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Addressing the Shame Imposed by Healthcare Providers on Individuals with HIV/AIDS – Using Change Models and the SPELIT Power Matrix to Provide Cultural Sensitivity Training to Physicians and Nurses in Belize

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by Tabia Richardson

 

Abstract

According to the literature, “the United Nations Agency for International development and the World Health Organization estimated that 33.2 million people worldwide had HIV/AIDS in 2007 with an estimated 1.6 million living in Latin America” (Andrewin & Chien, 2008, p. 897) and the rates of prevalence and incidence were increasing worldwide. In Belize the contempt associated with HIV/AIDS is great because the “acquisition [of this disease] is perceived to be a result of immoral and voluntary actions, [due to] homosexual and promiscuous sex and the sharing of infected needles among injection drug users” (Andrewin et al., 2008, p.897). More specifically, the literature asserts that for these patients, their first experience with rejection comes from healthcare providers for whom diagnose and treated them (Andrewin et al., 2008).

This proposal is being submitted to the 4th Annual Conference of the International Center for Global Leadership in Placencia, Belize. This conference highlights different phenomenon for which global leaders offer their attention. HIV/AIDS has been on the radar for global health leaders because it not only affects health care providers, but a number of industries worldwide. This proposal highlights the phenomenon of contempt that is prevalent amongst healthcare leaders for whom serve HIV/AIDS patients worldwide, but more specifically in the country of Belize. It is hoped that through offering training, the issue of contempt may be addressed and eventually eradicated as it relates to individuals afflicted with HIV/AIDS no matter the vector of contraction.

Introduction

Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a debilitating disease that can be deadly, and for some, comes with a stigma. This is a disease that is said to be an equal opportunity disease that affects people of every gender, age, race; and nationality. It can be contracted from mother to newborn, from man to man, man to woman; and can be contracted through the inappropriate handling of medical procedures.

In many countries around the world, this disease has reached pandemic levels. Due to its severity and sometimes the shame associated with it, when some people are diagnosed with this disease, they may feel as if they have the proverbial scarlet letter embossed on their person for all to see.

According to the literature, HIV/AIDS is a global health issue that causes those diagnosed with the disease to sometimes want to hide from the diagnose rather than acknowledge and confront it (Andrewin et al., 2008). In fact, “in Central America, the fear of the negative consequences of disclosing one’s HIV status – a key step in building alliances amongst patients and empowering communities living with HIV – is based on concrete instances of rejection and discrimination” (Gonzalez & Colon, 2014, p. 11). Thus, HIV/AIDS is a global health issue that needs to be better addressed by healthcare organizations. Although this disease is a well-known global health issue, interestingly it  is infamous for the silence it evokes.

In 1987, “HIV was first diagnosed in Belize” (Pope, 2012, p. 1161). It is thought that the disease came to Belize from abroad from people who migrated to the country (Pope, 2012). However, once HIV/AIDS became prevalent in the country, and its effects were fully understood by the healthcare professionals, for cultural and religious reasons, its existence was somewhat ignored as well as the people who contracted the disease (Pope, 2012). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss ways to erase the disdain associated with an HIV/AIDS diagnose for Belizeans by training healthcare professionals to treat these patients with compassion rather than contempt as they fight this disease.

Literature Review

In the article written by Andrewin et al (2008), entitled “Stigmatization of patients with HIV/AIDS among doctors and nurses in Belize”, the authors performed an observational study in 2007 of 230 healthcare providers who diagnosed and treated HIV/AIDS patients. The researchers found that the “stigmatization imposed on patients was greatest [due to] ‘attitudes of blame/judgment’ [that were] inflicted on those with the disease” (Andrewin et al., 2008, p. 900) by doctors and nurses. They also learned that, due to the healthcare professionals’ negative feelings toward the HIV/AIDS patients, the physicians and nurses who treated them were involved in such unethical practices as “sharing a patients HIV status with colleagues without the patients’ permission, testing patients for HIV/AIDS without the patients’ consent, treating patients with HIV/AIDS with disdain compared to other patients; and they found that female nurse healthcare professionals, who spend the most time with these patients, showed more differential treatment than their male physician counterparts” (Andrewin et al., 2008, p. 902). The researchers concluded that there was a need for healthcare professionals to receive training on how to better serve patients with HIV/AIDS and that future research should investigate this phenomenon.

In the article “Therapeutic imaginaries in the Caribbean: competing approaches to HIV/AIDs policy in Cuba and Belize” (2012), the author highlights the historical differences found in the care of HIV/AIDS patients in Cuba versus those in Belize (Pope, 2012). The researcher showed how initially Cuba stigmatized HIV/AIDS; however, overtime, its healthcare system decided to provide “education about sexually transmitted infections, access to primary care, and culturally appropriate disease control” (Pope, 2012) in order to reduce the incidence and prevalence of the disease. Pope stated that unlike Belize, and its handling of this disease, the Cuban constitution mandates that medical care be granted to all; thereby permitting that all “persons living with HIV are guaranteed adequate medical care” (Pope, 2012, p. 1159) and because of this mandate, Cuba “has reduced the stigma associated with HIV and therefore has reduced negative stereotypes associated with this disease” (Pope, 2012, p. 1160). Conversely, the article showed that unlike Cuba, Belize struggles with the stigma associated with this disease. According to Pope (2012), in Belize, HIV/AIDS is seen as a “moral disease that is a result of immoral acts and thus there is no education offered” (Pope, 2012, p. 1161) concerning prevention or maintenance of this disease.

SPELIT

A proposed way to address the matter of compassionate HIV/AIDS healthcare delivery in the Belizean healthcare system is through the SPELIT Power Matrix (Schmieder-Ramirez & Mallette, 2007). The premise of The SPELIT Power Matrix (Schmieder-Ramirez et al., 2007) is that it assists in analyzing the environment in which an organization exists before implementing change. The acronym SPELIT stands for S: Social Environment, P: Political Environment, E: Economic Environment, L: Legal Environment, I: Intercultural Environment; and T: Technological Environment. To assess the Belizean healthcare system with the proposed organizational change, evaluating the following tenets of the SPELIT is imperative:

S: Social Environment – Belize gained independence in 1981 from the United Kingdom. The population of Belize is 377, 968 people (“United Nations”, 2016). According to the United Nations Agency for International Development, there are “3,600 adults who are 15 years old or older reported to be living with HIV/AIDS: 1,700 women and 1,800 men” (“United Nations”, 2016). In Belize’s 2015 Ministry of Health report, it is documented that of those Belizeans diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, “30.8% of them have experienced discriminatory attitudes because of their disease” (“Ministry of Health”, 2015).

P: Political Environment – Belize has two major political parties: People’s United Party and the United Democratic Party. The country also is a member of such global organizations as the United Nations, the Association of Caribbean States, and the Organization of American States.

E: Economic Environment – Belize has an agricultural economy where the main crops are sugar and bananas. The countries it trades with most frequently include: United States, Mexico, Europe; and other Central American countries – all of whom have experienced the effects of HIV/AIDS (“United Nations”, 2016).

L: Legal Environment – Belize has its own Constitution and functions under the Common Law of England. It has three different branches of its judicial system: Magistrate Courts, Supreme Court, and a Court of Appeals. As of 2003, it also is a member of the Caribbean Court of Justice with other Caribbean Nations (“World Encyclopedia”, 2016). While the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients is a human rights issue, unlike Cuba, the Belizean Constitution does not include language on the expectations of treatment for these individuals (Pope, 2012).

I: Intercultural Environment – There are a number of cultural groups living in the country including Mestizos, Creoles, Mayans, Garinagus, Mennonites, East Indians and Chinese. The country’s main language is English, but Belizean Creole, Spanish, German, and other indigenous languages are spoken.

T: Technological Environment – In 2008, Belize instituted an electronic medical record system to keep track of diagnosed HIV/AIDS patients (“Ministry of Health”, 2016). The Ministry of Health introduced this system in order to “improve capacity to monitor patients and facilitate care of people with and getting tested for” (“Ministry of Health”, 2016) having this disease. Similarly, in 2010, the Ministry of Health implemented a computer-based system called the “2010 Care-Based Surveillance System” whose purpose was to gather and store demographic information on all known Belizeans who had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS (“Ministry of Health”, 2016).

After evaluating the areas of the SPELIT (Schmieder-Ramirez et al., 2007) and the literature, perhaps Belize could benefit from an organizational change in how healthcare organizations there address the needs of HIV/AIDS patients.

Change Models

According to Andrewin and Chien (2008), “HIV/AIDS stigma discrimination compound the challenge of getting the pandemic under control” (Andrewin et al., 2008, p. 897). Surprisingly, “the healthcare setting has been identified as one of the major settings in which stigmatization urgently needs to be addressed” (Andrewin et al., 2008, p. 898) and the authors acknowledged that “little is known or documented about the attitudes and practices of healthcare workers in Belize regarding the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients” (Andrewin et al., 2008, p. 898). Therefore, because of the latter, this proposal suggests that Belize implements a community-based, health promotion intervention that can be conducted with healthcare professionals. The objective of this program would be to train physicians and nurses on how to offer competent and individualized care that would show compassion and understanding to patients who are diagnosed with HIV/AIDS — regardless of how they may have contracted the disease. This training program could also afford health care professionals a “safe place” to express and work through their biases regarding HIV/AIDS patients amongst their peers. The hope would be that, in such an environment, they would be able to acquire the tools to help to eliminate their biases. By learning new ways to render compassionate healthcare to these patients, the healthcare providers may become the non-judgmental entities these patients need to encourage and empower them to became self-efficacious as they manage their diagnosis.

When initiating organizational change in a healthcare system such as Belize, it is important to substantiate the changes by referencing theoretical change models. One change model that could be implemented to help destigmatize HIV/AIDS in Belizean medical facilities is Kurt Lewin’s Action Research Model. This model has four components to effect change: 1. Field Theory, 2. Group Dynamics, 3. Action Research; and 4. the 3-Step Model of Change (Burnes, 2004). Therefore, in keeping with Lewin’s change model, the concept of Field Theory depicts the “field” as the environment where the organizational change occurs. Thus, the field would be the Belizean medical facilities (Burnes, 2004). In endeavoring to change the perceptions physicians and nurses have toward HIV/AIDS patients, it would be necessary to also use Lewin’s Theory of Group Dynamics which states that “understanding the internal dynamics of a group is not sufficient by itself to bring about change, but that there is also the need to provide a process whereby the members could be engaged in and committed to changing their behaviour.” (Burnes, 2004, p. 983). Thus, it would be imperative that the feelings and perceptions of the Belizean physicians and nurses be regularly assessed so that the proposed organizational changes could properly take root in medical settings (Burnes, 2004). Also, to further assess the organization, an important aspect would be to determine to what extinct patients as well as healthcare professionals felt that the organizational change would benefit the organization. The latter is an example of Lewin’s principle of Action Research which “recognizes that successful action is based on analyzing the situation correctly, identifying all the possible alternative solutions and choosing the one most appropriate to the situation at hand” (Burnes, 2004, p. 983) by assessing the “felt-need” (Burnes, 2004, p. 983) of those involved is addressed. Thus, the “felt-need is an individual’s or group’s inner realization that change is necessary” (Burnes, 2004, pp. 983-984).  To summarize the literature states that “unfreezing or getting rid of the former organizational norms before wholeheartedly implementing the changes in an effort for the medical professionals to “unlearn” their old organizational behaviors” (Burnes, 2004, p. 985) is imperative and thus the main goal of change management. The literature also states that when implementing the second step of organizational change called “moving” (Burnes, 2004, p. 985), it is necessary to try not to “predict or identify a specific outcome from Planned change” (Burnes, 2004, p. 985), but instead to allow organizations to be open to whatever the results that are initiated by the change (Burnes, 2004, p. 985). Finally, the last of the three steps is “refreezing” (Burnes, 2004, p. 985), which would help the health professionals to maintain the organizational changes they make overtime (Burnes, 2004).

Another change model that could be used to help the Belize healthcare system deal with the proposed organizational changes is Woodard’s Leading and Coping with Change Model (Woodard & Hendry, 2004). According to the literature, Woodard and Hendry cautions that “when change processes require fundamental shifts in the way organizational members think and act, the consequences of change can test to the utmost the organization’s capabilities and resources” (Woodard et al., 2004, p. 156). Woodard and Hendry affirm that when implementing this theory, it is imperative to offer “support for employees to learn new competencies, through formal coaching, helps them to develop the skills to manage the new situations they are faced with” (Woodard et al., 2004, p. 168) because as the change unfolds, employees continue to evaluate what is going on, and apply various coping strategies thus the premise behind this paper.

Conclusion

HIV/AIDS is a serious global health phenomenon. It has a particularly harmful impact in countries where the disease is attached to negative societal perceptions – especially when these perceptions negatively impact the patients which is the case in Belize (Andrewin et al, 2008). Thus, in order to gain a true understanding of this phenomenon, it is imperative to research it further. The need to ascertain the true biases that some healthcare providers have toward this patient population are interesting as this is a profession that takes an oath to help all people and to do no harm while doing so. Therefore, to learn that there are some healthcare providers who contribute to the contempt that some in Belizean society may hold towards those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS is unfortunate. The objective of this proposal is to use the SPELIT Power Matrix (Schmieder-Ramirez et al., 2007) to help to identify ways that the healthcare system in Belize might implement organizational change by instituting training for its healthcare providers, as outlined in this proposal, in order to inject more compassion into the business of treating HIV/AIDS patients in Belize.

