Learning Experiences with Linear and Systemic Questioning Essay

In this paper I will have a detailed interview process laid out in order of focus. First, I am focusing my interview on the background of my partner and what motivates her to go to school and further her education. Secondly, I will ask her why she chose to specialize in her field of work and what are side hobbies or enjoyments that she does besides working towards her career goal. Lastly, I will be asking about her family and their views on education. I will be asking both linear and systemic questions to get my answers. I have looked up the meaning of linear and systemic questioning and their differences before writing out the questions I am using for Michele. I feel like this assignment has helped me to understand and recognize the difference in the questions being asked and which ones will give me a more detailed answer. Learning Experience with Linear and Systemic Questioning I am doing an interview process with Michele Renner to learn more about her as a student, professional, and person. I know that this assignment is a stepping stone to learning all I need to know to be a MFT. The interview process will teach me how to reply and question in a professional matter and how to talk with a complete stranger without there being any uneasiness. I believe that this interview essay is relevant to my education needed for MFT work. I think it is a great way to quickly get to know a part of my fellow classmate’s life and see the inside without having met her yet. Michele has a very busy life, I know this much from reading her introduction in class. She has six children and that isn’t the only thing keeping her on her toes. I admire the fact that she is continuing her education despite all that is going on in her life; it shows that her motivation is strong. Michele not only has a strong motivation for continuing her education but a very inspirational story. Question Development Michele chose education to be the main focus of our interview process with me as her interviewer. I have lined up eight linear questions and seven systemic questions all around the topic of education and how it affects her family and time with extracurricular activities. My questions are listed in Appendix A. Since Michele only chose education I was able to format my questions in a way to gain more insight on her everyday life by asking how education affects her, her kids, her spouse, and her work. All the questions are relevant to my case and were not over personal or intruding. She was a great person to talk to and I could imagine myself laughing with her over coffee or in an actual counseling set up. Linear Questions I developed my linear questions based on the information she may be willing to share. I am asking some closed questions that only require a short answer and some open questions that will follow with the systemic questions I have lined up next. The open ended questions will give Michele a chance to go into further detail with the question and her answers. Linear questions are questions that are problem explanation and definition questions, they usually begin with Who, What, Where, When, and Why? They are investigative questions that lead up to gaining some insight to the person you are talking to but they don’t give a full explanation. The limitations of linear questions are that they are narrow, short-term questions and don’t get to the heart of the problem. Short-term, linear approaches have several inherent limitations. First, they are based on a problem-solving model that is more associated with American corporate thinking than with client suffering and therapeutic healing. Typically, the model includes the following sequence: (a) identify the problem, (b) consider various interventions to solve the problem, (c) choose the best interventions, (d) apply the interventions, (e) assess progress periodically, and (f) modify the interventions as needed. This clear-cut, linear approach appeals to executives, administrators, and others in positions of authority and has proven itself effective as an approach to solving problems in corporate and other settings. It is no accident that the trend toward streamlined, linear approaches in clinical work coincided with the rise of managed care and its corporate mentality (Ackley, 1997; Miller, 1996c). Linear questions don’t help the client without the involvement of also another form of questions. Using linear questions alone are ineffective to getting the desired results from the client, which can leave the client and the counselor both feeling misunderstood and upset. Systemic Questions I developed my systemic questions based on what my linear questions were about. I wanted to make sure some of the questions were the same type of question as my linear question but worded in a circular way that would get me more detailed answers and more depth behind her answers. Systemic questions are both circular and reflexive. They are behavioral effect questions, difference questions, hypothetical future questions, and observer perspective questions. The reflexive questions are intended to indirectly influence the family and are predominantly facilitative. The circular questions are more exploratory as the counselor tries to discover the way everything is connected together. Because the distinction between lineal and circular may be regarded as complementary, and not just as either/or, these assumptions and their associations may overlap and enrich one another. Most therapists have internalized these concepts to varying degrees and probably operate with both sets of ideas, but in differing ways, with differing consistency, and at different times. Although these assumptions and presuppositions tend to exert their effects covertly and non-consciously, they still have a significant effect on the nature of the questions asked. Hence, this second dimension adds considerable depth to an understanding of differences among the questions asked. If the therapist assumes that influence only occurs indirectly, through a perturbation of preexisting circular processes in or among family members, the influencing questions are considered â€Å"reflexive questions. † (Tomm, 1988, p. 3). If the therapist has established a Batesonian cybernetic orientation toward mental process, and has developed skills in maintaining a conceptual posture of circular ypothesizing, these questions will come easily and freely. Two general types of circular questions, â€Å"difference questions† and â€Å"contextual questions,† have been associated with Bateson’s fundamental patterns of symmetry and complementarities. The Interview When I called Michele I was immediately at ease with her as a person. She was very upbeat and forthcoming with her information. After asking her how she was I jumped right into the questions. I explained to her which questions I was doing first and how many there were for each linear and systemic questionings. She had no problems going into elaborate detail about her life and why she is doing what she is doing today, she talked as fast as I could type her answers! Since I did not have a recorder I did have to ask her to repeat herself if I did not finish typing the answers that she was giving me but she was very nice about it and as soon as we concluded our interview I made sure to immediately formulate the answers into more coherent sentences while it was all fresh in my mind. Interview Themes  The themes and content that came out of this interview with Michele are few. One theme or content that was revealed to me was that her inspiration for education came from her mother who did not complete high school. The content that came out from the systemic questions would be how supportive her family is even though it is a financial strain on them. The linear questions brought out her main reasons for wanting her education and the systemic questions went into more depth of what the education means for her and her family as a whole. Theme one. The first theme would be her mention of her mother and losing her father when she was young. She brought up her mother quite a bit in our interview and I could tell that her mother was a great factor in her decision to keep going to school no matter how long it took her to succeed. She is very proud of her mother for the way she was, raising children alone with no degree and no financial backups. Michele doesn’t want her kids to ever have to worry about wanting or needing things and she wants to get her degree to be able to enjoy what she loves doing most. Theme two. The second theme is that of finances. She did bring up the fact that she has been in school for a very long time because she is only taking one class per quarter so that she can pay for it and still have time to do her work, school, and family life in a balance that is easier on her. She teaches her children that it doesn’t matter how long it takes you to get there, it is important to have dreams and goals and make them come true. The future of her children won’t be as hard on them as it was on Michele growing up. Interviewer Role Stance. As an observer for the linear questions I realized that the questions were straight to the point without asking for more detailed information from Michele and it was pretty basic. I felt that I was getting to know Michele through my linear questions but I was able to understand more through the systemic questioning. My systemic questions were open-ended questions that helped our conversation go into further detail because Michele felt that the questions opened up for her to go into more of her life story. Relationship with the interviewee. I started each set of questions by letting Michele know what type of questions I was asking. She was very forthcoming and she said that some of the questions I asked her were really good because she hadn’t thought about it in the way that I asked it. She is a very nice person, easy to talk to and get along with. We talked about how we both found Capella, the weather changes, and the state we live in. The systemic approach definitely went into further detail but I feel like I gained a lot of insight from the linear questions as well. Multicultural/diversity issues. Michele and I did not talk about cultural backgrounds as she only wanted to talk about her educational background. I feel now, that I could have incorporated some cultural questions into the topic of education. We did talk about her family and how they are very supportive of her career and educational goals and we never stepped on a touchy subject that made her hesitate to answer me. Curiosity. I am naturally a very curious person about other people and how they think and what they do and why they do it. So it was no problem for me to ask more questions on top of the ones I have listed. I knew by intuition which topics not to go into further detail with her about since I don’t know her that well and it was irrelevant to her education. One thing I wanted to know was more about her dad. I did however; ask her about her grandparents influence and more about her mother. My curiosity helped me to see in greater detail the aspects of her relationship with each member of her family. Assessment of Interviewer. I really liked the questions that I asked, and I was polite and made jokes so that we were on easy footing. I do think back on the interview and wish I had asked different questions because some of them seemed to be repetitive even though she answered them each in a different way. For example, What made you change your path to this specific one? Was a question I asked after asking why she chose being an MFT. She had answered in the previous question the answer to both questions which turned out to be one and the same. I had chosen that question because in my experience most people at one time had wanted to be something else first and then changed their mind later in life.

