Battle of Conformity and Non-conformity Essay

In Tom Schulman’s Dead Poets Society a group of bright students are enrolled in a prestigious New England private school named Welton Academy. This school stresses conformity and tradition as one of its trademarks. In order to survive in this school one must never challenge the institution. Dead Poets Society is a powerful example of the constant battle between conformity and non-conformity. Mr. Keating, a teacher at Welton, fights on the side of non-conformity and free- thinking. On the first day of school, he shows them a picture of past classes. He tells them that they are all in the Earth now, and they have a message for his current students. The message was â€Å"carpe diem†, or â€Å"seize the day†. He is telling them that one-day they will be dead, so it is imperative that they â€Å"make their lives extraordinary† and to â€Å"carpe diem†, seize the day. Carpe diem is important because he tells them to follow their dreams, but in many cases their dreams went against the principles of the school. Through his unorthodox teaching style he taught them that conformity was not necessary. Many of the poems he taught them all preached carpe diem, such as the following: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may Old time is still a flying And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying. â€Å"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may† means that make your dreams come true before you die. However, they could never live their dreams if they conformed to what their parents wanted, or what their principal wanted. Another example of how his teaching promoted free thinking and non-conformity was the way he ripped out the introduction by J. Evans Prichard. He didn’t want his students to conform to Prichard’s views on poetry he wanted them to form their own views. He called the introduction â€Å"excrement† and yelled â€Å"rip it, rip it out†. Everyday in his classroom there would be a lesson that preached against non-conformity along with poetry. After reading a poem, Mr. Keating stood up on the table and said, â€Å"Why do I stand here? To feel taller than you? I stand on my desk to remind myself that we must constantly force ourselves to look at things differently.† He then invites his students to stand up. This is obviously a lesson in free thinking and non-conformity. He is saying that there is more than one view to everything, and he is inviting them to be unconventional. Mr. Keating  helps almost all of his students become free thinkers and non-conformists. This is illustrated at the end, when they all stand on their desks. Mr. Nolan, the principal at Welton, is a man who believes that tradition and conformity should be upheld in all cases. From the first day of school, he teaches them never to diverge from tradition. In the opening assembly, every word spoken by the students is done in unison. They all recite the four pillars, which are tradition, honor, excellence, and discipline. Neil Perry is a victim of society’s need for conformity. He is a Welton student, who has been entrapped in his father’s web of restrictions.

