The study of children and childhood

Why In A Society That Prides Itself On It ‘s Democratic Values Should The Suggestion Of Children ‘s Engagement Be So Contraversial?IntroductionUntil late geographers have paid light attending to the survey of kids and childhood ( James, 1990 ; Sibley, 1991 ; Philo, 1992 and Winchester, 1991 ) . Where surveies had been carried out, most were concerned with kids as future grownups and attending focused on their emerging accomplishments and cognitive development. Rarely were kids studied for what they are, as active societal agents in their ain right, with their ain lives, demands and desires ( Corsaro, 1997 ) . With the ‘cultural bend ‘ , kids have been ( rhenium ) positioned on the geographical docket ( Aitken, 1994 ; Valentine, 1996a and Valentine, 1996b ) . One ground is that consideration of other low-level groups in society ( for illustration, adult females, minorities, the disabled ) has drawn attending to the ways in which society is constructed around so cietal and spacial premises. Constructivist and interpretative positions of this sort have led to a acknowledgment that kids as a group are amongst the least powerful within western societies ( James et al. , 1998 ) and yet, their experiences within topographic point and infinite have non been consistently examined. In effect, there has been a rush of involvement in the mundane geographicss of kids ( Aitken, 1998 ; Matthews, 1995 ; Matthews and Limb, 1998 ; Matthews and Limb, in imperativeness ; Matthews et al. , 1998 ; Sibley, 1995 ; Skelton and Valentine, 1997 ; Valentine, 1997a and Valentine, 1997b ) and vigorous averment for ‘childhood infinite ‘ to be recognised as an of import dimension in societal and cultural theory ( James and Prout, 1992 and James et al. , 1998 ) . Unlike other marginalised groups, nevertheless, kids are non in a place within most western societies to come in into a duologue ( with grownups ) about their environmental concerns and geographical demands. In this sense, kids occupy a particular place of exclusion. Their ability to dispute the conventions of dominant political orientation from within, together with the patterns and procedures which lead to their socio-spatial marginalization, is largely beyond their appreciation. Children as ‘outsiders ‘ demand Alliess and geographics with its concern with the political relations and power of infinite and spatial property ( Painter and Philo, 1995 ) is good positioned in this regard. Just as feminist geographers have developed their surveies to turn to issues of adult females ‘s representation and engagement in socio-spatial decision-making, so geographers analyzing kids need to construct upon their surveies to take on the issue of kids ‘s rights. We contend that the argument about kids ‘s engagement ( or deficiency of engagement ) in society and public policy devising is cardinal to an apprehension of the modern-day geographics of kids and childhood. In the remainder of this assignment we develop these thoughts, within a cross-cultural model. The right to state about affairs associating to the quality of life is a basic human right ( Archard, 1993 ) . Although this cardinal rule of citizenship and of the democratic ethos was embedded in the United Nations ‘ Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( 1948 ) , it was non until the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ( UNCRC ) in 1989 that kids ‘s right to take part in society was steadfastly established. Alongside Articles on proviso, protection and attention, the UNCRC sets out a figure of duties on the rights of engagement by immature people. Of primary importance are the undermentioned Articles:The Children Participation ControversyEngagement implies processes of engagement, shared duty and active battle in determinations which affect the quality of life. For the UNCRC engagement provides a mechanism for non merely safeguarding the ‘best involvements of the kid ‘ ( Article 3 ) , but besides for guaranting that kids ‘s positions and sentiments are given regard. However, whilst at that place has been broad acclamation and support within the UK for two other major rights of childhood identified by the UNCRC, that is, the rights to protection and proviso, there is less consensus about the impression of engagement. In malice of a turning anteroom in favor of kids ‘s rights to take part, there remains an intransigency in some quarters about whether such political engagement is appropriate. Lansdown identifies three grounds why some grownups are loath for kids to take portion in decision-making that will impact on their ain life and the lives of others ( Lansdown 1995, p. 20 ) . First, giving kids the right to state threatens the harmoniousness and stableness of household life by naming into inquiry parents ‘ ‘natural ‘ authorization to make up one's mind what is in the best involvements of a kid. Yet, as Qvortrup et al. , ( 1994 ) suggest, to prolong such an statement, it must be beyond sensible uncertainty that grownups behave with kids ‘s best involvements in head. In pattern, this is non ever the instance. Second enforcing duties on kids detracts from their right to childhood, a period in life which is supposed to be characterised by freedom from concern. Such a position ignores the fact that many kids ‘s lives are full of legitimate concerns which are merchandises of the same societal and economic forces that affect grownups. A 3rd strand to the statement is that kids can non hold rights until they are capable of taking duty. This position is based on an idealized position of childhood, yet few kids live without duties. Alanen ( 1994 ) points out that kids ‘s labor and responsibilities within the place are underestimated, whilst the world of school work and its associated duties are rendered unseeable by the label ‘education ‘ . A 2nd, though related, statement against kids ‘s engagement is based on a strong belief that kids are incapable of sensible and rational decision-making, an incompetency confounded by their deficiency of experience and a likeliness that they will do errors. Furthermore, if kids are left to the freedom of their ain inabilities the consequences are likely to be harmful ( Scarre, 1989 ) . Franklin and Franklin ( 1996 ) pull attending to a scope of libertarian unfavorable judgments of these two point of views. As a starting point, kids are invariably doing rational determinations impacting many parts of their day-to-day lives ( some trivial, some less so ) without which their lives would hold small significance, order or intent. In add-on, grownups are frequently non good decision-makers and history bears this out. Indeed, this observation provides an inducement to let kids to do determinations so that they may larn from their errors and so develop good decision-making accomplishme nts. More radically, it has been argued that the chance of doing errors should non suspend engagement, as such an premise ‘confuses the right to make something with making the right thing ‘ ( Franklin and Franklin 1996, p. 101 ) . Critics besides draw attending to the bing allotment of rights