-related attitudes is stronger among individuals who hold negative work-related health attributions than among those with more neutral work-related health attributions. Since work-related health attributions can be considered a rather new empirical construct, we analyze its conceptual relation to mental distress before going on to testing our propositions.Research has shown that characteristics of the work environment are important in shaping attitudes such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Fairbrother and Warn, 2001; Parker et al. , 2003), and turnover intention (Griffeth et al. , 2000; Lambert et al. , 2001). In order not to overestimate the effect of work-related health attributions on outcome variables, we control for factors describing the climate at work (job autonomy, quantitative role overload, qualitative role overload, workgroup cohesiveness, and job challenge), in addition to demographic characteristics (gender, age and education).The research model is graphically represented in Figure 2). Work-related health attributions 9 IJWHM 2,1 10 Figure 2. Research model 2. Method 2. 1. Participants and procedure Data were collected within the framework of a project investigating how to attract, develop and retain white-collar workers in the Swedish retail and wholesale sectors. A random sample of 1,589 individuals was drawn from the membership roster of the Union of Commercial Salaried Employees (HTF), which is af? liated with the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (TCO).The HTF, which is the union representing white-collar employees in this particular sector, has a unionization rate of approximately 80 percent (Kjellberg, 2001). Questionnaires were mailed to the members’ homes during the spring of 2 002. A cover letter explained the general aim of the study and included information about compensation for participation in the study (a gift certi? cate was raf? ed off among the respondents) and that participation was voluntary. Participants returned their questionnaires in pre-addressed, postage-paid envelopes. Two follow-up mailings were administered to increase the response rate, one with a new questionnaire.The response rate after two follow-ups was 52 percent (n ? 829). After listwise deletion of missing data, the sample comprised 785 persons. The mean age of the participants was 44 years (SD ? 11), women made up 54 percent of the sample, 14 percent had a university exam, and the average organizational tenure was 11 years (SD ? 10). 2. 2. Measures Table I presents the correlations, mean values, standard deviations, and reliability estimates (Cronbach’s alpha) for all study variables. In general, the measures exhibited adequate reliability (alpha exceeding 0. 70), with the exception of qualitative role overload (alpha ? . 59). 2. 2. 1. Demographics. Gender (1 ? woman, 0 ? man) and education (1 ? university degree, 0 ? lower education) were assessed as dichotomous variables. Age was measured in years. 2 Mean SD Minimum Maximum Alpha 0. 54 0. 50 0 1 – 43. 57 1. 92 21 65 – Gender (woman) – Age 2 0. 06 – Education (University) 0. 01 2 0. 04 Job autonomy 2 0. 15 0. 13 Quantitative role overload 2 0. 08 0. 00 Qualitative role overload 2 0. 09 0. 05 Work group cohesiveness 2 0. 04 0. 04 Job challenge 2 0. 17 0. 15 Negative work-related health attributions 0. 01 2 0. 10 Mental distress 0. 12 2 0. 10 Job satisfaction 2 0. 03 0. 15Organizational commitment 2 0. 04 0. 23 Turnover intention 2 0. 03 2 0. 20 1 0. 14 0. 35 0 1 – – 2 0. 05 0. 00 2 0. 09 2 0. 02 2 0. 03 0. 02 2 0. 04 2 0. 08 2 0. 11 0. 08 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3. 54 0. 90 1 5 0. 78 3. 44 0. 91 1 5 0. 78 2. 22 0. 78 1 5 0. 59 3. 74 0. 96 1 5 0. 84 3. 57 0. 8 7 1 5 0. 74 2. 52 1. 08 1 5 0. 84 9. 19 5. 56 0 32 0. 88 3. 74 0. 91 1 5 0. 88 3. 08 0. 94 1 5 0. 71 – 2 0. 13 – 2 0. 08 0. 31 – 0. 32 2 0. 09 2 0. 13 – 0. 38 0. 14 0. 13 0. 35 – 2 0. 40 0. 42 0. 35 2 0. 35 2 0. 20 – 2 0. 37 0. 28 0. 27 2 0. 34 2 0. 26 0. 56 – 0. 63 2 0. 09 2 0. 11 0. 47 0. 55 2 0. 52 2 0. 49 – 0. 48 2 0. 02 0. 03 0. 8 0. 53 2 0. 34 2 0. 32 0. 71 – 2 0. 39 0. 10 0. 10 2 0. 35 2 0. 35 0. 50 0. 40 2 0. 65 2 0. 56 4 Notes: – Not applicable; for r . 0. 06, p , 0. 05; r . 0. 08, p , 0. 01; r . 0. 10, p , 0. 001 (n = 785) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Variable 2. 04 1. 06 1 5 0. 80 – 13 Work-related health attributions 11 Table I. Correlations and descriptive statistics for the variables in the analysis IJWHM 2,1 12 Table II. Results of con? rmatory factor analysis of work-related health attributions and mental distress 2. 2. 2. Work climate. All climate variables were measured using a ? ve-point Likert scale (1 ? strongly disagree; 5 ? trongly agree). Job autonomy was assessed with a ? three-item index (Sverke and Sjoberg, 1994), including items (e. g. â€Å"I have enough freedom as to how I do my work†) drawn from Hackman and Oldham (1975) and Walsh et al. (1980). Quantitative role overload was measured using a three-item scale (Beehr et al. , 1976), consisting of items such as â€Å"I often have too much to do in my job†. Qualitative role overload was measured with three items (e. g. â€Å"I consider my responsibilities to be unreasonable;† Sverke et al. , 1999). Three items drawn from Nystedt (1992) were used to assess work group cohesiveness (e. g. Members stick together in my work group†). Job challenge was measured with a three-item scale (e. g. â€Å"I’m learning new things all the time in my job†) developed by Hellgren et al. (1997). 2. 2. 3. Health-related variables. We used the short version of the General Health Questionn aire (GHQ-12) to measure mental distress (Goldberg and Williams, 1988). The 12 items (e. g. â€Å"Have you been feeling unhappy and depressed during the last two weeks? †) were scored on a scale ranging from 0 (never/hardly ever) to 3 (always/almost always). Work-related health attributions were measured with a three-item scale developed for the present study.The items (â€Å"I believe that my work affects my health in a negative way†; â€Å"I think I can continue to work as I do now and remain healthy in the long run† [reverse coded]; â€Å"If I had another job my health would probably be better†) were scored on a ? ve-point Likert scale (1 ? strongly disagree; 5 ? strongly agree). The scale measuring work-related health attributions demonstrated a satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha ? 0. 74), and we went on to investigate whether work-related health attributions and mental distress represented two distinct constructs. This was tes ted using con? rmatory factor analysis.Three subscales with four GHQ items in every scale were constructed (see Mathieu and Farr, 1991) creating three parallel indices. The GHQ subscales and the items measuring work-related health attributions were then subjected to the con? rmatory factor ? ? analysis procedures in Lisrel 8 (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996). The chi-square value did not indicate a perfect ? t between the two-factor model and the data (see Table II), but since the chi-square test is sensitive to sample size (Bentler and Bonett, 1980), we also relied on other indicators to determine model ? t. The adjusted goodness-of-? t index ? ? AGFI; Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996), the normed ? t index (NFI; Bentler and Bonett, 1980), the Akaike measure (AIC; Akaike, 1987), the standardized root mean square ? ? residual (SRMR; Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996) and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA; Browne and Cudeck, 1993) indicated that the two-factor model provided an improveme nt in ? t as compared to a model that tested for a single factor. Thus, our results indicate that work-related health attributions and mental distress represent two distinct constructs. The factor loadings ranged from 0. 78 to 0. 81 Model df x2 RMSEA SRMR AGFI AIC NFI Ddf Dx 2 Null 1 factor factors 15 9 8 2,851. 07* 426. 74* 7. 11* 0. 49 0. 24 0. 10 0. 42 0. 09 0. 04 0. 23 0. 64 0. 92 2,863. 07 450. 74 96. 11 0. 00 0. 83 0. 97 – 6 1 – 2,424. 33* 356. 63* Notes: * p , 0. 05; – not applicable for mental distress, and from 0. 73 to 0. 76 for work-related health attributions, indicating good local ? t. The inter-factor correlation was 0. 68. 2. 2. 4. Work attitudes. All attitude variables were measured using a ? ve-point Likert scale (1 ? strongly disagree; 5 ? strongly agree). Job satisfaction was assessed with a three-item measure (e. g. â€Å"I am satis? ed with my job†) developed by Hellgren et al. (1999) on the basis of Bray? ld and Rothe (1951). Organiz ational commitment was measured using three items (e. g. â€Å"The company means a lot to me personally†) from Allen and Meyer’s (1990) scale re? ecting the affective dimension of commitment. Three items were used to assess turnover intention (e. g. â€Å"I am actively looking for other jobs†). The scale is based on items from Lyons (1971) and Cammann et al. (1979), and ? modi? ed and translated to Swedish by Sjoberg and Sverke (2000). 2. 3. Analyses Three moderated hierarchical regressions were conducted with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention, respectively, as dependent variables.The interaction term between mental distress and work-related health attributions was formed by centering the predictors and calculating the product term, following the procedure described by Cohen et al. (2003). The control variables were entered in the ? rst (demographics) and second (work climate) steps. The main effects of mental distress and work- related health attributions were entered in the third and fourth step, respectively, while the interaction term was entered in the ? fth and last step. 3. Results Table III contains the results of the hierarchical multiple regression analyses.The demographic variables (gender, age, and education) explained 3 percent of the variance in job satisfaction. When the work climate variables were added in the second step, the total amount of explained variance increased substantially to 58 percent, and an additional 2 percent was explained by mental distress in the third step. In the fourth step, when negative work-related health attributions were entered, a total of 62 percent of the variance was explained (DR 2 ? 0. 