Stefan’s Diaries: Bloodlust Chapter 23

October 9, 1864 Iam not supposed to have a heart. A bullet went through it nearly three weeks ago, and no blood of my own will ever pump through it again. The only blood that now courses through my veins is that of whomever I happen to attack. And yet something about Callie causes my dead heart to flutter and the stolen blood to quicken in my body. Is it real? Or is it a mere memory of something that used to be? Damon once told me that on the battlefield, boys who'd undergone amputations still woke up to agonizing pain in their legs or cried for the hand that ached, though those limbs were no longer part of them. But while those boys had phantom limbs, it seems I have a phantom heart. In my short time in New Orleans, I've learned about my Power. It's what has driven me, what I've thrived on, what makes me a vampire. But that's not the only power I possess. The other kind isn't exciting, or thrilling, or dangerous. It's mundane and tedious–the exercising of control over my Power. I've had to learn to suppress my urges to fit in and to remain with Lexi. Yet when I was with Callie at the show, it was as though my two powers were at cross-purposes, each threatening to destroy the other in a private battle in my brain. Now she enters my thoughts constantly. The constellation of freckles on her skin. Her long eyelashes. Her vibrant smile. I can't help but admire the way she wields her own power. How she commands the attention and respect of her father's employees, but also how she grows soft around me, cuddling close when she thinks no one is looking. I think of my hand interlaced with hers. And every time an image of Callie floats to my consciousness, I curse myself. I should be stronger than this. I shouldn't think of her. I should put her out of my mind, write her off as a silly little girl who is lucky I'm letting her live. But deep down, despite my Power, I know Callie has control over me–and my phantom heart. The next morning, I returned to the freak show, with only one thing on my mind: freeing Damon. â€Å"Hello, friend!† the strong man, Arnold, greeted me as I walked through the gateway to the fairgrounds. â€Å"Hello,† I muttered. The tattooed woman came up behind him and gazed at me quizzically. Without her India-inked designs, she was actually quite pretty, with high cheekbones and wide, inquisitive eyes. â€Å"What are you doing here?† I grunted in response. â€Å"Youll want to apologize to Callie.† She pointed at the side of the tent. So Callie had already told her friends about our disastrous evening. Just as I had feared. I walked around the grounds until I saw Callie kneeling over a piece of birch wood at her feet. Paint splattered her overalls, and her red hair was twisted on top of her head and held in place by a single, slender, long-handled paintbrush. The sign said: A PENNY A PEEK: A REAL, LIVE, HUNGRY VAMPIRE. ENTER IF YOU DARE! Underneath was a crude drawing of a vampire: fangs elongated, eyes squinting, blood trickling down both sides of his mouth. The features were Damons, but it was clear Callie had drawn significant artistic inspiration from the burlesque show last night. Callie looked up, catching me staring. Her mouth made a round O, and she dropped her brush onto the canvas. A large black spot suddenly appeared on Damons face. â€Å"Look what you made me do,† she said angrily. I stuck my hands in my pockets, subtly sniffing the air for traces of Damon. â€Å"Im sorry.† Callie sighed in annoyance. â€Å"I dont need your apologies. I just need you to stop distracting me so I can get some work done.† â€Å"Do you want me to help you fix the painting?† The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. They hung between us for a long moment, both of us seemingly surprised by my offer. â€Å"Fix the painting?† Callie echoed, putting her hands on her hips. â€Å"Am I hearing you correctly? Fix thepainting?† â€Å"Yes?† I fumbled. â€Å"Are you aware that you left me last night to get home alone, with no explanation?† Her chin was jutted out, and her stance was aggressive, but her lower lip wobbled, and I could tell she was hurt. â€Å"Callie,† I began. Excuses flew through my head.I work for your father. We should not sneak around. You're just a girl, and I'm a vampire Even though part of me was furious at her for allowing her father to parade Damon around like livestock, to let him fight perhaps until death, the other part knew that she had as little sway over her father as Id had with mine. And now all I could think about was making her lip stop wobbling. â€Å"Its better this way,† I said, twisting my ring around my finger. She shook her head and stabbed the sharp wooden end of the paintbrush into the dirt. It remained there, as if it were a tiny surrender flag after a battle. â€Å"No explanation necessary. Weve known each other a week. You dont owe me an explanation. Thats the best thing about strangers: You dont owe them anything,† she said crisply. I rocked back on my heels. A silence hung between us. The image of Damon glared up at me, seemingly mocking my ineffectiveness. â€Å"Well, arent you going to get to work?† she asked. â€Å"Or are we just paying you to stand around?† Before I could turn to leave, Jasper burst out of a small black tent at the edge of the property. â€Å"We need some extra hands!† A lanky man trailed behind him, cradling his forearm close to his chest. Callie leaped to her feet. â€Å"What happened?† As the man held out his hand, blood flowed down his arm onto the ground. I averted my eyes. Even so, pain rippled along my jaw as I felt my fangs grow. â€Å"The vampires fighting today. We need more men.† Jasper gasped breathlessly, his eyes falling on me. â€Å"Stefan,† Callie said in a tone that wasnt a question. Jasper and the stocky man stared at me. â€Å"Well then, come on, new guy. Show us youre Gallagher material,† Jasper said, jerking his chin in the direction of the tent. â€Å"Of course,† I said slowly, a plan forming in my mind. I could pick out four separate heartbeats in the tent. There would be copious amounts of vervain, of course, but Id been feeding regularly enough that I might be able to overcome the men. Four I could handle, but five I turned to Jasper. â€Å"Why dont you and Callie take care of your man here and Ill join the others in the tent?† â€Å"I'm coming, brother,† I added under my breath. Callie squinted at me. â€Å"Did you say something?† â€Å"No,† I said quickly. Jasper shifted from foot to foot, sizing me up with his eyes. â€Å"Callie will take care of Charley here, and Ill take care of you. Teach you the tricks of monster wrangling,† he said, clapping me on the back, pushing me toward the tent. With each step the scent of vervain grew stronger, curdling the blood in my veins. Together, we entered the tent. The interior was hot and dark, the stench of vervain nearly suffocating me. It took every ounce of my strength not to bend at the waist and scream in agony. I forced my eyes open and looked at my brother, who was chained in the corner. Four men yanked on his restraints, trying desperately to keep him in place. The second Damons eyes landed on me, his face lit up. â€Å"Welcome to hell, brother,† Damon whispered, his lips barely moving as he locked eyes with me. Then he turned to Jasper. â€Å"So, Jasp,† he said, in a conversational tone, as if they were just two men engaged in a friendly talk at a tavern, â€Å"you found a new sap to do your dirty work. Well, come on, brother. Lets see if you can stake me.† â€Å"His bark is worse than his bite,† Jasper said, holding out a stake to me. From its stench I could tell it had been soaked in vervain. â€Å"Give me your gloves,† I said with an air of authority. Touching the wood would give me away instantly. â€Å"Wont give you much protection. Those fangs can go through anything,† Jasper protested. â€Å"Just give them to me,† I said through clenched teeth. Damon watched the exchange intently, clearly enjoying my predicament. â€Å"Okay, if theyll make you more comfortable. † Jasper shrugged and handed me his leather gloves. I pulled them over my hands and took the stake from Jasper, my hands trembling slightly. How could something so light be so deadly? Damon let out a low chuckle. â€Å"Is this the best you could rustle up? He looks about ready to keel over.† I glared at my brother. â€Å"I'm trying to save you,† I whispered. Damon just snorted derisively. â€Å"Please,† I added. â€Å"Please what?† he said, wrapping the chains around his hands. â€Å"Please let me save you.† â€Å"Sorry. Can't help you there,† he said, before yanking on the chains. Two of the guards fell to the ground in surprise. â€Å"Do something!† Jasper said gruffly. â€Å"Youve got to stick him, let him know his place.† â€Å"Listen to your boss,† Damon sneered.†Be a man and stab me. A real man isn't afraid of blood, isn't that right?† Jasper bent down and grabbed a stake from the ground. â€Å"Cmon, boy. Earn your keep,† he said, using the side of the stake to nudge me forward. I gasped. Pain shot up and down my skin, as if Id been touched by a hot poker. Damon laughed again. The flap opened, and Callie poked her head through the tent. I looked wildly over at her. â€Å"Callie, you shouldnt be here!† Both she and Damon looked at me quizzically. A sickening feeling spread through my limbs. The vervain, the heat, the stakes Just then, with a simple twist from his chains, Damon broke free and lunged toward Callie. Callie shrieked, and Jasper dove to shield her. Time seemed to stop, and without thinking, I hurled my stake through Damons belly. He fell backward, gasping, blood spurting from the wound. â€Å"I said, please!† I hissed wildly, in a voice only Damon could hear. Callie cowered near the flap, her eyes wide as she glanced between me and Damon. Damon looked up, wheezing as he pulled the stake from his stomach. Then I heard the faintest, hoarse whisper over the shouts of Jasper and the trainers as they moved to re-chain Damon. â€Å"Then please know that your hell hasn't even yet begun, brother.† Stefan’s Diaries: Bloodlust Chapter 2~3 Chapter 2 Damon and I crouched in the cemeterys hemlock grove behind the mausoleums that housed the bones of Mystic Falls founders. Despite the early hour, already the townspeople stood stoop-shouldered around a gaping hole in the ground. Puffs of air curled into the cerulean blue sky with the crowds every exhalation, as if the entire congregation were smoking celebratory cigars rather than trying to calm their chattering teeth. My heightened senses took in the scene before us. The cloying smell of vervain–an herb that rendered vampires powerless–hung heavy in the air. The grass was laden with dew, each drop of water falling to the earth with a silvery ping, and far off in the distance church bells chimed. Even from this distance, I could see a tear lodged in the corner of Honoria Fellss eye. Down at the pulpit, Mayor Lockwood shuffled from foot to foot, clearly eager to get the crowds attention. I could just make out the winged figure above him, the angel statue that marked my mothers final resting place. Two empty plots lay just beyond, where Damon and I should have been buried. The mayors voice sliced through the cold air, his voice as loud to my sensitive ears as if he were standing right next to me. â€Å"We come together today to say farewell to one of Mystic Falls greatest sons, Giuseppe Salvatore, a man for whom town and family always came before self.† Damon kicked the ground. â€Å"The family he killed. The love he destroyed, the lives he shattered,† he muttered. â€Å"Shhh,† I whispered as I pressed my palm against his forearm. â€Å"If I were to paint a portrait of this great mans life,† Lockwood continued over the sniffles and sighs of the crowd, â€Å"Giuseppe Salvatore would be flanked by his two fallen sons, Damon and Stefan, heroes of the battle of Willow Creek. May we learn from Giuseppe, emulate him, and be inspired to rid our town of evil, either seen or unseen.† Damon let out a low, rattling scoff. â€Å"The portrait he paints,† he said, â€Å"should contain the muzzle flash of Fathers rifle.† He rubbed the place where Fathers bullet had ripped through his chest only a week earlier. There was no physical wound–our transformation healed all injuries–but the betrayal would be etched in our minds forever. â€Å"Shhh,† I said again as Jonathan Gilbert strode up to stand beside Mayor Lockwood, holding a large veiled frame. Jonathan looked to have aged ten years in seven short days: lines creased his tanned forehead, and streaks of white were visible in his brown hair. I wondered if his transformation had something to do with Pearl, the vampire he loved but had condemned to death after finding out what she really was. I spotted Clementines parents in the crowd, arms clasped, not yet aware that their daughter was not among the somber-faced girls in the back of the crowd. Theyd find out soon enough. My thoughts were interrupted by an insistent clicking, like a watch counting or a fingernail tapping against a hard surface. I scanned the crowd, trying to trace the ticking to its point of origin. The sound was slow and steady and mechanical, steadier than a heartbeat, slower than a metronome. And it seemed to be coming directly from Jonathans hand. Clementines blood rushed to my head. The compass. Back when Father first became suspicious of vampires, hed created a committee of men to rid the town of the demonic scourge. Id attended the meetings, which had taken place in Jonathan Gilberts attic. Hed had plans for a contraption to identify vampires, and Id witnessed him using it in action the week before. It was how hed discovered Pearls true nature. I elbowed Damon. â€Å"We have to go,† I said, barely moving my jaw. Just then Jonathan looked up, and his eyes locked directly onto mine. He let out an unholy shriek and pointed to our mausoleum. â€Å"Demon!† The crowd turned toward us as one, their stares cutting through the fog like bayonets. Then something rushed past me, and the wall behind me exploded. A cloud of powder billowed around us, and chips of marble slashed across my cheek. I bared my fangs and roared. The sound was loud, primal, terrifying. Half the crowd knocked over chairs in their haste to flee the cemetery, but the other half remained. â€Å"Kill the demons!† Jonathan cried, brandishing a crossbow. â€Å"I think they mean us, brother,† Damon said with a short, humorless laugh. And so I grabbed Damon and ran. Chapter 3 With Damon behind me, I raced through the forest, jumping over felled branches and skipping over stones. I leaped over the waist-high iron gate of the cemetery, turning briefly to make sure Damon was still following. We zigzagged deep into the woods, the gunshots sounding like fireworks in my ear, the shrieks of the townspeople like breaking glass, their heavy breathing like low-rolling thunder. I could even hear the footfalls of the crowd pursuing me, each step sending vibrations through the ground. I silently cursed Damon for being so stubborn. If hed been willing to drink before today, hed be at full strength, and our newfound speed and agility would have already taken us far away from this mess. As we cut through the thicket, squirrels and voles scattered from the underbrush, their blood quickening in the presence of predators. A whinny and a snort sounded from the far edge of the cemetery. â€Å"Comeon.† I grabbed Damon by the waist and hoisted him to his feet again. â€Å"We have to keep moving.† I could hear the blood pumping, smell the iron, feel the ground shaking. I knew the mob was more afraid of me than I of them; but still, the sound of gunshots caused my mind to whirl, my body to lurch forward. Damon was weak and I could only carry him so far. Another gunshot cracked, closer this time. Damon stiffened. â€Å"Demons!† Jonathan Gilberts voice sliced through the woods. Another bullet whizzed past me, grazing my shoulder. Damon flopped forward in my arms. â€Å"Damon!† The word echoed in my ears, sounding so much like the worddemonthat it startled me. â€Å"Brother!† I shook him, then began awkwardly dragging him behind me again toward the sounds of the horses. But despite having just fed, my strength wouldnt last forever, and the footsteps were coming closer and closer. Finally we reached the edge of the cemetery, where several horses were tied to the iron hitching posts. They pawed at the ground, pulling on the ropes that tethered them so hard that their necks bulged. One coal-black mare was none other than my old horse, Mezzanotte. I stared at her, mesmerized at how desperate she appeared to be to get away from me. Just a few days earlier, I was the only rider shed trusted. Footfalls sounded again. I tore my gaze away, shaking my head at being so sentimental. I pulled Fathers old hunting knife from the top of my boot. It had been the one thing Id taken when Id walked through Veritas, our family estate, one last time. Hed always had it with him, although Id never seen him use it. Father had never been one to work with his hands. Still, in my minds eye, the knife conveyed the power and authority that everyone had associated with my father. I put the blade to the rope that tied Mezzanotte, but it didnt make even the smallest cut. Looking down, I saw the knife for what it was: a dull blade that could barely cut through twine, polished to look important. It was well suited to Father, I thought in disgust, throwing the knife to the ground and yanking at the ropes with my bare hands. The footsteps came closer and I looked wildly behind me. I had wanted to free all the horses so Jonathan and his men couldnt ride them, but there simply wasnt time. â€Å"Hey, girl,† I murmured, stroking Mezzanottes elegant neck. She pawed the ground nervously, her heart pounding. â€Å"Its me,† I whispered as I swung myself onto her back. She reared up, and out of surprise, I kicked her so hard in the flanks that I heard the snap of a rib breaking. Instantly, she yielded in submission, and I trotted her to Damon. â€Å"Come on,† I yelled. A flicker of doubt passed across Damons eyes, but then he reached over Mezzanottes broad back and hoisted himself up. Whether it was fear or instinct, his willingness to flee gave me hope that he was not resolved to die, after all. â€Å"Kill them!† a voice yelled, and someone threw a burning torch toward us that arced and landed on the grass at Mezzanottes feet. Instantly, the grass began to burn, and Mezzanotte bolted in the opposite direction of the quarry. Hoofs thudded behind us–the men had leaped on the other horses and were now fast on our tail. Another gunshot rang out behind us, followed by the twang of a bow. Mezzanotte reared up, letting out a high whinny. Damon slipped, grappling to hold on to the underside of Mezzanottes neck, while I tugged at the leather straps, trying to keep us upright. Only after a few steps backward did all four of Mezzanottes hooves get back on the dirt. As Damon righted himself, I saw a slim wooden arrow jutting out from the horses haunches. It was a clever tactic. At a distance, the mob had a far better chance of slowing down our horse than of striking one of us straight through the heart. Hunched low over Mezzanotte, we galloped under branches and pressed on. She was a strong horse, but she favored her left side, where the arrow had gone in. A wet streak of my own blood was streaming down my temple and onto my shirt, and Damons grip on my waist was dangerously loose. Still, I urged Mezzanotte forward. I was relying on instinct, on something beyond thinking and planning. It was as if I could smell freedom and possibility, and just had to trust that Id lead us to it. I pulled the reins and steered out of the woods and into the field behind Veritas Estate. On any other rainy morning there would have been lights in the window of our old home, the lamps giving the bubbled glass an orange-yellow look of sunset. Our maid, Cordelia, would have been singing in the kitchen, and Fathers driver, Alfred, would be sitting sentry by the entrance. Father and I would be sitting in companionable silence in the breakfast room. Now the estate was a cold shell of its former self: the windows dark, the grounds completely silent. It had only been empty for a week, yet Veritas looked as though it had been abandoned for ages. We leaped over the fence and landed unsteadily. I just barely managed to right us with a hard tug on the reins, the metal of the clacking against Mezzanottes teeth. Then we thundered around the side of the house, my skin clammy as we passed Cordelias plot of vervain, the tiny stalks ankle-high. â€Å"Where are you taking us, brother?† Damon asked. I heard three sets of splashing hooves as Jonathan Gilbert, Mayor Lockwood, and Sheriff Forbes cut along the pond at the back of our property. Mezzanotte wheezed, a peach froth lining her mouth, and I knew that outriding them wouldnt be a possibility. Suddenly, the throaty wail of a train whistled through the morning, blocking out the hooves, the wind, and the metallic rasp of a gun reloading. â€Å"Were getting on that train,† I said, kicking Mezzanotte in the flanks. Bearing down, she picked up speed and sailed over the stone wall that separated Veritas from the main road. â€Å"Cmon, girl,† I whispered. Her eyes were wild and terrified, but she ran faster down the road and onto Main Street. The charred church came into sight, blackened bricks rising up like teeth from the ashen earth. The apothecary had also been burned to the ground. Crucifixes were affixed to every single doorframe in town; vervain sprigs were hung in garlands over most. I barely recognized the place Id lived all my seventeen years. Mystic Falls wasnt my home. Not anymore. Behind us, Jonathan Gilbert and Mayor Lockwoods horses were approaching faster and faster. Ahead of us, I could hear the train drawing nearer, grinding against the rails. The froth at Mezzanottes mouth was turning pink with blood. My fangs were dry, and I licked my parched lips, wondering if this constant desire for blood came with being a new vampire, or if I would always feel this way. â€Å"Ready to go, brother?† I asked, yanking Mezzanottes reins. She halted, giving me just enough time to jump off before she collapsed onto the ground, blood rushing from her mouth. A shot rang out, and blood spurted from Mezzanottes flank. I yanked Damon by the wrists and hurled us onto the caboose just before the train roared out of the station, leaving Jonathan Gilbert and Mayor Lockwoods angry cries far behind.

