General Electric's Joint Ventures Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

General Electric's Joint Ventures - Case Study Example As opposed to joint ventures where partner companies have significant power in making strategic decisions, acquisitions allow companies to have full control of management and resources (Hill, 2011). The preference for acquisitions by General Electric also resulted to the congruency of this strategy to its business philosophy. However with the changing business environment, the company has shifted to joint ventures as an entry mode into foreign markets. In the recent past, General Electric has preferred joint ventures as a strategy for entry into foreign markets. This is because of the bids for acquisitions have skyrocketed. With the 2008–2009 economic crises, the company would no longer afford risking spending large capital in bidding for acquisitions. As a result, General Electric feared that it could overpay for acquisitions which would cripple its economic position which was already affected by the 2008-2009 economic crisis. In addition, there are many companies with which General Electric would form joint ventures. Through joint ventures companies benefit from local business relationships, local expertise, political contacts and an already established market (Hill, 2011). Even though joint ventures provide an effective way through which companies share business risks, there are other risks associated with this mode of entry. These risks include possible changes in political and legal environment which would act out of favor with foreign companies. Additionally, the power that partner companies have in the process of making strategic positions would be overused. Additionally, the objectives of business partners may not be congruent in a joint venture (Hill, 2011). Furthermore, cultural differences and divergent management styles among partners in joint ventures are risks which would cause failure of success in the partnership. In

Public Policy Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6500 words

Public Policy - Coursework Example Dialectic relationship is defined as the interactive relationship between two entities in which one affects the other in a continuing iterative process. This process influences the strategic knowledge of both actors as well as the structured context, which in turn shapes the agent's future action. The implications are that policy network analysis may not be the foolproof method of policy analysis that it is made out to be. Nonetheless, it is attracting considerable interest in the policy-making arena because it expands the concerns of policy research previously confined to options directly or indirectly related to an issue. Analysis of policy with the use of the policy network concept involves theoretical approaches in a wide range of disciplines that includes political science, sociology, anthropology, international relations and management (Sutton, 1999). By putting political science theories at work, the process looks at policy networks as epistemic communities that can help develop an understanding of the role of various interest groups in the undertaking. The concept of an epistemic community is important, especially in knowledge-based theories, because it can influence four stages of the policy process - policy innovation, diffusion, selection and persistence (Hasenclever, et al., 1997). These epistemic communities are likely to take a strong stand on the policy decisions, and once politicians agree with this position, the latter are expected to invite experts into the circle of power, thus giving such communities an opportunity to have a substantial influence on the policy process (Ibid). From t he sociological viewpoint, policy networks are classified as either corporatist, state-directed, collaborative or pluralist, which essentially differ in their degree of integration. The networks with the greatest level of integration are the so-called "Iron Triangle" coalitions in the US, which are state-directed communities composed of congressional subcommittees, interest groups and government bureaus pursuing a mutually supportive relationship (Dowding, 1995). The level of integration of the other communities depends on the policy area. If the policy area concerns energy issues, the network assumes a corporatist character because it is made up of business groups, while it becomes collaborative if the issues relate to public health because the network will be composed of professional organizations. The network is pluralist in character if the policy under study involves national issues with social, political and economic ramifications. There are two different approaches to policy network analysis developed in UK, one by Rhodes (1997) and the other by Wilk & Wrights (in Dowding, 1995). The Rhodes approach specifically addresses the relations between the central British state and governance in the periphery (Dowding, 1995), thus it looks at the policy network as a cluster or complex of organizations connected to each other by resource dependencies and distinguished from other clusters or complexes by breaks in the structure of these resource dependencies. As for the Wilk & Wrights model, it seeks to explain the complex nature of policy-making in