harmonizing to age, which is flawed by flightiness and incompatibility. For illustration, within the UK a immature individual is deemed reprehensively responsible at the age of 10, sexually competent at the age of 16, but non politically responsible until the age of 18, when all of a sudden, without preparation or dry run, immature people enjoy the right to suffrage. Last, by denying rights of engagement to everyone under the age of 18 assumes a homogeneousness of emotional and rational demands, accomplishments and competencies. Furthermore, we contend that both places are imbued with an adultist premise that kids are non societal histrions in their ain right, but are adults-in-wait ing or human becomings. Minimizing kids in this manner non merely fails to admit that kids are the citizens of today ( non tomorrow ) , but besides undervalues their true potency within society and obfuscates many issues which challenge and threaten kids in their ‘here and now ‘ ( Matthews and Limb, in imperativeness ) .Engagement And Representation Of Children Within The UKIn this subdivision we review immature people ‘s engagement and representation within the UK, separating between engagement at the national and local degree. At the national degree, a figure of political observers draw attending to a turning neutrality by immature people in all affairs political ( Bynner and Ashford, 1994 ; Furlong and Cartmel, 1997 and Furnham and Stacey, 1991 ) . A deficiency of political consciousness, political apathy and low degrees of political engagement are claimed as platitude. A recent societal attitudes study ( Wilkinson and Mulgan, 1995 ) showed that 45 % of under 25 s did non vote in the 1992 election compared to 31 % in 1987 and merely 6 % of 15-34 twelvemonth olds describe themselves as ‘very interested in political relations ‘ . It would look that an full coevals is choosing out of political relations ( Barnardo ‘s, 1996 ) . Yet there is ample grounds to propose that if immature people are given more duties and more opportunity to take part in the running of society, so they will be more willing to prosecute in the procedures of democracy ( Hodgkin and Newell, 1996 ) . For illustration, in individual issue administrations where immature people are encouraged to take portion, rank statistics confirm a turning engagement rate. Amnesty International ‘s youth subdivision increased from 1300 in 1988 to 15,000 in 1995 ; Greenpeace ‘s young person rank rose from 80,000 in 1987 to 420,000 in 1995 ; and Friends of the Earth describe a growing of 125,000 new immature members over the same period ( British Youth Council, 1996 ) . Hodgkin and Newell ( 1996 ) strongly assert: â€Å"Our society is in some danger of infantilising kids, of presuming an incapacity long past the day of the month when they are more capable. It is a affair of common sense, and the natural good pattern of many parents populating with kids and many professionals working with kids, to listen to kids and to promote them to take duty for determinations wherever possible. The results are normally better and, even if things go incorrect, larning from errors is an indispensable portion of development† ( p. 38 ) . Indeed, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the international organic structure which was set-up to supervise the execution of the Convention, expressed concern in its meeting in January 1995 about the deficiency of advancement made by the UK Government in following with its rules and criterions. In peculiar, attending was drawn to the inadequacy of steps associating to the operationalisation of Article 12. It recommended that: â€Å"greater precedence be given to†¦ Article 12, refering the kid ‘s right to do their positions known and to hold those positions given due weight, in the legislative and administrative steps and in policies undertaken to implement the rights of the kid. ..†and went on to propose that: â€Å"the State party see the possibility of set uping farther mechanisms to ease the engagement of kids in determinations impacting them, including within the household and the community..† ( United Nations, 1995, p. 15 ) . The instance for immature people ‘s closer representation and engagement in political procedures, particularly at a national degree has been taken up by a figure of runing administrations. First moves pre-date the UNCRC, when, in 1975, the National Council for Civil Liberties ( now Liberty ) proposed a Children ‘s Rights Commissioner to move as a national advocator for kids, but the proposal did non progress beyond the parliamentary commission phase ( Rodgers, 1979 ) . Recently, the purpose of set uping a national Commissioner has gained renewed drift. Critical to this impulse was the publication of Taking Children Seriously: A proposal for a Children ‘s Rights Commissioner ( Rosenbaum and Newell, 1991 ) . In this elaborate survey the writers make a forceful instance for reform. They suggest that it is kids ‘s exposure to mistreatment, the deficiency of co-ordination across authorities sections in proviso for kids, kids ‘s complete deficiency of politica l rights, and the demand to guarantee long-run authorities conformity with the UNCRC which make the instance for setting-up the office of Commissioner so necessary ( Franklin and Franklin, 1996 ) . Among the Commissioner ‘s functions would be the remit to affect immature people every bit closely as possible in decision-making at assorted degrees. This would affect the administration of local and national forums for immature people ; the constitution of consultative groups to see policy and pattern ; and the widescale electioneering of immature people for their positions and sentiments. As a effect of this publication the run for a statutory, independent office of Children ‘s Rights Commissioner was launched in the same twelvemonth. The proposal is supported strongly by all major kid public assistance and kid protection bureaus, four Royal Colleges of Health, local authorization associations and many professional kids ‘s administrations ( Children ‘s Rights Office, 1997 ) . The constitution of the Children ‘s Rights Office in 1995 and its appellation of a full-time officer to run for a Children ‘s Commissioner gave added weight to the cause. In an effort to travel the run frontward the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation set up an enquiry which consulted widely in the UK and overseas about participatory constructions. Their study ( Hodgkin and Newell, 1996 ) non merely highlighted the modest extent of inter-ministerial and inter-departmental co-ordination of kids ‘s personal businesss and the ad hoc nature of the allotment of some duti es ( an result of there being no lead Department for kids ) , but besides drew attending to a scope of effectual authorities constructions for kids already evident elsewhere 1. The right to state: organizational constructions for kids ‘s engagement and representationa Extra encouragement to the run for better representation for immature people has been provided by New Labour. Their 1992 Manifesto proposed seting in topographic point a Minister for Children ( Lestor, 1995 ) , although this proposition was absent in the 1997 Manifesto. Whilst there are marks that the present authorities is sympathetic to the creative activity of such a station, at present, the official place is that they are in a procedure of audience ( Hewitt, 1998 ) . This deficiency of advancement has prompted other runing administrations to take up the cause. The 2020 Vision Programme is being organised by the Industrial Society as a consequence of a concern that immature people ‘s voices are seldom heard in political, economic and societal arguments. Amongst their purposes is to set in topographic point a Minister for Youth to coordinate policy and action ( Industrial Society, 1997 ) . At the local degree, nevertheless, there are promoting marks that attitudes are altering with respect to the engagement of immature people in decision-making. There are a figure of associated grounds for such a development. First, the impulse given to immature people ‘s rights in general by the UNCRC has been added to by the rules set by Local Agenda 21. Amongst its many declarations for a sustainable hereafter is the position that duologue should be established between the youth community and authorities at all degrees which enables immature people ‘s positions and visions to be incorporated as a affair of class into future environmental policy ( Freeman, 1996 ) . Second, local authorities reorganization has provided a stimulation for young person issues to be addressed in a strategic mode, partially through a demand to show community audience and partially to undertake what is perceived to be ‘the young person job ‘ ( Griffin, 1993 and Wynn and White, 1997 ) . Third, there is the ‘millennium factor ‘ ; as we move towards the bend of the century at that place seems to be an emerging sense that the hereafter is for our kids ( Hackett, 1997 and Storrie, 1997 ) and local decision-making is critical to immature people ‘s wellbeing. As portion of this motion towards giving immature people a say has been the development of young person councils/forums. The term council/forum is used here to depict the scope of ways in which folds of immature people come together, normally, but non entirely, in commission, to voice their positions about their demands and aspirations ( in their societal and physical universes ) . A recent study ( Matthews and Limb, 1998 ) has revealed that there are over 200 young person councils within the UK, although these have developed in different ways. A figure of national administrations have played of import functions in their development, but a effect of their varying attacks is an variability of proviso within the four place states. In England, the National Youth Agency ( NYA ) and the British Youth Council ( BYC ) provide advice and information on petition about young person councils. The Wales Youth Agency ( WYA ) has a similar remit. These are bureaus, which although advocates of immature people ‘s engagement, have limited capacity to back up development. Because of this, the development of young person councils in England and Wales has mostly been a haphazard one. Their signifier and character depending partially on such factors as the human ecology, political makeup and traditions of a vicinity, and partially on bing institutional and organizational cons tructions and magnetic persons. In Scotland developments are more consistent. Here a partnership between the Scottish Community Education Council ( SCEC ) , Youth Link Scotland and the Principal Community Education Officers Group, which followed four old ages of research and audience, gave rise to the ‘Connect Youth ‘ programme, launched in 1995. Targeted at 14-25 twelvemonth olds, this programme seeks to advance effectual engagement of immature people in the decision-making processes which affect their lives and to prosecute immature people in finding their positions on services and the development of chances for enhanced community engagement ( SCEC, 1996 ) . By far the longest history of young person councils in the UK, nevertheless, is within Northern Ireland. In 1979 the Department of Education established the Northern Ireland Youth Forum ( NIYF ) , with a specific brief to promote the development of a web of Local Youth Councils ( LYC ) . The intent of the LYCs was to acquire immature people involved in undertaking local issues and to guarantee that their voices were heard by local District Councils. The NIYF, on the other manus, took on a broader function and attempted to supply a national platform for immature people ‘s issues. Presently being discussed are proposals to acquire youth representatives on each District Council and the formation of a Northern Ireland Youth Parliament.DecisionThe multiple discourse about immature people ‘s engagement and representation generates equivocal docket. For those who feel that immature people are incapable of take parting or who question the rightness of their engagement, the deficiency of chances and inducements for representation within the UK is non deemed to be job. On the other manus, for those who see engagement to be the basis of democracy and inclusive citizenship, the UNCRC has become a rallying point, opening up new ways of believing about immature people ‘s rights. The diver seness of position, nevertheless, between those who see engagement as a ‘craft apprenticeship ‘ and a acquisition scheme ( Storrie, 1997, p. 65 ) and those who consider it to be a truly empowering experience and as a opportunity to redefine the constructions which include immature people, confounds the manner frontward. Yet, there is a turning acknowledgment that within the UK immature people are non given the regard or listened to with the earnestness that they deserve ( Lansdown, 1995 ) . The lie of consecutive authoritiess in non setting-up either an independent Commissioner for Children or a Minister for Children and the deficiency of a consistent national model for young person councils, confirms this position. This is non the instance in many parts of mainland Europe. Here, there is ample grounds of effectual ombudswork, national models for the co-ordination of immature people ‘s personal businesss and good established participatory constructions which operat e at a grass-roots degree. At a broader international graduated table, excessively, there is grounds that the Articles of the UNCRC are making out to integrate turning Numberss of immature people global. We suggest that the UK has much to larn from these experiences and until this happens, immature people will stay mostly unseeable in public-policy devising at all degrees. Finally, in this paper we have attempted to demo that surveies about kids ‘s engagement and representation in society are built-in to the emerging geographics of kids. Not merely do they supply a keener grasp of the historical and cultural relativity of childhood, but they besides add insight into procedures which marginalise and exclude.MentionsAitken, S. , 1994. Puting Children in Their Place. 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Organisation and Behaviour Essay