02). However, the interaction term between mental distress and work-related health attributions (Step 5) did not contribute signi? antly to the explained variance. The regression coef? cients from the last step showed that women and those without a university degree were more satis? ed with their job. Furthermore, autonomy, quantitative overload, work group cohesiveness, and job challenge were positively related to job satisfaction. Of most importance to the present study was the ? nding that both mental distress and negative work-related health attributions were negatively related to job satisfaction and that they remained signi? cant predictors of job satisfaction when demographics and work climate variables were controlled for.In the next analysis, where organizational commitment was the dependent variable, the demographics explained 7 percent, the climate variables another 36 percent, and mental distress added 1 percent to the explained variance. Negative work-related health attributions added another 1 percent to the explained variance, whereas, again, the interaction effect was found to be non-signi? cant. Taken together, the model variables explained 43 percent of the variation in organizational commitment. All three demographics evidenced signi? cant effects in the last step; being a woman, beingWork-related health attributions 13 IJWHM 2,1 14 Table III. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses (standardized regression coef? cients from the last step) Dependent variable Step 1 Gender (woman) Age Education (university) DR 2 Step 2 Job autonomy Quantitative role overload Qualitative role overload Work group cohesiveness Job challenge DR 2 Step 3 Mental distress DR 2 Step 4 Negative work-related health attributions DR 2 Step 5 Mental distress* Negative work-related health ttributions DR 2 Model R 2 adjusted Job satisfaction Organizational commitment Turnover intention 0. 2*** 0. 02 2 0. 06** 0. 03*** 0. 10** 0. 14*** 2 0. 08** 0. 07* 2 0. 13*** 2 0. 11*** 0. 07* 0. 05*** 0. 36*** 0. 05* 2 0. 01 0. 14*** 0. 31*** 0. 55*** 0. 24*** 0. 04 0. 06 0. 12*** 0. 34*** 0. 36*** 2 0. 13** 2 0. 08* 2 0. 04 2 0. 09** 2 0. 16*** 0. 24*** 2 0. 11*** 0. 02*** 2 0. 05 0. 01**** 0. 11** 0. 04*** 2 0. 20*** 0. 02*** 2 0. 12*** 0. 01* ** 0. 35*** 0. 07*** 2 0. 04 0. 00 0. 63*** 2 0. 00 0. 00 0. 43*** 0. 06* 0. 00* 0. 39*** Notes: * p , 0. 05; ** p , 0. 01; *** p , 0. 001 older, and having a lower education were all associated with higher levels of organizational commitment.All climate variables except quantitative overload were positively related to organizational commitment. Mental distress was unrelated to organizational commitment, whereas negative work-related health attributions were negatively related to the criterion. The demographic variables explained 5 percent of the variance in turnover intention in the ? rst step and the work climate variables in Step 2 added 24 percent to the variance explained. Mental distress in Step 3 added 4 percent and negative work-related health attributions another 7 percent in the next step.In the last step, when the interaction term was included, the variance explained increased by 6 units and the total model explained 39 percent. The interaction term was signi? cant; indiv iduals high in mental distress and reporting negative work-related health attributions exhibited the strongest intentions to quit whereas those with low levels of distress and less negative work-related health attributions expressed the strongest willingness to stay within the organization. This indicates that it makes a difference for the intentions to turnover if an individual with high mental distress attributes it to work or not.There were small effects of the demographic variables, indicating that men, younger persons, and individuals with a university degree had stronger intentions to leave the organization. In addition, most work climate variables, as well as mental distress (those high in mental distress reported higher levels of turnover intentions), predicted turnover intention. The strongest standardized regression coef? cient was found for the relation between negative work-related health attributions and turnover intention. 4. DiscussionDespite the increased research in terest in work-related stress and health problems, little attention has been paid to whether, or to what extent, individuals’ attributions of ill-health due to work (making negative work-related health attributions) affects attitudes towards work and the organization. Those few studies that have investigated this phenomenon (see for example Ettner and Grzywacz, 2001) have not studied how these work-related health attributions contribute to the understanding of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intention.The present study indicates not only that the construct of negative work-related health attributions is distinct from subjective mental distress, but also that it has important implications for employee attitudes and behavioral intentions. Our results show that employees who reported negative work-related health attributions also expressed less satisfaction with their job, less commitment to the organization, and stronger intentions to leave the organiza tion – even after demographics, mental distress, and factors related to the work climate were controlled for.We proposed that there would be an interaction effect between mental distress and work-related health attributions on attitudes and turnover intention, such that the relation between mental distress and the outcome variables would be stronger for those with more negative work-related health attributions than for those not attributing their mental distress to their job. This proposition received partial support. While work-related health attributions failed to moderate the effects of mental distress on job satisfaction and organizational commitment, the interaction term was signi? ant for turnover intentions. This indicates that individuals with negative work-related health attributions and mental distress were more prone to leave the organization compared to individuals with the same level of mental distress but positive work-related health attributions. Hence, whether the individual attributes ill-health to work or not appears to be important for the effect of health status on outcomes, at least in the case of the intention to leave the organization.This result indicates that the concept of negative work-related health attributions may play an important role in explaining employees’ work-related behavioral intentions, and should be taken into account when the relation between health and outcomes is investigated. Another notable ? nding is that work-related health attributions were more important than mental distress for the prediction of work attitudes and withdrawal cognitions. In contrast to mental distress, which only predicted job satisfaction and turnover intentions, work-related health attributions predicted all three outcomes.That mental distress only appears to contribute to a limited extent is contrary to previous arguments that health status is important for employee work motivation and behavioral orientations (e. g. Hom, 2002). One explanation for our ? ndings may have to do with the fact that work-related health attributions concern perceived health risks that are associated with the overall work situation, whereas measures of ill-health, such as mental distress, may concern any aspect of an individual’s life, not only factors related to the job. As long as the individual does not hold negative work-related healthWork-related health attributions 15 IJWHM 2,1 16 attributions, it is conceivable that subjective health and well-being are only marginally predictive of attitudes towards work. Negative work-related health attributions may therefore be a better predictor of work-related attitudes and behaviors, and should be included in future research on work-related outcomes. The construct of work-related health attributions can thus have great practical utility, since it in a rather simple and direct way captures how individuals perceive that their work affects their health.This is also in agreement wi th Harter et al. (2003), who suggest that researchers have conceived employee well-being too broadly and often in a way which is not intuitively actionable for managers and employees. It is also important to note that negative work-related health attributions predicted work attitudes and turnover intention after controlling not only for mental distress and demographics, but also for characteristics of the psychological work climate.Our data from Swedish white-collar workers showed that, consistent with meta-analysis ? ndings (Parker et al. , 2003), job autonomy, role overload, work group cohesiveness, and job challenge were associated with lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The present study also goes beyond previous research by suggesting that the evident effects of work climate variables remained after subjective well-being and work-related health attributions had been taken into account.The fact that negative work-related health attributions emerged a s one of the strongest predictors of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention clearly indicates that models for the predicting of employee attitudes and behavior could be improved by the inclusion of work-related health attributions. The results from the present study and previous research (see for example ? European Foundation, 2001; Ettner and Grzywacz, 2001; Goransson et al. , 2002) indicate that attributions of work-related ill-health can be understood in terms of psychological contract theory (e. . Rousseau, 1989). Most employees expect that their employers will strive to provide a healthy workplace, and such an assumption is typically sustained by labor law regulations and collective bargaining agreements. If employees experience a work situation which they deem as likely to bring about ill-health, it will be in contrast to their expectations, and thus most likely be perceived as a breach of the psychological contract with the employer (see Robinson and Morrison, 2000).Perceptions of a breach of the psychological contract are likely to result in negative work-related attitudes and withdrawal behaviors (Davy et al. , 1997; Turnley and Feldman, 1999). The ? nding that negative work-related health attributions were associated with impaired job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment, and stronger turnover intention may be interpreted as the result of a perceived breach of the psychological contract. However, while psychological contract breach was not the main focus in the present study, future research may bene? from explicitly including this concept in the explanatory framework. 