HRM Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

HRM - Assignment Example Taking due note on the strategies focused on HR and training, a critical analysis of my workplace, i.e. Al Amal Complex for Mental Health in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia 2004, where I worked as a psychologist in the addiction section, will be conducted. Correspondingly, this essay will represent all those instances that indicated towards certain gaps existing in the above mentioned fields of HR and Training. In order to derive a succinct understanding about the importance of HR and Training, the essay will also take into account factors relating to organizational effectiveness that can be attained by way of inducing appropriate corporate training programmes in the healthcare workplace. In a similar context, the essay will also represent various reasons for which corporate training programs fail. Each of these reasons will be highlighted in a specific manner. In addition, the importance of Training Needs Assessment (TNA) in the overall context of HR will also be determined upon. Similarly, the essay will reflect certain strategies through which the effectiveness of a training program can be evaluated. All of these factors will share proper correspondence with that of the current HR situations persisting in the medical hospital with the intention to suffice the objectives in this paper. Reasons for Corporate Training Failure Corporate training is considered to be a very important aspect for ensuring proper improvement in the skills of the employees along with their continuous performance enhancement. This special type of training provides great aid in determining the employees’ job requirements and gaining greater efficiency in managing people within an organisational setting. In precise, as per the Human Resources Management (HRM) theory of the modern organisational behaviour, effective and continuous training leads to the development of highly productive as well as a unique set of skills within the employees that further helps them in delivering high-end organ izational results. Corporate training primarily comprises different functions, which reflect training on new company software, workshops, online training and leadership training among others (Mudler, 1995). However, these types of training do not necessarily provide high end results being largely dependent on various other factors including organisational design and structure of decision making prevailing within the workplace. This aspect can be provided with maximum amount of weightage when assessing the possible reasons behind organizations failing to meet the requirement of the employees through corporate training (Mudler, 1995). Failure of corporate training programs may very well be related my experiences, when I worked in Al Amal Complex for Mental Health in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia 2004, as a psychologist in the addiction section. The hospital in which I was working did not consider training to be a part of HR, which I believe to have been the major reason for corporate failure in that unit. With the head office controlling the training processes within

The Commercial Overhype Surrounding the Music Industry Article

The Commercial Overhype Surrounding the Music Industry - Article Example Various electronic dance music festivals around the world have managed to draw the attention of other media that has helped propagate the popularity of electronic music. The major festivals attract over a hundred thousand people and create endorsement opportunities for major record labels, distributors, and promoters. This has helped fuel massive investment into this genre, giving it quick commercial success. In the past, music was real and was played by real musical instruments. Such instruments included drums, sticks and pianos that were used to accompany the smooth natural voice. However with the commercialization of music, an artificial sense of superiority has been created. Most of the music played in clubs and everywhere else is not the real music rather it is just the use of electronics to create a certain type of music that is similar to the natural music but sounds superior to the natural music. This kind of creation has made it almost impossible for natural music to make it in the market as it very inferior to the EDM. There is a worry that the future generations will not have the taste of any natural music due to the current trend. EDM is currently receiving much attention in the field of music. Lots of endorsements are given to EDM while few or no events are organized to appreciate the value of natural music and voice. This is making the talent to fade away from the earth. For example, the MTV award is held each year to appreciate the talent that young musicians have. However this is not done based on their voices rather by the beats that they create (Jense 67). Few of the talented musicians and bands remaining in the world have to change with the trend and try to adopt their music and style to sound as the EDM which is much appealing to the audience. For example, the common Kenyan Orutu band had change their music style and start using Pianos and computer generated beats so as to cope with the changing market. This is so since the group was in fear of being extinct yet they had the talent. Few people get to attend the shows of talented bands because their music does not sound as they know it. The bands therefore have to add in a little bit in their music so as to help move the crowd and create something that the people want. In the past, gospel artist sang for God with their natural voice and masses were held with the priests own natural voice. People in the church rarely used any musical instrument to go with their music. However the trend has changed and currently most churches do things differently now. Priest hold their masses and use musical Keyboards to go with their voices while church choirs also use musical beats generated by musical Keyboards and computer accompany their music that they used to do with their natural voices. The Wanted, a very good local rock band started as a normal band and was liked by many due to the unquestioned talent. However with the continuous changes, these bands had to change so as to get acceptance from the consumer of their music’s. Their latest released music was done by computer generated beats and after this, they saw an increase in the number of fans they had by almost 200%. This shows how people are madly in love with EDM as opposed to natural music. It is because of all these that this paper discusses the main questions; The incessant rise of commercially hyped music today poses a threat to other genres in the

Media Campaign analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Media Campaign analysis - Essay Example Don’t Smoke†, the health media campaign against cigarette smoking. Various aspects of smoking in relation to health of youth in the community will be discussed. Phillip Morris’ youth smoking prevention â€Å"Think. Don’t Smoke† (Morris, 2001) campaign which was widely publicised by media, is available online for school children and youth at SchoolTube (2009). The short video encourages children and young people to stop wasting their time and their life in smoking, and urges them to stop and The main reasons for searching for the online anti-smoking health campaign â€Å"Think. Don’t Smoke† was to address the issue of child and youth smokers in the community. Keen interest in helping the community overcome important hurdles is the reason for undertaking investigation and identification of this major addictive behavior among young people. The dangerous habit of smoking calls for strong preventive measures. Personally, as a non-smoker and firm believer in abstinence from smoking, one considers it imperative that the most susceptible age group should be educated and encouraged to refrain from smoking. Moreover, the untimely passing away of grandparents due to lung cancer has been a close and sorrowful encounter with the devastating outcomes of smoking. Hence, there is a keen interest in reaching out to the maximum number of people possible, to help save them from a downward health spiral. The SchoolTube (2009) anti-smoking campaign â€Å"Think. Don’t Smoke† is simply presented, with a number of people voicing their opinions against smoking, in a brief, effective manner. It can be easily understood and retained even by young children. A far-reaching and strong anti-smoking campaign through posters to be put up at schools and public places, will include the link to the SchoolTube (2009) campaign, for online access by school children and young people. This will be a large-scale community venture, with motivating speeches to be delivered at

The Theoretical Foundations of the Old Diplomacy Are Outdated Essay

The Theoretical Foundations of the Old Diplomacy Are Outdated - Essay Example ..’ Its practice dates back to the earliest known civilizations, beginning, according to Hamilton & Langhorne (2011, p.7), when early human societies realized that it makes for much better peace and harmony to listen to a message rather than to eat the messenger. Political entities, even in those times, recognized the need to co-exist with one another, as well as to enter into unions and forge alliances - in defence or offence - against common threats and perceived enemies. Early diplomatic practice, which may have begun in the ancient Near East around the middle of the third millennium B.C. (Hamilton & Langhorne, 2011, p.8) provided the framework for this. The practice of diplomacy has evolved over time, with two broad classifications emerging: the ‘old diplomacy’, practiced up to the early part of the twentieth century and the ‘new diplomacy’, which succeeded it. Theoretical Foundations of the ‘Old Diplomacy’ The gradual evolution of ea rly political entities (clans, villages, tribes, etc.) over millennia gave rise to the birth of sovereign nation states. The need to maintain an orderly structure of international relations in order to secure the growing prosperity of the nation states, in other words, the necessity for diplomacy between expanding political entities with often competing interests saw the emergence in Europe of what has been loosely described as the ‘old diplomacy’. It had, according to Nicolson (1954, p.73-77), five principal features, as follows: 1. Europe was conceived as the most important of all the continents. The greatest nations of Europe (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, France and Britain) were regarded as the ‘Great Powers’ while other nations had to wear the toga of ‘Minor’ or ‘Small Powers’ No war, it was believed, could become a major global threat unless one of the five great European powers got themselves embroiled in it. Thus Europ e was seen as holding the balance between war and peace on a general scale. 2. The ‘Great Powers’ were seen as pre-eminent over the ‘Small Powers’, having wider responsibilities, holding more prominent and sophisticated interests and possessing greater resources, whether in money or armaments. The ‘Small Powers’ were ranked in order of their strategic importance and position, their value as markets or sources of raw materials and their relation to the balance of power. 3. The ‘Great Powers’ arrogated to themselves the common responsibility for exercising oversight functions in regard to the conduct of affairs between the ‘Small Powers’ and the preservation of peace and amity amongst them, considering themselves invested with the authority to intervene directly and by force of arms where necessary, in disputes and disagreements between these ‘Small Powers’. 4. To secure and uphold the hegemonic structure th us put in place, there was the need to establish in every country a professional diplomatic service and an associated diplomatic corps built on a more or less identical model, with common standards of professional conduct. This made it possible for Ambassadors of various countries to relate to each other with mutual respect and confidence, even when the nations they represented were engaged in acrimonious disputes or warfare. 5. Following from the above, the rule was also established that negotiations between states should be