Nursing Research with Children: Ethical Guidelines

Nursing Research with Children: Ethical Guidelines SUCAN SUTANTO Introduction: Singapore Guideline for Good Clinical Practice (SGGCP) is the primary regulatory document which needs to be observed when conducting trials in Singapore. Last revised in 1999 by Ministry of Health (MOH), the SGCCP regulate conduct of clinical trials in Singapore along with The Medicine (Clinical Trials) Regulations and the Medicine Act. For all research studies involving human subjects or their tissues and organs, MOH made it mandatory that ethics committees are established to provide scientific reviews of their study protocols. The establishment of this committee involved all hospitals, both government and restructured. Thus â€Å"Institutional review boards† (IRB) was born and its guidelines was designed by The Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC). IRB play a central role as the gateway for ethnics review of â€Å"all Human Biomedical Research carried out under the auspices of its appointing institution† (MOH 2007 p.04). Individual researcher and institutions bear the ultimate ethical responsibility for governing their research. Based on the IRB’s Operational Guidelines (MOH 2007), three fundamental ethical principles; respect for persons, beneficence and justice must be followed in conducting biomedical research involving human. Potentially vulnerable populations must be given special attention. The following sections will examine one of the vulnerable populationchildren. It is primarily challenging for the Ethics committees in assessing pediatric related research as the above principles discussed may conflict with some issues. Vague definitions of principle of equipoise, minimal risk and informed procedures are some contributing factors. The role of ethic committees in evaluation of risk and their impact in pediatric research will be given more focus. Search Strategy PubMed database is primarily used in the search. Combination of keywords are used including of ‘ethics committees’, ‘research’, ‘children’, ‘pediatric’, ‘risk’, ‘ethics’ and ‘assessment’. Children as a population sampling In Singapore, 21 years is the age of majority under the common law. For any individual below the age of 21, Clinical Trial regulation states that parent’s or legal representative’s consent must be obtained for participation in trials. This present an ethical dilemma where the children’s autonomy become their parent or legal guardian, assuming that they have the children’s best interest at heart. The risk-benefit ratio of the research is then left to parents and IRBs to determine. Risk assessment in pediatric research According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Pediatric Clinic of North America (Laventhal et al., 2012), there are four definable risk in human research. In Singapore, the risk are less definitive, 2012 BAC guidelines describe only â€Å"research involving minimal risk such as surveys† and â€Å"risks involving more than minimal risks such as those involving invasive procedures† The first level is minimal risk and it can be defined as probability and magnitude of physical or psychological harm that is normally encountered in the daily lives or in the routine medical, dental, or psychological examination of healthy children (HHS 2009). Studies in this category can be carried out even if they do not offer any direct benefit to the child although consent of at least one parent and the child assent is necessary. However this definition is rather vague and carries an inherent issue when applied to pediatric patient such as in the hospital. A survey was conducted on review board chair regarding skin biopsy on newborn and there is actually a split opinion and classification on whether it should be classified as â€Å"minimal risk† (Westra et al., 2011). The second level of risk involves a â€Å"minor increase over minimal risk†. Although there might not be direct benefits to the child, such research might be allowed if it has the potential to yield valuable knowledge. Risks are deemed acceptable if they are comparable to the actual or expected condition of the child, medically or physiologically. In this case, both parents’ consent and child’s assent are required (HHS 2009). The third level of risk is defined as â€Å"greater than minimal or even minor increase over minimal risk† with prospect of direct benefit to the child. Whether the potential benefit justifies the risk must be assessed and determined by IRBs (Laventhal et al., 2012). To determine the risk benefit, IRBs uses component analysis approach. Each intervention or procedure must be evaluated separately. For those components that represent greater than minimal risk, further assessment will be done to determine whether it does or does not hold out the prospect of direct benefit to the enrolled child (Roth-Cline et al., 2011). The component analysis method however has been critiqued as it is standardized to the norm of clinical equipoise to determine the ethical acceptability of protocols. Definitively, clinical equipoise works on the principles of genuine uncertainty on the part of the clinical investigator regarding the comparative therapeutic merits of each treatment arm of a clinical trial and that no one should receive an inferior treatment (Roth-Cline et al., 2011). A dilemma might present itself in trials where data collected is sufficient to doubt the clinical equipoise but not necessarily enough to justify scientific conclusion. An example could be seen in a review of neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) hypothermia treatment trial published by Laventhal et al in 2012. It was shown in a number of trials involving more than 600 infants that cooling HIE infants core temperature might help to elevate their condition. These randomized controlled trials managed to show overall improvement in mortality and disability outcomes although some adverse side effects were reported. However, Laventhal et al., 2012 pointed out that current evidence might not be adequate to determine the safety of this therapy and its efficacy. Therefore, whether to make this treatment