4. 1. Limitations and future research Although the results of the present study point to the relevance of the concept of work-related health attributions, our conclusions may be affected by a number of methodological issues. For instance, we utilized data from a single point in time, thus prohibiting the study of temporal order between negative wor k-related health attributions and its postulated consequences. However, cross-sectional research is a necessary ? rst step to empirically explore theoretical hypotheses before investments in ongitudinal data are fruitful (Spector, 1994), and two events must be found to co-vary with one another before the causal link can be explored. Furthermore, our results were based on Swedish white-collar employees in a particular service industry, and a replication of the present study using longitudinal data as well as data from different industrial sectors in different countries would be necessary before any ? rm conclusions concerning the generality of the ? ndings can be drawn. All variables were assessed using questionnaires, thus potentially making the results susceptible to mono-method bias (Campbell and Fiske, 1959).Even though meta-analytic research suggests that method variance represents less of a problem than has been assumed in the past (Crampton and Wagner, 1994), the use of other types of data, such as interviews or diaries, would contribute to a better understanding of the role played by work-related health attributions. In addition, while we controlled for a number of factors known to be related to job satisfaction (Loher et al. , 1985), organizational commitment (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990), and turnover intention (Griffeth et al. 2000), it would be relevant to take additional control variables, such as personality characteristics, into account in order not to over-estimate the effects of work-related health attributions. Finally, only three potential outcomes of negative work-related health attributions were considered. Despite the consistent associations found between negative work-related health attributions and employee attitudes and turnover intention, it might be that negative work-related health attributions are less predictive of other factors, such as job performance, safety behavior, and more importantly, occupational injuries and sick-leave. . 2. Concluding remarks Despite these potential limitations, the results of the present study clearly suggest that the investigation of employees’ negative work-related health attributions is an important avenue for future research on work and well-being. The results suggest not only that individuals evaluate how work may affect their health and well-being, but also that such perceptions may have important implications for their attitudinal and behavioral orientations toward work.The measure of negative work-related health attributions could be used as a diagnostic instrument for identifying those individuals who are more likely than others to perceive health-threatening conditions at work. The construct can be useful for employers in order to identify and help employees who experience threats to their health due to their jobs. Given that power imbalances may inhibit the direct communication of interests with an employer (Rousseau, 2001), such that more vulnerable individuals, for instance temporary employees, are less likely to share ? nformation on health risks at work (Aronsson and Goransson, 1998), the collection of information regarding work-related health attributions could be one means for employees to communicate this important information with their employer. Work-related health attributions may also constitute a more direct way of assessing the effect of work on health, and may therefore be more useful as a complement to research which gathers information on aspects of the work situation in order to predict health.An important area for future research is how individuals may take these work-related health attributions into account when making decisions regarding their Work-related health attributions 17 IJWHM 2,1 18 work situation, such as changing work tasks, work setting, or even occupation. Work-related health attributions are important for those with good health as well as for those with health complaints, as it concerns how individuals believe work will affect their health in the future as well as how health has already been affected.If such decisions are based on knowledge concerning not only employees’ health status but also their work-related health attributions, this will potentially result in healthier organizations, on which improved health and lower sick-leave rates will follow. References Ajzen, I. and Fishbein, M. (1980), Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Akaike, H. (1987), â€Å"Factor analysis and AIC†, Psychometrika, Vol. 52 No. 3, pp. 317-32. Allen, N. J. and Meyer, J. P. 1990), â€Å"The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization†, Journal of Occupational Psychology, Vol. 63 No. 1, pp. 1-18. ? ? ? ? Aronsson, G. and Goransson, S. 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Sara Goransson can be contacted at: [email  protected] su. se To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprint[email  protected] com Or visit our web site for further details: www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints Work-related health attributions 21

World Trade Organisation

The WTO TRIPS traces its origins from the 1994 General Agreement on Trade Tariffs (GATT) Uruguay Rounds which proposed its existence. The TRIPS in essence spells out the standards for divers forms of regulations that touch on the intellectual property rights. To this effect, it divulges on standards each nation must meet to enforce the copyright laws, patenting, trade marks, the protection of confidential information, and the geographical indications. After the narrowness and the limitations that were found in the TRIPS, DOHA was then proposed. The DOHA is a multilateral commercial system that has been enshrined in the World Trade Organization(WTO) and seeks to make enhancements on economic growth, expansion and establishment. Having existed over fifty years, this multilateral trading system aims at working towards the entrenchment of international trade by ensuring a system that promotes the liberalisation of trade and international trade policies that catalyse the recovery of the economy, its growth and development. It is on this backdrop that the DOHA multilateral commercial system is against protectionism in international trade, following the objections that were created in the World Trade Agreement, the Marrakesh Agreement (Yeaman, 2003 pp. 39). Recent developments in the DOHA and TRPS meetings and their impacts on the LDCs' agriculture and industries. The latest DOHA development and TRIPS Agreement national workshop meeting was held on 22nd February, 2007 in Indonesia, under the aegis of the WTO which was in liaison with the ministry of foreign affairs (Oberg, 2002 pp. 14). In the meeting, there were pressure from the developed economies on the developing countries to fulfill their obligations spelt out in the TRIPS Agreement Article 66. 2. This demanded that the Least Developing Countries (LDCs) facilitate and carry out technology transfer so as to introduce and maintain an efficient technological base that will make international trade feasible. The LDCs were censured for only submitting r eports that touch on technological training and capacity erections (Zhang, 2001 pp. 66). This is normally taken as a failure on the side of the developing economies, yet their financial base is too narrow to support this undertaking. The main issue here is the time and the financial resources that are needed to realise the policy- and this is not being well considered by the developed counterparts (Tawfik, 2000 pp. 138). The fourth WTO conference was held in November 2001, in Qatar, to ensure that TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) member states are helped to interpret the TRIPS policies so as to be able to take comprehensive measures on public health. Even in the WTO which is still a confederation of different states which have come together for the sake of trade, interests still thrive. The interests range from interstate competition to competition taking on the form of regional blocks pitted against each other (Plat, 2000 pp. 92). In this sense, regions and states will always seek to have policies that are favourable to them, entrenched by the WTO. For instance, Europe, the biggest global importer of agricultural and farm produce wants all forms of local support accorded to farmers plummeted. Europe's main import zones include the developing economies and few developed countries such as the United States, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. In the same wavelength, it wants all the export subsidies offered to the same farmers extirpated by 2013. On the other end, it is pushing for lower tariffs (Taylor, 2003 pp. 40). The European Union says that it is pushing for global accessibility of all industrial goods in the international market. For this, it is aiming at pressuring the WTO to cut out high tariffs. From the facade, this seems a good idea, but it is, under close scrutiny, an artifice to strengthen Europe. Reduced subsidies will increase farming expenses for the farmers while at the other end, plummeted tariffs will only enable Europe to acquire agricultural and farm imports at a very affordable rate (Probs, 2002 pp. 155). From the days of the WTO's General Agreement on Trade Tariffs (GATT), there have been serious cases of structural imbalances and over protectionism in some trading regions, compared to the others. Therefore, Developing countries in the Uruguay