Jamaica Kincaid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Jamaica Kincaid - Essay Example Antigua and Barbuda is country located north of Guadalupe in Caribbean. Being country of around hundred thousand locales, there are not many countries in the world with such smaller population. St. John's which has a population of around 25000 is the largest city in the Island (Financial Standards Foundation 2009). Elaine Potter Richardson (the childhood name of Jamaica Kincaid) had lived with her stepfather who was a carpenter till she was sent to work as an au pair at Westchester in New York. By then, she had done her secondary education in the elegant British education system. Antigua continued to be a British colony until 1967 before it achieved the status of an independent nation within the Commonwealth until 1981. The obvious detest about the white power and colonialism seems to be cultivated in her since her childhood, along with an intense love and appreciation for the English literature (Vorda 1993) She felt first-hand the negative effects of British colonialism as the colonists attempted to turn Antigua "into England" and the natives "into English" without regard for the native culture or homeland (Kincaid 1988). The anger that Kincaid has in her for a long time towards English and the Antiguans is expressed through and as the main thread of 'A Small Place'. ... In her attempt to bring out the social, cultural, educational and infrastructural issues of Antigua, Kincaid undermined the sovereignty of Antigua as a free nation. The exaggeration to a great extent helped the reader to understand the intensity of 'colonial, postcolonial and neocolonial myths, thereby interrogating the tourists' perspective and unraveling the continuing colonizing construction of a place legitimized only by its visitors' (Corinna McLeod). The following are some of the realities of Antigua as a nation. 'Antigua and Barbuda has no indigenous sources of oil, natural gas, coal or hydropower. It is largely dependent on imported oil to generate electricity. Oil imports are around 4,500 barrels per day. The IMF estimated the external public sector debt at US$520.4 million at the end of 2008, which was equal to 46.3 percent of GDP. Agriculture is a very small part of the economy with crop production accounting for just 0.9 percent of GDP in 2006. There are 1,165 km of roads (723 miles) of which 33 percent are paved. Traffic moves on the left. The US State Department's Travel Advisory for April 2, 2008 noted that the "major roads are generally in good condition." Drug trafficking has become a major illicit activity. According to a March 3, 2009 article on the St. Maarten Island Time. The largest individual investor and employer was Sir Allen Stanford. The billionaire financier had extensive real estate holdings and also owned the Stanford International Bank, the Bank of Antigua, two restaurants, a cricket ground and the Anguilla Sun newspaper. In February 2009, Stanford's financial empire disintegrated when it was

Special education case review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Special education case review - Essay Example The court reversed the district courts grant for a summary judgment. It held that compliance with obligations to children with hearing disabilities under IDEA does not signify compliance with obligations for effective communications under the ADA. In arriving at this conclusion, the court noted that there are differences between the provisions of the IDEA and those of Title II of the ADA.   Because of this difference, failure of a claim under the IDEA does not necessarily exclude a claim under Title II of the ADA. In A.C v. Shelby County Board of Education, A.C was a minor with type I diabetes. She attended Bon Lin Elementary school, which is governed by the Shelby County Board of Education SCBE. Her parents had requested certain disability accommodations for her. These accommodations included the retention of a full-time nurse, making the child’s classroom a peanut free zone due to her allergy to peanuts and taking of her blood tests in her classroom as opposed to the school clinic. There had been tensions between the school and the child’s parents regarding these requests. The situation got out of hand when the school principal made reports to the department of child services alleging that the parents were medically abusing the child. The parents filed a suit claiming that the violation of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA. Section 504 and the ADA prohibits retaliations against individuals due to opposing practices made while seeking to enforce their rights unde r these Acts.

Social Performance and Social Influence Essay Example for Free

Social Performance and Social Influence Essay Social psychologist, Dr. Robert Cialdini has researched basic principles that govern how one person may influence another. You will read about these six principles in his 2002 article The Science and Practice of Persuasion. Social Performance Aristotle first called humans social animals. People tend to gather, play, and work in groups. Groups fulfill a variety of functions such as satisfying the need to belong, providing support and intimacy, and assisting in accomplishing tasks that individuals could not accomplish alone, etc. In Chapter 13 of the textbook, groups will be defined as two or more people working together on a task in which the outcome is quantifiable. This discussion will focus on two major areas that have been researched since the end of the 19th century: social facilitation and social loafing. Social Facilitation At first glance, these terms seem to be opposing behaviors: social facilitation refers to the fact that people work harder in groups, whereas social loafing describes their tendency reduce their efforts when in groups. The difference, it appears, is how people view the individuals in their groups–whether they perceive those in the group as being with them us or against them. If group members are against them, they perceive them as competitors, evaluators, or sources of comparison, which is likely to increase or facilitate their efforts. If they are with them, sharing in the demands of the task and evaluation, they are likely to loaf or reduce our efforts. These findings appear counterintuitive. Research on social facilitation began with Triplett (1989) who observed that cyclists pedaled faster, or performed better, when others were present than when performing alone. He argued that the other biker was a stimulus, arousing a competitive instinct in the cyclist. He tested his theory by asking children to wind fishing reels either alone or beside other children. The majority of the children turned the wheel faster when working alongside another child than when reeling alone. Allport (1924) termed this effect social facilitation. Still, it seemed that many disagreed about whether the presence of others increased or decreased performance on tasks. Zajonc (1965) renewed interest in social facilitation, and suggested that the presence of others enhanced a dominant response–which is the most probable response on a given task. If the task is simple and well-learned, the dominant response will be facilitated. For example, if you were a skilled concert pianist, performing in front of others would increase your proficiency on the task; you would play beautifully. Since you are not skilled at this art, being observed by others would no doubt cause anxiety and would result in quite the opposite effect, inhibiting your performance. Zajonc was suggesting that the presence of others increases drive. Others were still arguing that it was the evaluation or the competition associated with others being present that produced the drive. Whether it was mere presence or evaluation apprehension that increased the drive, the drive theory remained the dominant thought of the time. Alternative approaches to social-facilitation effects fall into three classes: The first was the continued thought that the presence of others increases drive by evaluation apprehension. The second thought suggested that the situation places demands on the individual to behave in a particular way; individuals are engaged in self-presentation and self-awareness. The third idea argued that the presence of others affects focus and attention to the task, meaning that the task becomes cognitive. Hence, the controversy over whether it is the mere presence of others or evaluation that causes social facilitation is unresolved. Social Loafing Social facilitation research demonstrates that the presence of others sometimes enhances performance, yet at times reduces it. But, how does working with others affect motivation? Many would argue that groups should energize and motivate. The tendency for individuals to work less hard on a collective task than on an individual task is called social loafing. For example, those group projects at work or school where a few individuals did the majority of the work–social loafing. Research in this area has been conducted in a way that makes individuals believe that they are either working alone or working with others–then measures efforts toward the task. For example, Ringelmann (Kravitz Martin, 1986) had volunteers pull on a rope as hard as they could in groups of varying sizes. Their efforts decreased as group sizes increased. This was explained in two ways: their motivation decreased as groups size increased or maybe the larger groups were not able to coordinate their efforts efficiently. Researchers sought to tease apart these two factors, focusing on motivation. You can imagine that it was difficult to devise methods that lead participants to believe they were either working alone (when they were not) or with others (when they were working alone), which lends to the difficulty of studying social loafing. However, over 100 studies (Steiner, 1972; Griffith, Fichman, Moreland, 1989; Jackson Williams, 1985; Henningsen et al. , 2000) have tested the effects of groups on motivation, and social loafing has been replicated in most of these studies. Other theories have attempted to explain social loafing. Social impact theory states that when a group is working together, the expectation is that the effort should be diffused across all participants, resulting in diminished effort. Arousal reduction postulates that the presence of others should increase drive only when they are observers and reduce our efforts when they are coworkers. Evaluation potential suggests that social loafing occurs because individual efforts are so difficult to identify during a collective task; one can easily hide in the crowd or may feel they will not be acknowledged for their hard work. Dispensability of effort argues that individuals may feel their efforts are unnecessary or dispensable. The group simply does not need them. An integrative theory: the collective effort model states that individuals will work hard on a task only to the degree to which they believe their efforts will be instrumental in leading to outcomes they value, personally. Hence, the value they place on the task (and their efforts) depends on their personal beliefs, task meaningfulness, favorable interactions with the group, the nature of the rewards, and the extent to which their future goals are impacted by the task. Social loafing can be moderated, or reduced, when individuals efforts can be identified or evaluated, when individuals are working on a task they deem as important or of personal relevance, or when individuals are working with cohesive groups or close friends. Individual differences or characteristics also influence who engages in social loafing less because they value collective outcomes. For example, a need for affiliation, a hard work ethic, or high self-monitoring can influence effort. It should be clear that the mere presence of others is arousing. It appears that if others are competitors or evaluators they facilitate motivation to work harder. If individuals see others as a part of themselves, they can hide behind them or their efforts can get lost in the efforts of others. Further research in this area can help us determine how our view of others affects our motivation and performance. Social Influence Processes of Control and Change Social influence is one of the primary research areas in social psychology and refers to the ways in which opinions and attitudes influence the opinions and attitudes of others. Two types of social influence can be identified in groups: influence aimed at maintaining group norms (social control) or changing group norms (social change). The most common form of social control is conformity, where an individual complies with or accepts the groups views. Since the influence is typically within a context of a group of people influencing an individual, it is referred to as majority influence. Another type of social control is obedience, where individuals obey an authority figure, often against their will. For group norms to change, a small subset of the group must resist the majority view, which is termed minority influence. If minorities never resisted, group opinions would persist, fashions would never change, innovations would not come about, etc. It must be clear that the term majority refers to the larger group of people who hold the normative view and has power over others. Minority groups tend to be small, hold nonnormative positions, and wield very little power. This study textbook is concerned with two influence processes: processes that ensure that others adhere to the groups position (social control; conformity and obedience) or processes that aim to change the groups position (social change: innovation and active minorities). Social influence has studied how individuals conform to the majority, often by giving an obvious erroneous response to a question. According to Festinger (1950, 1954), this occurs because there are social pressures for groups to reach consensus, especially when there is a group goal. Individuals seek social approval and seek others to verify their opinions. Deutsch and Gerard (1955) distinguish between normative social influence (conforming to expectations of others) and informational social influence (accepting information from the group as reality). Another view is that people conform over concerns for positive self-evaluations, to have good relationships with others, and to better understand a situation by reducing uncertainty. Social influence also addresses why people comply with acts that clearly cause harm to another. The study of obedience is intimately tied to one social psychologist–Stanley Milgram (1963). His post-WWII research aimed to understand why people willingly engaged in the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis. People probably preferred to believe these were evil, disturbed men who were intrinsically evil? However, many of them claimed they were not responsible for their behavior. After all, they were simply following orders. In Milgrams (1963) classic study, he led participants (who were assigned to be teachers) to believe they were administering harmful shocks to the learners each time they made an error on a task. The experimenter (the authority figure) demanded they increase the level of shock for each incorrect response. As shocks increased, the receiver (the learner, who was out of the sight of the teacher) responded with distressed reactions. However, the teacher was encouraged, even demanded, to continue the experiment, even though he believed the learner was experiencing extreme distress. The question was, to what extent normal people would obey the instructions of the authority figure and administer harmful levels of shock to harm another individual. Milgrams results showed that a full 65% of all participants administered every level of shock, surpassing levels believed to do fatal harm to subjects. Milgrams findings have been replicated with consistent results. Why did they obey? Milgram offered the following explanations: (a) they had entered into a contract with the experimenter and did not wish to spoil the experiment; (b) they were absorbed in the experiment and lost sight of the implications of their actions; (c) the participants are acting for the experimenter; they may be pushing the buttons, but they are not responsible, the experimenter is. Notice these are all situational explanations; participants were put into a powerful role relationship with the experimenter. However, when the experimenter was not visible, or another participant played the role of the experimenter, obedience rates decreased, but did not fall to zero, indicating the role relationship did not fully account for their obedience. Milgrams research remains some of the most intriguing and influential in social psychology. Minority Influence Moscovicis (1976) book Social Influence and Social Change, he argues that minorities can create conflict by offering a different perspective, thereby challenging the dominant or majority view. Moscovici claims that people trying to avoid conflict may dismiss the minority position, and possibly denigrate it. However, when the minority demonstrates commitment to their position, the majority may consider the minority view as a viable alternative. He called this the minoritys behavioral style–meaning the way the message is organized and communicated. By standing up to the majority, the minority demonstrates that it is certain, confident, committed, and not easily persuaded. Researchers have compared majority and minority influence. Conversion theory is the dominant perspective and argues that all forms of influence, whether minority or majority, create conflict that individuals are motivated to reduce. However, people employ different processes depending on whether the conflict is the result of majority influence or minority influence. Comparison process suggests that people focus attention on fitting in, or complying with what others say. Their goal is to identify with the group and comply with the majority position, often times without examining the majoritys arguments in detail. Social comparison can drive majority influence, but cannot motivate minority influence, according to Moscovici (1976), because people desire to disassociate themselves with undesirable groups. Because minority groups tend to be distinctive, they stand out, and this encourages a validation process where some examine the judgments in order to confirm or validate them–to see what it is the minority saw or to understand the minoritys view. This process can lead to increased message processing which results in an attitude change on an indirect, latent, or private level. Convergent-divergent theory is proposed by Nemeth (1986) and simply states that people expect to share the same attitude as the majority and to differ from the minority (the false-consensus heuristic). Stress is the result of realizing that the majority has a different perspective than oneself, especially if one is in the physical presence of the majority. Stress narrows ones attention and majority influence, and then leads to convergent thinking. Minorities, on the other hand, do not cause high levels of stress, since they hold different views, which allows for less restricted focus of attention and leads to a greater consideration of alternatives that may not have been considered without the influence of the minority view. This results in creative and original solutions. Other theories that integrate minority and majority influence include mathematical models, objective-consensus models, conflict-elaboration theory, context/comparison model, and self-categorization theory. More contemporary models include social-cognitive responses with an emphasis on information-processing such as the elaboration likelihood model and the heuristic systematic model we discussed in an earlier chapter. New research continues to develop. Conclusion This module reviewed social psychological research that has made great contributions to the understanding of human behavior. Early research (e. g. , Triplett, 1898; Zajonc, 1965) led to the beginning of the relatively new field of social psychology.