mandatory for such patients remain to be decided. In this case, there is a dilemma on whether to allow more of such trials. On one hand, given that much evidence already supports the treatment, it would seem unethical to even deny the controlled subjects from such a beneficial treatment. On the other hand, just because a robust scientific conclusion has not been drawn, is it fair to continue to expose the infants to treatments with possible adverse outcomes? For those randomized into non treatment a rm, would there be any potential direct benefits? Yet, to answer those questions and to find out long term safety and efficacy questions, the only way might be to conduct more trials. Even within the IRB chairmen there are variations and application of assessment of risk- benefit potential. Shah et al in 2004(Shah et al., 2004) randomly surveyed 175 chairmen in United for certain intervention on children relative to the prospect risk and direct benefit. Results were surprising. In one intervention, an allergy skin testing, 23% considers it a minimal risk, close to half consider it minor increase above minimal risk and the rest as more than a minor increase over minimal risk. In the case of direct benefit for participants, 60% of those surveyed consider added psychological counselling as a direct benefit, while another 10% consider participant payment as a direct benefit. These divides in opinion indicates that the integrity of risk and benefits analysis by IRBs can be challenged. The fourth risk level exists for trials where there is no prospect of direct benefit with more than a minor increase over minimal risk for the child. Such studies could be allowed if they have high potential to produce very important knowledge. Such cases are not under approval of IRBs, instead they are referred to an experts panels under the federal government. (Laventhal et al., 2012). In a review by Wendler and Varma in 2006, they examine 9 studies assessed by IRBs which fall into the fourth level. IRBs classified different levels of harm; negligible, minor, moderate, severe and catastrophic harm relative to the normal probability a healthy child may encounter in day to day situation. Wendler and Varma then assess the proposed interventions for each study and then compare with the classification given by IRBS.They argued that eight of the studies could actually be categorized into minimal risk instead of the fourth level of risk. A primary example was the intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) on healthy children. Known possible harms include nausea, bruising and hypoglycemia. Very minimal adverse events were recorded in thousands of pediatric studies involving IVGTT. Only 1 in 3000 risk of hypoglycemia, it can be resolved with carbohydrates or glucose injection. It is therefore arguable that the IVGTT risk much more minimal in comparison to the 30 in 1000 cha nce of â€Å"minor† harm in average children in their daily routines used as a base of the classification. As such, the review shows that misclassification could occur and valuable research time may be delayed unnecessarily. There is a lack of empirical database on risks of ordinary activities for reference and this might be a contributing factor for the misclassification. It forces the IRB members to rely on their own individuals life experiences to determine the perceptions of risk therefore causing biased. To conclude, pediatric studies have been shown to provide an ethical review challenge. In order to improve the risk analysis and reduce bias, empirical data on the risk of research procedures in pediatric studies as well as database on the risk of daily activities should be collected and better established for reference. There should be standardized guidelines for risk analysis with certain flexibility to account for unique feature of each study (1542 words) References: Bioethics Advisory Committee (2004) Research involving human subjects. Guidelines for IRBs. Singapore: BAC. Available from: http://www.bioethics-singapore.org/index/publications/reports/172-research-involving-human-subjects-guidelines-for-irbs.html [Accessed 28th Jan 2015] Bioethics Advisory Committee (2012) Ethics Guidelines for Human Biomedical Research. Singapore: BAC. Available from: http://www.bioethics-singapore.org/images/uploadfile/32914 PM2012-06-20 BAC Ethics Guidelines (for comments) F.pdf [Accessed 28th Jan 2015] Ministry of Health (2007) Governance Framework for Human Biomedical Research. Available from : https://www.moh.gov.sg/content/dam/moh_web/Publications/Guidelines/Human Biomedical Research/2007/Governance Frwk for HBR_14-12-07_formatted.pdf [accessed 02 March 2015] Department of Health and Human Services (2009). US code of Federal Regulations, USA, FDA, Available from: http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/archive/humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.html#46.404 [Accessed 28th Jan 2015] Fernandez, C. (2008) Ethical Issues in health research in children. Paediatr Child Health 13(8) 707-712 LAVENTHAL, N., TARINI, B. A. LANTOS, J. 2012. Ethical issues in neonatal and pediatric clinical trials. Pediatr Clin North Am, 59, 1205-20. Ministry of Health (2007) Operational Guidelines for Institutional Review Boards. Singapore: MOH Available from: https://www.moh.gov.sg/content/dam/moh_web/Publications/Guidelines/Human Biomedical Research/2007/IRB Operational Guidelines_14-12-07_formatted.pdf [Accessed 28th Jan 2015] ROTH-CLINE, M., GERSON, J., BRIGHT, P., LEE, C. S. NELSON, R. M. 2011. Ethical considerations in conducting pediatric research. Handb Exp Pharmacol, 205, 219-44. SHAH, S., WHITTLE, A., WILFOND, B., GENSLER, G. WENDLER, D. 2004. How do institutional review boards apply the federal risk and benefit standards for pediatric research? Jama, 291, 476-82. Westra AE, Wit, JM; Sukhai, RN. And Beaufort ID. (2011) How to best define the concept of minimal risk. The Journal of Pediatrics 159 (3) 496-500 WENDLER, D. VARMA, S. 2006. Minimal risk in pediatric research. J Pediatr, 149, 855-61. Wendler, D. and Glantz L. (2007). A standard for assessing the risks of pediatric research: pro and con. J Pediatr 150, 579-582