Demand & Supply , Examine the Argument in Favour & Against Minimum Wage Law in Uk

* BUSINESS DECISION ANALYSIS* * London* *School*of Accountancy & Management Course Instructor: Prof. Armaan Nehal. N. Panchasara (ID no: ST0005944) Masters of Business Administration Assignment: A * (Using Demand & Supply: examine the arguments in favour & against minimum wage law in UK*) * *Total words: 1,402 Demand It refers to the willingness and ability of buyers to purchase goods and services at different prices. Supply It refers to the willingness and ability of sellers to provide goods and services for sale at different prices What* *is minimum wage? A minimum wage is the lowest monthly, daily or hourly that employers may legally pay to their employees or workers. Or in other words, it can be explained as the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. What is minimum wage law in U. K? A National Minimum Wage (NMW) was introduced for the first time by the Labour government of UK on 1 April 1999, and it’s been practiced hence fore. The current minimum wage of UK* as per October 2009 Demand curve of labour: It is assumed that the higher the wage, the fewer hours an employer will demand of an employee. This is because, as the wage rate rises, it becomes more expensive for firms to hire workers and so firms hire fewer workers. The demand of labour curve is therefore shown as a line moving down and to the right. {draw:frame} Supply curve of labour: It is assumed that workers are t o ready labour for more hours if wages are high. Graphical economic representation of this relationship is plotted as the wage on the vertical axis and the quantity (hours) of labour supplied on the horizontal axis. Since increase in wages, increase the quantity supplied, the supply of labour curve is upward sloping, and is shown as a line moving up and to the right. {draw:frame} Effect of Minimum wage law on demand & supply: {draw:frame} Nearly all introductory textbooks on study of economics, it states, increasing the minimum wage decreases the employment of minimum-wage workers. More such textbook says: â€Å"If a higher minimum wage increases the wage rates of unskilled employees above the level that would be established by market forces, the quantity of employment for unskilled workers will fall. The minimum wage will price the services of the lowest productive (and therefore lowest-wage) workers out of the market. †¦ The direct results of minimum wage are clearly mixed. Some workers, mostly those whose previous wages were closest to the minimum, will enjoy higher wages. Other, particularly those with the lowest wage rates, will be unable to find work. They will be pushed into the ranks of the unemployed. If there is rise in the level of minimum wage, then there is rise in level of unemployment, because if the minimum wage is increased the demand for labour falls as it is less profitable for the firms to employ as many people. It is assumed that higher the wages, the fewer hours an employer will demand of an employee, as the wage rate rises, it becomes more expensive for firm to hire workers and so firms hire fewer workers. The demand of labour curve is therefore shown as a line moving down and to the right. While merging the demand and supply curves of labour, we can examine the effect of minimum wage. Assuming that supply and demand curves for labour will not change as a result of raising the minimum wage. If no minimum wage is in the place, workers and employers will continue to adjust the quantity of labour supplied according to price until the quantity labour demanded is equal to the quantity of labour supplied, i. e. reaching Equilibrium price, where demand and supply curves intersect. As shown in above graph. Arguments in Favour of Minimum wage law: Motivates and encourages employee to work more efficiently. By increasing incomes for the lowest-paid workers, the cost of government social welfare decreases. Stimulates consumption of low-income people by putting more money in their hands that spend their entire pay checks. Does not have a substantial effect on unemployment compared to most other economic factors and so it does not put any extra pressure on welfare systems. According to Historical evidence it is noticed at current levels, that it neither hurts businesses nor reduces job creation. A study of U. K. tates showed that businesses' average and annual payrolls grow faster and employment grew at a faster rate in UK with a minimum wage imposed, the study showed a correlation, but did not prove causation to claim. Increases the work ethic for those who earn very little, as employers demand more return from the higher cost of hiring these workers. Arguments in Against the Minimum wage law: Discourages further education among the poor by encourage people to enter the job market. The National Minimum Wage had a negative impact on the staffing levels within our retail stores. The stores are operating for fewer hours as compared to they were several years ago in order to absorb the impact of the strong increases. Businesses spend fewer amounts on training their employees. Reduces profit margins of business owners as employing minimum wage workers, thus it encouraged to move to businesses that do not employ low-skill workers. Businesses try to compensate their effects by raising the prices of the goods being sold thus it caused inflation and increasing the costs of goods and services produced. Does not improve the situation of those who suffer from poverty, it benefited some at the expense of the poorest and least productive. It gave a limitation on the freedom of both employers and employees, and can result in the exclusion of certain groups from the labour force. As a labour market is parallel of political-economic protectionism, it excludes low cost competitors from labour markets, hampers firms in reducing wage costs during trade downturns, and generates various industrial-economic inefficiencies as well as unemployment, poverty, and price rises, and generally impairment of functions. Reduction in quantity demanded of workers, either through reduces in the number of hours worked by individuals, or through reduces in the number of jobs. A NMW set above the free-market wage for certain groups raises the marginal cost of employing people – so firms will cut jobs, reduce hours of work for employees and unemployment will rise. Other workers will demand higher wages to maintain pay differentials (this is known as â€Å"pay leap-forging†). An increase in the total wage bill may cause cost-push inflation and damage the price competitiveness of UK producers in international markets. Young and low-skilled workers will lose out – firms will tend to employ older workers whose experience is greater. There will be a substitution effect of works against younger participants in the labour market. A minimum wage will not ease poverty because many poor households do not have a income earner. Poverty is concentrated in those groups where no one is in paid employment. A minimum wage has little direct effect on these households – better to introduce a minimum income guarantee. A NMW does not take into account regional differences in cost of living and will have a effect of distortion on the way the UK labour market works. Effects of minimum wage law: Effects on the distribution of wages and earnings among low-paid and higher-paid workers. Effects on the distribution of incomes among high-income and low-income families. Effects on the skills of workers through job trainings and the deferring work to acquire education. Effects on profits and prices. Employment effects, the most frequently studied aspect Conclusion Since the introduction of a national minimum wage in the UK in 1999, its effects on employment were subject to extensive research and observation by the Low Pay Commission. The Low Pay Commission found that, rather than make employees redundant, employers have reduced their rate of hiring, reduced staff hours, increased prices, and have found ways to cause current workers to be more productive (especially service companies). Neither trade unions nor employer organizations contest the minimum wage, although the latter had especially done so heavily until 1999. References: Abowd, John M. , Francis Kramarz, David N. Margolis and Thomas Philippon (2000), â€Å"A Tail of Two Countries: Minimum Wages and Employment in France and the United States†, mimeo, CREST, Paris, September. Angriest, Joshua and Alan Krueger (1999), â€Å"Empirical Strategies in Labour Economics†, in O. Ashenfelter and D. Card (eds. ), Handbook of Labour Economics,

