Monday, September 30, 2019

Leadership: Key to Group Cohesiveness

One of the most complicated tasks to do is to understand how the human mind works.   Put several of these minds together and it is like a topsy-turvy guessing game that can often lead to miscommunication.Handling a group can truly be complicated. As more minds work together, more conflicts inevitably arise.   If this cannot be handled properly, this will result to animosity within the rank.   Jealousy from among group members may crop up.   It is therefore imperative for the group to have a decisive and yet magnanimous leader to carry it through good and bad times.Amid this fact, the main problem that shall be answered is basic: How does an effective leadership lessen conflicts and motivate others, specifically subordinates, to be more productive and efficient?If we review the literature on leadership, we will find out that it is very extensive. Issues raise range from different styles of leadership, how to become effective decision-makers, and even how to better motivate peo ple.One study found out that people subsist in a hierarchy of needs, going from physiological needs through safety, social, esteem to self actualization (Whitman, 1987). It is, therefore, vital that a leader knows how to motivate group members. People can be motivated not just by basic needs, but also by noble causes. Some leaders would consider that it is necessary to use pain or threat of pain to motivate, but others consider that this only motivates no one but the dullest and idlest of people. Promises of food, excitement, companionship, involvement and the appreciation of other benefits are better motivators (Whitman).Other literatures also deal with how leaders can make the group reach a consensus when it comes to decision-making. The study found out that many leaders like to think that they are skilled group decision-making methods such as action planning, goal setting and problem-solving, but their capability to execute such practices successfully is often hindered by their l ack of understanding of the dynamics of these processes (Schwartz, 1994). In effect, these leaders often end up propagating problems that they themselves create through their carelessness and negligence to the needs of other group members. For this reason, instead of achieving a consensus, some leaders only serve their own interests. The better way to achieve harmony would be for them to pursue how resolutions are made and guarantee that they are attained by actual discussion (Schwartz).It is therefore important to remember that consensus decision represents a reasonable decision that all members of the group can accept although it may not necessarily be the optimal decision for each member (Colwell, 2001). When this is attained, it would be safe and reasonable to say that the leader of the group or the manager of the organization has exhibited effective leadership style.Theoretical FrameworkThe study basically explores the relationship between leadership and its motivational effect s on employees or subordinates. Ordinarily, subordinates are motivated to work harder because their leaders encourage them to participate in the process of decision-making.     This kind of participative leadership inspires subordinates.      This is the reason why this study will partly explore the model called the Continuum of Leadership Behaviour which was developed by Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H. Schmidt (Colwell).   This theory discusses the choices managers make concerning their subordinates’ involvement in decision making.Basically, the theory has carries two sides of a coin.   On one side, leadership is relatively authoritarian.   On the other side, everything is relatively participative. As to the choice of leadership to be chosen, three factors are considered.In studying this case, one must consider the leader’s value system, his trust in his subordinates, and his feelings of security in an uncertain situation.   In other words, if the mana ger is insecure of his position and abilities, he may resort to authoritarian leadership; limiting the chances of his subordinates to show their capabilities.Another factor that has to be taken into consideration is the employees’ willingness to assume responsibilities, their expectations, and their need for independence. Also important here are their ability to understand situations and their knowledge in dealing with certain problems.The choice of leadership also depends on the kind of organization one is dealing with.   When an organization needs to have an iron-fisted leader, then it is no doubt important for leaders to be authoritative.   However, if the organization needs continuous input from many heads, then participation of employees is vital to its growth.Another leadership theory that this study will delve into is the Goal-Path theory.   This focuses on the need for leaders to make rewards conditional on the accomplishment of objectives (Schwartz).     Sp ecifically, this theory discusses how leaders should aid subordinates in attaining rewards by clarifying the paths to goals.Example of this is the model that was proposed by John Adair in 1973. It is called the Action Centred Leadership model.   It argues that it is not who one is but what he does that determines him as a leader (Vroom, 1973).These two theories of leadership clearly state that for a leader to become effective, he needs to adjust to the needs of his subordinates and organization. Although authoritative leadership could be effective in certain circumstances, a viable organization basically springs forth from a leadership that encourages participation from subordinates.Once subordinates discover that their services and inputs are valued by the leaders and managers, they shall be motivated to contribute more efforts to the organization.   This is very important as for many employees feel that some leaders do not value their efforts.Data Presentation and AnalysisFrom the various literatures studied, it became apparent that the most effective leadership style is motivational one. Take for example the case of advertising agencies.   Most of them encourage the support and input of those involved in the project.   It is not only the boss or the leader who decides.   After some brainstorming, there will always be a group consensus that shall help them arrive at an agreed decision.In this case, the kind of leadership that develops and prevails in the organization is the motivational one because it encourages ordinary employees to contribute intellectually to all their projects.   In effect, the leader’s main work here only resides in facilitating meetings and brainstorming.   All the others depend on the employees.It would be impossible to find an effective advertising agency whose leaders are authoritative. This kind of atmosphere does not really thrive in a creative world such as this.Besides, if one has to really review history, i t would be easy to note that companies that have survives the test of time are those that resorted to motivational leadership.   After all, everybody knows that employees are the core of every organization. To think otherwise is suicide.Although there are still leaders who resort to the â€Å"old† style of leadership where they confine decision-making within the realm of big bosses, they are fast fading away.   It is probably because they have realized how important varied inputs are to make an organization dynamic and progressive.At the end of the day, it is still the call of leaders or managers to choose the kind of management that they wish to impose in the office. They are the Pied Pipers of the industry and whatever they may decide on will affect not only their lives, but the lives of their subordinates as well.To put it succinctly, the following characteristics should be possessed by a leader so that he can effectively lead a group.First, a leader must know how to k eep communication lines open within the group. As it has often been said, communication is the essence of organized activity and organizations function as a container within which communication takes place. By making sure that the communication process is seamless, he has already taken the step to make his organization more vibrant and dynamic.Second, there should be transparency between the leader and the members. To do this, the leader must make sure that a meeting is regularly scheduled to get both sides of the fence. This way, miscommunication is minimized and members will feel that they are vital to the group.Third, he should have the ability to combine caution with optimism.   He has to create a general outlook of optimism regarding what the changes he may want to implement. Any change in any group is often met with resistance and an effective leader must know how to deal with this.Fourth, he has to learn how to modify socialization tactics.   He must always remember that the primary way that people learn culture is through the socialization process.Lastly, he must find and cultivate innovative leadership. Group members are unlikely to give up whatever secure stability they derive from existing cultures and follow a leader in new directions unless that leader exudes self-confidence, has strong convictions, a dominant personality and can preach the vision with drama and eloquence.All these characteristics must be possessed by a leader in order for him to be effective. Of course, some effective leaders also falter in their role but generally, they are able to fill up their shortcomings by being able to get up when they fall down. In most cases, for a group leaders are more effective than managers. Technically, they are more or less the same but the latter are most likely inclined to only direct, instead of lead.ConclusionFrom the gathered data, it would be natural to conclude that an effective leader must know how to rally members behind the group†™s goals and objectives.   He must not only possess sound judgment and magnanimity, but most importantly, he has to have a charismatic character that will make him stand-out in the group.It is not easy to become an effective leader.   One has to go through several missteps before he can effectively handle a group, but there is nothing really that practice cannot help improve.The most important thing that a leader has to bear in mind is that he has to lead several employees and whatever decision he makes will affect other lives.   It is for this reason that he must be very carefully about his management style.   Motivational factors of employees are imbedded in the leadership style of a manager, and this can only work if the manager will be able to recognize this fact early on.In the end, an effective leader is somebody who knows how to motivate group members into achieving their goals by encouraging teamwork to reach some kind of consensus amid varied ideas and beliefs.In the advertising agency mentioned earlier, the behaviour of the managers or leaders need not change because right from the start they have been advocates of liberal leadership where motivating employees are first and foremost in the over-all agenda. They recognize that once the right motivation is given to the subordinates, it will boost the morale of the employees.   From here, it goes without saying that this advertising agency will continuously evolved to become one viable organization internally.In a nutshell, it would be important to recap that motivation of employees is very important in ensuring a dynamic organization.   However, the right motivation can only be given by leaders or managers who encourage employee-participation in every endeavour. Ultimately, these leaders are those that discourage authoritarianism.BibliographyAvery, Christopher M. (2000). How Teamwork Can be Developed as an Individual Skill. The Journal for Quality and Participation.Colwell, Joy L. (2001). Beyond Brainstorming: How Managers Can Cultivate Creativity and Creative Problem-Solving Skills In Employee. Supervision.Schwartz, Andrew E. (1994). Group Decision Making. The CPA Journal.Taylor, Thomas. (1994). Public Dispute Resolution. Lecture presented for the Mediation Theory and Practice course at Florida State University Law School on April 16, 1994. Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium, Tallahassee, Florida.Vroom, V. H. & Jago, A. G. (1988). The new leadership: Managing participation in organizations. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall.Vroom, V. H. & Yetton, P. W. (1973). Leadership and decision-making. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Waitley, Denis and Maryann Rosenthal. Becoming a Proactive Leader. www.betttermanagement.comWhitman, Gilbert L. (1987) Leadership and Motivation (Management Skills Workshop) Bureau of Law and Business Reports, Madison, CT.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Facebook: Friend or Foe? Essay