Whitney Ottos How to Make an American Quilt and Norman Macleans A River Runs Through It :: American Quilt Otto River Runs Through Essays

Whitney Otto's How to Make an American Quilt and Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It Many times when I write it is difficult to locate a general theme, or even a clear and precise point. Too often, my papers seem to deviate from the intentional purpose stated in the introduction. The topic and primary idea need to be effectively introduced at the beginning so that the reader knows what to look for and what to expect. Many times, my writing consists of a solid introduction with a good idea, but it wanes as it nears the ending and the conclusion is not effective so as to remain consistent with the proper sequence of the sentence (2-3-1). The reader of my work must distinguish the most important point of the work, understanding the general theme, while remaining captivated by a consistently interesting paper. If a primary point exists, it needs to be expanded, emphasized, or supported. The work needs to remain interesting and captivating throughout. For the reader to infer my opinion on the subject matter, I must show approval or disapproval of it in some way. The resul ts of this personal critique correlate to 101 Dalmatians, 7th Heaven, How to Make an American Quilt written by Whitney Otto, and A River Runs Through It written by Norman Maclean. Each of these works contains a main point, a theme, and this is expanded, emphasized, or supported throughout the plot. The reader is abruptly introduced to the four texts at the beginning. In A River Runs Through It, Maclean introduces the setting and background of the story more effectively, but he still jumps into the plot by beginning with "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing" (1). That first sentence serves as an introduction, yet it is not a typical beginning point. Otto, likewise, begins her novel with instructions; "You need a large wooden frame and enough space to accommodate it" (7). Even though these authors begin their stories by jumping into the plot, the authors do provide sufficient background serving to remove much of the abruptness. The prologues and introductions found in the books explain what is ahead in the plot; much the same way previews and commercials explain the direction of the plot in the television show and movie. The reader and viewer can anticipate the plot and its direction, making the first line a necessary bridge into the story ahea d.

HR Planning for British Airways Essay

Human Resources are one of the most important departments in any organisation. It plays a big role for the company and influences every employee because it is responsible for managing employee costs. However, Human Resources Department also has responsibility for many other tasks including Recruitment and Selection, Training. The most important task that performed by HR Department is Workforce Planning. Basically, Workforce Planning is the process when business needs to make sure that it recruits the right people. The recruitment and selection of best employees might be very hard. First of all, the company has to understand the importance of Human Resources Management and ensure they spend enough capital on each employee. As many companies nowadays failed to do that and can’t survive among its competitors. Human element is the key to potential success and it is what the company should care the most about. If you have the right employees with right skills and they are well motivated then they will perform a good job and will bring the company more profit. British Airways is one of the leading global airlines that I have selected for this assignment. British Airways is aware of the importance of Human Resource Management. Therefore, as the employer they are providing the professional environment for its employees where they can be treated with respect. British Airways also trains and motivates the employees by communicating ethical policies and socially responsible behaviour to them. It makes employees to work more efficiently. There are many external and internal factors that can affect Human Resource Planning and that any organisation should be aware of. The main external factors that affect British airways are political, economic, technological and social. The airline industry is highly affected by political factors. British Airways’ business operation and decisions are influenced by regulations and policies. Regulations can be such as routes that an airline chooses to fly, the business partners the airline works with, the airport slots it uses as well as the fare it sets and the infrastructure costs it pays. Safety and security is another area that is highly regulated by governments. British Airways is engaging with different governing bodies such as European Union and national government to ensure safety and security while causing minimal inconvenience to customers. The airline business is highly sensitive to any economic downturn. There are a number of factors that affected the business of British Airways. For example, prices increases in oil and commodities. Consumer and business confidence on airlines declined because of rising unemployment, uncertainty in the capital markets, the erosion of household budgets and falling house prices. Therefore the customers are likely to cut its costs on holiday and airline tickets which means lower profits for the company. Social factors that affecting HR planning need to be taken in an account by British Airways. Nowadays passengers are choosing trusted airlines, First of all the fall in the economy is also pushing customers to seek for lower prices. With the developing of Internet and other technological advances it is easier for the customers to choose among different airlines and even get personal recommendations online, therefore the customers became less loyal. As every other company nowadays British Airways is also affected by technological factors. Maintaining a corporate website which handles customer queries and reservations is a new requirement for the airlines. British Airways has managed with this task and also the company keeps regularly up to dated with its competitors and technology world. Making customers experience more easier and faster British Airways also uses online self check in and self check in machines at the airports which makes the process much easier for its customers. Like many organizations today, British Airways face several environmental issues such as climate change. Governments and policy makers are now creating regulations and policies that will require airlines to curb emissions growth. All airlines have to meet a comprehensive range of local, national and international environmental regulations As well as there is a number of external factors affecting HR Planning, there are also internal policies and procedures impact HR activities. For example, if the company is committed to promoting from within, HR must ensure employees receive appropriate training and development to be ready for promotion when the time comes. HR should monitor the number of employees eligible for retirement and ensure potential replacements or other staff members are trained to avoid a sudden departure of business