 

References

Andrewin, A., & Chien, L. (2008). Stigmatization of patients with HIV/AIDS among doctors and nurses in Belize. AIDS Patient Care and STDs, 22(11), 897-906.

Burnes, B. (2004). Kurt Lewin and the planned approach to change: a re-appraisal.

Journal of Management Studies, 41(6), 977-1002. Gonzalez, M.A., & Colon, M. (2014). Black Central Americans in the struggle against AIDS.

NACLA Report on the Americas, 11-13.

Ministry of Health, Belize (2015). Annual HIV Statistical Report 2015. Retrieved on December 3,

2016 from http://www.health.gov.bz/www/publiations/hivaids/877-hiv-annual-report.2015

Pope, C. (2012). Therapeutic imaginaries in the Caribbean: competing approaches to HIV/AIDS policy in Cuba and Belize. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 102(5), 1157-1164.

Schmieder-Ramirez, J., & Mallette, L.A. (2007). The SPELIT Power Matrix, Untangling the Organizational Environment with the SPELIT Leadership Tool. San Bernardino, CA: BookSurge, LLC.

United Nations Development Programme in Belize (2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016 from

http://www.bz.undp.org/content/belize/en/home/countryinfo

Woodard, S., & Hendry C. (2004). Leading and coping with change. Journal of Change Management, 4(2), 155-183.

World Encyclopedia of Nations (2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016 from  http://www.encyclopedia.com

Academic Integration Among College Students with Disabilities and the Effect of Time to Program Completion

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by Toby Tomlinson Baker

 Abstract

It is the researcher’s working theory that three variables affect the academic integration of students with disabilities (SWD) and will predict how the variables contribute to the amount of time of the completion of SWDs to complete college programs. While there are other variables of academic integration, three have been determined to have the most effect on the time to complete college, including time to completion, disability status and academic integration (Clark, Middleton, Nguyen, & Zwick, 2014). It is noted that there are two important integration concepts: academic and social integration, which are associated, yet different. This study examines the relationship between academic integration, as created by Vincent Tinto (Clark et al., 2014) and time to completion among SWDs. While many SWDs complete undergraduate degree programs and go on to Masters and Doctoral level programs, including law school, which could justifiably take longer to complete, this study focuses solely on SWDs in undergraduate degree programs with a focus to earn Associate or Bachelor of Arts degrees. When the researcher examines secondary data, it is predicted that those who exhibit persistence, as described by Tinto, will complete their degrees in fewer years than those who did not meet the criteria for academic integration (Clark et al., 2014).

 

Introduction

Academic integration among college students with disabilities (SWD) is affected by significant factors, which include each student’s disability status and the effect of time to program completion. There are two types of integration; academic and social, which have been created and developed by Tinto (Chapman & Pascarella, 1983). Tinto points out that student integration into a college or institution can occur along two dimensions; the first, academic integration which occurs when students become attached to the intellectual life of the college, while social integration occurs when students create relationships and connections outside of the classroom (Chapman & Pascarella, 1983). These two concepts, though analytically distinct, interact with and enhance one another. Furthermore, while students must be immersed into the institution along both elements to increase their likelihood of persistence, they need not be equally integrated along the two (Chapman & Pascarella, 1983). Additionally. Tinto justifies that there are both formal and informal systems within institutions that can motivate integration and persistence.

The elements of academic integration greatly contribute to the overall academic success of college students with learning disabilities, as they directly impact the amount of time spent in an academic program of study (Brinckerhoff & And, 1992). A Specific Learning Disability (SLD) is defined as a condition giving rise to difficulties in acquiring knowledge and skills to the level expected of those of the same age, especially when not associated with a physical handicap (Department of Defense Education Activity, n.d.). Since learning disabilities are directly linked to cognitive ability and acquiring knowledge, students who have disabilities often demonstrate delays in academic processing (Wei, Christiano, Yu, Wagner, & Spiker, 2015). Moreover, growth trajectories among this population show that reaching academic goals takes a longer amount of time to achieve, interfering with the ability to become upwardly mobile in society (Wei et al., 2015).

Review of Relevant Literature

College SWDs who demonstrate academic integration by adamantly seeking and receiving accommodations and counseling, ultimately have a quicker completion rate in their academic programs (Lester & Nusbaum 2017). Furthermore, since SWDs may need additional time to complete academic tasks, it follows that their entire program may take a longer amount of time to complete. Colleges and universities should increase focus and attention to details of both academic and social programs, to ensure that the overall experience for the SWDs is merged (Korinek & Popp, 1997). Moreover, by finding a college or institution with characteristics that strengthen the student’s overall college experience with suitable programs, educators are better equipped to meet each student’s academic and social needs (Chapman & Pascarella, 1983). Based on Tinto’s model, by influencing each student’s experience with on-campus academic and social integration, the commitment level of these students to graduate from college is heightened (Chapman & Pascarella, 1983).

The academic commitment of SWD’s is needed throughout their time spent in a college program. Borglum and Kubala (2000) studied college SWD’s and found that more than half of them intended to spend up to four years at a college and spent 10 hours per week studying for their courses (Borglum & Kubala, 2000). These 10 hours are in addition to the variables which the researcher has targeted. Lester and Nusbaum (2017) confirm that SLD’s in higher education often exhibit greater levels of academic activity in order to overcome adversity, thus displaying intense fervor. Academic and social integration have been demonstrated to increase student’s satisfaction in college, academic growth and personal development (Stage, 1989).

Educational Training

Since there are academic barriers in college which hinder those with disabilities, it is pivotal to provide meaningful support, or scaffolding, in the critical areas of their academic needs (Jorgensen, Budd, Fichten, Nguyen & Havel, 2018). College students with disabilities need to recognize that there are challenges presented by the educational system; therefore, they need a plan to address these challenges and be proactive in overcoming such barriers (Pallisera, Fullana, Puyalto, & Vila, 2016). SWD’s are entering college and participating in higher education at a higher rate (Cawthon & Cole, 2010). These factors inhibit many college SWD’s’ ability to access the proper assistance which they need to succeed in college. Student advocacy and active engagement in receiving tutoring and accommodations should be monitored by adults assisting these students, but mainly by the students themselves. Educators, parents, and counselors share a responsibility to educate all students equally by law (Rein, 2018).

Tinto created the Academic and Social integration framework which has been utilized to measure student persistence in college (Mannan, 2007). It is affirmed that both academic and social integration should merge for SWDs to be successful and complete a college program. Yet, if one of these types of integration, academic or social, overpowers the other, it has been proven that the stronger type will compensate for the more fragile type of integration (Mannan, 2007). Since Tinto’s model has been implemented, colleges have increased student support services. These on-campus support services may be academic or social services, intentionally provided by these colleges to increase student persistence, with the intention of increasing student awareness and use. Questions arise regarding the structure and utility of these academic and social services, particularly if they lack demonstration of effectiveness among SWDs (Clark et al., 2014).

Academic Performance

As demonstrated in (Wagner, And, & SRI International 1993; West Chester University, 2018; Wilczenski & Gillespie-Silver, 1992), academic performance was examined between SWD’s who entered college programs compared with the performance and progress of their nondisabled peers. The link between the direct focus of each student’s academic subjects and additional support, including tutoring and teacher advisory, on each student’s specific area of academic need, results in evidence of student retention, higher tests scores, and a higher GPA (DuPaul, Pinho et al., 2017).  Certain SWDs may need an even greater amount of time during tutoring and advisory to exhibit retention of academic material; therefore, students with learning disabilities may extend beyond the designated minutes in this study. For example, perhaps a student with a learning disability needs six hours of tutoring, rather than a strict limit of three hours before they understand a topic or academic concept. There is a possibility that SWDs must forfeit time in other areas of their lives to maximize their own academic opportunity (DuPaul, Pinho et al., 2017). This concept is quite contrary to Tinto’s model, overall process and social development theory (Clark et al., 2014). Moreover, each SWD has his or her own trajectory and developmental path in order to reach the goal of graduation or completion of their program (DuPaul, Pinho et al., 2017).

Shaw and And (1989) and Shokoohi-Yekta and Kavale (1994) examined performance levels of SWD and their nondisabled peers, with a focus on math scores, particularly college entrance examinations such as the American College Testing exam, (ACT). SWD’s earned lower test scores in academic core subjects (Shokoohi-Yekta &Kavale, 1994). Jorgensen et al. (2003) and Lamberg (2012) focus their studies on the results and graduation rates of students with learning disabilities which were similar to those students without learning disabilities. Students who attended to academic tasks within their program and received appropriate assistance throughout their years in the program demonstrated as much success as their nondisabled peers (Jorgensen et al., 2003; Lamberg, 2012). Resulting from this type of academic integration is that college students with learning disabilities exhibit strict attention to academic tasks and are receptive and unwavering in receiving assistance and accommodations, in order to demonstrate their ability and progress toward graduation. These measures aid in reducing or even eliminating delayed graduation (Hakkarainen, Holopainen, & Savolainen, 2016).

In a study by DuPaul, Dahlstrom-Hakki et al., (2017), the academic progress of students with learning disabilities and ADHD was followed during a five-year period. It was found that of all of the SWD’s on campus who received academic support services, the final grades and GPA’s of students with ADHD actually surpassed those with other types of learning disabilities. By strategically targeting each student’s specific area of academic need, there is a significant probability that their academic goals will be met (DuPaul, Dahlstrom-Hakki et al., 2017).  It is noted that this study’s particular focus is not specifically targeted on the higher GPA of college students with learning disabilities, even though it may be an indirect result of the study.

During a transition to college, academic barriers can impede many students with learning disabilities’ capability to flourish, or even to perform. Brinckerhoff and And (1992) suggest transitioning skills and appropriate academic accommodations needed for SWDs and suggest approaches to gain access, acceptable college preparation and programs to assist and support these students. Cawthon and Cole (2010) have stressed the importance of checklists and accommodations during college testing, particularly prior to and during the transition to college. Without these academic supports, students may not fully master and demonstrate performance at their full capacity (Cawthon & Cole, 2010).

Challenges that Affect Academic Integration

There are additional aspects to consider when measuring time to completion in relation to SWDs. These students’ individual disabilities affect each of their academic needs, requiring more attention, assistance, and direct explicit instruction, which ultimately results in taking more time to complete (Hurks & van Loosbroek, 2014). This includes SWDs who may need to drop a class in order to have more time available to focus on the remaining three courses. The researcher takes into account that even though the level of academic material covered in each of the courses may be difficult for the SWDs, their level of academic integration is dependent on their ability to overcome adversity. It is acknowledged that SWDs can participate and make up dropped classes during off-track semester coursework terms, such as summer terms.

Current Statistics and Graduation Rate

Graduation is the ultimate goal of SWDs. A recent study compared two groups of college students with disabilities. The group of students who had just learning disabilities had more intent to graduate than the group with other disabilities (Jorgensen, Budd, Fichten, & Havel, 2018).  Jorgensen and her colleagues (2018) demonstrated how, even though the needs and accommodations of the students with learning disabilities vary, this population of students with learning disabilities demonstrated proactive measures towards graduating, such as choosing a major, enrolling in and for classes consistently, attending classes, advocating to professors and advisors, and actively registering for disability services (Jorgensen et al., 2018). These findings align with the researcher’s thesis and hypothesis since they demonstrate this population’s success in persevering toward completing college in a timely manner.

According to Troiano, Liefeld, and Trachtenberg (2010), 68% of those students who participated consistently in the services of the Learning Resource Center were more likely to graduate from the college when compared to those who did not. This evidence confirms how effective academic support and resource centers are in the success of SWDs. In this study based on attendance and graduation rates, it was predicted that SWDs who actively attended the academic support center had higher overall grade point averages and higher rates of graduation (Troiano et al., 2010). Even though there is evidence of betterment in this population, there are still factors regarding graduation which need to be addressed. Recommendations include minimizing the fear of stigmatization, engaging in stress-reducing activities and adopting a model where accommodations are based on students’ unique needs rather than their diagnoses (Jorgensen et al., 2018). The uncertainty of post-graduation inhibits students’ success and personal contribution to the world. College students with disabilities and their families expressed concern of their possible inability to be successful in future jobs and careers, to live independently, and to be able to contribute to society as a purposeful member (Pallisera et al., 2016). SWDs who obtain a college degree improve employment outcomes and overall quality of life (Mamiseishvili & Koch, 2011).

Social Integration

Gerdes & Mallinckrodt (1994) base their study on SWDs who leave college or exit college early, known as “Leavers” and compare their reasons for leaving with those who remain on college campuses, known as “Persisters.” These two groups represent SWDs who are successful or able to continue in their studies, versus those SWDs who choose to leave college and universities due to negative experiences or face internal or external factors. The college campus and university environment, particularly academic and social support services, governs the outcome of whether an SWD becomes a “leaver” or a “persister” (Gerdes & Mallinckrodt,1994). This affects the outcome of the amount of time SWDs show in relation to time to completion. Bers and Smith (1991) examine how the university environment contributes to the steady persistence of SWDs. Academic and social integration are strong motivators for SWDs to persist at a university. Concepts of academic and social integration suggest that a student’s decisions to stay or leave an institution are influenced by the level of connection that they have developed with the institution. When SWDs evaluate their reasons for leaving, they should revisit their initial connection to the university. Questions regarding the student’s level of intent to persist in the college program should be carefully considered. If SWDs are demonstrating academic and social success at a university, initial motivators should be reinforced to spark further interest in attendance (Bers & Smith, 1991).