On September 7, 2012, Amanda Todd posted a 9-minute YouTube video entitled â€Å"My Story: Struggling, Bullying, Suicide and Self Harm,† which showed her using flash cards to reveal her experiences of being bullied. During the video, Amanda writes that when she was in seventh grade, she once used video chat to meet new people over the Internet and soon began receiving compliments on her looks. A stranger convinced Amanda to flash her breasts on camera. The stranger later blackmailed her with threats to expose the topless photo to her friends unless she gave a â€Å"show†. She refused. She would never make that mistake again. Amanda Todd wrote that during the next Christmas break, police informed her at four am that the photo was circulating the Internet. Amanda wrote that she experienced anxiety, depression, and panic disorder because of this. Her family moved to a new home, where she later stated that she began using drugs and alcohol. A year later, the stranger had reappeared, creating a Facebook profile which used the topless photograph as the profile image, and contacting classmates at her new school. Once again she was being bullied, eventually causing her to change schools for the second time. With more bullying and an actual attack, she attempted suicide by drinking bleach, but was rushed to hospital to have her stomach pumped. After returning home, Amanda discovered abusive messages about her failed suicide attempt posted to Facebook. Once again, her family moved to another city to start fresh, but Todd was unable to escape Facebook and her first unfortunate error. Six months later further messages and abuse were still being posted to social networking sites. She started to get worse, and began cutting herself. Despite taking anti-depressants and receiving counseling, she overdosed and spent two days in the hospital. She was teased by other students at her school for her low grades, and the time she spent in the hospital to treat her severe depression. On October 10, 2012 at about six PM, Amanda Todd hung herself at home. So is Facebook a friend or a foe? Teens often don’t realize that bullying over the computer is the same as bullying in person. The harmless â€Å"joke† can be taken much, much worse because of the huge audience and the unclear tone of Facebook posts. Although Facebook can be a good source for meeting friends, spreading information, and changing peoples opinions, it can also be very harmful. Facebook can encourage cyber-bullying, make people become anti-social, and distract people from finishing other tasks. On the positive side, Facebook is another way for people to connect with new friends, old friends, and family. According to the pro and cons website on social networking, seventy percent of adult social networking users visit the site to connect with friends and family. Fifty-two percent of teens say that using social media has helped improve their relationships with friends and eighty-eight percent believe that social media have helped them stay connected with friends they can not see regularly. Despite the fact that Facebook and social media sites have many positive sides, it has its bad sides as well. Facebook users are starting to get more and more addicted each day. According to an article from WebMD, in a 2009 survey of 1,030 parents, Rosen and colleagues found out that children and teens had spent more time engaged in media (online and offline) had more anxiety, more stomachaches, and more sick days from school. In teens, the time spent playing video games also led to poorer health. In another ongoing survey of teens and adults, Rosen found that spending more time than average on Facebook was associated with signs of narcissism, anxiety, and bipolar disorder on a standard psychological test. In another 2011 study, 279 middle school, high school, and university students lost focus for an average of three minutes for every fifteen minutes spent studying or doing another task. Checking Facebook just once during the fifteen minute period was associated with lower grades. Not only does Facebook cause lower grades, it also can ruin someones self-esteem. Facebook users feel as if they need to know if something important is happening, and by doing their work, they feel like they might miss out on something big. The New York Times released an article in April of 2011 that talked about FOMO, which stands for â€Å"the fear of missing out.† This mostly occurs when seeing Facebook statuses and photos posted by friends, questioning the event, wondering â€Å"Why wasn’t I there?† or â€Å"How come I didn’t know this was happening?† Sometimes it’s not just a specific event that throws us off, but just scrolling through a friends profile and noticing how much â€Å"better† his or her life appears. Facebook adds negative social comparisons and FOMO, which puts a sense of regret and a heavy weight on self-esteem. As social networking sites become more and more popular, its users have expanded from teens to young adults, to even people over fifty. As you can see with Amanda Todd’s story, many people use social networking sites for the wrong reasons. People can be whoever they want to be, but some do use it for the right reasons, as for example connecting with family they haven’t seen in a while, or catching up with long-distance friends. Is Facebook a place where people can connect and have conversations about things that truly matter to them? Is it a place where you can express yourself without fear of judgement? Or is it a place for status updates that aren’t true, photoshopped profile pictures, and cyber-bullying disguised as humor? So what do you think? Is Facebook a friend or a foe?

Friday, September 27, 2019

Admission Essay for Business School Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Admission for Business School - Essay Example I have chosen this Business School because it is a unique institution which provides students with practical skills so important in modern business. I find that Bentley has a unique leadership focus which allows to them to prepare really good managers (and all successful businesses have them) capable of having, or recognizing, good ideas and using them to make things happen in a new way: of translating ideas into useful, practicable and commercial products, services or systems. Modern business cannot exist without innovation and Bentley integrates new approaches of business into its curriculum. At Bentley, innovation draws together new ideas and their implementation, whereas creativity is the having of new ideas which, in an organization, are generated or spotted by individuals or teams. I am opining to enter Bentley because it encourages creativity in people (including oneself) by exploring some of the qualities and characteristics of creative thinkers and the activities/steps that can be undertaken to improve the processes involved. In innovation it must be remembered that creative thinking makes it possible and teamwork makes it happen. I am eager to improve my leadership skills and become an expert in this field. I see training and education as the main methods to improve myself and increase productivity. A number of those whose fundamental interests are in leadership effectiveness and training feel that progress would be facilitated by greater attention to underlying specific behavioral processes. I suppose that modern organizations need to go beyond traditional task and socio-emotional categories of behavior; this should be in the direction of identifying the basic building blocks of interactions. I am a hard-working student who spends much time working on my personal development and self-improvements. For a long period of time, I like basketball and travel: baseball

Globalization in Transition Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Globalization in Transition - Research Paper Example What has happened about globalization so far, challenges the imagination of all concerned. It is impossible to predetermine or predict the outcomes and the shape of things to come. Human intervention and creativity have reached new zeniths and the developments that have taken place in various segments of globalization do not fall within the definitions of Capitalism, Communism, Socialism or Theocracy. Spread of democracy in the hardcore communist countries, which resulted in liberalization of trade relations, is also an important factor in hastening up the process of globalization. Narrow perspectives of nationalism have failed to check the economic reforms that are part of the process that accelerates the pace of development. The discussion is no more about whether there should be reforms to facilitate the march of globalization; it is about the strategy to implement reforms. The importance of transition economics is an accepted fact. The tug of war of votaries of globalization and the local manufacturing and local food markets will continue and the ultimate gainer is the consumer, as he has the choice. Is it possible to reconstitute local manufacturing and local food markets, or has globalization ultimately made this impossible? A straight forward answer to this question is impossibility. It is an admitted fact that the narrow domestic walls have crumbled. Firstly, let us try to understand the institution of market. The complex market institutions cannot develop in a theoretical or laboratory setting and then transplant them to economy. For the markets, transition to the ground realities is a complicated exercise. Institutions will take a long time to reshape and attain perfection. Globalization has challenged and will continue to challenge many of the old social and economic norms. Many such norms will die and many will need complete rejuvenation. Getting the reforms off from the national to

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Policing and HRA 1998 (UK Law) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Policing and HRA 1998 (UK Law) - Essay Example There are sixteen basic rights in the human rights act, all taken from the European convention of human rights. The main effects of the Human Rights Act, 1998 are thresholds.2 First, when deciding cases before them, all courts and tribunals are required to take into account the conventions, as well as the decisions made by the institutions.3 Secondly, the national courts should read, if possible, the primary and secondary legislation in a manner, which is compatible with the conventions. Thirdly, public authorities are under a duty to act in accordance with convention failure, which results into civil action being taken against them. Generally, the main purpose of this convention was to proclaim a series of universal human rights which militate against the repetition of those events which had caused such immeasurable suffering. All public officials, including the police, have an obligation to respect and act according to the convention rights.4 Acting in such a way to contravene or go against these laws is unlawful and the citizens can raise any inappropriate act before the UK court or tribunal.5 The statements in this convention have to be contained within its articles which are augmented in its protocols which have been added since its formulation. In this paper, we shall look at how the various articles in the human right act have affected the police practice in crime investigation. A person has a right to have their life protected by the law.6 No one shall be deprived of his life. The act outlaws the death sentence in the United Kingdom. There are only limited circumstances where one can take away another’s life, like for self-defense. The police are therefore, expected to be very careful when carrying out an investigation because any act that may result to the death of the criminal is not justifiable under the law. A police is not supposed to end a person’s life by use of excess force even if he is defending the person from unlawful act,

