Beginning Psychology Essay

Beginning Psychology Essay Beginning Psychology Essay 1. Define "psychology." - The scientific study of mind and behavior. 2. Explain why using intuition about everyday behavior is insufficient for completely understanding the causes of behavior. - There are a variety of biases that often influence our perceptions and lead us to make the wrong conclusions. 3. What are empirical methods? What is the scientific method? How do the two relate? Empirical method is a way to collect and organize data and draw conclusions, like trial and error. Scientific method is one form of empirical. Scientific method is set rules and procedures that scientists use to conduct empirical methods. 4. Name the three levels of explanation (perspectives) in psychology, and the process underlying each one. Give an example of each related to success in college. Lower – biological / A person born to very intelligent parents would be more likely to be successful in college. Middle – interpersonal / A parent can teach their child how important it is to study and encourage good grades. Higher – cultural / Other countries are more aggressive with teaching and how much time children spend at school and have higher expectations from their students. 5. List and define the four challenges of studying psychology. Individual differences – Each person is unique. One person could go into a deep depression after losing a loved one while another grieves and moves on displaying only slight symptoms of depression. Multiply determined – There is rarely just one reason for certain human behavior (violence, child abuse). Linked causes – The causes of certain behaviors are often linked so that is it difficult or impossible to decipher which reason has the most effect. Unconscious processes - Reasons we are unaware of, one example is repressed memories. 6. List and define the five most important questions that psychologists address. Nature vs. nurture – The difference between what is inherited (genes) and our environment. Free will vs. determinism – The difference between having control over one’s own actions or more influenced by factors out of one’s control. Accuracy vs. inaccuracy – The determination that people have the ability to make good decision when those decisions could actually be effected by personal preferences and biases. Conscious vs. unconscious processing – to be aware of what is causing our actions as opposed to being unaware of why we sometimes act the way we do. Differences vs. similarities – Are there differences between men and women? Differences because of culture or ethnicity? Or are we all basically the same? 7. What is structuralism, developed by Wundt? What method did structuralists use to study the mind? What were the limitations of that method? What are the two â€Å"firsts† accredited to structuralists? Structuralism is the study of the conscious psychological elements. Structuralists used introspection, participants explained their experiences while completing tasks. The limitations were that instances where participants could not explain how they came up with answers for a simple math problem, the unconscious process. The realization of the unconscious process was one â€Å"first†. Another â€Å"first† was that Wundt discovered it took a person longer to report a stimulus rather than just respond to it. 8. What is functionalism, developed by James? What field of psychology developed out of functionalism? What is the major imitation of that field? Functionalism was to figure out why animals and humans develop particular psychological aspects. The field of evolutionary psychology developed from functionalism. Its major limitation is that we cannot predict which psychological characteristics our ancestors possessed. 9. What is the field of psychology that Freud developed? What is the general influence of this approach? What central ideas from that field are still important to psychology today? The field Freud developed was psychodynamic

Vandalistic Behavior,Bullying and Violence on Campus Essay Example

Vandalistic Behavior,Bullying and Violence on Campus Essay Example Vandalistic Behavior,Bullying and Violence on Campus Essay Vandalistic Behavior,Bullying and Violence on Campus Essay Abstract American Campus was and is usually idealized to be a sanctum for academic study. However, beneath the semblance of peaceful ivory tower, American campus nowadays is on and off plagued by an alloy of miscellaneous violence which has increasingly become a serous social problem. On the one hand, violence is taking place on American campus on a more frequent basis, and on the other hand, the way the violence is committed tends to be crueler, more violent and traumatically hurtful. In view of the increasingly worsening situation, it would be of enormous significance o look into the nature and scope of current violence on American campus and reveal the root causes for campus violence. This thesis presents the vandalistic behavior, bullying, sexual violence, hate violence, and mass murder as the typical violence typology on campus. According to the social learning theory, violence is interpreted as an outcome of students appropriating from their environments and popular culture aggressive behavior. Drawing upon the social learning theory, this thesis looks into a complex set of social factors that give rise to campus violence in the U. S. including the violence cult, gun ownership, and social tension factors such as racism, sexism and religious conflicts. Despite decades- long efforts taken by American society to combat violence, the adverse trend has not yet been reversed, or is likely to be in the foreseeable future. The underlying reason in that respect lies in some cultural, political and social forces deep-rooted in the American culture, which make the campus violence disease determinedly intractable, or even ineradicable. In this sense, to understand campus violence is in fact to understand American culture and society. Key words: Campus Violence, Social Learning Theory, American Society, Causes and Typology Behaviors. Shooting. ? Campus Violence.. . 16 2. 2. 2 Violence on Mass Media. Campus. Tension.. ? RootsContents American Campus Violence: an Overview. 5 1 1 1 Chapter One . 5 1. 2 Campus Violence .. 7 1. 2. 1 Vandalistic .. 8 1. 2. 2 .. 8 1. 2. sexual .. 9 1. 2. 4 Hate .. 10 1. 2. 5 Mass Murder/ .. 11 1. 3 Summary .. 12 Chapter Two Causes of 14 2. 1 The Theories on .. 14 2. 2 Violence . 16 2. 2. 1 Violence Cult in American .. 18 2. 2. 3 Violence cult on .. 20 2. 3 social .. 22 2. 3. 1 .. 252. 3. 3 .. 27 2. 4 Easy Access to . . 29 Chapter Three The Intractable Nature Gun.. of Campus Violence.. 33 3. 1 Cultural Legacy: Radical Individualism. 33 3. 2 Political Clout: Pro-Gun Interest Group. 6 3. 3 Social Institution: Escalated Social Conclusion. Bibliography. ? .. 