Up Until That Instant... free essay sample

A sharp gulp ceased to moisten my throat. Words seemed to blend together, appearing to me as foreign hieroglyphs. I stood alone, with this puzzling object: a book, trembling in my sweaty palms. A colony of hyenas remained in front of me, staring with their bulging eyes, mocking me with their grim smiles and giggles. I was not the best reader in my class; I would stutter at each line my eyes came across, stumbling andmumbling repeatedly. Yet, I didn’t give up, silly me. If I had, this torment wouldn’t have lasted nearly as long. These â€Å"books† were always an intimidating conundrum to me. My father enjoyed a good audiobook, but, for the most part, I grew up in a bookless household. As a child however, listening to a monotoned voice humming meaningless words wasn’t an acceptable introduction to literature. I quickly learned that I was the odd one out in school: no classmate wished to befriend me, or even talk to me. We will write a custom essay sample on Up Until That Instant or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page School had become a place I viewed as a twisted alternate-reality with no escape. I relived the same torture day after day with nothing new or exciting to look forward to. Hopelessness washed over me. I would think: ‘what is the point of trying to even get out of bed in the morning, or even, living?’ Only eight-years-old, and I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. My parents took notice of my developing (or rather decreasing) behavior, and determined I needed some extra-curricular activity to pursue: theater. They decided it was a fantastic idea to place an introvert into a crowd of extroverts. â€Å"Acting will be fun, and a new change for you!† My mother had exclaimed. I didn’t understand what impact acting could make upon helping me comprehend these strange patterns in books. Reluctantly, I went to audition for a children’s show. I happened to land a minute part with one or two lines, but as they say in the theater world, ‘There are never small parts, only small actors!’ A wrinkled, thick stack of papers was thrust into my hands. Strangely enough, I didn’t feel panic when glancing through my used script. The pages seemed to come alive with colorful energy and playful vitality. As odd as it may seem coming from a shy young girl, I discovered an interest for reading plays, specifically Shakespeare’s work. From King Lear to Twelfth Night (I didn’t particularly enjoy the sappy love story of Romeo and Juliet) I scanned each word and stored it in my mind like boxes in an attic. It felt as if I weren’t even reading, for the literaturedidn’t seem as frightening or forced as it did in classes. I realized that these characters symbolized a part of me I wanted to be; whether it was brave, amusing, intelligent or charming. Fast forward to eighth-grade. I hardly recall school during that blurry year, yet I do remember taking a creative writing class. A flock of irregular children pouring their imaginations out on paper. This was a new turn for me. Up to this point, I’d just read a script, act it out on stage, and enjoy the audience’s positive reaction. Whereas in that class, I’d write short stories that took place in the 1960’s or the 2070’s. I’d proceed to read them in front of these wide-eyed owls as they’d hoot and holler at me. I do not believe they were really listening to my stories, they just liked to be obnoxious. Despite my efforts to excel in reading and writing, nothing seemed to work. I was barely passing Creative Writing, let alone English. But being who I am, I pushed myself to the limit. Ninth and tenth grade I took Honors English and eleventh and twelfth grade I pursued Advanced Placement courses. I wasn’t the best, but I wasn’t the worst. Perhaps it was result of me continuously taking theater courses, acting at a local theater, and performing for pure sport. It kept me sane, content, and focused. That was all I excelled in, but I wanted more, I wanted to be the one that was looked up to instead of being laughed at. While I continued slaving away with creative writing and AP, I took a job teaching childrens acting classes. Handing them a script was like passing on a baton. They’d look up at me, staring blankly like a deer in headlights, asking me â€Å"Why is this in parenthesis?† or â€Å"How come these letters are slanted and not normal?† I found I could give them pretty darn good answers; maybe I wasn’t so atrocious at English. That’s was it! Mixing English and theater together: that was my talent. I wasn’t sure what that meant at the moment and how it could shape my literary experience, nevertheless it was me, my essence, who I was and who I will be. My mind began to connect situations and events to metaphors and similes.With this, my writing improved with one swift stroke of the pen, and suddenly I had discovered my personal style, my niche. I just had to be myself, and write exactly how pictorial and definitive my thoughts tended to be. Reading and writing concerns had become a thing of the past, and I was ready for a new obstacle. Thus, my senior year I worked tirelessly on a piece of art I’ve never created before: a script. After months of tedious work, I turned in my bundle of words for a theater competition. Furthermore, to my surprise, it was accepted! In addition, after years of battling depression, the script had turned out to be a comedy. I had carefully foiled each of the characters so that no one was like the other, making it ultimately hilarious.I gathered a company of actors, and directed the show myself; we took it to the stage. Of course there were obstructions: actors getting sick, dropping out, not being able to make rehearsals, props were lost, lights didn’t work, or the audio tracks broke down. Despite these hindrances, it all lead up to this moment†¦ I stand, in a humid spot light, looking out to the hundreds of tiny faces before me, this time not alone. Their eyes glimmer and seem happy and excited like a pup’s. Oh, my dear companions. â€Å"Thank you,† I stated clearly into the metallic microphone, â€Å"I couldn’t have done any of this without you.† Typical speech, but sincere. I just won an award for best original script, and my actors, sprinkled throughout the audience, barked with enthusiasm for my award. I had done it. I had pushed the limit, through demanding and strenuous times. A notable smile crosses my face; all’s well that ends well.

Towton - Battle of Towton - Wars of the Roses - Edward IV

Towton - Battle of Towton - Wars of the Roses - Edward IV Battle of Towton: Date Conflict: The Battle of Towton was fought on March 29, 1461, during the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485). Armies Commanders Yorkists Edward IV20,000-36,000 men Lancastrians Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset25,000-42,000 men Battle of Towton - Background: Beginning in 1455, the Wars of the Roses saw a dynastic conflict erupt between King Henry VI (Lancastrians) and the out-of-favor Richard, Duke of York (Yorkists). Prone to bouts of insanity, Henrys cause was chiefly advocated by his wife, Margaret of Anjou, who sought to protect their sons, Edward of Westminster, birthright. In 1460, the fighting escalated with Yorkist forces winning the Battle of Northampton and capturing Henry. Seeking to assert his power, Richard attempted to claim the throne after the victory. Blocked from this by his supporters, he agreed to the Act of Accord which disinherited Henrys son and stated that Richard would ascend to the throne upon the kings death. Unwilling to let this stand, Margaret raised an army in northern England to revive the Lancastrian cause. Marching north in late 1460, Richard was defeated and killed at the Battle of Wakefield. Moving south, Margarets army defeated the Earl of Warwick at the Second Battle of St. Albans and recovered Henry. Advancing on London, her army was prevented from entering the city by the Council of London which feared looting. Battle of Towton - A King Made: As Henry was unwilling to enter the city by force, negotiations began between Margaret and the council. During this time, she learned that Richards son, Edward, Earl of March, had defeated Lancastrian forces near the Welsh border at Mortimers Cross and was uniting with the remnants of Warwicks army. Concerned about this threat to their rear, the Lancastrian army began withdrawing northwards to a defensible line along the River Aire. From here they could safely await reinforcements from the north. A skillful politician, Warwick brought Edward to London and on March 4 had him crowned as King Edward IV. Battle of Towton - Initial Encounters: Seeking to defend his newly won crown, Edward immediately began moving to crush the Lancastrian forces in the north. Departing on March 11, the army marched north in three divisions under the command of Warwick, Lord Fauconberg, and Edward. In addition, John Mowbry, Duke of Norfolk, was sent to the eastern counties to raise additional troops. As the Yorkists advanced, Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, commanding the Lancastrian army began making preparations for battle. Leaving Henry, Margaret, and Prince Edward at York, he deployed his forces between the villages of Saxton and Towton. On March 28, 500 Lancastrians under John Neville and Lord Clifford attacked a Yorkist detachment at Ferrybridge. Overwhelming men under Lord Fitzwater, they secured the bridge over the Aire. Learning of this, Edward organized a counterattack and sent Warwick to attack Ferrybridge. To support this advance, Fauconberg was ordered to cross the river four miles upstream at Castleford and move to attack Cliffords right flank. While Warwicks assault was largely held, Clifford was forced to fall back when Fauconberg arrived. In a running fight, the Lancastrians were defeated and Clifford was killed near Dinting Dale. Battle of Towton - Battle Joined: The crossing retaken, Edward advanced across the river the next morning, Palm Sunday, despite the fact that Norfolk still had not arrived. Aware of the previous days defeat, Somerset deployed the Lancastrian army on a high plateau with its right anchored on the stream of the Cock Beck. Though the Lancastrians occupied a strong a position and had a numerical advantage, the weather worked against them as the wind was in their face. A snowy day, this blew the snow in their eyes and limited visibility. Forming to the south, the veteran Fauconberg advanced his archers and opened fire. Assisted by the strong the wind, the Yorkist arrows fell in the Lancastrian ranks causing casualties. Replying, the Lancastrian archers arrows were hampered by the wind and fell short of the enemys line. Unable to see this due to the weather, they emptied their quivers to no effect. Again the Yorkist archers advanced, gathering up the Lancastrian arrows and shooting them back. With losses mounting, Somerset was forced to take action and ordered his troops forward with a cry of King Henry! Slamming into the Yorkist line, they slowly began pushing them back (Map). On the Lancastrian right, Somersets cavalry succeeded in driving off its opposite number, but the threat was contained when Edward shifted troops block their advance. Details pertaining the fighting are scarce, but it is known that Edward flew about the field encouraging his men to hold and fight. As the battle raged, the weather worsened and several impromptu truces were called to clear the dead and wounded from between the lines. With his army under severe pressure, Edwards fortunes were bolstered when Norfolk arrived after noon. Joining Edwards right, his fresh troops slowly began to turn the battle. Outflanked by the new arrivals, Somerset shifted troops from his right and center to meet the threat. As the fighting continued, Norfolks men began to push back the Lancastrian right as Somersets men tired. Finally as their line neared Towton Dale, it broke and with it the entire Lancastrian army. Collapsing into full retreat, they fled north in an attempt to cross the Cock Beck. In full pursuit, Edwards men inflicted severe losses on the retreating Lancastrians. At the river a small timber bridge quickly collapsed and others reportedly crossed on a bridge of bodies. Sending horsemen forward, Edward pursued the fleeing soldiers through the night as the remnants of Somersets army retreated to York. Battle of Towton - Aftermath: Casualties for the Battle of Towton are not known with any precision though some sources indicate they may have been has high as 28,000 total. Others estimate losses around 20,000 with 15,000 for Somerset and 5,000 for Edward. The largest battle fought in Britain, Towton was a decisive victory for Edward and effectively secured his crown. Abandoning York, Henry and Margaret fled north to Scotland before separating with the latter ultimately going to France to seek aid. Though some fighting continued for the next decade, Edward ruled in relative peace until the Readeption of Henry VI in 1470. Selected Sources HistoryNet: Battle of TowtonUK Battlfields Resource Centre: Battle of Towton