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 5

Business Ethics - Essay Example However, the fact is that when she received a harassing message from a prospective employer on a professional networking site, she finally reached her tipping about online sexual harassment. A portion of the message read that â€Å"I think you are beautiful and I and interested to hear more about your modelling experience. Have you ever thought about being an executive assistant? I make a lot of money and travel to some amazing places. I would take good care of you. One question though, are you single?† Quite clearly, for a professional networking, which people used to build business connections, this message did not only cross the limit of acceptability but also creepiness. There are no doubts about the fact that sexual harassment (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2012, pg. 74) is a serious issue and that even before the advent and mass proliferation of social media, employers and managers had always been facing a difficult time in combating with ever increasing sexual harassme nt at workplace. Now that social networking sites have become an imperative aspect of the lives of people, it appears that they have provided a new medium and breeding ground for harassers (Trevino & Nelson, 2010, p. 42; Ferrell, et al., 2012, p. 74). This paper makes an attempt to understand the issue of sexual harassment as discussed in the article Casserly (2013) from the perspective of business ethics, provide recommendations for combating with this problem and identify its impact on the stakeholders. Discussion Dynamics of Sexual Harassment and Online Sexual Harassment Much of the online sexual harassment on is â€Å"quid pro-quo† in nature (Devettere, 2002, p. 467). Quid Pro-Quo refers to an arrangement of giving something in return for something else. In most cases, the victims are likely to receive a message from someone with a higher position, authority and influence with a dreamy but conditional offer; the condition being their willingness to provide sexual favours or entering into a sexual relationship with that person. The immorality of these messages is massively apparent as it coerces the subject into doing something that he or she would not have done in normal circumstances (Trevino & Nelson, 2010, p. 42; Ferrell, et al., 2012, p. 74). As mentioned earlier that the business ethics issue highlighted in this article is that of online sexual harassment as faced by Hatcher, the case in focus, and several other women highlighted in the article from LinkedIn, specifically and several other online networking sites as well. There are several definitions of sexual harassments. In fact, legislators, experts, researchers and policymakers from different parts of the world have taken different approaches to define sexual harassment. Furthermore, sexual harassment might take different forms but one singular, common and defining element of sexual harassment is when the victim feeling being excessively â€Å"uncomfortable†. This is exactly what ha ppened in the case of Hatcher, as argued in this article, that this invitation or message from Marcus was so disturbing and stressful for her that she no longer felt safe and comfortable regarding the same. Although, the data about the victims of sexual harassment (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2012, pg. 74) reveals that both the genders have been

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Audit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Audit - Essay Example In the year 2003, IAPC was accepted as a series of restructuring regarding the auditing guidelines in order to further reinforce the setting-standard procedures. The IAASB mainly contributes in delivering auditing process related information clearly to the public as much as possible (International Federation of Accountants, 2011). This paper intends to analyse and critically discuss the development of the wording of the external audit report and the IAASB’s proposals on its further improvement. A Brief Perception on the Purpose of the External Audit Report An external audit report is considered as an assessment concerning the business operation, internal control, governance and financial reporting of a particular company. This report i.e. external audit report is primarily organized by external auditors belonging to different government agencies and other public accounting organizations. The core objective of preparing an external audit report is to deliver a self-governing ev aluation as well as unbiased appraisal regarding a firm’s internal governance (Saint Helena Audit Service, 2006). The ‘International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB)’ is typically regarded as an autonomous standard-setting body that provides valuable guidelines about the preparation of an external auditing report. The major purpose of the IAASB is to concentrate on public interest by setting superior quality of international values. Moreover, the guidelines and core values of IAASB focuses upon the improvement of quality and consistency of auditing practices all over the world and also reinforce the public confidence towards international auditing (International Federation of Accountants, 2011). By taking into concern the medium term strategy, the basic objectives of IAASB include the following attributes emphasising upon public interest (International Federation of Accountants, 2011). The attributes are as follows: Controlling effective stability r egarding international financial aspects, Improving the importance as well as role and providing quality assurance towards the auditing services within the context of today’s financial condition and Initialising clarity as well as successful execution of auditing standards (International Federation of Accountants, 2011). A Brief Explanation about How and Why the Wording has Evolved in the External Audit Report Since the year 1980, when the auditing standards are required to be maintained effectively within the external auditing report, it has been identified that the stakeholders face several issues about the pronunciation and the wordings content in the report. Due to these several problems, the auditing report has undergone several changes in order to improve both its quality as well as clarity that would be helpful for the auditors to fulfil the expectation of the stakeholders. In the year 1994, David Woodliff, Professor of finance and accounting, conducted a research stud y regarding the audit expectation gap. The primary reason of the study is to identify the dissimilarities between the users of financial report and the message of the auditors

Monday, September 23, 2019

Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World Essay - 1

Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World - Essay Example Aristotelian conventions such as a characterized Recognition of Self, and Suffering, both of which work to together to give tragic drama much of its emotional impact, are found to be driving forces in these master works. King Lear and Savage John, respectively, reveal their statuses as tragic heroes through their belated recognition of their own self-awareness and the suffering they undergo in order to reach that self-recognition. In this essay, both Shakespeare’s King Lear and Huxley’s Savage John will be analyzed in terms of these two Aristotelian conventions of tragedy in order to show how both Lear and John represent tragic heroes in some of literature’s best forms. Both King Lear and Brave New World follow the Aristotelian convention of Recognition of Self. In Aristotle’s formulation, this requires that heroes undergo some suffering that leads to a cathartic sense of self-awareness derived from the pain of suffering (20). Aristotle claims that a man m ust realize the (internal) root of his own downfall before he can become a tragic hero. King Lear gains this self-awareness as he wanders the heath with his Fool. He realizes the role he has played in his own downfall and it causes his descent into madness. Lear returns to sanity and to wisdom by realizing that his arrogance has led him both to accept the flattery of others and to overestimate his own power. He remarks upon this in a lament that â€Å"they told me I was everything; ‘tis a lie, -- I am not ague-proof† (1001). He later displays this growing self-awareness as he shakes hands with Gloucester but says that first he must wipe his hand because it â€Å"smells of mortality† (1001). Through a realization that his own power is limited, Lear is able to reassess his life and the loyalty of others, but not before the war breaks out across his former kingdom by those fighting to right the wrongs largely brought on because of his arrogance. Similarly, in Brave New World, John comes to realize his own limitations, partly because of his ongoing struggle to maintain a separation from the new world he confronts. At the end of his story, as he decides to go live by himself, he tells his friend Helmholtz, â€Å"I ate civilization†¦ it poisoned me; I was defiled. And then†¦ I ate my own wickedness† (241). In this admission, he shows that he was unable to resist society’s hold upon him due to something inside his own heart. While he continues throughout the story to try to purify himself, in the end, like Lear, he fails in his effort to overcome the world that he himself has had a hand in creating through a refusal to understand himself earlier in the story. Both King Lear and Brave New World also deal with the Aristotelian convention of Suffering. Aristotle argues that suffering is constituted in destructive or painful action that brings about death, wounds, or agony (21). For King Lear his suffering is brought on by his unjust treatment of Cordelia in the beginning of the play. This action is parallel by the way his cruel older daughters, Goneril and Regan, treat him after he has given them their portion of his holdings and power. He recognizes

Sunday, September 22, 2019

There Is a Fine Line Between Reality and Illusion Essay Example for Free

There Is a Fine Line Between Reality and Illusion Essay How can we distinguish between reality and illusion? Is reality an illusion, or is an illusion simply reality? Albert Einstein once stated that ‘reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one’. The statement suggests that what we interpret to be real may well be an illusion and this is evidenced mainly through dreams and aspirations. For example if someone has dreamt of one day being a doctor their reality, which is described as the state of things that actually exist, shifts or changes in order for that idea to become real. Reality is tangible while illusion is a faculty or activity of imagination. What may be reality for one person may be an illusion for another and this is clearly evidenced through many situations that we as individuals face. What is real is often clouded by the concept of illusion for example the idea of what is glamorous, the difference between what is beautiful and what is real is distort by the media and its false interpretations. However it is not only the media that can distort reality from illusion, the virtual world of computer games and Internet socializing has revolutionized the Nintendo 64 and the plain old phone call. We are now able to find solace inside the world of an Avatar or pet puppy that our parents never let us bring home, and instead of having real friends we can have as many as one thousand without even meeting them. Our emotions and mental state also contribute to the way in which we interpret our reality; it has proven to be a major impact of how we see things and importantly how we react to it. The reality of today is what Einstein most famously predicted, that we as individuals sometimes find it difficult to interpret the real world from illusion. It may often occur that an individual chooses to disregard what is real and accepts their illusions. This can be portrayed when we are faced with a really dismal time in our lives and in order to cope we convince ourselves that one-day it will change, as T. S Elliot suggested ‘humankind cannot bear too much reality’. Blanche DuBois from ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ has a similar reaction to her reality. Her reality is that she has lost the love of her life to suicide, no longer remains a teacher and does not own any assets as she has lost the property known as Belle Reve. In order to endure her life Blanche rejects her reality and manipulates it with lies, makeup and lighting in order to hide from the truth. ‘I don’t want realism I want magic’, Blanche desires for a life of pure happiness and excitement, however her imagination is indistinguishable from her reality and the series of lies and dimmed lights soon begin to fade as she is met with Stanley Kowalski. Stanley Kowalski, a brutish and arrogant realist finds it difficult to understand Blanche’s reality. Unlike Blanche, Stanley needs reassurance that what he knows is perfectly real and reliable. In the play the two characters continuously disagree with each other and eventually Stanley’s animalistic behavior threatens Blanche’s safety. Blanche and Stanley are a great example of how one individual’s reality is different to another’s, these conflicting ideas and perceptions of life occur often between people and have been proven to cause disagreement. People around us have great influence of how we perceive things although there are other major influences that contribute to our perceptions for instance the media. The media has brought forward many deceiving images of models and famous Hollywood stars. These images of super skinny models with perfectly shaped bodies and teeth are portrayed to convince the audience that what we see is not only real, but also normal. We are lead to believe that if we wear special stockings that our fat will magically disappear, but who said that fat was ever ugly? No one just decided one day that a little cellulite was atrocious; it is the media that guides and influences our perception over what is socially acceptable. The Hollywood stars of today seem almost out of this world if you like, for example Lindsay Lohan who appears to have a ‘perfect’ and glamorous life is forced to steal a necklace, so how perfect is her life? Each time a magazine reports Charley Sean drunk and causing a public nuisance the world is captivated by his actions. Why is it that we find other peoples realities so fascinating? And why is it that we enjoy the escapism of entering the life of another? The twenty-first century has allowed Internet gaming to create fictional characters such as an Avatar to represent the virtual life of an individual gamer. Amy Taylor, 28, whose online avatar alter ego is named Laura Skye, divorced her husband because of his betrayal to her in the online game known as Second Life. She claims ‘it may have started online, but it existed entirely in the real world and it hurts just as much’, the online virtual world of gaming caused such an influence over Amy Taylor and her husband’s life that real life and the game were clouded. Reality and illusion in this case seems bewildered. Our emotions are a major influence over the way we interpret life, when one is in a state of depression, your reality is surrounded by negative energy and therefore it is influenced by our state of mind at that present time. In my personal experience I have witnessed the life of depression through a family member and often their reality is surrounded by the boundaries of fear and anxiety, and nothing can develop beyond those walls, happiness seems a mile away. Similarly Stella Kowalski’s love for Stanley has a major influence over her life and what she perceives to be real. It appears that she is blinded by their lustful relationship and can see no faults in his brutish behavior. Stella undoubtedly chooses Stanley’s reality over Blanche’s and this is evidenced in the ending scene of the play where she allows her sister to be taken away even after the suspicion of Stanley abusing her. Behavior like this is also conveyed in everyday situations where woman who have been viciously abused and beaten remain with their partners because of fear that they will be alone. Stella finds Stanley to be a safe haven; she ran away from her life in the South to a life in a one-bedroom apartment in New Orleans and despite the diversity between the different lifestyles, she much prefers her life with Stanley. It is clear that her love for Stanley is great, and that regardless of his behavior she finds solace within his presence. The difference between reality and illusion can sometimes be unclear due to factors such as the media, our emotions and also our state of mind. Reality is not a fixed idea and in the end is controlled by the individual; there are aspects that manipulate reality however it is solely in the individuals view to separate the conflicting worlds of reality and illusion.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

