Big Brothers, Big Sisters Essay

Big Brothers, Big Sisters is a prevention program, which enhances the socialization of children through paying attention to their psychological and physical development and increasing their feeling of â€Å"being included† into community and school environment. Due to the fact that the project is mostly directed to planning interesting leisure and education-related activities for minors, it can be interpreted as prevention program, as it creates a friendly and harmonious environment which encourages and reinforces the child’s self-esteem through establishing a symmetric communication between the minor and adult and teaching important social skills. As for me, I believe that the program is effective, as it deals mostly with three important predictors of deviance and crime – absence of developing and diversified pastime, lack of engagement with community activities and academic failure (and the consequent loss of interest in education) in schoolchildren. In addition, the relevant study, provided by the website, demonstrates the following results: â€Å"Researchers found that after 18 months of spending time with their Bigs, the Little Brothers and Little Sisters were: – 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs; – 27% less likely to begin using alcohol; – 52% less likely to skip school; – 37% less likely to skip a class; – more confident of their performance in schoolwork; – one-third less likely to hit someone† (at http://www. bigbrooc. org/html/our_impact. html, 2007). There are three major curriculums, designed within the program. First of all, there is a set of community-based activities, which take place once a month. The community volunteers encourage the participants to do sports, play intellectual games, have meals together or simply take walks in the park. Group-based mentoring program includes monthly meeting of Big and Little Brothers and Sisters and learning new and unusual types of sports, associated with team playing. For instance, the participants do kayaking, play miniature golf or team bowling. All these sports are aimed at improving the children’s concentration, dexterity, ability to plan and make joint decision within the team; as one knows from developmental psychology, the progress of physical skills is particularly sensitive to influences at teen age, when the person is actively growing. The complex of school-based activities comprises weekly sessions, during which the minors are assisted in their home assignments. The major advantage of this program, which actually can cause in the jealousy of the similar agencies, is its image of partnership between adults and children, who receive not mentors, but friends, whose role models are more likely to be learned by minors. The typical agencies of this profile (working in the directions of prevention and diversion) more willingly involve competent specialists (in a limited number) than volunteers, so the underage target audience not always receives socialization experience and learn social skills during workshops and training. In addition, the Big Brothers Big Sisters project manages to maintain its focus on the underage audience in all points of its curriculum and stimulates the natural and healthy socialization in minors (through communication and team activities), instead of creating artificial conditions (like those in workshops and purposeful social skills training). The goals of the Big Brothers, Big Sisters project to great extent coincide with the orientation of the whole juvenile justice system. The major priority of the system is prevention of juvenile crimes and recidivism, but this goal is traditionally accomplished through enlightenment and education in the spheres of crime and punishment, drug addiction and alcohol use. The efforts of the program, on the other hand, are directed to improving the minors’ physical and psychological health and helping them establish friendly contact with the environment. This model is often neglected by the juvenile justice system, so it would be beneficial to introduce the program under the management of the network of government institutions, responsible for delinquency prevention, as the idea of healthy and natural socialization is likely to become a new direction in the functioning of the juvenile justice system and the unity of accountability will provide courts will more comprehensive information about the children. In addition, the program will also demonstrate success in the field of diversion. Finally, the program will correct the official and formalized image of the juvenile justice system and break the stereotype of the â€Å"punishing institution†. The major strength of the program is its positivist approach to prevention, which includes strengthening the minors’ social and psychological potential rather than intimidating schoolchildren about the adversities, associated with delinquency and illicit drug use. The project embraces community work, group work and school work, so that the major environments, in which the children operate, are influenced and to some extent altered. The ultimate goal in this sense is the development of the sense of inclusion into all these environments in the participants. On the other hand, the program lacks one important components, which is family-based work. As the website suggests, the underage participants originate from the households, where domestic violence and alcohol use are practiced. With respect to the fact that behavior models, learned in the family, are to certain degree determinative in teenagers’ behavior, it would also be useful to establish a contact between the families and the community and arrange activities, which imply the creation of a large team, consisting of children, their parents and the Bigs. Another weakness is the lack of basic psychological education for children, as at the certain stage of their development they need theoretical knowledge of building relationships and understanding others, so the Big Brothers, Big Sisters can introduce monthly discussions of the achievements and difficulties, experienced by the participants in their relationships with coevals and adults. Reference list Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Orange County. (2007). Official website, at http://www. bigbrooc. org.

