Defeating corruption to help development Coursework

Defeating corruption to help development - Coursework Example From this research it is clear that when citizens become the custodian of the goods and services of the State, it is indeed a great and an honorable responsibility. Simultaneously, they are also entrusted with the duty of distributing these goods among the society on behalf of the country’s Government. The public servants have to manage large amount of the State’s resources for their work. In many situations, the government officials are lured into securing a part of the State’s resources for their personal benefit. This is usually accomplished by adopting some unfair means. Such an activity of exploiting a public service for some personal gain is known as â€Å"corruption†. Examples of corrupt illegal practices include offering and accepting of bribes, practicing black-market activities, stealing public resources etc. Corruption has affected most of the bureaucratic systems of the modern-day countries. Both senior government officials as well as low-ranke d public servants have been found to be engaged in unlawful activities. The corruptive malpractices have gradually eaten into the health of the public service organizations. They have originated from different social and institutional factors and have now become deeply embedded in the social system of countries. The illegal activities are prevalent on a regular basis and have come to be accepted as an integral part of the bureaucratic systems. In many countries corruption has become so endemic that it is perceived as normal. People are not necessarily genetically programmed to pay bribes, yet they do it for a range of complex and deeply-seated institutional and social reasons. It is more difficult to break this cycle of normality than penalizing individual corrupt acts. Thus, Governments of different countries have encountered numerous difficulties in eradicating corruption. In the early 1990s, the Russian authorities had to implement a number of institutional reforms to tackle corr uption in the public as well as the private sector. The nature of Corruption Corruption is defined as the ‘abuse of public office for private gain’ (USAID, 2005). It refers to the malpractice of taking undue advantage of an existing system for catering to some personal requirement. Governments of different countries have introduced various public service programs for the benefit of the local population, especially the poor section of society. However, most of these public service systems have been the breeding ground for corruptive practices. According to the USAID Anticorruption Strategy (ACS), corruption pollutes the fair and unbiased system of the national democratic institutions by placing them at the discretion of the privileged class citizens. This reduces the efficiency of the public service systems: the goods and services meant to be delivered to the poor population are channelized elsewhere. These corruptive practices act as a huge barrier to the governmental e fforts of promoting social, political and economic development of the society. Thus, corruption is a significant hindrance to the economic development of a nation (USAID, 2005, p.8). Corruption is prevalent in varying degrees in almost all economies of the world. The national Governments have implemented a number of measures to deal with this bad practice. They have mainly adopted a two-pronged strategy in this context. On one hand, they have tightened the rules and regulations of the bureaucratic systems to prevent the incidence of corruption among the public servants. On the other hand, governments have also administered strict punishment to the citizens found guilty of being involved in corruptive practices. (USAID, 2005. P.8-9s) Human Behavioral Reasons behind Corruption Human Psychologists and Behavior Specialists have tried to trace the origins of corruption to help them understand the reason as to why normal people indulge in such unlawful behavior. Human society has been pla gued by corruptive malpractices right from the ancient times. The old civilizations like India bear

Select and critically appraise a policy document that is relevant to Essay

Select and critically appraise a policy document that is relevant to your area of practice. Critically analyse the evidence bas - Essay Example The Trust also guarantees that slips and trips and falls experienced by staff visitors as well as contractors are reported and then managed by the Trust. The National Health Services white paper has established plans in order to secure savings from their delivery of health services, allowing these savings to be reinvested in the primary care services of the agency. The Department of Health (2012) has declared that the health care system in general is being challenged to improve the quality of their health services while still trying to reduce its cost and financial impact. As such, savings can be secured by changing the practice and the NHS system. Possible savings which nurses can provide to overall services represent millions of pounds a year (Gainsbury, 2009). Such potential must therefore be explored and expanded. Through the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, there are several high impact actions which come from data suggested by nurses and midwives in the UK. Falls p revention is one of these HIAs which seem to call for new processes in management (Power, 2009). The nursing profession is one which has, from the very start been focused on securing quality care for the patients (Fabre, 2009). I am a nurse working fulltime and in the unit where I am assigned to, fall risks are one of the problems identified, and its prevention seems to merit more improvements in the current existing policies on slips, trips, and falls. Slips, trips, and falls prevention and management managed to provide an updated standard in the management and prevention of falls. The policy impacts on all in-patient admissions as well as staff members. As discussed by Andersson, et.al., 2006 there have been identified issues in the planning and implementation of the policy. Andreoli, et.al., (2010) points out that the implementation of policies seem to be removed from reality, especially as many policy-makers and recipients often do not understand or appreciate the processes whic h are needed in order to make the policy work. Kubler (2001) highlights that fact that the passage of legislation of policy is not necessarily associated with the achievement and accomplishment of policy goals and objectives. In the hospital where I work, the top-down policy implementation process is being implemented. This has allowed for the implementation of the policy from the management level down to the employee level. Based on the data gathered by the NHS, the issue of slips and falls is a significant one and the NHS has understood the importance of prioritizing falls prevention and management (Laurance, 2012). Based on a review of the present data on slips, trips and falls, specific changes were made on its implementation (Laurance, 2012). The goal of preventing and managing falls and its risks is to improve the safety of patients and health professionals who are exposed to risks of falling (NHS, 2010). The policy is mostly related to the assessment of data, the implementati on of preventive measures, as well as the implementation of multi-disciplinary working. It also secures guidelines for the staff, giving standards which seek to manage the unit’s prevention strategy, to reduce inpatient falls, and consequently decrease