Account of the Gold Discovered in California in 1848

Account of the Gold Discovered in California in 1848 When the 50th anniversary of California Gold Rush approached there was great interest in locating any eyewitnesses to the event who might still be alive. Several individuals claimed to have been with James Marshall when he first found a few gold nuggets while building a sawmill for adventurer and land baron John Sutter. Most of these accounts were greeted with skepticism, but it was generally agreed that an old man named Adam Wicks, who was living in Ventura, California, could reliably tell the story of how gold was first discovered in California on January 24, 1848. The New York Times published an interview with Wicks on December 27, 1897, approximately a month before the 50th anniversary. Wicks recalled arriving in San Francisco by ship in the summer of 1847, at the age of 21: I was charmed with the wild new country, and decided to stay, and I’ve never been out of the state from that time. Along in October 1847, I went with several young fellows up the Sacramento River to Sutter’s Fort, at what is now the City of Sacramento. There were about 25 white people at Sutter’s Fort, which was merely a stockade of timbers as a protection from assaults by Indians.Sutter was the richest American in central California at the time, but he had no money. It was all in land, timber, horses, and cattle. He was about 45 years old, and was full of schemes for making money by selling his timber to the United States government, which had just come into possession of California. That is why he was having Marshall build the sawmill up in Columale (later known as Coloma).I knew James Marshall, the discoverer of gold, very well. He was an ingenious, flighty sort of man, who claimed to be an expert millwright out from New Jersey. California Gold Rush Began With Discovery at Sutters Sawmill Adam Wicks remembered hearing about the gold discovery as an inconsequential bit of camp gossip: In the latter part of January 1848, I was at work with a gang of vaqueros for Captain Sutter. I remember as clearly as if it were yesterday when I first heard of the gold discovery. It was on January 26, 1848, forty-eight hours after the event. We had driven a drove of cattle to a fertile grazing spot on the American River and were on our way back to Columale for more orders.A nephew, a lad of 15 years, of Mrs. Wimmer, the cook at the lumber camp, met us on the road. I gave him a lift on my horse, and as we jogged along the boy told me that Jim Marshall had found some pieces of what Marshall and Mrs. Wimmer thought were gold. The boy told this in the most matter-of-fact way, and I did not think of it again until I had put the horses in the corral and Marshall and I sat down for a smoke. Wicks asked Marshall about the rumored gold discovery. Marshall was at first quite annoyed that the boy had even mentioned it. But after asking Wicks to swear he could keep the secret, Marshall went inside his cabin, and returned with a candle and a tin matchbox. He lit the candle, opened the matchbox, and showed Wicks what he said were nuggets of gold. The largest nugget was the size of a hickory nut; the others were the size of black beans. All had been hammered, and were very bright from boiling and acid tests. Those were the evidences of gold.I have wondered a thousand times since how we took the finding of the gold so coolly. Why, it did not seem to us a big thing. It appeared only an easier way of making a living for a few of us. We had never heard of a stampede of gold-crazy men in those days. Besides, we were green backwoodsmen. None of us had ever seen natural gold before. The Workers at Sutters Mill Took It in Stride Amazingly, the impact of the discovery had little effect on the daily life around Sutters holdings. As Wicks recalled, life went on as before: We went to bed at the usual hour that night, and so little excited were we about the discovery that neither of us lost a moment’s sleep over the stupendous wealth that lay all about us. We proposed to go out and hunt at odd times and on Sundays for gold nuggets. Two weeks or so later Mrs. Wimmer went to Sacramento. There she showed at Sutter’s Fort some nuggets she had found along the American River. Even Captain Sutter himself had not known of the finds of gold on his land until then. Gold Fever Soon Seized the Entire Nation Mrs. Wimmers loose lips set in motion what would turn out to be a massive migration of people. Adam Wicks remembered that prospectors started appearing within months: The earliest rush to the mines was in April. There were 20 men, from San Francisco, in the party. Marshall was so mad at Mrs. Wimmer that he vowed he would never treat her decently again.At first it was thought the gold was only to be found within a radius of a few miles of the sawmill at Columale, but the newcomers spread out, and every day brought news of localities along the American River that were richer in gold than where we had been quietly working for a few weeks.The very maddest man of all was Captain Sutter when men began to come from San Francisco, San Jose, Monterey and Vallejo by the score to find gold. All of the captains workmen quit their jobs, his sawmill could not be run, his cattle went wandering away for lack of vaqueros, and his ranch was occupied by a horde of lawless gold-crazy men of all degrees of civilization. All the captain’s plans for a great business career were suddenly ruined. The Gold Fever soon spread to the east coast, and at the end of 1848, President James Knox Polk actually mentioned the discovery of gold in California in his annual address to Congress. The great California Gold Rush was on, and the following year would see many thousands of 49ers arriving to search for gold. Horace Greeley, the legendary editor of the New York Tribune dispatched journalist Bayard Taylor to report on the phenomenon. Arriving in San Francisco in the summer of 1849, Taylor saw a city growing at incredible speed, with buildings and tents appearing all over the hillsides. California, considered a remote outpost only a few years earlier, would never be the same.

The Hazards of taking childeren out to eat Essay

The Hazards of taking childeren out to eat - Essay Example McDonalds, for example, has a clown as its mascot, Ronald McDonald. It has playgrounds for children and special toys that come with its food. Given a choice, children will clamour to go to these special places. The food they will eat there, unfortunately, will not be good for them. These restaurants know that if they can lure children into their restaurants they will get money from the parents. Pandering to children is a good business model for many restaurants. Additionally, it is important to note that children like sugar and junk food. These restaurants ensure that they have these things on their menus. This food is not good for children. Parents who do not take their children out to eat have much more control over their childrens diets. They can cook with fresh food and will know exactly what is in each meal. They can avoid sugary and fat foods and make sure that their children are eating properly. Food packed with vitamins and nutrients notably helped boost mental performance as youngsters got older, the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reports. Researchers said toddlers diets could change IQ levels later in childhood, even if eating habits improve with age. "This suggests that any cognitive/behavioural effects relating to eating habits in early childhood may well persist into later childhood, despite any subsequent changes to dietary intake," the authors wrote (Guardian). The fix is in. Many fast food restaurants have very low standards when it comes to food, and yet their food is incredibly attractive to children. We have to remember just how hazardous this kind of food is to childrens health. As one report recently put it: â€Å"One out of three children will come down with diabetes. One out of five children now has hypertension. Doctors are seeing children as young as 2 and 3 years old with the beginnings of heart disease† (Ringle). Nothing is more