Field Experience Report

General Outcome: 1. 0 The student shall spend 15 hours in observation in a school setting. Specific Measurable Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this unit, the student shall be able to: 1. 1 Review an existing lesson plan prior to the lesson. After reviewing an existing lesson plan prior to the lesson implementation by your cooperating teacher, address the following: 1) Record the subject, grade level and the goal of the lesson plan. 7th grade Civics. Goal: 1. Identify the key issues discussed at the Constitutional Convention;? . Describe the problems and solutions that were addressed by the Great Compromise of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. How did this lesson plan differ from the required lesson plan of this course? Much less detailed, in fact I would even call it vague. 2) Did the plan include an assessment? Not really, he had â€Å"Evaluation† and that was to be determined by student’s participation. Observe the implementation of the lesson an d address the following: 3) Did the actual teaching/learning process take place as outlined in the plan?Why or why not? The teaching process took place as outline, however the learning process is hard for me to gauge without a formal assesment. 4) Did the teacher feel as if the lesson was successful and the objective was met? Yes, he did, he seemed satisfied. But to be frank, I don’t believe so. 5) Would you have done anything differently from the teacher? If so, what? Yes, I would definitely be more detail oriented with my lesson plans. I find his plans to be too vague for my liking. 1. Observe a cooperating teacher in large and small group instructional setting. After observing a cooperating teacher in a large and small group instructional setting, address the following: Large group instructional setting: 1) Did you observe any of the following instructional strategies: integrated curriculum, thematic teaching, cooperative learning, critical thinking/problem solving, or dif ferentiated instruction? He used differentiated instruction for a gifted student in one of the classes I observed.For example, he would assign the same chapter from the Civics book for all the students, but he would assign the gifted students, additional questions to answer at the end of the chapter, and in fact, they were what I would consider â€Å"higher order† questions. 2) Describe what you observed. (If none of the instructional strategies listed above were observed, describe what strategies you did observe. ) Small group Instructional setting: 1) Did the cooperating teacher use small group instruction? If not, why do you think it was not used?Yes, he did use small group instruction. In one of the classes I observed, there was 5 ESOL students, he grouped them together to get the extra help needed in reading chapters and comprehension of the material, with an ESOL teacher aide. 2) How could you use small group instruction with this class of students? It could be used by divinding kids into different small groups, I would divide them not by grouping skill levels together, but by group different skill levels together. That way, they could collaborative learning could be implemented.If so, describe the teaching strategies in the small group. I would use collaborative learning and use higher order thinking skills as my primary goal in the small group. I would act more as a facilitator, guiding them on the journey. 3) What criteria was used to form the small groups? He sepereated the ESOL group, however you could also use small group instruction for differential instruction for gifted students. How did the instruction in the small group compare to that of the large group? The small group was much more interactive.The large group listened to a lecture, while the ESOL group participated much more among the group and interacted much more within the small group, as compared to the large, which did not interact. 1. 3 Observe and describe the classroom learni ng environment. A student-centered learning environment is one that is safe, organized, inclusive, equitable, flexible and collaborative. Describe what you observed by addressing the following: Did the teacher†¦ * provide an organized classroom with well-managed space?Yes, I believe so; the only thing I did observe was that there were not enough textbooks for all the students, so in one class about 4 students always had to share a book. This is not really something that the teacher can control, but it did surprise me. * convey high expectations to students? Somewhat. He always repeated to students that Civics is important, that in order to be good citizens, one must have an understanding of Civics. Also he discussed with them the importance to study and the need to study a lot for success. maintain a climate of openness, inquiry, and fairness? Yes, I believe so. The students were never reprimanded without reason. Also, he did encourage them to answer questions, even if they wer e wrong. * adapt the environment to accommodate different needs and diversity? Yes, he did try; he would often separate the ESOL students so they could sit in a group with their ESOL aide. Also the teacher had a student who was gifted and he accommodated his needs by assigning him higher-order questions from the book. * model clear oral and written communication skills?Most times, though I do think at times he could have been even more clear, because sometimes the kids were completely lost as to what chapter they were on, and on what dates things were do. Obviously there is a miscommunication somewhere. 1. 4Observe the teacher use materials in the teaching/learning process. Observe a lesson and describe the process that was used to utilize instructional materials by addressing the following: 1) List the materials used in the lesson. He used a website called â€Å"ConnectEd† which is a website associated with the Civics book used.They also had a workbook that was used. 2) Did the materials enhance the lesson and stimulate interest? To some extent. Some of the kids did not have computers and or Internet access, so they were not able to utilize the â€Å"ConnectEd† website. The book is a standard Civics book, so the extent that it can stimulate interest is limited in my opinion. 3) Did the teacher use the materials for demonstration only or were children able to use the materials? Yes, children could use the website at home, if they had Internet access and/or computer, which not all did. ) Would you use materials differently or would you use different material? Explain. I would use different materials as well as more materials. The lessons could be boring since they were mostly lectures and going over questions in the book. With Civics you could use creativity and hold a mock election, or maybe have the class write their own class constitution etc. I would implement those sorts of ideas to try and make the classes more interesting for students. 1. 5 Observe the teacher – learner and learner – leaner interaction.Mutual respect and good communication between students and teacher are vital to an effective learning environment. Address the following that you observed in your cooperating teacher’s classroom: 1) How did the teacher encourage open communication? He always waited patiently for students to answer the questions and never criticized students if there answer was wrong, he would say something like â€Å"No†¦you are getting there though†¦Ã¢â‚¬  so even if the student was wrong, there were not made to feel bad and this I believe created a sense of comfort and confidence in the classroom for the students. ) Was learner-learner interaction a vital part of the instructional strategy? Not in the large group, however he did have ESOL students that were separated into a small group, and there was a lot of learner-learner interaction in this setting. 3) Did you observe cooperative learning? No, this is not something I observed during this field experience, perhaps I will next semester. 4) Was the teacher more of a facilitator or a lecturer? Explain. I think he was a little of both.He did seem to lecture a lot, but by the same token, even though he did lecture, he also asked questions of the students every once in a while, which gave them opportunities to do critical thinking and thus, in that sense, he became a facilitator. 1. 6 Read to individual children or groups of children. A. Choose the book recommended by the cooperating teacher. Develop at least one question from the higher order questions (Bloom’s taxonomy) to ask the children. Describe the experience. If you are at a middle or high school setting, you may discuss a current book, article, or perhaps a poem that a student has read.We read the Bill of Rights during my lesson on the Constitution. One of the higher order questions I asked was: What are some of the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and how hav e these rights affected your life? Explain. 1. 7 Listen to individual children read. Discuss with your cooperating teacher some instructional strategies that you can use to concentrate on vocabulary skills, fluency or comprehension. What were the suggestions? Describe the experience. During one of my visits the class read aloud a chapter in the book. Some students were better readers than others.The teacher makes a vocabulary list every week, based on the reading. He instructs the students to make vocabulary cards from index cards, with definitions for students to study weekly. Then, on a weekly basis, they have a1 vocabulary quiz. 1. 