421 Introduction For many years, c ollege campuses have been viewed as an ivory tower that is insulated from violence. In actual fact, however, the notion of the campus as a crime- free oasis is a myth, as in the case of the United States. Not only does violence or crime at large affect schools and colleges themselves in America, but in some respects its campuses have become fertile ground for violent or criminal behaviors that permeate beyond campus. The sharp escalation of youth violence from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s led to the descriptions of it as unprecedented (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1992), as epidemic (Tolmas, 1998: 483-492; U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001), and ubiquitous (Tolan, 2001), respectively. In 2005, the FBI declared 2,712 known violent crimes in the universities and colleges across all states. According to the estimates by the Department of Justice, the number of Juveniles arrested for violent crimes will double by the year 2010(Snyder Sickmund, 2006: 1 11). With the escalation of campus violence, many scholars have made great efforts to study the problem from different perspectives. Deanna C. Linville, for example, examines how extracurricular activities, such as participation in non-school clubs, religious activities, exercise frequency and number of sports team memberships relate to rural youth violence (2005: 483-492). Ann Bellotti attributes the etiology of violence in the college and university setting to beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors which may predispose, enable, and reinforce violence (1995: 105-123). Thomas W. Farmer and Elizabeth M. Z. Farmer suggest that aggression and school violence involve the contributions of both school social dynamics and the evelopmental histories of youth who are at risk for involvement in antisocial behavior (2004: 377-396). In these earlier studies on campus violence, there is a tendency to define the scope of the problem of campus violence narrowly, and this is likely to impede the understanding of the phenomenon and its dimensions, and compromises efforts to respond to it. In reaction to such limitation in previous studies, this thesis puts forward an integrated definition of campus violence by encompassing2 not only the violence resulting in physical harm but also the psychological or emotional trauma caused by it. Apart from putting forth an expanded definition to guide a comprehensive recognition of the problem of campus violence, this thesis draws upon the social learning theory to examine and analyze campus violence in the United States from the social, historical and cultural perspectives. In Chapter One, the author points out the conventional definition of campus violence which focuses on the visible physical harm produced by violence but neglects the psychological harm. Moreover, the usual definition ignores the thesis puts forth a more integrated definition of campus violence, and based on the efinition, presents hate and sexual violence that are driven by racism and sexism in society. Apart from that, campus bullying and mass shooting are two types of campus violence that have come to the forefront of the publics attention. Chapter Two proceeds to probe into the social factors that give rise to campus violence. Drawing upon the social learning theory, the thesis emphasizes that the social and cultural environment where a person is exposed to plays an influencing part in a persons behavior. Campus is a microcosm of society at large and the violence cult of America constitutes the fundamental cause of American campus violence. In At Zero Tolerance, Ronnie Casella concluded the cause of violence as follows: The United States has yet to view violence as an outcome of a national history that has been violent, of an economic system that creates the social isolation and hopelessness that causes some violence, and a culture that has come to accept and even prosper from everyday forms of aggression against the less powerful in the world. Unfortunately, this context of violence is not even recognized until it is the white and middle-class kids who become embroiled in the mayhem (2001:37). 3 However, the origins of violence lie in a complex set of influence. No single factor can provide the definitive answer to the question of why students commit violence so often and so casually. In addition to the violence cult, other social factors contributing campus violence need to be taken into account. A sample of 222 African American, Mexican American, or European American undergraduate students completed questionnaires as sessing lifetime exposure to interpersonal violence and current levels of psychological distress. The frequency of interpersonal violence was high: 39. 2% of the students reported direct exposure to at least one violent, nonsexual life event and 43. % reported at least one violent sexual experience. 14% of the participants had lifetime diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder, with the highest reported rate occurring for the African Americans, who also reported more violent sexual and nonsexual experiences and higher levels of psychological distress. Women reported more direct sexual experiences whereas men reported more nonsexual violent events (Satcher, 2001 : 7). Given that the respondents who had been victimized all came from minority groups, and that the female respondents were the easy targets of sexual violence, this sample indicates that racism and sexism are still irectly or indirectly causing campus violence. Moreover, the campus simply reflects the greater problem in society, where firearms are used in 60% of homicides, 41 % of robberies, 23 % of aggravated assaults, and 10 % of rapes (Espelage Swearer, 2003: 365-383). The easy access to gun is another factor that facilitates the prevalence of campus violence. Chapter Three looks into the forces deep-rooted in American society that makes the eradication of violence on campus difficult or even impossible. This is approached from three aspects: cultural, political and social. First, the thesis argues that ndividualism, as a highly lauded cultural legacy of the nation, bestows excessive freedom to the individuals. Secondly, with the gun interest group pursuing lucrative profits and backing up the gun ownership, gun acquisition wont be restricted within a short time soon. Finally, as the social tension resulting from the racial, sexual as to remain unchanged in a foreseeable future. As campus violence worsens off, it is worth attention and serious research work by related scholars and campus authority. This paper is a tentative attempt in this direction, intended to shed some light on the study of American campus violence. Chapter One American Campus Violence: an Overview 1. 1 Definition Campus violence has been present on American campus ever since the existence of campus and it has become one of the trickiest and the most serious issues in American society. Each year the boundaries of violence extend. Many scholars have studied the subject and formulated their own versions of definition for campus violence. The concept of violence literally means physical force used to inflict injury or damage. It connotes an intense manifestation of strength, usually involving some severe physical effects. As Gerald Priestland says, he essence of violence is that physical power is deliberately employed, with the ultimate sanction of physical pain, and little choice but surrender or physical resistance(1974: 19). And the archetypal act of violencethe image that we are likely to have of it-is something like punching someone on the nose, or stabbing them, or beating them. Accordingly, campus violence is conventionally defined as the use of force, often extreme physical force, by a student toward other people or himself/herself that results in harm. Berg defined violence in the campus setting as the use or threat of physical force with the ntent of causing physical injury, damage or intimidation of another person (2000:18). However, this kind of definition omits two critical elements of harm. First, it