Evaluate the Effectiveness of Business Information Essay Example for Free

Evaluate the Effectiveness of Business Information Essay PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational food and beverage corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company and Frito-Lay, Inc. PepsiCo has since expanded from its namesake product Pepsi to a broader range of food and beverage brands, the largest of which include an acquisition of Tropicana in 1998 and a merger with Quaker Oats in 2001—which added the Gatorade brand to its portfolio. P5 DESCRIBE THE INFLUENCE OF TWO CONTRASTING ECONOMIC ENVIROMENTS ON BUSINESS ACTIVITIES WITHIN A SELECTED ORGANISATION. KENYA Kenya officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator. With the Indian to its south-east, it is bordered by Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya has a land area of 580,000 km2 and a population of a little over 43 million residents. The country is named after Mount Kenya, a significant landmark and second among Africas highest mountain peaks. Its capital and largest city is Nairobi. INDIA India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;[d] China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia. Economic factors affecting PepsiCo: Unemployment: Kenya recorded its ultimate high level of unemployment in 2011 reaching 40% unemployment. This would affect PepsiCo in the following ways: †¢ The demand of goods will decrease, because consumers will no longer have money to spend. †¢ Total revenue will decrease due to lack of purchases by a customers †¢ However government may decrease tax in order to encourage businesses to employ more. †¢ The public will be desperate for jobs and therefore will be willing to settle for a lower paying job †¢ The*re will be a lower chance of staff turnover. Unemployment rate has decreased significantly in the past year this could affect the business in the following ways: †¢ People will be willing to spend more on PepsiCo’s products thus increasing total revenue. †¢ There will be a rise in demand thus increasing profit. †¢ PepsiCo can now expand and will not have to worry about workforce †¢ However, staff may demand higher salaries as they see many other opportunities opening up †¢ There is a high chance of staff turnover. Inflation rate Inflation occurs when there is a general rise in the price of goods in the whole economy The inflation rate in Kenya was recorded at 3.25 percent in November of 2012. Inflation Rate in Kenya is reported by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Historically, from 2005 until 2012, Kenya Inflation Rate averaged 12.5 Percent reaching an all-time high of 31.5 Percent in May of 2008 and a record low of 3.2 Percent in October of 2010. In Kenya, the inflation rate measures a broad rise or fall in prices that consumers pay for a standard basket of goods. This means that: †¢ the capital Pepsi uses for buying raw materials is reducing due to a fall in prices †¢ Staff will no longer be too concerned about their real value of their income. †¢ Consumers will now be able to afford better established labels like Pepsi. †¢ However, because of the general decrease in prices, Pepsi may not be able to justify any price increase. The inflation rate in India was recorded at 7.45 percent in October of 2012. Inflation Rate in India is reported by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation. Historically, from 1969 until 2012, India Inflation Rate averaged 7.8 Percent reaching an all-time high of 34.7 Percent in September of 1974 and a record low of -11.3 Percent in May of 1976. In India, the inflation rate measures a broad rise or fall in prices that consumers pay for a standard basket of goods inflation rate in India is high this means that: †¢ Staff will become concerned about their real income high wage demands are likely and there could be an increase in industrial disputes. †¢ Consumers are likely to become more prices sensitive and look for bargains rather than big names causing revenue to decrease. †¢ The living standard will drop, therefore PepsiCo will have to reduce prices or risk losing their customers. †¢ However, consumers will make purchases faster fearing that prices will rise even more. Interest Rate The benchmark interest rate in India was last recorded at 8 percent. Interest Rate in India is reported by the Reserve Bank of India. Historically, from 2000 until 2012, India Interest Rate averaged 6.5 Percent reaching an all-time high of 14.5 Percent in August of 2000 and a record low of 4.3 Percent in April of 2009. This will affect pepsi in the following ways: †¢ Pepsi will be unable to borrow and therefore will have to cut down on cost thus producing less †¢ Pepsi will be unable to expand if they are not willing to pay 8%. †¢ However, if pepsi feels like the 8% is within their budget then they would probably be safe to borrow seing as the rates are stable. The benchmark interest rate in Kenya was last recorded at 11 percent. Interest Rate in Kenya is reported by the Central Bank of Kenya. Historically, from 1991 until 2012, Kenya Interest Rate averaged 15.1 Percent reaching an all-time high of 84.7 Percent in July of 1993 and a record low of 0.8 Percent in September of 2003. In Kenya, interest rates decisions are taken by The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Kenya. This will affect pepsi in the following ways: †¢ It will cause a fall in production. †¢ It will cause a faal in profits due to controlled spending. †¢ However interest rates are likely to fall as we can see from the gragh above. Comparison of the economy in both India and Kenya both the Kenyan and indian economy are recovering from an economic crunch. If you compare the inflation rates of Kenya and india with their respective interest rates they correspond. This is because when inflation is high, the government needs to control spending and to do this, they need to increase interest inorder to encourage spending