Sports and Entertainment Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Sports and Entertainment Management - Essay Example The most interesting thing that I learnt was that life takes unexpected turns for all of us. It is not always for the worse but some brilliant opportunities are presented to us too. We need to be open to new circumstances. A flexible attitude always prevails. Mr. Baker talked about transition in an organization. Transition or change is very important for an organization. Mr. Baker said that making a change is extremely difficult but we have to make it because we have to stay up to speed with the rest of the world. The ways of the world change. The tastes of the consumers change. Technology changes all the time. This is why an organization needs to be flexible and must be able to anticipate the requirements of change. According to Lewin, when an organization undergoes change, it goes through three processes which are unfreezing, change, and refreezing (pp. 197–211). Unfreezing is the most difficult part because it is the stage which is resisted the most. It is common human beha vior that when people are settled in and are comfortable, they always tend to resist when they are asked to make a change. A good leader administers change in a very effective manner by taking all team members into confidence and explaining to them that a change is necessary for their own well-being. When the team members know about the importance of change, they cooperate in a better manner. The key is to involve the team members in the process of transitioning. If the details of change are kept from the team members, a greater resistance is likely to be expected. However, no matter how much efforts are made to involve the team members in the change process, there would always be some resistance. It is very important that this resistance is dealt fairly because it causes great stress otherwise. Lewin suggests that a â€Å"controlled crisis† can be created by the leader so that the team members or the employees are motivated to find a new equilibrium themselves. When the cris is creates a sense of instability in the team members, they seek change themselves and, therefore, enter the second phase of change. According to Lewin, different people respond differently to change. It is not possible that the change would be undergone overnight. There are two types of people; proactive and reactive. Proactive people understand the need of change quickly and start working in the new direction at once. Reactive people do not change unless something really happens to them and they are forced to change. The creation of a crisis was suggested to set the wheels of reactive people in motion. However, there are always certain people who benefit heavily from the status quo. Such people take a long time to unfreeze and change. Here comes the importance of yet another very important aspect of Mr. Baker’s presentation which is decision-making. A leader must be able to take tough decisions in a timely manner. Being a hockey coach for a fair amount of time, Mr. Baker ha s the mental toughness and maturity to handle a team effectively. According to him, it is very important that a leader never cheats. One of the major aims of his coaching was to hold the kids accountable if they do anything wrong so that a sense of responsibility can be created. This also helps in letting the team members know what their boundaries are. The team members are also treated with great respect so that they may never feel mistreated. All these things apart, the need to take necessary decisions is very important no matter how tough they are. However, there is always a room for improvement and there is a possibility that things can be done in much better way than they have been done in the past. According to Shapira, decision making is considered as a process in which different interests and perspectives

Kant on Will Essay Example for Free

Kant on Will Essay Kant’s argument that an act out of duty can not be in conflict with itself or with any other will acting out of duty derives from the concept he puts forth of the internal principle. A will cannot conflict itself if it determines itself a priori. By determining its morals before the benefit of experience, it determines itself simply that it exists as it is. Intuitively, anything pure cannot conflict with itself just as the idea of good cannot conflict with itself and be somehow partly bad (437). Thus by simply being, without any other influence determining it, the will is an end in itself (437). A will acting out of duty, or in other words on its own internal principles, can not conflict with another will simply because it does not depend on the other will. In order to conflict, something must first interact. And if two wills are acting in accordance with duty, then they each recognize each other as an end in itself, and therefore do not interact on the level of morality (438). Just as a self-sufficient village with no roads leading to or from can not conflict with another village simply because it needs not and cannot interact, a self-sufficient will, and therefore determined with no external influence, can also not conflict with anther will acting out of duty. Though if something is not self-sufficient, it requires another object to fulfill its ends. As with the village, if it needs to conquer a neighboring village’s farmland in order to feed itself, conflict arises. Similarly, should a will not be determined a priori, but instead based on external circumstances, then a will must use another will to fulfill its needs, and therefore would conflict with the autonomy of the second will.

Strategic Management Essay -- Information Technology

Strategic Management and Planning is a course of decisions and actions which ultimately lead to the development of a strategy to help a company achieve their objectives. Strategic planning focuses on the company’s long term range and how to accomplish what is laid out. Effective planning will help to prevent problems, provide a response if problems occur, and make available information and support needed to maintain public awareness, safety, and confidence. How do the two UCB's strategic IT plans stack up against the Baldrige criteria for assessing strategic planning? The Baldrige criteria are a series of questions that are not routinely asked on how an organization or company can function more efficiently. The purpose of these questions is to describe how the organization sets its strategic objectives into action plans, what are the organization’s action plans, and how is the organization able to project future performance on these key performance indicators or measures. In this paper, I will address these questions as they relate to UC Berkeley and the University of Colorado’s Campus-wide IT Strategic Plan. I will describe how each university used the strategic planning process to address their needs. What are the university’s current strategic objectives, the goals for each objective and the timetable for achieving these objectives? How will each university adapt to potential growth in technology? And what measures do the universities use to track the achievement and effectiveness of their action plans? In each report, each university clearly defined what there IT strategic plans and objectives are for their future success. By clearly defining what are their goals and needs, they mirror the Baldrige criteria. UC Berkeley d... ...essfulness of their strategic plan. In my research, this is not a problem that is isolated to just UC Berkeley or UC-Boulder. There seems to be a common practice among the IT community to not take into account the importance of measuring the effectiveness of their IT strategies. When discussing measuring for effectiveness of the IT plan at UC Berkeley, Mr. Jack McCredie explains, â€Å"It is much more of a description of an end state that we are working for. We are more goal oriented, not number oriented, in our process. One UC Berkeley goal was to wire the campus, not count the number of nodes that are actually installed. Our board doesn’t seem to require particular dashboard numbers that say we are 38 percent of the way to accomplishing our goal.† Both of the universities do not put enough thought into establishing proper measures of effectiveness into their plans.