excludes the emotional and psychological pain that results from dominance of some over others. Violence on todays campus is more insidious, invisible, and psychologically harmful and can be done in a more explicitly civilized manner. Without sustaining actual physical force, one can still fall easy prey to violence, such as the tacit violence, discriminatory trauma and psychological abuse; second, the said definition ignores the violence of social process that produces ystematic social injury, such as that perpetuated through institutionalized racism and sexism. According to the theory of social learning initiated by Albert Bandura, individuals imitate as well as interpret and6 interact with the message of society. [P]eople are not simply reactors to external influences; they select, organize, and transform the stimuli that impinge upon them(1977: 89). In the case of campus violence, people living in an environment that prescribes certain violence standards or practice as normative will be nurtured to accept and come to terms with these acquiesced practices of violence. It should be noted that both racial and sexual violence are not rare across American campus. The implicitly rampant racism, sexism and religious discrimination in society result in hate violence with regard to race, sexuality and religion. The hate violence tends to exert on individuals or groups adverse psychological or mental impact, which might be more harmful than physical harms. For example, gender discrimination has been shown to create harmful effects on female students learning experience. When a teacher favors male students over females, because of the formers seemingly extroverted classroom participation, they eelings of inadequacy, anger, and long-term depression. As a result, the conventional definition of campus violence neglects harmful institutionalized social and educational processes, including acts and processes of institutionalized racism or sexism, other discrimination, labeling and tracking, sexual harassment, and predation (Henry, 1999: 18). Based on this analysis, when enumerating the concrete violent acts on campus, it is not adequate to assume that physical violence such as shoving, pinching, hitting, fghting, or aggravated assault cover the whole spectrum of ampus violence to the neglect of such hidden violence as verbal and psychological abuse, racially, sexually and religiously driven hate crimes that produce psychological harms other than physical injuries. Moreover, it should be noted that the exercise of the power to harm, as mentioned earlier, can also be accomplished by such factors as sexism, ageism and racism. The overlook of these broader dimensions of campus violence causes the missing of much of the content and many causes of violence on campus. In order to have a7 more accurate concept of campus violence, a more integrated definition of campus iolence is necessary. A more accurate and integrated definition should first of all replace the term force with power and by suggesting that violence is the use of power to harm another, whatever form that takes. So, the key point here is the use of power and the harm it causes when applied in a wrong way. Power is easy to understand. When broadly defined, it means the capacity to bring about change. It takes many forms, comes from many places and is measured in many ways. What is more difficult is how to define harm. What is harm? Harm, when narrowly conceived, is physical pain and suffering. But an expansive view says harm can also occur along many dimensions, beyond the physical, to include psychological or emotional; material or economic; social or identity; moral or ethical. For example, physical harms produce bodily pain or loss; material harms remove some of the persons economic standing; psychological harms have destructive effects on the human mind and weaken a persons emotional or mental functioning; social and symbolic harms lower a persons social status; moral or ethical harms corrupt standards of concern for the well-being of others (as in hate, pressure to cheat, and the like). With the inclusion of ocial practices as factors contributing to violence and the expansion on the resultant harm from violence, this thesis defines campus violence as the intentional use of power, threatened or actual, by some individual, or social process, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal-development, or deprivation. Based on this definition, the next section will put forward the representative typology of campus violence that merit attention by campus authority and U. S. government. 8 1. 2 Campus Violence Typology Based on the more integrated definition of campus violence as stated above, we can distinguish five modes in which violence may be inflicted: Vandalistic Behavior; Bullying; Hate Crime; Sexual Violence; Mass Murder/Shooting. 1. 2. 1 Vandalistic Behaviors Vandalistic behavior refers to the willful or malicious damage to school grounds and produce either explicit or implicit physical violence, bloody scene or violent confrontation between the youth, it is likely to cause psychological trauma on the targets. Specific examples for school vandalism include glass breakage, graffiti, and general property destruction. In the U. S. , these behaviors might be the external embodiment of anti-Semitism, one of the main motivations for the vandalistic behavior on campus. Nazi-related graffiti, such as the swastika, are more often than not found painted on the campus property to remind the Jews of the painful past. There has also been defacement done to numerous campus areas, such as the bobcat face, newly paved sidewalks and commuters cars. In other case of vandalism, it is found that students smear petroleum Jelly on the schools windows, throw birdseed and flour against the windows, dump paper in a courtyard and shot the uilding with paintballs. Arson also qualifies as vandalistic behavior due to its intention. According to the U. S. Department of Education (n. d. ), there were 1,098 cases of campus arson reported in 2002 Ooetta L. Carr, 2005: 9). Over the past two decades, concerns about school violence, weapons, drugs, and gangs have eclipsed apprehension and discussion about school vandalism, its causes, and possible responses. However, the alarming fact is that vandalistic behavior continues to occur regularly and to affect a significant proportion of U. S. campus. 1. 2. 2 sullytngg Bullying refers to unprovoked physical or psychological abuse of an individual by one or a group of students over time to create an ongoing pattern of harassment and abuse (Batsche Knoff, 1994:165-174; Hoover, Oliver, Thomson, 1993; Olweus, 1991:143-150). It is among the largely neglected aspect of low-level American campus violence. Not only does bullying produce physical harm, it also results in psychological detriments. Bullying usually takes place when there is an imbalance of power between aggressor and victim, and moreover, the aggressive acts are deliberate and repeated (Farrington 1993; Olweus, 1993; Smith Sharp, 1994). Although bullying is largely neglected, its occurrence frequency and coverage are both higher than other high-level campus violence. Bullying victimization is estimated to affect 15% to 20% of the U. S. tudent population, with verbal teasing and intimidation being the most common form and boys are reported to be victims at a higher rate than girls (Furlong, Chung, Bates, Morrison, 1995:289-298). Students grow up and leave school-including those mean kids of long ago, but in a certain sense the bully never actually grows up; he or she still bullies, harasses, and intimidates others. Little has changed over the years in this regard, with the possible exception that things may have gotten i mmeasurably worse-especially within the context of schooling. The gang is a cause that leads to campus bullying. Like any group of people who engage in socially disruptive or criminal behavior, gangs on campus create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. To a certain extent, the campus has become a breeding ground for gang, and the Juvenile and young adults associate together to victimize, bully and intimidate school members, carry out antisocial activities, such as omb-making, satanic websites visiting. The presence of the gang on campus undermines the campus climate to a great extent and accordingly, exerts negative 1. 