Analysis of Juliana Barrs Theory on Indian Communities

Analysis of Juliana Barrs Theory on Indian Communities Juliana Barr. Peace Came in the Form of a Woman: Indians and Spaniards in the Texas Borderlands. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press). 2007. ix + 397 pp. $24.00 paperback. Juliana Barr focuses on the Texas borderlands and the Caddos, Apaches, Payayas, Karankawas, Wichitas, and Comanches. Her research demonstrates how these bands retained control over their homelands and how they left the French and Spaniards no choice but to culturally adapt to indigenous practices. Barr argues that these encounters were molded by the kin-based systems of the Indian communities, their traditional diplomatic practices and rituals, and the social structures that deferred to matrilineal households. She contends that the Texas borderland experience was vastly different than Indian-European interactions in New Mexico and Arizona, where the Spaniards were able to subordinate and control the native peoples, often forcing them into labor and converting them to Catholicism. In Texas, the indigenous peoples did not allow themselves to become victims of the Spaniards. The tables were turned and the Texas Indians controlled the interactions. Unlike Richard Whites Indians of the Gr eat Lakes region, there was no middle ground. Europeans had to abide by to the native practices of diplomacy. She describes a world in which Indians dictated the terms of conduct, diplomacy, alliance, and enmity in their interactions with the Spaniards. (7-8) When Europeans first encountered the Caddos in 1686, they were impressed by the native villages. Their cabins were forty to fifty feet high and one Spaniard remarked, that the Caddo villages had nothing barbarous but the name. (21) The Caddos were receptive to the Europeans because they decided they could be valuable allies because of the guns and horses the Europeans came to trade. Alliances between the indigenous people and the Europeans was constantly influenced the Indians traditions. They developed elaborate public welcoming rituals conducted by the male hierarchy. The Caddos used the same methods of diplomacy as they did when they did business with other bands. The French culture was similar to that of the Caddos, and they shared Caddo values without expecting the Caddos to adopt French doctrine. The French allowed them to continue their sovereignty and recognized the elevated status of women in Caddo culture. The French were open to become integrated into the Caddo matrilineal system in order to trade their goods with the Indians. The same cannot be said of the Spaniards. They did not understand native culture and traditions centered on matrilineal kinship and immediately tried to change it. Spanish soldiers and missionaries tried to force their dogma on the Texas Indians. The situation was further complicated by the lack of Spanish women. The Indians placed much value on women and considered them to be vital to survival of their culture. The presence of women was considered to be a sign of peaceful intentions and a commitment by the Spanish to peace and stable relationships. Because the Spanish had no women and children with them, the natives considered this to be an indication that the Spaniards were in Texas as aggressors. At first, the Caddos believed the Spaniards images of the Virgin Mary was meant as a signal of their appreciation of the value of females, but they were soon disillusioned. Spaniards did not understand that in these native cultures, gender structured social and political relationships. Women played important central roles in hospitality rituals, and fictive kin relationships were vital to creating truces. The Spanish soldiers frequently abused and mistreated women. Their missionaries attempted to convert Indian women and mistook their openness to be a sign of promiscuity that needed to be rectified. The Indian communities came under pressure from the Spanish missionaries to abandon their deviant ideas about gender and alter basic fundamentals of their societies. In response to this pressure and the mistreatment of native women by the Spaniards which violated cultural and political protocols, in 1693 the Caddos drove the Spaniards out of their territory and into central Texas. Apache women played a significant diplomatic role because they were associated with peace and were allowed to move freely throughout the territory and across social and political boundaries as mediators and emissaries. (13) Barr demonstrates how the diplomatic overtures begun by Apache women ended with the meeting of Spanish and Apache women to hammer out a truce. (174) Political use of female captives were often brokers of peace. In response to Apache horse raids, the Spaniards began taking Apache women and children as prisoners of war or as slaves and refused to return them to their families. These captives were then used them as bartering tools. This created increased tensions with the kin-based native peoples. In addition to their role in diplomatic relations, women were also vital to strengthening alliances between the Indian groups and the Europeans. In the early years, Apache women were captured by Caddo men and purchased by the French. Eventually, the Apaches and Spaniards reached a military alliance in mutual defense against attacks by Comanches, Wichitas, and Caddos, but only after the Spaniards recognized the value of women in regards to diplomacy. As a show of their peaceful intentions, the Spaniards freed their Apache female slaves. In good faith, the Apache sent women to Spanish presidios to convey their reciprocity towards peace. The Apache women and children who were prisoners of the Spaniards learned Spanish and served as negotiators and translators. Women and children were traded back and forth between the Indians and Europeans. They also served as symbols of peace. According to Barr, Native American constructions of social order and of political and economic relationships-defined by general terms of kinship-were at the crux of Spanish-Indian politics. (2) According to Barr, these raids placed women at the very center of violence and diplomacy. (164) As the Spaniards finally came to understand the importance of women in the Indian communities, they were allowed to mingle and intermarry with the Indians. As a result, Spaniards were able to achieve some political power and the natives attained economic gain. Barr points out that native women not only served as negotiators in diplomacy, but they also were full contributors to Texas history. Although men of the different warring groups established truces, but customary practices involving women proved crucial to maintaining the peace agreements that followed. (246) Barrs research is important to Plains Indian and Texas historiography because she demonstrates how the Texas Indians controlled the rules of engagement between the indigenous peoples and the Europeans. The author distinguishes three phases of Spanish-native interactions which fall under the categories of trade, mission, and settlement. She contends that the natives were demographically superior to the Europeans. The author also postulates that gender was the foundation on which the native kinship systems in the Texas borderlands operated. She contends that these Spanish-Indian relationships were not based on hierarchies of race and class, but instead relied on gender. According to Barr, gender was the basis of power of the Caddos, Apaches, Karankawas, Wichitas, and Comanches. This allowed these native groups to negotiate with Europeans through gendered standards and practices in political economies of gift giving and hospitality, alliances instituted in joint family settlements, hono rs and dishonors inherent in violence and war, exchanges of women through intermarriage, captivity and hostage taking, and political relationships conceived through fictive and real kinship. (289) Barrs main argument is that the potential for success or failure of Europeans to forge associations with the various native groups depended on the Europeans capability to understand and accommodate gendered kinship practices. She also maintains that the various Indian groups had no concept of state; therefore, their political organizations were based on age and gender. She contends that in cross-cultural encounters, gender was performative, meaning not what people are, but what people do through distinctive postures, gestures, clothing, ornamentation, and occupations. (11) Thus, gender serves as a form of nonverbal communication in situations where there is no common language. To substantiate her arguments, Barr has recreated the social structures of the different Indian groups and uses them to analyze the accounts of the encounters. Because there were no original native sources, Barr relied heavily on Spanish sources. As a result she has had to make some conjectures to understand Indian perspectives on power and peace. Barr uses a variety of primary and secondary sources. She has included maps and illustrations to help the reader understand the ever-changing alliances and interactions. Barr invites her readers to stand metaphorically in Indian country and to contemplate Spanish colonialism in eighteenth century Texas from the perspective of the Texas Indians. (295) Her book is a study of interethnic relations which encourages historians to explore the perspective of gendered practices of peace. Juliana Barr has been an associate professor at the Duke University since 2015. Dr. Barr previously was associated with Rutgers University and the University of Florida-Gainesville. She specializes in early American history, the Spanish borderlands, American Indians, and women and gender.

Analysis of Sherman Alexies The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Hea

Analysis of Sherman Alexie's 'The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven' and 'Smoke Signals'   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sherman Alexie based on some short stories included in his book, 'The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,' wrote the screenplay for the movie 'Smoke Signals.' Both the movie and the book portray problems that Indians had to deal with, and how they dealt with it. The book is far more complex than the movie, showing a wider variation of characters facing different situations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the movie there is Victor, the main character, which tries to be the typical Indian, or maybe just a typical man. He shows just hate towards his father, who left Victor and his mother alone and fled to Phoenix. The picture Victor has about his father is that he was an alcoholic and always tried to talk with his fists.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the other hand there is Thomas, the other main character. He lives a mystical life and is far more emotional than Victor. Thomas has also another point of view about Victor?s father. He remembered him as a nice guy, who took him to Denny?s once.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Victor?s father died, Thomas offered money to help Victor to get to Phoenix and get his father?s ashes and belongings, as long as he could go with Victor. On this part of the movie, it is easy to understand how Victor sees the Indians before the whites. On the bus, he tells Thomas that the only way that white people would respect them is by being serious; showing no feelings, not even a smile, being ...

Clash of Belief Systems in Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter Essay example

Clash of Belief Systems  in The Scarlet Letter  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Each person bases their judgment of others upon their own values or belief systems. These values or belief systems are influenced by experiences in the home and at school. The prevailing culture in an area has a tremendous impact on the belief systems of the child as well.   It is easy for a child to learn the difference between right and wrong, but they may fail to grasp the fact that the values they are taught are filtered through the belief systems of those who teach. Hawthorne judges the characters in The Scarlet Letter by using his own belief systems - drastically different from those of the Puritans. Instead of the stern, harsh values of the Puritans, Hawthorne sees life through the eyes of a Romantic. He judges each person accordingly, characterizing each person's sin as the pardonable sin of nature or the unpardonable sin of the human soul. One can infer, by the writing style, that Hawthorne is most forgiving to Hester. He writes about Hester with a feeling of compassion that the descriptions of the other characters lack. Hawthorne approves of Hetser's feeling, vitality, and thirst to overcome the iron shackles of binding society. He shows us that although Hester is not permitted to express her feelings verbally because of social persecution, there is no one that can restrain the thoughts of the human mind.   Hawthorne, being a romantic and man of nature himself, can relate to this. If one were to look up the human mating characteristics in a science book one might be shocked or surprised.   The human instinct is to have more than one partner not to stay loyal to one partn... ...rew emaciated his voice, still rich and sweet had a melancholy prophecy of decay in it he was often observed on a slight alarm or other sudden accident, to put his hand over his heart, with first a flush and then paleness, indicative of pain. (119)    Hawthorne is a romantic and has the personality of one. He is most forgiving to Hester because she is a Romantic person. She lives in a society many years before her time, but she is strong willed and fights society’s disdain to overcome her own sin. Hawthorne places Dimmsdale somewhere amidst the foggy middle, between these two characters. Dimmsdale is   there because he commits no direct sin. By not telling anyone of his secret sin he causes the pain for himself and Hester. He clearly characterizes Chilingworth as the least pardonable because he commits the sin of the heart, the soul, and of God.    Clash of Belief Systems in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Essay example Clash of Belief Systems  in The Scarlet Letter  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Each person bases their judgment of others upon their own values or belief systems. These values or belief systems are influenced by experiences in the home and at school. The prevailing culture in an area has a tremendous impact on the belief systems of the child as well.   It is easy for a child to learn the difference between right and wrong, but they may fail to grasp the fact that the values they are taught are filtered through the belief systems of those who teach. Hawthorne judges the characters in The Scarlet Letter by using his own belief systems - drastically different from those of the Puritans. Instead of the stern, harsh values of the Puritans, Hawthorne sees life through the eyes of a Romantic. He judges each person accordingly, characterizing each person's sin as the pardonable sin of nature or the unpardonable sin of the human soul. One can infer, by the writing style, that Hawthorne is most forgiving to Hester. He writes about Hester with a feeling of compassion that the descriptions of the other characters lack. Hawthorne approves of Hetser's feeling, vitality, and thirst to overcome the iron shackles of binding society. He shows us that although Hester is not permitted to express her feelings verbally because of social persecution, there is no one that can restrain the thoughts of the human mind.   Hawthorne, being a romantic and man of nature himself, can relate to this. If one were to look up the human mating characteristics in a science book one might be shocked or surprised.   The human instinct is to have more than one partner not to stay loyal to one partn... ...rew emaciated his voice, still rich and sweet had a melancholy prophecy of decay in it he was often observed on a slight alarm or other sudden accident, to put his hand over his heart, with first a flush and then paleness, indicative of pain. (119)    Hawthorne is a romantic and has the personality of one. He is most forgiving to Hester because she is a Romantic person. She lives in a society many years before her time, but she is strong willed and fights society’s disdain to overcome her own sin. Hawthorne places Dimmsdale somewhere amidst the foggy middle, between these two characters. Dimmsdale is   there because he commits no direct sin. By not telling anyone of his secret sin he causes the pain for himself and Hester. He clearly characterizes Chilingworth as the least pardonable because he commits the sin of the heart, the soul, and of God.   