Paper Camp

DRUG ADDICTION AS A PROBLEM-DETERMINED SYSTEM: A CASE STUDY Introduction Drug addiction seems to be a rapidly growing societal problem that leaves many lives destroyed in its wake. Families are ripped apart by its devastating impact, and countless drug addicts are unable to free themselves from the powerful grip of drug addiction and consequently pay with their lives. According to Edmonds and Wilcocks (1995), drug addiction is a very real problem in South Africa. It affects people from all walks of life and can no longer be considered a localised problem.Jackson, Usher and O’Brien (2006) found that the experience of having a family member that is addicted to drugs, especially a child, had a profound effect on other members of the immediate family as well as on the family relationships. Butler and Bauld (2005) highlighted the devastation parents experienced in learning that their child was addicted to drugs and the subsequent impact that this had on their lives. Grohsman (2007) argues that the impact of drug addiction goes beyond the individual and the family, as the ripples thereof can also be felt in the larger community and economy.Therefore, it seems that parents, families, teachers, community and church leaders, healthcare professionals, law enforcement agencies, government and society at large, have a tremendous task ahead in the prevention and treatment of drug abuse throughout the country. Just like a tree bears fruit when conditions are optimal for such an occurrence to take place, the problem of drug addiction is also assumed to develop within the context of a system of relatedness that put forth just the right ingredients for its emergence.Therefore, as the 3 researcher, I set out to explore the specific interactions between role players that created a suitable environment for the problem of drug addiction to emerge. As human beings, we are social creatures and thus our life experiences are inevitably tied up in the experiences of others. Any a ttempt to understand a particular individual has to include those that form part of that individual’s ecology of living Statement of the problem ? Drop in attendance and performance at work or school. Engaging in secretive or suspicious behaviors. ? Sudden change in friends, favorite hangouts, and hobbies. ? Unexplained change in personality or attitude. ? Sudden mood swings, irritability, or angry outbursts. ? Periods of unusual hyperactivity, agitation, or giddiness. ? To built up a drug tolerance ? take drugs to avoid or relieve withdrawal symptoms. ? lost control over your drug use ? life revolves around drug use ? abandoned activities you used to enjoy,  . continue to use drugs, despite knowing it’s hurting you. Significance of the study The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how a problemdetermined system developed around a case of drug addiction within the context of a system of relatedness. The epistemological framework informing this qualitative study was constructivism. The six participants who took part in the study represent the most prominent role players in the particular context of living.The individual battling with drug addiction, his parents, older sister, maternal grandmother and maternal aunt were interviewed. The methods of data collection employed were semi-structured interviews, a chronological event chart, genograms, and an eco-map. The interviews were interpreted using the hermeneutic approach. The different themes that emerged from each participant’s story were integrated in relation to each other and with respect to the collaborative sources of data.The most dominant themes extracted within this study are the initial reactions to Andrew’s drug addiction, life changes experienced due to Andrew’s drug addiction, support, as well as the meanings attributed to Andrew’s drug addiction. Further researcher into problem-determined systems in different cultures is recommende d. To Students: Firstly, the one reason of drug abuse among university students is peer pressure, particularly from the social influences among friends, school, and the community.If their social main group is using drugs, it can risk for teens because they are the juncture age that really easy to be persuaded. For example, most of university students got a lot of money from their parents and a lot of students left home and have a freedom to stay in dormitory by themselves, these can cause teenagers to try drugs just to fit in the social norms, they might do it to impress their buddies to be considered â€Å"cool† as part of being in the group and gain acceptance by friends.To Everybody:  as we now, today this entire staff called drug, affect mostly young people and it is more obvious in places where there are many gathered, like university because of the easiness of finding drugs in university, whenever they want, it is really easy for them to buy it because of weak law   enforcement in our country. In short, University students use drug because peer pressure, faulty function of the family, to relive their depression and the  weak law  enforcement. I think it is a big problem so much and we should do anything to protect them from drug.They need to be more educated about drug abuse and have a stopping drug campaign. Moreover, the most important that can help is a family. Strong family relationship, interest in your teens, talking with reasons can prevent drug use Limitations of the Study Throughout the entire process of completing this study, the following limitations were found: The focus of this study was only directed on the experiences of one particular family in one specific culture. This narrow scope might be considered a limitation to this study, as it only explored how a single Caucasian family ascribed meaning to their particular experience of rug addiction. However, the main reasoning or driving force of this study was not to generalise the experiences of a particular family as being similar or dissimilar to the experiences of other families. Therefore, the qualitative orientation of this study allowed me as the researcher to focus my attention solely on the manner in which one family conceptualised their experiences of drug addiction. As was pointed out, Terre Blanche et al. (2006) explain that a qualitative approach allows the researcher to study selected issues in depth, openness and etail as it involves the studying of real-life situations as they unfold naturally. Therefore, the focus of this study was not aimed at aspects of generalised applicability that would fall within the domain of quantitative research. Another limitation to this study was the absence of Tim’s perspective regarding the family drama. However, it was each participant’s privilege and right to decide whether they wanted to partake in this research study. Tim’s refusal to be a part of this research study was therefore re spected. Review or related determine Personal history and backgroundChildhood memory: [pic] In response to the news of Andrew’s drug addiction, David and Lauren both blamed themselves and tried to make sense of the situation. Both Emma and Sophia report that they also blamed David and Lauren for Andrew’s drug problem. When Katie heard about Andrew’s drug addiction, she blamed him for it, while Andrew also reported that he only had himself to blame. The first theme contains all the initial reactions experienced by the participants shortly after Andrew’s drug problem was exposed. Moreover, Andrew’s reaction to the responses from is family is also included here. Early adolescence Lauren, David, Katie, Emma and Sophia all reported experiencing shock. Both Lauren and David reported experiencing devastation, helplessness and guilt. Yet Lauren and David also felt relieved as they reported how the puzzle pieces fell into place at that moment. Emma was the only participant to report feelings of utter disbelief, and Katie was the only participant who reported that she was not surprised by the news of Andrew’s drug addiction as she had all along been suspecting that something was wrong with Andrew.Andrew reported feeling embarrassed and sad when he told his family about his drug problem. Turning point Theme Two: Life Changes Experienced due to Andrew’s Drug Addiction This theme characterises all the changes that resulted in the family from the impact of Andrew’s drug addiction. Also included in this theme are the changes that took place in Andrew’s own life as a result of his drug addiction. Emotional changes Lauren and David reported that they felt helpless, guilty and overwhelmed by Andrew’s drug addiction. Emma and Sophia reported that they felt overwhelmed by the extent of their involvement.Both Lauren and Andrew reported that they both felt utterly alone during this time. 15 Katie was the only par ticipant to report that she felt tied-down by her responsibilities toward her own family, and that she was subsequently rather uninvolved in Andrew’s problems. Andrew reported that he felt anger towards his family. Identity changes Lauren, David and Andrew reported that they thought of themselves as failures. Lauren felt that she had failed as a mother and David felt that he failed as a father. Andrew reported that he was labelled as the black sheep of the family when his drug addiction became public.David was the only participant to report that he was embarrassed by Andrew. Occupational changes Lauren reported that her occupational situation had become stressful as she repeatedly had to take time off from work as a result of Andrew’s drug addiction. She often had to attend court hearings when he had been arrested. Andrew reported that he had lost his job as a result of his drug addiction. Relationship changes Lauren, David, Katie and Andrew all reported that there was much more conflict between the family members. David and Lauren reported that communication within the family had become constrained.Emma and Sophia reported that they became much closer to the members of the Joubert family as a result of their involvement. Katie was the only participant to report that she visited her parents less because Andrew was there. Reinforcement The orientation of this study is also adequately disclosed in that, as the researcher, I clearly demarcated my personal interest in the study and expectations thereof. The nature of the study was also clearly explained. As the researcher, my engagement with the material is reflected through the hermeneutic process of data analysis, which attempts to discover meaning and to achieve understanding.Consequently, specific themes were identified that seem to underlie each participant’s unique experience regarding the topic of the study. Therefore, I attempted to approach this 26 study from a position of â€Å"not knowing† and allowed myself the privilege of seeing the world through the eyes of each participant that took part in this study. The hermeneutic process of data analysis also allowed me the opportunity to firmly ground the various interpretations, by linking each identified theme with examples from the specific interviews conducted with the participants.The validity of this study was obtained by utilising the â€Å"triangulation† strategy. The data generated in this study was obtained from multiple sources such as the literature study, the description of the family and its members, the genograms, a chronological event chart, an eco-map and semi-structured interviews. The validity of this study is further strengthened by the overall coherence reflected in the qualitative nature, postmodern ontology, constructivist epistemology, literature study, hermeneutic method of analysis and collaborative resources chosen for this study.As such, a visible thread of relevance runs th rough the different facets of this study. The study also appears â€Å"fruitful† as it provides an abundance of rich and meaningful descriptions about drug addiction as a problem-determined system. In particular, the participants that took part in this study all agreed that the ways in which I engaged them individually had made sense to them. As such, catalytic validity has been achieved. Conclusion This study allowed me as the researcher the profound privilege of bearing witness to intricate complexities of the Joubert family drama.Through the stories told by each participant, the themes that seem to underlie them, and from the collaborative sources of data, I was able to see how Andrew’s drug addiction developed within the context of his family system. The following hypotheses were made: It appears that the Joubert family has always had extremely limiting rules to which each member had to adhere. These rules inevitably resulted in the formation of redundant 28 patter ns of interaction between the family members.The limited family repertoire provided a sense of stability as it ensured the predictability of each family member. Perhaps Andrew’s birth marked the start of this family’s evolution from an â€Å"undifferentiated blob of sameness† to greater individual differentiation. When Andrew was much younger, it was easier for the family to maintain its stability or status quo by opposing the difference or the new information that Andrew tried to bring to the family system. At this time, Andrew was merely pushed toward the periphery of the family as he was labelled the black sheep and the outsider.Thus, by reframing the difference that Andrew brought to his family as deviance, the family was able to remain homeostatic and unchanged. But despite the Joubert family’s commitment to sameness, they had managed to create the context for change. Their immediate response to the challenge that Andrew’s drug addiction posed to their stability, was to form a problem-determined system whereby they all agreed through their languaging that Andrew’s drug addiction was in fact a problem. In this manner, the family tried to keep Andrew as their scapegoat by once again labelling him as the sole carrier of the problem.However, Andrew’s drug addiction was much stronger than the homeostatic tendency of the Joubert family unit, and so evolution could take place. As a result, the stable family system was pushed off its axes and relationships were altered to such an extent that greater differentiation amongst the family members was made possible. Finally, it seems appropriate to say that where there was a beginning there is now an ending and in that way the study has come full circle as it achieved that which it has set out to achieve.