Round expected that the heavily protected sectors (textiles and agriculture) would be made more accessible so as to make it possible for the LDC products to have sufficient international access. Howbeit, the two sectors remain locked being characterised by highly proscriptive tariffs with some striking and passing the 200%- 300% mark (Correa, 2004 pp. 244). This comes in the wake of the OECD's Domestic subsidies having soared from 275 American billion dollars to 326 billion. In the textiles and fabrics domain, very minimal items produced by the LDCs have been removed from the quota list even after ten years of corrective implementation period has elapsed. According to the Bureau of International Textiles, only thirteen out of seven hundred and fifty have been exempted from the quota list by the US, while Europe has only excised fourteen out of two hundred and nineteen, and Canada, twenty nine out of two hundred and ninety five. This made it obvious that most of the quotas will not have been eradicated by the arrival of the targeted period of 2013 (Thomas, 2005 pp. 39). At the turn of the century, the realisation towards this exercise was retrogressed by America's announcement that she would in order to protect her local steel industry, impose a 30% tariff on her steel imports. This demonstrates clearly the fact that most developed nations in the WTO are not ready to forfeit their interests just to facilitate international trade (Rajan, 2005 pp. 139). Inspite of the fact that the developed countries have not carried out all of their liberalization obligations, yet LDCs are the ones currently under pressure to expedite their liberalisation of their investments and imports from the international financial entities and regional trade facilitators. The paradox of these developments is that the developed countries who propose these policies ask for more time to restructure their textiles and agriculture while the LDCs having been forced to restructure, are told to persevere the pains thereof for a time. For instance, the proscription of investment subsidies and measures makes it very difficult to facilitate the domestic or local industries. This in turn ushers in poverty and then consequently, dependency syndrome. The liberalization of the agricultural sector is also a setback to small scale farmers since their products become subject to international competition which is characterised by cheaper foreign products ,making incursions into the market. The products from the developed countries are always cheap, following the fact that the dealers in them enjoy huge government subsidies. On the other hand, the developing economies do not have a financial pool, large enough to facilitate the issuance of subsidies to its farmers. This amounts to nothing else but unequal competition ( Tomilson, 1998 pp. 106). WTO TRIPS tolerates very high standards of IPR ( Intellectual Property Rights) type of leadership. This leads to the entrenchment of high prices on medicine, health services and other essential services at the behest of Northern corporation patenting. These Northern corporations deal in biological materials which come from the south and their patenting leads to high costs and at the same time, diminishes the accessibility of industrial technology to developing countries (Trebilcock, 2000 pp. 91). Again, on the 15th May, 2003 WTO TRIPS Meeting that was aimed at implementing policies that were to aid development seemed to lack sincerity and good will. The TRIPS were to engage in the technical support and assistance of the LDCs. However, even the Secretariat was not accorded with chance to air the key issues as touching on the options of the LDCs. This means that should this plan be carried out, the assistance may not be that which will truly meet the needs of the LDCs (Hoekman, Philip and Mattoo, 1996 pp. 45). The matter of patenting of the pharmaceuticals that have been proposed by the WTO TRIPS is also posing a potential threat to the LDCs. The developed economies know this well and this is why, in liaison with the movers and shakers of these ministerials, are trying to hoodwink the LDCs by exempting them from subscribing to the Sections 7 and 5 fully, citing an extended grace period that stretches to January 2016 (Gamharter, 2004 pp. 9). However, they are quite sure about the accruals that will begin to trickle in on the inception of these sections. This period is not enough for the LDCs to improve their health sectors to match the competition that will be coming from the international medical and health care practitioners. LDCs are likely then to face untold miseries in the public health sectors, taking the form of the in ability to provide comprehensive medicinal services and health acre due to price fluctuation from the international dealers. The local medical care givers will also face a lot of disillusionment, stemming from competition from the international medical care givers. In the agricultural sector, the TRIPS has also been a let down to the LDCs. This is because, although the LDCs have not yet industrialised, meaning that their economic mainstay is agriculture, yet, Paragraph 11 of the Agricultural Section of the TRIPS only lists down matters pertaining to agriculture, in relation to the LDCs' development, but does not elaborate further how the issues are to be tackled. This section contains serious matters such as the LDCs being excluded from the exercise of curbing the subsidies, so as to extirpate cases of cheap foreign food products from inundating the local food products and market, the ratification of a market access that is quota free to the LDCs agricultural products (Evenson and Staniello, 2004 pp. 203). This section also was supposed to tackle the issue of LDCs being given the chance to re- evaluate their bound tariff rate to ward off cases of disillusionment of local farmers in the LDCs . Inspite of the seriousness of this provision, it has never been developed or revised for ratification, since it seems that the accruals will now not be trickling so much more to the developed economies (Carvalho, 2002 pp. 97). The local service providers in the developing world have also been left non- viable due to the fact that developing economies have been forced to open up to international market, their service sectors. For instance, it is on this backdrop that national telecommunication corporations in Africa, are closing down following the arrival of the international telephone service providers such as the American originated Vodaphone company, and the European telephone service provider known in Africa as the Celtel (Trendl, 2002 pp. 49) LCDs' frustrations stemming from inconsistencies in the running of the WTO programmes. Apart from these glaring facts about the competitive interests of the states, developing countries encounter setbacks in the realisation of its goals due to lack of structural balance and some pitfalls within the WTO. For instance, in 1999 Seattle ministerial and in the 2001 DOHA ministerial, developing economies presented these realities with the intention of making the WTO revoke the pristine stipulations, only for the developed economies to state that developing economies had entered commitments that were legally binding, and that it is incumbent upon the developing economies to complete their payments first before such matters of abrogation of policies are considered. In the fifth Ministerial which was convened in Singapore, 2003, the LDCs were being prevailed upon to postpone the issues for the new agreements but at the same time, the LDCs were still subject to the many concessions on their side. This does not only betray the lopsidedness of the WTO, but also acts as a pointer to the fact that the developing economies were going to continue being subjected to double payments (Twiggz, 1989 pp. 80). Hitherto, the developed countries had not accrued any anticipated gain from the textile or agricultural concessions. Developing countries are, concerning the issue being told that their proposals that they be given access to the Northern markets, will only, as a pay package deal, be considered in the post DOHA meeting schedule. However, this was to be on condition that they conform with new WTO issues. It is a fact that the new agreements may not usher in gains since the WTO lacks reciprocity, as is being seen in the international trade imbalance. This is also intimating the fact that even in the face of new agreements, developing countries will still be poised to be shortchanged. Furthermore, there is no clear pointer to the fact that there will be the WTO systems and policy re- evaluation or balancing. Neither is the access to the Northern market by the developed countries, nor the abrogation of these policies going to take place so easily (Wu, 2003 pp. 120). Many developing countries also find themselves receiving difficulties in the form of plummeted prices of commodities and the incapacitation on the side of the developing countries to diversify or to adjust upwards, their exports, due to the limitations on the side of the supplies and the accessibility of the market. This problem also arises out of the imbalances within the trading system of the WTO (Wong, 2002 pp. 75). Even the process by which consensus is reached in the WTO is wanting. The will of the developed countries always seem to inundate that of their counterparts in the developing countries. While it is true that the majority in the WTO comprise the developing economies, yet their unified voices cannot secure their interests against their developed counterparts. When the LDCs presented their objections to the WTO, the developed economies maintained that there was no apparent need for WTO systems and rules being rebalanced. The developed economies being the minority, yet could still prevail upon the WTO panel to have it that the recommendations by the LDCs be reviewed in peace meals. This is the reason why even after several years before and after the DOHA, no re- balancing or review of these inequalities have been carried out. On the contrary, appeals by the developing economies that there be the reviewing of the problems before the inception of negotiations on new areas were drastically scuttled (Vohra, 2000 pp. 19). Upon these development, the developed