What does the fox say Essay Example for Free

What does the fox say Essay Billboard might have already christened Robin Thickes Blurred Lines as the song of the summer, but Norwegian duo Ylvis might have something more to say on the matter before the equinox hits. The Fox, by brothers Bà ¥rd and Vegard Ylvisà ¥ker, has gathered more than 17 million hits after a week on YouTube. It was released in the lead up to the newest season of the bands Norwegian television talk show,Tonight with Ylvis. They dont have an album out yet, but after the overwhelming response several songs will be available on iTunes in North America next week. The catchy tune is paired with the most absurd lyrics this side of the theme song to DuckTales. The brothers muse on the sounds animals make (Dog goes woof, cat goes meow) before asking, What does the fox say? The answer is a series of horrific shrieks such as Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! and Chacha-chacha-chacha-chow! The brothers Ylvisà ¥ker dance in a forest at night dressed in fox costumes the likes of the Bloodhound Gang. Ylvis isnt new to the comedy music scene theyve been around since 2000 and have five other songs in English. Check out the arguably better Stonehenge, which begins as a mopey power ballad where a successful television show host is kept up at night ruminating on the ancient stone formation. In the past six days Ylvis have received offers for tours and record deals from all the biggest companies, a bewildered Bà ¥rd Ylvisà ¥ker told Billboard, saying he and his brother had no idea how The Fox ended up on the viral radar. Normally, you know we get some hits and we get some comments, but theyre all about the actual contents of the songs. But this was mostly about the phenomenon, which was really strange, even when it was only at 100,000 views.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Comparing Financial Ratio Analysis Between Two Companies Finance Essay

Comparing Financial Ratio Analysis Between Two Companies Finance Essay A financial report or the financial statement is known as an official record of the financial activities of a person, a business, or any other entity. In the British English also including the United Kingdom company rule; a financial statement is frequently mentioned as an account, even though the word financial statement is also mostly used, mostly by the accountants. In a business enterprise, all the related financial evidence, presented in a structured method and in a form that is really easy to copy and understand by others, are called the financial declarations. They normally contain four basic financial declarations, escorted by a management analysis and discussion. Statement of cash flows: reports that shows the cash flow activities of a company, normally its operation, financing and investing activities. Balance sheet: this is also referred as the statement of financial condition or position, reports that show the companys  assets, ownership equity, and the  liabilities at a given period of time. Statement of retained earnings: this explains the changes in the retained earnings of a company over its reporting period. Income statement: this is referred to as a Loss and Profit statement, income reports of a company, profits, and expenses over a certain period of time. Loss and Profit account is provided with information on the process of the enterprise. These include the various expenses and the sale that acquired during the dispensation state. For the large organizations, these statements are often difficult and may include a wide-ranging set of notes to the financial statements and analysis and management discussion. The notes are usually describing each item on the cash flow statement, balance sheet, and income statement in more detail. All notes to financial declarations are considered an integral part of the financial declarations. Two companies are compared and contrasted. This will show the difference of everything between both these companies. It shows the different income ane different profits earned by these companies. It also shows that even different companies have many things that do not come in common. FORMULA TIME ENGINEERING BERHAD WONG ENGINEERING CORPORATION BERHAD Liquidity Ratios Networking Capital= Current Assets Current Liabilities = 358618 113715 = 244903 = 51929026 1517900 = 50411126 Current Ratio= _Current Assets__ Current Liabilities 358618 / 113715 = 3.15 = 51929026 / 1517900 = 34.21 Quick Ratio = Current Assets (Inventory+Prepaid Expense) Current Liabilities = 358618 ( 72 + 35220 ) 113715 = 358618 ( 35292 ) 113715 = ( 323326 ) 113715 = 2.843 = 51929026 ( 19423010 + 175601 ) 1517900 = 51929026 ( 21179021 ) 1517900 = 3721752.23 Assets Utilization Ratios Accounts Receivable Turnover ( Net Credit Sales + Average Accounts Receivable) = 256536 . [ 64657 + (24970 / 2) ] = 256536 . ( 64657 + 12485 ) = 256536 77124 = 3.32 N / A Average Collection Period = Accounts Receivable Daily Credit Sales = 24970 . ( 68643 / 365 ) = 24970 118.06 = 132.7 = 133 days = 1777208 . ( 11995710 / 365 ) = 1777208 32864.96 = 54.08 = 54 days Inventory Turnover Ratio = Cost of Goods Sold Average Inventory = 64651 . ( 40964 / 2 ) = 64651 20482 = 3.16 = 63297596 . ( 19423010 / 2 ) = 63297596 9711505 = 6.52 Fixed Assets Turnover = Net Sales . Total Fixed Assets = 999132 2248486 = 0.444 = 2370124 . 147201386 = 0.016 Leverage Ratio Debt Ratio = Net Sales . Total Assets = 999132 2248486 = 0.444 = 0.444 x 100 = 44.4 % = 2370124 . 147201386 = 0.016 = 0.016 x 100 = 1.6 % Equity Ratio = Total Liabilities . Stockholders Equity = 1249165 959625 =1.301 = 15446858 129147162 = 0.120 Times Interest Earned Ratio = Earnings Before interest and Tax Interest Expense = 106497 7218 = 17.53 = 18 times N / A Profitability Ratios Gross Profit Margin = Gross Profit Net Sales = 200887 999132 = 0.201 = 0.201 x 100 = 20.1 % = 6900285 2370124 = 2.911 = 2.911 x 100 = 291.1 % Return on Total Assets = Net Income . Average Total Assets = 68643 . ( 2248486 / 2 ) = 68643 1124243 = 0.061 = 70197881 . ( 147201386 / 2 ) = 7019881 73600693 = 0.095 Return Common Equity = Earning Available to Commons Stockholders Average Stockholder Equity = 39696 959626 = 0.041 N /A Market Value Ratios Earnings per Share = Net Income-Preferred Dividends . Total Common Shares Outstanding = 24970 56490 = 0.442 N /A Dividend Yield = Dividend per Share Market Price per Share N / A N / A Conclusion Those are the following latest reports of financial reports of two different companies. As what we can see above is that WONG ENGINEERING CORPORATION BERHAD (WECB) has better network and better income compared to TIME ENGINEERING BERHAD (TEB). But both companies are from the same industries. Both of these companies are in the engineering field. They both sell products regarding engineering. By comparing these companies we can clearly see which company is much more successful and which is not. As you can see that the amounts of WONG ENGINEERING CORPORATION BERHAD is very high compared to TIME ENGINEERING BERHAD, but (WECB) has no income at all. They suffer from loss. Even though (TEB) has low income they do have some profit at the end of the day. This makes it clear that amount is not enough to make a company successful; a company needs skills to do so. Therefore the companies are compared and contrasted.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Global Warming :: Environment Global Warming Climate Change