Evolution of Management Essay

As long as there have been human endeavors, there have been people willing to take charge—people willing to plan, organize, staff, and control the work. One might say that nature abhors a vacuum and thus someone will always step forward to fill a leadership void. Probably the natural emergence of leadership grew out of our instinct for survival. In the hostile world of early humankind, food, shelter, and safety needs usually required cooperative efforts, and cooperative efforts required some form of leadership. Certainly leadership was vested in the heads of early families via the patriarchal system. The oldest member of the family was the most experienced and was presumed to be the wisest member of the family and thus was the natural leader. As families grew into tribes and tribes evolved into nations, more complex forms of leadership were required and did evolve. Division of labor and supervision practices is recorded on the earliest written record, the clay tablets of the Sumerians. In Sumerian society, as in many others since, the wisest and best leaders were thought to be the priests and other religious leaders. Likewise, the ancient Babylonian cities developed very strict codes, such as the code of Hammurabi. King Nebuchadnezzar used color codes to control production of the hanging gardens, and there were weekly and annual reports, norms for productivity, and rewards for piecework. The Egyptians organized their people and their slaves to build their cities and pyramids. Construction of one pyramid, around 5000 BC. , required the labor of 100,000 people working for approximately 20 years. Planning, organizing, and controlling were essential elements of that and other feats, many of them long term. The ancient Egyptian Pharaohs had long-term planners and advisors, as did their contemporaries in China. China perfected military organization based on line and staff principles and used these same principles in the early Chinese dynasties. Confucius wrote parables that offered practical suggestions for public administration. In the Old Testament, Moses led a group of Jewish slaves out of Egypt and then organized them into a nation. Exodus, Chapter 18, describes how Moses â€Å"chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, and differentiated between rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers of tens. A system of judges also evolved, with only the hard cases coming to Moses. The city-states of Greece were commonwealths, with councils, courts, administrative officials, and boards of generals. Socrates talked about management as a skill separate from technical knowledge and experience. Plato wrote about specialization and proposed notions of a healthy republic. The Roman Empire is thought by many to have been so successful because of the Romans’ great ability to organize the military and conquer new lands. Those sent to govern the far-flung parts of the empire were effective administrators and were able to maintain relationships with leaders from other provinces and across the empire as a whole. There are numerous other ancient leaders who were skillful organizers, at least as indicated by their accomplishments, such as Hannibal, who shepherded an army across the Alps, and the first emperor of China, who built the Great Wall. Many of the practices employed today in leading, managing, and administering modern organizations have their origins in antiquity. Many concepts of authority developed in a religious context. One example is the Roman Catholic Church with its efficient formal organization and management techniques. The chain of command or path of authority, including the concept of specialization, was a most important contribution to management theory. Machiavelli also wrote about authority, stressing that it comes from the consent of the masses. However, the ideas Machiavelli expressed in The Prince are more often viewed as mainly concerned with leadership and communication. Much management theory has military origins, probably because efficiency and effectiveness are essential for success in warfare. The concepts of unity of command, line of command, staff advisors, and division of work all can be traced back at least to Alexander the Great, or even earlier, to Lao Tzu. The Industrial Revolution created a need for new thinking and the refinement of old thinking. Time and motion studies intensified the division of work, as did centralized production and research and development. Modern management theory prevails afterwards. The preceding historical review indicates that thinking about management and leadership is in large part situational and that practices evolved to deal with new situations that arose. It also indicates that yesterday’s principles and theories are surprisingly contemporary and surprisingly sophisticated. Some overlap occurs, of course, and some gaps. Today’s theorists have attempted to fill in the gaps and adapt the theories to current situations. Yet, like in other areas of thought, not much is of recent origin in the field of management theory. The Evolution of Management Changes in management practices occur as managers, theorists, researchers, and consultants seek new ways to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness. The driving force behind the evolution of management theory is the search for better ways to utilize organizational resources. Advances in management theory typically occur as managers and researchers find better ways to perform the principal management tasks: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling human and other organizational resources. In this paper, we will try to examine how management theory concerning appropriate management practices has evolved in modern times, and look at the central concerns that have guided its development. First, we look into the so-called classical management theories that emerged around the turn of the twentieth century. These include scientific management, which focuses on matching people and tasks to maximize efficiency; and administrative management, which focuses on identifying the principles that will lead to the creation of the most efficient system of organization and management. Next, we consider behavioral management theories, developed both before and after the Second World War, which focus on how managers should lead and control their workforces to increase performance. Then we discuss management science theory, which developed during the Second World War and which has become increasingly important as researchers have developed rigorous analytical and quantitative techniques to help managers measure and control organizational performance. Finally, we discuss business in the 1960s and 1970s and focus on the theories that were developed to help explain how the external environment affects the way organizations and managers operate. At the end of this paper, one will understand the ways in which management theory has evolved over time. One will also understand how economic, political, and cultural forces have affected the development of these theories and the ways in which managers and their organizations behave. Figure 1. 1 summarizes the chronology of the management theories that are discussed in this paper. Scientific Management Theory The evolution of modern management began in the closing decades of the nineteenth century, after the industrial revolution had swept through Europe, Canada, and the United States. In the new economic climate, managers of all types of organizations—political, educational, and economic—were increasingly trying to find better ways to satisfy customers’ needs. Many major economic, technical, and cultural changes were taking place at this time. The introduction of steam power and the development of sophisticated machinery and equipment changed the way in which goods were produced, particularly in the weaving and clothing industries. Small workshops run by skilled workers who produced hand-manufactured products (a system called crafts production) were being replaced by large factories in which sophisticated machines controlled by hundreds or even thousands of unskilled or semiskilled workers made products. Owners and managers of the new factories found themselves unprepared for the challenges accompanying the change from small-scale crafts production to large-scale mechanized manufacturing. Many of the managers and supervisors had only a technical orientation, and were unprepared for the social problems that occur when people work together in large groups (as in a factory or shop system). Managers began to search for new techniques to manage their organizations’ resources, and soon they began to focus on ways to increase the efficiency of the worker–task mix. Job specialization and division of labor The famous economist Adam Smith was one of the first to look at the effects of different manufacturing systems. 7 He compared the relative performance of two different manufacturing methods. The first was similar to crafts-style production, in which each worker was responsible for all of the 18 tasks involved in producing a pin. The other had each worker performing only 1 or a few of the 18 tasks that go into making a completed pin. Smith found that factories in which workers specialized in only 1 or a few tasks had greater performance than factories in which each worker performed all 18 pin-making tasks. In fact, Smith found that 10 workers specializing in a particular task could, between them, make 48 000 pins a day, whereas those workers who performed all the tasks could make only a few thousand at most. Smith reasoned that this difference in performance was due to the fact that the workers who specialized became much more skilled at their specific tasks, and, as a group, were thus able to produce a product faster than the group of workers who each had to perform many tasks. Smith concluded that increasing the level of job specialization— the process by which a division of labour occurs as different workers specialize in different tasks over time—increases efficiency and leads to higher organizational performance. Based on Adam Smith’s observations, early management practitioners and theorists focused on how managers should organize and control the work process to maximize the advantages of job specialization and the division of labour. F. W. Taylor and Scientific Management Frederick W. Taylor (1856–1915) is best known for defining the techniques of scientific management, the systematic study of relationships between people and tasks for the purpose of redesigning the work process to increase efficiency. Taylor believed that if the amount of time and effort that each worker expended to produce a unit of output (a finished good or service) could be reduced by increasing specialization and the division of labour, then the production process would become more efficient. Taylor believed that the way to create the most efficient division of labour could best be determined by means of scientific management techniques, rather than intuitive or informal rule-of-thumb knowledge. This decision ultimately resulted in problems. For example, some managers using scientific management obtained increases in performance, but rather than sharing performance gains with workers through bonuses as Taylor had advocated, they simply increased the amount of work that each worker was expected to do. Many workers experiencing the reorganized work system found that as their performance increased, managers required them to do more work for the same pay. Workers also learned that increases in performance often meant fewer jobs and a greater threat of layoffs, because fewer workers were needed. In addition, the specialized, simplified jobs were often monotonous and repetitive, and many workers became dissatisfied with their jobs. Scientific management brought many workers more hardship than gain, and left them with a distrust of managers who did not seem to care about their wellbeing. These dissatisfied workers resisted attempts to use the new scientific management techniques and at times even withheld their job knowledge from managers to protect their jobs and pay. Unable to inspire workers to accept the new scientific management techniques for performing tasks, some organizations increased the mechanization of the work process. For example, one reason for Henry Ford’s introduction of moving conveyor belts in his factory was the realization that when a conveyor belt controls the pace of work (instead of workers setting their own pace), workers can be pushed to perform at higher levels—levels that they may have thought were beyond their reach. Charlie Chaplin captured this aspect of mass production in one of the opening scenes of his famous movie, Modern Times (1936). In the film, Chaplin caricatured a new factory employee fighting to work at the machine imposed pace but losing the battle to the machine. Henry Ford also used the principles of scientific management to identify the tasks that each worker should perform on the production line and thus to determine the most effective way to create a division of labour to suit the needs of a mechanized production system. From a performance perspective, the combination of the two management practices— (1) achieving the right mix of worker–task specialization and (2) linking people and tasks by the speed of the production line—makes sense. It produces the huge savings in cost and huge increases in output that occur in large, organized work settings. For example, in 1908, managers at the Franklin Motor Company redesigned the work process using scientific management principles, and the output of cars increased from 100 cars a month to 45 cars a day; workers’ wages increased by only 90 percent, however. From other perspectives, though, scientific management practices raise many concerns. The definition of the workers’ rights not by the workers themselves but by the owners or managers as a result of the introduction of the new management practices raises an ethical issue, which we examine in this â€Å"Ethics in Action. † Fordism in Practice From 1908 to 1914, through trial and error, Henry Ford’s talented team of production managers pioneered the development of the moving conveyor belt and thus changed manufacturing practices forever. Although the technical aspects of the move to mass production were a dramatic financial success for Ford and for the millions of Americans who could now afford cars, for the workers who actually produced the cars, many human and social problems resulted. With simplification of the work process, workers grew to hate the monotony of the moving conveyor belt. By 1914, Ford’s car plants were experiencing huge employee turnover—often reaching levels as high as 300 or 400 percent per year as workers left because they could not handle the work-induced stress. 15 Henry Ford recognized these problems and made an announcement: From that point on, to motivate his workforce, he would reduce the length of the workday from nine hours to eight hours, and the company would double the basic wage from US$2. 50 to US$5. 