2. Sexual Violence10 The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women defines violence against women as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. Kilmartin observes, [R]ape and other par tner iolence are the worst symptom of a larger problem: a continuum of disrespect toward women. This continuum includes mens display of negative attitudes through misogynist Jokes, demeaning pornography nd runs to the most extreme form of violence: gender motivated murder. Such an analysis also emphasizes power imbalances between the sexes and the social forces that create and maintain these imbalances. (2007: 23) In a country like the United States which finds sexism so prevailing in peoples mentality, sexual violence is not rare on American campus. It mainly includes sexual assault, stalking and dating violence. College campuses host large concentrations of young women who are at greater risk for rape and other forms of sexual assault than women in the general population or in a comparable age group. Stalking is particularly prevalent on college campuses; in fact, more than half of all stalking victims are between 18-29 years old, and 13% of college women have been stalked. In 1981 , Makepeace published the first report on dating violence, revealing that one in five college couples are involved in violent relationships. Recent studies show that as many as one in three college couples will be involved in at least one incident of iolence during the course of their dating relationship (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000; Lewis Fremouw, 2001:8(:)-84). 1. 2. Hate Violence Hate violence and its resultant victimization are becoming more prominent on Americas college campuses. Also known as bias-motivated violence, hate violence occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her membership in al 1 certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, or political affiliation and a s a result, it is evealed that sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, anti-lslamism and homosexuality have all induced and would continue to trigger off the occurrence of hate crime, which can take many forms. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or letters. They occur at virtually every type of college and university and in every part of the nation. Perpetrators of these incidents include current and former students and non- students. According to criminologist Dr. Jack McDevitt, hate crime is different from ther crimes in that the offender is sending a message to members of a certain group that they are unwelcome in a particular neighborhood, community, school, or workplace. By far the largest determinant of hate crimes is racial bias, with the group of African Americans at greatest risk. Apart from the hate crime against the Black Americans, there are ones committed against Hispanics, because of their immigration status. 1. 2. 5 Mass Murder/Shooting The April 2007 massacre of 32 victims on the otherwise bucolic campus of Virginia America. Not only was it the most devastating violent episode ever to occur at an nstitution of higher learning, it was the largest mass shooting of any kind in the nations history. Gun violence is the lethal form of campus violence. According to a recent national survey of 26,000 college students on 61 campuses, 7% of the students carried a gun or knife on the previous days. The study indicated that 11% of the men and 4% women surveyed carried weapons. Extrapolated, this means that approximately 1 million (to be exact, 980,000) students carry weapons on campus. 18% of high school students now carry a knife, razor, firearm, or other weapon on a regular basis, and 9% of them take a weapon to school. According to a national survey of 26,000 college students on 61 campuses in 1992, 7% of students carried a12 gun or knife. The outcome of such a heavily armed students group has been severe. In 1992, for example, 5,262 young people died from gunshot wounds, and an estimated 23,167 students suffered nonfatal firearm injuries that were treated in hospital emergency rooms from June 1992 through May 1993 dames Mercy Mark Rosenberg, 1998). 1. 3 Summary As demonstrated above, the most common campus violence takes forms of Vandalistic Behavior; Bullying; Hate Crime; Sexual Violence; Mass Murder/Shooting. Violence accounts for much of the morbidity and mortality among adolescents in the United States (National Center for Health Statistics, 2003). All the five types of violence are pervasive on American campuses. It was estimated that bullying victimization is calculated to affect 15% to 20% of the U. S. student population, with verbal teasing and intimidation being the most common form and boys reported to be victims at a higher rate than girls (Furlong, Chung, Bates, Morrison, 1995: 289-298). In the year of 1995, the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a study specific to the problem of hate crimes on the college campus. The study included 450 higher education institutions from 40 states. Of the 450 institutions surveyed, 222 or 49% reported an incident of a hate crime. It has been estimated that almost one million college students experience racially or ethnically motivated violence annually. In a study of 1 ,012 racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse students enrolled in various campus in Los Angeles, OKeefe found that violence in dating relationships was a frequent occurrence: 43% of the females and 39% of the males reported that they had inflicted some form of physical aggression on their dating partners at least nce (1997: 546-568). Unfortunately, current epidemiological reports suggest that this form of violence is on the rise. Between 1994 and 1999, there were 220 school- associated violent events resulting in 253 deaths?74. 5% of these involved firearms. Handguns caused almost 60% of these deaths. Oournal of American Medical Association, December 2001). 13 Such pervasive violence on campus brings about detrimental consequences. School violence has been reported as one of the most important and devastating social problems facing school children and their parents, to the extent that students erceive their school context as an unsafe environment (Astor and Meyer, 2001 : 374-399). It is recognized that disruptive behaviors on campus interferes with not only teaching, but also diminishes ability to focus on academic pursuits. The fears experience psychological reactions that interfere with the learning process (American Association of University Women, 2001)14 Chapter Two Causes of Campus Violence In the previous one, this thesis puts forth a more integrated definition of campus violence vis-? ¤-vis the conventional definition that ignores the psychological facet. Based on such a broader definition, Chapter Two will adopt corresponding theories and probe into the social factors that give rise to the campus violence in American society. 