Global Warming Mission Plan a. Analysis of the Problem 1. History of the Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some scientist's have been concerned since 1896 about what might happen if there were 5.5 billion tons carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. In 1961 a British scientist did an experiment showing that the carbon in the air was absorbing some of the sun's radiation. Afterward a Swedish scientist, Suante Arrhenius, found out if the radiation of the sun was trapped in the carbon dioxide the temperature of the earth would increase by 1-2 degrees. In 1988 James Hanson, a respected scientist, told the U.S. Congress "the greenhouse effect is occurring now and it's changing global climate."(1989 Koral). After the 1900's people started making factories and started using fossil fuels like coal, oil, and aluminum. It was the industrial revolution and overpopulation of humans that was the cause of the environmental problems that we have today. 2. Human Activity Causing the Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The reason our Earth is getting hotter is that human activities are emitting too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The radiation from the sun gets trapped in the bag of carbon dioxide that surrounds our earth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One main reason for the problem of global warming is the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are coal, oil and natural gases. We use these fuels to run factories, power plants, cars, trucks, buses, air conditioning and etc. The people of the earth are putting 5.5 billion tons of carbon, in the form of carbon dioxide in the air every year! Seventy five percent of this is fossil fuels. 3. Impact Causing Global Change   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For many years, scientists have been predicting that our disregard for Mother Nature would make the climatic temperature of this Earth to increase greatly. There have been arguments that the whole idea of Global Warming is a hoax, that the temperature cycle is just experiencing an upward trend and will eventually come back down. Now, however, we are starting to see the evidence of our behavior.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Remember the great heat wave in Chicago? That could have been a consequence of global warming. Nearly a hundred people died, and the city's economy came to a standstill. A much more tragic but less known heat wave smashed into India, causing upward of 600 deaths.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Global Warming doesn't only increase temperatures in hot areas. It also decreases temperatures in cold areas. An example of this has been the cold spell that struck the midwest. In Montana, temperatures plummeted to 30 degrees below and stayed there. The coldest weather ever recorded plagued our country's heart for over three weeks, and still hasn't returned to normal. Global Warming :: Environment Global Warming Climate Change Global Warming Mission Plan a. Analysis of the Problem 1. History of the Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some scientist's have been concerned since 1896 about what might happen if there were 5.5 billion tons carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. In 1961 a British scientist did an experiment showing that the carbon in the air was absorbing some of the sun's radiation. Afterward a Swedish scientist, Suante Arrhenius, found out if the radiation of the sun was trapped in the carbon dioxide the temperature of the earth would increase by 1-2 degrees. In 1988 James Hanson, a respected scientist, told the U.S. Congress "the greenhouse effect is occurring now and it's changing global climate."(1989 Koral). After the 1900's people started making factories and started using fossil fuels like coal, oil, and aluminum. It was the industrial revolution and overpopulation of humans that was the cause of the environmental problems that we have today. 2. Human Activity Causing the Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The reason our Earth is getting hotter is that human activities are emitting too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The radiation from the sun gets trapped in the bag of carbon dioxide that surrounds our earth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One main reason for the problem of global warming is the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are coal, oil and natural gases. We use these fuels to run factories, power plants, cars, trucks, buses, air conditioning and etc. The people of the earth are putting 5.5 billion tons of carbon, in the form of carbon dioxide in the air every year! Seventy five percent of this is fossil fuels. 3. Impact Causing Global Change   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For many years, scientists have been predicting that our disregard for Mother Nature would make the climatic temperature of this Earth to increase greatly. There have been arguments that the whole idea of Global Warming is a hoax, that the temperature cycle is just experiencing an upward trend and will eventually come back down. Now, however, we are starting to see the evidence of our behavior.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Remember the great heat wave in Chicago? That could have been a consequence of global warming. Nearly a hundred people died, and the city's economy came to a standstill. A much more tragic but less known heat wave smashed into India, causing upward of 600 deaths.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Global Warming doesn't only increase temperatures in hot areas. It also decreases temperatures in cold areas. An example of this has been the cold spell that struck the midwest. In Montana, temperatures plummeted to 30 degrees below and stayed there. The coldest weather ever recorded plagued our country's heart for over three weeks, and still hasn't returned to normal.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Social Values in Transition: 1789-1815, Alternate Visions :: American America History

Social Values in Transition: 1789-1815, Alternate Visions Saint-Simon wanted to see scientists at the top of the political structure. He proposed the idea of a scientific priesthood of the Religion of Newton. Later he added industrialists and artists to the religion believing that emotions must be satisfied as well as reason. Francois Marie Charles Fourier wanted to liberate human nature. His theory was: What makes men happy? Their passions. What makes them miserable? The inhibition of their passions. Therefore the legislator must create a society in which men and women can indulge their passions to the full yet safely and harmoniously. Even destructive passions could be employed as butchers. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. In it he states, " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Government is instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the government. That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to abolish it, and to institute new Government . . . . . " Robert Owen built a model industrial community with decent housing for the worker's, schools, sanitation, and non-profit making stores. In the factories he owned the working conditions were measured against the prevailing standards. They were almost humane. He was trying to improve the worker's lot, while making a nice profit in the meantime. Owen may be regarded as the founder of co-operative socialism. Thomas Malthus argued that any attempt to feed the starving masses only increased the masses and their misery. He believed that mathematical laws presided over human affairs. However when he applied them to the procreative process, the results were glum. In his opinion the gap between the supply of food and the number of people to be fed was bound to increase, for population increased at a geometrical ratio and food at a arithmetical ratio. There was a bright side however; there would be wars, famines, epidemics and so on. But that would not be enough.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Straying to the roulette table I saw a man with a long black coat advanced towards me

Win! That's the last thing I did. It was amazing! At the age of 24 I had the best run of anyone. It was Sunday 1st of January, it started with a crossword. Going through the questions; one had stomped me, the question was â€Å"† 6 letters down and I was clueless. Then scavenging for words â€Å"danger† was the one that stood out the most, I looked at it strangely. Wildly, the door bell rang. The few seconds that I was walking towards the door I wondered who could be here at this time, 5:00am on this frosty winter's morning. Adrenalin rushed through my body. Slowly the door creaked open like one of those murder movie. Peering out of the door I saw with my first glance a man about the same age and size as me, then looking properly I gazed again no one was there. The giant of a door shut, turning I saw that a letter sluggish glided down towards the floor. The letter, it had nothing on it just at the back a wax, red, black eagle crescent holding the letter closed. Irresolute looking, my hand slowly shaking quavering went to open the letter excited and feeling miss lead by the figure at the door. My hands where on it, opening it when I was interrupted by the phone computer and mobile ringing at the same time. Picking up the phone no one was on the other end. The computer had an email â€Å"you are invited to an annual opening of the Royal Casino.† â€Å"You will be escorted there by your personal butler.† It didn't hit me until I got over the email that, the shady figure at the door might be my butler. There was a 3 second pause in the house I thought â€Å"why was I invited to this casino if I was a nobody?† Feeling dizzy, I when to the kitchen to get a drink of water, filed 3/4 of a wine glass when realising that the letter was still in my hand. As if I was drunk I opened the letter saying†¦ The next day I woke up at about 5:31 a few seconds later the bell rang again. It was him. Looking at me with his deadly amber eyes it felt like he was peering through my very soul using some sort of supernatural powers. The butler asked me what my name was. My mouth was open for a few seconds thinking what to say before I said â€Å"Carlos.† â€Å"Sorry I couldn't properly introduce myself yesterday in the morning† â€Å"my name is Earl† the voice was an extremely posh English accent; he probably came from a long line of high respected people. Suddenly a cold wind breeze shot down my spine making me wonder why I was going to this place I had hardly played in a casino before. â€Å"We will have to go in around 30 minutes† â€Å"we have a tight schedule.† Looking at my watch I started counting it was weird, my head didn't feel right. Escorted to the car it felt like having my own 15 seconds of fame. It took us 32 minutes and a half to get there; when we reached our destination we had 3 guards outside escorting all of us in. The place was armed to the teeth with players. â€Å"Play what ever you want.† Ever player had there unique style of winning. Thinking to myself I didn't know where should I start? Rubbing my hand quickly together, I started playing. Straying to the roulette table I saw a man with a long black coat advanced towards me. We both sat down to play, seemingly a ruthless game. Anticipating my every move he placed the money right on the jackpot. Undergoing this defeat I grow in strength raising the stakes declaring war on that man. Determine not to lose I placed a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50,000 bet on number 14 red. Lifting my hand of lead my eyes shone with light. Weirdly I became the centre of attraction putting à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½100,000 smugly in my pocket. Steering up he gave me an impregnable look, smiled and walked off towards a man in a shadow. While examining more closely standing there amber eyed butler Earl was leaning on the wall and strangely doing nothing. Slowly I proceeded towards him, when his amber eyes tried to corrupt my vision. I stood tremendously and strutted on towards him. Contemptuously, he wanted to say that â€Å"a gentleman was really interested in me and had invited me to go to the VIP section to play a great game of blackjack.† I started to move towards them gradually my heart started to beat faster, going at the speed of a fighter jet. Walking on I started thinking what was with me that people have began to take interest with. The black coated man brought out a 10.5 inch pistol and directed it straight at my head. Unanticipated he plummeted towards the floor. Turning him round I saw a small dart hole in his chest, this could only be made by a blowgun. Thinking to my self I wondered why I was stressing over he killer (saving my life). I went over to the VIP zone amazed that no-one was disturbed by this. There was a tall; man sitting down on an expensive leather seat hand stitched to match the feelings of that person, a brown eyed man called Rasior me asking if I wanted to join in on the game of blackjack. Under shock I wondered if this sort of fiasco would happen again with these sorts of people. The dealer deals the cards and feeling lucky I causally looked at the cards, the 10 of hearts and clubs. I then raised the money to a substantial amount. We all open our hands and I had 20, the rest had 21, the winning number. Gasping for breath I shook my head placed a bet and played again. My loss in confidence might have had a big effect on me. While dealing I hoped I would have better cards this time round. 3 of clubs and 8 of spades; I asked for one more, king of spades. Adding them, a small smirk shone upon my face. 21! Watching them turn over the cards, a wave of sweat was brought out on my face. 21, 21, and 21 weirdly that Rasior won again having the higher valued cards then the rest. Playing on it seamed that luck was not on my side, 3:00 am the match continued and my luck streak shone. Showing that there was hope still in there for me. The last 2 grand; (last chance) to win something worth wile. I knew that I had to get a blackjack or I would loose the game, the first card was a jack then while turning over the second card life seemed to stand still gradually it was all over. 6:00am time for my early morning run. Swiftly the phone rang when I was out shutting the door. I abscond towards the phone. I picked it up and started talking. Again there was no- one on the other end of there phone. Leaping through the window 5-8 black figures encompassed me. Looking at my self on the floor some red liquid substance pouring out of me†¦