Significance of the Study

The significance of this study is that it will add to the literature concerning effective measures to foster success at the college level for SWDs who have been left to drift in college. Moreover, SWDs must accept a certain amount of self-responsibility by utilizing the supports that are in place and taking advantage of them. The concept of academic integration greatly impacts SWDs through enhancement of their completion time of college programs. It is the researcher’s hope to positively influence SWDs to enroll and attend college, graduate and advance toward higher education (Cawthon & Cole, 2010).  The population of students should not be deterred from the prospect of academics, simply as a result of their disability (Cawthon & Cole, 2010). This study stimulates further research and contributes by determining the cumulative effect of academic integration or whether any of the factors of academic integration has more weight in the outcome of completing a college degree in a timely manner.

Areas of Further Research/Empirical Research Questions

Research in special education, particularly in the area of college SWDs, demands more attention. The scarcity of collected data corroborates the necessity for further study. The apparent gaps in professional literature regarding college students with learning disabilities signify how there are still questions unanswered. Further questions could be researched as individual topics. The following empirical research questions may be addressed:

  • Does medication contribute to success in college completion in relation to time?
  • Do students with disabilities demonstrate higher social integration as opposed to academic integration?
  • Does transferring from community college after two years of attendance to a four-school college affect the academic progress towards completion?
  • Does the award of scholarships (academic, sports, arts), in conjunction with time in a specific academic program influence academic progress towards completion of a four-year program for students with disabilities?

Research Methodology and Design

The Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) Longitudinal Study

The researcher will utilize available data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2018) database to evaluate the academic progress of SWDs on a national level. Specifically, the researcher will utilize the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) Longitudinal Study (NCES, n.d.). Moreover, BPS follows students who are enrolled in their first year of postsecondary education and collects data on the various activity of their programs, the transition to employment, demographic characteristics and student changes overtime (Hurst & Smerdon, 2000).

Academic Integration, which is tested, valid, and an already existing variable, and time to completion among SWD’s. The Dependent Variable (DV) is time to completion and this study aims to perform a correlation, and regression. Both of these statistical techniques require a linear, continuously measured dependent variable. The Independent variables are disability status and academic integration and there is an interaction between these two variables. Academic integration will be measured in a 4-items scale as a continuous variable (Mamiseishvili & Koch, 2011), and disability status is a categorical variable with six categories (learning, orthopedic, other, visual, hearing, and speech) (Hurst, 2000). The theoretical model is based on previous research which is explained in the literature review. For instance, DaDeppo (2009) investigated the academic integration impact on students with learning disabilities (DaDeppo, 2009). Moreover, the creator of Academic Integration, Tinto (Mannan, 2007) examines the two main types of integration: academic and social. As demonstrated by the emergence of intellectual growth and development, in conjunction with social relationships and bonds among collegiate groups, SWD’s experience academic and social integration (Mamiseishvili & Koch, 2011). Tinto’s created theory and model further explain how formal and informal methods of integration exist in the college arena.

Hypothesis

A Linear Regression model also called a regression, will be utilized to analyze the data (Privitera, 2017).  It is predicted that there is a positive correlation between a student’s academic integration, disability status, and time of completing school. After gathering data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to find the correlation coefficient of the linear regression. The prediction of the value of the outcome variable which is the time of completion will be determined by calculating the slope of the linear model. Further, the researcher will determine the possible correlation between outcome and predictor variables.  The researcher will compute the coefficient of the regression line (Privitera, 2017). The value of these variables is to be determined and known once the study is carried out. The number of predictors will be included in the linear model of this study must be verified. For one predictor variable, researchers intend to use a linear regression. Yet, for two or more predictor variables, the researcher intends to use multiple regression (Privitera, 2017). For this study, since there are two predictors the best statistical model is a multiple regression model.

The predicted multiple linear model for this study is as follows:

In this linear model, there are two predictors which are located on the right side of the equation. One is entitled “academic integration” and the other is entitled “disability status,” which is shown by “ ” in this equation. The outcome of this linear model is “months to complete,” which is measured by the amount of time it takes a student with disabilities to complete an academic college program.

The researcher will determine the slope of the linear model ( ,  ) through analysis of the regression model to predict the value of outcome variable ( ) after discovering the predictors (  and ). In other words, if the researcher finds a correlation between each of the predictors and the outcome, she will continue her analysis to determine the exact values of ,  to determine the unknown values in the linear model. This potential model can help school administrators to predict the year of completion for each student with learning disabilities through measuring their perseverance.

Multiple Linear Regression

Upon examining the collected data, the researcher will test the hypothesis of the research.  If this were the correlation between the three variables of this study, then the researcher will delve into the collected data to discover the Pearson Correlation coefficient of the regression line. Furthermore, the linear model explains the relationship between the dependent variable the independent variable for this research (Privitera, 2017). The researcher will utilize the multiple linear regression to find the linear relationship between predictors and outcome. Since the outcome is a continuous variable measured in months, and the predictors are categorical variables, the best statistical model to analyze the data will be in a linear regression analysis.

Data Analysis

Based on the researcher’s hypothesis, the data will be a Multiple linear regression which investigates the linear relationship between the three variables of the research. The Multiple linear regression model demonstrates how the time of completing college is related to academic integration and disability status.  These methods were chosen because the researcher is interested in predicting the dependent variable (the year of completion of a college program) with knowing the academic integration of each SWD.  Since this study hinges on simply three variables, it follows logic to employ the Multiple Linear Regression model. The researcher plans on examining data to test the hypothesis.

The first step after gathering data from NCES will be entering data into a spreadsheet to define the variables of the research, which will be calculated by adding up three independent variables: academic integration, time to completion, and each student’s disability status. The next step is to find the correlation between these two variables. Upon conducting the correlation analysis, the researcher will determine the correlation coefficient of the research variables. Upon discovering the positive or negative significant correlation between the variables, the data will be analyzed.  More analysis will be done to determine the multiple linear relationship between the three variables. Upon finding a protentional linear regression line, the researcher would estimate the coefficient, and recommendations will be made to school administrators and parents. This facilitates the path towards timely graduation for students with disabilities. Since the scope of this study is a correlational and a nonexperimental study, there are no participants needed to complete this research. The IRB regulations and intervention are immaterial, as are the experiences of participants and they are not manipulated. Secondary data will be examined and implemented for this study, without the primary intervention of the researcher. The researcher is observing and examining the past behavior of participants through the NCES database.

Conclusion

Although students with disabilities have cognitive processing delays (Wei et al., 2015), by incorporating academic integration based on Tinto’s model (Clark et al., 2014), this population can flourish in college and other academic and social settings, thus minimizing their time to completion and maximizing their academic growth and social development.

SWDs have difficulties with academic integration, particularly with academics, upon graduating from high school and entering a college setting, as the transition is taxing. Even taking into consideration their growth trajectories (longer period of time to complete academic tasks and plans), this specific population needs academic and social integration in order to achieve their academic goals successfully. As academic and social integration influence time of program completion, often with measures such as tutoring, university programs, additional assistance, guidance, and counseling, SWDs will be able to complete college programs in a timely manner. SWDs demonstrate a desire to adequately contribute to society and become upwardly mobile along-side their nondisabled peers (Wei et al., 2015). Academic and social integration aids in this process by reducing anxiety and fear, as it allows students with disabilities to demonstrate their abilities, complete competitive academic college programs, and allows them to have control over their future. While the actual analysis has yet to be performed, it is expected that SWDs who exhibited higher levels of academic integration, will have completed their postsecondary programs, more rapidly relative to their peers with lower levels of academic and social integration.

The academic integration examined throughout this study adds strength to the current research. SWDs need to have academic and social integration in order to endure these aspects of their college experience. Moreover, these students will complete the programs allowing them to enter the workforce and contribute to society within a satisfactory timeframe. Even though each SWDs have different trajectories and different academic and social needs, these SWDs may have the ability to finish college programs. In a society where having a college degree often measures success, SWDs will have the chance to demonstrate success in an equal manner as those without disabilities. This success will be comparable with their nondisabled peers, thus making SWDs competitive in the job market and in an equal position of power.

 

 

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How Innovative Leadership Will Move ESRM Implementation Forward

/in /by

by Juan Oliva Pulido

 

Abstract

Enterprise security risk management (ESRM) has become a necessary innovative security approach for  twenty-first century organizations to manage security risks.  This innovative approach of holistically managing organizational security risk is not the first of the kind but is the first time for the physical security industry.  First time innovative endeavors have skeptics, and the diffusion of innovations theory applies with many people in the industry of physical security landing in the laggard adopter category.  Therefore, leaders must adopt specific innovative leadership traits and competencies to champion and successful implement ESRM.  Innovative leadership is not a formalized theory, but a conceptual framework of identified traits and competencies at the intersect of adaptive and transformational leadership theories.  This article will emphasize the importance for leaders facing this innovative endeavor to consider adopting innovative leadership traits and competencies to move ESRM implementation forward.  As innovative leadership is not a formalized theory, many opportunities exist to continue studying leaders who demonstrate these traits and competencies while leading innovative efforts to further provide more empirical evidence that may lead to developing a theory.

How Innovative Leadership will move ESRM Implementation forward

Cyber and physical security threats have evolved in complexity and frequency world-wide, influencing organizations to search for a risk management framework that will cross-functionally align to governance, risk, and compliance areas for a holistic security risk management approach.   According to Petruzzi and Loyear (2016), “As a philosophy and life cycle, enterprise security risk management is focused on creating a business partnership between security practitioners and business leaders to more effectively provide protection against security risks in line with acceptable risk tolerances as defined by business asset owners and stakeholders” (p. 44).   An ESRM program requires organizational alignment, a centralized risk management framework, strategic management of resources, and many other elements to sufficiently align business functions to begin mitigating risks at every level of the organization’s operations.

The implementation of an ESRM program requires a resourceful and innovative leader who understands the value of holistically managing risks from one program across various business functions under the umbrella of security.  The leader must demonstrate subject matter expertise in the areas of ESRM and have the characteristics of an innovative leader to progressively advocate and implement this comprehensive program framework and approach.  There are many organizational barriers that can prevent leaders from implementing an ESRM program.   This article will demonstrate the alignment between innovative leadership traits and competencies and the comprehensive ESRM program framework and approach.  ESRM has diverse applicability, but this article is referring to ESRM that primarily focuses on improving the organization’s risk resilience through governance and operational risk management of the cyber security, business continuity, and physical security functions to include asset management.

Enterprise Security Risk Management

“ESRM is the application of fundamental risk principles to manage all security risks” states Allen and Loyear (2018), “whether related to information, cyber, physical security, asset management, or business continuity, holistic, all-encompassing approach” (p.2).  ESRM has diverse applicability in many types of organizations, such as not-for-profits, private companies, public and government agencies.  The purpose of an ESRM program is to identify, evaluate, and mitigate the impact of security-related risks to the organization, with risk ranking to prioritize findings and remediation tasks that enable the organization to reduce risks enterprise-wide.  The organization must first centralize and standardize the security function through the implementation of a governance structure with aligned programs, policies, standards, procedures, and processes to regulations or laws and common industry best practices (Ai, Brockett, & Wang, 2017).  This governance structure initiative is a major cornerstone of the ESRM implementation efforts because it forms the guiding infrastructure to support on-going risk management activities.

ESRM is most successful when integrated into a software-based platform, however most organizations may not have a centralized and standardized governance structure and the sufficient cross-functional collaboration to move forward.  Typically, a holistic system-wide approach compares to systems thinking that emphasizes social systems that exist within the organization (Lee & Green, 2015).  The social or cultural aspect of organization contributes to some of the greatest challenges in implementing an ESRM program and establishes the business care for leaders to adopt innovative leadership traits and competencies to navigate these challenges.   Ogutu, Bennett, and Olawoyin (2018) There are many obstacles in implementing an ESRM program, innovative leadership is central to support in mitigating the following factors:

  • Siloed environments: This refers to an environment when actions or tasks are undertaken by individuals or single departments without seeking support or guidance from other individuals or departments.
  • Lack of standardized frameworks: Organizations in compliance within many frameworks directly connected to governance, risk, or compliance business functions, therefore a lack of standardization or an integrated control framework disrupts risk mitigation efforts.
  • Cultural struggles: There are many cultural struggles within organizations, but this article focuses on the culture that embraces change and technology in physical security.
  • Ineffective controls and monitoring: Security controls may range from physical security controls in the form of cameras or card readers on doors to logical cyber security controls in the form of a firewall or encryption protection for information or access.
  • Addressing risk at a process level: Identification and categorization of processes within business functions that may have risk, therefore developing security controls to mitigate potential risks at the process level.
  • Poor communication between offices: Communication is essential between interconnected business functions, because managing security risks requires an organizational effort not segmented uncoordinated efforts.
  • Inefficiencies due to politics: Political boundaries or power politics reduce efficiency when influential individuals use their influence to introduce obstacles and deter innovative efforts.
  • Executive team’s buy-in: Senior leaders of organizations commonly called executives, are stewards of administrative approval for projects and resources, thus leaders must gain acceptance and approval of ESRM.