Case Study 1: Dimensions of Organisational Structure Changing the Rules at Bosco Plastics When Jill Thompson took over as chief executive officer at Bosco Plastics, the company was in trouble. Bosco had started out as an innovative company, known for creating a new product just as the popularity of one of the industry’s old standbys was fading, i.e., replacing yo-yo’s with water guns. In two decades, it had become an established maker of plastics for the toy industry. Bosco had grown from a dozen employees to four hundred, and its rules had grown haphazardly with it. Thompson’s predecessor, Wilhelm K. Blatz, had found the company’s procedures chaotic and had instituted a uniform set of rules for all employees. Since then, both research output and manufacturing productivity had steadily declined. When the company’s board of directors hired Thompson, they emphasized the need to evaluate and revise the company’s formal procedures in an attempt to reverse the trends. First, Thompson studied the rules Blatz had implemented. She was impressed to find that the entire procedures manual was only twenty pages long. It began with the reasonable sentence â€Å"All employees of Bosco Plastics shall be governed by the following . . .† Thompson had expected to find evidence that Blatz had been a tyrant who ran the company with an iron fist. But as she read through the manual, she found nothing to indicate this. In fact, some of the rules were rather flexible. Employees could punch in anytime between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. and leave nine hours later, between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Managers were expected to keep monthly notes on the people working for them and make yearly recommendations to the human resources committee about raises, bonuses, promotions, and firings. Except for their one-hour lunch break, which they could take at any time, employees were expected to be in the building at all times. Puzzled, Thompson went down to the lounge where the research and development people gathered. She was surprised to find a time clock on the wall. Curious, she fed a time card into it and was even more flabbergasted when the machine chattered noisily, then spit it out without registering the time. Apparently R&D was none too pleased with the time clock and had found a way to rig it. When Thompson looked up in astonishment, only two of the twelve employees who had been in the room were still there. They said the others had â€Å"punched back in† when they saw the boss coming. Thompson asked the remaining pair to tell her what was wrong with company rules, and she got an earful. The researchers, mostly chemists and engineers with advanced graduate degrees, resented punching a time clock and having their work evaluated once a month, when they could not reasonably be expected to come up with something new and worth writing about more than twice a year. Before the implementation of the new rules, they had often gotten inspiration from going down to the local dime store and picking up five dollars worth of cheap toys, but now they felt they could make such trips only on their own time. And when a researcher came up with an innovative idea, it often took months for the proposal to work its way up the company hierarchy to the attention of someone who could put it into production. In short, all these sharp minds felt shackled. Concluding that maybe she had overlooked the rigidity of the rules, Thompson walked over to the manufacturing building to talk to the production supervisors. They responded to her questions with one word: anarchy. With employees drifting in between 8:00 and 10:00 and then starting to drift out again by 11:00 for lunch, the supervisors never knew if they had enough people to run a particular operation. Employee turnover was high, but not high enough in some cases; supervisors believed the rules prevented them from firing all but the most incompetent workers before the end of the yearly evaluation period. The rules were so â€Å"humane† that discipline was impossible to enforce. By the time Jill Thompson got back to her office, she had a plan. The following week, she called in all the department managers and asked them to draft formal rules and procedures for their individual areas. She told them she did not intend to lose control of the company, but she wanted to see if they could improve productivity and morale by creating formal procedures for their individual departments. Case Questions (AO 1.1, 1.2 & 1.3): †¢ Do you think Jill Thompson’s proposal to decentralise the rules and procedures of Bosco Plastics will work? If so, why and how? Give reasons. What, in your opinion, are the requirements to make decentralisation effective? †¢ What kinds of rules and procedures do you think the department managers will come up with? Which departments will be more formalised? Why? †¢ What risks will the company face if it establishes different procedures for different areas? Explain your reasons by analysing the merits and demerits of ‘organic’ and ‘mechanistic’ structures with regard to changes proposed by Jill Thompson. Case Study 2: Organizational Structure and Culture Surviving Greenscape’s Hard Times In ten years, Greenscape had grown from a one-person venture into the largest nursery and landscaping business in its area. Its founder, Lita Ong, combined a lifelong interest in plants with a botany degree to provide a unique customer service. Ong had managed the company’s growth so that even with twenty full-time employees working in six to eight crews, the organization culture was still as open, friendly, and personal as it had been when her only â€Å"employees† were friends who would volunteer to help her move a heavy tree. To maintain that atmosphere, Ong involved herself increasingly with people and less with plants as the company grew. With hundreds of customers and scores of jobs at any one time, she could no longer say without hesitation whether she had a dozen arborvitae bushes in stock or when Mrs. McCormack’s estate would need a new load of bark mulch. But she knew when Martina had been up all night with her baby, when Adrian was likely to be late because he had driven to see his sick father over the weekend, and how to deal with Emily when she was depressed because of her boyfriend’s behaviour. She kept track of the birthdays of every employee and even those of their children. She was up every morning by five-thirty arranging schedules so that Johnson could get his son out of daycare at four o’clock and Doris could be back in town for her afternoon high school equivalency classes. Paying all this attention to employees may have led Ong to make a single bad business decision that almost destroyed the company. She provided extensive landscaping to a new mall on credit, and when the mall never opened and its owners went bankrupt, Greenscape found itself in deep trouble. The company had virtually no cash and had to pay off the bills for the mall plants, most of which were not even salvageable. One Friday, Ong called a meeting with her employees and levelled with them: either they would not get paid for a month or Greenscape would fold. The news hit the employees hard. Many counted on the Friday paycheck to buy groceries for the week. The local unemployment rate was low, however, and they knew they could find other jobs. But as they looked around, they wondered whether they could ever find this kind of job. Sure, the pay was not the greatest, but the tears in the eyes of some workers were not over pay or personal hardship; they were for Ong, her dream, and her difficulties. They never thought of her as the boss or called her anything but â€Å"Lita.