00 per day. This was a dramatic increase, similar to an announcement today of an overnight doubling of the minimum wage. Ford became an internationally famous figure, and the word â€Å"Fordism† was coined for his new approach. Ford’s apparent generosity was matched, however, by an intense effort to control the resources—both human and material—with which his empire was built. He employed hundreds of inspectors to check up on employees, both inside and outside his factories. In the factory, supervision was close and confining. Employees were not allowed to leave their places at the production line, and they were not permitted to talk to one another. Their job was to concentrate fully on the task at hand. Few employees could adapt to this system, and they developed ways of talking out of the sides of their mouths, like ventriloquists, and invented a form of speech that became known as the â€Å"Ford Lisp. † Ford’s obsession with control brought him into greater and greater conflict with managers, who were often fired when they disagreed with him. As a result, many talented people left Ford to join his growing rivals. Outside the workplace, Ford went so far as to establish what he called the â€Å"Sociological Department† to check up on how his employees lived and the ways in which they spent their time. Inspectors from this department visited the homes of employees and investigated their habits and problems. Employees who exhibited behaviours contrary to Ford’s standards (for instance, if they drank too much or were always in debt) were likely to be fired. Clearly, Ford’s effort to control his employees led him and his managers to behave in ways that today would be considered unacceptable and unethical, and in the long run would impair an organization’s ability to prosper. Despite the problems of worker turnover, absenteeism, and discontent at Ford Motor Company, managers of the other car companies watched Ford reap huge gains in efficiency from the application of the new management principles. They believed that their companies would have to imitate Ford if they were to survive. They followed Taylor and used many of his followers as consultants to teach them how to adopt the techniques of scientific management. In addition, Taylor elaborated his principles in several books, including Shop Management (1903) and The detail how to apply the principles of scientific management to reorganize the work system. Taylor’s work has had an enduring effect on the management of production systems. Managers in every organization, whether it produces goods or services, now carefully analyze the basic tasks that must be performed and try to devise the work systems that will allow their organizations to operate most efficiently. The Gilbreths Two prominent followers of Taylor were Frank Gilbreth (1868–1924) and Lillian Gilbreth (1878–1972), who refined Taylor’s analysis of work movements and made many contributions to time-and-motion study. Their aims were to (1) break up into each of its component actions and analyze every individual action necessary to perform a particular task, (2) find better ways to perform each component action, and (3) reorganize each of the component actions so that the action as a whole could be performed more efficiently—at less cost of time and effort. The Gilbreths often filmed a worker performing a particular task and then separated the task actions, frame by frame, into their component movements. Their goal was to maximize the efficiency with which each individual task was performed so that gains across tasks would add up to enormous savings of time and effort. Their attempts to develop improved management principles were captured—at times quite humorously—in the movie Cheaper by the Dozen, which depicts how the Gilbreths (with their 12 children) tried to live their own lives according to these efficiency principles and apply them to daily actions such as shaving, cooking, and even raising a family. Eventually, the Gilbreths became increasingly interested in the study of fatigue. They studied how the physical characteristics of the workplace contribute to job stress that often leads to fatigue and thus poor performance. They isolated factors— such as lighting, heating, the colour of walls, and the design of tools and machines—that result in worker fatigue. Their pioneering studies paved the way for new advances in management theory. In workshops and factories, the work of the Gilbreths, Taylor, and many others had a major effect on the practice of management. In comparison with the old crafts system, jobs in the new system were more repetitive, boring, and monotonous as a result of the application of scientific management principles, and workers became increasingly dissatisfied. Frequently, the management of work settings became a game between workers and managers: Managers tried to initiate work practices to increase performance, and workers tried to hide the true potential efficiency of the work setting in order to protect their own well-being. Administrative management theory Side by side with scientific managers studying the person–task mix to increase efficiency, other researchers were focusing on administrative management, the study of how to create an organizational structure that leads to high efficiency and effectiveness. Organizational structure is the system of task and authority relationships that control how employees use resources to achieve the organization’s goals. Two of the most influential views regarding the creation of efficient systems of organizational administration were developed in Europe. Max Weber, a German professor of sociology, developed one theory. Henri Fayol, the French manager who developed a model of management introduced earlier, developed the other. The Theory of Bureaucracy Max Weber (1864–1920) wrote at the turn of the twentieth century, when Germany was undergoing its industrial revolution. To help Germany manage its growing industrial enterprises at a time when it was striving to become a world power, Weber developed the principles of bureaucracy—a formal system of organization and administration designed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. A bureaucratic system of administration is based on five principles (summarized in Figure 1. 2). †¢ Principle 1: In a bureaucracy, a manager’s formal authority derives from the position he or she holds in the organization. Authority is the power to hold people accountable for their actions and to make decisions concerning the use of organizational resources. Authority gives managers the right to direct and control their subordinates’ behaviour to achieve organizational goals. In a bureaucratic system of administration, obedience is owed to a manager, not because of any personal qualities that he or she might possess— such as personality, wealth, or social status—but because the manager occupies a position that is associated with a certain level of authority and responsibility. †¢ Principle 2: In a bureaucracy, people should occupy positions because of their performance, not because of their social standing or personal contacts. This principle was not always followed in Weber’s time and is often ignored today. Some organizations and industries are still affected by social networks in which personal contacts and relations, not job-related skills, influence hiring and promotional decisions. †¢ Principle 3: The extent of each position’s formal authority and task responsibilities, and its relationship to other positions in an organization, should be clearly specified. When the tasks and authority associated with various positions in the organization are clearly specified, managers and workers know what is expected of them and what to expect from each other. Moreover, an organization can hold all its employees strictly accountable for their actions when each person is completely familiar with his or her responsibilities. †¢ Principle 4: So that authority can be exercised effectively in an organization, positions should be arranged hierarchically, so employees know whom to report to and who reports to them. Managers must create an organizational hierarchy of authority that makes it clear who reports to whom and to whom managers and workers should go if conflicts or problems arise. This principle is especially important in the armed forces, CSIS, RCMP, and other organizations that deal with sensitive issues involving possible major repercussions. It is vital that managers at high levels of the hierarchy be able to hold subordinates accountable for their actions. †¢ Principle 5: Managers must create a well-defined system of rules, standard operating procedures, and norms so that they can effectively control behaviour within an organization. Rules are formal written instructions that specify actions to be taken under different circumstances to achieve specific goals (for example, if A happens, do B). Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are specific sets of written instructions about how to perform a certain aspect of a task. A rule might state that at the end of the workday employees are to leave their machines in good order, and a set of SOPs then specifies exactly how they should do so, itemizing which machine parts must be oiled or replaced. Norms are unwritten, informal codes of conduct that prescribe how people should act in particular situations. For example, an organizational norm in a restaurant might be that waiters should help each other if time permits. Rules, SOPs, and norms provide behavioural guidelines that improve the performance of a bureaucratic system because they specify the best ways to accomplish organizational tasks. Companies such as McDonald’s and Wal-Mart have developed extensive rules and procedures to specify the types of behaviours that are required of their employees, such as, â€Å"Always greet the customer with a smile. † Weber believed that organizations that implement all five principles will establish a bureaucratic system that will improve organizational performance. The specification of positions and the use of rules and SOPs to regulate how tasks are performed make it easier for managers to organize and control the work of subordinates. Similarly, fair and equitable selection and promotion systems improve managers’ feelings of security, reduce stress, and encourage organizational members to act ethically and further promote the interests of the organization. If bureaucracies are not managed well, however, many problems can result. Sometimes, managers allow rules and SOPs—â€Å"bureaucratic red tape†Ã¢â‚¬â€to become so cumbersome that decision making becomes slow and inefficient and organizations are unable to change. When managers rely too much on rules to solve problems and not enough on their own skills and judgment, their behaviour becomes inflexible. A key challenge for managers is to use bureaucratic principles to benefit, rather than harm, an organization. Fayol’s Principles of Management Working at the same time as Weber but independently of him, Henri Fayol (1841–1925), the CEO of Comambault Mining, identified 14 principles (summarized in Table 2. ) that he believed to be essential to increasing the efficiency of the management process. Some of the principles that Fayol outlined have faded from contemporary management practices, but most have endured. The principles that Fayol and Weber set forth still provide a clear and appropriate set of guidelines that managers can use to create a work setting that makes efficient and effective use of organizational resources. These principles remain the bedrock of modern management theory; recent researchers have refined or developed them to suit modern conditions. For example, Weber’s and Fayol’s concerns for equity and for establishing appropriate links between performance and reward are central themes in contemporary theories of motivation and leadership. Behavioural Management Theory The behavioural management theorists writing in the first half of the twentieth century all espoused a theme that focused on how managers should personally behave in order to motivate employees and encourage them to perform at high levels and be committed to the achievement of organizational goals. The â€Å"Management Insight† indicates how employees can become demoralized when managers do not treat their employees properly. Management Insight – How to Discourage Employees Catherine Robertson, owner of Vancouver-based Robertson Telecom Inc. , made headlines in February 2001 for her management policies. Robertson is a government contractor whose company operates Enquiry BC, which gives British Columbians toll-free telephone information and referral services about all provincial government programs. Female telephone operators at Robertson Telecom must wear skirts or dresses even though they never come in contact with the public. Not even dress pants are allowed. As Gillian Savage, a former employee, notes, â€Å"This isn’t a suggested thing, it’s an order: No pants. † Brad Roy, another former employee, claims a female Indo-Canadian employee was sent home to change when she arrived at work wearing a Punjabi suit (a long shirt over pants). The no-pants rule is not the only concern of current and former employees. Roy also said, â€Å"I saw some people being reprimanded for going to the washroom. While Robertson denied Roy’s allegation regarding washrooms, she did confirm that company policy included the no-pants rule, that employees were not allowed to bring their purses or other personal items to their desks, and that they were not allowed to drink coffee or bottled water at their desks. The company does not provide garbage cans for the employees. A g roup of current and former employees recently expressed concern with the number of rules Robertson has in place, and claimed that the rules have led to high turnover and poor morale. A current employee claims that many workers do not care whether they give out the right government phone numbers. Robertson said that she knew of no employees who were discontent, and was shocked that the policies had caused distress among employees. She defended the dress code as appropriate business attire. Robertson may have to make some adjustments in her management style. The cabinet minister responsible for Enquiry BC, Catherine MacGregor, ordered an investigation of the contractor after being contacted by The Vancouver Sun about the allegations. She noted that the skirts-only rule for women is not appropriate, and that, â€Å"All of our contractors are expected to fully comply with the Employment Standards Act, Workers Compensation rules and human rights legislation. † Additionally, Mary-Woo Sims, head of the BC Human Rights Commission, said dress codes can’t be based on gender. Thus, an employer can’t tell men they must wear pants (as Robertson does), but tell women they can’t. â€Å"On the face of it, it would appear to be gender discriminatory,† Sims said. The Work of Mary Parker Follett If F. W. Taylor is considered to be the father of management thought, Mary Parker Follett (1868–1933) serves as its mother. 