Download dissertation || Abstract: This case study describes the Education in Human Values (EHV) program as it is exemplified at the Sathya Sai Primary School in Murwillumbah, Australia. It also describes and analyses the impact of this program on academic achievement and character development in school-aged children at the school.
Download dissertation || Abstract: The society we are living in today is very different from that of 50 years ago. It is changing rapidly in every area you can think of from medicine, science, history, aviation, education, globalization, engineering, finance and politics. On the one hand, we are advancing in leaps and bounds technologically with the state of art discoveries in computer technology, telecommunications, medical break through etc. This is all fine and good in the name of advancement. However, at the same time, all aspects of morality in our society is also diminishing rapidly. Respect for others, for others property, and for oneself is uncommon in today’s world. Children and young people are heavily influenced by the media which, apart from providing knowledge about the world, is also promoting negative traits such as eating habits, fashion, music, and language. In a majority of families both parents work and spend less time with their children. They are in a dilemma as to raise good children. All parties are now turning to schools to assist in raising morally good citizens for the future.
Even though the general understanding and expectation is that schools are the most suited to help children in this time of dire need, little attention has been given to teachers, who are the most important as they are in direct contact with the children.
Questions which arise are:
Furthermore, schools know that they have to do something but they are not told how to do it. What can they do without knowing how to do it? There have not been any processes or pedagogy given to them.
My survey questions for teachers aim to address some of these issues.
Download dissertation || Abstract: A shortage of nursing personnel is currently being experienced globally and Australia is no exception. One of the major contributory causes of nurses abandoning the profession is their dissatisfaction with the management system. A large number of registered nurses are not in the workforce as they are not willing to work under the current adverse conditions created by hospital managers. Other factors identified for the unattractiveness of the nursing profession are the heavy workload, inappropriate skill mix, poor rostering and enforced overtime. These problems that contribute to the shortage of nurses in the workforce are further compounded firstly by an aging workforce and secondly by reduced number of university seats for undergraduate nurses.
The aims of this research were firstly to determine whether managers who incorporate Sathya Sai Education in Human Values (SSEHV) into their management style are able to transform or influence the behavior and attitude of their staff positively. Secondly the aim was to explore how senior management interacts with frontline managers, nursing staff, union members and other support staff with regard to the introduction of SSEHV.
The justification for the research was the high staff turnover in the Critical Care Unit (CCU) and results of a staff opinion survey undertaken in 2003 in a regional hospital. The major issue identified in the survey was the dissatisfaction of the staff with the style of management. This led the nurses to experience high levels of stress, anger, frustration and burnout. As a consequence of the results of the survey dissonant leadership was identified and senior nursing management staff were replaced.
In this research an attempt was made to influence the style of management by introducing the practice of Human Values into the management process by the Frontline Manager (FLM) which in this case is the Nurse Unit Manager (NUM) of the High Dependency Unit (HDU). SSEHV was implemented to heighten the awareness of the nursing staff to the practice of these values. The concept and practice of Emotional Intelligence (EI) were introduced and implemented at the same time, to enhance the capacity of the staff to monitor their own and others feelings and emotions.
Furthermore to discriminate between these emotions and to use the information to guide their thinking and action.
In this research direct observations were made on the interaction between upper management with staff to determine whether staff were consulted in the decision making processes, whether staff were encouraged to undertake professional development internally and externally and whether the nurses Union was involved and to what extent.
The results from this observation were gathered from formal and informal meetings, correspondence and emails. No evidence was found to indicate that upper management consulted with nursing in the decision making processes that affected the working life and personal lives of the nurses.
A performance review was undertaken through an interview process to determine whether any transformation had occurred in the staff attitude and perceptions as a consequence of implementing SSEHV and EI.
The results revealed that all staff (100%) stated that positive transformation had occurred within themselves over the eighteen month period. All staff stated that they had developed a greater awareness of their emotions and gave an example of practicing at least one of the human values (Truth, Love, Peace, Right Conduct and Non-Violence) in their personal and professional lives. As a consequence a cohesive team emerged resulting in increased staff retention rates and job satisfaction.