Monday, September 16, 2019

Political Economy of Journalism Essay

The ‘political economy of journalism’ is based on Marx’s critique of capitalism. With this in mind assess the following:‘†¦ professionals and amateurs can form powerful partnerships to create important journalism’ (Jones & Salter 2002: 29) The term â€Å"political economy† originally denoted the study of the conditions under which economic production was organised in the capitalist system. In Marxism, political economy studies the means of production specifically of capital, and how that manifests as economic activity (Marx, 1867). It’s simple, political economy derives many of its analytical insights from the Marxist analysis of capitalism as a â€Å"model of production†, defined in the first instance by the relationship between the â€Å"forces of production†, or the technologies and techniques through which material and symbolic goods and services are produced, and the â€Å"social relations of production†, or the relations between social agents (such as owners, editors and journalists in this case) through which the production of such goods and services are organised, and the associated modes of distribution of the economic product. This coupling of the forces and social relations of production provides the base from which other social processes, and the overall social structure of a historically specific mode of production, are organised. In the political economy of journalism, capitalism is identified as a mode of production characterised by ‘unprecedented dynamism, continuously revolutionizing its productive processes with new technologies and new forms of organising the labour process’ (Mosco 1995: 43). Karl Marx described in Capital this relationship between the economic base and the social structure in these terms: In the social production of their life men, enter into definite relations that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production that will correspond to a definite stage of development of their material productive forces. The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure, the real basis on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life (Marx 1867). In his three volume work â€Å"The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture†, the sociologist Manuel Castells has proposed that since the 1980s a new  economy has emerged that is global, networked and informational. While this new techno-economic framework remains capitalist in form, it is based upon what Castells describes as an informational rather than an industrial mode of development, which he defines in these terms: In the industrial mode of development, the main source of productivity lies in the introductions of new energy sources, and in the ability to decentralize the use of energy through the production and circulation processes. In the new, informational mode of development, the source of productivity lies in the technology of knowledge generation, information processing, and symbol communication †¦ What is specific to the informational mode of development is the action of knowledge upon knowledge itself as the main source of productivity. I call this m ode of development informational, constituted by the emergence of a new technological paradigm based on information technology (Castells 1996: 17). Castells has proposed that the rise of a network society has its origins in some central elements derivatives of the new regime of accumulation, or the nexus between production and consumption, identified by Castells as the â€Å"information technology paradigm†, which is based upon the mass diffusion of information and communication technologies. The new economy is networked and it is based upon information networks such as the Internet, as well as the networked enterprise becoming the dominant form of economic organisation, at whose heart is no longer the capitalist firm, but global markets and business projects based upon short-term strategic alliances and partnerships. For Castells, the networked enterprise is a logical corollary of electronic business, as it is based around ‘the Internet-based, interactive, networked connection between producers, consumers, and service providers’ (Castells 2001: 75). It has never been so easy to create information, and at the same time it has never been so difficult to make a living off its practice; the market is bigger than ever, but the income is the lowest in history, in relative terms. This trend is clearly visible in the USA, so many times forerunner about what is going to happen with the rest of the western countries. The scene is quite disturbing, at least in the USA, where major newspapers have seen how their diffusion has fallen from 62 million copies to 49 million since the Internet became mainstream with an easy access for most of the citizens of that country 15 years ago. Around a hundred newspapers were forced to stop  printing in paper format. During the same period, the number of readers of digital journalism has increased from nought to 75 million. The decrease in advertisements, which represents the main income in paper journalism, has reduced the profit drastically, which subsequently has brought massive lay-offs as read in s ome of the mastheads of the main European newspapers (1). El Pais, reference Spanish newspaper, fired more than 30 per cent of its staff after announcing a dismissal program. The company notified 129 of its workers that they were fired via e-mail the past 10th of November, while many of them were at their positions. The reason of the redundancy was the mismanagement of Juan Luis Cebrià ¡n, CEO of El Paà ­s, according to Maruja Torres, journalist of that newspaper, in a lecture at University of Barcelona: â€Å"Cebrià ¡n lost 5 billion euro gambling in casino capitalism, buying radios in Miami and Latin-American TVs that were absolutely worthless. He wanted to be a financial shark in Wall Street, but he actually was a little sardine who made everything wrong. He wasted the profits of our work in the adventure of the best newspaper of the Spanish democracy† (2). In the last years and due to the systemic crisis experienced by this sector, the main newspapers have faced many problems and several of them have been forced to move totally their paper editions to only On-line editions, like Pà ºblico, another Spanish newspaper, that stopped printing its paper edition a little longer than eight months ago, because of the decrease in its sales. (3) Newspapers financially survive in two ways, one is the income generated from advertisings and the other is from subscriptions. Advertising is at the centre of the debate, because, among other things, is the main source of funding and therefore for the survival of traditional newspapers. As noted in The Economist in its special report called â€Å"Bulletins from the future† (4), the bulk of the revenues had descended while at the same time the income of On-line media grew enormously. It is not only that the model of business has changed but also the model of consumption has changed. The Internet has brought an unprecedented revolution in the way we create, handle and spread information. It has demolished the old methods and has opened unlimited possibilities for the elaboration of a top-quality product with information. Brian Winston (1986, 1998), argues that, in contrast to claims that we are currently in the midst of an ‘information revolution’, the historical development of technologies such as telephone, radio, TV,  satellites, computers and Internet are marked far more by continuities rather than epochal transformations. Winston also argues that, insofar as technologies may still contain potential to challenge the dominant pattern of social relations. That it’s what we are seeing in the actual performing of relationship between citizens and journalism, where citizens are acting as journalists contributing content that is published on traditional media. This form of citizen journalism includes things like publication of photographs or video taken by amateurs who happened to be at the right place at the right time, such as the London bombings in July 2005 or London Riots in 2011. It could also include comment and opinion by a blogger that later appears on a mainstream media news site. Most of the time these people are not paid for their contribution. Citizen Journalism in this context is nearly always contextualized, edited and proofread by professional journalists (Quin & Lamble 2008). The website OhmyNews is one of the pioneers of citizen journalism, having more than 50.000 citizen reporters as of March 2007. Jean Min of OhmyNews International said every story went through an extensive screening and copyediting process before it was published. Although sometimes good quality blog content appears in mainstream media. The key word is quality. UK journalist Jemima Kiss concedes that the â€Å"cream† of bloggers will be experts in their field. â€Å"Blogs are often an extension of people’s job or their passions† (5). It is logical that traditional media should seek out their skills, but traditional gatekeepers have important skills that should not be underestimated. Min of OhmyNews concurs: â€Å"We believe bloggers can work better with professional assistance from trained journalists. On the other hand, we also believe professional journalists can expand their view and scope greatly with fresh input from citizen reporters. News media as a whole can offer more diverse and rich content to readers by tapping into the wealth of Netizens’ collective wisdom† (Quin & Lamble 2008). However, citizen journalism assume the role of journalists and that necessitates a debate about who is a journalist. Citizen Journalism sites succeed because they are easy and cheap to set up. Salaries are often not an issue because people volunteer their time. This means these bloggers or citizen reporters don’t want to be journalists, they just want to be heard and respected. (Min 2007) The first form of citizen journalism is likely to continue because traditional media  need quality content, and in many cases they are not paying for it. The second form requires energy and passion to sustain itself, and a form of revenue or business model. Arash Amel, a senior analyst for the media analysis company Screen Digest, said â€Å"The business model for user-generated sites has been ‘build it and sell it and let someone else worry about the business model’.† News Corp admitted early in 2007 that its Fox movie studio and television content would be more important than home made clips for capturing online video advertising. Screen Digest expects this market to expand for billions before 2012 (Edgecliffe-Johnson and van Duyn 2007). Bowman and Willis see collaboration as the driving force behind the â€Å"explosion of citizen media† as passionate and motivated people produce new forms of media. â€Å"The democratization of media has levelled the competitive landscape and forced dramatic changes in the news business (Bowman and Willis 2005: 7). They reject the notion that citizen journalism means the ends of the new media companies or journalism. However, in the last few years, the journalism has been through a lot of troubles because of Internet, but also thanks to the Network and how was changed the pattern of consume information, a lot of possibilities has been disclosed. One of them is â€Å"crowdsourcing†. Jeff Howe (2006) was the first person who has coined its definition, he describes crowdsourcing as a process that distribute problem-solving and production model. In the classic use of the term, problems are broadcast to an unknown group of solvers in the form of an open call for solutions. Users—also known as the crowd—submit solutions. Solutions are then owned by the entity that broadcast the problem in the first place—the crowdsourcer. The contributor of the solution is, in some cases, compensated either monetarily, with prizes, or with recognition. In other cases, the only rewards may be kudos or intellectual satisfaction. Crowdsourcing may produce solutions from amateurs or volunteers working in their spare time, or from experts or small businesses which were unknown to the initiating organization (Howe 2006). Concluding remarks: the global production of information and mass media is not built over the grounds of objectivity and the quality of a truthful information, as they would make us believe. Journalism in this case is not any different from any other capitalist industry. The production of information follows the laws of political economy, that is to say, the maximization of profits and thanks to  that fact the media owners trade freely with information like any other commodity on the market that is at the service of the capitalist system. BIBLIOGRAPHY: AXFORD, HUGGINS 2001, New Media and Politics, Sage Publications, London. BENDER, DAVENPORT, DRAGER, FREDLER 2009, Reporting for the Media, Oxford University Press, Oxford. CASTELLS, Manuel 1996a, The Rise of the Network Society, vol. 1 of The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Blackwell, Malden, Mass. – 2001. The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on Economy, Society and Culture, Oxford University Press, Oxford. COTTLE Simon 2003. News, Public Relations and Power, Sage Publications, London. FLEW, Terry 2002, New Media: an introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford. JONES, SALTER 2012, Digital Journalism, Sage Publications, London. MARX, Karl 1867, Capital, Verlag von Otto Meissner, Hamburg. MOSCO, Vincent 1995, The Political Economy of Communication, Sage, Calif. QUINN, Stephen; LAMBLE, Stephen 2008, Online Newsgathering: Research and Reporting for Journalism, Focal Press, Elsevier, Burllington. SALWEN, GARRISON, DRISCOLL 2005, Online News and the Public, Lawrence WIN STON, Brian 1986, Misunderstanding Media, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, London. BOWMAN, WILLIS 2005, The Future is Here, But Do News Media Companies See It?, Nieman Reports. Available from: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/100558/The-Future-Is-Here-But-Do-News-Media-Companies-See-It.aspx [cited 2012] EDGECLIFFE, JOHNSON & VAN DUYN 2007, Murdoch is sight of Dow Jones. 21 June 2007. Available from: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cde8a968-2016-11dc-9eb1 000b5df10621.html#axzz2CPrMqwcR [cited 2012] HOWE, Jeff 2006, The Rise of Crowdsourcing , Wired Magazine. Available from: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html MIN, Jean 2007. Interview. 29 May 2007. Available from: http://laazotea.blogspot.co.uk/2007/05/entrevista-jean-k-mings-ohmynews.html [cited 2012] CARLING, John. El momento crucial. El Paà ­s. 10 May 2009. Available from: http://elpais.com/diario/2009/05/10/domingo/1241927553_850215.html [cited 2012] TORRES, Maruja. Pregunt es que els periodistes ens haurà ­em de fer cada