8 Work with individual or small groups of students to provide a review on previously taught materials. Discuss with your cooperating teacher a review lesson that you could implement with an individual student or a small group of students. With approval, implement the review and reflect on your experience.I had the opportunity to do this activity with a student that had been out a couple of days because of illness. I went over some of the lessons in the chapter with him that he missed, than the cooperating teacher wanted me to work with the student to answer the questions at the end of the lesson. This went well, since it was just one student, it was nice to have the personal interaction with him. However he was quite shy and I did have to work to get more than a 2-word response from him. 1. 8 Reflect upon the educational theory and philosophy observed in the field based school.Your textbook describes four philosophies that influence today’s education. The subject-centered philosophies are perennialism and essentialism. The child-centered philosophies are romanticism and progressivism . Have a discussion with your teacher about his/her guiding beliefs of how teaching and learning occur in the classroom and address the following: 1) Which philosophy comes through in the discussion? During our discussion he told me that he is most influenced by the progressivism philosophy. He believes that students students learn best by doing. 2) Which best describes the reality of the classroom that you observed?In reality, the cooperating teacher seems to lean more toward perennialism or essentialism. Certainly not progressivism because I did not once observe them doing any work on their own, other than answering questions at the end of a chapter reading. He relies most on lecture, and some discussion. 1. 9 Review curriculum guides, teacher manuals, etc. Ask your cooperating teacher for an instructional focus calendar or a teacher manual for you to review. After reviewing the selected material, address the following: 1) What guide, manual or material did you review?He showed me an IFC (Instructional Focus Calendar) for 8th grade US History, which was not a class I observed, but that he has taught. 2) What information did your teacher give you regarding the use of the material? He explained to me that it outlines for a teacher what their focus should be on every given week. For example, for weeks 2-3 of the school year, the teacher should be focusing instruction on Early American Settlements up to 1625. 3) Did you find the material beneficial? Explain. I believe so, I liked that the IFC, outlines for teacher what benchmarks they should focus on, what topic should be covered and in what order.I think it helps make the job of a teacher easier in the sense that you always know what you should be covering and what benchmarks you should be focusing on. 1. 10 Select for observation and interview one of the following: music, art, physical education, or exceptional education teacher; guidance counselor; speech pathologist; or other professional staff. I was not allowed by the school to observe any other teacher other than my cooperating teacher, however in order to at least be able to answer the questions, I did observe the art teacher at my daughter’s preschool, she teaches an after-school enri chment art class â€Å"Little Chagall†.After the observation and speaking to the educator, answer the following: 1) How is his/her instructional preparation different from the regular classroom teacher? She decides week by week what they will focus on (her class is held once a week). One week they might cover Picasso and Cubism and another she may do sculptures and the renaissance. She does not have a formal plan per se and is pretty much allowed free reign on what she would like to focus on. She also does not have to focus on benchmarks, nor does she have to worry about covering material for standerdized tests. ) Do the students respond differently in these settings? Absolutely. This class is completely different than my 7th grade class for Civics. Besides the fact that the students are 3 and 4, this is indeed a class where the progessivism philosophy’s influence is seen. Children are encouraged to be creative, think for themselves and to experiment. 3) What methods a re used to measure student progress? Less paint on the floor means that progress is being made (Just kidding! ) She says that she mainly focuses not only on their creativity, but also on building their fine motor skills.Usually after the first year the students are much more adept at holding paint brushes and they even paint more neatly. The objects in the paintings become more recognizeable as the objects that they were painted to be. (I. E. faces will actually start to have more defined features, as opposed to â€Å"blobs†). 4) What resources are available to help include special needs students? Her class is quite small, only 5 students. So she is available to give a special needs student more attention if it is needed. 5) Describe the classroom management technique. If the kids are not paying attention she says â€Å"1,2,3 eyes on me! She says it works well and helps bring the kids back to focus. 1. 11 If appropriate, attend PTA, faculty, and grade level/department meetin gs as well as participated in field trips. If you are able to participate in any of the listed activities, address the following: 1) What was the activity or meeting? Faculty Council Meeting 2) List the date, time and duration. 11/8/12, @8:30 AM to 9:20AM 3) What topics were discussed? FCAT, Computer carts, outdated teacher laptops, mistakes when placing students (gifted student was placed in a class for the earning disabled), lack of security (2 security guards for 1200 students). No response for student referrals. 4) Who was in charge of the meeting? Mr. Morrina (cooperating teacher). 5) What did you learn from the experience? I didn’t realize that there were so many problems inside schools. The teachers feel very frustrated, especially with the lack of security, their outdated equipment, and the fact that when they refer a student for bad behavior, nothing is really done about it. 1. 12 Assist in the preparation of bulletin boards, charts, transparencies, PowerPoint presen tations and other instructional aids.Describe and discuss how you assisted the cooperating teacher in any of the above listed items. Discuss what you learned from the experience. . I assisted with making a bulletin board using some projects the kids had done. While of course I learned to be creative and such while doing the bulletin board, what I learned most was the value of doing a bulletin board with the student’s projects. They really enjoyed seeing their work displayed for the world to admire. And that is not what I was expecting to take away from it initially. 1. 13 Provide assistance to the teacher by grading papers, record keeping, taking attendance, etc.Describe and discussed how you assisted the cooperating teacher in any of the above listed items. Discuss what you learned from the experience. 1. I assisted the teacher with taking attendance. He takes attendance by assigning each student a number, from 1 to however many kids are in the class, in this case 22. Each c hild calls out their number starting with 1, if there is a missing number, he looks up who the child is and marks them absent. To be frank, it seemed to me much easier just to make a seating chart or just taking roll. With this method, some times the students forgot their numbers and we had to stop and start over.It just became too much of a time waster. I think it’s more efficient just to quietly check attendance without making a group activity out of it. 1. 15 Know the policy and procedure in an emergency situation. Each school has a list of emergency situations and emergency procedures. Obtain and read a copy of the school's emergency procedures manual. Address the following: 1) Which of the identified emergencies occur most frequently? According to the school’s emergency report, the incidents that occur the most are crime related emergencies, for example, gangs, bullying or fighting. ) Write a brief summary of the recommended procedures for a fire drill. When alarm sounds, teacher immediately direct their class to the nearest exit as indicated in the fire escape route map in the classroom. There is no running or talking while exiting the building. Teachers must take with them the attendance records and the lesson plan records as these are official legal documents indicating the number of students who are present at the time. Furthermore, teachers must be aware of students who are not in the classroom at the time of the alarm and must be able to obtain their whereabuts.If student is missing, an administrator must be contacted immediately. Classes should remain at the designated wait spot until given the â€Å"All clear†. 3) Write a brief summary of at least one other emergency procedure. In the event of a Hurricane watch being announced and students have not been picked up, at least two staff members must remain until all students have been picked up. Students should be taken to areas with no windows, such as hallways. Once the building is empty, custodians should prepare and secure the building.