† And leaving the group would not be just a matter of saying good-bye to fellow employees. If Bernice left, the company softball team would lose its best pitcher, and the Sunday game was the height of everyone’s week. Where else would they find people who spent much of the weekend working on the best puns with which to assail one another on Monday morning? At how many offices would everyone show up twenty minutes before starting time just to catch up with friends on other crews? What other boss would really understand when you simply said, â€Å"I don’t have a doctor’s appointment, I just need the afternoon off†? Ong gave her employees the weekend to think over their decision: whether to take their pay and look for another job or to dig into their savings and go on working. Knowing it would be hard for them to quit, she told them they did not have to face her on Monday; if they did not show up, she would send them their checks. But when she arrived at seven-forty Monday morning, she found the entire group already there, ready to work even harder to pull the company through. They were even trying to top one another with puns about being â€Å"mall-contents.† Case Questions (AO 2.1, 2.2 & 2.3): †¢ How would you describe the organization culture at Greenscape? Under the different types of culture, what type of culture, do you think, operating in Greenscape? Justify your views with evidence. †¢ How large can such a company get before it needs to change its culture and structure? And why it is important to change culture and structure? Discuss briefly the benefits and difficulties that Greenscape have to cope with changing its culture and structure as the company gears for its growth. Case Study 3: Leadership Models and Concepts Right Boss, Wrong Company Brenda Hogan was continuously on top of things. In school, she had always been at the top of her class. When she went to work for her uncle’s shoe business, Fancy Footwear, she had been singled out as the most productive employee and the one with the best attendance. The company was so impressed with her that it sent her to get an M.B.A. to groom her for a top management position. In school again, and with three years of practical experience to draw on, Hogan had gobbled up every idea put in front of her, relating many of them to her work at Fancy Footwear. When Hogan graduated at the top of her class, she returned to Fancy Footwear. To no one’s surprise, when the head of the company’s largest division took advantage of the firm’s early retirement plan, Hogan was given his position. Hogan knew the pitfalls of being suddenly catapulted to a leadership position, and she was determined to avoid them. In business school, she had read cases about family businesses that fell apart when a young family member took over with an iron fist, barking out orders, cutting personnel, and destroying morale. Hogan knew a lot about participative management, and she was not going to be labelled an arrogant know-it-all. Hogan’s predecessor, Max Worthy, had run the division from an office at the top of the building, far above the factory floor. Two or three times a day, Worthy would summon a messenger or a secretary from the offices on the second floor and send a memo out to one or another group of workers. But as Hogan saw it, Worthy was mostly an absentee autocrat, making all the decisions from above and spending most of his time at extended lunches with his friends from the Rotary Club. Hogan’s first move was to change all that. She set up her office on the second floor. From her always-open doorway she could see down onto the factory floor, and as she sat behind her desk she could spot anyone walking by in the hall. She never ate lunch herself but spent the time from 11 to 2 down on the floor, walking around, talking, and organizing groups. The workers, many of whom had twenty years of seniority at the plant, seemed surprised by this new policy and reluctant to volunteer for any groups. But in fairly short order, Hogan established a worker productivity group, a â€Å"Suggestion of the Week† committee, an environmental group, a worker award group, and a management relations group. Each group held two meetings a week, one without and one with Hogan. She encouraged each group to set up goals in its particular focus area and develop plans for reaching those goals. She promised any support that was within her power to give. The group work was agonizingly slow at first. But Hogan had been well trained as a facilitator, and she soon took on that role in their meetings, writing down ideas on a big board, organizing them, and later communicating them in notices to other employees. She got everyone to call her â€Å"Betty† and set herself the task of learning all their names. By the end of the first month, Fancy Footwear was stirred up. But as it turned out, that was the last thing most employees wanted. The truth finally hit Hogan when the entire management relations committee resigned at the start of their fourth meeting. â€Å"I’m sorry, Ms. Hogan,† one of them said. â€Å"We’re good at making shoes, but not at this management stuff. A lot of us are heading toward retirement. We don’t want to be supervisors.† Astonished, Hogan went to talk to the workers with whom she believed she had built good relations. Yes, they reluctantly told her, all these changes did make them uneasy. They liked her, and they didn’t want to complain. But given the choice, they would rather go back to the way Mr. Worthy had run things. They never saw Mr. Worthy much, but he never got in their hair. He did his work, whatever that was, and they did theirs. â€Å"After you’ve been in a place doing one thing for so long,† one worker concluded, â€Å"the last thing you want to do is learn a new way of doing it.