Sample Solution
In Chicago, IL there are a variety of resources available for suicide prevention. The city’s Department of Public Health offers crisis counseling services for individuals in need as well as referrals to mental health professionals (City of Chicago, 2021). Additionally, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has an affiliate located in Chicago with local chapters which provide support and education on suicide awareness and prevention (AFSP, 2021).
The Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center also provides support services via their Mental Health Services Division which includes individual therapy sessions and group meetings aimed at helping adolescents manage suicidal thoughts or behaviors (Cook County, 2020). Furthermore, the University of Illinois-Chicago offers a 24-hour hotline staffed by trained counselors who can provide immediate assistance when needed (UIC Counseling Center, 2021).
While these resources are certainly helpful it is still difficult to gauge whether they are adequate due to lack of data available. For example, we do not know how many people utilize these services nor do we have any way of measuring their effectiveness. That being said, it seems clear that more needs to be done in terms of expanding access to these programs either through additional funding or creating more community outreach centers where those struggling with suicidal ideations can get help quickly and conveniently. This would go far in ensuring that everyone receives quality care regardless of their financial situation or geographic location.
As discussed by Bottazzo (2005), a company’s employees are one of its main groups of potential stakeholders. As a result, the satisfaction of employees is considered equal to the satisfaction of customers and shareholders, becoming an important element of an organisation’s strategic mission. This has created a paradigm shift of internal communication from one-way informing of employees, to a two-way communication with the inclusion of training, education and motivation.
The goal of internal communication is to achieve employee-company advocacy, with workers buying into the missions and values of the organisation and reflect those to other potential stakeholders. Therefore it’s necessary for Recticel to maintain the use of different platforms for everyday communication, including email, telephone, webinars and Skype – which allows a range of users to ‘dial in’ to a meeting and share computer screens. For a multi-national company, well-rounded communication from management is crucial – to offer information, support and a sense of community for plants that cannot be supported through emails or phone calls alone (Pinsky, 2015).
Recticel address this through an internal intranet system, RICK (Recticel Intranet Centre of Knowledge). RICK contains all of the documents, training and support required by individual plants to help run their business successfully. In a manufacturing environment, changes can take place rapidly – this method of instantaneous communication will assist individual plants to sync their business activities.
RICK boosts the company’s efforts of ‘on boarding’ – the introduction of new employees to the company. In a company of this size, the automation of an on boarding programme streamlines talent management initiatives and improves productivity long term. A personalised level of access to the intranet system facilitates a steady flow of well-timed information to new employees (Friedmann, 2012). There are instances where automation in the ‘on boarding’ and communication processes have their disadvantages. In large manufacturing companies like Recticel, where most employees work the assembly line rather than at a desk, not all employees have the same access to information and training.