ESRM Literature and Organizational Value

There have been limited studies conducted on the value of ESRM, and the articles that exist provide inconsistent information on the organizational value the ESRM can create. “Enterprise risk management has become an indispensable aspect of business operations that provide organizations a long run competitive advantage” (Kommunuri et. al, 2016, p. 17).

Previous studies have found inconclusive results in determined if ESRM has value creating ability because of the lack of alignment on ESRM principles and measurable success (Lundqvist, 2014).  The contradiction between studies have concluded in how the studies measured value and if having an ESRM contributed to improving the organizations ability to manage security risks.  “The rating is a sophisticated and comprehensive index that assesses the risk management culture, systems, processes, and practice” (McShane, Nair, & Rustambekov, 2011).  Overall, the studies utilized in the development of this article concluded that an ESRM is valuable if the approach is systematic and measurable within their culture, systems, processes, and practice.  Ogutu, Bennett, and Olawoyin (2018) highlighted the best-in-class practices involving leadership and management that supported the implementation of an ESRM framework and approach:

  • Empowering process owners at all levels to identify, assess, and deal with risk: Encouraging the identify of risk is challenging, once identified organizations must implement controls to mitigate risks.
  • Focused attention on cross-functional communication: ESRM is grounded in cross-functional collaboration, therefore strategic communication between business functions is necessary to holistically many various security risks.
  • Structured peer reviews: Support collaboration efforts and provide the opportunity to everyone to provide input on the project and increase the acceptance and success of the implementation of ESRM.
  • Leadership audits and accountability: Continuous input and review by executive leadership is needed to keep this large-scale project on track.
  • Executive team receiving quality metrics and reporting: Executive leaders need realistic metrics displaying the progression and success of the ESRM program to include how the culture is adapting to the changes within the business functions.
  • Increased focus on transparency: Transparency is necessary when implementing a cross-functional program that will affect many stakeholders.  Preparing them for the change is critical and keeping them informed of upcoming milestones will create a supportive environment.
  • Embracing technology: Organizations may struggle with embracing technology; therefore, it is imperative to establish change management initiatives to support the affected stakeholders.

Intersection of Adaptive Leadership and Transformational Leadership

The brief ESRM literature review thoroughly outlined the obstacles and the best practices to overcome the challenges when implementing an integrated cross-functional program.   Navigating obstacles and leveraging best practices require a unique style of leadership.  Innovative leadership may have components from adaptive and transformational leadership, as the primary focus of innovative leadership is to guide through the adaption and transform process.  According to Khan (2012), “Adaptive leaders do not just make changes, they carefully recognize potential changes in the external environment and consider the best path that will positively affect the organization” (p. 179).  Adaptive leadership focuses on followership and understanding how to support changes in behavior to respond to the organizational changes.  Transformational leadership focuses primarily on transforming the subordinates or followership group but does not focus on transforming the organization (Rune, Hughes, and Ford, 2016).  Therefore, innovative leadership is at the intersection of adaptive and transformation with the focuses on both the subordinate and organization.

Defining Innovative Leadership

Innovative leadership is not a formalized theory and limited studies have been conducted with small sample sizes identifying key traits and competencies.  This article utilizes two studies involving the testing and interviewing of industry leaders who are leading innovation and demonstrated competence in innovation. The studies identified key traits and competencies that will establish a baseline for the definition and support for the position of how innovative leadership can move ESRM forward.  Zenger and Folkman a leadership consulting firm conducted the first study, they selected 33 individuals from a telecommunications company who tested above the 99th percentile on innovation. These 33 individuals were evaluated based on peer and leadership comprehensive 360-degree feedback surveys, the results were 10 traits these individuals shared.  XBInsight conducted the second study involving over 5,000 leaders from various industries with the focus on innovative competencies, the survey result in the identification of 5 competencies shared by the 5,000 leaders surveyed.  These studies identified traits and competencies that directly correlate the unique leadership style necessary for ESRM implementation.

Innovative Leadership Traits

Zenger and Folkman (2014) highlighted the key innovative leadership traits from combined interviews from 360-degree feedback:  display excellent strategic vision, have a strong customer focus, create a climate of reciprocal trust, display fearless loyalty to doing what’s right for the organization and customer, put their faith in a culture that magnifies upward communication, are persuasive, excel at setting stretch goals, emphasize speed, are candid in their communication, and inspire and motivate through action. These traits embodied what innovative leaders can execute with their followership and organization.  These dynamics traits provide insight to the various traits the leader must possess, the second study has five specific competencies that collectively start defining innovative leadership.

Innovative Leadership Competencies

XBInsights identified the following competencies from the 5,000 leaders surveyed: manage risks, demonstrate curiosity, lead courageously, seize opportunities, and maintain a strategic business perspective.  These competencies continue to build upon the established dynamic, the key competency that stands out is demonstrate curiosity.  Demonstrating curiosity is a significant competency to evaluate, as the ESRM efforts will require experimentation in the integration of a comprehensive approach.  Curiosity will support with cross-functional collaboration across various business functions, as integration may have a different approach within each of the business functions.

Examples of Innovative Leaders

“Leaders make the difference” (Mercer & Meyers, 2013, p. 2).  We will further explore what type of leaders possess the identified innovative leadership traits and competencies.  The innovative leaders or executive leaders that can champion this level of enterprise effort include a Chief Security Officer, Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Risk Officer, and other senior leadership level executives.  These innovative leaders may have the best strategic vision that integrates the organizations business objectives with the ESRM compliance goals to reduce or mitigate risks enterprise-wide. The behavioral traits identified above demonstrate the key characteristics an innovative leader must practice, including the most important trait of displaying excellent strategic vision of risk management.  The organization’s culture presents the most difficult barrier; therefore, the innovative leader must demonstrate persuasiveness to clearing communicate to internal and external stakeholder’s key benefits of the ESRM to obtain formal acceptance of the endeavor.

Innovative Leadership moving ESRM Forward

This article has now established a working definition of innovative leadership and will explore the alignment with ESRM principles.  Innovative leadership is an essential element of integrating an ESRM framework and approach within an organization. Allen & Loyear (2018) identifies the various qualities needed as a Chief Security Officer or that innovative leader to champion the implementation of an ESRM.   Alignment was found through these two studies in various areas with the most significant alignments in the following three areas:  strategic business perspective, risk manager, and can communicate in a persuasive manner.  Innovative leadership can move ESRM forward with identified leaders who possess many of these traits and competencies.   This article provided the basic introduction to innovative leadership utilizing the available literature and with existing literature on ESRM to perhaps begin to draw attention to both evolving fields in the twenty-first century.

Study Limitations

It is important to acknowledge that ESRM as a security risk methodology and approach is a recent innovation in the physical security industry.  Equally, innovative leadership has not become a formalized theory limiting the available literature to validate innovative leadership traits and competencies.  This study provides introductory information on ESRM and innovative leadership, as these topics lack empirical research and available literature for a thorough research study.  An in-depth analysis to further refine the traits to top five like the competencies can support organizations in identify these potential innovative leaders. In 2019, the professional security association of The American Society for Industrial Security International (ASIS International) will release a software-based tool for ESRM.   Research opportunities may exist once this tool has become established in the physical security industry and leadership competencies needed to implement this solution have been normalized.

Conclusion

This article provided key insights on from studies conducted on innovative leadership and ESRM specifically within the lens of cyber, physical security, business continuity, and asset management.  The article identified that innovative leadership theory is in an infancy stage and ESRM studies are still limited.  Innovative leadership has a key role in the implementation of ESRM, as the executive leader tasked with implementing this solution must have the required traits and competencies described in this article to accomplish the goal of implementation effective through the many challenges.  This initial study provides many opportunities, with one for potential leadership certified training for individuals seeking to implement ESRM programs.  ESRM is the future of holistically managing risk enterprise-wide and innovative leadership is the key for moving this endeavor forward.

 

References

Allen, B.J., & Loyear, R.L. (2018). Enterprise Security Risk Management: Concepts and Applications (2nd ed.). Brookfield, CT: Rothstein Publishing.

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Painting the Invisible Bridge: A Working Concept for Global Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging for Women in Japan

/in /by

by Brandon Oliva

 

Abstract

Japan’s declining birthrate poses uncertainty for its future (Onishi, 2017). World Bank data indicate the number of births in Japan is decreasing (World Bank, 2017). To curb this decrease, and to prevent an economic decline in Japan, including women in the full-time workforce is vital. This paper explores how Japan can bridge its employment gap through the inclusion of more women in the corporate workforce. The paper addresses the issues Japanese women face in joining the corporate workforce, as well as the ways leadership strategies and media can be useful recruitment tools for Japanese women in the corporate workforce.

 

Introduction

A steady decline in births in Japan for the past decade has caused what appears to be a birth gap (World Bank, 2017). Due to the decline in birthrates and the age gap between the young and the old, experts predicted that, by 2060, Japan’s population will be 40% of its 2012 population (National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, 2012). The nation once deemed to be an aspirational economic model for many developing nations in East Asia may experience financial collapse as a result of the gap in its workforce. The effects would be disastrous to Japan, creating a chain reaction of events affecting other world economies (Hirata & Warschauer, 2014). However, all is not lost.

In 2010, Japan’s prime minister announced the implementation of his strategy, called womenomics, to counter the negative economic effects of the growing age gap in the Japanese labor force (Sharp, 2015). Some critics have noted that the prime minister’s plan to increase female leadership to over 30% of leadership positions in major corporations and government positions and to increase the number of women working in the full-time workforce by 2020 has already failed (Arami, 2016). Without more women in Japan’s corporate and full-time work sectors to offset the decline of Japan’s birthrate, Japan’s economic future will be grim (Park, 2007).

Some argue that for Japan to overcome this impending economic disaster it will need to call on its female population (Nomura & Koizumi, 2016). This paper will analyze the sociocultural and environmental restraints that account for why approximately 52% of Japanese women are absent from the full-time labor force (Ministry of International Affairs and Communication, 2016). The discussion will analyze how to shift these restraints by providing models of change adapted from John Kotter’s eight-step change model.

Issue

Historically, the number of women in the Japanese workplace was low and attributed to environmental factors in the workplace (Japan Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, 2002). A white paper report from the Japan Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (2002) indicated that, in comparison to their male counterparts, women accounted for less than 10% of junior management positions and less than 5% of senior management positions. The Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (2002) also noted that women were less likely to remain in a position due to their sense of familial obligation. The notion of familial obligation is ingrained in women, who take part-time positions as a way to have more time to be nurturers, whether as mothers or as caretakers to their elderly parents (Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, 2002; (Mariko, 1989). The lack of women in the full-time labor force resulting from these factors prefaces a significant understanding for the reasons why they may feel deterred from full-time employment.

Lack of Female Empowerment

Sociologists and economists associate a variety of different factors to the reason why women in Japan are not represented in significant numbers in the full-time workforce, with some focusing on lack of social empowerment for women. The attributing factors have been suggested as coming from a lack of social empowerment for women in Japan that stems from both systemic and social problems (Doden, 2016), which is further sustained by Japan’s ranking of gender equality measured by the World Economic Forum in the Global Gender Gap Report in 2017. In the World Economic Forum’s report, Japan ranked 114th out of 144 countries polled. By not integrating more women in all leadership and full-time corporate positions, Japan’s birthrate problem will have an adverse impact on its economic standard (Park, 2007).

Leveraging Japan’s workforce to be more inclusive of women is necessary to minimize the effects of the workforce gap (Doden, 2016). Efforts to increase the number of women in the workforce have failed. Despite female labor force participation increasing over the past two decades, World Bank data indicated that participation was 48% in 2017 (World Bank, 2017). The data also indicated that fluctuations in women’s participation in the workforce resulted in an increase of approximately 1% (World Bank, 2017). When compared to other first-world nations, this increase was staggeringly low (Doden, 2016).

Sociocultural and environmental issues, compounded by a lack of empowerment, are some of the major reasons Japan’s female participation rate in the full-time workforce has not increased. Japanese women in the full-time workforce may not feel invested in their work due to a lack of promotions into leadership positions such as c-suite-level executive positions, and they feel relegated to professional roles that do not call for such levels of leadership (Doden, 2016). Although some experts have argued that the causes are cultural, and others have contended that they are environmental, collective research indicates that the answer neither one nor the other; rather, an amalgamation of said factors.

Sociocultural Challenges

Sociologists attribute Japanese women’s absence from the full-time workforce as related to traditional gender roles (Nomura & Koizumi, 2016). Due to self-consignment and societal pressure to adhere to traditional gender roles, women in Japan have primarily sought employment in part-time positions (Gender Equality Cabinet Office, 2003; Mariko, 1989). Though the Japanese government detailed a program called Women in Development, the program has not strongly impacted the full-time labor market for women (Gender Equality Cabinet Office, 2003).

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also indicated a desire to integrate more women into the workforce through a program called Womenomics. The term Womenomics is a play on words based on the title of his Abenomics program, which highlighted his financial and political policies (Rafferty, 2015). Womenomics, a campaign under, Abenomics, seeks to entice more women to join the workforce (Rafferty, 2015). The plan emphasizes a goal of 30% of leadership positions to be filled by women (Doden, 2016). The expectation of Womenomics is to attract more women into money-driving corporations that drive the economy (Rafferty, 2015). However, the campaign has largely failed, as many of the same companies recruiting women into the labor force have not made strong efforts to accommodate them, especially working mothers with child-care needs (Arami, 2016).