Chinese Cinderella Essay

Last term our class studied Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah. It is Adeline’s story, about her tough and horrible childhood as a neglected and unloved daughter of a rich and arrogant man, and a cruel, and abusive Stepmother. Right from the moment her mother died, Adeline was labelled as ‘bad luck’. Her family was very superstitious and believed she caused her mothers death so was therefore despised, no one wanted her around at all. Unfortunately for Adeline she didn’t really have any parents, her father loathed her as she had supposedly killed his beloved wife, and now she no longer had a mother so she was taken care of by her Aunt Baba who lived with the family at the time. Aunt Baba was the only real family Adeline had when she was young, but was grateful that she had an Aunt has wonderful as hers. A great moment I found in this book that showed the connection between Aunt Baba and Adeline and the close relationship that they have, was the time when Adeline came home from kindergarten one afternoon with a medal and a certificate, her Aunt was so proud of her and Adeline just seemed so excited and happy because for once she felt like someone cared for her. Her aunt opened her safe keep box that she kept secretly away and put the certificate away with the rest of her treasures. I think its wonderful how her Aunt cares for her niece like that when she doesn’t even have to, and it proves how much of a kind-hearted person Aunt Baba really is. Through out reading this book, I’ve noticed how Adeline changes, in the beginning she is a curious, smart and loving little girl, but towards the end of the story she gets a little more depressed and lonely. She is annoyed at the way her parents treat her but she puts up with it because she knows the consequences if she was to speak out. Adeline enjoyed being at school more than she enjoyed being at home, she felt like she belonged there and she loved it more than anything else. She was treated fairly and equally, everyone accepted her the way they accepted everyone else, she didn’t feel like an outcast or alone anymore. She was a very lively yet shy little girl and was loved by everyone she met except for her family of course. But then Adeline was then moved to live in Shanghai after her Nai-Nai passed away. When they arrived in Shanghai, Adeline was beginning to feel displaced again because she was forced to live on a different floor of the house than everyone else because Niang was now in charge again. This was when her life started to get worse and worse. Niang was handling Adeline’s life far more dreadful than anyone else’s. She made sure that Adeline and her siblings were punished terribly if they dare did something wrong. Adeline was getting quite upset about the way her parents were behaving towards her, but she handled it in her own way, just staying calm and quiet but raging inside, accepting that this was the way it was going to be. Adeline became happier when she joined sacred heart (sheng Xin) school in first grade. She made friends with a sporty and athletic girl named Wu chun mei and also became elected class president. Unlucky for Adeline, Niang didn’t like this at all because Adeline had actually achieved something on her own and Niang was realising how loved and appreciated she really was. Adeline was not permitted to have friends over or go to friends houses under her stepmothers instructions. She was only allowed to eat whatever was put in front of her at dinner times and was not allowed snacks in-between meals. She could not enter certain parts of the house without permission and she was forbidden to talk to fourth brother and little sister. An easier way of putting that, is that Niang did not approve of Adeline having fun of any kind. But this made Adeline stronger and more independent, as she learnt to do things on her own that other children normally would do with their parents. I don’t think she liked being left out and treated differently when she’s at home but she learned to cope with it and in a way she sort of had her own little world around her where she would dream of things that she would never be able to do in real life that way she could still keep herself hopeful and entertained. She has a very vivid imagination and is smart and brave. She was always top of the class and received a ton of awards for best academic student. Her classmates looked up to her but she never seemed to understand why. She thought of herself as a poor, dirty unloved child because that was the influence she was getting from her family, but her friends and her Aunt and grandfather believed that she would go places one day. When she was younger, her goal was to get her Parents and her family to love her and appreciate her but after she had won so many awards and certificates then she realised what potential she had and started to focus on her studies a bit more. Her grandfather enlightened her on the all of the amazing possibilities and opportunities in the world and how she could also have them someday if she worked hard enough. She changed a lot when Ye-Ye passed away, she grew more and more intelligent and hardworking as she was determined to make her grandfather proud. She had a lot of encouragement and a lot of discouragement through the years but she chose to listen to the people that were cheering her on, like her grandfather and her Aunt Baba and Wu chun-mei, because she, just like anyone else, would obviously decide to follow the rewarding and successful path in life. Adeline decides that since her childhood has been a mess and a disaster she doesn’t want it to carry on this way so she is doing good things in her life and makes a change. She wins the play writing competition and dedicates her play to Ye-Ye and gets the opportunity of a lifetime to attend school in England with her brother. I could only Imagine how excited and overwhelmed she must’ve been when she heard that her father was so proud of her. She reached both of her goals in life which made her very pleased with herself and her outstanding achievements. One thing I learnt from Adeline Yen Mah is that no matter how hard it is, and no matter how tough life might seem, as long as you try your best it all pays off in the end. Chapter 15: Boarding School in Tianjin Without explaining where she was going, Niang and her father drove her to St. Joseph’s School, where she previously attended kindergarten. She was there again, but this time as a boarder. Sadly, when her father had to fill out papers for the flight to Tianjin, he couldn’t remember her name or her birth date. Neither her father or Niang said good-bye. The next morning she woke up in the bright room and met Nancy Chen, who was in the bed next to her. Nancy’s mother asked what was wrong with Adeline’s parents leaving a child alone in a dangerous situation—the Communists would soon be invading. That explained to Adeline why the large school only had a couple of hundred students. After a few months, Adeline remained the only student at St Josephs. All the students had fled with their families to escape the communists. Adeline hoped that she would wake up one morning and her parents were there to collect her to take her home, but then she didn’t know if that would be worse. The way her family just left her there all by herself is appaulling and it’s a very memorable moment in the book for me because I think that if I was in Adeline’s situation, I would be extremely terrified. No one there to play with or talk to, that would drive me crazy. The anxiety of worrying when the communists were going to come along and take you away. Sitting there alone everyday curious to know if anyone actually cared about you anymore, if you were even remembered? When her father forgot her name, that was probably the worst thing a parent could’ve done, whilst on his way to dropping her off at boarding school forever. I felt terrible for Adeline, she has never had her parents there to support her and her father doesn’t even know her name or birthday. A life without loving Parents is possibly the worse life you could have. You need your mum to read you bed time stories and tuck you into bed at night and you need your dad to teach you how to ride a bike and be proud of you. She still has parents but if they are willing to leave you at a boarding school all by yourself when there are soldiers coming, then I don’t think they make good parents at all. The worst part about this chapter is when she is playing with a basketball in the playground by herself, and a teacher runs into the playground and calls to Adeline â€Å" Adeline your Aunt is here to take you back to Hong Kong with her on her ship†. She was standing there with her heart racing 1000 beats per second thinking is it true? Could she really be here? The one person Adeline cares about, has come to rescue her, this is like a dream come true for her. She sprints across the playground as fast her tiny feet could carry her, and stops to find a stranger. She would‘ve been so confused, isn’t this meant to be my Aunt? She is thinking. The disappointment would’ve been unbearable. Gone from being so excited to the biggest let down ever in a second. Even I was getting excited for her, I thought wow this could be her chance to escape and start fresh, with her lovely Aunt the one that has always been her best friend. I instantly imagined her and her Aunt Baba on a beautiful ship sailing across the sea far away from everyone else. But then everything changed, when I read on to see that it was Niangs Sister and then I got a whole different picture in my head, of poor Adeline living the rest of her life away in a dark and dingy dungeon taking orders from the dreadful Niang again. It started to feel like she actually was Cinderella. I thought that was one of the most dreadful parts of this whole story. It felt like it was the part where Adeline was forgotten and abandoned. If that was to ever happen to me one day, I would be grateful that I read Chinese Cinderella because I would do exactly what Adeline did, hope, pray and try my hardest to reach success.

George Whitefield Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

George Whitefield - Term Paper Example Whitefield was educated at home by his mother and later in life at St. Mary de Crypt School and Pembroke College, Oxford2. Whitefield was s diligent student but he was a loner. He spent a lot of time meditating; in fact, he was once reported to have meditated for six weeks without any food except bread or tea. This experience weakened him so much that he had to see a doctor 2. Whitefield was ordained as a minister at the tender age of 21. The bishop who ordained him had earlier said he would refuse to ordain anyone that young but Whitefield showed some remarkable characteristics that were ideal for preaching, he was exceptionally hard-working, he was ready to learn, he had a vivid imagination, he attracted children and perhaps most importantly of all, he exuded an exuberance that made people listen to him. Whitefield mainly preached against sin and for Jesus Christ1. It was Whitefield’s association with brothers Charles and John Weasley that led him to Georgia, America as a missionary. Whitefield spent the year after being ordained preaching in the UK and raising funds to travel to Georgia2. The Weasley brothers had both been preaching in America to no avail and they had failed to convert the masses of people1,2. However, when Whitefield arrived in America, he found he had a voice almost immediately. People listened to him and responded almost immediately. His charisma probably contributed to this greatly. A year after his arrival, Whitefield decided to return to the UK to collect funds for an orphanage that was being planned by the colony’s founder. The orphanage and schools, when they were built finally helped an abundance of people. Whitefield never profited from this endeavour financially1. After his first trip to America, Whitefield made six more trips. Each journey across the Atlantic was danger but Whitefield had a large audience which he wanted to preach to in America1,2. In 1940, in Philadelphia, he preached to fifteen thousand people,

Middle Eastern Humanities Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Middle Eastern Humanities - Assignment Example Kamin Mohammadi: The novelist, journalist and news anchor was born in 1970 in Iran but moved to the UK at a tender age and specializes in the culture of Iran in her works. Mohammadi’s debut piece, The Cypress Tree: A Love Letter to Iran, depicts the author’s physical as well as emotional trip back to her motherland when she turned 27 years old. She campaigns for Iranian culture and took part in writing The Lonely Planet Guide to Iran besides giving lectures on contemporary Iran globally. The Cypress Tree: A Love Letter to Iran: This book is basically Kamin Mohammadi’s memoir, which talks on war-torn Iran which led to her family’s escape to the UK. The book depicts major themes like war and violence, Love, courage and culture. Rashid Rida: He utilized the print to disseminate information aimed at saving Damascus from the hands of absolutist Hamidian administration. Rashid was â€Å"inclined to labor in the cause of religious and social reforms† (Kedourie 126). Rashid and his friend Abduh used the print to further their Islamic law reform ideas to multitudes of students and people outside schools (Browers and Kurzman 35). Both Abu Nuwas and Adonis presented traditional Arabic poetry from within. They both employ the elements of sensibility, event, experience and poetic language in their works (Ouyang 15).

Serpico Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Serpico - Essay Example An understanding of Serpico’s story helps to illuminate the importance of integrity, autonomy and responsibility in every individual involved with criminal justice. The story of Frank Serpico has proved the impetus for a variety of police reforms and attempts at reform as the public found out just how extensive the system of ‘crooked cops’ went following Serpico’s revelations to the New York Times when he found his superiors unresponsive and incapable of dealing with what he encountered. Rather than being a case of a problem that had been so long unknown that it was beyond control, much like a houseful of termites within the framework, what Serpico uncovered in the 1960s and early 1970s was a case of so many individuals embroiled in the action that it was nearly impossible to find superiors capable of following through on investigations without implicating themselves. Reading through the slightly fictionalized biography of Frank Serpico reveals not only the extraordinary conditions in which he finds himself, but the several places in his life in which he was forced to make a difficult ethical decision, often at his own perso nal cost and suggests places in which an equally ethical criminal justice administrator might have been of significant assistance. The story opens up as Serpico is being rushed to the hospital after having been shot in the face in what is still debated as possibly an arranged ‘hit’ between the drug dealers and the police officers with whom he was working. Once it is properly established that this did not prove to be a fatal shot, although it came within fractions of a centimeter of being so, the novel turns to recount the past events of Serpico’s life that had brought him to the hospital that night and why suspicions of conspiracy were circulating. Touching only very briefly upon his childhood

Reaction paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 24

Reaction paper - Essay Example There were other neighboring plantations in the area like New Design and also Wye Town. The home plantation was the administrative base of all the twenty farms in the area. The slaves who proved unmanageable were also punished at the home plantation. The punishment forms include; whipping, sloop boarding, and being sold. These punishments were aimed at minimizing or eliminating resistance from other slaves. At the home plantation, all the slaves received their monthly food allowance for sustenance (Douglas 16). Mr. Litch was another player who, despite being uneducated was very wealthy. His plantation had approximately 600 slaves. He employed competent overseers to manage his plantation, and he adequately remunerated them. There was a jail and also a whipping post within his plantation. These punishment approaches, were aimed at the slaves who did not adhere to set down rules. Mr. Litch even engaged in murder, without being questioned due to his vast amounts of wealth. The reaction illustrates very inhumane punishment that the slaves received in the plantation of Mr. Litch. He required strict compliance to eight commandments, within his plantation. However, if a neighbor accused a slave against theft, the master engaged in browbeating and also assurances that he provides adequately for his slaves and hence they do not have reasons of stealing. The accuser was, however, whipped as a form of punishment, after the neighbor has left. The slaves who engaged in stealing pieces of meat or corn we re punished through being chained, imprisoned and finally subjected to hunger (Jacobs 57). The north and the south regions of America are different due to the direct issue of slavery. Thus the reaction paper illustrates the 1857 south crisis. The south policy is relatively ineffective, in the moral, social and political areas. The north, through its effective approaches and policy, are effective in almost all issues and opinions. It is