Socialization is done when children follow the footsteps Essay

Socialization can be referred to as the process by where adults and children learn from each other. It is often said that socialization begins at home and this is true because it is the responsibility of the family to teach children from a very early age the norms and values of society. It is the process by which they learn right from wrong. Socialization is done when children follow the footsteps of their parents, teachers or older siblings. Socialization never really stops because all through life, people learn new things and they are never knowledgeable enough to know everything. During this process of socialization children develop a sense of self and become their own person. They become unique and have a distinct personality. Individuals develop their potential and learn culture through this process of socialization. Humans are unlike any other species and they need to learn things and how to survive. It is important for humans to learn their culture for it is a part of who they are. We learn by internalizing which is the process when people take norms values beliefs and language as their own and accept them as their own. Importance of socialization Socialization is important for many reasons: It helps a person become who they really are. It provides the basics for a person to learn about their culture and their way of behavior. Socialization helps people discover their talents and they find out that they are really good at something and they enjoy that. Through socialization children can develop as a person and acquire normal social graces. Children need to feel cared for and loved so when parents take time out for their children and teach them values and norms this helps them to develop properly. Learn ways on how to think talk and actions that are important for social living Is a way by which the society can pass culture along to the next generation We achieve harmony and are able to it into society We develop skills and learn not to always act on instinct It avoids isolation and improper development of children It allows us to develop our potential to develop or maximize skills We develop proper learning Agents of socialization The family is a major agent of socialization. It gives individuals their first experience, earliest and deepest experience to relationships and their exposure to the way of life. The family also teaches their own about the social and physical environment and teaches them to follow it. Children learn from the type of environment that elders create. The family also gives children a social place when it comes to religion race or culture. This makes up the child’s self-concept. The family are the ones responsible to teach children manners, respect and obedience. They cannot allow their children to go to school without teaching them how to talk to older people with respect or how to obey when told to do something. The school also plays a role in the socialization of children. The school is a port way for children to learn about their ancestors and to teach them of the way people behaved in the older times compared to the way they behave now. They learn how society is connected to race and gender. The school is their first experience to bureaucracy. This means that the school prepares them for the future because it runs on a time schedule and is governed by rules. This is helpful because it prepares them for when they get a job. It is also proven that schools mold children into gender roles. School also open opportunities or children to join peer groups in which they meet people with similar interests or talents. The mass media is also an agent of socialization. The mass media provides a vast amount of information to a huge audience at the same time. It is proven to have a great impact on the behavior and attitude of children. The media is also a port way for people to learn about different cultures and to meet people of different race and ethnicity. The media can inspire people to achieve access and to follow their dreams. Children will view successful people on the television and aspire to be like them. This is a good thing because children will have ambition. Theories on socialization George Herbert Mead: He developed a theory on social behaviorism. It explained how a person’s personality can be affected by social experience. He saw the power that environment had when it came to shaping behavior. He studied inward thinking. His main concept was self. He described this as the part of a person’s personality composed of self- awareness and self- image. He considered that self only develops when people interact with others. He said that humans care what others think of them and that is what they think of themselves as well. Lawrence Kohlberg: He studied how people distinguish between right and wrong. At an early age for children, they think that whatever feel good to them is right. Another aspect of his is that teenagers in the adolescent stage lose their selfishness and learn to act according to what parents tell them and by the rules of their school. He also said that individuals learn not to argue with what is legal or right. Jean Piaget: he studied human cognition. This refers to how people think. He wondered how children made sense of the world. He described the way children made their way through life based on what they thought of it. Piaget believed that biological maturation and increasing social experience was reflected by human behavior. He stated four stages of cognitive development which included sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. Sigmund Freud: He studied mental disorder and personality. He believed that biology played a major role in the way people develop. He said that the human personality had three parts which include: The id which represents the innate human drives, this would be the human life