Critical Analysis on the Context of Multi-agency Team Work

This essay will focus upon a critical incident analysis in the context of multi-agency team work and inter-professional working. The details of the incident will be drawn from the authors recent experience with the Community Housing Support Team, in particular from Care Programme Approach meetings. The names of both clients and staff, as well as details pertaining to their locale have been changed or omitted to comply with the UKCC†s Code of Professional Conduct, Clause 10, (UKCC, 1992). The situation used within this assignment is based upon two clients who co-habit in a first floor maisonette as common law husband and wife. Mr Client has a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia which is controlled with xenobiotics and is the main carer for Mrs Client who has a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia also controlled by xenobiotics that are administered by Mr Client. Mrs Client also has a prolapse of the uterus which causes her to suffer from double incontinence. Arrangements have been made for Mrs Client to have the required operation to repair the problem, however prior to admission Mrs Client becomes very anxious and has twice refused to have the operation. Both clients have a poor dietary intake, poor personal hygiene, high caffeine intake, and a heavy smoking habit. The conditions that the clients are now living in due to the above being ongoing for some time are now less than satisfactory, and to that end the present situation and what should be done about it, has become the primary focus of the various professionals and agencies involved in care of the clients. Each client has their own keyworker representative from the agencies and professionals involved in their care, these are a community psychiatric nurse (CPN), social worker, and a member of the housing support team (HST). Both the clients have home care workers visiting as part of the social work input, and they also share the same general practitioner (GP), and psychiatric consultant. Housing support team input was on a daily basis with both clients and their role was to assist the clients with shopping and encourage the clients to use leisure facilities and local transport. The housing support team although referred to separately within this essay are officially part of the social work team, as this is the source of their funding. The social work keyworkers roles were to visit the clients on a regular basis and to assist with benefits, finances etc, as well as assisting the clients in conjunction with the rest of the care team if a crisis arose. The social work department had also arranged for home help to visit on a regular basis to assist with housework and hygiene. The clients community psychiatric nurse†s role was to monitor medication and mental state. These are the defined roles as the author understands them, however the care team as a whole interchanges, shares, or crosses over roles as a matter of course throughout the care deployment. In order to properly analyse the inter-professional working of the clients care team, it is important to collate the differing aims of each profession involved. Mr and Mrs Client†s keyworkers from the housing support team were of the opinion that the client†s accommodation had reached the stage where it was posing a health risk for both the clients and other residents in the building. Because the housing support team had daily input with both clients they were also able to pick up on various other aspects of care that appeared to require revaluation, such as medication and mental state, and had encountered such an issue with Mr Client giving Mrs Client the incorrect dosage of medication. Taking into account the issues raised the housing support team felt that they were maintaining a poor quality of life for the clients, and that alternative sheltered accommodation, and care approach should be discussed as this was unacceptable. The social work keyworkers in addition to their normal visits had arrangements for further visits outside of the care plan agreement as there was a recognised need for more intense support at this time. It was felt that placement in a nursing home as a couple with continuing input from the housing support team and community psychiatric nurse, would improve the clients quality of life. The clients general practitioner and consultant had made a referral to residential services. Both clients community psychiatric nurse felt that the clients mental state did not warrant an admission into hospital, however further arrangements should be made regarding medication and accommodation. These various agencies and professionals come together, in this case every six months, to partake in a care programme approach meeting (CPA). The care programme approach was first considered in nineteen eighty-nine then again in nineteen ninety in a Department of Health circular, before being implemented in nineteen ninety-one as an official guideline. However inter-collaborative working has been an aim of government policy in mental health services since the nineteen seventies, (COUCHMAN, 1995). Its target group being psychiatric clients in hospital, community or other specialised mental health service. The aim of the guidelines were to encourage greater efficiency and co-operation between the various agencies and professionals involved in the care of a client or clients. This was to be done by systematically assessing all the clients needs and the agency or profession that could best meet those needs, the appointment of a keyworker from one of the agencies or professions involved, to reach agreement between the carers involved and the client, and then to implement, monitor and set regular review dates, (COWART & SEROW, 1992), In addition to the care plan approach meetings there is almost daily interaction between the agencies and professions involved. In addition to this there are meetings within each individual agency or profession, usually on a weekly basis, concerning the most appropriate delivery of care within the role of the individual agency or profession. The diagram in Appendix A shows the ways that clients enter the psychiatric services, and where inter-professional collaboration happens, it also shows that this care team is a hybrid parallel pathway team. Efficient inter-professional collaboration exists only where there is good group dynamics and working relationships, both within the care team and within the government who†s laws and guidelines that care team follows. However when reviewing the history of British social policy it is easy to become pessimistic, Webb, (1991) points out, â€Å"exhortations to organisations, professionals and other producer interests to work together more closely and effectively litter the policy landscape, yet the reality is all to often a jumble of services fractionalised by professional, cultural and organisational boundaries and by tiers of governance†. In order to overcome these problems they must first be identified and then strategies devised to overcome them. Whilst in the community with the housing support team the author observed that the main problem or cause of problems was communication, whilst ironically, most if not all of the problems encountered could have been avoided or solved more efficiently with effective communication. However the author feels this may be viewed by many as an over-generalisation, and so will break this down further into some of the ‘sub† problems. A key difficulty is that working together appears to be the logical way forward, yet it is the authors experience that little consideration is given to the effects of such an activity, (CARLING, 1995). From an agencies or professions point of view collaborative activity raises two main difficulties first it looses its freedom to act independently when it would prefer to maintain control over its domain and affairs. Second, it must invest scarce resources and energy in developing and maintaining relationships with other organisations, when the potential returns on its investment are often unclear or intangible, (HUDSON, 1987). The main sources of conflict within an organisation and inter-professional collaboration are communication, power, goals, values, resources, roles and personalities. As mentioned previous a major source of conflict is the misunderstanding or breakdown of communication. However communication can also be used as a tool for clarifying opposing views. It is the authors observation that most values within an organisation are internalised and are therefore difficult to change, but they can be clarified through communication so as not to become a barrier. This kind of logic is a skill that can only be learnt through the application of common sense and the wisdom of experience, (BILLIS & HARRIS, 1996). Conflict situations often arise suddenly, the author has observed that the more people that attend a meeting or that are involved in a decision regarding care organisation the more potential there is for conflict to occur. Power causes conflict when there are relationships within organisations between individuals of unequal power, the classic example being the doctor/patient relationship, or the nurse and the consultant. This can cause additional conflict where there are differently structured organisations working together as the power differences between individuals then become unclear. For example the power relationship between the community psychiatric nurse and the social worker. Another common cause of conflict is different goals, different methods of reaching those goals, different values, unclear or overlapping designation of responsibilities, lack of information and personality conflicts. It is acknowledged within health care that some conflicts can not be resolved, Mallory, (1981) states that unresolved conflicts need to be managed carefully within any work group in order to balance the level of conflict. Banton, (1985) remarks that the essential point is that conflicts of interest are of fundamental importance in all major areas of life in our society and therefore full consensus is only possible when people are prepared to restrict themselves to the trivial. Conflict in an open environment can be beneficial to the work environment as when handled in a mature and professional manner conflict can lead to creativity, innovation or growth, however if to much energy is expended in non productive activity then conflict becomes destructive. It is the authors opinion that conflict is an inherent part of the nursing and general health care culture, and that psychiatric nurses in the community are prime candidates for this because of the need to work collaboratively with people both professional and non professional of varying social, ethnic and educational backgrounds. Collaboration suggests that the combined power of the agencies or professions is distributed evenly, yet nurses are employed in a hierarchical system. Huber, (1996) suggests that nurses find that working in groups creates a situation in which there are a number of different colleagues and a variety of client types and different personalities to work with, these are complex interrelationships, and added to that complexity is the fact that there are multiple providers requiring co-ordination and communication to manage the care for any client. Within healthcare as a whole there is an interdependence between its members. The multi-disciplinary team breaks down into multiple care providers each relying on the other to carry out a portion of the work. For example a member of the housing support team can not monitor a clients medication if the clients community nurse has not organised the Doset box from the pharmacy. The source of conflict can be organisational, interpersonal or a combination of both. Personal and organisational goals and values may also be in conflict with or over general policies, a general policy being the course of action taken by an institution, department or unit. Policies in the main are meant to soothe conflicts over specific issues, they are designed to give about standard ways to make decisions in recurring situations. However different people within the care team may approach situations with differing viewpoints on how to best deal with certain issues, differences may occur over such things a clerical or managerial routines, or over record keeping and information sharing. Clashes may result at the intersection of a nurses professional judgement as an autonomous professional with standardised policies developed by the institution and designed to produce uniform behaviour, (AJN, 1987). Resource allocation comes under organisation issues and is especially important in the case of Mr and Mrs Client as the general consensus is that sheltered accommodation of some description is required, which inevitably will require funding. Budgeting has caused conflict over scarce resources within organisations. In the case of Mr and Mrs Client the funding for the accommodation should come from the social services department. Power conflicts can be both organisational and interpersonal and result in role conflicts. Role conflicts have been identified as being of two types, role overload and role ambiguity. Role overload is when a carer is expected to perform the work of other employees or disciplines in addition to providing their normal care tasks. Whereas role ambiguity is when the role and responsibilities of the carer expands faster than is officially recognised, (JOHNSON, 1994). To assist in making interprofessional collaboration joint working recommendations such as those stated in Building Bridges, (1996) have been suggested these include commitment on all levels of care approach and delivery, to maintain a primary focus on the service users, jointly owned or shared strategies for care of people with severe mental health problems, agreed procedures for access to services, agreed procedure for information exchange, clarification of roles and responsibilities and regular reviewing of interprofessional dynamics. vretveit, (1997) states that UK policy in the nineteen nineties has asked the question, what is wrong with the service? Rather than what problems need tackling in the outside world. In future it should re-focus on how partnerships between the users of the service, professional workers and managers can be achieved, in other words how can we make an integrated service truly democratic? The solutions to nearly all the crisis encountered by the care team can be or could have been solved or at least minimised through the effective use of communication. It is felt that it would also be important in interprofessional collaboration to have shared values and cultures, while a mismatch along these lines between health and social services has been well documented. (SMITH, 1993). Collaboration is the basis for team building and with the changes to healthcare, work redesign, restructuring and reengineering depend on effective collaboration, co-operation and group accomplishment. Proactive conflict resolution in work groups is the essence of building successful teams which are flexible and adaptable, and have a high degree of trust and communication. Therefore the ingredients for successful interprofessional collaboration may be a common goal, interdependence, co-operation, co-ordination of activities, task specialisation and therefore role clarity, equal division of effort and mutual respect. Team building is defined as being the deliberate process of creating and unifying a group into an effective functioning work unit to accomplish specific goals, (FARLEY & STONER, 1989). In conclusion, collaboration has been called the most effective strategy for managing conflict to achieve long term benefits. However a wide differential in power (both felt and actual), exists between nurses, social workers, and consultants, and this hinders effective collaboration. Therefore with wide differences in power the most commonly used techniques seem to be compromise and accommodation. There are indications however that this is changing as the health service as a whole is and has undergone some major changes with the implementation of the care plan approach, care management and the formation of community teams such as housing support and community support teams, and as a result effective interprofessional collaboration could soon become more commonplace. (BALDOCK, 1974).