Environmental Factors

Many environmental factors impact the ability of women to enter the full-time workforce in Japan, such as full time childcare (Park, 2007). Women who have children find it increasingly difficult to maintain a full-time career and take on the sole role as nurturer (Arami, 2016). A frequent complaint among working mothers in Japan is the lack of childcare available for their children during working hours, as some daycare centers for young children have waiting list in the realm of months (Nomura & Koizumi, 2016). When this childcare option is available, it is extremely expensive (Arami, 2016).  As a result, some women will remove themselves from the workforce for as long as 10 years for child rearing (Nomura & Koizumi, 2016). Other mothers leave the labor force altogether (Doden, 2016). The stress of the Japanese working environment, which sometimes includes as many as 80 hours a week, further deters participation in the full-time labor force among women in Japan (Park, 2007).

Literature Review

Sociologists have noted that Japan’s continued adherence to rigid social values of harmony have contributed to the lack of women in the full-time workforce (Hirata & Warschauer, 2014). In order to avert the collapse of the Japanese economy and increase the workforce, change must occur (Park, 2007). This change cannot simply provide more accommodation to women in the workplace superficially. The change must shift the cultural perspective on women in Japan, and Japan’s very social fabric. This section will provide a discussion on change rooted in the ideas of leadership theory and identify mechanisms for creating systemic and social change to dissolve the cultural, social, and environmental obstacles that deter women from entering the full-time workforce in Japan.

Theories of Social Change

To address the current circumstances, there must be a sense of urgency regarding these issues combined with action. Some argue that one of the best methods for change to happen is from fear of loss (Maxwell, 2015). Others argue that what sustains change is a sense of cross-cultural community participation to produce sustainable learning behaviors among communities or communities of practice (Wenger, 2008). Leadership expert John Kotter contends change must result from a series of successive steps (Kotter, 1996). Kotter catalyzed this idea in his eight-step model (Kotter, 1996). His model stresses the steps of change necessary to create and solidify a long-term impact.

Future Ready Learning

The power of media can shift or influence social perspectives. Electronic media, or digital media has become more pertinent in an age of technology, connecting people, often instantaneously (Nye, 1990).  The power of media possesses the ability to shape, shift, even transform society, and can be used as a driving force for social change (Halberstam, 2000). The power of media can be particularly useful in shifting the social and cultural perspectives of women in Japan, by compelling social perspective, whilst redirecting social narrative.  This section of the paper shall discuss how not solely in its digital forms, can engender shift in social perspective.

Media expert Susan Hayward indicated that there is a high correlation between the powers of media to influence cultural perspective and gender roles within a society (Hayward, 2005). Hayward’s (2005) idea relates to the notion that media is, in essence, an influential and defining voice of community (Hayward, 2005). Similarly, other experts note that the power of media to transform social behaviors can play a significant role in determining how society perceives itself or other social groups through visual representations and context (Curran, 2002). This can be compelling when using social media or televised media to spur a social shift (Popkin, 1995). For example, media specialist and sociologist David Halberstam asserted how media compelled the social perception of the war in Vietnam for its harrowing coverage of brutality (Halberstam, 2000). Collectively, literature on the power of media, social media networks, or televised media for social transformation is compelling not only in shifting social perceptions a valuable catalyst or tool to create a starting point for dialogue that inspires social change (Popkin, 1995).

Future Considerations

To aid in the effort of funneling more women into the full-time workforce in Japan, cultural and social change will need to transpire. Suggested models to inspire change and to bridge the gap of a lack of women in the workforce include structural change. This change must begin socially, including through the creation of special interest groups to engage in physical and digital organizations, as well as corroboration with Japan’s government to ensure future learning and a substantiated curriculum. This section of the paper will include a discussion on how future ready learning systems can be used to implement such change, as discussed through Kotter’s model of change.

To create change, a sense of urgency must be formed (Kotter, 1996). The status and rapid decline of birthrates in Japan have created this sense of urgency (World Bank, 2017). Furthermore, sociological and environmental factors have limited the percentage of women who participate in full-time employment in Japan (Nomura & Koizumi, 2016). The sense of urgency that arises from these issues is that if the existing patterns are maintained, then an economic crisis in Japan’s economy and the world at large is inevitable (Park, 2007).

The next step to Kotter’s change model is to form a powerful coalition (Kotter, 1996). This step will be accomplished in two different ways: through private alliances and through coalitions sponsored by the government. The highly bureaucratic government of Japan maintains a very close relationship with Japanese residents through public relations (Burks, 2011). Almost every aspect of public life is measured by, or engaged with, one or more sectors within the government (Burks, 2011). Leveraging the preexisting structures of the Japanese government could be used as a way to form a powerful coalition, as the government is well funded, powerful, and influential.

Another way to build a robust coalition would be through calling on female leaders in Japan to create social groups of learning and mentorship through social networking sites via online chat rooms and websites. The construction of such social groups from diverse backgrounds would constitute a community of practice, or a group concerned with achieving common goals of learning, for the common purpose of putting an end to the looming economic threat of the labor gap (Lave & Wenger, 1996). In turn, this would solidify the powerful coalition of social change makers. Strategizing the vision would include changing the social perception of not only how women in Japan see themselves in society but also how society views itself through women advocacy groups, within organizations, thereby creating a stronger sense of female presence within these organizations.

Kotter’s third step of creating a vision will be applied to develop a vision for the future of women in the workplace. The concept to be used will present women in Japan as capable full-time contributors to society and will illuminate how vital they are to the future of Japan in their roles as leaders, social change makers, and mentors. This vision is meant to transcend historical and cultural barriers and to cause society to reimagine and recreate women’s social roles in Japan.

To implement Kotter’s fourth step of using vehicles to achieve the vision, multimedia will be used. In 2014, Cybozu, which is one of the largest organizations in Japan, released a video depicting the life of a single, full-time working mother. The video was significant in its realistic depictions. The video, titled “Are you alright Mama?” depicts the hardship that many full-time mothers face in Japan.  The video inspired other companies to change some of their infrastructural developments to create better environments for working mothers (Cybozu, 2014). Given the assessment that multimedia and visualization serve as a means to influence and compel change, Curran (2002) noted the depiction was compelling.

The fifth means to implement Kotter’s change model will be crucial in undoing the rigid cultural and social structures that women in Japan face (Hirata & Warschauer, 2014; Kotter, 1996). To resolve the issue of the lack of mobility that women face in full-time working environments, the government needs to create women-to-women mentorship programs, and helping them excel in leadership will incentivize companies to celebrate their female personnel. To alleviate the lack of affordable childcare available to women in the workforce, the government can also create government-run low-cost childcare centers in Japan. Lastly, the Ministry of Education can start building a curriculum in which young girls learn leadership skills to encourage them to move into leadership.

To incorporate Kotter’s sixth step, to prepare for the social change and implementation of more women working full time in the labor force and creating a credible work–life balance, awards will be given on a national level. Women leaders who have contributed to the community, women’s empowerment groups, and companies that empower women will receive recognition for the work that they do. Incentivizing and rewarding businesses for improving their workplaces for women will create the momentum for change to happen at a steady pace. Incentivizing companies will also assist in encouraging 52% of women not in full-time employment to get involved and be part of the social restructuring in a way that directly benefits them (Nomura & Koizumi, 2016).

To consolidate Kotter’s improvements and social change, more women must take on leadership roles in larger corporations in a full-time capacity and work to create opportunities for the advancement of other women. Full-time work for women in Japan will be a possibility and an attractive option in corporations if more accommodating environments are provided to working mothers and nurturers. In addition, more female leadership will help to sustain and shepherd ongoing shifts, changes, and policies in Japan, particularly those that affect women. Lastly, creating departments within corporations that advocate for, and on behalf of, women, whether for leadership, a higher level of tenure within the organization, or better environmental factors, will be instrumental.

Finally, to institutionalize these changes, the Japanese Ministry of Education would work in conjunction with the Ministry of Labor. The Japanese Ministry of Education would implement systems through which young girls can acquire applicable skill sets such as leadership training, entrepreneurship coursework, and management classes. These skill sets would prepare them for entering the workforce and taking on leadership roles. These skills will help to change infrastructural, sociocultural, and environmental barriers.

Conclusion

To resolve Japan’s birthrate decline and workforce gap, and to entice more women to embrace full-time employment, there must be change on a social and structural level. To sustain this change, both a cross-section of Japan’s female population and the government must work together. Digital multimedia, and media, can be used to shift the social perceptions of how women see themselves and how they are viewed in society (Curran, 2002). To inspire or motivate future leadership, participation in public education can be used as a means to provide a community of learning (Wenger, 2008). Alternatively, the government can incentivize and reward organizations to create better working environments to address the concerns of working women and mothers (Nomura & Koizumi, 2016). A diverse cross-section of society must unite for the common goal of learning and redefining their own social identities (Wenger, 2008).

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BRANDON OLIVA                      

Brandon is a multilingual organizational leader with global corporate experience and a passion for diversity, inclusion, and innovation. He is fluent in Japanese, Spanish, and English and conversational in Mandarin.

Brandon has lived and worked in Japan on the Japanese Exchange Teaching program where he had the opportunity to gain first-hand experience leading new program initiatives and training adult learners. After this experience he received his M.A. in Asian Pacific Studies from the University of San Francisco.

Brandon is an experienced project manager, having worked with global teams, utilizing my multilingual and intercultural competencies.  He is currently completing his doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University where his work focuses on matters of global diversity, inclusion, belonging and technology to drive growth and innovation in organizations.

Supporting the Maya Children of Tumul K’in in Toledo, Belize

/in /by

by Juanatano Cano

 

Introduction

The Belize trip of summer 2018 opened the door to me to a different leadership experience. This experience allowed me to find a high school, Tumul K’in, in the District of Toledo, Belize. Tumul K’in is a co-ed high school that prepares Maya youth to succeed in a modern world while preserving their Maya identity. During my visit to the high school, I had the opportunity to interact with students, parents, teachers, and school administrators. Also, after watching a documentary called, “The Forgotten District,” this made me realize that indeed there is urgency in preparing the children in this district and in making sure that they have the 21st century skills to compete for jobs. However, preparing Maya children in the district of Toledo with 21s century skills does not mean that children should give up their beautiful culture and language.

Purpose:

This paper will briefly introduce the history of the Maya and will discuss how to help the Maya children in the District of Toledo. Also, it will give some successful examples of how Tumul K’in empowers the Yucatec, Mopan, and Ke’kchi students through education supported by their own Maya languages and cultures while preparing them to start their own businesses or pursue higher education. Furthermore, the paper will discuss some economic policies appropriate in helping to end poverty and will give some recommendations on how to improve the quality of life of the Maya people living in the district of Toledo.

History

To understand the Maya people in Belize, it is important to revisit their history. The history of the Maya civilization is best known for its Maya Temples (also known as Mayan Ruins) from Southern Mexico to Central America such as Chichen Itza, Copan, Tikal, etc. These temples are a testimony of a great civilization in the history of humankind.  According to Suter and Buell (2016), the Mayas were more progressive than any other civilization in this time period and advanced far beyond their own personal needs, in fact the scientific work and art of the Maya have made a lasting impression on the history of humankind. Also, Suter and Buell (2016) state that the calendar system the Mayas invented allowed them to plot time for the next 400 million years and predict occurrences such as the movements of the planets and the eclipses of the sun and the moon to the nearest second. They calculated the days in the year to add up to 365.2420 days compared to our actual value of 365.2522. Furthermore, Suter and Buell (2016) describe that the Maya number system allowed them to make sums up into the millions and comprehend the concept of the zero ahead of any other culture. These scientific works and predictions are certainly testaments of an advanced great civilization. But, what exactly happened to these Maya scientists? What led to their extinction? Suter and Buell (2016) explain that several speculations have been made as to what caused the collapse of the Classical Maya civilization (before 900 AD) though discrepancies have been found in each hypothesis. For example, some people have tried to blame disease but epidemics such as malaria and yellow fever were only introduced with the Spanish. Others criticize the Maya agriculture procedure of cutting and burning the forest and suggest a lack of food as the reason for the culture’s end. But good soil fertility found at one of the first to stop functioning helps to refute this explanation. Others agree that whatever caused the extinction still remains a mystery. Nevertheless, what is best known and recorded about the history of the Maya is that a rapid decline of the Maya happened when Europeans arrived in the 16th Century. According to Eleazar (2013), when the Spaniards conquered Maya civilization, the civilization declined faster. The Maya people were dispossessed of their lands and forced to work in cocoa plantations and other parts of the colonial economy. Consequently, Eleazar (2013), states that millions of Maya people are still striving, living and surviving among the harshness of these contemporary days. They are living in Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala.