countries also arose to exert pressure on the WTO to lengthen its mandate to make rules so as to integrate the new areas that were being opposed by the LDCs, an action which the developing economies countered together with other groupings from other regional blocks (Benson, 1996 pp. 102). Apart from stating their case that they were not set to have new negotiations and/ or to adhere to the subsequent rules, the underdogs stated it clearly that they were not in full knowledge of what the newly proposed issues could portend, in terms of obligations. In addition to the above reasons, the developed economies maintained that the newly proposed agreements would add to their already inundating burdens, more obligations which would continue to further derail their development progress. As a result, the LDCs maintained that these newly proposed agreements be still considered for discussions but without being given first hand priority (Burke, 1999 pp. 33) . However, spates of unusual and enigmatic methodologies in WTO decision making, made it possible for the views of the developing countries not to be considered in Geneva DOHA Ministerial Declaration. This state of affairs elicited disgruntlement from the developing countries' side since they saw in this, nontransparent and unrepresentative draftings. The LDCs posited that a draft elaborating the differences between the two sides be availed in lieu of the one sided draft which tended to carry some elements of deception that it was drafted on a consensus. Strangely enough, once again, these proposals were disregarded and the document that favoured the new issues was adapted as the premise of the negotiations. This gave the developed economies an upper hand. At Doha, in the Green Room meeting, only very few countries were allowed in, to act as the representatives of those left out. The process turned out to be unrepresentative, nontransparent, and not the true representation of their views. Objections arose at the last session at DOHA when the chairperson at the meeting declared that a consensus touching on modalities and the newly proposed agreements was a prerequisite for the negotiations to begin in the next sitting (Chan and Sherman, 2000 pp. 54). The prospects of the post DOHA constructions and how they are likely to affect the LDCs. Experts posit that the talk is to touch on nineteen areas which are broad scaled, touching on politics and economy, as opposed to the Uruguay Round agenda which only touched on economics. The Post DOHA program is said to be heavy since it touches on human resources, time and technical expertise which the developing countries lack. Other issues that are likely to come up are subsidies, electronic commerce, dumping, and the new work program which at the present is said to promote the imbalance between the developed and the developing economies in the WTO. Instead of seeking to offset the inconsistency between the two spheres, the WTO has on the contrary, accorded special handling of the high areas of interests to the developed economies and neglecting the high areas of interest to the least developed economies (Shan, 2007 pp. 203). This has translated into situations whereby areas that are considered to portend deep interests are being rushed after by the developed countries while in the mean time the developing economies try to deliberately hinder these areas from being seized by the developed economies. Some of these areas of interest touch on matters such as electronic commerce, matters touching on the environment and employment (Tsuruoka, 1995 pp. 89). More problems are bound to arise since, whereas the the developing countries consider the implementation issues such as the provisions of the balance of payments, textile and agriculture, these matters have not been slotted anywhere in the work programmes main text book. On the other hand, matters that are considered more important by the developed countries compared to the developing counterparts, – matters such as science, technology, and finance are already in the main text book of the main program. Matters such as special and designated treatment are also considered important by the developing countries since this party wants to tackle the issue in the next DOHA ministerial, to instill precision, effectiveness and efficiency. In the main text book of the work program, this matter has not been featured anywhere, meaning that the developing countries will in the meantime continue to be subjected to the whims of those with the upper hand in the WTO. This system of special and designated provision plummet the substantive extent of the obligations that are to be presided over by the developing economies. It is thus very clear that even the work programs provision, or its running is lopsided and is therefore of no benefit at all to the developing economies. Instead, it is a stepping stone to the developed countries for their beneficence, yet, these countries give nothing to the developing countries (Schuller, 2002 pp. 144). This happens in the face of total contravention to the GATT/ and the WTO Reciprocal Principle since the process of negotiations amongst all members of the WTO must be guided by the chief principle of reciprocity. The concept of reciprocity according to experts should not be pegged on particular commitments in the agreements, but should also be based upon the designation of items for close attention . Albeit, it must be noted that it is quite paradoxical that the WTO new face started with a promotion of an imbalance. Interestingly enough, this same work program has been at times referred to alternatively as the development plan. It is commonsense that if the development plan itself is faulty, and has also been totally fixed by the top developed countries to suit their own economic interests, given the fact that nothing has been reflected in it to give priority to the developing countries, then the world should anticipate nothing else but the widening of the gulf between the rich countries and the poor countries ( Chan, 2002 pp. 002). Not only this, but if the situation is not turned around (for which there is a very slim chance), then capital is likely to continue flowing from the developing countries into the metropoles, making the metropoles richer day by day, while leaving the poor more emaciated upon every actualisation of an international business deal. As touching on the imp lementation issues, the decisions by Doha has not been very satiating. For instance, it is now a WTO policy that agreements and countervailing policies touching on subsidies in the least developing countries with a Gross National Production (GNP) less than 1,000 US dollar per annum, keep on being included in the sanitary and phytosanitary agreement measures list. It is only upon exceeding this line for three consecutive years that a country will be expunged from this list. On any country's GDP falling below this mark, the country will automatically be re- included in this list (Chan- Gonzaga, 2001 pp. 21). This portends more problems to the Developing economies since they are the ones who are highly susceptible to fall into these traps, given their small scale economies and hence, low GDP. Although there have been proposals by developing economies that these systems that cause imbalances and give rise to problems be revoked, yet as far as touching on these substantive matters, there has been hardly development made on the issue. It is on this premise that many developing economies will be given no priority in the oncoming post DOHA meetings, since these countries will be falling within this rubric of countries that fall below the mark of 1,000 US dollars per annum. Much to the chagrin of these developing nations, the matters already designated for negotiations (the Singapore issues) are not only very sensitive, but are also posing higher potential of reaching the negotiation status. This makes it harder for the rest of the developing countries, should there be need to reach consensus through a plebiscite, which is usually a game of numbers (Das, 1999 pp. 120). Following the stipulations from the Uruguay Round, part of the oncoming designated agenda for the WTO will touch on the negotiation on agriculture. The previous DOHA declaration spells out that in the agricultural negotiations, the principal focus will be working out towards total excision of the export subsidies. This will also include the working towards making governments desist from issuing local support offered to the farmer and the trader, since this local support, they say, distorts international trade. Mostly, this will demand that developed countries be prevailed upon to to revoke the issuance of subsidies (Elchelberger and Allen, 2000 pp. 55). Experts point out that the major developed countries can use these terms to point out that the measures of the domestic support that were included in Annex 2 are not to be subjected to reduction talks. This will lead to the major developed nations being exempt from the reduction injunctions. This will be catastrophic to the farmers and traders in the developing economies since they will not be liable to receiving subsidies while their counterparts in the developed economies will be receiving the subsidies. This brings about unequal competition in the international market yet at the same time, it poses high protectionism in the developed countries. This is an outright application of double standards. The oncoming negotiations will also include the part of services as one of the set- in agenda. This will follow in the wake of the realisation of the fact that the WTO branch, the General Trade on Services, the GATS, is also imbalanced. The developed economies poses far much greater power in the services sector, while the developing countries on the other hand, are very feeble in this sense. In addition to this, they are faced with limitations in supply. This leaves the developing economies with the incapacity to fairly compete with the developed countries. General impact of the WTO stipulations on the LDCs Having looked at that pitfalls of WTO and its bodies (the DOHA and the TRIPS), it is now incumbent that the consequences of these pitfalls on developing economies be looked at. It is also important to note that some of these implications