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Maldives-a paradise on earth Essay

The Republic of Maldives consists of 1,190 islands (fewer than 200 are inhabited) in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Sri Lanka. The Maldives has a population of 270,000, of which about 70,000 reside in Male, the capital city. Beautiful atolls, inhabited by over 1,100 species of fish and other sea life, attract thousands of visitors each year. Tourism facilities are well developed on the resort islands. The Tsunami of December 26, 2004 caused some damage to several hotels and facilities on some of the islands. Most of the tourism infrastructure remains intact. Travelers planning to visit the Maldives should consult with travel agencies or the Maldivian Tourist Board to ensure their itineraries take this event into consideration. Read the Department of State Background Notes on Maldives for additional information. ENTRY/EXIT REQUIREMENTS: A valid passport, along with an onward/return ticket and sufficient funds, is required for entry. A no-cost visitor visa valid for thirty days is issued upon arrival. The Department of Immigration and Emigration routinely approves requests for extension of stays up to ninety days for travelers who present evidence of sufficient funds and who stay in a resort or hotel or present a letter from a local sponsor. Anyone staying over sixty days without proper authorization faces heavy fines and deportation. All visitors departing the Republic of the Maldives (except diplomats and certain exempted travelers) must pay an airport departure tax. Travelers need a yellow fever immunization if they are arriving from an infected area. Arrival by private boat: Travelers arriving by private yacht or boat are granted no-cost visas, usually valid until the expected date of departure. Vessels anchoring in atolls other than Male must have prior clearance through agents in Male. Maldivian customs, police and/or representatives of Maldivian immigration will meet all vessels, regardless of where they anchor. Vessels arriving with a dog on board will be permitted anchorage, but the dog will not be allowed off the vessel. Any firearms or ammunition on board will be held for bond until the vessel’s departure. Specific inquiries should be addressed to the Maldives High Commission in  Colombo, Sri Lanka at No. 24, Melbourne Avenue, Colombo 4, telephone (94) (11) 2580076/2586762/2500943, or the Maldives Mission to the U.N. in New York, telephone (212) 599-6194. See our Foreign Entry Requirements brochure for more information on the Maldives and other countries. Visit the website of the Maldives Permanent Mission to the United Nations at http://www.un.int/maldives/ for the most current visa information. Find more information about Entry and Exit Requirements pertaining to dual nationality and the prevention of international child abduction. Please refer to our Customs Information to learn more about customs regulations. SAFETY AND SECURITY: For the latest security information, Americans traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Internet web site at http://travel.state.gov where the current Travel Warnings and Public Announcements, including the Worldwide Caution Public Announcement, can be found. Up-to-date information on safety and security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S., or for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll-line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays). The Department of State urges American citizens to take responsibility for their own personal security while traveling overseas. For general information about appropriate measures travelers can take to protect themselves in an overseas environment, see the Department of State’s pamphlet A Safe Trip Abroad. CRIME: The Maldives has a low crime rate, but thefts of valuables left unattended on beaches or in hotels does occur. INFORMATION FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME: The loss or theft abroad of a U.S. passport  should be reported immediately to the local police and the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. If you are the victim of a crime while overseas, in addition to reporting to local police, please contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate for assistance. The Embassy/Consulate staff can, for example, assist you to find appropriate medical care, contact family members or friends and explain how funds could be transferred. Although the investigation and prosecution of the crime is solely the responsibility of local authorities, consular officers can help you to understand the local criminal justice process and to find an attorney if needed. See our information on Victims of Crime. MEDICAL FACILITIES AND HEALTH INFORMATION: The Maldives has limited medical facilities. There are two hospitals in Male: the government-owned Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGM) and the privately-owned Abduarahman Don Kaleyfan Hospital (ADK). ADK accepts some insurance plans, but IGM does not. The hospitals perform general, orthopedic and neurosurgery, but the Maldives has no trauma units, and spinal surgery is not available. Persons needing treatments not offered in the Maldives require evacuation to the nearest adequate medical facility, such as in Singapore. Two recompression chambers are available in the Maldives. One is on Bandos Island (fifteen minutes by speedboat from Male) and the other is in Kuramathi (one hour by speed boat and about twenty minutes by air taxi from Male.) Information on vaccinations and other health precautions, such as safe food and water precautions and insect bite protection, may be obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s hotline for international travelers at 1-877-FYI-TRIP (1-877-394-8747); fax 1-888-CDC-FAXX (1-888-232-3299), or via the CDC’s Internet site at http://www.cdc.gov/travel. For information about outbreaks of infectious diseases abroad consult the World Health Organization’s (WHO) website at http://www.who.int/en. Further health information for travelers is available at http://www.who.int/ith. MEDICAL INSURANCE: The Department of State strongly urges Americans to consult with their medical insurance company prior to traveling abroad to confirm whether their policy applies overseas and whether it will cover emergency expenses such as a medical evacuation. Please see our information on medical insurance overseas. TRAFFIC SAFETY AND ROAD CONDITIONS: While in a foreign country, U.S. citizens may encounter road conditions that differ significantly from those in the United States. The information below concerning the Maldives is provided for general reference only, and may not be totally accurate in a particular location or circumstance. Only a few of the islands are big enough to support automobiles. Most transportation in the Maldives is by boat or seaplane (air taxi). The Maldives has good safety standards for land, sea, and air travel. Roads in Male and on the airport island are brick and generally well maintained. Dirt roads on resort islands are well kept by the resorts. Transportation on the small island on which the capital, Male, is situated is either by foot or by readily-available taxis. Transportation between the airport and Male, as well as to nearby resort islands, is by motorized water taxi and speedboat. Several local companies provide seaplane and helicopter service to outlying islands. Air taxis stop flying one hour before sunset, and several resorts do not transport passengers by boat between the airport and the resort island later than one hour before sunset. Visitors to distant resorts arriving in the country at night can expect to stay overnight at a hotel in Male or at the airport hotel and should confirm transfer arrangements in advance. SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES: Religious Laws: Public observance of any religion other than Islam is prohibited. Religious gatherings such as Bible study groups are prohibited; however, a family unit may practice its religion, including Bible readings, within its residence. It is against the law to invite or encourage Maldivian  citizens to attend these gatherings. Offenders may face jail sentences, expulsion and/or fines. In the past, several non-Maldivian families resident in the Maldives, including some Americans, were expelled for allegedly engaging in religious proselytizing. Although Maldivian law prohibits importing â€Å"idols for religious worship,† tourists traveling to the resort islands are generally allowed to bring in items and texts used for personal religious observances. Currency: Credit cards are increasingly accepted outside large hotels and resorts; cash payment in dollars is accepted at most retail shops and restaurants and by taxi drivers.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Liberal Education as a Livingstone