In the case of the Mayas in Belize, according to Bridgewater (2012), long before Europeans the forest of Belize was home to the sophisticated and culturally advanced Maya civilization. Also, according to the Maya Atlas, during the conquest, many of the Mayas went on hiding in remote mountains and were not conquered (Toledo Maya Cultural Council, 1997).  The forty-two Ke’kchi and Mopan Maya communities in Southern Belize created the Maya Atlas. The Atlas serves as a window to both the ancient and modern Maya world; it appeals to people interested in indigenous rights, environmental issues, Latin America, arts, ethnography, traditional knowledge, and community-based conservation. The Atlas states that the Mayas who fled into the interior to take refuge in the Maya mountain range continue unique Maya practices; they refused to be Christianized. Hence, they continue to use the Maya temples for religious purposes and the temples are a testimony to their connection with the past. Currently, both the Ke’kchi and Mopan continue to look up to these unconverted Mayas. Also, according to the Toledo Maya Cultural Council and the Toledo Alcaldes Association some of the Mayas speak to their leaders through prayers and incense burning. These Maya leaders are considered to be the caretakers of wild animals. According to Penados (2017), the Alcalde system has played a role in efforts to overcome the effects of colonization and exclusion. They revitalize their communities and care for Maya ways of knowing and being in Belize

Problem:

According to the Inter-American Development Bank (2013), Children in rural areas have limited access to secondary education. The urban-rural gap in primary schools has remained largely constant at two percentage points over the last decade. In 2009, 93 percent of primary-aged children in urban areas attended school, compared with 91 percent in rural areas. The gap is much more pronounced at the secondary level. In 2009, while five in ten students living in urban areas were enrolled in secondary schools, only three in ten residing in rural areas were attending school. Furthermore, the Inter-American Development Bank (2013) states that at all education levels, attendance of Maya children (Yucatec, Mopan, and Ke’kchi) is lower than children from other ethnic groups. The gap is pronounced at the secondary level, where approximately 40 percent of Mestizo, Maya, and Garifuna children attend school compared to 57 percent of Creole children. Similarly, the tertiary-level attendance rate of Garifuna and Creole students is more than double the rate of Mayan students, which is reported at 8.4 percent.

In addition to Maya student’s poor attendance, the education in the district of Toledo is not adequate. According to an article about “Education in the Toledo Region”, improving access to a quality education is imperative in the remote Toledo region since poverty and dependency have the strongest hold there. However, the quality of education in Toledo is below in other parts of the country. The article explains that Toledo’s teachers face difficult conditions, including multi-grade classrooms and few supplies. Only 13 percent of Toledo’s youngsters are in preschool compared to 32 percent nationally. Also, only seven percent of Toledo’s children have access to ten or more children’s books in their homes. This lack of access to preschool and books mean that children are unprepared to enter primary schools and leads to repetition of grades in the early primary years. Furthermore, according to the 2010 UNICEF Annual Report for Belize, the rural district of Toledo, which is predominantly Indigenous Maya, is the most vulnerable.

Education is not the only problem. According to the High-level Political Forum at the United Nations in New York along with 44 other countries, the government of Belize submitted a Voluntary National Report on the country’s progress towards realizing the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The United Nation said that the Belizean government reports detailed presentations on goals pertaining to marine life protection, poverty, health, and gender equality, but it is noted that it is entirely absent of reporting on indicators related to Indigenous Peoples in Belize. The report was not developed with any input from representatives of Indigenous communities. Also, according to the United Nations Press Release 2004, Indigenous Peoples, along with other minority groups, have pushed for parties to recognize that the next agenda for development must ‘Leave No One Behind.’ Yet, Belize is on track to again leave the Maya Peoples behind.

 

Recommended Policy Change (Economic Theories)

Public Goods

According to Mell, A. and Walker, O. (2014), “a pure public good has an additional property: it is non-excludable. It means that it is impossible to stop someone else from using public good” (p. 117). However, based on the United Nations Report and on my personal observations, the Indigenous people are being excluded. It is well known that for over 500 years the majority of these people have been poor and marginalized. Currently, most of these people don’t have access to good roads, schools, hospitals or jobs. Also, according to Sacks (2005), the main sign of underdevelopment in a country or region include poor levels of human capital (health, skills and education, business capital (machinery and buildings) infrastructure (transport, power, and sanitation), and natural capital (viable land). This is the current situation of most of the Indigenous people in Belize and in other parts of Indigenous remote areas across Latin America.

Keynesian Economics Theory

According to Mell, A and Walker, O. (2014), the Keynesian model divides demand in an economy into three sources: households, firms, and the government (p. 239). This theory seems to go along with what was mentioned above about the theory of public goods. The Keynesian theory states that the government should be spending more on infrastructure, unemployment benefits, and education. Yet, the Belizean government does not seem to allocate that much resource to the indigenous people in the forgotten district. The Maya, in general, are poor because they lack proper education and skills to apply for good-paying jobs. According to the Poverty Assessment Report-Belize (n.d.), the poor are not well educated and lack technical and vocational skills. Furthermore, the report states that the poor’s young children are less likely than the children of the non-poor to have higher levels of education and to be involved in technical training. This indicates that the funds that are allocated are not reaching the poor Indigenous population.

Cost-benefit analysis

According to Cost-benefit analysis, the systematic approach is to estimate the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives. Broadly, it has two main purposes: a) to determine if an investment/decision is sound (justification/feasibility)—verifying whether its benefits outweigh the costs, and by how much; b) to provide a basis for comparing projects—which involves comparing the total expected cost of each option against its total expected benefits.

In my particular case, I will have research done on costs and benefits of any project that I might do in the future in Belize, specifically any costs that involve supporting Maya children at Tumul K’in.  For instance, I will take into consideration any direct and indirect costs. That is, under direct costs, I will consider the capital investment, any change in tax or licensing costs, consulting fees, and annual maintenance costs. Under indirect costs, I will consider ongoing training, leasing fees, labor hours, transportation costs, and so on. Furthermore, I must calculate the benefits and incorporate the time that it will take into the equation.

Recommendations:

I strongly believe that improving education and empowering children is one way to get out of poverty; education is a major key to improve the quality of life in the district of Toledo, Belize. According to Franz (2004), education is the central means for preparing children to become competent adults for socializing them to subscribe to the values of society. However, current models of education for development can benefit and contribute genuine progress in education. These include being aware of and respecting existing cultures and values and conceptualizing education as a process that takes into account the experience and knowledge of learners, especially in adult education and community development programs (UNESCO, 1993). The Maya Ke’kchi, Mopan, and Yucatec teenagers need education in their own Maya languages and cultures while preparing them to start their own business or pursue higher education.

Moreover, there is a theory of economic development widely discussed in Mexico called “comunalidad” which is central to my recommendations for education of indigenous students in Belize. Comunalidad refers to the knowledge and wisdom of the traditional indigenous communities which should be utilized in education and economic practice. In the words of Martinez Luna (2010), “Comunalidad is a way of understanding life as being permeated with spirituality, symbolism, and a greater integration with nature.  It is one way of understanding that human beings are not the center, but simply a part of great natural world. It is here that we can distinguish the enormous difference between Western and indigenous thought.  Who is at the center —- only one, or all?”  (pp. 93-94)

Alternatives:

An alternative is that the Maya people should be promoting their own ecotourism in order to obtain the economic strength to achieve their own education. They have been living and protecting the rainforest and traditions in the Toledo District for many years. The Belize government should advertise and encourage tourist to visit the Toledo district and support the Toledo Ecotourism Association. According to the Toledo Ecotourism Association, the Association has created a community-based program in which 10 villages have nearly identical eco-lodges where visitors from around the world can spend a few days roughing and seeing what life in these natural surroundings are like.

Future project in Belize

One of the main individuals who I will work with is the School Principal at the “TUMUL K’IN” Center of Learning in Toledo, Belize.  The school principal is a Maya Mopan. Tumul K’in is a co-ed high school that provides a curriculum 1-4 (equivalent to grades 9-12) in a safe, secure boarding school setting that prepares Maya youth to succeed in a modern world while retaining their Maya identity. Tumul K’in in Maya Mopan means “New Day”. The Center started in 1997 with the help of the Maya Institute of Belize. It was created in an effort to address the cultural and natural resources the Maya people offer for development and to address the crisis of poverty. The Belize government, including the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Natural Resources, supported the idea that education was an appropriate solution to poverty. The high school officially opened in 2002 and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Honorable Said Musa. The center started with 12 students and it grew to 100 students with almost equal numbers of boys and girls. The students are primarily Mopan and Q’eqchi.

The high school, Tumul K’in, Maya values are:

Respect for Mother Nature, Community Interdependence and Cooperation, Intercultural understanding and tolerance—Recognizing and understanding that everything and everyone has a reason for being, has a role and a protector, recognizing the Sacredness of humanity, nature, and the universe. Tumul K’in promotes personal and community organization, truthfulness in words, dialogue and consensus, and self-reliance.

 

 

Action steps

I have developed a strong relationship with the School Principal at Tumul K’in. We communicate weekly through email, messenger, or Facebook. For the new school year, 2018-2019, I will do my best to send 30 sets of English textbooks and 30 sets of Math textbooks. Also, I will do my best to visit the Learning Center at least once a year so that I could continue interacting with students, parents and school staff. Also, as a global leader, in the future, I would like to provide scholarships to Maya students at Tumul K’in. This year, with the support and help of Dr. Alan LeBaron (founder and director of Maya Heritage Community Project at Kennesaw State University), we are supporting the education of two undergraduate Maya students in Guatemala. Our hope is that one day, we could help a few Maya Graduate students in Mexico and Central America to become global leaders.

What have you learned?

In matters of two days, I had the opportunity to do some exploration in the Toledo District of Belize.

On day one, I visited a cacao farm where I literally learned how to roast organic cacao on a Comal (a circular iron hot plate over wood fire) and then grounded the roasted cacao over the Molcajete (a stone tool used for grinding food products). The final step was to make organic dark chocolate.  I liked the chocolate and ended up buying five large thick bars and paid $25.00 (U.S. dollars).  With this money, I might have supported the Maya Q’eqchi family income for a couple of days. This experience demonstrates my support for ecotourism. However, for several reasons, not everyone supports ecotourism in this Maya district. It seems that the government of Belize does not promote developmental projects in the district of Toledo. For example, in a documentary called “The Forgotten District” I learned that in 1997, the Toledo Ecotourism Association (TEA) won an Award Prize from Europe for a developmental project. They won about a million dollars for creating a most socially responsible community-based program. However, the government of Belize told the TEA that they had to use the money in the Northern part of Belize. This was a slap in the face of the Mayas. Nevertheless, I learned on this trip that Maya families are opening up their communities to tourism. With the help of the Toledo Ecotourism Association, the families are combining tourism, cultural revitalization, and environmental conservation.

On day two, I drove to a high school called Tumul K’in in Blue Creek in the district of Toledo, Belize. The mission of the school is all about providing education to teenagers substantiated in their own Maya languages and cultures and while preparing them to start their own business or pursue higher education. During my 8-hour visit at the school, I had the opportunity to talk to former students, parents, teachers, and school administrators. After listening to different individuals and sharing their stories about the importance of education, I left with the conviction that education is a key to improve the quality of line in the district of Toledo without giving up their culture and language.

Conclusion:

After stating the beauty of the culture and science of the Maya People, after stating the history and struggles of the Maya people in the district of Toledo, Belize, and after stating my experience with the Maya Mopan and K’eqchi at Tumul K’in, my hope is to bring awareness and opportunities to the Maya people of Belize. This experience reminded me of where I came from and that I have not forgotten the poor conditions of the rural schools I attended in Guatemala.

I am thankful that the EDD in Organizational Leadership program at Pepperdine University allowed me to come to Belize for the first time. As I stated in this paper, I have had the opportunity to meet a Maya Elder and his family, the students, parents, and school administrators of the high school Tumul K’in in the district of Toledo. Also, I learned so much by interacting with my cohort members and with Dr. June. My hope is to continue what I started doing during these five days by utilizing Tumul K’in to help the Maya children of Belize to preserve their Maya identity while preparing them to start their own business or pursue higher education. This would be my way to contribute to society as a global leader.

                                                         

 

REFERENCES

Bridgewater, S. (2012). A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest. University of Texas Press. Cost-Benefit Analysis. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.econlib.org/library/Topics/College/costbenefitanalysis.html

United Nations Press Releases. Development projects could help indigenous people survive or destroy them completely, depending on how they were managed, permanent forum told. (n.d.) Retrieved from: https://www.un.org/press/ en/2004/hr4758.doc.htm

Dickinson, O. (Director). (2009). The Forgotten District[Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.filmsdocumentaires.com/films/893-the-forgotten-district

Economic Theories of Poverty. (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/economic-theories-poverty

Education in the Toledo Region (2015) Retrieved from: http://www.tfabb.org/overedu.html

Eleazar, S. (2013, March 15). The Mayan People Of Today: How They Are Faring In These Modern Times. Retrieved from http://lifetickler.com/the-mayan-people-of-today/

Franz, S. (2004). Realizing the dream: Sustainable self-empowering through culturally relevant   education (an ethnographic case study of the K’ekchi Maya of rural Belize. Indiana  University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing Keynesian Economics Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://www.thebalance.com/keynesian-economics-theory-definition-4159776

Martinez Luna, Jaime (2010).  “The Fourth Principle” In New World of Indigenous Resistance.

Mell, A and Walker, O. (2014). The Rough Guide to Economics: From First Principles to the Financial Crisis.

Naslund-Haley, E., Alonzo, H., and Martin, D. (2013). Inter-American Development Bank:          Challenges and Opportunities in the Belize Education Sector

Nine ways to support the rights of indigenous people. (n.d.).            Retrieved from:           https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/apr/01/ nine-ways-to-support-the-rights-of-indigenous-people

Penados F. (2017) Indigenous Governance and Education in Belize: Lessons from the Maya Land Rights Struggle and Indigenous Education Initiatives.

Poverty Assessment Report – belize. (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://ambergriscaye.com/BzLibrary/trust495.html

Suter, K. and Buell, S. (2016). The Mayan Civilization – Present and Past. Retrieved from:            http://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/trade_environment/photo/hmayan.html

Toledo Maya Cultural Council (1997). Maya Atlas: The Struggle to Preserve Maya Land in Southern Belize. North Atlantic Books. Tumul K’in. (n.d.).