Critical Thinking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critical Thinking - Assignment Example Any one factor missing in the thought process and data collection will not only wane the confidence, it will also render the reason unfruitful. 3. Intellectual Perseverance: A critical thinker’s power of perseverance is better than most thinkers as they are more liable to attack by critics. Their thoughts are never at rest and they are always open to new information and facts. Critics and new knowledge never bogs them down. But critical as they are, they know where to draw the line between new knowledge and ill-founded knowledge. 2. Relevance: Any data collected should be relevant to the question or problem. Data that is not relevant is a waste of time for a critical mind. The applicability of data to question and its strength is the domain of this standard. 3. Depth: To seek knowledge below the visible. The critical mind while collecting data inadvertently follows this standard, to understand the complexities of a subject. The requirement of this standard is to get as much relevant information as one can to get a firm understanding of the subject at hand. 4. Significance: To be significant for a problem, the data gathered for a problem should be focused. All data collected can be relevant and yet not significant to a problem. For a critical thinker it is imperative to realize the significance of the

Public policy on public houses; a look in to influencing factors on Essay

Public policy on public houses; a look in to influencing factors on attitudes of binge drinking 18-24 yr olds - Essay Example involve consuming about half the weekly dose of alcohol in a single drinking session and those who indulge in binge drinking perceive consuming large amounts of alcohol as being beneficial for them. The reasons for binge drinking are complex, but are associated with stress, uncertainty, peer pressures and low self - esteem experienced by young adults as they gradually assume adult responsibilities. Those young adults who indulge in binge drinking episodes may be new to drinking in groups, but they do have an ability to say no and hence are not addicted to alcohol. However, these young adults want to form bonds and get rid of stress, thinking that alcohol can help them with a quick fix, thanks to the unethical marketing campaigns of the 1980s in which United Kingdom and European brewers tried to retain their sagging markets by focusing on the younger generation. This dissertation attempts to identify the influencing factors associated with attitudes of binge drinking which can have an impact on marketing for educating the public and designing interventions for positively influencing young adults. Binge drinking has attracted much attention in recent years, not only in the United Kingdom, but also in many other countries that have a predominantly Anglo – Saxon culture (MCM Research, 2004, Pp. 2 – 5). Although several definitions of binge drinking have been presented in literature (Oei, 2004, Pp. 160), (MCM Research, 2004, Pp. 2 – 5) and (Alcohol Concern, 2003, Pp. 1), the phenomenon usually refers to the consuming of half the recommended weekly dose of alcohol in a single drinking session and this translates to consuming about five servings of alcoholic beverages in rapid succession (Norman, 1998, Pp. 168). The phenomenon of binge drinking usually translates into scenes involving young people of both sexes struggling along on public streets, young men and women being noisily sick on the streets at late hours, fights and brawls of the most barbarous character

Personal and Professional Health Care Communication Essay

Personal and Professional Health Care Communication - Essay Example Health care groups are deemed to be amongst the most effective preventive building block in any society. In health care institutions one of the most common things that we come across are community based projects that deal with many issues including substance abuse, reproduction health etc. In order to extract the maximum amount of benefit from these settings, effective health care communication need to be encouraged amongst the doctors, patients who are being treated, as well as various pharmaceutical companies which are producing drugs. Health communication is also very much relevant as it is through proper communication that people get to know of various health issues. It is a result of communication between health care professionals and the patients that both get to hands on to new information (Northouse & Northouse, 1998). The patient gets to know from the doctor about various medical conditions and how to deal with them. Whereas during such a process the doctors themselves often come across new medical cases and they can then use such cases to enhance their own knowledge and carry out further research. There is a deep link between proper and timely health care communication and health care outcomes / results. When there is no proper communication between the health care professionals and patients, no proper treatment can be carried out at all. To take a very simple case if the patient is himself unable to explain to the doctor correctly what problems he's facing, then the doctor would so not be able to prescribe him the correct medicine or be able to carry out the correct treatment and, therefore, the patient would have no visible health benefits. Patients need to be taught to open up the doctor completely and tell them the problems they're facing, without hesitating or thinking what the health care professionals might feel of them. It is only then that correct treatment could be carried out. Consequently, even doctors need to give proper time to patients and explain them how to deal with problem until and unless the patient's concept. Often times doctors need to put in an extra effort while explaining the problems to patients who are illiterate and lack medical knowledge, to those patients who have a problem understanding the doctor's language or they themselves are of another language. It is in such cases that miscommunication results the most. When multiple people are present in an interaction, the chances for misunderstanding and disagreements increase by a significant margin. Problems also occur when proper health care communication does not take place between the two parties. For instance, the doctor may advise a patient to stay in the hospital, whereas the patient might disregard the doctors advice and decide to go home. Such a scenario can lead to depression for the patient. All this could have been avoided if the patient had communicated properly with the doctor and asked him his rationale for asking him to stay back (Kavana gh and Kennedy, 1992). Therapeutic communication refers to the use of communication to bring out a beneficial result for the client / patient. The main aim of therapeutic communication is to bring about a betterment is the patient's ability to lead a proper and problem life. Further on, therapeutic communication develops connectivity between the client and a health care professional, and this is something that can never be replaced by technology as it lack emotions. Therapeutic

Traditional Institution Essay Example for Free

Traditional Institution Essay Education has evolved tremendously over the past centuries. With its history deeply rooted in the need for one to gain as much knowledge and insight into everything that surrounds and interests him, we can say that there is no person on this planet who does not want to have a solid educational foundation. Unfortunately, life is not easy and survival is a priority for most people. This is why when the choice boils down to work or completing an education, work usually wins out. But, with the advent of the internet and along with it, the emergence of high quality distance education, one no longer has to make the difficult choice between work and studies. Now, everybody has the option to do both. Such an opportunity did not exist during the era when attending traditional educational institutions was the only acceptable method of earning a college degree. To begin with, distance education proves to be the less stressful alternative to attending a regular university. Due to the fact that distance learning institutions are available online, a student can access his classes at his most convenient time during the week. I can personally attest to the way my student needs have been very well served by distance education. For instance, it has removed the hassles that I experienced while attending a traditional institution. I no longer have to leave work as early as possible, drive through traffic, find a parking spot, and then run to class before the final bell rings. Now, all I have to do is drive home after my designated work hours, have a good meal, rest and relax, before finally turning on my computer and logging into my open schedule classes. Indeed, distance education has changed the way I view the completion of a college education. These days, when I hear or meet someone who has not managed to complete his degree because of â€Å"work† or â€Å"family† related reasons, I immediately point out to the person that if he really wants to, there is no reason for him to not complete his degree. I believe that is precisely because of those flimsy excuses that distance education was invented and made to be so convenient for anybody to attend. Distance education has also allowed me to access a finite amount of information regarding my lessons because of the readily available internet access during class hours. I find that because of the vast array of knowledge and information available to me with just a few taps of my fingertips, I am able to ask proper and pertinent questions of my lecturer. I also have the benefit of being able to present my own findings during class discussions that help provide for a wider range of discussion between the online student and the lecturer. In a traditional institution, such would not be possible because the discussion will be limited to the textbooks provided for use in the class. In contrast to a traditional institution, distance education allows me to expand my horizons beyond the classroom setting. I have had people trying to convince me that distance education learning is not a conducive way to study because a distance education student is on his own during class. They believe it removes the social interactivity that is always present when attending regular classes at a regular school. As this is the very activity that makes school fun for most people, I am often asked if I do not miss having classmates to talk to and hang out with before and after class. Do I not look for people to compare notes and exam results with? Indeed, these are experiences that make traditional education unique. But these days, people have to mix education and work more than half the time. It is a very delicate balance that has to be achieved by simply concentrating on the most important aspect of education, that is learning. From personal experience, I find that I learn more from the distance education process because I am free from the typical classroom distractions such as classmates who insist on chatting while the class is ongoing, the rude interruptions caused by the entrance of a classmate who is late for class, or the noise from the hallway that seeps in when the door to the classroom is accidentally left open. I am able to concentrate on my task of learning more through distance education because the only worry I have is if there is a blackout in my area and my laptop battery does not hold out until the online class ends. As for interaction between the teacher and the student, I find that I do not need to be in the physical presence of my classmates or teacher in order to learn. Distance classes work the same way as regular classes and, in the event that the professor requires an oral interaction with the students, we simply turn on our web cams and plug in the microphone and viola! We have a simile of physical classroom interaction. Due to the aforementioned reasons, I am of the firm belief that distance education makes more practical sense than that of attending a traditional educational institution. Technology of the 21st century has eliminated the need for people like me, who do not have much time to spend during the day attending classes, to attend a regular school. I can get the very same, if not even more advanced education through distance education. I have come to the realization that distance education is the best, stress free way of completing a college degree. Now, I am able to learn at my own pace and without spending too much on the incidental fees such as transportation and student fees that makes attending a traditional educational institution so expensive. I used to think that there was no way I would be able to complete my college education because I have a family to maintain and a job to keep, distance education offered me an opportunity to achieve my dream of completing my education without sacrificing my family or my job. At the end of everything, I see no reason to choose a traditional educational institution just because it allows for interaction between teachers and students. If that is the only reason to choose a traditional educational institution over distance education, I say that tradition has a lot of catching up to do with regards to the educational needs of the modern man. Prewriting Main Points: 1. Distance education is less stressful for the student because of the open schedule 2. Distance education allows undergraduates and high school graduates to complete a college education without having to quit their regular jobs. 3. Allows for more freedom in the learning process. 4. It gets boring and lonely to attend distance education classes.