† Case Questions (AO 3.1, 3.2 & 3.3): †¢ What factors should have alerted Hogan to the problems that eventually came up at Fancy Footwear? †¢ Could Hogan have instituted her changes without eliciting a negative reaction from the workers? If so, how? Case Study 4: Need-Based Perspectives on Motivation More Than a Pay Cheque Samuel Gibson was a trainer for Britannia Home Manufacturers, a large builder of prefabricated homes. Britannia Home had hired Gibson fresh from graduate school with a master’s degree in English. At first, the company put him to work writing and revising company brochures and helping with the most important correspondence at the senior level. But soon, both Gibson and senior management officials began to notice how well he worked with executives on their writing, how he made them feel more confident about it, and how, after working with an executive on a report, the executive often was much more eager to take on the next writing task. So Britannia Home moved Gibson into its prestigious training department. The company’s trainers worked with thousands of supervisors, managers, and executives, helping them learn everything from new computer languages to time management skills to how to get the most out of the workers on the plant floor, many of whom were unmotivated high school dropouts. Soon Gibson was spending all his time giving short seminars on executive writing as well as coaching his students to perfect their memos and letters. Gibson’s move into training meant a big increase in salary, and when he started working exclusively with the company’s top brass, it seemed as though he got a bonus every month. Gibson’s supervisor, Mirella Carta, knew he was making more than many executives who had been with the company three times as long, and probably twice as much as any of his graduate school classmates who concentrated in English. Yet in her biweekly meetings with him, she could tell that Gibson wasn’t happy. When Carta asked him about it, Gibson replied that he was in a bit of a rut. He had to keep saying the same things over and over in his seminars, and business memos weren’t as interesting as the literature he had been trained on. But then, after trailing off for a moment, he blurted out, â€Å"They don’t need me!† Since the memos filtering down through the company were now flawlessly polished, and the annual report was 20 percent shorter but said everything it needed to, Gibson’s desire to be needed was not fulfilled. The next week, Gibson came to Carta with a proposal: What if he started holding classes for some of the floor workers, many of whom had no future within or outside the company because many could write nothing but their own names? Carta took the idea to her superiors. They told her that they wouldn’t oppose it, but Gibson couldn’t possibly keep drawing such a high salary if he worked with people whose contribution to the company was compensated at minimum wage. Gibson agreed to a reduced salary and began offering English classes on the factory floor, which were billed by management (who hoped to avoid a wage hike that year) as an added benefit of the job. At first only two or three workers showed up—and they, Gibson believed, only wanted an excuse to get away from the nailing guns for a while. But gradually word got around that Gibson was serious about what he was doing and didn’t treat the workers like kids in a remedial class. At the end of the year, Gibson got a bonus from a new source: the vice president in charge of production. Although Gibson’s course took workers off the job for a couple of hours a week, productivity had actually improved since his course began, employee turnover had dropped, and for the first time in over a year, some of the floor workers had begun to apply for supervisory positions. Gibson was pleased with the bonus, but when Carta saw him grinning as he walked around the building, she knew he wasn’t thinking about his bank account.

How did early Chinese philosophers come to have a long-lasting Essay

How did early Chinese philosophers come to have a long-lasting influence on the - Essay Example Chinese philosophy came to spread throughout the region specifically because of the political and military power of the Chinese kingdoms and later empire. At its height of political power, the Chinese empire was the most advanced in the Far Eastern region with a culture that was based on the teachings of its philosophers. The result was that many of the neighbouring states often sent their young people, especially from the aristocracy, to study in China and this resulted in their being especially influenced by the Chinese philosophers. When these individuals returned to their homelands, they brought back the philosophy that they had learnt with them and ensured its propagation among their people. Because it was the norm for the general population to imitate or follow the example of the ruling class, Chinese philosophy took root in the intellectual development of the region, with many schools of thought being developed for the purpose of ensuring that teachings of Chinese philosophers were further developed and propagated (Ebrey 42). In this manner, Chinese philosophers came to have an immense influence on the later intellectuals in the entire region and this situation also helped in the propagation of the cultural dominance of the Chinese in later years. Among the most influential reasons for the Chinese philosophers’ influence on the intellectual development of the region is that the region already shared a common religion in the form of Buddhism. The fact that a large chunk of the population practiced this religion ensured that Chinese philosophy could be easily accepted by the populations outside of the Chinese empire (Denecke 38). There were instances where Chinese philosophy came to be a part of the basic life of the people of the entire region and this was mainly through its spread by Buddhist monks and scholars.

The Hidden Content of Artwork Adam and Eve Created by Albrecht Durer Essay

The Hidden Content of Artwork Adam and Eve Created by Albrecht Durer - Essay Example Albrecht Durer wanted to demonstrate the importance of people’s decisions; some of them may be fatal and bring a lot of problems. The same situation happened to first people. The central focus of this picture is the representation of Adam and Eva under the tree. They are painted in the foreground surrounded by different animals – birds, hares, mice, and deer. We can see the snake on the branch behind Eva. It holds an apple in its mouth, and Eva is about to take it. Adam holds a branch with a bird in his right hand. Everything is beautiful around people, and they also attract the viewers’ attention at once. In the top right corner, a viewer sees a piece of sky with the mountains. The tree behind Adam and Eva is an apple-tree. It is rich in apples; they are almost on each branch. People are shown young in the picture. Naked images and an apple tree convince us that the characters described here are the first people in Eden. No doubt that the artist wanted to show the most important moment in people’s life – the turning point in the relationship between people and God. The characters’ facial expressions may tell much about their inner world and their thoughts. Moreover, Adam and Eva have different facial expressions. It is not very difficult to see curiosity and selfishness in Eva’s face. People knew that they could not take that apple, but Eva decided that it was possible for her to be as intelligent and powerful as God. Besides, she did not think about her husband. This fact proves that she was a rather selfish woman who followed only her own interests. A gentle smile on Eva’s lips reflects her satisfaction; as only several seconds separate her from the aim she wanted to reach. Adam’s face shows his surprise and grief. He seems to be very upset because of his wife’s action. Adam’s body is bent to Eva as if he wants to stop her.  

