Individual Review Paper Outline

Plastic Surgery – Redefinition of Beauty

Executive Summary

# In the 20^th century, plastic surgery has evolved remarkably as a specialty in US.

The report focuses on developed countries and developing countries. It talks about the change in standard of beauty along with the emerging market of plastic surgery.

Introduction

• The rationales of the choice of this topic
• Definition of plastic surgery & its brief history
• Definition of beauty (“Beauty is the truth.”)

Historical Perspective

1. People’s perception

• Could not do much to their appearance at that time (the variable was inner beauty)
• Higher acceptance of what they were born with.
• The standard of beauty changes over times. (Still it was not so much artificial then.)
• Enhanced themselves through lifestyles (reading books, connecting with people)

2. The function of plastic surgery

· A reconstructive surgery

· Merely fixing functional impairments and traumatic injuries etc.

Current Situation

Plastic surgery comes to a peak point when the focus shifts to cosmetic surgery. (e.g. nose job, liposuction, breast implant)
            1.On the bright side

· Bringing hopes to people with low self-esteem or to people hoping to look as perfect as the celebrities on TV

· Overall people are more beautiful (“enhancement” of appearance)

· Have an illusion that we look younger than we actually are by reducing the effect of aging (e.g. botox injection, lifting)


2. Pros

a. Society

· Lift up the expectation on people’s appearance (must be presentable?)

· Increased discrimination in applying jobs and during socializing (Judge a person by its book cover)

· Near-to perfectionism in appearance.

b. Individual who has gone through plastic surgery

· Intense plastic surgery obsession (higher risks, more money spent)

· More emphasis on appearance (less attention on building up better personalities and characteristics)

· Depend on an external source for self-esteem (over-reliance, lack of self-confident)

c. Individual who has not

· Undergoing going stress and tension (especially peer pressure)

· Possible to go with the flow reluctantly

Future Consideration

Concerns:

• Over flooded - The trend of overwhelming plastic surgery taking place.
• Who is the real you? -False illusions everywhere.
• Family Lies - Change in appearance does not mean change in genes.
• Ugliness of society – Looks outweighs inner beauty.

Solutions: (Culture Revolution!)

• Policies and regulations have to be made.
• Surgeon should be more responsible instead of money-driven.
• Individual should be well-informed of the consequences.

Conclusion

Week4

This week’s topic was on the drivers of changes and change management. When it comes to change, everyone is clear that change is constant and nothing will remind the same. Change can be a result of scientific discovery and technology innovation. It can also be due to the increasingly competitiveness among organizations, societies and countries. There is never a clear cut on which specific factor leads to a particular transformation. This is because there is no individual in the world context. Everyone and everything is part of the construction. One changes, the other follows/reacts. Every entity plays a part.

Change may be either evolutionary or revolutionary. Examples of evolutionary change are the increased bacterial resistance and natural selection. These changes are in the course of nature. Revolutionary change, on the other hand, changes the market place and the ways thing is done in a rapid motion by human’s self-interest. It can be disruptive but can sometimes turn out to be in a good cause. We could not stop evolutionary changes. Instead, we can rethink the current strategy to tackle revolutionary changes.

Session Rating: 8/10

During the reading discussion, the issue on food security was brought up. It set me thinking about the debate of genetic modified food. With the boost of genetic engineering in recent years, there are controversies from different stakeholders with regard to the transgenic plant products. The inception of GM food is to eradicate world hunger. However, the creation of GM food is embedded with the risks of health such as gene transfer and human exposure to pesticides. In the meantime, to meet the demand for food in the developing countries, the use of GM crops is increased. Policies are made and mandatory of labeling is legislated in certain places such that consumers are notified of the choice of their food. The emerging changes could not be stopped and so is the revised strategy to be carried out.

“Who moves my cheese?” is a very interesting story illustrating how different people react to changes differently and their preparation for change is. When watching the video, we were rational enough to determine who makes the brightest choice in the face of changes. The essence of being adaptable to change has rooted deeply into us. Often, it is easy to be a critic. In today’s society with much better education, we are already nurtured to have the realization of responding to change. However if we are going to talk the talk, we have got to walk the walk. The crucial part is who can create the framework/paradigm and who can realize the framework and ensure that it is achieved. This is why leader and manager are seemed to be playing a critical part nowadays in the arena of commerce or politics.

Generally there are three attitudes towards change – creating change, ostrich approach and no sense of what is going around. There is no definite right or wrong with these three attitudes. “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory”- an interesting quote from W. Edwards Deming. Yes! Not everyone wants to change. There are people who are just willing to be falling stars as they are not interested in the competiveness around them. Therefore, they choose to ignore the transformation happening. Instead of criticizing how wrong/right individual/organization is towards change, we should scrutinize and figure out those who are grumbling about the unfairness of life and how things do not go according to their way. Because those are the ones who need to learn that we should adaptable to changes around us.