M1 Revision Exam Notes

The  Big  50  Revision  Guidelines  ? M1   OPHS The  Big  50  Revision  Guidelines  for  M1 If  you  can  understand  all  of  these  you’ll  do  very  well†¦Ã‚   1. Understand  what  is  meant  by  a  Model  in  Mechanics,  and  why  all  real? life  systems  have  to  be   modelled  in  order  to  be  analysed  theoretically   2. Know  how  everyday  objects  are  modelled  as  Particle,  Lamina,  Rigid  Body,  Rod  (Light,  Uniform,  Non? uniform),  String  (Light,  Inextensible),  Pulley  (Light,  Smooth),  Surface  (Rough,  Smooth),  Bead,  Wire   and  Peg  and  the  corresponding  assumptions  that  go  with  each  of  these   3.Know  the  difference  between  a  Vector  and  a  Scalar  quantity,  and  be  able  to  give  an  example  of  each   4. Understand  a nd  use  the  idea  of  a  vector  to  represent  displacements,  velocities,  accelerations  and   forces  in  a  plane   5. Know  the  difference  between  speed  (a  scalar)  and  velocity  (a  vector)   6. Know  the  difference  between  Ã¢â‚¬Å"mass†Ã‚  and  Ã¢â‚¬Å"weight†Ã‚   7. Know  the  difference  between  Ã¢â‚¬Å"gravitational  acceleration†Ã‚  and  Ã¢â‚¬Å"gravitational  force†Ã‚   8. Be  able  to  explain  what  a  force  is  without  using  the  word  Ã¢â‚¬Å"force†Ã‚   9. Be  able  to  explain  what  time  is  without  using  the  word  Ã¢â‚¬Å"time†Ã‚   10.Given  a  velocity  or  acceleration  in  terms  of  unit  i  and  j  vectors,  understand  how  to  find  its   magnitude  and  direction,  and  vice  versa   11. Know  how  to  work  with  i  and   j  components  separately  in  calculations   12. Know  how  to  write  down  straightaway  the  position  vector  at  time  t  of  a  particle,  given  its  initial   position  vector  and  the  velocity  with  which  it  is  moving   13. Understand  the  Triangle  Law  and  Parallelogram  Law  for  combining  vectors   14. Understand  how  to  apply  the  Sine  and  Cosine  Rules  for  calculating  angles  between  vectors 1 The  Big  50  Revision  Guidelines  ?M1   OPHS 15. Know  how  to  resolve  any  vector  (force,  velocity,  acceleration)  into  two  perpendicular  directions   using  sine  and  cosine  respectively   16. Be  able  to  quote  from  memory  at  least  five  different  formulae  describing  motion  under  constant   acceleration,  using  the  five  variables  in  the  mnemonic  Ã¢â‚¬Å"uvats†Ã‚   17. Know  how  to  construct  and  interpret  time  graphs  for  Displacement,  Velocity/Speed  and   Acceleration,  with  particular  understanding  of  what  can  be  determined  from  the  gradient  of,  and/or   the  area  under,  the  graph  thus  drawn   18.Be  able  to  quote  from  memory  Newton’s  three  Laws  of  Motion   19. Know  how  to  calculate  momentum  given  the  mass  and  velocity  of  a  particle   20. Be  able  to  explain  the  connection  between  Impulse,  Force,  Time  and  Momentum   21. Know  the  connection  between  the  gradient  of  a  slope  and  the  tangent  of  the  angle  it  makes  with   the  horizontal   22. Know  how  to  calculate  any  two  of  sin  ? ,  cos  ? and  tan  ? given  the  third,  without  finding  the  value  of ? first 23. Know  how  to  solve  quadratic  equations  using  a  variety  of  methods  besides  Ã¢â‚¬Å"the  formula†Ã‚   24.Know  how  to  solve  simultaneous  equations  using  a  variety  of  methods   25. Be  able  to  explain  the  connection  between  Friction  Force  F,  Coefficient  of  Friction  Ã‚ µÃ‚  and  Reaction   Force  R,  in  particular  being  able  to  explain  the  circumstances  in  which  friction  increases  to  a   maximum  value  and  then  stays  at  that  value   26. Be  able  to  describe  a  scenario  in  which  friction  is  acting  up  a  slope,  and  then  another  scenario  in   which  friction  is  acting  down  a  slope  Ã‚   27. Understand  how  to  read  a  given  question  in  order  to  determ ine  the  nature  and  direction  of  friction

Assessment 2 - Cyberterrorism Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

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The Critique of a Published Research Article Essay

The Critique of a Published Research Article - Essay Example Research is not a novel filled with literary illusions, but rather it is an activity filled with search and solution. The primary criteria for good scientific research writing are accuracy and clarity. The first step toward clarity is good organization that permits readers to read the report as they would any coherent narrative. Empirical research, in particular, is at the core of many fields of study. Because of the nature and importance of empirical research, it is essential that researchers have the necessary skills required to conduct objective empirical research projects specifically related to their topics of study. Furthermore, research results should be based on observed and measured phenomena; results should be derived from knowledge, from actual experience rather than from theory or belief. An essential ‘ingredient’ would be the article and/or abstract that would allow the reader to scan the article for a quick overview of the topic of discussion, or to locate specific information by turning directly to the relevant section of research interest. The purpose of this assignment is to provide critique in respect of the published empirical research article; ‘Collaborative Learning Enchances Critical Thinking’. More specifically, the empirical research project focused on the analyses conducted to demonstrate and confirm the benefits and enhancement of students’ ability to learn as a result of collaborative learning when compared to individual learning.

Transformation of work Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Transformation of work - Assignment Example Focus groups in both hotels were interviewed and, using the results of the survey, for each hotel there was made a conclusion concerning soft skill environment. Notwithstanding the awaited expectations, the results appeared to be completely different. All in all, the authors of the article agree that the traditional conception of â€Å"skill† has somehow changed and it is now associated not only with technical knowledge, but also with interpersonal communication abilities. They have brought a new notion and â€Å"strengthened the conceptual understanding of soft skills† (2013: 176) by showing how these skills perform in two cases. This is a considerable contribution to traditional sociology, service economy and even trade industry. The issue of skill nature is the subject of ongoing discussions in sociology of work in particular. This phenomenon was investigated and studied by a number of scientists. Traditional notion of skill was with the course of time complemented with additional shades, thus social or soft skills become recognized (Grugulis et al., 2004). They are treated in different ways. For instance, Bolton (2004) argues that emotion work can be skilled. According to her, soft skilled workers have enough scope for discretion and are able to deal with a variety of tasks. However, there is another point of view. Lloyd and Payne (2009) consider the idea of promoting soft skills inadequate and even dangerous. They argue that it is impossible to train the skills of social interaction, so soft skills cannot be regarded equal to technical ones. It is worthy of note that both aforementioned approaches have their drawbacks. The first, positive view has its exceptions. Being emotional or communicative is not enough for a work to be regarded as skilled. And on the other hand, the negative approach has its weak point. Technical skills which imply specific knowledge are simply

Personal and professional values Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Personal and professional values - Essay Example Coincidences bring a young man, at his early twenties young brother to a hospital where his sister works as a nurse. The young man arrives with two bullet wounds, one to his chest and another to his lower abdomen region. His sister’s personal and professional values are put in the test as she is trying to decide between self-restrain, and totally showing how she really feels. The reasonable action to be expected from the nurse is a total breakdown and emotional display since it is her brother who has been shot. Contrary to this, the nurse exhibits the value of self-control and acts in a manner that suggests she is aware of the personal and professional values. A second value that manifests its self from this situation is human dignity. Dignity signifies that any being has the right to be valued and receive ethical treatment. A young man, who is in extreme pain, has the right to be handled with care to ensure the pain is eased and he is comfortable, and the sister does just tha t. Having prior knowledge of the personal and professional values, the sister nurse was aware of what decisions to save the life of his young brother. Self-restrain enabled her to put her emotions aside and concentrate in trying to make her brother feel better. Self-control enabled her to hold back her grief and fear of losing her brother and concentrate on the vital issue of nursing him back to a stable nature. Human dignity allowed her to respond in an appropriate manner to a brother who was in a difficult situation. Instead ofshading tears at the sight of him, she made the decision to help him first because his suffering was more important than just her sensitive display that would not help anyone. The two values were really paramount in swaying towards the right decisions (Dolgoff et al., 2009). The described event required a showcase of the highest order of personal values. The fact that the