and death instincts, the ego which refers to the internalized cultural values and norms and the ego which he considered resolved the competition between the restraints of the superego and the demands of the id. . Family Basic Concepts Family is a group of people who are closely related to each other by blood, adaption or marriage. The family is considered the basic unit of society. A family is considered to be the people who will always be there for you, no matter the situation you are involved in. Whenever in need of something the first place you run to is home. You are confident that there you can be safe and that there will be the people you can depend on. The family is the group of people who play a significant role in an individual’s life. Bonds within a family are considered kinship. Within every society there are families, however the views of people and whom they consider to be their family may vary depending on historical changes and culture. Family of orientation refers to when individuals are born into a family that includes parents and siblings living together. This plays an important role in socialization. A family of procreation is when adults decide to start their own family either naturally or through adaption. Marriage is an important aspect when considering starting a family. Marriage is a legal union between two people who commit to each other and this involves economic cooperation, sexual activity and childbearing. Children born out of marriage are considered to be illegitimate. Global Variations Types of families: Extended family: Is a family that includes more than three generations living in the same household. Everyone is connected by blood. Nuclear family: A family that includes a mother, father and their children living under the same roof. Sibling household: This is a family that an older brother or sister is the one in charge of the rest of children. They are required to be the parents and take care of the younger ones. Reconstituted family: This is a family type formed by the combination of two single- parent families. Single- parent family: Is a family type that involves one parent taking care of the household. Marriage patterns This refers to the way in which individuals are required to marry: Endogamy: This refers to marriage between people of the same social category. This limits marriage prospects to other people of the same gender, social class or race. Exogamy: This is when people of different social class get married. This type of marriage promotes cultural diffusion and builds alliances. Monogamy: This is marriage between two people. Polygamy: This is a type of marriage that unites two or more people. Polygyny: This refers to marriage of one man to two or more women. Polyandry: This refers to marriage of one woman to two or more men. Residential Patterns This talks about where a couple resides after being married: Patrilocality: This pattern refers to when the married couple lives with or close to the husband’s parents or family. Matrilocality: This is when the married couple lives close by or with the wife’s family. Neolocality: This refers to when the married couple live in a new place away from any side of their families. Patterns of Decent This refers to a system families used to trace their kinship over generations. Patrilineal descent: This is when individuals trace their kinship through men. This is when sons are the ones who inherit or get property passed on to them by their fathers. Matrilineal descent: This is a system used to trace kinship through women. This is when mothers pass on property or inheritance to their daughters. Bilateral Descent: in order to promote gender equality, this system traces kinship through both men and women. Theoretical Analysis of the Family Functions of the family Structural and functional analysis: Socialization: The teaching of right from wrong to children. Regulation of sexual activity: Every culture tries to regulate sexual activity in order to maintain property rights and kinship organization. Social Placement: Families try to maintain social organization in order to confer their social identity. Material, emotional and financial security: Families provide financial assistance, physical protection and emotional support. Inequality and the family: Social- Conflict analysis Property and Inheritance: Identifying heirs in order to transmit property. Patriarchy: This is how men own women as their sexual and economic property. Racial and ethnic inequality: Families promote people marry others like themselves. Stages of Family Life This is the way how a family evolves. Courtship: Is when partners get to know each other and see if they are compatible. Settling in: This involves romantic love where partners fall in love with each other and usually plan to marry or not. Child rearing: This is the raising of children on the right path showing them love and kindness. The family in later life: This is when people stay married but for the final years of their marriage they return to living with only one spouse. Transitions and problems in family They are many things that break up the family: Divorce is the dissolution of a marriage. Causes: Individualism is on the rise: This is when family members stop spending as much time with each other. Romantic love often subsides: When sexual passion fades this is when relationships fade. Women are now less dependent on men: Women leave unhappy marriages because wives are now not financially dependent on husbands. Many of today’s marriages are stressful: Most families face the problem of not having enough time or energy for family. Divorce is socially acceptable: Divorce is no longer being discouraged. Legally, a divorce is easier to get: Now divorces are easy to get as long as the couple says the marriage has fail. References Macionis John J., Sociology- (13th Edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009