Counseling Ethics Essay Example for Free

Counseling Ethics Essay Ethics are based on philosophical principles and these guidelines assist a practitioner in making the best possible decisions for the welfare of the clients and the practitioner himself. Ethics are normative or critical in nature and concern human conduct and moral decision. Morality describes decision making and judgement by an individual concerning an incident or human behaviour. This is greatly influenced by the values he or she has acquired or formed as a result of external influence or indoctrination. Value is an enduring belief that a specific that a specific end-state of conduct is desirable (McLeod, 1998). Terminal and instrumental values are two types of values where the former refer to the desired end-state of existence, for example wisdom and the later refer to the mode of conduct that leads to it, for example broad-mindedness .Values then influence and determine the decisions we choose to make in our daily lives. In providing an effective, therapeutic therapy, a practitioner helping a client encountering dilemma in decision- making may adopt the eight – step model approach to think through the ethical problems (Corey, Corey Callanan, 2007). The steps of the model are described as follows: Step 1- Identify the problem or dilemma. In the first step the existence of the problem must be recognised. The nature of the problem has to be ascertained. Identify if it is an ethical, legal, moral, professional or clinical problem. The practitioner’s and the client’s insights regarding the problem must be examined. Consultation with the client can begin at this stage as problems are being identified. Looking at the problem from different perspectives is useful as most ethical dilemmas are complex. Step 2 – Identify the potential issues involved. From the collected information, irrelevant ones must be discarded. The critical issues must be noted and described. The welfare of those involved; their rights and responsibilities must be evaluated. Ethical principles relevant to the problem must be identified and examined with the client. In doing so the moral principles namely, autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, justice and fidelity must be considered and applied to the  situation. The safety and welfare of the client and practitioner cannot be compromised while potential issues are being sorted out. Step 3- Review the relevant ethics codes. The practitioner must seek guidance that can be found from the professional codes of ethics. They provide a basis for accountability, and through their enforcement, provide protection for clients from unethical practices (Corey, 1997). Practitioner must also examine the agreeability of his values with the relevant codes. Should they be in conflict, he must have a rationale to support his stance. It is essential to consider congruency of these values and ethics with those of the client’s. The practitioner must ensure clarity of the ethical codes and if they are applicable with the state laws of the region. Step 4- Know the applicable laws and regulations. The practitioner should be up to date with the specific and relevant laws that apply to the ethical issue. This is particularly critical in situations which deal with keeping or breaching of confidentiality, reporting of child or elder abuse, record keeping, assessment, diagnosis, issues pertaining to dangers to self or others and the grounds of malpractice. Step 5- Obtain consultation. Consulting with colleagues to obtain different perspectives on the problems is generally considered to be helpful. Seeking legal counsel for legal questions is prudent along with consulting a person with an expertise in an unfamiliar culture to serve a client from that culture. In addition the practitioner must understand current rules and regulations of the agency or organization that he or she is working for. It is wise for the nature of the consultation and suggestions provided to be documented. These records would illustrate the practitioner’s attempt to adhere to the community’s standard practice. Step 6- Consider possible and probable courses of action. At this point a list of a variety of courses of action may be identified  through brainstorming. The practitioner could discuss with the client as well as other professionals the available options. The possibilities could be identified for probable courses of actions and these should be documented. Step 7- Enumerate the consequences of various decisions. From the various possible courses of actions, implications of each course must be examined. The questions of who will be affected and to what extent will the client’s decision to pursue the actions affect them must be carefully examined. Again using the fundamental moral principles as a framework, the client must collaborate with the practitioner to ascertain the probable outcomes and consequences. If new ethical issues arise from the selected course of action, a re-evaluation of the action must be pursued. Step 8- Decide on what appears to be the best course of action. Careful consideration of all information received from different sources deliberately and with sensitivity to cross cultural issues is critical before making the best decision. Once making the decision, informing the supervisor, implementing and documenting the decision follows. Reflecting on the experience considering any follow up action could result in finding a solution for the client. While the procedural steps may help in resolving ethical matters, some implications may be noted. Firstly, the client enters a collaborative relationship with the practitioner. The implication is that the client with the practitioner’s help must draw out the details of the problem. This implicates that the client should refrain from coveting relevant information to enable an accurate analysis of the issue. This is to ascertain the true nature of the problem whether it is an ethical, legal, moral, professional, or clinical one. The different perspectives of the problem must be explored. What are the insights the client and practitioner have regarding the problem? (Corey et al., 2007). Failing which the consequence is an unnecessary delay in resolving the problem as there will be an inaccurate analysis of the situation. Secondly, in identifying the potential issues, all the persons involved in the problem must be identified. The implication of failing to identify any one individual who may be affected by the decision of the client would be unethical. The welfare, rights and responsibilities of those affected by the decision might create a different set of problems. The decision would then have to be reversed and a new course of action would have to be pursued. It is to therefore necessary to explore to what extent the course of the action will affect the client and the others (Corey et al., 2007). Next the values and ethics of the client and the practitioner must be evaluated and the degree of congruency noted. This implicates that the relevant ethical principles that are identified to the problem should not be in conflict with those of the client and the practitioner. If there are disagreements, then they must be supported with a rationale. If necessary, guidance must be sought from the relevant organization to clarify the professional codes to the particular problem. Otherwise consequently, the client’s decision may violate the ethical codes relevant to the issue. The client must be informed of the relevant and most recent laws or regulations that apply to the situation. He must look out for any law or regulations that have a bearing on the situation. The implication of his ignorance is that he may run into problems with the law. The practitioner too must abide by the rules, regulations and policies of the workplace. When in doubt practitioner must seek professional advice. The client must be informed of legal issues related to confidentiality, abuse of the vulnerable, record keeping and grounds for malpractice. If the practitioner discovers a criminal act by a client for example, sex with an under-aged girl he has the moral responsibility to report him. The practitioner has the ethical responsibility to discuss with the client on the implications of his actions before reporting the incident. The client must understand the implications of his actions that violate the law. The fundamental moral principles may be considered as framework for evaluating the consequences of the given course of action. The client must  decide the principles that apply to the situation specifically and prioritise them. By thinking through these ethical principles, professional can better evaluate their options in such complex situations. Prioritising the principles can help the client and practitioner to work through the steps of the decision-making model (Elizabeth, 2010). There are implications however when prioritizing one over another. The practitioner encourages the client to exercise autonomy i.e. making a free choice. In doing so, the client must have the concept of doing no harm or non-maleficence and acting in justice (Elizabeth, 2010). Conflict can arise when subscribing to justice which may result in the necessity of treating an individual differently. Though not easy to apply equal weightage to all the principles, it will help to explore an ethical dilemma and resolve it with the least damage to the welfare of those affected. The model may be useful when clients seek help in making decisions in their life regarding relationship issues. A client may be caught in a loveless marriage and be involved in an extra-marital affair and seek advice to take the next step in his life. The dilemma of whether to dissolve his marriage and move on with his life or stay in the marriage to fulfil his duties towards his wife and children is one that needs careful consideration. A divorce would mean breaking up of his family and causing a disruption in the relationship with his children. Staying in the marriage would mean the sacrifice of his love life. Analysing his situation using the model can shed light to clarify the implications of his actions and weigh the consequences. The model may help clients to make decisions at their place of work regarding conflicting work practices. An office worker may be tormented by the wrong practices of her fellow colleagues. She may be facing a dilemma as to whether to report her colleagues to the management or turn a blind eye to the situation. The model can help the client to analyse the situation and evaluate her moral values. She would then be able to make an ethical decision that would do least harm to those involved in the situation. In conclusion, the eight – step model can be a useful tool in helping a practitioner to guide clients to make sound decisions that do not have  conflict with their ethics and are aligned with the laws and regulations of the region. In doing so the practitioner must ensure that he or she is operating in the best interest of the clients.