have already been dealt with. The WTO deals with other nations through the two Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It is these two Bretton Woods institutions that some times make sure that the policies carried out in the WTO to promote the international financial transactions are implemented or carried out by the developing countries. It is to this effect that these institutions are known to carry out draconian measures on developing countries to ensure that these countries ratify the implementations. For instance, the 1990s saw most African countries and other developing countries being denied foreign aid because they were still resisting the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programs. Apart from the fact that this measure stagnated the development process and the financial growth rate, most countries were left paralysed, not being even able to support even the running of the daily domestic economic activities (Guo, 2002 pp. 100). These Structural adjustment programs were in themselves not suitable to the developing economies' prospects and programs ( it must be remembered that the Structural Adjustment Programs were the initiatives of the WTO which then was out to bolster international trade). To be more precise, the Structural Adjustment Programs had one of its guidelines being cost sharing. Herein, developing countries were to reduce their debt- to- revenue ratio by accepting this methodology of cost sharing. This policy was being heralded by the developed economies and the two Bretton Woods Institutions as the panacea that was to extirpate the widespread cases of over reliance on foreign aid (Lewis 2000, pp. 208) In the first case, African countries and their developing counterparts were told that they were spending too much on their educational programmes. To turn around the situation, these countries were supposed to withdraw permanently, the custom of issuing allowances to students. In addition to this, access to educational loans was to be plummeted, meaning that only students with high outstanding performance were to access these loans. The governments in the developing countries, and especially Africa, were to invent ways of making money from the educational sector, and for this, the Module Two Programs emerged. These Module Two Programmes, otherwise known as Parallel Programmes run autonomously from the government funded, or subsidised conventional university programs (Hu, 2001 pp. 255). These measures on the educational programs have lead to massive cases in the developing economies not being able to expand their educational programmes, to match the rising educational demand that stems from the growing population. As a result, many students who merit going to the university miss securing admission. In addition to this, the Parallel programmes are too expensive for the ordinary citizens in the developing countries to afford. In a nutshell, this measure of cost sharing in the educational sector only succeeded in making education in the developing countries inaccessible, and thus making these countries susceptible to massive cases of brain drain. For the first time, in the 1994, four years after the inception of the Structural Adjustment Programmes, there were cases of university students being dismissed from universities due to fee arrears in the eastern Africa region. At the same time, those students with good grades and a fair financial pool who fail to make it to the government subsidised programmes opt for oversees studies in the developed countries. Upon completion, these students prefer to work in these developing countries. This massive cases of transnational exodus for greener pastures has left the developing countries more and more subjected to brain drain and lack of skilled labour (Kang, and Feng, 2002 pp. 107). Still on the concept of cost sharing, the governments in the developing countries were prevailed upon by the two Bretton Woods Institutions to reduce their expenditures by carrying out a massive exercise of downsizing the civil service so as to trim its size. These exercises were to be carried out starting from 1995- 2005 in most African economies for example. In Latin America, the measure was to be carried out in phases starting from 1992- 2002. However, contrary to what developing countries were told, the carrying out of this exercise only proved to be a Pandora box, ushering in untold catalogues of untold misery at the hands of poverty. Simply put, the myriad numbers of the retrenched civil servants found themselves subject to poverty ( Low, 1997 pp. 124). In the same spectrum, the concept of international trade which was formed by the WTO and heralded by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that nations cede away the production of certain products to other countries with specialisation ( both natural and human resources, together with technological endowment), does not ager well with the developing nations. Developing nations are kept from realising their dreams of indutrialisation through this concept. Moreover, the concept itself is innately twisted since a nation can be having adequate natural resources and man power, but can be a fledgeling economy that has not yet fine tuned its technological advancement with its indutrialisation programmes (Lyon, 1996 pp. 51). More importantly, the exercise translates into more problems since it leads to more cases of jobs being forfeited, especially in the developing economies, since developing economies have not yet fully been industrialised. This strain of international outsourcing coupled together with its twin, the downsizing of the civil service, has increased the level of unemployment in the developing sector. The problem proves to be hydra headed since the potential tertiary education students who miss out on learning opportunities together with the retrenched civil servants, add to the bulk of the unemployed population with no means of livelihood. It is on this backdrop that all the developing economies have national security matters making it to the top five national agenda in the annual review of national programmes (Shrybman, 2001 pp. 7). World trade, an undertaking which the WTO Is chiefly interested in, is in itself also bedeviled by many issues that touch on the entrenchment of political, cultural and economic domination of the developing countries by their global trading counterparts, the developed countries. For instance, although the developed countries form the minority in the WTO DOHA, yet their will is highly predominant over the developing countries' (Wong and Mc Ginty, 2002, pp. 40). In addition to this, the same institutions that are used to channel foreign funds to the developing economies, the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Funds (IMF), belong to the developed economies. In addition to being the conduit through which foreign fundings reach other countries, these two Bretton Woods Institutions are supposed to offer advisory services, and at the same time, carry out investigative and monitoring activities on the developing economies' progress (Mah, 1998 pp. 120). In the course of the monitoring progress, the developing economies are supposed to submit their statements of accounts to either the WB or the IMF. This exposes easily, the developing countries to political manipulation by the developed countries, especially those in the west (Markel, 2000 pp. 43). It is also through the WTO's international outsourcing that different multinational corporations have been able to make incursions into the developing nations territories to indulge in the provision of goods and services in the developing countries. Some of these companies include the shipping company, Maersk, the petroleum companies such as the British owned, British Petroleum (BP) and the Shell, and the American and British owned Kenol Kobil (Lauffs and Singh, 2000 pp. 173). Any country that wants to take part in the trade that uses the sea routes in the eastern African region must register with the Italian shipping and handling company, Maersk. This in itself amounts to economic domination since these countries are accorded a laissez faire condition, devoid of domestic competition. In the same vein, the companies that come from the developing countries are not accorded by the WTO and the international trade counterparts any chance to trade in the developed countries' backyard ( Lewis and Rhodes, 2002 pp. 88). It is a well known fact that the process of international trade relations is mostly hinged upon the concept of instantaneous exchange of information in a trans border sense. Because this process is aided by the existence of technological advancement, the previous WTO DOHA ministerials and the TRIPS meetings have been characterised by the prevailing upon the developing countries to hasten the process of technology transfer and installation (Li, 2002 pp. 187). This was in accordance with the aim to have free and efficient flow of information in an interstate manner that could promote trade. Although this measure being considered by the TRIPS under the aegis of the WTO is not geared towards any harm, yet the WTO has not yet looked at the full repercussion of this measure. For instance, it is on this backdrop that developing nations have fell for serious cases of cultural domination. Since the developed countries exceed the the LDCs in commercial and technological knowledge and skills, most of the trans border exchange of information flow from the developed countries to the LDCs. However, with this huge volume of needed information, also comes, information that always insinuate the socio- cultural traits of the developed countries as being superior to the LDCs'. At the same time, the Socio- cultural practices in the developed economies are insidiously permeated into the social fabric of the developing economies (Lewis, 2002 pp. 62). It is on the above premise that small factions have come up to resist these spates of developments by using terrorist attacks. While these attacks are always aimed at the major developed economies, yet to instill pressure on the developed nations, these quasi religious military ragtags also aim at the trading allies of the major developed countries who are normally, the LDCs. It is because of these state of affairs that there were twin bombings in the two most lucrative capitals in the eastern African region in August 1998 by the Al Qaeda forces. Similar cases are also widely common in the world of the developing countries (Mukherjee, 2000 pp. 172). Conclusion. Therefore, it can be seen clearly that the LDCs in the international trade through their relations with the developed countries, courtesy of the WTO, has elicited more pain than gain. Nevertheless, all is not lost for the LDCs, since the Doha declaration posits that it, as an organisation, has an aim of making the development of the LDCs actualise. To this end, the development needs of the LDCs such as food security and health will continue to remain core issues that will control the implementation of other policies. The LDCs should seize this provision to illustrate that their indutrialisation and development will not come without food security, and food security will not be realised by their economies since the mainstay of their food source remains, small scale farming. These small scale farmers being economically challenged, deeply need government subsidies and domestic support. In nearly the same manner, the LDC factions within the WTO such as the the Group 15 that is made up of the heads of the governments should continue working towards collaborations among the LDCs in calling for new global approaches, as it was agreed upon by the same in the 11th Summit that was held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Hole in the Wall