Human Cognition and the Role of the Internet Essay

Human Cognition and the Role of the Internet - Essay Example These cognition deficiencies are considered attributable to Internet use because the way information presented in the Internet influences human cognition. For instance, in Is Google Making Us Stupid?, Nicholas Carr argues that Internet use affects reading habits, as well as comprehension and retention of information (57). The way Google presents the information affects the way people understand the information, as well. The design of the web pages, which are oftentimes collage-like, divides the attention of readers. Web pages are often full of advertisements with flashing colors that distract the concentration of readers. Additionally, there are also hyperlinks that merely draw the attention of readers, rather than point to sites containing significant information. In addition, advertisements that are put together with information may divert the attention of Internet users. Thus, as the human mind reprograms itself to adapt with the technologies, the human mind also adapts the collag e-like structure of information as projected in the Internet. Relatively, human cognition becomes inclined to prefer shortened information over the detailed, lengthy ones. Considering the effects of the Internet on human cognition, it can be said that Internet users need to be evaluative when gathering information from the Internet. As mentioned by McLuhan, the media, which include the Internet, are not just ways in which information are generated and transferred (qtd. in Carr 57). The media also direct and influence the way people understand the information that is being transferred through them. The complexity and amount of information produced by the media often confuses people hindering them to think and evaluate information critically and contemplatively. Aside from this, the Internet also influences the way people see and use information. In its capacity to transfer and generate information faster, the internet leaves people behind should they fail to cope with the fast inform ation transfer. In addition, the bulk of the information contained in the Internet overwhelms readers in such a way that readers will be trapped in the wide variety of topics in the Internet. The problem of information segregation comes as people get confronted with various hyperlinks that may not point to appropriate and relevant information. As internet users toggle from link to link, internet users may lose their focus and get trapped in another information that are not related to the topic at hand. In this context, it can be said that the fast, complex, and vast information contained in the Internet may decrease concentration that may, in turn, decrease retention of information. Thus, problems related to cognitive deficiencies come when the human mind cannot cope with the complexity and speed of information transfer in the Internet. So, the question as to whether Google (or the internet, in general) had made people stupid is thought-provoking and worthy of critical investigation . While there are evidences that prove the inhibiting effects of internet use, the Internet also provides information that could raise the awareness of people on certain subjects. Accordingly, to resolve the issue, researchers need to investigate whether it is really the internet that causes retention and comprehension gap, or it is merely the changing perspectives of users when it

How Does The Drug Molly Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

How Does The Drug Molly Work - Essay Example Ecstasy may be called a chemical cousin to Methamphetamine. Other names are Happy Pill, X, TC, Clarity, Love Drug, Adam (The Physiologic (Biologic) Basis of Drug Addiction). The powder may be injected, snores or ingested. The drug is usually used at clubs, discos, and concerts and in other places where people need to be energetic and fearless. The drug MDMA is very dangerous and may have really unknown consequences as sometimes each pill contains different combinations of mixed substances, which have various effects. As a rule the drug makes a person alert. Negative effects of the use may be nausea, high heart rate, muscle cramping, high blood pressure, faintness, chills, sweating, tremors, involuntary teeth clenching, muscle tension, hyperthermia or even death. Side effects include anxiety, depression, the feeling of sadness, paranoia, sleep problems, confusion, irritability, fatigue, feelings of empathy and emotional sensitivity, impaired attention, dizziness, loss of appetite, con stipation, aches and pains, exhaustion and drug craving. All these effects may last from several days to a week. High doses of Molly may seize and compromise the ability of the heart to maintain normal rhythms. Molly overdose leads to panic attacks, acute delirium, loss of consciousness, disorganized thinking, overresponsive or overreactive reflexes, circulatory shock, cardiac arrhythmia, cardiotoxicity, heart damage, brain damage, organ failure, coma or death. Being short for molecule, Molly is considered to be the purest MDMA, whereas Ecstasy is usually laced with caffeine, methamphetamine or other ingredients. The Drug Enforcement Administration finds that MDMA has a very high potential of risk, that is why the most controlled substance is and is not accepted in medical treatment (â€Å"Molly,† Powder or Crystal Form of MDMA, is Popular at Music Festivals). The drug is considered to be empathogenic of the phenethylamine and amphetamine classes. Molly refers to MDMA in a cr ystal form or powder and is the highest level of purity (MDMA). Chemical formula of the drug is C11H15NO2. This industrial chemical is used as the chemical synthesis intermediate in some chemical industries. TFMPP (Triflouromethylphenyl piperazine) became a legal alternative of Ecstasy or MDMA in 2001. Being combined with benzylpiperazine (BZP) the drug is often sold as ‘legal x’, ‘A2’ or ‘legal E’. The primary precursor for MDMA manufacturing is a slightly yellow or colorless liquid, which oily and extracted from the sassafras tree (the fruit or the root-bark). Different intermediates together with various synthetic methods help to convert safrole into MDMA. The most common way is via the MDP2P intermediate (3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl-2-propanone) (MDMA). The properties of Molly are similar to the effects of Ecstasy. In case of overdosing a person may have hallucinogenic reactions. As it is not known what quantities and substances of the drug ar e injected, the danger of using it is very high. The content of MDMA pills varies from one region to another and from one brand to another. Another problem is that the drug may contain such active substances as ephedrine, caffeine, amphetamine, mephedrone and others which may be cheap and of very low quality. Very often pills that are sold as ecstasy have no content of MDMA having a variety of undesirable substance and drugs instead. The

When looking at a company or organisation and the way their staff work within it Essay Example for Free

When looking at a company or organisation and the way their staff work within it Essay When looking at a company or organisation and the way their staff work within it, we must take into account the effects and theories of motivation. Without motivation most of us find it difficult to undertake any task and the same can be said in the business world. Without the right motivation productivity will be affected in, more likely, a negative way. So what is the correct way to motivate; is there only one way or are there many different theories as to how to motivate? Surely pay alone is enough of a motivating factor? In order to better understand the effects of motivation we can look at various theorists who have given us globally recognised theories on motivation. I will be concentrating primarily on four of the most well known. Amongst the many theorists on motivation, four stand out more than any others. Partly because they were among the earliest to consider the differing factors and partly because their theories were so succinct and concise that they have stood the test of time and are relevant today. Their names, in chronological order, are Taylor, Mayo, Maslow and Herzberg, all of whom formed their theories between 1890 and 1960. Their theories are different but do have certain overlapping qualities as will be shown. To begin I shall look at FW Taylor who believed that the only thing that motivated people was money. In the early 1900s he conducted experiments in time and motion by looking at different work forces and figuring out how to make them work more efficiently. He worked out a simple, set procedure for the worker to follow maximising output and efficiency. By introducing a piecework rate (where you are paid per item made) he introduced a financial incentive which he believed was all that a worker required to be motivated. Interestingly, it was largely thanks to Taylor that the modern car is affordable to most people. Employed by Henry Ford in the early 1900s, Taylor improved efficiency in his factory by putting the cars onto a specially built assembly line that moved the car past the workers. This sped up production dramatically and reduced the time it took to build a car from around fourteen hours to under two. Next is Elton Mayo who in the 1930s conducted what is known as the Hawthorne experiments (amongst others), the name being taken from the electrical company he was studying. The basis for his experiment was to see whether the level of light in the factory played a part in production and efficiency, Mayo believing that it did. He split twelve women workers into two groups and adjusted the levels of light available to each group accordingly. He found that production was improved in both groups regardless of light levels. His conclusion was that the attention being paid to the women and the better communication and teamwork were what altered the output. Both Taylor and Mayo had theories that looked more at the environment and the effect it had on workers than what actually made the workforce tick. Our next theorist, Maslow, on the other hand looked at the needs of the individual and how meeting those needs altered or motivated them. He identified five levels of need, each one needing to be satisfied before the next level became a motivating factor. Normally drawn as a triangle or pyramid, it shows what Maslow believed people wanted from their jobs. He believed that everyone starts at the bottom and works their way up. Self actualisation === Esteem needs === ===== Social needs ===== ====== Safety needs ====== ======= Physical needs ======= hhttp://www.projectalevel.co.uk/business/motivationtheory.htm The definition of the five levels is; * Physical needs- Thirst, hunger * Safety needs- Safety and shelter * Social needs- The need to belong, group acceptance * Esteem needs- Respect and recognition from others * Self actualisation- Self esteem. The main problem with this theory is that not every one will have the same needs and different people may not fit into this pattern. The last theorist is Herzberg, who conducted surveys to find out what people liked and disliked about their jobs. He put the results into two categories: Motivators and Hygiene factors. Motivators are things like challenging and meaningful work, praise, responsibility and involvement in decision making. Hygiene factors are more basic, such as good pay, holidays, job security and congenial people around you. His belief was that you had to satisfy at least one thing from each of the two main categories to achieve happiness or fulfilment at work. Achieving more than one thing in one group and nothing in the other would not make you happy. Below is a table of Herzbergs factors. To this day, however, no-one is sure why he called them hygiene factors! Motivators Hygiene factors Achievement Company policy Recognition of achievement Supervision Meaningful and interesting work Pay Responsibility Interpersonal relations Advancement Working conditions hhttp://www.projectalevel.co.uk/business/motivationtheory.htm Each of the theorists looked at has stand alone theories; we can fit all of them into Maslows pyramid of needs however to see where they overlap. Self actualisation === Esteem needs === ===== Social needs ===== ====== Safety needs ====== ======= Physical needs ======= So, now that we have looked at four of the theories of motivation and how they work on paper, can we now fit all or any of them to a real company? To try this I chose the supermarket leader, Asda. With annual sales of over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½135.4bn and a position never outside the top ten in the Times Online 100 best companies, Asda are clearly doing something right. But how significant is the way they treat their workforce in relation to their high turnover figures? To discover this we need to look at just what is on offer to the Asda employees, or as they are all called within the organisation colleagues. As an organisation, Asda has seen its fair share of ups and downs. Founded in 1965, Asda very nearly went bankrupt in the 1980s until a new management team was brought in, adopting many of Wal-Marts (at the time an American contemporary of Asda: now, after a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½6.7bn takeover four years ago, Asdas owners) principles. The Asda chain is recognised for its caring approach, not only to customers but to staff as well. All employees are called colleagues and are given equal status, which fits with Herzbergs motivators or Mayos theories on teamwork and recognition. This instils self esteem in the workforce and proves to be a good move with 89% of staff saying they can have a laugh with their colleagues and 85% believing their managers are open and honest with them. Staff turnover of 29% is good for a company that employs over 136,000 people; with 46% of those employed being under 35 years of age, this is a youth oriented company. With an award for flexible working patterns under its belt, and with nearly 60% of the workforce on a part time basis, this is seen as an important benefit to the colleagues. On top of that there is the amazing benefit of at least sixteen weeks maternity leave on full pay, extra weeks maternity leave above the statutory forty weeks and a crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½che on site or help with nursery fees. All of these benefits tie in with Herzbergs hygiene factors as well as both Mayos and Maslows theories on social and security needs being met. The only theorist to not get a mention in relation to Asda is Taylor, but then his theory is more applicable to a factory or industry where production of goods, not the manner in which they are sold, is paramount. Piecework is not something that could be introduced successfully to Asda as it goes against the ethos of everyone being equal. In conclusion I feel that many of the theories are applicable to modern day business. Involvement, recognition, good working conditions and job security are all basic but essential needs for a happy and productive working environment. With perhaps the exception of Taylor, all of the theorists are still as relevant in their thinking today as they were when they first carried out their studies, and these theories have stood the test of time and the change in attitude from employees of yesteryear to the present day. The success of Asda is most definitely down to the congenial staff attitudes and the light and airy feel to the work environment, brought about by respect and consideration. A good example of how far a member of their staff went to fulfil a customers needs is recounted in this story taken from the Times Online website: ..[The culture of care and respect]is typified by the story of a customer who wanted a sun lounger for her recuperation after a mastectomy. While she was shopping at the Tipton store in the West Midlands, staff member Chris Lee offered to help. Lee, who had undergone the same operation, gave the woman her home phone number and later spent two hours on the phone with her. The delighted customer wrote to Asda and as a result the company gave Lee and her grandchildren a trip to Disneyland Paris. The reward benefits not only the recipient, but the whole workforce and is an example to all of how great Asda really is at employer/employee relations. References 1. hhttp://www.projectalevel.co.uk 2. http://www.timesonline.co.uk Bibliography Elliott, C Quinn, F (2002), English Legal System (4th Edition) Harlow, Pearson Education LTD The Motivational Theorists. D. Pettigrew, FdSc Law Yr 1.