2. 1 The Theories on Violence There are as many theories of violence as there are forms of violence, and these theories have been discussed in exhaustive detail in a number of books and articles. Briefly speaking, theories of violence fall into several categories. 1) Social learning theory interprets violence as learned behavior, an outcome of students appropriating from their environments and popular culture aggressive behavior and hen considering violence as norm which they replicate in their own interaction with others (David Johnson Roger Johnson, 1995). (2) Rational choice theories identifies poor reasoning skills as the cause of violence, in which case, individuals weigh the consequences of a violent crime against the possible benefits and make the rational choice to be violent-in a sense, individuals det ermine that crime pays( Jeffrey Fagan Deanna L. Wilkinson, 1998). 3) Structural theories of violence that focuses on social and environmental conditions such as poverty. Here, violence is viewed as a systemic roblem having to do with inequities in the world and a general breakdown of relations between people, which leads to social isolation, frustration, and aggression (Frederic Thrasher, 1927). (4) Biological theories focus on medical conditions and biolol gical traits of violent offenders and have roots in eugenic explanations of criminal behavior, where criminal tendencies are identified in peoples physical and psychological stigmata ?essentially, in a persons natural makeup (David Green, 1985). 5) Interactionist theory incorporates some combination of social learning and tructural theories and view violence in connection to how peoplel 5 make sense and interpret their experiences and circumstances (Brandley Levinson, Douglas Foley, Dorothy Holland, 1996). Although these theori es on violence make sense in one way or another, social learning theory has been at the forefront of explaining how external influences affect the way people behave and cited as one of the most relevant and plausible theories regarding the acquisition of violence tendency. According to the social learning theory, people learn through modeling and imitation. Albert Bandura, who is often considered as the forefather of the theory, explained that most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasion this coded information serves as a guide for action. Social learning theory has been at the forefront of explaining how influences such as media affect young children. In his book, Social Learning and Personality Development, Bandura and his colleague, Richard Walters, concluded that imitation plays an important role in the acquisition of deviant, as well as of conforming, behavior. They reiterated in their own work the basic explanation put forth several decades earlier by the them to do, but rather what they see adults dd'(Gladys Reichard, 1938: 409-86). In probing into the causes of campus violence, attention must be given to the experiences of young people and how those experiences are interpreted by them. These experiences should include those in the community and school and with others but also experiences that students have with their popular culture, with the military (including JROTC organizations in high schools), and their knowledge of easy ccess to weapons. Cultures are created in neighborhoods, families, and states, and within a national context. What is easily accepted in the United States, what is produced and used, how individuals view themselves in relation to others, all add up to define what U. S. ulture is like and who Americans are as a people. If U. S. society continues to support militarism, to tolerate the mass manufacturing and distribution of weapons16 that have caused what health experts call a national health crisis in the country, and to patronize needless violence in the media, then, those who take art in such activities continue to produce a culture that is partly defined by violence. This violence may, if other factors fall into place, lead to youth and scho ol violence. Campus violence is Just one part of violence in the rest of society. According to the influence argument, it can be inferred that Americas violence cult, the dissemination of violence via mass media, and the institutionalized sexism, racism in society all exert influences on the person who is exposed to the context. 2. 2 Violence Cult Revolving around the social learning theory, the following section will discuss the iolence cult America practices historically and militarily, how the institutionalized sexism and racism still take foothold in contemporary America, including on American campus, and how these factors contribute to the happening of violence on campus. Violence is a defining characteristic of U. S. culture. Just like Ronnie Casella said in At Zero Tolerance: U. S. has benefited from violence. Through violence, the country has sustained economic and political might abroad, has bolstered domestic and international expansions, and has served international interventions. Violence is so ervasive in America that it symbolizes freedom, masculinity, dominance, and power. To understand Americas cult on violence, it is necessary to look at it from the historical perspective, as violence is historically consistent and it has been woven into the very fabric of American personality. The

Development of Orchestra Concert Music in the Classical Period Essay

Development of Orchestra Concert Music in the Classical Period - Essay Example This "Development of Orchestra Concert Music in the Classical Period" essay outlines the changes in orchestra concert music and its origin. Music in the classical period derives its name from imitation of Greece and Roman art classical artistic and literary heritage. In periods preceding the classic period, music was played entirely for church functions and for those in power (Van, 2012). Composers would only present their music under the employ of a person in power because it was an expensive undertaking that was not very common. The classical period bore the name of enlightenment period, which made people understand the human reasoning power in overcoming problems. During the enlightenment period, people composers understood that they could use their music to entertain themselves as they gain instead of only performing to those in power. The enlightenment brought conflict between old and new ideas of governance in the society. Consequently, these changes in the society affected the writing of music in those societies. This period contributed much to the development of orchestral music in Northern and Central Europe, since it is during this period that music got performed in public concerts. Several factors led to the development of music in this period. First, economic changes during the period affected the music development, composition, and its dissemination (Van, 2012). Secondly, there were changes in the lives and occupations of the composers, which affected the social structures that provided employment in previous times. Thirdly, there is the traditional or novelty taste of the music that drives the music to its development and expansion .