Human Resource Policies And Practices At Tescos Management Essay

Human Resource Policies And Practices At Tescos Management Essay This report reviews and discusses the Human Resource policies and practices at Tescos. The organisation has introduced a high commitment model which offers training and development to all employees. They have developed their culture through extending their logo every little helps to prove their commitment to employees as well as to customers. This has proved a world class model and very successful for the organisation. Organisations are implementing strategic HR as a change agent, not to replace an out dated personnel department. Although there is still evidence within the UK that once these interventions are implemented, they just replace the role of the personnel department. To be effective HR belongs on the board of an organisation. The organisation that will be reviewed is Tescos; during the past decade they have introduced strategic HR with increased training of employees. The role of HR within the organisation has increased in importance. Their practice of training and the importance of HR will be reviewed with the current theory. This organisation was chosen, through their introduction of strategic HR policies, which has led to an increase in business. This has demonstrated they are a first class provider of training to their employees, and has given scope for the organisation to expand into new markets. Tescos operates in a very competitive market; the consumer has a choice where to shop for their groceries. They have expanded their portfolio to include CDs, DVDs, electrical goods and clothing. Recently they have expanded into the financial services offering customers products from Credit cards to insurance. All their products are available on the internet 24 hours a day. Their slogan every little helps is used to show their commitment to customers, this has been used to reduce prices and to increase the level of customer service. This slogan is now used in their staff training, that any intervention will increase the knowledge of the work force. The organisation is widely reported in news papers, this is due to the success of the business. They are rapidly expanding in the UK with the opening of their Metro stores and into new and foreign markets. This has taken a great deal of their resources in the planning and implementing stage of expansion. The core units need to remain focused, to retain the reputation they have built. Reinforcing the culture and values through training will focus employees on their roles. Tescos HR Policy This section will report on the organisations HR policies, the information is taken from current articles and their web site which is outlined in the appendices. Tescos profits have soared 20% in the last year, taking them to a record 2 billion and setting a new milestone for UK business. The company takes almost one of every three pounds spent in a supermarket, and more than one of every eight pounds spent on the High Street. The supermarket chain is Britains biggest private employer with nearly 260,000 staff (Poulter, S. 2005). The human-resource strategy at Tescos revolves around work simplification, challenging unwritten rules, rolling out core skills to all head-office employees and performance management linked to achieving steering-wheel targets. This highlights the way in which Tescos business measures are closely linked to performance management (Anonymous 2003). Tesco ensures that each and every employee has the opportunity to understand his or her individual role in contributing to the Tesco core purpose and values. This requires an innovative induction programme that caters for different cultures, styles of learning and varying commitments to the job. The frontline employees are considered the ultimate reflection of Tesco to its customers, but all employees have a very important role to play in turning core values and customer commitment into reality on a daily basis (Whitelock, N. 2003). A major Tesco challenge is to ensure that all of its employees, wherever they work, are aware of the role they play and that they can clearly see how their actions affect the big picture of the overall business. The training creates a graphical journey through the history of Tesco, its core purpose, values, business goals, financial aims, operations and marketing strategy and its commitment to customers. All employees are receiving more training than before (Whitelock, N. 2003). A human-resource-led business strategy has helped Tesco to take the lead over its rivals in the fiercely-competitive UK supermarket sector. The strategic policy (Future) started in the companys supermarkets, where its aim was to free up stores employees so they could do more and improve customer service (Anonymous 2003). Future concentrates on providing a clear way of defining roles, responsibilities and activities. The system guarantees that all employees are responsible, accountable, consulted and informed. A group of 13 key management techniques is used to improve the core skills of the workforce. The techniques include root cause analysis, problem solving, plan-do-review, situational leadership and coaching for high performance (Anonymous 2003). For the first time, people have been made a core element of strategy. The importance of this strand of the project has been recognised by putting a senior director in charge. Quarterly board meetings always review human resource issues. Tesco now tracks human-resource information as closely as financial results (Anonymous 2003). Looking ahead, Tesco intends to continue its emphasis on increasing the skills of its workforce. The firm aims to make learning into a truly integrated part of its culture, as an important way of developing organisational flexibility and remaining one step ahead of its rivals (Anonymous 2003). Analysis Of HR Practices At Tescos This section of the paper will discus Tescos approach to HR and compare this to current thinking. Recognition of the importance of HR in the UK has increased in recent years; this is a result of competition from overseas economies. In countries for example Japan, Germany and Sweden investment in employee development is higher that the UK. This has led to some organisations reviewing their policies on training introducing continuous investment in their employees (Beardwell, I et al 2004). There are fundamental differences in the approach to HR. Storey (1987) discussed these as hard and `soft versions of HRM The hard version places little emphasis on workers concerns and, therefore, within its concept, any judgments of the effectiveness of HRM would be based on business performance criteria only. In contrast, soft HRM, while also having business performance as its primary concern, would be more likely to advocate a parallel concern for workers outcomes (Storey cited in Guest, D. 1999). The appearance of knowledge based economies, has deep implications for the factors of growth, the organisation of production and its effect on employment and skill requirements. This may call for new directions in industry related government policies. The prime minister stated that education is the best economic policy we have. That through the policy of lifelong learning the UK would have the knowledge to compete in the new economy (Tony Blair PM (1998) DTI White Paper). Tescos have exceeded the governments expectations for learning, having introduced training as a strategic advantage. It is argued that organisations require new skills to survive; the new thinking is based on complexity and chaos theory. Organisations are viewed as self-regulating, emergent, open, whole systems. This contrasts the metaphor of organisations being machines to that of organisations as living systems (Capra (2002) cited in Nixon 2004:58). Tescos have strategically integrated HR into their overall plans. Managers have been to utilise aspects of HR in their decision making. This has shown high commitment to HR, attempting to gain acceptance from all employees, and offering to all employees basic and extended training (Beardwell I 2004). The big picture of Tescos strategic direction is discussed with all employees. This helps the individual employee to understand their role and importance within the organisation. Therefore, they place a high value on their human resource. There has been an increase in training within the organisation; all employees now receive more training than before. This is a result of the HR department taking a strategic role. HR is not an administrative department within Tesco; they are proactive and are on the strategic level of the organisation. This increase in training priority has been supported by a rise in Human Resource Management. This practice emphasises that increased growth can only be maintained in the long run; by equipping the work force with the skills they need to complete their tasks (Mullins, L. 2005). Strategic HRM has gained both credibility and popularity over the past decade, specifically with respect to its impact on organisational performance (Paauwe, J Boselie P. 2003). Each employee is considered a part of the overall strategy; therefore they are instructed on the importance of their role. This training is delivered in a way that encompasses all learning skills and allows for cultural difference. There is an increased need for a higher value to be placed on employees, and therefore get the best performance from the employees. According to Delany (2001) successful organisations keep people issues at the fore front of their thinking and at the core of their decision making and planning. Delany adds organisations that get the people things right are the organisations likely to be around in the future (Delany (2001) cited in Mullins, L. 2005:748). Being the largest Private employer in the UK Tesco takes this responsibility seriously, this is demonstrated through their training and development policy. This has exceeded the governments recommendations for training of the individual and the move towards a learning society. For HR to succeed it must take on a proactive role within the organisation. Strategic HR creates value by providing opportunities for organic learning, development of intellectual capital and enhances core competencies. This value is crucial to the organisations future success (Treen, D. 2000). Employers are increasing extorting the best possible performance from employees. Best practice will increase the skills of the current workforce, and with recruiting it will reinforce the culture of a highly skilled work force (Mullins, L. 2005). Reinforcing learning within in an organisations, requires what Hawkins (1994) called a change at the heart this change is in the understanding of learning, a shift from viewing learning as being abrupt facts to learning as a more multi-faceted and dynamic process (Hawkins, P 1994:9). This learning environment with Tescos has been extended to encompass all aspects of the work environment. The learning process has been challenged to create a culture that allows continual learning throughout the organisation. As knowledge is what matters, organisations and individuals alike must become continuous learners (Hawkins, P 1994). The organisation runs an academy that recognises skills in the individual. The training is identified from core, operational and leadership skills. All employees can access the core skills. These development programmes are tailored to the individuals skill level. The delivery method for the training is varied, allowing for the individuals learning preference. Tescos operate within a fiercely competitive sector, using a human resource led business strategy, has help to place them in the number one position. This is only sustainable if the strategy is on going, with competitors actions monitored for any changes (Mullins, L. 2005). To fully exploit the wealth of knowledge contained within an organisation, it must be realised that it is in human resource management that the most significant advances will be made. As a result, the human resource department must be made a central figure in an organisations strategy to establish a knowledge basis for its operations (Armstrong, M 2005). The principal function of any organisation is to increase the value of the business and therefore enhance the wealth of its Owner(s). This is obtained by efficient use of the limited resources available to them (T Blackwood, 1995). Garrick (1998) discussed that training inextricably linked to market economics, that knowledge is prized in so far as it can generate a market advantage(Garrick 1998:5). This leads to the assumption that though training and developing employees, it can give the organisation advantage, increasing profit HR and training literatures highlights the organisational benefits to be gained from adopting a systematic approach to HRD, therefore the ongoing development of employees skills underpins the wider business objectives (Keep, E 1989). This systematic approach to training often includes models that identifying needs, planning, delivery and evaluation. Harrison developed an eight stage model to identify monitor and evaluate training. The evaluation stage is possibly the most problematic part of the training process (Reid, M and Barrington, H 1997). The organisation has seen the advantages that training can give, and has fully incorporated this into their business. The process of training is formalised through recognition of the need and continual review. Organisations no longer offer a job for life there is no longer guaranteed employment, with a pension as a reward for loyalty and compliance. The psychological contract between employer and employee has shifted. Employees are increasingly mobile, changing employment for promotion, reward and job satisfaction; top employees have more choice as to where to work. To retain these key employees the organisations culture needs to allow an environment of personal growth (Harrison, R 2002). With less job security, the best reward an organisation can give an employee is transferable skills (Marchington M Wilkinson, A 1997). With the changing employment market, employees feel less job security and are taking more responsibility for their career paths. The skills they are taught within Tescos could be transferable; therefore in the long run they could benefit competitors. Although the benefits of training the work force exceed the disadvantages, this employee mobility should not be ignored. Their every little helps slogan is easily recognised by the customer, but is also built in to the training program. This slogan is part of the ethos and culture that is Tesco. The organisation surveys their employees to gauge motivation and to identify training which employees require. This goes further than just identifying organisational benefits of training. Individuals can plan for the future career. Career development is important to the individual employee (Armstrong, M 2005) Harrison (2002) noted this as an organised planned effort comprised of structured activities or processes that result in a mutual career-plotting effort between employees and the organisation. This is a central component of the psychological contract that binds the individual to the organisation (Harrison, R 2002). This further complicates the role of the HRD practitioner, balancing organisational needs with the individuals expectations. Some employees will develop their career with one employer, while others require transferable skills. The organisation requires employees with the right skills to ensure and sustain competitive advantage (Armstrong, M 2005) Conclusions And Discussions Tescos long term strategy is to continue to place value on employee training and to integrate this value into the culture of the organisation. They are using this approach to maintain their competitive edge. The value that is placed on HR demonstrates commitment from the top levels of the organisation to training. Tescos intentions are to maintain this increased emphasis on staff training and to integrate this learning fully into the organisation. There is constant reviewing of the intervention, and make adjustment were necessary. The study of Tescos HR policies has demonstrated that by introducing a higher level of training to all employees it has an affect on the bottom line. When the employees are trained and demonstrating a higher commitment to the organisation they feel part of the overall strategy. This leads to employees feeling valued and therefore a more committed work force. This is then felt by the consumer, with a higher level of service, which gives the organisation added value. The entire organisation is involved in training. This training is offered at all levels within the organisation, Managers and facilitators are developed to deliver this intervention. Employees have control on their training after the initial induction process. This allows employees control of their career path, with the choice of whether they want to move up the ladder or not. There is conflict within the majority of organisations in the UK as to how much of the resources will be dedicated to training. This buy off for the economic resources, can prove short sighted in the long term. Training has always been the the first cost cuts in times of recession. Yet with todays enviroment, organisations need to train the work force to survive. Whereas organisations that embrace knowledge and learning satisfies the physcological contract and helps to retain and nuture employees. The cost of not devloping employees in the long term is far greater than the cost of developing them. The HR department in Tesco is proactive, not getting caught in the every day administrative function. Their model of HR is one of best practice and high commitment. This has allowed the organisation to focus on the human resource with such practices as training issues. This focus on HR is vital to the success of the organisation, without commitment, it would amount to a waste of resources. Tescos is a very successful UK organisation. They have increased their market share and retail units over the past five years. This has been achieved partly through a fully integrated HR department. Although this is not the only factor to their success, it has certainly been a major factor in it. Other organisations could benefit from reviewing Tescos policies. They have demonstrated a model implementation of HR. This has been a contributory factor to their increase in profits. Competitors will need to review their training policies, to reduce Tesco market share. Training as an intervention has been a successful policy in the organisation, the evidence points to increased profits from training.