During a time when unemployment is at its lowest since World War II, one would think that finding a job would be easy. However, at this point in time, applicants for jobs are more qualified than ever. The competition for well-paid jobs is stiff, and in order to get ahead people need not only skill in one certain area, but a general intelligence of many subjects as well. A liberal education provides the general knowledge that gives job applicants an extra edge when applying for a job. With a base of knowledge in the liberal arts and a specialization in a certain area, people prove to be beneficial to employers. Throughout this paper, I will use the term â€Å"liberal education† not only in describing subjects like English, history, philosophy etc. , but as Livingstone describes a liberal education: an education which â€Å"aims at producing as perfect and complete a human being as may be. † In using the term â€Å"liberal education† I expect that all graduates of a liberal arts college have an expertise in rhetoric, as the art of speaking and writing well is a key focus in the curriculum. I will also use the â€Å"specialized education† in reference to Livingstone†s definition: an education â€Å"which aims at earning a living or making money†. Undergraduates pursuing a liberal undergraduate education have an advantage over people with a specialized undergraduate education because liberal education provides a greater versatility in terms of a broader base of knowledge so that finding a job and excelling in different areas is easier. Training in art of rhetoric, which today is defined as the art of speaking and writing effectively, is a valuable asset for job hunters. Specialized undergraduate curriculums focus less on rhetoric than liberal arts curriculums. A person with training in rhetoric would be hired over another applicant due to their expertise in communicating ideas effectively through speech and writing. Companies aim to employ intelligent people who can express themselves wisely and eloquently because in nearly every profession, writing well and persuading others to one†s opinion is essential: scientists have to apply for grants in order to fund their research and experiments; businessmen must present proposals and of course, columnists and authors who have not mastered the skill of rhetoric are less likely to find a job and be successful in terms of status and salary. Ability to express oneself clearly and effectively designates to what level one may raise in the corporate ladder, for people with refined writing skills benefit companies to a large extent, while people with less skill in writing have less influence, and therefore less power. People with a liberal education are skilled in multiple areas and therefore can be of more benefit to employers. Rather than a specialized study in one area, a liberal education provides students with a broad range of knowledge that attracts employers. As Virtruvius says, liberal education teaches the student the connection between different disciplines. Knowing and realizing the relationship between subjects, an employee can perform a greater number of tasks and learn new ones more rapidly thus being more valuable to a company. Should a man lose his job due to it becoming extinct or other reasons, a liberal education would provide a better cushion to fall back on because of the diversity of subjects studied. For example, if a court stenographer loses his job due to a new audio technology that records and word-processes court proceedings, he would not have to, in a sense, start over for lack of knowledge in other areas. Utilizing his knowledge in rhetoric, philosophy, history, and other humanities, he could find another job without going back to school. On the other hand, the opposition would report that a liberal education would not benefit many people because a curriculum based on the humanities repels many students. Rather than take courses that disinterest them, students should specialize in subjects they enjoy. One should not waste money on an education that does not focus on one†s interests; an education that does not stimulate the student is a failed education. In order to make the most out of undergraduate years, the students should study what interests them. In rebuttal, a liberal education does not suit every personality or preference. However, in the job market, having a liberal undergraduate education and a specialized graduate education gives people an advantage, for not only are they trained specially in their specific area, but they also have a general knowledge of the liberal arts. Students interested in areas such as technology and sciences should take classes that interest them. However, in addition to the sciences courses, rhetoric classes would prove beneficial even in a scientific line of study. Every occupation entails writing in some way, and sharpening one†s writing skills only reaps more benefits when searching for a job. Many people interested in the sciences and technologies specialize during their undergraduate years, and therefore miss out on training in rhetoric. Specialists who take classes to improve writing are better-prepared and more likely for find a job. Another argument of the opposition: people who start specializing during undergraduate years are better prepared for graduate school. They master and excel in one specific area of study. Whereas, it would take someone with a general undergraduate education a longer time to master a specific area of study because of the attention spent on a broad education during undergraduate years. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on a general education, students could use the four years to specialize in the field that they enjoy. A liberal education may prove beneficial for students who are unsure about their major, but focused students should not waste their time on general education. Students who know what they want to focus on should specialize their education in order to expedite their college time and either start a masters degree or start their careers. It may take longer for a generally trained undergraduate to specialize in a certain area, but then again, if they are trained in understanding the connection between different areas of study, they may be able to pick up different subjects more quickly. There are really two issues here to refute. First, when studying, why is everything such a rush? People are in a hurry to enter the job force rather than to take their time during their schooling. I suppose the answer to the question is money. While people are in school they pay thousands of dollars and receive very little back in comparison. Once they start working they can begin the payback period. Sadly, those who enter the workforce first do win in the sense that they can start paying back their debt, while the people still in school keep accumulating debt. Second, even if people with a liberal arts education enter the workforce at the same time, they are not at a disadvantage in terms of knowledge capability as the previous argument concludes. In fact, liberal arts undergraduates may be at a slight advantage in terms of useful knowledge. For example, two applicants for a job have both had the same graduate education but one (person 1) had been trained in the liberal arts during undergraduate years, and the other (person 2) had specialized earlier. Assuming the two candidates preformed equally in gradate school, which may not be a fair assumption due to person 2†³s past knowledge and previous study, however, for argument†s sake, assume both were successful in graduate school. An employer would choose person 1 because of the liberal arts background on top of the specialized graduate schooling. An employer would know that people with a liberal arts background are not only intelligent in their specific line of study, but also understand the connection between disciplines, and would choose the person with the broad base of education. In discussing liberal arts training, one assumes that every student who graduates has a well-developed knowledge of all the subjects a liberal education offers. However, it is not fair to assume that every student attending a liberal arts undergraduate school explores each subject extensively and excels in every class. Many students take advantage of the time they spend in undergraduate school by partying on weeknights and coming to class so tired that they cannot concentrate on the lesson, or even worse, they skip class all together. This careless behavior towards schooling hurts not only the students† understanding of the material, but their grades as well. It is time that all upperclassmen graduate with honors rather than just slide by. The effect on the community and world would be astounding. Thousands of great minds graduate from college every year and become success stories like Bill Gates. Imagine every college student intellectually on par with the smartest graduate. Our world would be a different place. That is the place to which we should strive, and we have reached out goal when everyone achieves individual excellence.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Critically evaluate the extent to which workplace bullying is Essay

Critically evaluate the extent to which workplace bullying is facilitated by Organizational rather than individual factors - Essay Example In the article entitled Organizational, Work Group Related and Personal Causes of Mobbing/Bullying at Work, Zapf, D (1999) stated BULLYING is defined as the severe form of social work stress maker. Bullying last very long and often times escalates conflict with frequent harrassing actions that are aimed at one specific person. According to Zapf (1999) further clarifies that the causes of the Bullying is the work place itself, the social system, the bully perpetrator and the victim itself. The unwiling victim employee needs work to feed his or her family. The perpetrator supervisor is given the power to hire or fire the victim subordinate. As a consequence the supervisor is tempted to ask favors which are sometimes immoral or illegal. The supervisor could have been given the same cold bully and victim treatment when the supervisor was just a new subordinate in the company. The supervisor may just want to play the same game but this time he is the supervisor and his subordinate is the new victim. The social system is also cause because the victim employee is forced to endure and accept his or her predicament because it is very difficult to find a job. The victim prefers to swallow his or her pride in return for money to feed his or her hungry family. A survey of two samples of bully victims and bullies have supported this thesis. It is further discussed that bullying cannot be explained well without discussing the other parts of the bullying system (work place itself, the social system, the bully perpetrator and the victim itself)There are a few supervisors who unfairly use their position to exert power to abuse or bully some of his or her subordinates. The supervisor will abusively ask favors which are against the labor law and other discrimination laws in exchange for job retention. The refusal of the employee to obey such illegal overtures may cause the removal of his or her job.Bullying in the workplace can be done many ways. One-way is for the bully to threaten the victim that he may be lost his job or be demoted if the bully supervisor or co-worker's overtures are not followed. Another bullying move is threaten the person's personal work standing such as threatening the victim's work due to the victim's age or sex. Another bully move is to isolate the individual or victim form g etting information, opportunities, outings, and others. Bully could also give impossible project deadlines, make the victim produce more work within the same time schedule and other undue pressure because the victim would not accept the love proposals of the workplace supervisor. The superior feels that the victim is helpless because of the difficulty of finding another job.Still another bully move by the supervisor is to undermine the individual or give a below standard work performance grade for a job excellently done or to give difficult project benchmarks so the victim will fail. The victim can either bow down to the overtures of the supervisor for special favors like having dinner in an expensive restaurant and the like. EFFECTS OF BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE Bullying will have a long-term psychological effect