Brand Extension for Reducing Risks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Brand Extension for Reducing Risks - Essay Example This dilemma has long stared the food industry in the face, this sector being made up mostly of small and medium-sized companies each with 20 or so employees. (The likes of McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Kenny Rogers are the few notable exceptions.) Even so, the food sector is perhaps the most profitable and widely distributed industry in the world with, it is said, one food establishment to be found in every street corner. Economists have come to think of this industry as uniquely recession-proof, catering as it does to the most primal urge of man - the appeasement of hunger. During an economic crisis, people may forego acquisition of cars, appliances and cut back on their expenses for clothes and the like but food establishments will always draw them in. As a gold mine rich in business opportunities, it is said that all the food companies have accomplished at present is scratch the surface of this bottomless industry. Because of the food companies' size, the food sector has been described as a low-tech industry, with the lowest research-and-development to sales ratio. The industry's R&D to sales ratio is pegged at an average of only 1 per cent as against 12 per cent for the drug industry, 8 per cent for electronics and 4 per cent for motor vehicles (MAPP Working Paper 38, EU Concerted Action). This leaves much to be desired since R&D is crucial to achieving success in innovation, which in turn is necessary for making any company competitive. The said European Union study noted that a modern supermarket carries about 10,000 to 15,000 products at any given time with a yearly turnover of 10 per cent. One United Kingdom food retailer alone successfully introduced 1,500 new own-label products in 1993 to place the company ahead of its competitors. The conclusion is that introduction of new products is an "essential element of competition between food companies" and that innovation definitely gives them a competitive edge. Still and all, food companies operating on the economy-of-scale basis simply cannot afford the risks involved in diversification and innovation in the traditional sense. The advent of the brand extension concept gave these companies a way out of their problem by enabling them to develop new products without the attendant risks and extra costs. With brand extension, food companies found an effective strategy to reduce the risks of new product development. Brand extension is the use of an established brand name for a new product that is intended for another product category or class (Keller & Aaker 1992). Simply put, a brand extension is a product that carries the name of a known brand even as the new product fills a market need different from that of the parent brand. The idea is to ride piggyback on the name established by the parent brand so that the new product avoids the extra costs and risks inherent in coming up with a totally new consumer product. An entirely new product without the "symbolic" meaning of brands (i.e., company prestige, status and personality) to prop it up would be difficult to sell otherwise (Czellar 2003). The use of brand extension to good

Nutrition project 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nutrition project 3 - Essay Example Likewise, it is assessed that the cost incurred by my family members to feed me is around 49 BHD. It has been estimated that a newly independent individual can earn around 240 BHD on a monthly basis. This means that weekly I can earn 60 BHD out of which 37 BHD might be allocated for food expenses. Therefore, the total cost estimated to be incurred by me on food items is 37 BHD. However, the current weekly food cost is based on different range of products, which is assessed to be around 32.84 BHD signifying that 4.16 BHD can be actually saved after purchasing weekly food items. The saved amount i.e. 4.16 BHD might be used for other different purposes that include purchasing apparels or other products. The weekly income earned by me is estimated to be around 60 BHD, while the total cost incurred on my week’s food menu is 32.84 BHD as estimated. Henceforth, the percentage of weekly income used by my weekly food menu is 54.73%. I was able to learn that maintaining a healthy diet is quite important for an individual to produce required energy for better growth as well as development. The planning and implementing of the diet plan might assist me in allocating maximum budget towards food items, so that appropriate foods with better notorious value are consumed to live a healthy and happy life. It was quite difficult for me to meet the Super Tracker’s requirement of vegetables to maintain a healthy diet, as the vegetables are not easily available in the food market based on the preferences (SuperTracker, â€Å"SuperTracker & Other Tools†). As per my anticipation, the biggest challenge to meet my nutritional requirements as an adult will be to balance my weekly budget on food items and maintain a healthy

Management and Policy of a Diverse Workplace

Management and Policy of a Diverse Workplace INTRODUCTION Groups of people see the world through their own set of assumptions, attitudes, beliefs, and values. Learn about their culture and how it formed them, and aim to understand how other culture work so that everyone can be an effective global manager. Organization from every part of the world is reaching out beyond their domestic markets to become international players. Not only is this very challenging on the business them, but it also creates a challenge for individual managers who must cope with working across geographic and cultural borders. Managing globally provides clear systems and approaches to help manage global networks and teams, and it examines the skills needed for dealing with different cultures. It teaches how to succeed in this new world. This is widely recognised that an organisational diversity is obvious and necessary nowadays because of increasing pace of economic and technological development. Organisations need to be flexible if they seek to remain competitive and want to survive in a long run. This research explores the phenomenon of diversity in one of UKs leading super market named Sainsburys (London Colney). The researcher intends to examine what the policy to work with different culture people and how management manage working with diversity people in workplace in the store in last two years I have seen. 1.1 What we think about culture: Culture refers to the systems of meaning-values, beliefs, expectations and goals-shared by members of a particular group of people and differentiate them from members of other groups. It is a product of ‘the collective programming of the mind (Hofstede, 1991), that is, it is acquired through regular interaction with other members of the group. Cultural differences can be found at many different levels, professional, class and regional, but it is particularly persuasive at the national level because of generations of socialization into the national community, as individuals, we generally only become aware of our own culture when confronted by others. The core differences in values between cultures go back to questions of what works for ensuring survival in relations to the natural environment. 