28 Much of her writing about management and about the way managers should behave toward workers was a response to her concern that Taylor was ignoring the human side of the organization. She pointed out that management often overlooks the multitude of ways in which employees can contribute to the organization when managers allow them to participate and exercise initiative in their everyday work lives. Taylor, for example, relied on time-and-motion experts to analyze workers’ jobs for them. Follett, in contrast, argued that because workers know the most about their jobs, they should be involved in job analysis and managers should allow them to participate in the work development process. Follett proposed that, â€Å"Authority should go with knowledge †¦ whether it is up the line or down. † In other words, if workers have the relevant knowledge, then workers, rather than managers, should be in control of the work process itself, and managers should behave as coaches and facilitators—not as monitors and supervisors. In making this statement, Follett anticipated the current interest in self-managed teams and empowerment. She also recognized the importance of having managers in different departments communicate directly with each other to speed decision making. She advocated what she called â€Å"cross-functioning†: members of different departments working together in cross-departmental teams to accomplish projects—an approach that is increasingly utilized today. Fayol also mentioned expertise and knowledge as important sources of managers’ authority, but Follett went further. She proposed that knowledge and expertise, and not managers’ formal authority deriving from their position in the hierarchy, should decide who would lead at any particular moment. She believed, as do many management theorists today, that power is fluid and should flow to the person who can best help the organization achieve its goals. Follett took a horizontal view of power and authority, in contrast to Fayol, who saw the formal line of authority and vertical chain of command as being most essential to effective management. Follett’s behavioural approach to management was very radical for its time. The Hawthorne Studies and Human Relations Probably because of its radical nature, Follett’s work was unappreciated by managers and researchers until quite recently. Instead, researchers continued to follow in the footsteps of Taylor and the Gilbreths. One focus was on how efficiency might be increased through improving various characteristics of the work setting, such as job specialization or the kinds of tools workers used. One series of studies was conducted from 1924 to 1932 at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company. This research, now known as the Hawthorne studies, began as an attempt to investigate how characteristics of the work setting—specifically the level of lighting or illumination—affect worker fatigue and performance. The researchers conducted an experiment in which they systematically measured worker productivity at various levels of illumination. The experiment produced some unexpected results. The researchers found that regardless of whether they raised or lowered the level of illumination, productivity increased. In fact, productivity began to fall only when the level of illumination dropped to the level of moonlight, a level at which presumably workers could no longer see well enough to do their work efficiently. The researchers found these results puzzling and invited a noted Harvard psychologist, Elton Mayo, to help them. Subsequently, it was found that many other factors also influence worker behaviour, and it was not clear what was actually influencing the Hawthorne workers’ behaviour. However, this particular effect— which became known as the Hawthorne effect—seemed to suggest that workers’ attitudes toward their managers affect the level of workers’ performance. In particular, the significant finding was that a manager’s behaviour or leadership approach can affect performance. This finding led many researchers to turn their attention to managerial behaviour and leadership. If supervisors could be trained to behave in ways that would elicit cooperative behaviour from their subordinates, then productivity could be increased. From this view emerged the human relations movement, which advocates that supervisors be behaviourally trained to manage subordinates in ways that elicit their cooperation and increase their productivity. The importance of behavioural or human relations training became even clearer to its supporters after another series of experiments—the bank wiring room experiments. In a study of workers making telephone switching equipment, researchers Elton Mayo and F. J. Roethlisberger discovered that the workers, as a group, had deliberately adopted a norm of output restriction to protect their jobs. Workers who violated this informal production norm were subjected to sanctions by other group members. Those who violated group performance norms and performed above the norm were called â€Å"ratebusters†; those who performed below the norm were called â€Å"chiselers. † The experimenters concluded that both types of workers threatened the group as a whole. Ratebusters threatened group members because they revealed to managers how fast the work could be done. Chiselers were looked down on because they were not doing their share of the work. Work-group members disciplined both ratebusters and chiselers in order to create a pace of work that the workers (not the managers) thought was fair. Thus, a work group’s influence over output can be as great as the supervisors’ influence. Since the work group can influence the behavior of its members, some management theorists argue that supervisors should be trained to behave in ways that gain the goodwill and cooperation of workers so that supervisors, not workers, control the level of work-group performance. One of the main implications of the Hawthorne studies was that the behavior of managers and workers in the work setting is as important in explaining the level of performance as the technical aspects of the task. Managers must understand the workings of the informal organization, the system of behavioural rules and norms that emerge in a group, when they try to manage or change behaviour in organizations. Many studies have found that, as time passes, groups often develop elaborate procedures and norms that bond members together, allowing unified action either to cooperate with management in order to raise performance or to restrict output and thwart the attainment of organizational goals. The Hawthorne studies demonstrated the importance of understanding how the feelings, thoughts, and behaviour of work-group members and managers affect performance. It was becoming increasingly clear to researchers that understanding behaviour in organizations is a complex process that is critical to increasing performance. Indeed, the increasing interest in the area of management known as organizational behaviour, the study of the factors that have an impact on how individuals and groups respond to and act in organizations, dates from these early studies. Theory X and Theory Y Several studies after the Second World War revealed how assumptions about workers’ attitudes and behaviour affect managers’ behaviour. Perhaps the most influential approach was developed by Douglas McGregor. He proposed that two different sets of assumptions about work attitudes and behaviours dominate the way managers think and affect how they behave in organizations. McGregor named these two contrasting sets of assumptions Theory X and Theory Y (see Figure 1. 3). THEORY X According to the assumptions of Theory X, the average worker is lazy, dislikes work, and will try to do as little as possible. Moreover, workers have little ambition and wish to avoid responsibility. Thus, the manager’s task is to counteract workers’ natural tendencies to avoid work. To keep workers’ performance at a high level, the manager must supervise them closely and control their behaviour by means of â€Å"the carrot and stick†Ã¢â‚¬â€rewards and punishments. Managers who accept the assumptions of Theory X design and shape the work setting to maximize their control over workers’ behaviours and minimize workers’ control over the pace of work. These managers believe that workers must be made to do what is necessary for the success of the organization, and they focus on developing rules, SOPs, and a well-defined system of rewards and punishments to control behaviour. They see little point in giving workers autonomy to solve their own problems because they think that the workforce neither expects nor desires cooperation. Theory X managers see their role as to closely monitor workers to ensure that they contribute to the production process and do not threaten product quality. Henry Ford, who closely supervised and managed his workforce, fits McGregor’s description of a manager who holds Theory X assumptions. THEORY Y In contrast, Theory Y assumes that workers are not inherently lazy, do not naturally dislike work, and, if given the opportunity, will do what is good for the organization. According to Theory Y, the characteristics of the work setting determine whether workers consider work to be a source of satisfaction or punishment; and managers do not need to control workers’ behaviour closely in order to make them perform at a high level, because workers will exercise selfcontrol when they are committed to organizational goals. The implication of Theory Y, according to McGregor, is that â€Å"the limits of collaboration in the organizational setting are not limits of human nature but of management’s ingenuity in discovering how to realize the potential represented by its human resources. It is the manager’s task to create a work setting that encourages commitment to organizational goals and provides opportunities for workers to be imaginative and to exercise initiative and self-direction. When managers design the organizational setting to reflect the assumptions about attitudes and behaviour suggested by Theory Y, the characteristics of the o rganization are quite different from those of an organizational setting based on Theory X. Managers who believe that workers are motivated to help the organization reach its goals can decentralize authority and give more control over the job to workers, both as individuals and in groups. In this setting, individuals and groups are still accountable for their activities, but the manager’s role is not to control employees but to provide support and advice, to make sure employees have the resources they need to perform their jobs, and to evaluate them on their ability to help the organization meet its goals. Henri Fayol’s approach to administration more closely reflects the assumptions of Theory Y, rather than Theory X. Management Science Theory This theory focuses on the use of rigorous quantitative techniques to help managers make maximum use of organizational resources to produce goods and services. In essence, management science theory is a contemporary extension of scientific management, which, as developed by Taylor, also took a quantitative approach to measuring the worker–task mix in order to raise efficiency. There are many branches of management science; each of them deals with a specific set of concerns: Quantitative management utilizes mathematical techniques—such as linear and nonlinear programming, modelling, simulation, queuing theory, and chaos theory—to help managers decide, for example, how much inventory to hold at different times of the year, where to locate a new factory, and how best to invest an organization’s financial capital. Resources in the organizational environment include the raw materials and skilled people that an organization requires to produce goods and services, as well as the support of groups including customers who buy these goods and services and provide the organization with financial resources. One way of determining the relative success of an organization is to consider how effective its managers are at obtaining scarce and valuable resources. The importance of studying the environment became clear after the development of open-systems theory and contingency theory during the 1960s. The Open-Systems View One of the most influential views of how an organization is affected by its external environment was developed by Daniel Katz, Robert Kahn, and James Thompson in the 1960s. 38 These theorists viewed the organization as an open system— a system that takes in resources from its external environment and converts or transforms them into goods and services that are then sent back to that environment, where they are bought by customers (see Figure 1. 4). At the input stage, an organization acquires resources such as raw materials, money, and skilled workers to produce goods and services. Once the organization has gathered the necessary resources, conversion begins. At the conversion stage, the organization’s workforce, using appropriate tools, techniques, and machinery, transforms the inputs into outputs of finished goods and services such as cars, hamburgers, or flights to Hawaii. At the output stage, the organization releases finished goods and services to its external environment, where customers purchase and use them to satisfy their needs. The money the organization obtains from the sales of its outputs allows the organization to acquire more resources so that the cycle can begin again. The system just described is said to be â€Å"open† because the organization draws from and interacts with the external environment in order to survive; in other words, the organization is open to its environment. A closed system, in contrast, is a self-contained system that is not affected by changes that occur in its external environment. Organizations that operate as closed ystems, that ignore the external environment and that fail to acquire inputs, are likely to experience entropy, the tendency of a system to lose its ability to control itself and thus to dissolve and disintegrate. Management theorists can model the activities of most organizations by using the open-systems view. Manufacturing companies like Ford and General Electric, for example, buy inputs such as component parts, skilled and semiskilled labour, and robots and computer-controlled manufacturing equipment; then, at the conversion stage, they use their manufacturing skills to assemble inputs into outputs of cars and computers. As we discuss in later chapters, competition between organizations for resources is one of several major challenges to managing the organizational environment. Researchers using the open-systems view are also interested in how the various parts of a system work together to promote efficiency and effectiveness. Systems theorists like to argue that â€Å"the parts are more than the sum of the whole†; they mean that an organization performs at a higher level when its departments work together rather than separately. Synergy, the performance gains that result when individuals and departments coordinate their actions, is possible only in an organized system. The recent interest in using teams comprising people from different departments reflects systems theorists’ interest in designing organizational systems to create synergy and thus increase efficiency and effectiveness.

