Long-Range Planning in the Present World Environment Assignment

Long-Range Planning in the Present World Environment - Assignment Example Terror attacks, war, and nuclear dilemmas facing the world were additional topics requiring brainstorming at the event. Former U.S. President Clinton maintained that climate change is the only crisis "that has the power to end the march of civilization as we know it." Otherwise, "There is no reason for pessimism," declared Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell (Environment News Service 2006). A Dutch managing director claimed that 'long-range planning is nowadays seen as an academic exercise' given that the times are uncertain and the environment turbulent. We have heard that the polar ice cap was depleted by a staggering fourteen percent between the years 2004 and 2005. Now if another Ice Age was to commence in six to seven years and we were sure that this would happen, companies could do away with long-range planning. Since there is no definite date for the end of the world, however, companies must do what they have always done - plan and forecast. Yes, there are forces beyond the control of people of the world. Besides, threats of violence around the globe have not been put to an end. We have already witnessed the effects of war and terror on the economic state of the world. Still, uncertainty has always been the present state of the world. ... Companies of all sizes continue to operate everywhere on earth. Life is going on without any surety as to what would happen in five to ten years' time. Natural disasters do occur and both small and large companies do lose a lot of money. Firms die and new ones are born. CEO's retire and younger ones take their place. Nevertheless, companies must continue to make long term plans about running their businesses as productively as possible, taking into account the external factors that could disturb the process in between. No company can survive with its focus on a big scale disaster. Therefore, businessmen would go on making budgets and deciding how to increase their sales over the coming years. Short and long term planning combined is the lifeblood of all firms and would be carried on for as long as the earth endures. Furthermore, today's business environment is fast changing because of innovations in technology. Companies must be taking into account all factors that spell change whils t planning; these factors not only include technology but also forces that the world does not fully understand at this point in time. As Gordon C. Robbins (1995) puts it, "A good deal of organizational planning . . . is like a ritual rain dance. It has no effect on the weather that follows. . . . Much of the advice related to planning is directed at improving the dancing, not the weather." Long-Range Planning Business planning has two aspects: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative planning is number crunching based on market reports, for example. Qualitative plans, on the other hand, consist of descriptions and explanations. A long-range business plan includes both qualitative and quantitative aspects. It is the qualitative aspect that

Developing a Nursing Intervention to Encourage Healthy Eating Habits Research Proposal

Developing a Nursing Intervention to Encourage Healthy Eating Habits among Teenagers - Research Proposal Example This is a clear indication that consumption of an extensive variety of food especially during adolescence is more likely than not to set up preferences of food that will continue even in adulthood. Changes in food preferences during adulthood are quite difficult to change and therefore it would be much easier to cultivate healthy eating habits. Consumption of a healthy diet is the foundation of better growth and development for adolescents. Healthy eating allows adolescents to attain their educational potential following better brain development. Eating habits during childhood and adolescent often have an impact on the health of such an individual during adulthood. For example, adolescents who munch through outsized quantities of energy giving foods are more likely than not to become obese or even overweight. According to Booth et al. (2001), obese adolescents are more likely to obese even during their adulthood an as a result, they may suffer from illnesses related to obesity such a s heart disease as well as diabetes. Discussion Many healthy eating interventions have mainly focused on changes in nutrition intake. Nevertheless, a focused on food patterns, enjoyment of eating, food eating as well as the experience of food are according to Tapper, et al (2003) more likely to develop a positive nursing intervention to encourage healthy eating habits among teenagers that is long lasting. In their study on adolescent healthy eating Worsley and Skryzpiec (2004) make an attempt to define the term healthy eating to mean consumption of an extensive variety of vegetables, fresh fruit, dairy and animal products, wholegrain cereal foods, and also legumes. In an effort to develop a positive nursing intervention to encourage healthy eating habits among teenagers that is long lasting, the causes of concern about adolescent t eating must be identified. These causes of concern may vary from one adolescent to another, they include meal skipping, poor food preference and selectio n, excessive energy consumption, and fussy eating. The term food selection is used to connote the amount and type of food that individuals usually eat. The reliance on a limited variety of foods is therefore what is referred to as poor food selection. This usually involves selection of foods that contains huge amounts of sugar, salt, and fats. Other studies depict poor food selection as conception of foods which have low content of wholegrain foods, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. There have been concerns about meal skipping amongst adolescents. According to a study conducted by Pollitt and Mathews (1998), skipping meals such as breakfast or even lunch may result to cognitive as well as mood deficits. The tendency to prefer particular food over the other is also another big concern that results to poor eating habits in adolescents. Adolescents may learn to like new and healthy eating habits from repeated exposure to such food and practices especially through parental and peer encou ragement. By watching their parents and peers eating and enjoying healthy food, they can easily quite the bad eating habits and assume the healthy practice very easily (Palla, 2008). Among the adolescents, using coercive tactics as well as banning some foods may prove to