Retrieved from: http://www.tumulkinbelize.org/

UNICEF ANNUAL Report for Belize (2010)

Retrieved from:  https://www.unicef.org/about/annualreport/files/Belize_COAR_2010.pdf

 

Online Learning Academy

/in /by

by Arwa Abuhaimed and Ramzan Amiri

 

ABSTRACT

Belize, as an emerging country, faces some economics and education limitations for its general growth. Government education system offers elementary and middle education free upto eighth grade. The country has significant beauty because of it’s warm beaches connected to the Atlantic Ocean. Tourism industry, their largest economic sector, is growing due to favorable changes in foreign investment policies.  Belize’s government appears to be moving in the direction to grow the country’s economy, but it will take some time to see positive outcomes as skilled labor and infrastructure continues to be some of the key deficiencies. The country will require political reform with a priority towards helping people improve their quality of life. With this in mind, the first challenge is to understand the economic problems and its impact on the educational system. Young and adult citizens need support to acquire the highest skills to improve their earnings. Unfortunately, young students, whose families do not have sufficient funds to pay for their high school education have to survive getting menial low skill jobs with minimal income. They have low income and living under poverty limits, (Index mundi, 2018).  Poverty has become a significant barrier to economic growth in Belize. With this is in mind, this particular project lays out a plan to help Belize’s young and adult people to learn and develop new technologies skills to compete for better jobs and salaries.  Young people deserve better opportunities to get out of poverty by improving their skills and be successful and happy people. We have designed a proposal for a Distance Online Learning Program to teach them computer skills as well as skills in the areas of website development, marketing using social media, programming, etc. where home-based business can be established with minimal costs with global reach.

ONLINE LEARNING ACADEMY

The country of Belize and its people are currently facing some important issues. It is not entirely accurate that Belize has an economic crisis on its hands. It is true, however, that the country is facing a crisis of illiteracy and lack of education that could lead to future economic problems, including issues with poverty, and issues with living up to an acceptable standard of human rights. With this in mind, a trip to Belize revealed a number of things about the country that must be understood by those who seek to help. Its chief economic indicators are not strong. In fact, the country features roughly 10% unemployment across the board, (Miller et al., 2015). The percentage does not even include those people who are entirely out of the workforce because of issues of disability or just no longer looking for work. Like in many countries, people’s percentage is not working in Belize is extraordinarily high. On top of that, the country experiences relatively low GDP growth. With just more than two percent, the country’s growth rates should be much higher considering the country has a developing economy. It mainly has the growth rates of an established, developed economy without enjoying the benefits of high quality of life that people have in America or many of the European countries. As one might expect, the long-term economic indicators for the country are just precursors for problems on the ground. In particular, current issues are facing the country in terms of poverty and low quality of life. People are living poorly, with wages being stagnant. Many are living beneath levels of poverty, and they are unable to attend an elementary education; this has created a vicious cycle where individuals are unable to get the assistance they need and then remain in poverty because they do not have the skills to pull themselves out. With this in mind, various solutions are needed to work through this problem today.

The answer is simple, and there are two aspects of this project. First one, it is critical that the quality of life of the people of Belize be raised to acceptable levels. The world has come around to the idea that economic justice is just a human justice. When people are denied their economic rights, they are being denied their human rights more than that. The current situation in Belize constitutes a human rights crisis because the people are living in destitution and have little hope of climbing out of it, either. It is broader than that, however. Helping people in nations like Belize gain skills related to technology allows them to then participate in the emerging global economy. Technology can make the world itself more productive, provide more options for consumers, and generally help improve growth rates. Having more global economic equality, and raising developing nations out of their destitute status, can benefit all people. It is in addition to it just being the right thing to do for human rights reasons.

After considering the problem and why it is essential, the next question has to do with the solution. How can the problem be solved given the tools we have on hand today? In looking at Belize, one could see that the heart of the problem was the lack of ability to provide citizens with training and education (Weigand & Gibson, 2015). They are not given education by the government after the age of 14, meaning that most children never go on to even high school, let alone college. The bulk of applicable skills to help people get jobs are learned in high school and beyond. It makes sense, then that many people would struggle to obtain and hold good jobs if they have a lack of even the most basic skills needed for this a better job, (Ferreira, 2015). With this in mind, the fix itself needs to be narrowly tailored toward the root of the actual problem so that it has the best possibility of addressing the issue.

Moreover, the solutions considered have to be cost-effective, and they have to take into account the limitations that currently exist in Belize, (Horowitz, 2017). The desired fix is one that implements some of the good technology in the world of education that has been developed thus far. Critically, this means using distance learning and online education to provide youth with training so that they can be prepared either to work in global jobs or to start their businesses. Belize will at some point come into the modern age when it comes to business, and people need to be well-positioned to fill the jobs of the future when that takes place. This will allow more of the growth and prosperity to fall into the hands of the people there rather than having others from outside of Belize to come in and take all of the prosperity.

The vision for this project is to provide online learning solutions for all people so that they can be prepared for jobs in technology. The mission is similar. It is to bring about equality and opportunity through the teaching of computer skills and other relevant skills that youths are missing out on. The project has several core values that are important. It operates on the belief that all people are capable of learning new skills. It also operates on the belief that all people are worthy of investment in their skills and their futures.

The idea is to provide a framework through which youth can receive training through the Internet by skilled teachers who can help them develop their technology and computer skills. The goal would be to build an online system that could eventually provide educational services to all interested people in Belize. In the beginning, though, it would seek to provide this education to 10,000 citizens. From there, if it is successful, more students can take advantage of the opportunity.

The plan is to partner with a local organization and with the government in Belize. By doing so, this will ensure that the resources on the ground are used to make this the most efficient project possible. Those partners will be used to identify which technologies are currently available, what kinds of limitations the country might have in terms of identifying students for these programs, and any other local knowledge that might be necessary for the facilitation of this sort of program.

We need to start developing a budget with  $20,0000 (see figure 1)

  • Year one- model classroom in Belmopan
  • Year two- two classrooms in Belize City
  • Year three- one additional classroom in Belmopan and one in Placencia
  • Year four- maintain and improve the success rate of students
  • Year five- maintain and improve the success rate of students

 

Figure 1. Timeline and cost for five years

ACTION STEPS

  • Partner with a local organization “Pathlight International”.
  • Identify resource requirement to set-up and maintain the network.
  • WIFI availability with proper speed to support the lab – need to determine the size.
  • Space availability.
  • Initial funding for the equipment, set-up, and furniture.
  • Recurring cost and maintenance.
  • Will need technology sponsor for continuous (affiliation with technology companies).
  • Timeline + Cost

 

WHO WE MET

  • David Kafka: Remax relator moved to Placencia about nine years ago he is involved with real estate development and works with many investors from the USA and Europe. He shared Some insight about the future development plans of Placencia. The growth plan is significant they except major investment coming from USA and Europe in the next 5 to 10 years.
  • Edgar: is a well-connected person background in local politics, he shared information about the political-legal system, culture history and the dynamics of immigrants and the impact to the economy.
  • RJ: Tour Guys share some information about people in Belize and their challenges.
  • Adrian Bartley: Director, Community Partners PathLight International Organization. He is responsible for bringing sponsors on board and work with them. He is currently with US embassy as well as a local rotary club.

 SPELIT

The SPELIT analysis methodology is a leadership tool for untangling the organizational environment, which is a framework for students and leaders to assess a problem from a social, political, economic, legal, intercultural and technical view (Schmieder-Ramirez & Mallette, 2007).

S= SOCIAL

The social environment addresses the social character of an organization- areas of awareness, relationships, and service.

  • Migration continues to transform Belize’s population.
  • About 16% of Belizeans live aboard, while immigrants constitute about 15%.
  • The emigration of a large share and the influx of Central American immigrants, many central Americans immigrants.
  • Mestizos are the most ethnic group, but they can speak Spanish than English
  • Some native people speaks Creole, despite English being the official language.
  • All cultures appear to live in harmony.

P= POLITICAL

The political environment involves the politics of decision making, power and influence, organizational structure, and sources of power.

  • Complaints of lengthy bureaucratic delays and corruption serve as disincentives to foreign investments.
  • Belize lacks political risk insurance, and as a practice rarely engages in title insurance on real estate property transactions.

E= ECONOMIC

The economic environment involves the production and consumption of resources for the next reasons:

  • Belize’s economic freedom score ranks 23rd among the 32 countries in Latin America,
  • Economic reform in Belize has been not healthy at all because the economy is constrained by lingering policy and institutional weaknesses in many parts of the economy.
  • The exterior commerce has some barriers that difficult the diversification.
  • Tourism is the number one asset to bring money from other countries, followed by export of sugar, bananas, citrus, marine products, and crude oil.

L= LEGAL

The legal environment involves the laws (civil, custom, religious), rules, customs, and ethics.

  • Governance is weak with high levels of corruption.
  • Unreliable land title certificates have led to numerous property disputes involving foreign investors and landowners

I= INTERCULTURAL

The intercultural environment addresses culture and the differences between culture.

  • Most Belizeans are of multiracial descent. About 52.9% are Mestizo, 25.9% Creole, 11.3% Maya, 6.1. % Garifuna, 3.9% East Indian, 3.6% Mennonites, 1.2% White, 1% Asian, 1.2% Other and 0.3% Unknown.
  • In the case of Europeans, most are descendants of Spanish and British colonial settlers, whether pure-blooded or mixed with each other.
  • Most Spanish left the nation just after it was taken by the British colonists who, in the same way, left after independence. Beginning in 1958.
  • German and Russian Mennonites settled in Belize, mostly in isolated areas.

T= TECHNOLOGY

  • The technology environment involves the tools available in the physical environment. (e. facilities and distribution channels).
  • Wi-Fi is a challenge in most parts of Belize. The speed is very slow, and connectivity is unreliable.
  • The government had a decision in 2016 to install fiber optics connection throughout the country. It is a three-year project and appears to be going well. The installation has taken place in a couple of the larger cities including the Capital, Belmopan.

 

SOCIAL & ECONOMIC BENEFIT

There are social and economic benefits to this plan. Socially speaking, it would help to improve the levels of hopefulness in the community. It would also provide a means through which people could come together since they will be learning a significant number of skills together. It would likely decrease crime because young people would both have something to do with their time and would have more hope and opportunity for the future. Economically, this would help to reduce the unemployment rate in the country. It would also add opportunities for people to gain higher wage jobs in the future. The goal is not just to ensure that the people of Belize have an opportunity for employment, but to find good ways to ensure that the people have access to good-paying jobs that can lift them out of poverty. This could, on a macro level, improve the overall standing of the economy of Belize.

Figure 2. Countries align closely along the regression line that depicts the positive association between cognitive skills and economic growth (Hanushek & Woessmann, 2015).

Figure 2. The Knowledge Capital of Nations: Education and the Economics of Growth

ECONOMIC POLICY

1. Framing:

The benefits of the education have to be framed in a manner that the parents and the potential students see the long-term advantage of how this education can truly change their lives and their future generation. Marketing at the grassroots level will be critical. It will have to be addressed in a town hall type meeting in schools at the middle school level.

2. Loss aversion:

The risk of not taken action will be shared by presenting options of where they are today and the potential of where they can be if their skills are improved (Guides, 2014). Examples will be used of countries that have embarked on technology skills development and the global opportunity they have been to gain.

ENDOGENOUS GROWTH THEORY:

“A rising tide lifts all boats.” Since economic growth means there is more to go around everyone in the economy can benefit from it.

Investment in human capital, specifically in technology skills, makes workers use physical capital more effectively, which raises the return on investment in physical capital (Guides, 2014). It is a complementary process which raises GDP growth. Thus, allowing the government to use the additional tax towards improving the country’s economy.

According to Hanushek and Woessmann, population’s knowledge capital, or collective cognitive skills, is by far the most important determinant of a country’s economy.

WHAT WE LEARNED

There were many lessons when I was going through this project. The most eye-opening lesson I learned was that people in countries like Belize have the desire to go out and achieve and learn new skills, but they are frustrated, and they are not being helped by the government infrastructure around them. Things as simple as a free high school education are often taken for granted until one goes to a place like Belize and realizes that life there is very different. I learned, as well, that the best way to put together a program to help people in a country like this is not just to go in and impose one’s ways on the country. Instead, for it to work, it needs to be a collaborative effort. Organizations need to partner with other organizations and need to look closely at the existing competencies there. Without this kind of local engagement, it will be all but impossible to put in place a program that works over the long run.

GLOBAL MINDSET

According to the Harvard Business Review, authentic leaders have a high level of global Mindset, and they are more likely to succeed in working with people from different cultures, (Javidan, 2010).

  1. Know about cultures, political and economic systems in other countries and understand how their global industry works.
  2. Being passionate about diversity and willing to push ourselves.
  3. To be comfortable with being uncomfortable in the uncomfortable environment.
  4. Able to build trusting relationships with people who are different from us by showing respect and empathy and by being good listeners.
  5. Recognize our Cultural values and Biases.
  6. Get to know our Personality traits, especially curiosity.
  7. Learn about the workplace and business expectations of the country and market.
  8. Build strong Intercultural Relationships.
  9. Develop Strategies to adjust and flex style.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

Ultimately, the best recommendation in this instance is to go forward with a program that utilizes pilot courses to get a few students involved in the beginning. It would test out the feasibility of the program and ensure that any kinks can be worked out in the beginning. It is critical to design courses that take into account the skills that people currently have as well as any limitations they might possess. By partnering with local organizations rather than just attempting to come alone in and do everything from the outside, the project can both be better accepted and more likely to succeed in meeting its long-term goals within the community there. It will give the learners, teachers, and facilitators the best chance to help Belize’s people to go to the next level.