How to Say Thank You in Latin

How to Say Thank You in Latin The people of the ancient Roman Empire, who spoke Latin, expressed the concept of thank you in multiple ways. A formal thank you was commonly said as gratias tibi ago.  A less formal thank-you was simply benigne. Thank You in Latin Gratias tibi ago literally means Thanks to you I give.  The singular of gratias is gratia,  which means  gratitude, esteem, obligation. So it makes sense that the plural would mean thanks. If you were thanking more than one person (thanks to you all I give), you would change the singular indirect pronoun tibi  to the plural vobis, like this:  Gratias vobis ago.   If more than one person is thanking someone, the singular verb  ago (I give)  becomes the plural  agimus  (we give):  Gratias tibi/vobis  agimus. The Grammar Behind the Phrase Using the idiom gratias ago  or some equivalent  was the typical way that Latin speakers formally thanked each other. Notice that both forms of you are in the dative case because this pronoun is the indirect object of the verb  ago. Tu is the dative singular form, while the dative plural form is  vobis.  The verb ago  is in the first-person singular present active indicative form. Agimus is the first-person plural. Latin didnt typically use the subject pronoun, thus we dont spell out the first-person  singular nominative pronoun  ego  or the first-person plural nos.  Gratias is in the accusative (direct object of ago) plural form of  gratia, a first-declension feminine noun.   Latin sentences typically follow the subject-object-verb word order, but this can change depending on what the speaker wants to emphasize, with the stressed word coming first. For instance, the usual I give thanks to you would employ the standard gratias tibi ago  order. To emphasize the person being thanked, use tibi/vobis gratias ago. To emphasize the person giving the thanks, use ago gratias tibi/vobis. Expressions Thank you very much. Gratias maximas (tibi ago). /  Gratias ago tibi valde.   Thanks be to God. Deo gratias. Thank you for something. The preferred way to express this is to use the preposition  pro with the noun (ablative case) referring to what youre thanking someone for.  Instead of pro, use propter with the noun as a gerund in the accusative case for a less idiomatic version. Form the  gerund by adding -ndum to the stem. I want to thank you for your kindness.   Gratias tibi propter misericordiam volo. We thank you for good friends. Tibi gratias agimus  pro amicitia. I thank you for food. Tibi gratias ago  pro cibo. We thank you for wine.   Tibi gratias agimus a vino.  Ã‚   Thank you for the gift.   Tibi gratias ago pro dono. Thank someone for something they did:  Ã‚  After pro, use a gerund in the ablative case.   Thank you for saving me. Tibi gratias ago pro me servando. Less Formal Latin for Thank You There are other ways of thanking that are less formal and seem more like the modern English thanks or its equivalents in Romance languages, such as the French  merci. To say thanks or no, thanks, just use the adverb  benigne (generously, kindly). Whether its an acceptance or a polite rejection depends on how you express it. For example: Benigne! Thank you! (Roughly How generous of you or How kind of you) Benigne ades.   Nice of you to come. Benigne dicis.   Nice of you to say so, which is an appropriate way to accept a compliment.   Source The Dative Case. The Ohio State University, Columbus OH.

How truckers can protect their mental health

How truckers can protect their mental health Attention all truckers: Of course you want to do your job well, which includes getting every haul to it’s intended destination on schedule, but do you know that taking good care of yourself, both mentally and physically, is a key component of being able to do your best possible work? It’s true- truckers often work long, grueling hours in cramped and isolated conditions, which can take its toll on their general well-being over time. When this happens, drivers aren’t doing themselves any favors or setting themselves up for long-term success on the job, which may be why burnout is a common problem among truckers.Smart Trucking recently published an article that features practical tips for truckers to maintain good mental health, so that they can perform all aspects of their jobs effectively while avoiding mental health issues and burnout. If you’re a trucker, and plan on being one for the long haul, consider taking advantage of the following tips for maintain ing good mental health.Consider a travel companionIf feasible and allowed, consider a co-pilot whenever you can, to help beat the road isolation that’s common for most truck drivers. A spouse, significant other, or even a pet in the passenger seat can help keep your spirits up when you’re making a long haul.Maintain a strong networkMake sure you’re taking care of your connections with friends and family while you’re on the road. These days it’s easier than ever to stay in contact with loved ones, so make sure you do so, which will help you stay grounded and feel supported through the seemingly endless miles on the road.Maintain a routineMost folks are creatures of routine and usually benefit from having one. A positive daily routine can give your life structure and also help you get things done. Although you spend most of your day behind the wheel, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a routine to stick to, from the moment you wake up unt il you go to bed.Exercise when possibleExercise does not just help keep you in good physical shape; it’s also great for maintaining a positive mental state. Try adding in some physical activity whenever possible to keep your mental health razor sharp.Maintain a good dietJust like exercise, a good diet is more than just good for your body- it’s good for your mental state. Although it can be tough to make healthy eating choices when on the road, do your best to try and you’ll be sure to see the benefits in your energy level, mood, and overall well-being.Bring some comforts from homeAlthough your truck cab may be small, that doesn’t mean you can’t make room for some comforting reminders of home. Some photos, knick-knacks, and small decorations can help keep you feeling positive and comforted when you’re driving.Keep your mind activeKeep your brain active and occupied while driving by listen to music, podcasts, or audiobooks. You can put that dr iving time to good use by expanding your knowledge and horizons.Make good grooming a priorityWhen we take care of ourselves and take the time to look our best, we feel better and our overall mood and outlook improves. Make the time to make good grooming a priority, and you’ll be glad you did.Make the most of your downtimeSure, truckers typically work long hours and have very little downtime. That said, when you do find yourself with some precious moments outside of your truck’s cab, make the most of it. Whenever feasible, get out from behind the steering wheel and enjoy your life.Sure, being a truck driver is hard work, but it doesn’t have to burn you out mentally and physically. Use the tips provided here to maintain a positive mental state when you’re driving, and hopefully you’ll sit happily behind the wheel for a successful career!

How the media influeces society Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

How the media influeces society - Research Paper Example A possible way that can directly measure how exactly the media affect people is through an unethical experiment where the person is exposed to only media and not other sources of possible influence, such as family, religion, education, and other institutions. Despite constraints on determining causal relationships between mass media and social effects, several empirical attempts have been made to understand how media can influence society. Mass media affects society through providing a model for learning behaviors, setting agenda that can affect people’s prioritization of and response to social issues, and framing information that can impact how people understand and react to events and schemas. Mass media influences society by offering models for learning behaviors. Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory can help explain how mass media shapes behaviors. Social Learning Theory states that people learn attitudes and behaviors by â€Å"observing and modeling† othe rs (â€Å"Social Learning Theory†). Learning is not the same as imitating because learning means that people are not only imitating something, but has absorbed the underlying knowledge and/or skills, as well as values and norms (when present). Mass media can then have positive or negative effects on people by shaping their attitudes and/or behaviors through the social modeling mechanism of learning. One of the most studied and controversial mass media effects is violence, specifically youth violence. Craig Anderson and colleagues surveyed a wide literature of media effects on violence. They stress that, based on their findings, numerous studies with different sampling, methods, and media genres prove that violence in mass media can increase the possibility of aggressive behaviors for the youth in the short-run and/or long run through different ways. Craig et al. state that observational learning can result to children learning â€Å"aggressive attitudes and behaviors† from mass media, such as â€Å"television and video games† (94). The studies of Bjorkqvist in 1985 on 5 to 6-year olds Finnish kids and Josephson in 1987 on 7 to 9-year old boys provide some evidence that, for their cross-sectional studies with control groups, those who â€Å"watched violent films† acted more violently against other children afterwards than those who did not watch violent films (qtd. in Craig et al. 85). Mass media can be argued as affecting these children by providing negative models of violent behaviors, which affected their actions too, at least in the short run. A longitudinal study from Eron et al. show that boys who watched violent TV shows since the age of 8 showed â€Å"more violent attitudes† later on in life (qtd. in Craig et al. 87). Mass media can have, based on this study, lasting effects on people’s behaviors too, provided that it is a prevalent and significant presence in a child’s life. These studies indicate that m ass media can affect society by teaching harmful models of behaviors. Not all mass media effects on society are negative, nevertheless, because mass media can be programmed to teach pro-social behaviors too, where it can affect society through modeling positive attitudes and behaviors for the youth. Many television and CD/DVD shows, for instance, are geared to teaching children positive social behaviors and new knowledge and skills. Dimitri A. Christakis et al. wanted to know if exposing children to TV shows that teach