Children of Incarcerated Parents

Effects on Children of Incarcerated Fathers Most of the prisons in America are overcrowded. They are overcrowded with men, most of which are fathers and nearly half of these incarcerated fathers were living with their child or children before going to prison. The effects on these children can be detrimental. This can also cause strained relationships with the mothers or other family members doing their best to take care of these children while their father is away.There can be social as well as emotional problems, but luckily there are many states that are trying to accommodate for the parent being gone with programs and camps for these children. Many social issues occur with a child of an incarcerated father as they grow older. It is common knowledge that if a parent or any caregiver disappears from a child’s life, that child’s attachment to that person will diminish. It is hard to establish a child’s trust and takes time, so if a parent disappears that the chil d has depended on, it can affect the future of the child.He/she may grow up thinking they cannot get too close to someone, fearing they’ll lose that person. A lot of behavioral problems can also occur in a child. This may happen at home, in school, or in the streets. â€Å"Absence of the father is associated more with ‘acting out’ behavior (such as hostility, use of drugs or alcohol, running away, school truancy, discipline problems, aggressive acts and involvement in delinquent activities (Rosenburg 2009). † Being antisocial is looked at as a list of multiple behaviors that disrupt normalcy. As the child of an incarcerated parent grows to be an adolescent, there may be even more social problems.Now the child is growing up and can get into more trouble for their social deviance. When it comes to getting in trouble, they may use excuses to cause them to get into more trouble. After all, what excuse is better than, â€Å"My dad did it? † It is very sa d when kids are isolated socially from their peers because of their situation; even when it is not their fault. There was a study done in Oregon with 22 children with incarcerated fathers. Within this group, six children admitted they had no friends and four of these children said other parents would not allow their kids to play with them because there â€Å"dad was in jail. These children grow up with feelings of shame, embarrassment, and mixtures of hope and fears of their relationships with their fathers, which leads them to be treated differently as they grow older. A father being gone in prison is also a huge financial strain on their families. Whether it be from the father having a job (legal or illegal), the family still depends on that income to help support the family. A lot of families need help through Public Aid to get through these difficult times. The family turns to food stamps, medical assistance, and child care assistance.There are also many emotional issues that o ccur for a child dealing with a father in prison. Sometimes the child or children stay with another caregiver while their father(s) is/are in prison. It becomes way harder for the mother alone to maintain a household if she has relied on the father for help and support. This can cause emotional problems with the caregiver the child is staying with. There are many kids that are taken care of by their grandparents, other relatives, friends, or even foster care.These kids can become unstable very quickly because if there is no relative to take care of them, they have to immediately be placed in foster care because they become dependents of the juvenile court. They are automatically thrust into a more stable household, but because that is what they are not used to, their personalities become shaky. â€Å"The 1980 Federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Reform Act mandate that children who are placed in foster care must either be returned to their parents or placed with long-term guardians within 12-18 months (Hairston 2007). This gives the parents a chance to fix what they have done and realize what they are doing to their children, so they do not have to go through more emotional hardships. When abruptly removing a child from their father is ignoring the emotional needs of that child/children. They end up feeling vulnerable, alone, and frightened While being a father in prison, it is still necessary to establish a parental connection with their son or daughter. It has been said that it is most beneficial to have both parents in the child’s life. They must create their own role even though they are behind bars.A study showed that most incarcerated fathers have feelings of â€Å"helplessness and difficulties in being a ‘good father (Rosenburg 2009). † There are many reasons why the fathers may feel this way. A lot of mothers refuse to bring the children to a prison or jail, but a lot of mothers may have a problem with finances, transporta tion, or time. There are strict rules and codes to follow when visiting a prisoner, so it would be difficult for a child to act normally with their father. Waiting times can be long, children will be frisked, and chances are it will be hot, dirty, and crowded.The caregiver may say that is emotionally scarring and the visiting can have a bad influence on the child. When a father is sent away, he is not sent to a prison in accordance with the family’s home. For those that are close, they are lucky, but if a person is in the state’s Department of Corrections, they can be sent anywhere in the state. When these fathers are taken away, the children receive little or no support on how to deal with their grief, loss, anger, shame, and fear. Depending on where the father is in prison, different programs can be available.There are parent education courses- which most prisons teach special parent-child visits, child-oriented visiting activities, parent support groups, and custody and parental rights services. These programs are designed to develop and strengthen attachments, provide access to services, and address the issues that face the incarcerated parent when it comes to parenting. There is also a service for father behind bars that provides publications on self-help support groups. It serves many prisons with incarcerated fathers in the US and Canada.There are more and more states doing something to lessen the impact of a parent going to prison on the child. States are now addressing the needs of a child at the time a parent is arrested. New laws are now requiring more extensive training to ensure the safety of a child at the time of arrest. Some states are also requiring judges to now consider the effects of a parent’s incarceration on the child. â€Å"One Tennessee judge routinely requests that a video of the father interacting with the child accompany family impact statements (Christian 2009). Some policies are being imposed to require child -friendly visiting areas within prisons and jails, training correctional officers to have a better understanding of visiting children, and reducing the cost of maintaining contact. Welfare agencies in New York are now requiring arrangements to be made for the child to keep a meaningful relationship with that child, unless there is clear evidence that a relationship would be detrimental to the child. These arrangements would include transportation and providing social and rehabilitative services to resolve or correct the roblems which prohibit normal contact with the child. Most normal parenting classes do not meet the needs of incarcerated parents. If these programs want to succeed in decreasing criminal activities, they need to be more specific to maintaining a presence in a child’s life. There are nurseries and different accommodations for mothers that are incarcerated, so why not fathers? In New York, there is a facility called The Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. They also have a children’s center with their own building, which allows overnight and summer visits for older children.There are inmate caregivers that work as associates in the center, which have gone through an accredited program that prepares graduates to teach in an accredited nursery anywhere in the country. There is a dayroom designed for the kids to play and the other inmates to form new friendships. It is an excellent opportunity for these children to make new friendships with other children going through the same thing. Why should these only be applied to women inmates with children? It is no surprise that fathers are just as important in a child’s life as a mother is.If there were more daycare centers for men’s prisons, there would probably be less violence and problems within the population of the prison. If the Department of Corrections would give these men an incentive for their good behavior to see their families in a more â€Å"home-like† sett ing, there would be a lot less lockdowns. Many issues occur within a child when their father goes to prison. There will be social and emotional problems, including anger, depression, shame, and guilt. They will be socially isolated and for any child, that is not a positive thing in their life.Although these issues have been going on for a long time, states are now presenting new laws and implications for families with an incarcerated father. Little changes in the judicial system will help keep these kids out of trouble and continue to maintain a strong relationship with their father. Having two parents is the best basis for raising a child and even if one of the parents is absent, it is still best to maintain a paternal bond with the child. As a single mother of a child that has been raising a child going through this, I have constantly kept in contact with my daughter’s father.I understand the importance of having a family and one day, they will be able to have a normal rela tionship with each other. I understand the programs and meetings he attends in the prisons within the Illinois Department of Corrections to become a better person and a better father. If I don’t believe in him, his daughter will never believe either. I have admired my dad ever since I can remember and I want my daughter to feel the same way about her father as I always have. References Christian, S. (2009, March).Children of incarcerated parents. Retrieved January 30, 2013, from http://www. ncsl. org/documents/cyf/childrenofincarceratedparents. pdf Hairston, C. F. (2007, October). Focus on children with incarcerated parents. Retrieved from http://www. fcnetwork. org/AECFOverview%20of%20the%20Research%20Literature. pdf Shlafer, R. J. , & Rosenburg, J. (2010). Attachment and caregiving relationships in families affected by parental incarceration. Attachment & Human Development, 12(4), 395-415. doi:10. 1080/14616730903417052