  

REFERENCES

Bartley, A. (2006). pathlight. Retrieved from path light: https://pathlight.org

Guides, R. (2014). The Rough Guide to Economics . New York: Rough Guides Ltd.

Hanushek, e. a., & Woessmann, L. (2015). Universal Basic Skills: What coUntrieS Stand to gain. Retrieved from OECD: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/

Horowitz, R. A. (2017). Understanding Ancient Maya  

Economic Variability: Lithic Technological Organization in the Mopan Valley, Belize. Retrieved from Howard-Tilton Memorial Library: https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane%3A75405

Javidan, M. (2010, 5 19). Bringing the Global Mindset to Leadership. Retrieved from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2010/05/bringing-the-global-mindset-to.html

Lakner, C., Lugo, M. A., & Ozler, B. (2014). Inequality of Opportunity and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Analysis. Retrieved from The World Bank Group: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/171051468336289614/Inequality-of-opportunity-and-economic-growth-a-cross-country-analysis

Miller, T., & Kim, A. B. (2015). 2015 Index of Economic Freedom Promoting Economic Opportunity and Prosperity. Retrieved from Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation: https://www.heritage.org/index/pdf/2015/book/Highlights.pdf

Sawaneh. (n.d.). Relationship between Human Skills and Economic Growth. Retrieved from business in gambia: http://businessingambia.com/relationship-skills-economic-growth/

Schmieder-Ramirez, J., & Mallette , L. A. (2007). The Spelit Power Matrix: Untangling The Organizational Environment With The Spelit Leadership Tool. BookSurge Publishing.

Weigand, M., & Gibson, D. (2015, 8 1). Educating Belize: Challenges and Opportunities for the Future. Retrieved from The University of Texas at Austin: http://hdl.handle.net/2152/47363

Growth Strategy for Belize

/in /by

by Ramzan Amiri

 

INTRODUCTION

Belize is a country in Central America bordering the Caribbean Sea. Key neighboring countries include Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. The geography of Belize is mainly flat with low mountains in the south. The government system is a parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm; the chief of state is the queen of the United Kingdom, and the head of government is the prime minister. Belize has a mixed economic system which includes a private-enterprise system, combined with centralized economic planning and government regulation. Belize is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Economic reform in Belize has been uneven, institutional weaknesses and lingering policy have constrained dynamic growth in many parts of the economy. Recovery from the recent economic slowdown has been anemic due to limited entrepreneurial activities in the private sector.  Tariff and non-tariff barriers have been burdensome, and the high cost of domestic financing is significantly impacting the private-sector from investment and economic diversification.   The judicial system is influenced by the politicians and corruption has become a common practice (Heritage Foundation, 2018).

Belize has a young population with a median age of 22.7 years with an age structure of 0-14 years at 33.95%, 15-24 years at 20.55%, 25-54 years at 36.62%, and 55 and over at 8.88% (The World Factbook, 2017).  But the school system is not adequate to support the large young population which has resulted in low literacy rate as well as a dropout rate beyond 8th grade to 50% (Pathlight International, 2018).

Belize has opportunities to become a strong economic player in the region due to its small size, which gives them the agility, and its location of bordering with some of the larger Countries, i.e., e. Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. Potential is there for trade agreements, maquiladora model of manufacturing/assembly due to Belize’s low salary and a high unemployment rate of the population between the ages of 15-24. According to CIA factbook (The World Factbook, 2017), the unemployment rate of ages 15-24 in Belize is 18.9%, while Mexico has 7.7%, Guatemala has 4.8%, and Honduras at 14.2%. This could be a good opportunity to get some foreign direct investment in from those countries with proper tax incentives and also get young adults employed. Additionally, Belize government does not seem to have a viable long-term definitive plan or a strategy to move the country forward. A10-year economic transformation plan with the help of IMF, World Bank and some of the larger NGOs would create a purpose and meaning for the Government and the People.  Furthermore, with an effective marketing strategy, engaging Belizean and mobilizing them would be a tremendous benefit to the transformation process. This engaged approach will uplift the morale, inspire the population, as well as create a cohesive culture of ownership and pride (Sinek, 2009).

ENVIRONMENT SCAN (SPELIT)

The environmental scan using Social, Political, Economic, Legal, Intercultural, and Technological (SPELIT) framework (Schmieder, 2007) reveals several opportunities to transform Belize to a vibrant and competitive economic powerhouse in the Central American Region.

Following represents my first-hand observation using SPELIT framework as a method of analyzing the business environment. This was accomplished during my recent visit to Belize as part of Pepperdine University Business Policy analysis team and speaking with some of the local business people.

S= SOCIAL

  • Migration continues to transform Belize’s population.
  • About 16% of Belizeans live aboard, while immigrants constitute about 15%.
  • The emigration of a large share of Creoles and the influx of Central American immigrants, many Guatemalans, Salvadorans, and Hondurans, has changed Belize’s Ethnic composition.
  • Mestizos have become the largest ethnic group, and Belize now has more native Spanish speakers than English or Creole speakers, despite English being the official language.
  • All cultures appear to live in harmony

P= POLITICAL

  • Complaints of lengthy bureaucratic delays and corruption serve as disincentives to foreign investments.
  • Belize lacks political risk insurance, and as a practice rarely engages in title insurance on real estate property transactions.

E= ECONOMIC

  • Belize’s economic freedom score ranks 23rd among the 32 countries in the Americas region, and its overall score is below the regional and world averages
  • Economic reform in Belize has been uneven, and more dynamic growth is constrained by lingering policy and institutional weaknesses in many parts of the economy.
  • Burdensome tariff and nontariff barriers and the high cost of domestic financing hinder private-sector development and economic diversification.
  • Tourism is the number one foreign exchange earner in this small economy, followed by export of sugar, bananas, citrus, marine products, and crude oil.

L= LEGAL

  • Governance is weak with high levels of corruption.
  • Unreliable land title certificates have led to numerous property disputes involving foreign investors and landowners.

I= INTERCULTURAL

  • Most Belizeans are of multiracial descent. About 52.9% are Mestizo, 25.9% Creole, 11.3% Maya, 6.1. % Garifuna, 3.9% East Indian, 3.6% Mennonites, 1.2% White, 1% Asian, 1.2% Other and 0.3% Unknown.
  • In the case of Europeans, most are descendants of Spanish and British colonial settlers, whether pure-blooded or mixed with each other.
  • Most Spanish left the nation just after it was taken by the British colonists who, in the same way, left after independence. Beginning in 1958
  • German and Russian Mennonites settled in Belize, mostly in isolated areas.

T= TECHNOLOGY

  • Wi-Fi is a challenge in most parts of Belize. The speed is very slow, and connectivity is unreliable.
  • The government decided in 2016 to install fiber optics connection throughout the country. This is a three-year project and appears to be going well. The installation has taken place in a couple of the larger cities including the Capital, Belmopan.

 

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The key challenge the Belize Government appears to face is stagnant GDP growth which is impacting government from making any infrastructure investment, consequentially, impacting Foreign Direct Invest (FDI).

Some of the key infrastructures that are lacking include educated workforce, supply chain infrastructure, and facilities to support manufacturing or technology industries. The most critical challenge appears to be there is no plan in place by the Government to educate the workforce. 50% of the Belizean children do not attend high school, 40% of the Belizean live in poverty and cannot afford to send their children to school or purchase books, and worst of all 23% of the Belizeans over the age of 15 cannot read or write (Pathlight International, 2018).  One of the schools the Pepperdine Team visited had a library but was locked, and no one knew where the key was. We were told the library had not been used for years. One high school Principal we spoke to about computer class mentioned that they have a few desktop computers, but half of the computers are not working and the few that are working are being used to teach students typing. It appears there is no clear understanding of how these assets they already have should be effectively utilized.

The issue of lack of education is further exasperated with the government policy which supports free education only up to grade 8, with 9th through 12th-grade students having to go through a government approval process for funding. The approval process lacks credibility, and generally poor children are left out.  Furthermore, K-12 schools do not have adequate qualified teachers which unfortunately impacts the entire learning and mentorship culture.

In summary, Belize is not an attractive place for any sort of commercial investments. The country lacks basic infrastructure, and the government policies add another layer of complication for local and foreign businesses.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTION STEPS

Below are four key measurable objectives with specific actions items to consider getting Belize into the global business arena. Timeline and cost will be determined once a strategic team is formed and priorities are defined. The plan would be put in place with the help of IMF and World Bank:

  • Effective Capitalization of Human Resources (measurement: enrollments in secondary school and completion, salary growth, number of skilled jobs filled vs. open)
    • Engage NGOs with specific objectives that align with Belize’s long-term transformation plan
    • Teacher training to be accelerated
    • Update education system and policies
    • Introduce trade schools with courses that align with the industry cluster plan
    • Upgrade immigration policy to attract skilled workers
  • Improve living standards of Belizean (measurement: Income per capita growth) (home ownership by Belizean)
    • Job creation in information technology and manufacturing sectors – high paying jobs generates increase tax as well as internal demand for consumer goods. This will allow Belize to move towards consumer economy leading to additional investments in manufacturing and service sectors.
  • Increase foreign direct investments (FDI) (measurement: $ investment by foreign businesses) (Real Estate development and demand)
    • Work with IMF and World Bank to develop infrastructure in the areas of broadband development to connect with the rest of the world
    • Improve trade policies to attract investment
    • Provide incentives for investment in Commercial Real Estate
  • Develop Industrial Clusters (measurement: number of businesses and employment in the targeted clusters)
    • Define two areas of Industrial clusters where Belize can be known as having skills and capability as most competitive in the region, i.e., technology, high skilled manufacturing capability

RECOMMENDED POLICY CHANGE

A nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade (Porter M. E., 2008). The current protectionist trade policy of tariff on products needs to be abolished to increase global competitiveness. Companies generally achieve competitive advantage through the acts of innovation. Protectionist policies hinder innovation and stagnates growth due to limited demand.

ALTERNATIVES

There are no alternatives other than rapid acceleration with the help of government intervention in increasing the money supply. Belize is running at a deficit for quite some time, and at some point, the government will start to miss debt payments which will further deteriorate the ranking of the country.

PARTNERING

  1. Taiwan seems to have a big presence in Belize and participates in student exchange program as well as given grants/loans to Belize government for economic development. In August of 2017, Taiwan gave a grant of US$20 million to Belize and additionally a loan of US$40 million(Ramos, 2017). It appears this relationship can be further solidified if some sort of incentivized long-term economic development agreement can be achieved.
  2. Pathlight International is a California based 501 c3 organization, and their focus has been teacher development as well as helping students with scholarships, transportation, nutritious meals, afterschool academic tutoring, etc. They established their organization in Belize in 2007, since then they have trained over 600 teachers and 50 principals. They also have ongoing training programs for teachers to further enhance the learning environment for students(Pathlight International, 2018). They are currently successfully working in Belize City and Belmopan which can be further expanded to some of the urban areas.
  3. A partnership that appears to be missing is a hands-on third-party economic advisory committee to help Belize government put together a solid path for growth. Belize has a significant number of assets that can be effectively utilized to transform the country into a major economic player in the central/Latin American regions. There are several economic models that can be looked at, i.e., The Bahamas, which has a similar size population and a relatively young country but has a GDP three times the size of Belize. Another, yet extreme example is Singapore, which has a significantly larger population but went through a lot of struggle since their independence in 1965, has a GDP US$ 504.9 Billion, 15 times larger than Belize and income per capita of UD$90,500 as compare to Belize with a GDP of US$ 3.23 billion and income per capita of $8,300. So, the opportunities are there for Belize to focus and make purpose driven strategic plan to become successful.

LESSON LEARNED

  • Strong leadership with a purpose and meaning is critical to engage people and drive growth.
  • People are the biggest asset in a country or an organization. Putting them first is a critical success factor for successful growth.
  • Education and continuous training are essential for a country or an organization to innovate and grow.
  • Protectionist measures are detrimental to competitiveness and drive to excel.
  • The government has a responsibility to adjust fiscal and monetary policies as the global competitive landscape changes. Productive society leads to GDP growth.

REFERENCES

Bohlander, G. a. (2010). Managing Human Resources. Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Heritage Foundation. (2018). Retrieved from The Heritage Foundation: https://www.heritage.org/index/country/belize#

Mell, A. a. (2014). The Rough Guide to Economics. London: Rough Guides Ltd.

Pathlight International. (2018). Retrieved from Pathlight International: https://pathlight.org

Porter, M. E. (2008). On Competition. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.

Ramos, A. (2017, August 09). Taiwan Gives Guatemala over $600 Million in Funding. Amandala, p. 1.

Schmieder, J. a. (2007). The SPELIT Power Matrix. June Schmieder-Ramirez and Leo A. Mallette.

Sinek, S. (2009). Start with Why. New York: Penguin Group.

The World Factbook. (2017, July 01). Retrieved from The World Factbook: http:// www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook