Assessment of Health Perception Essay

In the Assessment of Health Perception, Spirituality and Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Within a Private College Cohort, Sandra Ramey delved deep into the heart of cardiovascular disease perception, status, and risk factors among college students. It discussed in detail the causes of cardiovascular disease in a college environment. Ramey also discussed in this article the possible solutions to the health problems. Throughout the article, Ramey used existing evidences, such as statistics and examples, in analyzing the situations faced by college students. It is written in a way that is easy to understand for college students to be aware of the growing problem involving them and the academe and some possible solutions to their problem. Furthermore, the article can also be a springboard for further research on college student health not only on CVD but other health risks as well. Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors The increased prevalence of several cardiovascular disease risk factors, specifically overweight and obesity, hypercholesterolemia and stress, among college students has gotten the attention of health practitioners across the country. These risk factors are attributed to many root factors that begin during childhood. The article discussed how these conditions worsen during college. It tries to identify how stress and emotional health affect a student’s health condition, specifically eating patterns and behavior. Ramey suggested that knowing these factors better can help diminish the development of chronic disease. Emotional Well-being and Spirituality Among the detriments to emotional well-being and impediments to academic success identified by college students, as shown in the NAPNAP’s Keep your children/yourself Safe and Secure (KySS) campaign, are the following: 1. stress; 2. sleep difficulties; 3. concern for family and friends; and, 4. relationship difficulties. The KySS survey also showed that the top worry for both teens and parents was â€Å"how to cope with stressful things in their life† (Ramey, 2005). Knowing this, Ramey continued to discuss current efforts to curb the growing risk. One of the important findings that were discussed was the effects of spirituality in perceiving emotional well-being (Ramey 2005). A study on 2003 by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California was cited to have examined the spiritual life of college students and was showing positive results, including declining levels of emotional health problems in students. This means that spirituality can be used to help prevent further complications such as CVD. Conclusion Ramey provided a content-rich article that was well-researched and provided with statistical data and research findings. It is a good read for college students to be aware of CVD and the risk factors causing it. The article is also a good source of information for health practitioners for further research about the growing health risk among college students. References Ramey, S. L. (2005). Assessment of health perception, spirituality and prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors within a private college cohort. Pediatric Nursing, May-June 2005

Social Exchange Theory

Reaction Paper #2 The Social Exchange Theory was very interesting for me to research as I was not familiar with it before this class. I learned about the basic parts of the theory, how it can pertain to marriage and divorce, and how it can help me in parenting. Self-interest is the main focus of this particular theory and can be described as a utilitarian way of thinking. After more research, I learned that utilitarian thinking in family studies is concerned with achieving outcomes that are most valued (White & Klein, 2008). Within this theory, the actors are most concerned with rewards and costs. Rewards are considered anything that is perceived as beneficial to the person’s interest, and the costs are just the inverse of the rewards. As a past math teacher, this was analytically easy for me to understand, but seemed very selfish to me. To me, someone who based their relationships and choices on this theory did it for their own personal profit and maximization. Even if there are no rewards, the actors will make whatever choices are necessary to minimize the costs (Chibucos & Leite, 2005). I did not fully accept and understand the social exchange theory until I read the additional assigned readings. One of these articles was written by Susan Sprecher. She completed a longitudinal study on the social exchange theory within dating couples (Chibucos & Leite, 2005). As I examined her findings, I realized that most individuals make choices based on rewards and costs, and I sometimes refer to them as pros and cons of a decision. It did not seem so selfish, but more of a well thought out plan. I also realized that I had made choices as described by the social exchange theory many times in my life, specifically concerning my long-term relationships. I chose to get married in 1990 because the benefits outweighed the costs of marriage. Yes, I even made a list. The benefits included companionship of the one I loved and trusted, the option to start a family and have children, and begin building lifelong relationship with the person that I had chosen to grown old with. I knew there were going to be costs to a marriage, but as a young adult, I did not realize all of them. The costs, in my mind, included a loss of independence, putting our money together, accountability, and maybe some contention. It seemed to me that my benefits were greater than any costs, and I was willing and excited to make my vows. As time went on, children began arriving into our home. It seemed that as the stresses of family life increased, so did our marital contention. Somewhere during our fifth year of marriage, I made a list of the benefits and costs, or pros and cons as it seemed at the time, as to whether or not to continue my marriage. The benefits were about the same, but the costs were increasing annually. Finances were very tight, my husband chose to spend a lot of time away from home, anger problems were escalating, and being a mother of two children was hard without help from my husband. Nonetheless, the benefits seemed to outweigh the costs, because I knew divorce would be more costly. By the eighteenth year of our marriage, my marriage had taken a terrible turn. A private investigator informed me that my husband was living with a 22-year-old and had been for over three months. I had five children, relied solely on my husband’s salary for support, and did not want the identity of being â€Å"divorced. † But I think the devastation of discovering his romantic relationship, the length of his infidelity, and the fact that he made no attempts to resolve matters, made my benefits and costs equation easy to solve. My benefits were to teach my daughters that this was unacceptable behavior and should never be tolerated and to teach my sons that there are dire consequences to such choices as a husband. I almost felt that my agency had been taken away as I had to choose to divorce my husband. Now three years later, I can examine that divorce equation and see that I made the best choice for my family, and that without even realizing it, I was using the social exchange theory to resolve a great issue in my life. This theory is more easily seen within large issues to me, what about my everyday parenting? I have watched for the past few weeks how I can help my children within these guidelines. With some careful thought, I helped one of our children decide the best place to sit on the school bus. If he chose one seat, he could sit with more popular kids, but he stood a higher chance of getting in trouble for misconduct. If he chose a less desirable seat, he could stay out of trouble and befriend a new student who recently moved into town, therefore, making a new friend. With some discussion, he was able to analyze on his own which seat would be more beneficial to him. Another time I was able to use this knowledge within parenting was in helping my daughter with her math teacher. My daughter dislikes math anyway, and sees no longterm reason to learn it. She was assigned a specific teacher at school and was not doing especially well, per her grades. My daughter disliked the teacher stating that she was too strict and assigned too much homework. Her friends told her that she did not need the specific math class to graduate and encouraged her to change classes. Using the social exchange theory, we not only discussed the importance of math, but how learning to get along with this math teacher could greatly benefit her grades. We encouraged her to talk to her teacher about her difficulties and to request some clarifications about specific concepts. My daughter chose to try it out because during our discussion she could see the benefits, although, she was not completely convinced. She went to her teacher, worked out some differences, and her grades reflect the benefits. I now more fully appreciate the opportunity I have had to research, analyze, and give a presentation on the social exchange theory. It increased my knowledge and gave me the opportunity to reflect on some past decisions I have made in my life. I can see that this theory is not applicable to all choices, but it is helpful to know that it is an option when dealing with difficult decisions pertaining to relationships. I can see why some would consider it reductionist (Piercy class notes, September 29, 2011). I think I would feel that a therapist was not taking my personal issues seriously if they were reduced to just costs or benefits. With this in mind, a marriage and family therapist might not want to use this framework when working with major relationship issues. When the social exchange theory was further explained in class, I was able to grasp the thought of being under benefitted and over benefitted in a relationship (Piercy class notes, September 29, 2011). I do not think that any relationship is ever equal, but if we think about how and/or if each person involved benefits, we can help each person better relate to one another. This might be a better way that a therapist could use this theory in a counseling setting. As Dr. Piercy said, â€Å"Satisfaction and commitment are more important than equity† (Piercy class notes, September 29, 2011).

Analysis of the Book Two Cheers of Anarchism Essay

Analysis of the Book Two Cheers of Anarchism - Essay Example The essay "Analysis of the Book 'Two Cheers of Anarchism'" discusses anarchism in terms of a concrete connection to the author's experience. An analysis of the author’s central and peripheral ideas would reveal the following: James Scott explains that the author’s interest of anarchist critique is as a result of disillusionments as well as loss of hope in a revolutionary change. When he came to political; consciousness he discovers he has no hope I the revolutionary change. Change is because he needs to get away from certain conditions he does not like or approve of. He justifies this by making reference to Max’s anarchist critique as well as that of Lenin which seemed more relevant. He refers to the revolution in France that consequently led to confrontational Napoleonic state. In this sense, the author is not for revolutionary movements. He has given up in them. He sees the revolutions as counterproductive. However, what brings about revolutions, especially political revolutions. It is dissatisfaction with the status quo. He advocates for anarchy as better since there are the voluntary agreements. In asserting that anarchist behaviors can be seen in people who have never even known about anarchy is indeed true because the anarchist philosophy exists in their political ways and agitations. His anarchist squint entails defense of politics as well as debate and conflict. This is a rather democratic one and seeks to tolerate differences. This implies to true freedom as a way to ensure true justice.

Cyber Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cyber Law - Essay Example Jurisdiction refers to the power and authority of a government to adjudicate, legislate and enforce its laws it is bound by territorial confines (does not outspread beyond the territory) (Singh, 2010). At one given time, the first questions that courts consider when a case is brought forward is whether they have the mandate to hear the case and whether they are the most appropriate courts for to hear the case.   If a court does not have jurisdiction over a matter, then the court is regarded as incompetent to adjudicate the matter and if it hears and make a decision over the matter, then the ruling made by the court would be quashed and termed as null and void (Chander, 2010). In this era of internet, worries of sovereignty and jurisdiction have rapidly come to the fore because internet does not make jurisdictional and geographical boundaries clear (Sherry, 2013). Therefore, for the above explained situation, the transaction may involve application of at least two jurisdictions name ly 1) the laws of the state/nation in which the user resides, the laws of the state/nation that apply where the server hosting the transaction is located (owner of Widget product). The law of the state/nation which applies to a person or business with whom a transaction takes place may also apply as the third law (Sherry, 2013).   For the case of the user in California, Federal Statues should apply since they are the supreme laws on the US soil and they overrule any opposing USA constituent state’s statues.

In recent years, honeybee colonies have been experiencing Colony Essay

In recent years, honeybee colonies have been experiencing Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Given the key role of honeybees - Essay Example The honey bees that leave for the forage largely do not return back to their hives and this is especially witnessed to a large extent with migratory bees which are trucked from one country to another for pollination purposes. Scientists have begun to unravel the causes behind this phenomenon as it is a major source of income for the beekeepers and also the farmers depend on it for crop production (Johnson, 2010). In the earlier times a 10 percent loss in honey bee population in a season was considered to be normal, which then rose to 30 percent due to infection by parasitic mites and beginning from 2006 many commercial beekeepers have reported a loss of 30 to 90 percent average colony loss with the onset of CDD. Even the surviving colonies showed weak viability. Though a majority of the losses have been attributed to known causes about 25% of the loss is estimated to have occurred due to CCD. These losses of colonies occur throughout the year and are not seasonal. The major symptoms of this condition are the rapid loss of adult bee workers without any accumulation of dead bees in the hive which is an indication that these bees are not retuning back to the hive that is highly unusual in case of the bee population. These adult bees leave behind their brood which is generally inactive. In addition, there is also the presence of food stores that includes both honey and bee bread. The queen bee is generally present and actively laying eggs (Johnson, 2010; Colony Collapse Disorder, n.d). In case of actively collapsing bee colonies, only an insufficient workforce of young adult bees will be present and though the queen is present the population does not show an inclination to consume food (Colony Collapse Disorder, n.d). Research carried out to determine the causative factors for this condition has found out that CCD could be a syndrome which is not caused by any one particular factor but a combination of several factors (multifactorial). Some of the major possible fa ctors that threaten the bee population are viruses, parasites and microbes, pesticides, antibiotics, miticides, radiations, genetically modified crops and climatic and other environmental changes (Johnson, 2010; Colony Collapse Disorder, n.d). The USDA’s Agriculture Research Service, the Pennsylvania State University and several other universities are conducting most of the current research to unravel the cause of this phenomenon (Johnson, 2010). A recent study carried out by the Washington State University has shown that CCD could be caused due to a combination of toxic chemicals and pathogens present in honeycombs as the bees present in such combs had reduced longevity (Gutierrez, 2010). Of these, chronic exposures to pesticides, miticides and antibiotics have been shown to have an impact on the immune system of the honey bees and hence on their response to infection. In addition, bees have a reduced number of genes which offer resistance to various diseases and toxins thus making the bee population more vulnerable to such problems (Colony Collapse Disorder, n.d). These toxic chemicals are believed to cause the colony to collapse either by themselves or by combining with each other, which would result in increased toxicity to the hive. In addition scientists are also studying the combinatory effects

Deloitte SWOT Company Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Deloitte SWOT Company - Assignment Example Since Deloitte is among the biggest consulting service providers, it is critical to conduct a SWOT analysis for the company to understand its success in the corporate world. The SWOT analysis will also identify areas that may require adjustments and appropriate changes The Value driven approach present at Deloitte differentiates the company from others in the consulting services business sector. Focusing on the value of the client is part of Deloitte business strategy. The company chooses to stick to engage its customers in the company’s operations until there are significant improvements in that particular area. There is a defined business value in everything the company does from promotions to IT. The fact that Deloitte has a defined business value in every functional unit of the company gives a competitive advantage over other firms in the industry. Deloitte uses the Value Map to identify potential areas with clients where the company can improve the value of the enterprise . The Value Map can also help the company in establishing a value-based billing approach. The fact that Deloitte is Business-led in its approach to clients is an added strength to the company. The IT-enabled approach to engagements helps Deloitte attract more customers especially those who are IT-centric. An understanding of the client’s business is a crucial factor in providing a satisfactory outcome in the consulting business sector. A strong technological practice is a strength Deloitte uses in its marketing approach. Companies in the consulting services industry differentiate themselves by the importance of their functional and business best practices. However, the variation among these providers in the level of business, processes and technology expertise. Deloitte exhibits depth in vertical industries and business process knowledge resulting from the company’s clear business strategy.

Principles of Economics Gross Domestic Product Essay

Principles of Economics Gross Domestic Product - Essay Example During the base year nominal and real GDP are equal. Therefore real GDP reflects both prices and quantities of goods and services produced by an economy, whereas nominal GDP reflects the produced quantities only. GDP does not reflect accurately the nation's productivity. There are products that GDP excludes, because it is difficult to measure them. For one thing, GDP includes all items produced and sold legally in the market. This means that products that are produced and sold illegally cannot be traced and measured by the GDP. Additionally, GDP does not include products and services that are actually produced by households but never enter the market. These are, for example, home grown fruit or vegetables that are used within the households that cultivate them. Also, GDP excludes other immeasurable variables like the quality of the environment or leisure time and does not reflect the distribution of income within an economy.

Academic Report on video game addiction social responsibility Essay

Academic Report on video game addiction social responsibility - Essay Example The authors also believe that the companies which produce the games should be somewhat responsible for their consumers. This particular article would be helpful in establishing distinct ways that society can be more responsible when it comes to this issue as the article presents several specific examples for this. In addition, the article does a good job of presenting an overview of the problem which would be helpful in establishing the background for the paper. Mehroof, Mehwash, and Mark D. Griffiths. "Online Gaming Addiction: The Role of Sensation Seeking, Self-Control, Neuroticism, Aggression, State Anxiety, and Trait Anxiety." CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking 13.3 (2010): 313-316. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. This article provides a study that details some of the consequences in terms of a person’s mental well-being when they have become addicted to video games. For instance, the research illustrates that those who are addicted to video games display an overall increase in aggression, violent behavior, anxiety, and neuroticism. The study found that these behaviors or personality traits were very prevalent in those who were addicted to online gaming. The article would be helpful for a research paper on the topic of video game addiction and social responsibility in that it provides evidence as to how video or online gaming impacts a person negatively. This impact can be pointed to in order to prove that society should be held to a higher standard in terms of how it deals with this type of

Global Leaders Essay Example for Free

Global Leaders Essay For my essay I chose Nicolas Sarkozy, who is the President of the French Republic. I would describe Nicolas Sarkozy’s leadership style as visionary, affiliative, commanding and pacesetting. Nicolas Sarkozy has a reputation as being â€Å"confident and fast-paced† and â€Å"aggressive†. I would consider Mr. Sarkozy as a visionary on the fact that he was once a lawyer and is close to his people. Mr. Sarkozy inspires people with his vision and reforms. Mr. Sarkozy is affiliative by boosting morale during the economies downturn by saving the French company Alstom. Mr. Sarkozy would be considered commanding and pacesetting on the bases that he is very focus driven and has high standards that he expects to be done when he wants them done. I chose to compare U. S. President Barack Obama to French Republic President Nicolas Sarkozy. I would consider President Obama as the â€Å"new school† style of leadership as opposed to President Sarkozy’s â€Å"old school† style of leadership. I would describe Mr. Obama’s leadership as visionary, coaching, democratic. Mr. Obama and Mr. Sarkozy leadership styles defer in that President Obama is not an aggressive leader but instead puts more effort into the visionary, coaching, and democratic approach to get the people’s value and support. While President Sarkozy has a more my way or the highway approach and more effort is put towards the affiliative, pacesetting and commanding leadership style. Both Presidents have a common style of being visionaries; they spend time in inspiring their people on the course that should be taken.

Silas Marner Essay Example for Free

Silas Marner Essay In the book Silas marner, George Elliot uses many themes to bring the book alive and also to grasp the reader’s attention. Silas marner is written by a woman who named herself George Elliot as a mean to publish her novels. Themes are used in this novel to portray what George Elliot was trying to show the readers. One of the themes in Silas marner is class; being centered on two households, marner’s cottage by the stone pit and the Cass marner, the red house, these two settings represent class extremes. The cottage is showed as the ramshackle abode of the lowest member of raveloe society; the manor is a beautiful home filled with gentry and a location for dances. Elliot shows many intersections between the two households. Dunstan Cass, who is a member of the upper class, enters marner’s home looking for money. Silas marner who is from the lowest class and miserable, raises a squire’s granddaughter as his own child, despise the fact that she is from an upper class family. The rainbow tavern and the church in raveloe are also places where class differences are present. The rainbow is a different place when the â€Å"gentles† are having a dance (ch. six). In these times, the lesser villagers like mr. Macey, reign over the rainbow, telling stories. Secondly, at the church, the higher members of society sit in assigned seats at the front of the church while the rest of the villagers sit in the back and watch. In both these places, although everyone recognizes the status differences between the lower and higher class, this doesn’t not seem to be a problem in raveloe. In raveloe, strict boundaries of class do not necessarily lead to greater happiness among the higher classes. Those with money or those who have a little money tend to be the most harned and corrupt characters, such as Dunstan, Godfrey and even silas, before he found Eppie. The person in silas Marner who is most oppressed by circumstances, is Godfrey Cass, who finds himself at the mercy of a lower class wife, who fails to have children of his own and ends up envying the bond of a lowly weaver and his daughter. Silas and Eppie, on the other hand, though they do not have status or wealth, seem to enjoy unmitigated happiness. Nevertheless, being in a higher class shows that when there is a crime or something goes amiss you are never suspected because you are in a higher class so you would never stoop to those standards. For example, when silas’s gold was stolen, even though it was Dunstan Cass who was from the higher class who stole it, he was never suspected because he was in a higher class. Instead they suspected Jem Rodney, a low class peddler. Why did they suspect him and not someone from a higher class? Because being in a higher class, no one ever thinks you would do something like steal from a miser. Only because the higher class portrays an image as to having it all and are happy and perfect. Dunstan Cass is a clear example that even though you are in a higher class, you have that one person who does not uphold the standards and stoop lower than a lower class person would. Another theme of silas Marner is the nature of chance, and perhaps the only inference one can make about chance as read in the novel is that chance cannot be trusted. Everyone has good or bad turns but we never know which is which until later in life. Take into consideration when silas loses his gold, he thinks it is the worst thing that could ever happen to him. When you think about this, you realize it was one of the best things to happen to silas because losing his gold gave him a clear space in his life to love and take care of Eppie like she was his own. Looking at godfrey cass, he believes the death of his first wife and marner’s subsequent adoption of his daughter, was an amazing stroke of good fortune, but as we read and realized it turns out to be horribly the worst in the end. He ends up wanting his daughter Eppie in his life more than he wanted Nancy. Godfrey realizes it was wrong to pretend that Eppie was not his child, which he paid for in the end. We realize that chance is not so random after all but guided by the author. The characters end up meeting their faith, the good were rewarded or ended up lucky, while the bad were unlucky or punished. For instance Godfrey stated that he â€Å"passed for childless once† because he wanted to and, unfortunately, he â€Å"shall pass for childless now against his wish†. Even so, the novel also reflects the complexity of reality, and chance serves this purpose as well. Near the book’s end, the wise Marner says, despite his perfect happiness, â€Å"Things will change, whether we like it or not; things won’t go on for a long while just as they are and no difference†. Which means pain will come, joy will come, and no one can learn from each revolution of the wheel fortune.

Challenges to Sri Lankas Economic Growth

Challenges to Sri Lankas Economic Growth SRI LANKA’S MAIN CONSTRAINTS TO BE AN â€Å"ECONOMIC MIRACLE OF ASIA† WITHIN NEXT FEW YEARS Normally economic growth of a country is measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in one year. GDP is the total amount of final goods and services produced in one year within the country. When we consider Sri Lanka GDP, it is as follows. The largest contribution to this GDP is from the service sector. In 2013, it contributed by 58% for total GDP. In this service sector wholesale and retail trade, transport, communication, banking, insurance and real state are the segments of this service sector. The next sector is industry. It contributed by 30% of total GDP with manufacturing, mining and construction. Agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing contributed by the remaining 12%. When we comparing these values with the previous year(2012) values, there is no a big difference between them. After the end of three decades of civil conflict, Sri Lanka is trying to main aim of this be the â€Å"Economic Miracle of Asia†. A main aim of this target is, reaching per capita income around US $ 4000 and achieving US $ 18 billion exports by 2016. To achieve such an income, the GDP per capita should be double as the current value. For that the growth rate of GDP should be double. But when we consider the growth rate of GDP of Sri Lanka it seems the growth rate is nothing of the sort of doubling by 2016. In 2012 DGP growth rate was 6.35%. In 2013 it showed a 7.2 % GDP growth. In the first quarter of 2014 there was a 7.6% of growth rate according to the Department of Census and Statistics. By these values we can see there is increment of growth rate by one digit when it comes to 2013 from 2012. But this increment is no sufficient to get the required income level. As well as it seems, that Sri Lanka is not going to achieve her target of being the â€Å"Economic Miracle of Asia† within next few years. A main reason of this failure is lack of technology. Sri Lanka has to invest on technological inventions and productions much more than now. Sri Lanka has more natural resources as well as human capital to gain such a high technology. Currently what happens, most of natural resources are exported and import the finished goods made using that resources. And since there are no suitable occupations for the skilled, mindful people they try to go for foreign jobs or satisfy with a low quality job. Since of this brain drain, Sri Lanka falls more down. By exporting natural goods such as graphite, ore iron and importing finished goods of them make a huge loss to the country. We find foreign exchange by exporting them, but we need more than that income to import the finished goods of them. If we can invest money for new technologies and production ways we can save that money within our country and get a good income by exporting the finished goods. We know the developed countries such as USA, UK even Japan has no much of natural resources. They import those resources and using their technologies manufacture products with high qualities and export them for high values. This is the time for Sri Lanka to increase the power of technology to become the â€Å"Economic Miracle of Asia†. Another important factor is most of people tend to get imported goods because they are low price than the locals. By this tendency our money easily goes to other countries. In the past Sri Lanka was self-sufficient with foods since the high agriculture. But now most of foods items such as onion, dhal, sugar even sometimes rice are imported instead of planting them. Because of these reasons we loss lot of our money. We can see some huge manufacturing plants in Sri Lanka. But we should be careful to check whether they actually give a high profit to us, because they may be only established on our land and may give the profit to another country. As an example there was a glass company owned to Sri Lanka, Ceylon Glass Company and now it is converted to Piramal Glass owned by an Indian company. So a high portion of profit goes to that company. If it is owned by Sri Lanka it will give the full profit us. Currently Sri Lankan main exporting income is produced by migrant workers. Over 250 000 migrant workers have been employed overseas, most of them are housemaids. They supported to GDP in 2012 by 10%. In US dollars it is 6.1 billion. Apart from that now the only product which Sri Lanka is famous for, is cinnamon. But from exporting cinnamon it can achieve only an annual income around 100 million of US dollars. Then it comes to apparel, tea, diamonds, gem and jewelries. But these are not sufficient to achieve the aim of US dollars 18 billion exports by 2016. So to be the â€Å"Economic Miracle of Asia†, Sri Lanka has to differentiate its exporting items using new technologies as mentioned above. Lack of entrepreneurs is another constraint of being the â€Å"Economic Miracle of Asia†. Entrepreneurs should have the ability to take a risk of their own money and time to start and operate a business with the belief of that their business idea will make a profit. For that they should have a basic idea about the real economic level of country and the real direction country going on. Without knowing that, people cannot help for the country with their best. Currently we can see many politicians try to protect their power and do not recover the truth of the economy of the country and do not say the real duty of people have to do on behalf of our country. So without a better guidance people don’t like to become entrepreneurs and as well as they do not compel to contribute their maximum for the betterment of the country. As an example we all know in the government sector most of people do their works in a lazy manner. In the final hour of the working time they do almost no thing profitable. Till stopping this time wasting and giving a true feeling about the country to the hearts of its people we cannot make this country as the â€Å"Economic Miracle of Asia†. In Singapore even a taxi driver knows the current direction of their country going on and their targets. So they contribute hardly to the development of their country. In Sri Lanka we can’t see such situation. So lack of the feelings and lack of awareness of the direction of the country going on is a major constraint to Sri Lanka of being the â€Å"Economic Miracle of Asia† within next few years. Tourism is another source of income in Sri Lanka. The government is more targeting on this side and getting profits. But some people bother the tourists and try to earn some money from them. So the prestige of our country faces a problem. It can lead for the reduction of income due to tourism. Then it will cause to the reduction of economic of the country. The population of a country can cause its economic level. When considering Sri Lankan population we can see a gradual growth up to January 2012 and suddenly it is decreased when it comes to January 2013. We cannot say a high population gives more income to the country; it depends on the GDP level. But on the other hand low population gives a low contribution to the labour force of the country. As well as current young generation tends work in an air conditioned area. They will work in a shop even for a lower payment. They do not like to work hard. This is a bad situation for the industries which have a good willing to contribute to the development of the country. A main reason for that is, most of them are suffering from lack of technological education. So the government has a responsibility to upgrade skills of the work force, by that building a productive and competitive work force, capable of working with the changing dynamics of the world economy. Then they can really work for the country with their maximum. Those are the Sri Lanka’s main constraints to be an â€Å"Economic Miracle of Asia† within next few years: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/sri-lanka/gdp-growth-annual http://investineast.lk/sri-lankan-economy/# http://www.ips.lk/talkingeconomics/2011/06/16/accelerating-economic-growth-in-sri-lanka/ http://www.therepublicsquare.com/business/2013/11/25/sri-lanka-expects-over-7-bn-income-from-migrant-workers-for-2013/ http://www.ft.lk/2013/07/10/govt-says-new-standards-for-ceylon-cinnamon-to-boost-sri-lankas-exports/ http://www.slideshare.net/HeatherP/four-factors-of-economic-growth-10375773 http://island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-detailspage=article-detailscode_title=37059 http://www.ceylontoday.lk/22-23116-news-detail-sri-lankas-momento-magico.html Clues for conclusions Sri Lanka cannot achieve its target of being the economic miracle of asia within the next few years. Lack of usnig technology, people’s low attitude about the country and lack of their awareness bout the real economic situation of the country, less entrepreneurships, less no of exporting items, importing most of goods, less nvesting on the industrial productions are the main constraints.

Point of View in Porphyrias Lover :: Porphyrias Lover Essays

The Point of View in Porphyria's Lover      Ã‚  Ã‚   "Porphyria's Lover" is an exhilarating love story given from a lunatic's point of view.   It is the story of   a man who is so obsessed with Porphyria that he decides to keep her for himself.   The only way he feels he can keep her, though, is by killing her.   Robert Browning's poem depicts the separation of social classes and describes the "triumph" of one man over an unjust society.   As is often the case in fiction, the speaker of "Porphyria's Lover" does not give accurate information in the story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The speaker is a deranged man who will stop at nothing to keep his dear Porphyria.   Although the introduction refers to the weather, it also does an effective job in describing the speaker.   In this case, it is nighttime, and the thunder is roaring.   The speaker starts by saying: "The rain set early in tonight,/The sullen wind was soon awake,/ It tore the elm-tops down for spite,/ And did its worst to vex the lake(Barnet 567):"   This description gives the reader the first glimpse of what is yet to come.   These turbulent words help give the poem a gloomy feeling.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When Porphyria arrives at the speaker's cottage, she is dripping wet.   The speaker makes it an important point to describe her after her arrival.   The description of the articles of clothing that Porphyria is wearing helps the reader know that Porphyria is from an upper-class family.   She was wearing a cloak and shawl, a hat, and gloves.   It is apparent that the speaker works for Porphyria's family.   He lives in a cottage, somewhat distant from the main house.   The cottage is cold until Porphyria warms up the room with her presence and by stirring up the fire.   The way the speaker introduces Porphyria is very unique.   He states that Porphyria "glided" into the room.   With this description, the lover insinuates to the reader that the he sees Porphyria as some kind of angel who moves swiftly and gracefully across the floor.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The speaker is upset about the party going on in the main house.   Porphyria will be married soon, and he feels that if he were an upper-class citizen, Porphyria would be able to marry him.

Uses of Archetype, Foreshadow, and Symbolism in One Hundred Years of So

Uses of Archetype, Foreshadow, and Symbolism in One Hundred Years of Solitude Throughout all works of world literature, certain passages will have special significance to the plot progression of that novel. This key passage must provide insight upon the overall theme of that work through characterization, symbolism, and imagery. In Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, the passage selected for commentary uses the literary techniques of archetype, foreshadow, and symbolism to inform characterization. The concept of consanguineous love affairs is also reinforced in this passage along with the idea of the necessity of outside influence on a family. These concepts inform the characterization of all of the characters presented and provides insight on the cyclic nature of the Buendía family history. From the beginning of the passage, García Márquez demonstrates that outside influences are beginning to impact the Buendía family lineage. The newborn son of Aureliano Segundo by Fernanda del Carpio, José Arcadio, is described as having "no mark of a Buendía." This shows the family's shift from repeated love affairs involving family members, such as that of the first José Arcadio and Rebeca. Also, the newborn's lack of a mark eludes to Fernanda's gaining power within the family; no mark of the traditional Buendía, Úrsula, is to be found. This idea is further suggested when Fernanda does not hesitate in naming him José Arcadio, despite Úrsula's doubts. This shows Úrsula's ability, having been the supreme matron of the Buendía family over... ...ir respective names and dressed them in different colored clothing marked with each one's initials, but when they began to go to school they decided to exchange clothing and bracelets and call each other by opposite names. The teacher, Melchor Escalona, used to knowing José Arcadio Segundo by his green shirt, went out of his mind when he discovered the latter was wearing Aureliano Segundo's bracelet and that the other one said, nevertheless, that his name was Aureliano Segundo in spite of the fact that he was wearing the white shirt and the bracelet with José Arcadio Segundo's name. From then on he was never sure who was who. Even when they grew up and life made them different, Úrsula still wondered if they themselves might not have made a mistake in some moment of their intricate game of confusion and had become changed forever.

Obesity Statistics Essay

Obesity statistics in Malaysia are getting scarier by the day. The World Health Organization (WHO) survey in 2010 ranked Malaysia as sixth in Asia with the highest adult obesity rate. Obesity statistics from the Malaysian National Health and Morbidity Survey in 2006 showed that 43% of Malaysian adults were obese or overweight at that time. And these obesity statistics showed that overweight children were 38% of the child population in Malaysia. The recent WHO results of 2010 showed that 60% of Malaysians aged 18 and up, had a BMI over 25. A BMI of more than 25 means the person is overweight. In 2008, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) did research on the ‘prevalence of obesity among children’. The results were astounding, showing an increase of obesity of 30% in the 6 to 12 years old age group. In 2007, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) did a nationwide, all Malaysian states study on obesity, on Malaysians aged 15 years old and above. A person with a BMI of more than 30 was considered to be obese. Those overweight with a BMI reading of more than 25 were excluded. The UPM researchers found that females were more likely to be obese at 13.8% while men were at 9.6%. Malays and Indians had higher cases of obesity at 13.6% and 13.5%, while Chinese came in 8.5% of their population groups. Sarawak natives had 10.8% cases of obesity while the Sabah natives had the lowest at 7.3%. The data obtained were statistically significant (p< 0.0001). All these obesity statistics have rung alarm bells at the Malaysian Ministry of Health. The Malaysian government is concerned on the health effects, productivity and the healthcare costs implications of an obesity epidemic in the country. The government notes that this obesity and overweight issue is far more serious in Malaysia than in other countries in the region. The Malaysian Ministry of Health had planned for another survey in 2011 to update these obesity statistics. This would have included a study on the incidences of diabetes and kidney diseases in Malaysia. But no results are available as of now.

Criminology Theory †Rational Choice Theory Essay

Rational choice theory was inspired in the 1700’s by a man name Cesare Beccaria, whose utilitarian views and ideas were accepted throughout Europe and the United States. This theory is also known as rational action theory meaning the framework for understanding and often formally modeling social and economic behavior. It is the dominant theoretical paradigm in microeconomics. It is also the central to modern political science and is used by scholars in other disciplines such as sociology and philosophy. Rational Choice Theory is used by social scientists to understand human behavior. This theory is the belief that man is a reasoning actor who weighs means and ends, costs and benefits, and makes a rational choice. Beccaria’s helped to eliminate cruel and unusual punishment in the nineteenth century, which at the time was very common, and formed the basis for the classical theory of crime, a school of thought that influenced the French Revolution and the establishment of the Eighth Amendment in the United States Constitution. Beccaria believed that people choose to engage in all behavior, criminal and non-criminal, and without the fear and certainty of severe punishment for criminal offenses. People will continue to choose to commit those crimes. Beccaria believed that all individuals possess free will. People use free will to make rational decisions, such as whether or not the personal benefits are worth the risk of violating the law by committing a crime. It is by free will that people are able to follow through with those â€Å"rational† decisions. To Beccaria, punishment should address prevention rather than revenge. He believed that the only way to deter criminals from continuing to commit more serious offenses is to ensure that the punishment is well suited for the crime. He believed the punishment should only be severe enough to outweigh the personal benefits gained from committing the crime. A British philosopher named Jeremy Bentham elaborated on Beccaria’s views and proposed the id ea that people choose their actions by whether or not they produce happiness and avoided  unpleasant conditions. With this theory laws were created to keep the community happy and punishment is only justified if it is used as a method of prevention. The popularity of the classical theory peaked in the 1800s but began to decline and was eventually neglected altogether by the majority of criminologists by the end of the twentieth century. During the mid-1970s, as positivist approaches towards the rehabilitation of known criminals began to prove ineffective, the popularity of the classical approach improved. Criminologists began to portray criminals to the public as rational planners who deserve to be punished. This modernized view of the classical school of criminology is now known as the rational choice theory and is used to explain why criminals commit crimes. According to the rational choice theory, criminals are people who share the same goals and ambitions as ordinary citizens, but choose to obtain those goals by illegitimate means. The rational choice theory is based on the assumption that before choosing to commit a crime, the criminal considers personal factors or motivation for the crime, such as their immediate need for benefits, revenge, or excitement, and also situational factors, such as the severity of the consequences and the risk of apprehension. The rationality described by rational choice theory is different from the colloquial and philosophical uses of rationality. Rationality means in colloquial language sane or in a thoughtful clear headed manner. Routine activity theory is a sub-field of rational choice criminology, which was developed by Marcus Felson. Routine activity theory says that crime is normal and depends on the opportunities available. For example after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, meaning poverty, inequality and unemployment became a problem this gave people a reason to commit crimes.

Indigenous Knowledge Amd Essay

Pedagogy in First Nations Education A Literature Review with Recommendations. ’’ Marie Battiste, director of the Apamuwek Institute, in partnership with the Canadian Government has made a research conducting a literature review on indigenous knowledge. The author writes about the challenges that such a research implies. For example, the record of educational knowledge for indigenous people is not necessarily done through books as with the European knowledge system. Throughout the years, the rights of indigenous knowledge in the educational system under the constitutional Act of 1982 section 35 and 52 (p. 13) was not always respected. Her goal s to ensure that the right information about indigenous knowledge is integrated into classrooms. To achieve it, Battiste proposes three approaches. The first one would be to clarify insights into the tensions between Indigenous people and European ways of knowing. The second approach is on innovating program to help understand the challenges of Native People. The third part is based on the Author’s research and the Ministry recommendations in improving First Nations education. Marie Battiste suggests to focus on ‘’ Similarities between the two systems of knowledge ather than on their differences’’ as a start to introduce educational reform. (p. 11). Reference: Battiste. M. (2002) Indigenous Knowledge and Pedagogy in First Nations Education

Business Process Reengineering Essay

Whenever we order our drinks at the coffee shops on a daily basis, we are actually triggering a business process. When the waiter at the coffee shop takes the order at our table, he will pass our orders to the kitchen by yelling our orders from one end of the coffee shop to another. Most of the time, the kitchen helper will hear the order and start to prepare. The waiter will then go around taking a few other orders. After he is done with taking orders, he will collect the drinks from the kitchen and serve it to the customers. Customers will then pay up for the drinks. In the event there isn’t enough change for big notes, the waiter will have to go back to the counter to break the notes into smaller variations in order to return the correct amount of change to the customers. In some cases, he might deliver the wrong order as he doesn’t note down the orders in pen and paper, he just passes on the order to the kitchen by shouting. Restaurant scenario Many years down the road, the coffee shop has earned enough to pay for a renovation and overhaul. The boss of the coffee shop has decided to upgrade the coffee shop to a restaurant. He realises that he need to retrain his staff to operate the restaurant as the methods of operating a restaurant differs from the methods of operating the coffee shop. He also realise that he can incorporate some equipment to help him process orders more efficiently. In summary, he needs to change the way the restaurant does things (processes) and how he does things (Method/tools used to carry out the task). The boss has to do a total revamp of the methods and processes of how he was previously used to in the coffee shop. This is what is meant by business process reengineering. In definition, business process is an organizational change in its methods used to redesign an organization to improve efficiency and effectiveness (Mehta, 2011). Reengineering is the organizational change characterized by drastic process transformation. Concepts BPR focus & Objectives In order for companies to operate more efficiently, reduce waste, retain their customers and drive sales, understanding and applying BPR is essential for this change to happen. Firstly, we have to map out the organization’s goals, objectives, primary business function, the people they have and the tools they use. The second objective would be to analyse the current process and redesign/revamp them. By doing so, companies will be able to achieve better ROI and eliminate waste. This will help the company to gain competitive advantage over others in its efficiency and also profits (Muharram, 2007). Perspective of BPR BPR is a framework designed for companies to adopt. This framework helps to optimize processes by making it more streamlined. A good example to explain this point would be the difference between a vertical and cross functional organization. Horizontal organization In a horizontal organization, the customer interacts only with one party but in a vertical structure, customers might have to deal with different departments. Figure 3 shows a customer dealing with his account manager for the application of a loan. In the process, the customer does not need to deal with the different departments involved in the application of a loan. This allows the loan application to be more streamlined (Zigiaris, 2000). A vertical structure is not as efficient as customers will have to deal with several departments to process their requests. In a call centre environment, when the customer logs a call for a IT issue, the calling department will answer his call and log the case. He will then be transferred to the technical department who will assist him with 1st level troubleshooting. In the event he cannot solve the problem, the matter will be escalated to a level 2 support and also a product specialist. After his issue has been resolved, he will be transferred to the payment department where he will pay for the IT services he has used. After making payment, he will receive an email from the feedback department where they will ask the customer for feedback for the case. This slows down the entire process of resolving the problem from end to end. One of the main goal in BPR is to optimize the processes that takes place within the organization and reduce lead time. In order to do so, businesses has to look at its processes from a clean state perspective. For a company to be able to streamline their processes, they have to add value to their customers through their processes. Processes should maintain its ability to add value to customers. For those processes that do not, we can automate them and put the focus on adding value. This will result in higher customer satisfaction, better efficiency, elimination of watse and greater ROI(Park, 2008). BPR Methodologies There are several techniques to business process redesign and reengineering. We will discuss a few in this section. Hammer and Champy A major overhaul in the organization’s process and structure is one of the keys to ensuring that cost is lowered and service quality is being improved. The means of implemeting these is via the use of information technology. Besides reorganization and using IT to power the business, redesigning the work process and optimizing it, helps the organization to reduce time taken, lower costs and improve quality (Rouse, 2009). A Case study of Ford Motor Company Ford used to employ 500 accounts payable staff in the past. These 500 staff are running the tasks of tracking faults between purchase orders, receipts and invoices. After Ford decided to reengineer their process, the number of staff needed reduced from 500 to 125. Their reengineering efforts include: * Creating an online database where all purchase orders issued by the buyers are being captured * Goods are being checked when received. The shipment being sent has to match with that in the database. This allows the staff to check if the goods were actual orders being indented. This system of checking eliminates the need to check for faults between purchase orders. * Goods being received will be marked as received and the database is being updated real-time. (Hammer & Champy, 2000) Perspective of process reengineering by Hammer and Champy 1. Organize around outcomes, not tasks. 2. Identify all the processes in an organization and prioritize them in order of redesign urgency. 3. Integrate information processing work into the real work that produces the information. 4. Treat geographically dispersed resources as though they were centralized. 5. Link parallel activities in the workflow instead of just integrating their results. 6. Put the decision point where the work is performed, and build control into the process. 7. Capture information once and at the source. (Rouse, 2009) The methodology preached by Hammer and Champy clearly reflects what was being discussed in the BPR focus and objectives at the start of this report. Its focus is to eliminate waste and also to focus on deliverables that will add value to customers. In order to do so, IT systems can be employed in order to automate processes which do not add value. This point of automation is being reiterated in the case study of Ford Motors. This concept of rethinking and redesigning the business process radically helps us to improve many areas of the business such as lowering costs, improving customer service, ensure quality is being maintained and speed up the entire workflow.

Changes to America Result from Civil War and Reconstruction

In the late 1800s, the civil war and the revival period brought about a big difference in America. After the Declaration of Independence, regardless of race, many social changes are necessary to protect the rights of all people. The result of war and reconstruction changed the political, social and economic landscape of the United States. Document A proposes economic coordination through Congressional speech on new banks and currency strategies. In documents B, C, D, G, H there is a big social change in the United States. The civil war has had a great influence on the United States politically, socially and economically. Because of the civil war, the politics of the United States changed. After the end of the civil war, Republicans dominated China's politics through rebuilding. This is a fundamental Republic rebuilding plan implemented in the south. For a while, some Caucasian southern people did not participate in the political process. They are banned from parliamentary elections b ecause they are former leaders of the Congress or because their country has not yet re-approved Congress. Because of the fundamental fundamental Republican rebuilding plan, many Caucasian southern people will support the Democratic Party after having been able to participate again in the political process for years. Many African Americans have supported the Republican Party for years, watching the Republican Party finish slavery and helping them by giving them some rights. How does the US civil war affect the economic, political and social structure of the United States? What is the main change that it caused? Civil war is the turning point of American history, the era of reconstruction completed the change brought about by the result of civil war and war. At the same time, the result of civil war and reconstruction was disappointing with the majority of the American people, especially the slaves who were one of the main promoters of the civil war, but reconstruction gave them basic rights and freedom. . However, the status of African Americans has not changed much. Nevertheless, while the civil war and reconstruction set the foundation for further development of the United States as the country, at the same time, civil war and reconstruction are the basis for further discussion among different social groups, such as social tension among different ethnic groups It was. A relationship

The Effects of Music in Therapy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Effects of Music in Therapy - Essay Example In addition, individuals who have difficulties speaking after stroke, music therapy can stimulate language canters within the brain; thus, promoting the ability to sing. Playing music develops coordination of both gross and fine motor within people with impaired motor or neurological trauma because of stroke or head injury. Music therapy brings relaxation and has positive effects that enhance communication and emotional comfort; moreover, it enables recall of life experiences and emotional experiences. Music accompanies many, significant life events and in most cases the musical memories get stored for long periods compared to those that are not accompanied by music. Therefore, if words are no longer recognizable, familiar music offers a sense of comfort and safety thus decreasing anxiety. While cognitive and language functions deteriorate with age, many musical abilities seem preserved for longer periods. Music is universal to all human cultures and the capability to comprehend musi c is innate similar to communication. Melody in vocal communication results from roots of oral language and is possible to trace it together with human development; thus, music and language seem to have special features that offer music a chance to shape and improve language processing (Moreno 334). Both music and speech represent complex uses of sound by people and scientists have found that language and music share common areas in brain. Moreover, time organizes music and language; thus, language and music together with synapses that support them increase with time. Therefore, music and language rely on exposure to expand and they are both specific to culture since how English speakers organize words and music differs from how Japanese speakers organize their music and words. Learning through music is useful in strengthening non-musical areas like communication and physical coordination, which are essential to the functioning of everyday lives (Moreno 334-340). Music therapists us e music to foster self-expression among patients with emotional disorders, as well; they use receptive music listening to aid in training and physical rehabilitation of people suffering from neuromuscular conditions (Aldridge 18). Thus, music therapists employ lyric discussion to demonstrate and emphasize language thoughts in children or adults with brain injuries. Music therapists use developing knowledge to determine effective strategies for using music in rehabilitation of individuals with neurologic dysfunction resulting from traumatic brain injury. In this setting, music therapy is coordinated in accordance with other therapies to aid patients attain their cognitive, sensory-motor, communication and social aspirations of rehabilitation. Research shows that pairing music and physical therapies can improve cognition, communication and ease discomfort (Aldridge 25). Music is a sensory medium able to arouse the nervous system and cueing altered states of awareness in individuals (M oreno 339). Music therapy is an effective treatment for someone with low awareness states, whose receptive and expressive communication skills have severely been compromised. Music therapists believe that the fundamentals of communication are similar to those involved in music. Patients who have low awareness sta

A Sporting Goods Store Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

A Sporting Goods Store - Research Paper Example Entrepreneur’s role 21 Business plan 21 License potential 21 Corporate partners 21 Proprietary rights 21 Infrastructure members 21 Bibliography 22 FEASIBILITY STUDY OF A SPORTING GOODS STORE Introduction Our proposed company is a sporting goods store that will manufacture a line of clothing for sports enthusiasts, carry known brands of sporting equipments, and accessories for fishing, hunting, hiking, and camping, aside from being a service center for these equipments. It is a combination of a retail, manufacturing and service business. At this point, we are still on the concept stage. Methodology/Analysis Our shirts will be customized, carrying our own brand and logo, but the designs will be done according to the theme of the sports events and idea of customers. Each design is unique as it will represent the theme of each event. As a shirt manufacturer, it will be a specialty store because we will use high materials. As a retail outlet, our store will carry known brands of hi king, fishing, and camping materials, as we plan to work for distributorship and licensed agreements with named brand owners. We will also set up a service and maintenance department that will repair sporting equipments that people bought from our store. As these items are costly, our maintenance will add value to them. Our Products will be sourced from sporting goods manufacturers and wholesalers and then sold to the general public via our retail store. Target markets are people of ages 18 and above, residents of Des Moines, and with average income of $35,000 and above. Study showed these people have the capacity to spend, and enjoy active sports life. Hiking, fishing, and camping are simple outdoor activities that people enjoy. Since our company is in the locality, it will be ready to serve their needs as a one stop shop for outdoor sports. In order to penetrate our target market, we will consider a tie up with schools, sports organizers and clubs for a city wide sports campaign l ike a city hiking day, hunting and fishing competition once every 6 months. We will also encourage sponsorship and media coverage. Our start-up costs and capital needed is estimated at $250,000. Start - capital will be provided by four partners at $25,000 each and the balance of $150,000 will be borrowed from the bank. Bulk of this fund will be used for capital expenditures, inventory, and maintenance and operating expenses for the first months of operations. It is expected that sales in the following months will provide the needed cash flows for operations. Our financing will be both debt and equity. Conclusion We plan to pursue this business since based on our projection; it is not a losing proposition. The first months of operations will be difficult for the start-up of our business, but we will keep our expenditures to a minimum so that our cash flows will not suffer and we do not have to borrow some more. Initially, sports organizations in the area that we have approached are e xcited with the idea and many of our friends have encouraged us to continue with the proposal.

Industrial Relations in UK and Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Industrial Relations in UK and Japan - Essay Example The term 'industrial relations' came into common use in Britain and North America during the 1920s. It has been joined by personnel management and, since the 1980s, human resource management (HRM). All there denote a particular activity (the management of people) and the area of academic enquiry. It covers relationship between manger and worker in all spheres of economic activity. The focus is employment: all forms of economic activity in which an employee works under the authority of an employer and receives a wage in return for his or her labour. Industrial relations thus excludes domestic labour and also self-employed and professionals who work under own account. Most studies of industrial relations have focused on the intuitions involved with the collective bargaining, arbitration and other forms of job regulation. However, we see industrial relations as dealing with all aspects of employee relationship including human resource management. Although the study of employment relations focuses on the regulation of work, it must take into account of the wider economic and social influences on the relative power of capital and labour and the interaction of the employers, workers, their collective organizations and the state. Adam (1988) sees industrial relations as having a dual character: it is both an interdisciplinary and a separate discipline in its own right'. Adopting an internationally comparative approach to employment relations not only insight from several disciplines but also knowledge of different national context. In this paper I will try to examine the ways in which comparative analysis can contribute to an understanding of the factors that shape national patterns of employment relations and identify the main features of two different countries. Industrial relations system Perhaps the most famous conceptual framework is Dunlop's (1958) notion of an 'industrial relations system'. Dunlop argues that the industrial relations system includes three sets of 'actors' and their representative organizations (the three parties): employers, workers and the state. These parties' relations are determined by three environmental context: the technology; market forces; and the relative power and status of the parties. Employment relations UK The United Kingdom has a total population of 60 million people and a labour force participation rate of 75 percent. The UK has fewer people employed in agriculture than any other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) country. About 27 percent of its other civilian population employees work in the industry. The remaining 70 percent work in service. There has been a greater decline in its 'industry' category since 1970 than any other OECD country. In spite the relative growth of services, there was steep rise in unemployment. 12 percent in the year 1986 before subsequently falling to 7 percent in the late 1990s. British politics has been dominated by two parties since 1945. The Conservative Party's support is strongest among the business and rural communities. By contrast, the Labour Party's support is traditionally strongest in the urban working class communities, through this has broadened. A significant but reducing proportion of its fund still comes from affiliated trade unions. There are several other political parties, including Liberal Democrats and nationalist parties

Managing Fisheries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing Fisheries - Essay Example Since most of the fishing in done outside the territorial waters of coastal nations and done mostly in international deep waters, there is no control over how much fish a company or a ship can catch. To prevent over fishing and depletion of certain stocks such as Cod, Tuna, different methods have been brought it. Some of the methods are fees system and tradable fishing quotas (Tietenberg, 2009). The fees system requires that access to a certain area or fishing region should be controlled by levying fees. The quota system suggests that fishing companies should be assigned a certain capping quota on the amount of fish they catch in a year (Hanley, 2007). This paper examines important issues about fisheries management and how the tradable quota system functions. Fishing on a vast scale by mechanised ships soon disrupts the regeneration of selected fish species such as mackerel, Black cod, tuna. This in turn has disrupted the oceanic bio life cycle as these fishes were higher in the food chain and fed on fish such as carp. When the larger fish are depleted, other predatory fish such as carp have proliferated. These have in turn overfed on the lower part of the food chain, all the way till the planktons, the lowest form of ocean life have not been able to regenerate. As a result, vast patches of seas suddenly turn into lifeless wastes, just as patch of desert does not have any type of life. This is mainly due to over fishing and pollution caused by fishing boats (Perman, 2003). Tradable fishing quotas were designed to prevent such an over fishing of specific fish from the life chain of the seas and oceans. Technically, individual trading quotas – ITQ were allotted to members of a fishery and these quotas determined the amount of specific species that can be caught. Tradable rights include tradable lobster and crab traps, tradable days-at-sea and individual transferable quotas - ITQs. The advantage of ITQs is that it maintains the balance of the ecosystem for a

Assess the value of Kingdon's multiple streams approach for analysing Essay

Assess the value of Kingdon's multiple streams approach for analysing agenda-setting - Essay Example The multiple stream frameworks are a combination of different public issues as well as ideas and politics (Howlett & et. al., 2009). The framework provides an opportunity to move the policy issue in the government agenda. The framework is helpful in developing strategies that is applicable for different policy areas and analyse how the policies are framed in case of lack of self-interest of the individuals. The Kingdon model analyses the situation in which the issues are involved in the political agenda and puts certain problems at the different level of priority. In addition, this theory also describes how the alternative solution to the issues is developed (Zahariadis, 2007). The Kingdon model of multiple stream theory is based on three elements that are ‘policy’, ‘problem’ as well as ‘politics’ (Furlong, n.d.). The three factors of the model facilitate change in the policy. The three streams of the Kingdon model are different from each other and are often guided through separate rules. The problem factor of the model is essential for agenda setting because it defines certain condition of the concerned issue. The ideas of the policy makers are translated to relevant policies, as they are feasible and acceptable. On the other hand, the politics stream of the Kingdon model indicates the legislative turnover, the increase in administrative pressure or dependence on nation (Howlett & et. al., 2009). The implementation of the three streams of Kingdon model in public policy ensures increased attention of the policy makers because the three factors result affects the changes in agenda. Timing is one of the vital factors in agenda because it influences the particular problem and policies linked with the issue of public policy. The three elements of the Kingdon model are independent of each other. However, for the success of agenda it is necessary that any two

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Assignment - Essay Example Managers utilize theory in order to make assumptions which are utilized in their analysis of problems. Theories help people increased their understanding of literature and real world applications. Education is an organized activity initiated by one or more individuals in order to help a person, group or community acquired a new set of abilities, skills and knowledge about a particular subject matter. It is different from learning because learning is the individual act of a particular and the action taken by this person in order to instill a behavioral change that leads to the acquisition of new attitudes, abilities, skills or knowledge among other factors that are learned. The learning concept depicted in the book that has the most meaning to me is that learning is that is it is a process by which an activity originates or it is changed that occurs through encounters with different situations provided that the characteristics of the change can not be explained by tendencies, maturation or temporary states of the organism. I like this definition because it eliminates or separates the learning process from personal habits. There is direct correlation between learning and performance. From my own experience I’ve seen how learning things has allowed me to become a more efficient person at the various jobs I’ve had, in home shores and in my school work. An example of how learning allowed me to increase my productivity at work was a job a few ago. I worked as clothes salesperson in a department store. I got paid extra commission for sales above a minimum mandatory quota. I noticed how I learned to read the customer and what things they wanted to hear. After a couple of months my salary went up because I was making more income from sales commissions. I became a more productive employee. Many work process are learned by the

Cheating Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Cheating - Essay Example Cheating can also be used interchangeably with infidelity, when someone â€Å"cheats† on his or her spouse or partner; it means they are involved in an affair with another person in secret. Herein, cheating involves dishonesty since one has made their partner believes they are faithful to them and the fact that they are emotionally or physically involved with someone else constitutes cheating. In this case, it can involve anything from sexual activity to holding hand, kissing or/making out depending on the understating of the parties concerned. Cheating can also involve using unfair methods to win or gain advantage in a situation that should otherwise be neutral for all. For instance, a student entering the exam room with notes or gaining access to the questions prior to the exam; such individuals are cheating because they increase their chances of outperforming their colleagues, not by working harder, but by manipulating circumstance to make the exam easier for them. Ultimately, cheating denotes and connotes deliberate dishonesty or deception, and from the examples given, it is clear that cheating is used to give people an unfair advantage, deceive and /or exploit

Zlatas Diary Essay Example for Free

Zlatas Diary Essay Imagine yourself as a child again, your living life in a tiny, freezing cold house with no gas, electricity or water and insufficient food. You cant go anywhere outside because it isnt safe. There is no school for you to attend because there are too many risks and no one is willing to teach. You dont ever see your friends, and the thought of them in danger is always on your mind. You have played with all your toys and read all your books. You don’t make any loud noises because your house faces the snipers. Youre growing out of all your clothes and your shoes no longer fit. Your always scared, and frightened to death because people around keep getting killed. And you dont know how long this is going to go on for, or if it’s ever going to end, and when it’s your turn to be shot at†¦ That’s what Zlata had to live with. Zlatas Diary is a diary text written by a young girl named Zlata Filipovic. The Diary begins in September of 1991 as a typical fifth-grader excited and enthusiastic about starting school, she records the beginning of starting school in Sarajevo. Within six weeks of the diary, her hometown was involved in terrible war, and she was soon facing deprivation and the death of close friends and classmates. Zlata and her father were forced to haul buckets of water to their apartment building. Bombs were falling continuously around the house, and sometimes smashing through windows, sometimes forcing the family to move into their damp, dark cellar. Sometimes Zlata would be left by herself while both of her parents tried to work. Constantly worried about the safety of her relatives and her own well being, she feared that the war would never end and she poured her deepest feelings into her beloved childhood diary, which she named Mimmy. During the war, Zlata and her family lose almost everything. Zlatas mothers place of work is soon totally destroyed. Zlata cant go to school with any regularity at all. She almost forgets what fruit and vegetables taste like! Some of Zlatas friends are murdered horribly, innocent children caught in the crossfire of someone elses war. Sarajevo soon transforms from an educated center of culture and friends, to a destroyed blood-pit in which survival for people becomes very difficult. Zlata even contemplates suicide but tries to be strong, especially for her mother, who is finding it extremely hard to deal with the war and the loss of her close friends and relatives, and also her job. Zlata admits she is a child without a childhood who only wants peace for Christmas in 1993. This line in the book especially was upsetting, as no child should ever be stripped of their childhood and innocence. Despite the horrible cycle of devastation and death, the neighborhood becomes a bit of a family, all sticking together. There are good people who look out for the children and make sure that Zlata and the other children around still gets an occasional chocolate bar, some clothes to fit their growing bodies and small birthday presents. The new family tries to still celebrate the holidays and birthdays and marriages that still occur. Zlata’s diary is soon published, it’s published during the war itself, and it was the only thing to save Zlata and her family. It was their ticket out of Sarajevo. Luckily, Zlata has a happy ending, happier than some of her friends and relatives. And of course, Zlata has never forgotten the war. She still continues to speak about the war. Zlatas Diary is a personal and sad record of a childhood lost to war. It was a truly inspirational and emotional book with an author who I feel deeply for. I would read this book again. It helps me to realize how lucky I have things and how precious life is.

Strengths and weaknesses of situational leadership model

Strengths and weaknesses of situational leadership model According to situational leadership models in general, leaders should adopt different leadership approaches depending on the situations that they encounter. Leadership competencies which work in one given situation may not be effective under different circumstances (Graef, 1983). In other words, other factors must be taken into account when deciding which leadership style to use in a given situation. Therefore, successful leaders can be characterised as those who are able to adjust their leadership styles according to situations which warrant their intervention. The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model is built on the concept using follower maturity as the key issue which affects adjustment in leadership styles.  [1]  Follower maturity, which defines the readiness of followers to perform in a given situation, is based on two major factors the ability and confidence in performing the tasks. Four leadership styles which emerge from this two-by-two matrix model (see Table 1) are Participating, Selling, Telling and Delegating. All these four leadership styles have varying levels in terms of follower ability and confidence. Table 1: Hersey-Blanchard Situational Table Leadership Model High PARTICIPATING STYLE Followers are capable but Relationship Behaviourunwilling and not confident SELLING STYLE Followers are unable but willing and confident DELEGATING STYLE Followers are capable, willing and confident TELLING STYLE Followers are unable, unwilling and not confident Low Task Behaviour Low High Managers who are keen to use the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model must first fully understand or be able to assess/gauge the level of maturity of its subordinates with reference to their readiness or commitment to perform their job tasks.  [2]   Based on the case analysis presented and the leadership model depicted in the table above, it can be concluded that John Terrill had adopted the Delegating Leadership Style in dealing with the situation at DGI Internationals Technical Services division. Delegating Leadership Style Looking at the two-by-two matrix, the Delegating Leadership Style is described as Low Task, Low Relationship, whereby intervention from managers is kept to a minimum with the assumption that the subordinates are able, willing and confident of accomplishing the tasks at hand. Managers who adopt this style of leadership will allow their followers or subordinates to take responsibility for their assigned tasks with minimal supervision from them. In the case of DGI Internationals Technical Services division, John Terrill practiced the delegating style based on the profile of the team in his division. Since it was stated that all 20 of his subordinates are engineers who are highly paid and best educated, it can be deduced that this group of employees are high performers in their area of expertise within the organization. Management will not be willing to pay them highly if they do not possess high level of job maturity, which refers to their job capabilities and confidence in accomplishing their tasks as engineers. Based on their aptitude and the fact that the engineers requested top management to stop making them spend too much time on writing reports, Terrill was able to gauge that the employees possess high capabilities of performing their tasks and are also willing and confident to do their job provided that they were given the opportunity and time needed to accomplish their tasks. The engineers did not need much prompting and directions from him to take on new initiatives which help contribute to their productivity. Terrills delegating style can be further identified when he promised to stay off the engineers backs and also make sure that top management did the same. This indicates that Terrill will not interfere much with the daily tasks of the engineers because he believes the engineers know what are expected of them, what they are supposed to do and do not need much direction from Terrill to accomplish their tasks. Strengths of Delegating Style This style of leadership empowers followers to be responsible for their own actions and decisions. For example, the engineers are given high autonomy in completing their tasks with minimal supervision by Terrill. For mature followers who have high level of job readiness, this leadership style will give them a great sense of accomplishment which acts as motivator to give their best and increase productivity (Hersey and Blanchard, 1988). In this case, the engineers are able to concentrate on accomplishing their tasks and productivity of the division will improve. Empowerment allows for a certain degree of independence which promotes accountability and creativity in individuals. A leader who is able to delegate his authority in terms of job accomplishment will have time to focus on other strategic matters. Followers of this leadership style will feel more trusted and will build a closer working relationship with the leaders and foster better team work. Inadvertently, it will be easier for Terrill to turn around the department because his engineers will have more respect for him and will not hesitate to help him achieve their goals. Weaknesses of Delegating Style Measurement of job readiness is subjective and based on several factors, mainly job ability and job confidence (Hambleton et al., 1977(. However, if a leader wrongly gauged the job readiness of his followers and leave it to them to accomplish certain tasks, he may not achieve the desired results at the end of the day. This style of leadership is open to abuse. Followers may be able, willing and confident to perform the tasks but they may also take advantage of the low intervention from their managers so that the tasks may not be completed on time or productivity is not up to par as expected. A leader is able to delegate the tasks to his followers but accountability of the job still lies with the leader. To sum up, job delegation should be a gradual process until the leader is satisfied and confident that the tasks can be accomplished with minor supervision. However, in the real world, there is no single leadership style that can be applied in all situations. Effective leaders should be able to adjust their leadership styles according to the situation at hand. Leaders who are able to adopt different styles based on what is required of them will be most successful. Question 2 What do you think was John Terrills source of power? Do you think it is effective? The concept of power can be defined in varying ways but generally power is regarded as the ability to influence, affect and mobilize the attitudes and behaviour of others. The term power, authority, domination and control are often used interchangeably as there is a thin line separating their meanings (Pheby, 2004). However, power is not exclusive to only managers and leaders as opposed to authority which comes with certain legitimate positions. Power is able to shape ones actions and behaviour; thus, it can be maintained that decision making can be influenced with the existence of power sources in a system. In an organizational context, power is directly related to hierarchy or structure and legitimacy which come with positions. The ability of those in higher ranking positions to influence their subordinates is driven by power. It is an element which is able to shape managers and followers, and is the key underlying factor for leadership effectiveness. In fact, one of its most important functions is to build interdependency between leaders and followers. Ogden et al. (2006) entails that power need not have goal compatibility but only dependence. Researchers French and Raven (1959) had studied the sources of power and successfully listed them in five distinct forms. The five bases of power in organizations which are able to affect success in leadership are described as follows: Category Source of power Description POSITIONAL POWER Legitimate power This source of power usually comes with specific roles and positions in organisations. This power is also embedded in formal job descriptions that are mutually agreed to by employees in an organisation. Generally, people holding higher position are able to exert more organisational power compared to those in lower ranking jobs. Reward power Normally associated with the formal authority to allocate organisational rewards to employees. This type of power can weaken if the reward is no longer perceived as valuable by the receiver. Coercive power The person holding this power is able to impose punishment. In organisations, punishments can be in the form of reprimand, disciplinary action, suspension, demotion, dismissal, etc. Coercive power is usually associated with authority and can be used as a coercion tool at the workplace. PERSONAL POWER Expert power The ability to influence based on a persons knowledge, skills and expertise which originates from within an individual. This type of power is normally acquired by experts in certain fields. May not necessarily linked to position or authority in an organisation. Referent power An individual with referent power is looked upon as a role model by others. The individual usually possesses a charm, appeal, charisma or admirable qualities which others want to identify with. These five sources of power can be broadly categorised into positional power and personal power. Positional power refers to external power which is vested in an individuals formal role, position or authority. Legitimate power, reward power and coercion power fall in this category. On the other hand, expert power and referent power can be grouped as personal power because they involve internal or personal traits which belong to individuals. In DGI Internationals case study, John Terrill applied a combination of both position and personal powers to solve the problem faced by his subordinates in the Technical Services division. 1. Positional power Being appointed as the head of Technical Services Division clearly indicated that John Terrill held legitimate power over the department. As the new boss to a team of highly paid and skilled engineers, it can be assumed that John Terrill himself possessed quality traits which made top management at DGI International very confident that he can turn the non-performing department around. Terrill first demonstrated his legitimate power during his meeting with the engineers. First, he cleverly gained the engineers confidence by showing great concern for their welfare. Then he exerted his legitimate power by demanding to know the reasons for their lack of productivity and factors which hamper their expected performance. His ability to influence the engineers to voice out their grievances which affected their performance showed that he was successful in getting to the root of the departments productivity problem. In this case, Terrill did not use any reward or coercive power because he did not impose any reward or punishment in getting to the root of the problem and then making sure that his engineers would carry out their tasks after that. He used empathy and diplomacy as a leader by exerting his influence to make them follow his instructions. Terrill also exercised his authority when he issued immediate order for reports to be sent to his office instead of the headquarters as warranted by top management. He was well aware that his orders were against top managements instructions, but he was not afraid to use the legitimate power vested in his position to stand by his decision to keep the management off the engineers backs as promised. 2. Personal power The top managements concern about the low productivity further showed the importance placed on his team. Terrill understood that his team of engineers is crucial to the organisations growth since they are the best educated and highly paid employees in the company. From this profile alone, Terrill knew that his division held a lot of expertise required in the manufacturing of refinery equipment. Knowledge and skills of the engineers are highly valued by the organisation, which was why they were never reprimanded for their lack of productivity before. In other words, the engineers have expert power which made them indispensable to the company. Terrills source of expert power was also derived from the engineers knowledge and skills. He could anticipate that top management would agree to his recommendation that management should not bog down the engineers with daily reports because their engineering expertise is a critical resource in meeting the companys production objectives, whereas internal reports are only administrative requirements. In this example, Terrill obviously used the divisions expert power to negotiate with top management to stay out of their way so that they can carry out their engineering work as expected, and hopefully increase productivity as expected of them. Terrill seemed to have gained support from his engineers because they cheered him when he was about to meet top management to fight for their cause. If he successfully gets top management to agree with his plight, he will undoubtedly build his referent power and be admired for his charm and charisma in carrying out his task as their leader. It can be summarized that Terrill effectively used his legitimate power to influence his engineers to confide in him about problems that they faced which hampered productivity of the division. Terrill also successfully exercised the divisions expert power to ensure top management did not impose trivial matters (such as writing internal daily reports) which consume much of the engineers time so that they could concentrate on accomplishing their engineering tasks. Question 3 Henry Mintzbergs research indicates that diverse manager activities can be organized into ten roles. Identify two of these roles that John Terrill performed in carrying out his duty. According to Henry Mintzberg (2004), based on his research on the various activities of managers in a business setting, the roles of managers can be classified into ten types as depicted in the following table: CATEGORY ROLE ACTIVITY Interpersonal Figurehead Perform duties which are symbolic and ceremonial. Regarded as symbol of authority. Leader Directing, motivating, training, advising, influencing, encouraging, promoting development of others. Liaison In charge of internal and external information links. Engage in exchange of information. Informational Monitor Process and assess information. Maintain information and contacts. Disseminator Transmit information to other via phone calls, memos, notes, etc. Spokesman Representing organisation to outsiders in public relations capacity. Decisional Entrepreneur Project initiation, business identification and leads for opportunities. Disturbance Handler Handles internal crises and conflicts involving employees, and also external changes. Resource Allocator Responsible for allocation and sets priority for organisational resources via budgets, etc. Negotiator Negotiates with suppliers, unions, etc. Through his research, Mintzberg (1973) also managed to conclude that all the above ten roles fall into three broad categories which are interlinked. To illustrate the point, all three interpersonal roles Figurehead, Leader and Liaison provide information. Informational roles Monitor, Disseminator and Spokesperson process the information and act as a link to all the managerial roles. Meanwhile, the decisional roles make decision on how to deliver the information to other parties. All these ten roles can be applied to any managerial situation depending on the requirement of the circumstances. Based on Mintzbergs theory, in the DGI Internationals case, John Terrill played the roles of Liaison and Negotiator. Liaison John Terrill applied his interpersonal skills excellently when he first approached the engineers to seek information on their current problems which affected their productivity. During his meeting, he played his role as a liaison or intermediary between the engineers and top management. He did not reprimand the engineers for the poor performance of the Technical Services division without first finding out the cause of their low contribution to productivity; instead, he offered to resolve the conflict by trying to get to the root of the problem and find a lasting solution that will help them to increase their output in the organisation. His openness may have encouraged the engineers to confide in him even though he was new to the organisation. Terrill also successfully executed this role by openly showing his concern for the staffs welfare. Perhaps this helped open up the communication channel between him and the engineers because they feel that Terrill was acting in their interests. After that, the engineers willingly voice out their grouses and complaints when Terrill asked them point blank as to why the division was not performing as expected. His networking skills were clearly demonstrated when he empathised with the engineers and responded positively that engineers in the Technical Services division should not be tied down with paperwork if top management expected them to be more productive. Instead, they should be allowed to focus more on accomplishing their engineering tasks. In his liaison role, Terrill tried to maintain positive relationship with the engineers and not take sides with the top management by using any form of coercion on his team. His objective was to turn around the division and increase the engineers productivity. Therefore, he carefully played his role by offering them a possible solution. Using the power vested in his position as the manager of the team coupled with the mandate given by top management to solve the productivity issue, Terrill issued an order which was against the wish of company management. To illustrate, while the company management requires that the engineers turned in daily reports to headquarters, Terrill ordered them to turn in the reports to his office instead. However, Terrill had anticipated a showdown with top management and had already thought up a plan to back up his actions. He had proven that while the engineers were asked to turn in daily reports, actually nobody in top management would need the report dai ly because for three weeks, nobody in headquarters enquired about the missing daily reports. Negotiator In solving the low productivity issue of the Technical Services division, Terrill also played the role of a negotiator. This role was demonstrated during his first management meeting with the engineers. He explained to them the managements concern for the low productivity of the division despite being the highest paid and best educated group within the organisations. He also asked them to voice out their grouses and the possible reasons for their non-performance. When he found out that the engineers were demotivated by the amount of daily reporting that they had to do instead of focussing on their engineering tasks, Terrill asked the engineers to carry out their engineering duties like they were supposed to and increase the divisions productivity while he took care of the daily report generation problem with top management. He convinced them that he would stay out of their way and get the top management off their backs so that the engineers can accomplish their tasks as expected. Wit h Terrill at the helm of the division, the engineers are able to concentrate on their primary tasks and not worry about other petty issues. The engineers were also confident that Terrill will be able to prove a point to top management by keeping the daily reports in his office, and they seemed to have supported his actions. During the showdown with top management in the presidents office, Terrill displayed his negotiation skills by informing top management that the main reason for Technical Services divisions low output was that the engineers were more occupied with writing daily reports than actually doing their engineering tasks. He successfully proved his point by showing top management that the high stack of report produced over the last three weeks were not read by anyone because no one asked to look at them. He evidently showed them that the amount of time spent on writing the report had gone to waste, and that the precious time should be spent by the engineers to accomplish other important engineering duties. He then suggested that management do away with the daily report and one brief report from his office on a monthly basis is sufficient. In conclusion, managers are involved in a myriad of activities when performing the managerial functions. These activities can be clustered into broad categories and identified into roles. By understanding these managerial roles, managers will be able to discharge their duties more efficiently and effectively. Question 4 Do you think gender makes a difference when it comes to leadership style? Use example(s) and literatures to support your stand. Gender is a socially constructed concept of men and women which varies according to cultures, societies, social classes and even periods in history (FAO, 1997). It is sometimes misunderstood as being biologically determined and solely related to the sexual characteristics of men and women. However, according to Bravo-Baumann (2000) gender relations involves how society determines the rights and responsibilities of women and men. Traditionally, the roles of women are mostly confined to household-related chores and nurturing of family. Many cultures across the globe regarded women as the weaker sex with limited roles to play in the social system. In some countries, women are even denied access to education, rights to freedom, and in extreme cases are relegated to subordinate status (Bass et al, 1971). However, with the rise of movements towards equality in gender in the modern world, more societies have begun to change their mindsets and accept the fact that women also have roles to play in the development of the society and economy (Inglehart and Noris, 2003). The last several decades have witnessed the emergence of women holding managerial roles in organizations. Although men still hold the fort, more women are seen entering the workforce with an increasingly number of them being promoted to high managerial positions (Druskat, 1994). However, many women nowadays earn their organisations mandate and are appointed as CEOs and MDs of companies. Currently, some countries are headed by female premiers and presidents, for example Australia and New Zealand. These show that women are fast being recognized in their roles as capable leaders. As a result of the increase in female leadership roles, there have been a string of researches aimed at studying the leadership styles and behaviour differences between men and women leaders (Statham, 1987; Carless, 1998; Davidson Ferrario, 1992; Van Engen et al., 2001). Some researchers failed to find disparities in leadership styles between men and women (Pounder and Coleman, 2002; Van Eagen, Van der Leedeen Willemsen, 2001). Even though there are varying outcomes from these researches, a majority of the research results agreed that differences in leadership styles definitely exist among male and female leaders. Conceptually, due to the differences in nature and characteristics of men and women, there are bound to be distinct features which affect their leadership styles. It is generally accepted that the leadership styles of men and women vary because of differences in behaviour of men and women which are shaped by society and culture (Eagley, Wood and Diekman, 2000). Women in leadership roles were seen to be more collaborative, less hierarchical and more cooperative, caring and promoting self-worth of others (Helgesen, 1990; Book, 2000; Rosener, 1995). In contrast, due to the masculine nature of men as perceived by societies, male leaderships tend to be more assertive, aggressive, controlling and confident (Eagley et al., 2000). The above findings are further supported by a study by Eagly, Karau and Johnson (1992) on leadership styles among school principals supported this notion. From the study, it was concluded that: Female principals are more task-oriented compared to male principals. In the role as school principal which requires more interpersonal ability, women display greater task-orientation. However, in male dominated roles, men will appear to be more task oriented (Eagley and Jonhson, 1990). Female principals are also more democratic or participative while male principals adopted a more autocratic or directive approach. Due to social values, experience and thoughts associated with feminine characteristics (Goldberger, Clinchy, Belenky and Tarule, 1987), women leaders generally use the soft approach when dealing with others. Hence, women naturally develop leadership styles that are more democratic and participative. Male leaders, on the other hand, adopted stronger approaches which are consistent with natural dominating and controlling characteristics of men. Differences in leadership styles have an impact on the effectiveness and direction of an organization. Leaders must be able to adopt different approaches when confronted with varying circumstances because not all situations will warrant the same types of actions. Hence, leaders are most successful and effective when they can evaluate a situation accurately and act according to the requirements of the situation instead of generally applying the same form of leadership across all circumstances (Fiedler, 1951). Leadership styles can also be affected by external factors such as the nature of work, business environment, organizational culture and industry structure. To illustrate the point that gender differences in leadership styles do exist (Kanter, 1991), we will take a closer look at Transformational (largely associated with women leaders) and Transactional (dominant in male leaders). The following table highlights the differences in the two types of leadership:  [3]   Transformational Leadership Transactional Leadership * Leaders motivate their followers by arousing their emotions and acting beyond the framework of exchange relations. * Leaders are proactive and help form new aspirations and expectations of followers. * Leaders are differentiated by their ability to inspire and provide individual consideration, stimulation and influence to followers. * Leaders help in creating learning opportunities and stimulate their followers to find solutions to their problems. * Leaders develop emotional bonds with their followers using their management and rhetorical skills and great visions. * Leaders encourage followers to strive for their goals beyond self-interest. * Leaders are conscious of the relationship between reward and effort. * Leadership is responsive with high orientation to solve present issues. * Leaders control the actions of their followers by depending on reward, inducement, punishment and sanction. * Leaders use rewards to encourage their followers to achieve desired results. * Leaders reinforce behaviour of followers for successful execution of plan. Source : http://leadershipchamps.wordpress.com Introduced by James MacGregor Burns (1978), the transformational leadership concept defines an approach which encourages positive and valuable changes in performance and morale of followers based upon the behaviours and characteristics of leaders. Transformational leaders brought about changes in organizations by inspiring, motivating and sometimes acting as role models for employees to identify with (Bass, 1985). By being role models, such leaders will encourage employees to develop skills which could help them enhance their productivity. Transformational leadership style is often displayed by women leaders since women have innate nurturing ability (Kornives, 1991; Ross, 1990). This style can be effective in less-hierarchical organizations such as schools or retail outlets. In male dominated settings such as the military, transformational leadership may not be preferred. On the other hand, transactional leadership style is more visible in traditional organizational settings where male leaders are dominant (Rosener, 1990). Transactional approach values desired results in exchange for rewards, motivations or punishments; thus, transactional leaders will stress on higher productivity and offer rewards (or punishment) as motivation ( Burns, 1978). In conclusion, there are differences in leadership styles by gender. Women leaders generally tend to adopt a softer approach such as democratic and participative. These styles involve relationship with followers through understanding of their emotions and building the self-worth through motivation, aspiration and encouragement. Women leaders try to stimulate the working environment and develop confidence through empowerment (Burke, 1986). In contrast, men display more traditional leadership characteristics such as assertive, controlling, aggressive and dominating. However, the above differences do not limit men and women to any one leadership style. Regardless of gender, successful and effective leaders will find their preferred leadership style, that can be a blend of gender-specific roles, which is most suitable to the situation that they are in. Question 5 If you were the president of DGI International, would you recommend modifications in John Terrills leadership style that you would like him to adopt? Do you think it will be possible for John Terrill to make necessary changes? Why? In the DGI International case study, John Terrill adopted the Delegating Leadership Style (Hersey and Blanchard, 1982) based on the assumption that the team of engineers in the division that he was heading has high level of job readiness or maturity owing to the fact that they are the highest paid and best educated employees within the organization. Also, the statement made by Terrill that he will stay off the engineers back and get top management to stay off their backs too indicates that he will not interfere much with the engineers daily tasks. This indication further supports the notion that the team of engineers is able, willing and confident to accomplish their tasks without much direction or supervision from Terrill. Terrill was hired by DGI International to turn around a non-performing division. When he decided to adopt the delegating style, he must have based his decision on solid grounds highest paid and best educated group of engineers must have possess