Today I finally found an apartment to live in, it's not much but what can you expect? I'm still in college so this is all can afford. The apartment is pretty run down, i was cleaning it up the best i could when i discovered a hole in the wall, it had paper stuffed inside it. I pulled all the paper out to find out that the hole travels all the way to the apartment room next door to mine. You have a clear view of the whole apartment, i could easily spy on my neighbour if i really wanted to. At least it's not a big hole i thought to myself, it's about the size of a golf ball. I reached for my phone to check the time. It's 8:20am. I grabbed the paper and forced it back into the little hole and rushed out the door, i was going to be late for class. When classes ended for the day i decided to go straight home, exhausted, i dragged myself into the elevator. The door was starting to close when this young woman was heading quickly for the elevator. I pushed the button to hold the door open for her, she thanked then we stood in silence. I took a glance her way to realize how attractive this woman was, she had long brown hair and gorgeous green eyes, she looked really smart and put together, i couldn't take my eyes off her. When the elevator stopped on my floor i was surprised to see her get off behind me. I walked for my apartment door to find out that this very attractive woman is my neighbour! I walked into my apartment with a huge grin on my face, thrilled that she was living next door. Later on that night my curiosity got the best of me, I had to take a little peek into the hole in the wall to see what my neighbour was up to. Lucky for me i caught her in the middle of changing. I watched her for a few minutes then decided to cover the hole back up, i don't want to push my luck. After i covered the hole up I did my homework and went to bed. I woke up to someone heavy breathing, it was really strange. At first i thought it was in my dreams but then I realized this was real life. It sounded like someone was struggling, gasping for air. And I'm pretty sure it's coming from my neighbours apartment. Completely terrified, i slowly pulled the paper out of the little hole in the wall. I pressed my face up against the wall and let my eyes adjust to the dark. I was completely horrified from what i saw, someone was stabbing my neighbour to death. I must of watch this person stab her a dozen times. Who ever they were really wanted to make sure she was dead that's for sure. I kept as quiet as i could, waiting for the murderer to leave the apartment, hoping to get a look at their face. When the murderer turned to leave i caught a glimpse of their face, it was a man, very tall with a very narrow face with an abnormally large nose. He would be fairly easy to identify if i were ever to see him again. I backed away from the hole and raced for my phone. I was just about to call the police when i realized I couldn't. If i called them I would have to explain that i was spying on my neighbour through a hole in my wall which sounds creepy and also suspicious. So i put my phone down and sat in my bed, trembling and scarred from what i have just seen. I didn't sleep for the rest of the night and decided to leave for school at the crack of dawn so that i wouldn't be around when someone realizes that my neighbour has been killed. I came home late that night to find two policeman outside my apartment. They started to ask me questions about my neighbour and where i was last night. They came inside my house and took a look around and they found the hole in the wall. I explained that i have only been living here a few days and it's clear that there are still some renovations that need to take place. After hours of questions the police left, tired of getting repetitive answers but I'm not going to reveal my secret so i kept with my story. I decided to put it all behind me and try to move on, the first couple nights i had a hard time sleeping but after a week everything was going good. Then again, i woke up to the same noise in the middle of the night, heavy breathing. It was coming from the apartment next door again. This time i completely panicked because there is no one living in that apartment now. It's still all taped off from the crime scene investigation, no one was been in that room other than the police. I found the courage to rise to my feet, my legs quivered as i walked over to the hole in the wall, not knowing what to expect when i remove the paper from it. I took a deep breath a pulled the paper out. I looked through the hole and saw nothing, there was no one there. I backed away from the wall and forcefully ran my fingers through my hair, i think I’m starting to lose my mind. Then i heard the noise again so i turned towards the hole again. There was a wide-open bloodshot eye starring back at me. The hideous unblinking eye starred at me as i crouched to the floor frozen with fear. Then the silence was broken by a woman’s raspy voice saying â€Å"i know you saw.†

Parkinsons term paper Essay

Parkinson’s disease is characterized as a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system which is understood to persist and continually worsen over time. It is the second most common neurological disorder. Parkinson’s disease affects approximately one million people within the United States. This disorder progresses slowly and is unique in the sense that Parkinson’s disease can be caused by genetics among other things. Parkinson’s disease is well known for its characteristic tremors, stiffness, and difficulty with speech in the patients it affects. Parkinson’s disease is caused by diminishment of the substantia nigra in the tegmentum which controls motor functions within the body. This disease is classified as a basil ganglionic disorder which causes a breakdown of dopamineric neurons in the substancia nigra, located in the midbrain. The substancia nigra is composed of neuromelanin which pigments the substancia nigra and gives it its darker cha racteristic. The neuromelanin also connects to the motor cortex which is responsible for one’s motor control and balance. The chemical dopamine is created in the substantia nigra. The basil ganglia receives inputs from the motor cortex, the association cortex, and the substancia nigra. The basil ganglia then sends messages to the motor cortex by way of the thalamus. With Parkinson’s disease, the nigral neurons are damaged, which causes the neuromelanin to be free to move into the adjacent tissue where it is phagocytosed and moved away by macrophages. This degenerative process not only destroys the process of creating dopamine, but it also causes the pigmentation of the substancia nigra to change and become lighter in appearance. The lack of dopamine-related input from the substantia nigra negatively changes the equilibrium of the output from the basil ganglia to the motor cortex. This alteration in the equilibrium then causes the symptoms related to Parkinson’s disease. The d irect cause of Parkinson’s disease remains a medical mystery, but many factors can participate in determining whether one is susceptible to developing Parkinson’s disease in  the future. The exposure to specific toxins in the environment and various environmental factors has the possibility of playing a role in those who were diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Another possible cause of Parkinson’s disease is the role of one’s genetics. It is found that certain mutations can give rise to Parkinson’s disease, although this is uncommon. The brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease change as the disease progresses. Lewy bodies are microscopic markers that characterize the presence of Parkinson’s disease within a patient. They are abnormal microscopic protein deposits that form in the brain and play a role in disrupting the brain’s normal functions. This disruption causes deterioration. Lewy bodies contain A-synuclein which is a protein that cells cannot break down. Early indicators of Parkinson’s disease include tremors or shaking which can reside in one’s finger, thumb, hand, lip, or chin, though shaking is normal after extensive physical activity, injury, or may be due to medications. If one’s handwriting begins to appear smaller over a short period of time, it could be a warning sign of Parkinson’s although one should not base their self-diagnosis upon handwriting, for handwriting can change as one advances in age, but this happens over time and not suddenly. A loss of smell in specific foods can be an indicator, but a loss of smell can also be related to the possession of the common cold or the flu. Another early sign may be sudden movements while sleeping such as falling out of the bed or kicking and punching. It is important to understand that people on occasion may experience difficulty sleeping. Chronic stiffness can be a sign, but this symptom can also be caused by an injury or arthritis. If one is experiencing constipation on a daily basis, this can be considered a sign of Parkinson’s disease, although a lack of fiber in one’s diet or medications can determine the moving of one’s bowels. Having recently possessed a soft o r low voice is an indicator unless one has a chest cold or other virus. If one has the appearance of a masked face, a blank stare that persists, or undergoes a long duration of time without the action of blinking, these may be precursors to having Parkinson’s disease. Feeling dizzy or fainting can be signs of low blood pressure and may be connected to Parkinson’s disease along with the inability to stand up straight. There are many Parkinson’s-related symptoms that are known today. The most obvious of symptoms is a resting tremor. A shaking, or tremor, normally starts in one’s  limb, and it is often located on a hand or fingers. This resting tremor usually stops when the patient is voluntarily moving the limb affected by the tremor. A â€Å"pill-rolling† tremor is common and is characterized by one rolling one’s thumb and forefinger. These tremors can be noticed when the limb is even at a relaxed state. Due to the tremors and inability to control certain motor functions, writing can become difficult for patient s with Parkinson’s disease. It is noted that when writing, those effected with Parkinson’s disease posses handwriting that is characteristically small. Bradykinesia, or a slowing of movement, can be present. Parkinson’s disease has the ability to cause one to move slower which can make simple every-day tasks a challenge. With bradykinesia, one’s steps may become smaller in distance when being mobile, and one’s feet may begin to drag when walking. Excessive muscle tone or hypertonia may be prevalent in patients with Parkinson’s disease and will manifest itself as stiffness or rigidness which causes pain and a loss in one’s range of motion. Parkinson’s disease patients may experience posture impairment and balance, for a patient’s posture can become stooped, and balance can be lost. Patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease may experience a loss in their autonomic functions which include and are not limited to smiling, swinging one’s arms while walking, and blinking. This loss in autonomic function caused a select number of patients to stop using their hands while speaki ng in normal conversations. Speech changes can affect those living with Parkinson’s disease. One may speak out of rhythm in such a way that it may sound soft, quick, hesitant, monotone or slurred. Diagnosing Parkinson’s disease is not a simple process, for a test for Parkinson’s disease does not yet exist. In order to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a neurologist must first obtain a detailed medical history of the patient being diagnosed, a review of the patient’s signs and symptoms, a physical examination, and a neurological examination. Tests to exclude other conditions may be ordered to ensure proper diagnosis of the disorder. Once a patient has undergone sufficient testing and examining, the doctor may prescribe the patient the medication carbidopa-levodopa, which is a Parkinson’s disease medicine. If the patient improves considerably while on the medication, this often confirms a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.  There exists a wide-range of treatments for patients that suffer from Parkinson’s disease from drug treatments to surgical treatments. The pharmacologic approach for those with Parkinson’s disease aims to increase the lack of dopamine in the patient’s basil ganglia. L-dopa or Levodopa is a drug that can cross the blood-brain barrier. The brain can convert this drug to dopamine. Carbidopa can also be prescribed to patients afflicted with Parkinson’s disease. Carbidopa is a decarboxylase inhibitor and, when taken with levodopa, can aid levodopa from converting to dopamine outside of the brain. The combination of medications allows for more levodopa to reach the brain which ultimately increases the brain’s supply of dopamine. These two medications decrease the side effects which are caused by an increased amount of dopamine outside of the brain. They reduce the supply of â€Å"free† dopamine from residing outside of the brain. An excess of dopamine outside of the brain could result in low blood pressure, vomiting, and nausea. Other medications include dopamine agonists which directly stimulate nerve receptors inside of the brain which are usually stimulated by dopamine. In contrast to the medication levodopa, dopamine agonists do not convert into dopamine but rather behave like dopamine. Dopamine agonists are utilized in patients that are in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease and may be added to a treatment plan along with levodopa in the later stages of Parkinson’s disease. It may also be added when levodopa alone cannot sufficiently manage the patient’s symptoms or when the patient has severe motor fluctuations. Side effects associated with levodopa-carbidopa include dizziness upon rising, confusion, nausea, movement disorders, and hallucinations. Side effects commonly associated with dopamine agonists are vomiting, nausea, and orthostatic hypotension. Surgical treatment options are available for those who suffer from Parkinson’s. These surgical treatments are intended to control symptoms related to Parkinson’s disease patients who do not positively respond to medications. One of the surgical treatments crea tes a lesion in specific portions of the thalamus within the midbrain which become overactive in Parkinson’s disease. A reversible procedure that can be used on patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease is deep brain stimulation, or DBS. With this procedure, electrodes are implanted into exact locations. These locations are treated then with pulses of electrical currents. Why deep brain stimulation works is unknown. Medical  experts believe that the current could be activating, affecting, or inhibiting synaptic transmission onto neurons in the vicinity of the electrodes. The future prospects for a cure for Parkinson’s disease are promising, for the medical community has begun to identify the genetic causes linked to Parkinson’s disease. This allows the medical community to expand animal models of Parkinson’s disease. These will be highly useful in the process of understanding the pathogenesis of the disease and will be useful in further testing the neuroprotective therapies which can potentially aid in the fight against the progression of Parkinson’s disease. A different potential approach in the future would be to engage in the replacement of lost neurons via transplantation, which would be highly difficult and tedious. Overall, Parkinson’s disease is well on the way to being better understood and through this und erstanding scientists will be able to directly identify the source of this disease and eventually find a method that directly cures this disease. References Etiology. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved March 13,2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/etiology Welcome to the Purdue OWL. (n.d.). Purdue OWL: APA Formatting and Style Guide. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01 Parkinson’s: Symptoms & Types. (n.d.). WebMD. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http://www.webmd.com/parkinsons-disease/guide/parkinsons-symptons-types Parkinson’s disease. (n.d.). Complications. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/parkinsons-disease/basics/complications/con-20028488 Parkinson’s Disease. (n.d.). Parkinson’s Disease. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http:// courses.washington.edu/conj/bess/parkinsons.html Nisipeanu, P. (n.d.). Parkinson’s Disease: Diagnosis and Clinical Management. Adverse Effects of Dopamine Agonists. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nih.gov/books/NBK27800/ Levodopa Medicines for Parkinsonâ€⠄¢s Disease. (n.d.). WebMD. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http:// www.wbmd.com/parkinsons-disease/levodopa-medications-for-parkinsons-disease Dopamine Agonists for Parkinson’s Disease. (n.d.). WebMD. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from

American Political Arena and Labor Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

American Political Arena and Labor - Term Paper Example There is no unity and consensus between the union leaders. The most panic event is while labor has played a major role in U.S. politics for at least 70 years, union workers are not united in their political choices. In "Race, God, and Guns: Union Voting in the 2004 Presidential Election," Donald Beachler explains that a substantial percentage of white union members vote for Republican candidates. 37% of voters in union households in 2000 and 40% in 2004 voted for Republican candidates. Again, 46.8% of white voters in union households voted for President Bush in 2004. From a practical point of view, due to some inherent beliefs and rituals like abortion, gay rights, gun control and prayer in school, many white workers prefer the Republican party and choose themselves to be turned as Republican. Again, once it was unimaginable in the south to think that any party except the Democratic party would win the majority or secure the mandate of the people. But, historically, after Democratic President Lyndon Johnson pushed through the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act in 1964-65, the Republican Party has had great success in becoming the party that most southern whites identify with. Democratic politicians have some inherent traits.  It is an established practice in America that No Democratic candidate can ever completely disavow unions, but Clinton's strategy was to distance himself from unions and to embrace the conservative economic policies of the Democratic Leadership Council in order to appeal to suburban white middle-class and upper-class voters. The Democratic leaders are also seen to be rigorously prone to social welfare and economic reforms rather to adopting strategies spoiling the force of the country's economy.  Ã‚