Key Issues Influencing Localization Commerce Essay

Key Issues Influencing Localization Commerce Essay The speed at which international business takes place has increased substantially and international managers need to react more quickly to economic, strategic and organizational imperatives than in the past as it is more costly to make mistakes today. The cost of reversing a decision due to the speed of international business makes making such mistakes extremely costly as while firms fix problems, competitors surge ahead. Standardization of MNCs is usually defined as standardization of subsidiaries towards following in line with HQ practices. Successful chains such as Mc Donalds have standardized products and management practices across the world and at the same time allowing for a local adaptation to the practices to suit local needs. Most MNCs commonly localize their marketing, promotion and distribution practices even though they have a global advertising strategy. Integration/responsiveness debate cannot be resolved by declaring one position more important that the other (Bartlet t Goshal). To be truly successful in the globalized world, MNC are required to balance between the two. Multinational companies must decide whether to manage their subsidiaries based on local culture or to make them all in line with the global standardization and decide which route is more effective and efficient for them. MNCs have considerable advantages compared to local based companies as they have previous experience from home countries and managerial knowledge and spread best practices around the world (Martin Beaumont, 1998). Host countries however pose several new factors that managers must consider to counterbalance the effect of standardization (Quintanilla and Ferner, 2003). Changes in the strategic orientation of MNCs as reflected in increased levels of interdependencies between organizational (sub-) units will thus rely on IHRM to help achieve this balance. HR management is considered to be the most sensitive to local context (Gooderham et al. 1999). Pressures to adopt global strategies require higher level of global intergration of key HRM -processes. Many MNCs have moved towards more deeply integrating these HRM practices but face resistance due to local culture, legislation and tradition (Lindohlm et al. 1999). Different approaches to HRM in MNCs are closely related to international strategies of the firm (Downling et a. 1999; Scullion 1999). For example, companies with an ethnocentric approach grant little power to their foreign subsidiaries and key positions are fulfilled with PNC nationals, i.e expatriates. For example, Aeons key staff in Malaysia are fulfilled by Japanese expatriates. On the other hand companies with polycentric approaches allow major decisions to be made by local employees and key positions are held by local staff. This leads to more localized solutions in the HRM. Regiocentric and geocentric approaches are simi lar where key positions and solutions are decided by staff of the same region or location. The key issue is the extent to which MNCs should take their global integration (standardization) versus local responsiveness. International management is complicated due to the dimensions involved and the difficult issues of strategy formulation and implementation. Multinational managers however need to identify the opportunities hidden in the complexities of such international situations. This paper will be divided into two parts, the first examines the key issues that influence the degree of localization. Secondly, the paper examines global strategies towards increasing global standardization of HRM while balancing localization so as not to compromise local responsiveness. In both parts, the paper will go examine the role HRM plays towards achieving standardization and localization. Thirdly, it will examine situations of when best to move towards localization rather than standardization and vice versa. 2.0 Key issues influencing localization Distinct local culture and motivation for local employees may not be similar to that of the home country making it difficult to apply similar incentives and expect the same outcome. Hofstede described national culture as the collective mental programming which distinguishes one nation from another. The issue is how much influence cultural differences would bring to the workplace. Different approaches towards collectivism and individualistic cultures, according to Hofstedes will create a number of negotiation points for managers to consider. Some cultures are individualistic where working as an individual is more appreciates whereas some are collectivist. Human resource management has aspects that are legally and culturally determined by the host country but is still responsible for the strategy and implementation plan (Stone, 2008). It therefore must determine what sort of strategy would work in the host country. For example, in Hong Kong as a measure of reducing staff turnover, HRM offered a $1000 increment towards a dental plan, as a result the companys turnover reduced by 4% (Medland, 2004). While such a proposition may not work across other countries, it indicates that managers need to be aware of the different motivations in different countries and why pay and work conditions should not be standardized in MNCs. Research needs to be done to identify motivations similar to the dental work scheme in Hong Kong. There are three different perspectives for understanding diversity: the cultural perspective, the institutional perspective and the network perspective (Evans et al. 2002). In the cultural perspective, individuals are cultured through a socialization process where they instill values and beliefs with which he uses to interpret the world also known as mental programming (Hofstede 1985). It is therefore inappropriate to take management practices developed in one culture and apply them on another and expect the same results (Hofstede, 1985). Cultural differences need to be taken into account, as some of these practices may not be well received in the new subsidiary. Members of that subsidiary may view these kind of practices as unusual and it may not be well received and lead to unexpected consequences hindering a subsidiarys performance. From the cultural perspective extensive global standardization of HRM-practices, will not be an easy fit between organizational practices and the loca l culture. However, the cultural perspective does not take into account the ability of people from different cultures adapting to foreign practices (Evans et al. 2002). The institutional perspective takes a broader view of the national context where it identifies that the key to understanding business in a foreign country lies in the correlations between financial, education, legal, economic, and political systems (Evans et al. 2002). The extents to which MNCs are able to implement their global standards are closely tied to the nature of these institutions. For example, the relative strength or weakness of these institutions in exerting influence on the ability of an MNC to import its own approaches to HRM. This is often the case when MNCs try to put expatriates in key positions leaving local staff in the more menial positions. Often these institutions will exert influence and move towards forcing MNCs to train or employ staff to fill such positions. The network perspective indicates that MNCs are not only influenced by the social norms and cultures of their home country but also by industry standards (Evans et al. 2002). This influences the amount of standardization able to be implemented by MNCs or forces them to provide such standardization. The cultural and institutional perspective help identify the localization needs within the HRM-function; the network perspective identifies the role of interorganizational networks in defining the nature of industries and organizational practices. Key reasons for a localization approach within HRM include issues such as being responsive to the local authorities and institutions. Keeping up with public opinion by providing benefits to the local populace such as job opportunities and providing a higher level of organizational commitment among locals are also prime reasons for localization of HRM practices (Evans et al 2002). However, there are often problems with this as finding suitable candidates with the necessary skills may prove difficult. For example in China, a major problem is the lack of suitable candidates given a shortage of finding mid-level and top-level leadership. http://www.bizresearchpapers.com/17[1].Plessis.pdf 3.0 Global strategies toward increasing global standardization A major issue that international managers face is forces that require both local responsiveness and global integration of subsidiaries with the overall structure of an MNE. MNEs must find ways to combine their firm-specific capabilities with local knowledge to create the best value proposition to suit the local culture and its needs. Some subsidiaries have created a layer where they have been isolated from the overall structure of an MNE that it is unlikely to cooperate and share knowledge with other units of the MNE. This is particularly the case where subsidiaries have competed with each other for resources from headquarters which promote inter-unit rivalry (Fairclough and Boussebaa, 2010). MNes need to make use of the strengths of its internal network set up across its subsidiaries. Managers have to incentivize compatibility among internal agents and incentivize coordination between its internal agents. The challenge for international managers is to foster a sense of coopetition b etween these subsidiaries and designing control structure to implement to foster this relationship. If designed incorrectly, these structures have the potential to create a conflict of interest in the subsidiary, causing it to focus its resources to its own benefit rather than that of its parent company (Clark and Geppert, 2010). To create value, parties or units cannot act in isolation. They have to recognize their interdependence (LAdo, Boyd Hanlon, 1997). Within a multinational enterprise, inter unit coopetition occurs where cooperation and competition occur simultaneously as subsidiaries are enticed or enforced to collaborate but encounter conflicts arising from competing for the limited resources offered by the parent. Even within the same parent umbrella, subsidiaries rarely share similar interest in all aspects as a result of rivalrous pressures from heightened local responsiveness and national adaptation particularly for MNEs emphasizing on multidomestic strategies. Therefo re, managers need to create a flow of the sharing of knowledge and cooperation so that subsidiaries can leverage on the distinct core competencies of other subsidiaries. Interest in a standardization approach has been increasing due to the globalization. Global integration has become more popular and is becoming a necessity in a number of markets to stay competitive where decentralized strategies were more popular previously (Evans et al. 2002). Using a global strategy approach has several drawbacks; the main weakness is the weakness in the firms ability to respond to the changes in the market (Evans et al. 2002). Creating harmony between global strategy and national response is inevitable (Hammerly, 1992). There has to be balance between standardization versus the localization as fully localizing a subsidiary does not make full use of the core competencies and skills that an MNC should leverage on to separate itself from the local competition. A critical method of doing so is to determine what belongs to the core of the organization and what does not. This will enable firms to integrate global activities appropriately and also adapt local activities efficiently. This core should be replicated throughout the firms subsidiaries worldwide. Global standardization does not mean the synchronizing all areas of a firms business, but may be limited to a certain product, function or value chain segment. Therefore, while adopting a global strategy, MNCs still have the option of changing particular areas within the operations so that they do not disrupt the culture of the organization while still being able to keep their core competencies. Giving power to the subsidiary also helps the MNC keep the standardization of the key sectors of the business while allowing subsidiaries to make decisions that need local adaptation. For example, looking at KFC in China, it can be observed that the power to make changes by the subsidiary has allowed them to take a considerable lead in comparison with its competitors. They allowed an adaptation to the market for its menu to better suit the local tastes, however they maintained the core elements of the b usiness which is the supply chain and the business model. The development of international HRM can be divided into a four-phase organizational life cycle (Adler and Ghadar, XXXX).The central idea is that firms should find the best fit between their environment, strategy and human resource policies. The following summarizes some of the suggested links between the phases of internationalization and HRM. Phase Description Domestic Foreign markets served by exporting unchanged products. No real international HRM International Products developed to fit local needs. Expatriates fill general management and important posts in subsidiaries. Locals occupy roles which need understanding of local conditions. Multinational Worldwide coordination used to achieve economies of scale. Selection focuses on best person for international management roles. Aim is to develop a management corps who shares organizational values to help achieve integration. Management development is the spearhead of International HRM. Global High quality at minimal cost through global integration and local responsiveness This analysis shows the flow of how an MNE develops its understanding of international HRM, the focus of HRM shifts from the management of expatriates to the development of international management. This highlights the role in which HRM plays in developing individuals within the company so they build up a bank of knowledge from exposing these individuals to trips to overseas subsidiaries (Kamoche, 1997). This indicates the role of HRM in developing individuals so that they are able to experience different work cultures and be able to adapt. Having experienced these work cultures of different subsidiaries prepares the expatriates for culture shock and being able to work in different work cultures. This allows them to better facilitate standardization as they would understand the practices that would be best accepted in that particular culture after being exposed to it. 4.0 Levels of standardization vs localization In order to be globally competitive, MNCs must make the decision of when to best make changes to the subsidiaries in terms of the level of standardization and localization. The following points will discuss the issue. Companies must ensure that they focus on the core competencies and replicate these core competencies across its subsidiaries as they are key to separating themselves from their competitors. Without this unique trait, there will be little to differentiate themselves from their competitors and may be detrimental to the success of the company. In this highly competitive market, it allows competitors the opportunity to gain market share. Therefore, when core competencies are being considered, MNCs need to use standardization. This makes full use of the very core strengths that identify a company as a leader within an industry. However, the term core competencies should be used selectively and consider that not everything within a company should not be considered a core comp etencies. Whenever core competencies are not involved and when subsidiaries have a need to adapt to specific local cultures or institutional circumstances in order to be successful in the particular field, then MNCs should consider allowing firms to conduct localization. There are several schools of thought that propose several strategies towards the degree to which MNCs should standardize or localize. Some alternatives are provided to balance between the extremes of fully localizing the company or standardizing it. (1) The adaptation strategy where a basic strategy is is adapted to meet market forces and needs but never to the degree of a localized strategy. This means that the marketing mix is only changed to a certain extent and adjusted to the local situation when needed (Hovell Walters, 1972) (2) Sub global strategy where clustering foreign markets into groups which are more or less similar and standardizing them according to region (Hovell Walters). (3) Worldwide segmentation strategy where customer segments exist worldwide and can be offered a standardized product (Fatt, 1967) An example of this would be Coca Cola and Apples worldwide segment. (4) Combination and mixed strategies where global companies can offer both worldwide strategies and local strategies to benefit from both (Hovell Walters, 1972). Another opinion posed by Quelch Hoff is that firms are able to standardize global strategy up to a certain degree and upon which they adapt marketing strategies to suit local differences (Quelch Hoff, 1986). This is more visible when viewed from a marketing strategies basic components of the 6ps: product, price, place, promotion, power and people (Kotler, 1986). Each marketing component can have its own standardization and at the same time still be tailored to suit local needs. For example, in terms of price, having a standardized product across all subsidiaries but altering price to suit the local markets price points is a common practice within MNCs such as PG. Companies like Unilever, Nestle, Proctor and Gamble follow a mixed approach. They have standardized offerings in terms of their brands, but they blend and adapt their 4Ps to suit the needs of the local culture. Their offerings are generally standardized but t he implementation strategy local (http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/110105029/pdf%20sahany/module%207l-36.pdf). Penrose, E. 1959. The Theory of the Growth of the Firm. New York: Oxford University Press BBC. (2010). BBC Persian. Retrieved 10 3, 2010, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2010/09/100928_l38_iran_majles_ahmadinejad.shtml Unilever. (2010). Introduction to Unilever. Retrieved 2010, from Unilever: http://www.unilever.com/aboutus/introductiontounilever/?WT.GNAV=Introduction_to_Unilever Hofstede, G. (1980) Cultures Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Feminist Writing In Mirror