Essay --

Christianity is a monotheistic religion, which means people of that faith believe in one God. Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus. Most Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God, and the savior of humanity. Christians refer to Jesus as Christ, which means Messiah. Christianity is the world’s largest religion consisting of approximately 2.2 billion Christians. There are branches of Christianity, the three primary divisions are Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism. Islam is also a monotheistic religion that believes there is one God. Islam is based on the teachings and normative example of Muhammad, who is considered to be the last prophet of God . People who follow the Islam faith are called Muslims. The Qur’an is the central text of the Islam faith, and Muslims believe it to be a revelation from God. There are two main denominations of Islam. There is Sunni, which is the largest denomination making up 75-90% of all Muslims and Shia, which is the second largest branch with 10-20%. Main Concepts and Beliefs Christianity Christians have a certain set of beliefs, and these beliefs are essential to their faith. Christians believe in the Ten Commandments, which are a set of biblical principals that relate to ethics and worship. They instruct to worship only God, as well as prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, adultery, murder and theft. They believe in Jesus Christ and that he is the son of God and the Messiah. Christians believe that Jesus was anointed by God as the savior of humanity. Christians believe that through their belief in and acceptance of the death and resurrection of Jesus, humans that commit sin can be reconciled to God and then can be offered salvation and the promise ... ... to follow guidelines of something they might not completely understand. Young people are more consumed by technology today than ever before. This gives them access and answers to any questions they might have about religion, which allows for more doubt to penetrate their minds. More and more people are becoming open minded to other peoples lifestyles, but Christianity looks at this as a sin. People who accept others have begun to question why the Church can’t do the same, and thus they turn their back on their religion. Islam Islam is a growing religion, however there are still closed minded people in the world, and in Canada. The Quebec government wants to pass a law that states government employees will not be allowed to wear religious symbols to work. This seems to set Canada back years as a country that is supposed to accepting of all people and all faiths.

An Unlikely Holiday Tradition :: A Christmas Story Essays

An Unlikely Holiday Tradition â€Å"People look forward to this,† Ward said. â€Å"It’s become a Christmas hit for us. People just keep their TV’s on.† Walter Ward is a spokesperson for the television station TNT. In 1998, TNT called it a â€Å"Ralphie marathon.† According to Ward, it was only a â€Å"stunt† but, when TNT saw how much the viewers liked it, it became a sort of tradition. Each year TNT runs a twenty-four hour marathon of the movie, A Christmas Story. That’s seventeen times from seven o’clock on Christmas Eve until seven o’clock on Christmas Day. The question remaining is, â€Å"how has A Christmas Story become a holiday television tradition?† A Christmas Story is a â€Å"low budget movie about a sort-of-dysfunctional family.† The movie took place in a small Indiana town in the 1940’s and follows a boy’s quest for a weapon, â€Å"that would now be illegal at any school† (Bryant). Ralphie Parker wanted just one thing for Christmas that year, â€Å"an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle† (Shepherd). His mission was to convince his parents, his teacher and even Santa that it was the perfect Christmas gift for a nine year old boy. To Ralphie’s dismay, they all disagreed and thought that a football would be a much better Christmas present and responded with, â€Å"You’ll shoot your eye out!† The movie was based on the novel written by Jean Shepherd called In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. It was a book based upon the opinion that, â€Å"childhood seems good in retrospect because we are not yet aware of the basic truth : that we’re all losers, that we die and death is a defeat† (Shepherd). Considering the circumstances of the movie, it is baffling that a Christmas movie which seems to be filled with dysfunction has become such an annual Christmas tradition. And tradition it is. In my family, A Christmas Story is on all throughout the day. Each year there is a battle at my grandparent’s house between the children and parents. The children cannot seem to pull themselves away from the television, while the parents beg for the children to join them at the table for Christmas dinner. In my opinion watching the movie over and over again never seems to get old.