Is Freedom of Speech Really Free Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Is Freedom of Speech Really Free - Essay Example Kersch (2003, p.2) writes that, â€Å"American’s belief that freedom of speech is part of their national birthright, a birthright that sets the United States above other nations, has been a constant throughout U.S. history, as many foreign visitors have observed. But the scope of that freedom has shifted radically over the course of U.S. history.† This is a very sad and eye-opening statement which can better be understood after reading the following incident. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, delivered a speech recently in Washington, D.C. regarding the disappointment she was having in foreign leaders about respecting people’s freedom. Ray McGovern, who was a former CIA employee and a peace activist, attempted to make a protest against Hillary’s speech. He was put to silence after guards grabbed him; pulled him off cruelly; abused and double-cuffed him with metal handcuffs; and put him in jail, bleeding. Ray was abused because he opened his mouth while the Secretary of State was strongly assuring the citizens about the freedom of expression, in her speech. Ray shouted, â€Å"So, this is America?† while the cops dragged him away. The video footage can be seen on YouTube and the report by O’Connor (2011) can be read online. Is this the freedom of speech that our politicians guarantee us when they take our votes? This is nothing other than mere hypocrisy. Brad O’Leary’s book, Shut Up America!: The End of Free Speech, (2009) has beautifully explained that restrictions on freedom of thought and expression is very dangerous for our sustainability as a nation. He writes that, â€Å"In the 2008, Presidential Election, Congress issued no complaints about the content of television and print coverage of the race for the White House. But today’s congressional leaders want to punish talk radio for its critical coverage of television and print media bias† (p. ix). He asserts that today we do not enjoy f ree expression of ideas. A specific agenda is always forced on us making us believe that we are so unenlightened and provincial that we cannot understand our own good. They make us believe that we are not smart enough to be able to understand the difference between biased ideas and agendas and we cannot sort out things ourselves. We are told that we cannot form good opinions without their support, so we have to adopt their ideas and perspective to survive freely. â€Å"This group sees Americans as petulant children who refuse to eat their vegetables, and their solution is to forcefeed us what we clearly and definitely have rejected†, asserts O’Leary. A University of Florida student named Andrew Meyer asked some questions of Senator John Kerry in 2007 during a forum. He was constantly and excitedly trying to ask Kerry why he approved the 2004 election even after numerous reports of disenfranchisement of black voters and pre-prepared electronic-voting machines. Meyer was thought of being impolite and obnoxious. The police attacked him and eventually forced him to submit after Tasering him (FOXNews, 2007). Tasering means applying electric shock by means of a weapon which is used by police to control suspects. In the YouTube video, Meyer can be heard howling with pain, "Don't Tase me, bro, don't Tase me". What does this incident tell us about the freedom of speech? Is it really free? Certainly not. We can no more raise our voices. We cannot ask questions of our officials. We cannot say that we are not satisfied. We

Applied Biology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Applied Biology - Essay Example This interruption of blood supply and thereby shortage in oxygen supply is normally caused by the collection of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque, which is a combination of lipids and White Blood Cells, on the walls of the arteries. This plaque only results in ischemia, and will lead to minimal or extensive infraction or death of the myocardial cells in the heart. When this myocardial infraction happens, the structure and the function of the heart undergo sizable changes. Following myocardial infarction, there will ischemic cascade during which the affected cells will die. Then, the leukocytes and the fibroblasts start to migrate into that necrotic region, and so the death tissue gradually remodels into a dense collagenous scar. (Ingels, Daughters and Baan 1996). In addition, the damages that happen in the myocytes and extracellular matrix formation after myocardial infarction, changes the size and the shape of the left ventricle and heart, thus impacting its structure. This process of changes is commonly known as â€Å"myocardial remodeling†. (Davis, Davies and Lip 2007). During that process of remodeling, the remaining functioning cells of the heart tries assume a different shape by enlarging itself and this is known as hypertrophy. By attaining this enlarged shape, those muscles will try to counter and manage the loss of synchronicity in the functioning of the muscles. These structural changes happen automatically, so the heart can compensate for the loss of key heart muscles. Thus, the function of the heart also gets reoriented after myocardial infraction, because its efficiency deteriorates due to the inability of the dead myocardial cells to aptly contract and thereby contribute to the heart beat and functioning. Even when the heart cells enlarge to compensate for the dead cells, it may not have the desired effect. That is, the enlarged cells may not be able to contract as forcefully and as effectively as the normal-sized and normal functioning cel ls. This restricted function will directly hinder the heart’s ability to generate expectant force during each beat or contraction, thus limiting heart’s functioning and its’ pumping of blood for all parts of the body. In addition, the function of the electrical system of the heart, which initiates the signals for a contraction, could also get disturbed because of the changes in the structure of the heart after myocardial infraction. The disturbance will be in the form of irregular heart rhythms, which is known as arrhythmias, which is a serious and restrictive problem, and has to be treated through medication or through permanent pacemaker implantation. The structural changes could also activate â€Å"systemic processes causing sequelae in many other organs and tissues, as well as further damage to the heart.† (Davis, Davies and Lip 2007, p.10). Thus, these changes in the structure and the function of the heart happens in the form of a vicious cycle, lead ing to further deterioration of the heart, causing other serious complications, which includes total heart failure. 2. Heart failure is a possible complication of a myocardial infarction. Describe the signs/symptoms and explain the physiological changes that are causing them. Heart failure can be categorized and arbitrarily divided into Left-sided failure and Right-sided failure, with each exhibiting certain symptoms. However, Left sided forward failure could overlap with the right sided backward failure, and also importantly the right-sided heart failure could be caused by the left-sided heart failure. Thus, as both are interrelated, the patients could present with both sets of symptoms. Person being affected with heart failure could exhibit mainly the symptoms of shortness of breath and swelling,