Feminist Writing In Mirror Feminism is undeniably one of major themes in her poetry. The following essay will also be discussing the feminist writing style of Sylvia Plath, specifically as presented in her poem Mirror. An ambitious woman writer, Sylvia Plath was living in an era that defined a womans role in a male dominated society. She felt imprisoned in this society. The styling that has led to the continuity of her art and its relevance to society can be attributed to many factors and techniques common among her poetry (SAT, 2008). Plath has been considered a deeply honest writer, whose ceaseless self-scrutiny has given a unique point of view to psychological disorder and to the theme of the feminist-martyr in a patriarchal society. (Liukkonen, 2008) Mirror emphasizes on a number of aspects and issues such as women go through despair and loneliness. Freedman discusses Plaths use of the mirror as a symbol of female passivity, subjugation, and Plaths own conflicted self-identity caused by social pressure to reconcile the competing obligations of artistic and domestic life. (Freedman, October,1993) Mirror narrates the interactions with a narcissist woman. However the woman is probably Sylvia Plath herself as at the first stanza, first sentence of the poem; it states clearly that I am silver and exact. (Plath, 1961). Silver is the ambiguity of Sylvia. This woman also keeps on searching her reflection whether in the mirror or the lake. The Mirror boasts, I have no preconceptions. (Plath, 1961). The first five sentences of the first stanza are to proclaim that the woman in the poem is always that truthful as well as faithful. It is related with Plaths background story. For instance, Plath could have accepted the fact of Ted Hughes unfaithfulness and have blamed herself for the declining of her beauty. As a result, she wrote Mirror to describe the pain of an aging woman from the liars of guys and the feeling of a beauty-declining woman. The Mirror then reports what it usually does: it reflects the pink, with speckles on the opposite wall. (Plath, 1961) Here, Plath uses a pink colour wall to represent her young age. Joshua also agree with this statement, where he comments about It is pink, with speckles, and a connection to a freckle-faced child is apparent, implying blemish-free freshness and the mirrors own youth (Newtown, 2009). Normally, green would be used instead to represent young. Anyway, the pink might come from term of pink of health and this colour has represented the femininity. This is justified because in the next line I have looked at it so long I think it is a part of my heart (Plath, 1961), it mentions that it has gazed at that wall for a long period. It is saying that in her entire life, she has been expected to act like a female and she has been doing it for so much so now she thinks it must be part of her. She is the woman as male-defined ideal or as the ideal manquà ©, the woman who desires to r emain forever the young girl (Freedman, October,1993). The preceding lines Faces and darkness separate us over and over. (Plath, 1961), has expounded the despair of loneliness and misery of her come-and-gone relationship, which she never acquire the fruition of a soul- satisfying true love. In the second stanza, again the woman search for her reflection from the lake. But this time, it portrays a phenomenon where woman denies the reality about her physical appearance. The poem says: Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me. Searching my reaches for what she really is. (Plath, 1961). The woman is unhappy with her appearance and evades from it as she could not accept the reflected appearance of her. It is further explained where it says: Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. (Plath, 1961). She keeps herself away from truth of the reflection but preferred to believe the sweet talks and the praises of the moon or candles. In this case, moon or candles might refer as those people who deceive her, praising how gorgeous she is, but in fact she is no longer. However, she is still enjoyed living in those liars or should say she choose to believe those lies. Here arise another feminist issue, which is woman always chooses to accept what is fake but as long as it i s worth to believe, rather than to face the reality, the truth or the facts. Just like Sylvia Plath, she refuses the fact that in her time where women were still need to do those traditional roles which were cook, clean, and care. Eventually, she has caused too much stress and tensions in the fighting of her rights, and eventually she committed suicide in 1963. Anyhow, the woman is always being reflected faithfully for which the lake would expect gratitude. However, it is often rewarded with tears and an agitation of hands (Plath, 1961). This clearly shows how reluctant, dissatisfy and helpless for a woman to accept the faithful report, yet the mirror or lake is still very important to her. Mirror discusses the importance of itself in a womans life. In Mirror for instance, we find a poem of two stanzas where the entire second stanza preoccupies itself with a woman and her relationship to her mirror, which we come to see is really the womans relationship to the view of herself.(SAT, 2008) Freedman stated that for many women writers, the search in the mirror is ultimately a search for the self, often for the self as artist (Freedman, October,1993). I am important to her. She come and goes. (Plath, 1961), this sentence shows that Plath was always looking into the mirror to search for herself. She struggled from an identity crisis of sorts and while gazing the reflection in the mirror, it could have to deal with her searching for herself. Another point of view will be: the woman indulges herself with hope that she wishes to see herself to appear young and beauty again in front of mirror or lake, that why she keeps on coming and going. However she has disappointed again and again. It clarifies that women do care about their appearance a lot. Joshua also agreed with this statement, where he wrote The mirror is important to the woman, and yet recognizes that she comes and goes as she pleases (Newtown, 2009). This idea is further explained when darkness invade into the womans life. Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. (Plath, 1961). As mentioned above, the darkness represents the depressions, the loneliness. As day passes, her youth declines and the figure of her age increase. The woman is despair and unhappy with her life. This is because she has no one to love her and her life is at the end point where she realizes her youth is passed and yet she got nothing but a failure marriage. In short, the idea here is the feeling of a woman with a series of unsuccessful love who had poured in so much time; so much hope but eventually never obtains a fair output whereby she also lost her beauty. It is rather a complicated feeling for a woman when she could not get justified with her efforts in maintaining the relationship. The idea is explored further in the last two lines, where it says, In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman / Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish (Mirror 633). The woman in the poem is no longer a young, beautiful woman; she is aging, and in the womans eyes that is a terrible thing. (SAT, 2008) The woman in the mirror is no doubt ageing and it is believed that the mirror has accompanied her since young age, observing her growth, and reflecting her withers and languishes to an old one. The last line which describes the woman: rise towards her day after day like a terrible fish (Plath, 1961) could hint to the woman is very anxious as she is now like a terrible fish. A terrible fish could be further explained as a woman who has lost her value and no one will concern about her just like a dead fish and the feeling is pretty terrible. The phrase like a terrible fish further enhances the idea of rebellion. Womens psyche does not merely deal in fairness an d beauty; it will be terrible when their rights are trampled with no consideration. In conclusion, Sylvia Plath started her feminist writing because, in her time, the society treated women as objects as if they had no mind. Besides, she was very oppressed by men or more specify her husband. With this Mirror she reflected her despair feeling, the unfairness of the society where women were always dominated by men and also grieves with her declining beauty. With her unique literary style, she often has the themes of feminist criticism in her poetry and Mirror is no exception to the body of her work that remains a relevant part of our literary heritage today. (SAT, 2008)

strategy :: essays research papers

The Net Comments In The Light Of The Course Concepts Angela Bennett like all of us, lives in the age of information. Every trace of her existence is computerized. Everything about her is encoded somewhere on a complex network of information. It's something Angela never thought about... until the day she was deleted. With the explosion of technological advances in the last few years, "The Net" is a story from today's headlines. It takes place in a world in which anything, from ordering a pizza to retrieving records from half-way across the planet, can be accomplished through the vast and complicated map of phone lines and computers known as the Internet; a world in which, with the right knowledge and the right program, a good cracker can log into remote computers and alter any information they choose: flight plans, medical and criminal records, top secret government information, even someone's identity. Angela Bennett, is an introverted top system analyst at Cathedral Systems. She sits at her keyboard, doing all her work by phone and modem. When she needs to eat, she uses the Internet to order a pizza. As a well-paid freelancer, she spends her days working out of her home finding flaws in and debugging new programs sent to her on disc by her employer, or tracking down viruses hacked into unsuspecting systems. At nights she is "chatting" with other friends from the cyberspace on the 'Net'. She's quite happy with her somewhat lonely routine, until the very life she's made for herself, her whole life, in fact is snatched away from her with the stroke of a single key. This pushes her headlong into the middle of a murderous web of corruption and conspiracy. The only time Angela gets out of the house is when she goes on a vacation to Mexico, and even then, she has her laptop with her. However, right before heading south of the border, Angela comes into possession of a disk containing information vital to the successful criminal activity of a group of cyber-bad guys, the Praetorians. They know she has it, and will stop at nothing to get it back. Angela discovers secret information on the disk she has received only hours before she leaves for vacation. While relaxing on a Mexican beach, Angela meets a dashing fellow hacker with the style and charisma of James Bond. Unfortunately for Angela, he also has a gun, which he plans to use on her.

Myths, Dreams and the Epic of Gilgamesh :: Epic of Gilgamesh Essays

The Epic of Gilgamesh, a masterpiece of world literature, is considered to be one of the oldest epics in the world. It is called an epic, but it is really a myth. In order to be able to understand a myth, it is necessary to have an historical point of view from two perspectives, so to speak, an outer and an inner one. The outer one concerns the necessity to understand the historical form in which the archetypes appear, the historical background to which the myth is related - in our case, the Babylonian culture and religion. The inner aspect concerns the essential problems of the time, with which that particular epoch struggled consciously, or in which it was unconsciously involved. Although this is primarily a scientific task, I believe that it is nevertheless a matter of immediate necessity for us to understand such documents humains in relation to our own life, for all the ages live in us, and we cannot really understand ourselves unless we know our spiritual roots. What particular age and what spiritual contents are evoked in us by the unconscious is, to a certain extent, a question of individual fate. Since Western culture is based to a great extent on Judaism and Christianity, Babylonian culture as one of their roots may be looked upon as of immediate psychological interest to us all. The archetypes live in their realm, beyond time and space. This builds the bridge of understanding between men of all ages, and makes it possible to realize that we ourselves with our essential problems are bound up in the continuity of the eternal problems of mankind, as they are mirrored in myths. But the form in which the archetypes appear, their garments so to speak, depends on the historical conditions: the symbols in which they appear change. In the human being these changes correspond to the development of human consciousness. Thus the myths, in my opinion, represent not only eternal archetypal events, but a certain level of the development of human consc iousness. During my work on this remarkably rich material this connection thrust itself more and more into my mind, so that I should like to define it as the basic idea, as the starting point of my attempt to explain this myth. It was only in 1872 that scholars first became aware of this myth, when the English Assyriologist George Smith made public "The Chaldean Account of the Deluge," as he titled his translation of the eleventh tablet of the epic.

Positive behaviour Essay

2. Be able to support positive behaviour 2.1 Describe the benefits of encouraging and rewarding positive behaviour: Rewarding positive behaviour comes with many benefits. The main benefit is that it encourages the child to behave in an acceptable way as they will want to receive the rewards for doing so such as stickers, or being able to choose a story/activity. With the children behaving in the correct way the atmosphere of the nursery is going to be much more pleasant and relaxed and allow the nursery assistants to teach and carry out activities effectively without any disruptions, meaning the children will be receiving high quality levels of education and care. This also relates to home atmosphere as well. If a child is being brought up in an encouraging and rewarding environment rather than one focused on punishments for bad behaviour the child is going to come to nursery and carry on with their good behaviour and know what is expected of them, and thus the consistency is imperative. Another benefit is that the children are learning from each other so by seeing a child being rewarded for good behaviour, it is going to make them want to behave in the same way so that they can also receive rewards. Children may try to use bad behaviour as a way to gain attention from their teachers so it is very important that you give them attention when they are behaving in the proper way, so that they learn to stop the bad behaviour as it will not give them the attention the want. By praising and encouraging the children, it will make the children feel good about themselves and become more confident and encourage them to work harder in the future.