How Sainsburys Has Used Performance Management to Increase their Qualit

How Sainsburys Has Used Performance Management to Increase their Quality of Service   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This report will show how Sainsburys have used performance management to increase their ability to provide a quality service and gain a competitive advantage, it will also show how systems have been implemented to achieve this and what Sainsburys have changed in recent years to achieve the competitive advantage it was looking for, The main area Sainsburys have changed is there Supply chain which had a cost gap of around  £60 million. It will also look at how the operations functions carried out by Sainsburys can be linked in with other areas of the business like Finance, Human Resource Management and Marketing. The main contents of this report will be based on the theory about performance management; it will start with a section explaining what the theory is and how it is generally applied in business. It will also contain my own experiences and insight into how operations have had an effect from my own viewpoint. It will have a conclusion on how I believe my ex periences of operations management has helped me and or hindered Sainsburys. There will also be a report conclusion showing how I think Sainsburys operations strategies have evolved over time. Theory   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This section will be looking at the theory which will be applied to Sainsburys and how it can be applied in this way. The main theories I will be looking at will be Capacity management, Open Systems, Quality Management, Performance Management and how Socio-technical Systems can be implemented into Sainsburys business. Capacity Management The meaning of capacity itself is being the ability to produce work in a given time, must be measured in the unit of work. There are three main types of Capacity management when looked at through operations. These are †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Potential Capacity The capacity that can be made available to influence the planning of senior management (e.g. in helping them to make decisions about overall business growth, investment etc). This is essentially a long-term decision that does not influence day-to-day production management †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Immediate Capacity The amount of production capacity that can be made available in the short-term. This is the maximum potential capacity - assuming that it is used productively †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Effective Capacity An important concept. Not all produc... ...y chain transformation, â€Å"the biggest project of its kind in Europe and one of the largest in the world†, was still out. A newspaper commentary summarized the concerns: â€Å"The UK’s number two is meeting turnaround targets set by Sir Peter Davis, CEO, two years ago. But the complexity of Sainsbury’s regimen means its healthy overall financial appearance could disguise selective bingeing. Growth has still lagged behind that of market leader Tesco, and Tesco has a lower investment as a percentage of sales. Sainsbury is recovering from a disastrous patch in the late 1990s. It is on target to achieve the  £700 million of cost savings promised by 2004, and margins seem to be creeping slowly towards its targeted 5.5%. But it can hide behind its cost savings while it buys time to demonstrate that improvements in the brand and supply chain will have a sustainable impact on its competitive position. They might. But investors need stronger sales momentum to give them comfort, especially as the market becomes more difficult and competitors such as ASDA continue to outperform. Until Sainsbury’s shows it is building up muscle - not just shedding fat - fitter rival Tesco deserves its 15% premium.† How Sainsburys Has Used Performance Management to Increase their Qualit How Sainsburys Has Used Performance Management to Increase their Quality of Service   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This report will show how Sainsburys have used performance management to increase their ability to provide a quality service and gain a competitive advantage, it will also show how systems have been implemented to achieve this and what Sainsburys have changed in recent years to achieve the competitive advantage it was looking for, The main area Sainsburys have changed is there Supply chain which had a cost gap of around  £60 million. It will also look at how the operations functions carried out by Sainsburys can be linked in with other areas of the business like Finance, Human Resource Management and Marketing. The main contents of this report will be based on the theory about performance management; it will start with a section explaining what the theory is and how it is generally applied in business. It will also contain my own experiences and insight into how operations have had an effect from my own viewpoint. It will have a conclusion on how I believe my ex periences of operations management has helped me and or hindered Sainsburys. There will also be a report conclusion showing how I think Sainsburys operations strategies have evolved over time. Theory   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This section will be looking at the theory which will be applied to Sainsburys and how it can be applied in this way. The main theories I will be looking at will be Capacity management, Open Systems, Quality Management, Performance Management and how Socio-technical Systems can be implemented into Sainsburys business. Capacity Management The meaning of capacity itself is being the ability to produce work in a given time, must be measured in the unit of work. There are three main types of Capacity management when looked at through operations. These are †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Potential Capacity The capacity that can be made available to influence the planning of senior management (e.g. in helping them to make decisions about overall business growth, investment etc). This is essentially a long-term decision that does not influence day-to-day production management †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Immediate Capacity The amount of production capacity that can be made available in the short-term. This is the maximum potential capacity - assuming that it is used productively †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Effective Capacity An important concept. Not all produc... ...y chain transformation, â€Å"the biggest project of its kind in Europe and one of the largest in the world†, was still out. A newspaper commentary summarized the concerns: â€Å"The UK’s number two is meeting turnaround targets set by Sir Peter Davis, CEO, two years ago. But the complexity of Sainsbury’s regimen means its healthy overall financial appearance could disguise selective bingeing. Growth has still lagged behind that of market leader Tesco, and Tesco has a lower investment as a percentage of sales. Sainsbury is recovering from a disastrous patch in the late 1990s. It is on target to achieve the  £700 million of cost savings promised by 2004, and margins seem to be creeping slowly towards its targeted 5.5%. But it can hide behind its cost savings while it buys time to demonstrate that improvements in the brand and supply chain will have a sustainable impact on its competitive position. They might. But investors need stronger sales momentum to give them comfort, especially as the market becomes more difficult and competitors such as ASDA continue to outperform. Until Sainsbury’s shows it is building up muscle - not just shedding fat - fitter rival Tesco deserves its 15% premium.†

Bob Mcdonald P

Introduction Procter and Gamble is a company that has shown impressive success since its creation in the year 1837. Procter and Gamble has made its way to a successful career and is now a globally recognized business to business firm that distributes several products around the world. Bob McDonald is the current President and CEO of the firm. He has held this difficult job since 2009 and has also contributed to recent success of the firm. The reason why this position is so difficult is due to the very diverse and complicated activity of the firm.Nevertheless Bob McDonald has done a lot for the firm and has kept the firm up and running and at its best. A former U. S Army captain, Bob McDonald has worked for Procter and Gamble for 30 years before he became CEO. Since he applied for a job in P&G in 1980, he worked himself to the top through the years in the firm. Upon entering the firm, Bob never thought of becoming a CEO. He just needed a stable job and a permanent home in Cincinnati.B ob explains his wrong expectations in the following quote â€Å"I was leaving the military service, and I really joined P&G in order to spend my entire life and raise my family in a city like Cincinnati and never have to move. So in 1989, when the company came to me and said, â€Å"We'd like you to move to Toronto, Canada,† I said, â€Å"Did I do something wrong? † (Bernard-Kuhn, 2012) Due to the fact that the former CEO of the firm anticipated that the company was going to be more successful in international markets, he sent Bob and other company employees to work in different parts of the world where P&G facilities existed.When Bob achieved his new position as CEO he expressed his feelings by saying â€Å"I would describe those first weeks as filled with anxiety and humility. This is an institution that is, in my mind, the greatest company in the history of the world. There are fewer than 40 countries that have been around as long as P&G. † Bob felt out of pl ace and felt burdened to has such huge responsibility on his neck. (Bernard-Kuhn, 2012) Bob McDonald and P&G As I said before Bob, when Bob became CEO he had no plans. He was afraid of the responsibility given to him. This was what pushed him to implement some great strategies.These strategies proved successful and increased the firm’s overall quality of performance. The first step Bob McDonald took as CEO of Procter and Gamble is reaffirming the firm’s purpose which is â€Å"to touch and improve the lives of the world’s consumers through branded products of superior quality and value†. (McDonald, 2012) He was determined to increase the firms growth through introducing superior products to satisfy consumer needs and wants in a sustainable and profitable manner. He was not exactly sure how he was to that and is why he replied to friends’ congratulations by saying, â€Å"Please don't congratulate me. It's way too premature.Wait until I retire, and l et's look back and see whether or not the company is stronger than it was when I took over. † (Bernard-Kuhn, 2012) Bob was frightened by the degree of responsibility that he was burdened by and was not sure how he was to succeed in making the firm better. Bob introduced a new strategy which was implementing immediately. His strategy was to focus on its â€Å"40 largest businesses, its 20 most successful innovations, and the 10 most profitable developing markets†. (McDonald, 2012) This strategy is basically based on good consumer relationship building through the augmentation of brand awareness and brand effectiveness.Due to its diverse products Procter and Gamble has often found itself generalizing in terms of targeting. It was not doing a very good job of reaching out to the right consumers with the right brands. By focusing on certain brands, however, and properly targeting the right segments for these brands Bob was able to create a better public image for the firm. Basically the steps that were taken here are turning brands into innovative ones and proving the right brand and product for the right consumer. This strategy has led to 4% growth for Procter and Gamble each year four every year it since it was implemented in 2009.This growth has been achieved even though there was no market growth and there were many problems emerging such as the financial crisis and decreases in the market shares. So that was pretty impressive. The company’s stated the results of its growth since the implementation of the strategy b stating â€Å"in the last fiscal year, P;G returned $10 billion of cash to shareholders through $6 billion of dividends and $4 billion of share repurchase. P;G paid a dividend for the 122nd consecutive year – one of only nine companies to have done this. The Company increased the dividend by 7%.This was the 56th consecutive year the dividend increased – one of only six companies to have done this†. (â€Å"P rocter and gamble,† 2012) Bob McDonald Leadership When speaking of how Bob leads his company we see that he follows a value-based leadership. He has spoken of this type of leadership several times. He often says that â€Å"living a life driven by purpose is more meaningful and rewarding than meandering through life without direction†. (Knight, 2011) He believes that a successful business requires good planning because people want to work with leaders who are predictable and who plan out everything in their lives.Bob said to a group of students in a speech that â€Å"people like to work for leaders that are predictable, they like to work for leaders that have a purpose in their own lives and a values system they can follow. † (Henretty, 2008) Bob even encourages his employees to seek a purpose in life rather that only focus on a job in Procter and Gamble. He says that this makes for more innovation and more willingness to make efforts. He tells his employees †Å"don’t make your goal in life a position at Procter and Gamble. You need something a little bigger than that†. Henretty, 2008) Bob defines a good leader as someone who builds teams that put certain value in their work. These teams should learn to work together and through time become like a family. He further defines good leadership by saying that â€Å"â€Å"the true test of leadership isn’t what happens when you’re there, it’s what happens when you leave. † (Henretty, 2008) Basically his idea is all about team building and keeping the team together. The type of leadership Bob uses was favored by employees. This is because Bob encouraged employees to seek value in their live and to be innovative.This tolerance of freedom led to willing employees. Employees started working as if the company was theirs. Of course there is a always a negative side to everything. Inefficient employees were often sacked. As a matter of fact Bob got rid of many employees to leave room for new innovative ones. Although this was not appreciated by some it had to be done in order to keep expanding as a team. Bobs speeches were very innovative and pushed employees to do their best. Conclusion To conclude, Procter and Gamble has grown tremendously since Bob McDonald ecame CEO. Bob used many strategies to enforce sales. The secret of his success were not only due to brand and product oriented strategies, but was also a result of good leadership and good team management. His leadership skills played a major role in shaping the employees of the company. Although Bob was forced to make harsh decisions and fire people he also recruited quite a number of able and experienced employees. Bernard-Kuhn, L. (2012). Procter ; gamble ceo: Company is people powered. The Cincinnati Enquirer, Retrieved from http://www. usatoday. om/story/money/business/2012/11/19/procter-gamble-ceo- mcdonald/1715573/ Henretty, A. (2008, July 10). Man with a plan: P;g coo bob m cdonald on ‘values-based leadership’. Retrieved from http://www. kellogg. northwestern. edu/News_Articles/2008/bobmcdonaldpg. aspx Knight, B. (2011, September 7). P;g ceo bob mcdonald on values-based leadership. Retrieved from http://www. owenbloggers. com/2011/09/07/pg-ceo-bob-mcdonald-on-value-based- leadership/ McDonald, B. (2012). Procter and gamble. Retrieved from http://www. pg. com/en Procter and gamble. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. pg. com/en