Islamic banking and financial in a global economy Assignment

Islamic banking and financial in a global economy - Assignment Example This growth is conspicuous from the emergence of new Shariah compliant instruments in various asset classes, ranging from equities, real estate, commodities and private equity (not bonds as interest bearing instruments are considered prohibited (haram)). Estimates suggest that since 1990, the market size of the Islamic Finance has multiplied five times from USD 150 billion to USD 900 billion in the year 2008; whereas it is expected to more than double at USD 2 trillion by the year 2010. The main markets currently involved in the Islamic finance and banking across the globe comprises mainly the active participation from the GCC countries, followed by Middle Eastern and North African countries. Slowly and gradually European states, Australia and other American states have started penetrating the market with wild growth rates. It is noticeable from the onset of Shariah compliant banking units of Citigroup (America), HSBC (Britain), and Deutsche Bank (Germany). As opposed to conventional banking, Islamic banking has its roots in the core values of the religion, Islam. Where, Islam itself is the way of life and conduct of living, the underlying theme of the Islamic Financial system is application of ethics and discipline to the banking and finance sector. It is not so simple; it does not only prohibit usury/interest (money on money), but aims at eliminating unjust behavior for the development of an equitable economy. Prohibition of interest, avoidance of uncertainty and contingency, restrictions on short selling, sharing in profits and losses are the core principles governing Islamic finance; it also places restrictions on financing sectors that engage in illegal and illicit activities – such as alcohol and tobacco, gambling, arms and ammunition, pornography and acts that are harmful for the environment. For the avoidance of all these prohibit able acts and indulgences, the community of Islamic shariah scholars have come up with

Contract law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Contract law - Essay Example This is the principle of promissory estoppel and in its modern form it is based on the dicta of Denning J in the Central London Property case (Central London Property Trust Ltd V. High Trees House Ltd) and the decision of the House of Lords in the Tool Metal case (Tool Metal Manufacturing Co Ltd V. Tungsten Electric Co Ltd ). In Williams v. Roffey, Roffey had a contract to refurbish a block of flats. He sub-contracted the carpentry work to Williams, who after the commencement of the work came to realize that he had underestimated its cost and as a result, he was placed in financial difficulties. Roffey, realizing that the work would not be completed on time and that this would result in the breach of a penalty clause in their main contract with the owner, agreed to pay Williams an extra payment per flat (Williams v Roffey Bros & Nicholls (Contractors) Limited). Williams completed the work on these flats but did not receive full payment. He stopped work and brought in an action for damages. In the Court of Appeal, Roffey argued that Williams was only doing what he was contractually bound to do and had therefore not provided any consideration. It was held by the Court of Appeal that where a party to an existing contract later agrees to pay an extra "bonus" in order to ensure that the other party performs his obligations under the contract, then that agreement is binding if the party agreeing to pay the bonus has thereby obtained some new practical advantage or has avoided a disadvantage. In the present case, there were benefits to Roffey such as: (a) making sure Williams continued his work, (b) avoiding payment under a damages clause of the main contract if Williams was late, and (c) avoiding the expense and trouble of sub contracting the work to someone else. Therefore, Williams was entitled to payment (Williams v Roffey Bros & Nicholls (Co ntractors) Limited). In the CTN Cash case it was

Time Value of Money Application Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Time Value of Money Application Paper - Essay Example The following are some important concepts of time value of money: Future value of money at a particular point is equal to the original sum of money plus interest rate multiplied by original sum of money. Suppose a retirement plan financial service provider receives $100 at the rate of 8% per annum; the future value of that fund will be: Given above scenario, present value is a reverse of the future value in that it shows how much certain amount of dollar worth today. The above formula can equally be used to calculate present value, in this case it will be inverted; if the calculations involve compound interest then the amount in inner braces will be raised to a power of n. the resulting value is otherwise called discounted value. This is the cost for borrowing or lending money or can be viewed as the yield to which money can earn. This interest rate can be categorized into nominal rate of interest and effective rate of interest2. Nominal interest rate is that rate of interest not adjusted for inflation whereas effective interest rate has full effect of compounding and is adjusted for inflation. Commercial banks make good use of time value of money in all their transactions – accepting deposits, lending to firms and corporate organizations and even borrowing short-term instruments from other financial institutions. For example, if a commercial bank accepts savings from a client at 5% per annum, assuming the client deposits $200 every two months for a year; the client might unwittingly be glad for receiving the 5% in addition to security he/she enjoys from the bank. However, these funds can be lent out at 15% to a credit card company who now uses this to service its customers. The difference between 15% paid by Credit Card Company and 5% paid to this client with the commercial bank reflects the of time value of money. Using above example, credit card financial