Mohandas K. Gandhi: The Story of My Experiments with Truth Essay

â€Å"Truth is like a vast tree, which yields more and more fruit, the more you nurture it. The deeper the search in the mine of truth the richer the discovery of gems buried there, in the shape of openings for an ever greater variety of service† (Gandhi 191). Mohandas K. Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, and ever since that day has dedicated his life to the search for truth. During this quest, he became a leader of the Indian Nationalist Movement against British rule and to this day remains a highly influential figure in political activism and social progress. In his autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Gandhi shares stories of his triumphs and falls while trying to free India from British rule, all the while trying to stay true to his vows to his mother and to himself. The point that shows through brightly in Gandhi’s autobiography is that his values and morals about life coincide with his political philosophy. Gandhi’s main view on business and politics is the strictness to truth. He explains this well when he states: Business, they say, is a very practical affair, and truth a matter of religion; and they argue that practical affairs are one thing, while religion is quite another. Pure truth, they hold, is out of the question in business, one can speak it only so far as is suitable. I strongly contested the position in my speech and awakened the merchants to a sense of their duty, which was two-fold. Their responsibility to be truthful was all the greater in a foreign land, because the conduct of a few Indians was the measure of that of the millions of their fellow-countrymen† (109). Gandhi’s devotion to truth begins as far back as his high school days. During a spelling examination Gandhi has trouble spelling the word â€Å"kettle†. Seeing this the teacher tries to prompt Gandhi with the point of his boot to copy his neighbors answer, with which Gandhi does not respond cooperatively and was the only one in the class to misspell the word. He explains, â€Å"I never could learn the art of ‘copying’†(4). His devotion to truth only is strengthened as he matures eventually he states that he is a, â€Å"Worshiper of Truth†(6) and that, â€Å"The passion for truth was innate in me†(9). Gandhi shows an admiration for truth that runs deep in his blood. Most likely he obtained this ideology from the devotion his mother held within her. He explains of the impact of his mother while stating, â€Å"The outstanding impression my mother has left on my memory is that of saintliness. She was deeply religious. She would not think of taking her meals without her daily prayers†(2). Clearly Gandhi received his committed, religious mindset from his mother; the exception was that Gandhi’s religion was his search for ultimate truth. To begin his odyssey Gandhi travels to London for training to become a barrister. The profession of barrister comes with the reputation of being filled with lies and trickery, which one might say disputes the purpose of Gandhi’s existence. However, Gandhi does not believe this is so explaining, â€Å"As a student I had heard that the lawyer’s profession was a liar’s profession. But this did not influence me, as I had no intention of earning either position or money by lying†(324). Gandhi’s pure heart could not be tainted by even the most corrupted of professions. After school he returned to India in 1891 and in 1893 accepted a job at an Indian law firm in Durban, South Africa. Gandhi was appalled by the treatment of Indian immigrants there, and joined the struggle to obtain basic rights for them. Gandhi’s determination to honesty and truth combined with his uprising political stance granted him great respect in the political community. He realizes this when he states, â€Å"I also saw that my devotion to truth enhanced my reputation amongst the members of the profession, and in spite of the handicap of colour I was able in some cases to win even their affection†(328). Not only is he gaining enough prestige to win the cases he is doing it despite the nonwhite color of his skin. The honor he earns in and out of the court room allows him to put up a valiant effort in his fight for Indian rights. His values in his political war are synonymous with the strict values he holds in his real life. One of the main aspects of his life is religion. To prove this he states, â€Å"It is that faith which sustains me†(335). Faith and religion holds a deep place in his heart and coincides with how he feels politics should be handled. He states, â€Å"I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means†(454). For instance, when Gandhi goes to experience the Bengal religion he is deeply troubled by the tradition of sacrificing a lamb and explains â€Å"To my mind the life of a lamb is no less precious that that of a human being. I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitle it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man†(208). In Gandhi’s eyes it is not moral to kill any life including one that is less powerful than a human being. This religious view that he holds translates to how he deals with issues in society. Such as the terrible Zulu rebellion, a rebellion in South Africa against British rule. Hearing of the rebellion Gandhi did not fight back or fight with the South Africans he simply set up an Ambulance Corps and helped the South African victims. Through out all of his life Gandhi never once harmed anyone to get his political point across, for that was not in his religion to do so. Just as religion affected the way he viewed politics, so did his diet. For a majority of his life Gandhi has been a vegetarian, which was all started by a vow that he promised to his mother in his young adult life. The main value that his strict diet has taught him is self restraint in the rest of his life. He mentions this saying, â€Å"One should eat not in order to please the palate, but just to keep the body going†(287). When Gandhi gives up the pleasure one gets from eating he leaves it simply to the biological need of the task. He explains the difference between his life and of others when he states â€Å"The diet of a man of self-restraint must be different from that of a man of pleasure, just as their ways of life must be different† (292). He uses his value of self restraint to his political advantage when he makes his stance simply by being controlled and not reacting to the situation. For example, while him and some of his followers are retrieving water from the well they are faced with great abuse and are told that they would pollute the water. To combat this, Gandhi uses great self restraint and simply tells everyone, â€Å"put up with the abuse and continue drawing water at any cost†, this works beautifully, later â€Å"when he saw that we did not return his abuse, the man became ashamed and ceased to bother us†(356). Gandhi’s use of self restraint and self control give him up the upper hand in any political fight and like this one, always almost end up in a victory for him in the end. Both his self restraint and non violence values come in to play in Gandhi’s main political weapon, civil disobedience. Civil Disobedience involves making a stand and taking action against a social injustice, however, using complete peace and never once resorting to violence. Gandhi explains it best when he says, â€Å"A nation that wants to come into its own ought to know all the ways and means to freedom. Usually they include violence as the last remedy,[civil disobedience], on the other hand, is an absolutely non-violent weapon. † (339). An instance where this strategy is used is while the government is trying to force its Indian citizens to pay an unnecessary tax on their crops with no exceptions, even in a famine. Gandhi forms a pledge to be signed by all the affected citizens that simply states that they will not pay the taxes anymore. No violence is used and no emotional or physical pain comes in to play. While Gandhi does not share the consequences of the pledge in his autobiography the reader realizes the courage it takes to stand up to authority calmly and not defensively. A more famous example where there was a beautiful demonstration of civil disobedience is the salt march that Gandhi led his followers on. When the citizens were being taxed excessively on salt, Gandhi leads them on a march to the sea to make their own salt in protest to the government’s taxes. Gandhi explains the powerful affect this has on the people when he states, â€Å"The people had for the moment lost all fear of punishment and yielded obedience to the power of love which their new friend exercised†(367). Civil disobedience not only works magically to solve social problems it does it without causing harm to either party involved and causes a strong community atmosphere to develop, which works faster to solve difficult political issues. Civil disobedience is a contribution to today’s society that will never be forgotten and never taken for granted. Gandhi will forever leave an impact in every person’s heart. He used his extraordinary values and morals to free the Indian citizens from harsh British rule. His politics never deterred from what he held deep in his heart. He answered the tough questions such as, ‘What if everything is pointing me to do something I do not believe in? ’ and ‘Where do you step aside from your values for the betterment of your community? ’. His answer to these questions are always follow your heart and follow what you believe is true. Gandhi dealt with extreme turmoil and through out every obstacle never stopped on his quest for the truth. While not every step there was smooth, it was a determined path none the less. When Gandhi explains the symbol of a Court of Justice he states that it â€Å"is a pair of scales held evenly by an impartial and blind but sagacious woman. Fate has purposely made her blind, in order that she may not judge a person from his exterior but from his intrinsic worth†(127). This is comparable to Gandhi’s view on life and politics. He does not judge the people around him, he takes the situation for what it is, truly, and does what he believes in his heart is right. While Gandhi has had an incredible impact in politics forever his real lessons begin in finding ourselves, and the truth within ourselves.

Current Issues on Bullying Essay

In all actuality I really think what’s causing children to bully and fight each other at school and when there is no authority taking place these days is because the media! Children watch TV and most have access to the internet every day. The shooting and violent video games they play are teaching and brain washing are kids to think and react the way they are now. The only way possible to cut down on bullying is to have parents that care. Have parents’ that are watching and knowing their children’s every day lives and what goes on in them. Just by asking â€Å"how was your day† shows your child that you are interested in what went on who’s who and what’s what. There is also a new way of what we call cyber bulling in this day and age, no longer is it in the school yard but now in your child’s bedroom with the door closed and him/her taking the punches and stabs while you don’t even know it. My mother as a child would always monitor my internet usage and what websites I would go on and who I would be communicating with at all times. I thank her f or that because I could have been a victim of cyber bullying. What kids don’t seem to understand is the ones who are doing the bullying it is so easy to sit at their computer and type the words not knowing what the other person that is being bullied is going through or feeling or expressions. So in closing I feel that where the correction starts on kids bulling is in the home and with the parents one on one always in the â€Å"know†. Sometimes its good to be the childs friend so they can always have a mom/dad to tell them when they are feeling angry, hostile or even being the one who’s being hurt.