1.2 Why culture consider in a multinational company: Multinational companies are completely different from export-based firms not least because of their foreign subsidiaries. Not only does physical distance pose a challenge for effective communication, but also there is the challenge represented by cultural differences. Some MNCs have regarded cultural differences as so important that they have chosen to operate as multi-domestics with decision-making, management style and product development. The attitude is that people in the subsidiaries know best and should be allowed to go their own ways. For example, the attitudes in the Dutch electronics firm Philips for most of the previous century. The downside of this approach is the fiefdom and ‘not-invented-here mentality, which resulted in Philips North American subsidiary refusing to adopt the Philips video recorder (V2000) and opting instead for the rival Japanese model. However, many MNCs, including Philips since 1987, require a much greater degree of coordination, particularly in regard to learning. To do so, these firms must develop common practices and common values. If foreign subsidiaries are to be integrated for knowledge-sharing purposes, a starting point is an understanding of the mindsets of subsidiary management and employees in terms of their work-related values. The management challenge for many MNCs is to be able to adapt their organizations to culturally distinct environments without losing organizational stability. 1.3 About an organisation: Sainsburys is one of the leading retail super markets with approximately 792 stores all over the UK. There are some others supermarkets (Tesco, ASDA, Iceland and Somerfield) in UK which are the competitors of Sainsburys. All of them are trying their best to provide good services to their customers and working under diversity workplace. For the present research the researcher has taken Sainsburys London Colney to study about diversity. There were many reasons to select Sainsburys London Colney for this research. One of the reasons was that this is a big store with 350 employees working in different shifts (morning, evening, day, night and some are working as seasonal employees). The management of this store comprises on around 20 to 30 people. This is a 24 hours store, located in the retail park and is very busy because of its location and also because this is close to M25 and people can get everything from the same store and also there is some other shop near to Sainsburys like M S, Next, Boots and so on. The second reason to select this store as a case study was that the researcher is working in this store in its customer services and checkouts department so the researcher as a participant has enough experience to work with different culture people in the store in the last two years. The sample size of this research (which includes on management and employees) was also easily approachable to get the relevant data. The researcher was quite hopeful that management and employees will cooperate with him for collecting data. 1.3.1 Company policy and commitment to colleagues: There is much legislation surrounding the area of diversity and at the same time this provides a minimum standard for this policy, it is the companys intention to move beyond simple legal compliance where appropriate. This policy exists to enable a working environment in which everyone feels valued and respected in everything that they do. Innovative thinking and different ideas are critical to Sainsburys success and their ability to develop new ways of adding value for their customers will be greatly enhanced by the diversity of experiences and perspectives amongst their colleagues. Their ability to attract and retain the highest ability of colleagues from the widest community is essential in sustaining a leadership position. Their aim is that all colleagues are able to work in an environment that is free from discrimination, harassment or bullying. The principles of fairness and objectivity will be integrated into all of the ways in which they manage their colleagues. According to Sainsburys policy, they will not accept or ignore unfair decisions, practices or requirements that qualify or exclude an individual from meeting essential employment requirements. They include, but are not limited to, a persons age, race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion. The equal of men and women are monitored and action taken where necessary and appropriate to ensure parity. In line with their flexible working policy, they will make it possible for colleagues to achieve a balance between their work and home commitments. They will ensure that the opportunities presented through diversity will be integrated into the development of new products and services that add value for their customers. The performance and effectiveness of Sainsburys diversity commitment and demographic colleague make-up of their stores are continuously reviewed and where improvement is identified, action has been taken. Any breaches of this policy have been treated seriously and also dealt with under their disciplinary policy. 1.4 Background/Current situation: As we know, now a days diversity is a one of the inclusive concepts and based on valuing everyone as a unique individual and celebrating this difference. The management of diversity goes beyond equal opportunity, instead of simply allowing a greater range of people getting more opportunity. The concept of diversity embodies the belief that people should be valued for their difference and variety. Diversity is supposed to enrich an organizations human capital, whereas equal opportunity focuses on various ethnic groups. The management of diversity is about individuals. It entails a minimization of cloning in selection and promotion procedures and a model of resourcing aimed at finding flexible employees. As I said before that researcher is working in Sainsburys (London Colney) and have seen lots of differences about diversity. There are most of the people from Asian ethnic. But we have some Irish, African, Chinese and British as well. As I work in this store I have found some favour for same ethnic group. And for that other ethnic became sometime very aggressive. And from management level, there is also some gender valuing problem. We have seen lots of female managers rather then males. But other, like they dont differentiate between ages, disabilities, colours and so on. So far you can say, they follow the procedures and thats why they are success in business now a days. My research is about how they manage, and do they really follow the diversity policies? So, I intend to demonstrate, how a human resource manager can manage all those area and successfully complete companys mission with different people. All overall, a self assessment for international human resource managers to evaluate and improve their global management skills. 1.5 Aims/Objectives: The primary aim of the research is therefore: To examine diversity, equality and discrimination issues in a multinational company, in particular, the way of HR managers to manage work with different culture people. The research objectives are: To determine whats the company policy about diversity to manage work with different culture people and to become a successful global manager, aim to develop a global outlook. To outline the development of approaches to organizational analysis. To explore a multicultural company from the perspectives of diverse social groups. An international human resource manager needs to know the way of managing people in twenty first century. We are going to take an overview of what a manager needs to do in relations to managing people in a changing environment. I will be looking at: Diversity issues. International Human Resource Management policies. Managing people in a practical way. To examine the way of recruiting, and selecting the right people. -As a human resource manager, we are likely to manage other people on a one- to-one basis. This involves understanding people as individuals and recognizing their differences as well as drawing up some general principles for managing them like motivates them, job satisfaction, and job design. -Having accepted that there is a range of reasons why people behave differently in a work situation and that cannot make wild and generalized assumptions about any individuals reasons for performing better or worse than average, we will recognize that when we put individuals together into a group, the behavior of that group is likely to be unpredictable. So it is important that they understand about the behavior of groups. So, all overall I will be going through with literature review to practical experiences to find my research project. SECOND CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW Everyone is different in age, gender, nationality, and ways of thinking. These differences are a source of strength. The concept of diversity means respect and acceptance. It means understanding each individual is unique and recognizing our individuals differences. It can be the aspects of race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political views and so on. It is investigation of these differences in a safe positive and development environment. Diversity is about creating an all-inclusive work environment that values and benefits from different human attributes, experiences, and skills at all levels and enables all employees to develop and contribute to their full potential. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple acceptance to implementation and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual. Diversity and equality has become a key driving force in government policies. The concepts of diversity and equality are common but still there are some differences. Diversity is the acknowledgement and respect of differences within and between groups of people. And equality is the framework that enables access, participation, opportunities and contribution that is fair and inclusive. According to Lew Platt (1993-1995) â€Å"I believe the word â€Å"diverse† includes not only different genders and races, but also different cultures, lifestyle and ways of thinking†. 2.1 Diversity Management at work: The concepts of workplace diversity include the principles of equal employment opportunity. Equal employment opportunity policies address continued disadvantages experienced by particular groups of people in the workplace, including people with disabilities and those who mistreated by co-workers on the basis of race or ethnicity. These policies remain an important foundation for workplace diversity policy. Diversity management involves systematic and planned programs or procedures that are considered to improve interaction among diverse people, especially people of different ethnicities, sexes, or cultures and to make this diversity a source of inspiration, complementaritys, and greater organizational effectiveness, rather than a source of tension, conflict, miscommunication, or limitation on the effectiveness, progress, and satisfaction of employees. 2.2 Diversity Approaches: The issues that diversity representatives focus on vary by country. In some countries, the question of language is important, some countries depends on ethnic group, or may be depend on ages. ‘Managing Diversity is a term that entered UK debates on equality approaches in the mid-1990s. While it is becoming increasingly common in the UK, there is still disagreement about its meaning and the extent to which it differs from previous approaches. One of the things which do seem to be distinct is the way these approaches deal with differences between employees. The traditional approach to equal opportunities seeks to treat everyone the same. Managing diversity approaches recognises that employees are different and suggest that workplace can get benefit from those differences. What this means for organizations is that they need to adapt to employee characteristics rather than simply expecting employees to fit with pre-existing policies. The more fundamental alternative would be to restructure the way work is carried out so that everyone can be flexible for that. Another example would be the approach taken to ensuring that appraisal was carried out in a fair manner. A diversity approach would take a more radical look at what types of behaviour and activity are valued by the organization to see whether these are more commonly practised by members of one group rather than another. Business case arguments for diversity share many elements with equal opportunities approaches but they tend to stress additional arguments. These have included claims that diverse teams are more innovative than ones composed of homogeneous individuals and that non-traditional workers can reflect the needs of a wider customer base. Diversity approaches also place a strong emphasis on creating a culture within which everyone feels they belong and are empowered to reach their full potential. One aspect of this inclusiveness is an attempt to find policies which seem equally relevant to all employees. The second alternative is seen as the more radical approach. It argues that there are multiple sources of difference which are as important as those based on gender or ethnicity. People are not defined by whether they are from European or Asian background but instead vary along a numerous of dimensions including personalities and tastes. This approach to managing diversity is strongly focused on individuals as the objects of equality policy and as such is in line with wider trends to individualise employee relations. 2.3 Managing people: Management is often defining as â€Å"getting things done through people†. By definition, managers cannot do everything themselves. They have to rely on other people. Managers are sometimes said to spend their time planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling. In practice, the work of managers is quite fragmented. It depends demand on the situation and on the people concerned than on any academic division of the task into clearly differentiated elements. Managers dealing with people: internally with their bosses, their colleagues and their staff; externally with their customers, suppliers, professional advisers and national and local government officials. A leading writer on management, Henry Mintzberg has suggested that managers have: Interpersonal roles: acting as a leader, providing guidance and motivation and maintaining a web of relationship with many individuals and groups. Informational roles: continually seeking and receiving information as a basis for action, passing on factual information, and transmitting guidance to subordinates in making decision. Resource allocation roles: making choices about scheduling their own time, allocating task to people and authorizing actions. Disturbance handling roles: dealing with involuntary situations and change beyond their control. The human resources of an organization consist of all people who perform its activities. In a sense, all decisions that affect the workforce concern the organizations HRM function. Human resource management concerns the personnel policies and managerial practices and system that influence the workforce. Regardless of the size-or existence-of a formal HRM or personnel department (many small businesses have no HRM department). So as an example, line managers will spend more than 50% of their time involved in human resource activities such as hiring, evaluating, disciplining and scheduling employees. 2.4 Key concepts for Global Managers: The following concepts contain the underlying message of this article. An awareness of and an application to ones organization of these concepts has direct relevance to the effectiveness of global managers. An understanding and utilization of these concepts are critical to ones successful global performance. Global leadership- being competent of operating effectively in a global environment and respectful of cultural diversity. This is an individual who can manage accelerating change and differences. The global leader is open and flexible in approaching others, can cope with situations and willing to re-examine and alter personal attitudes and perceptions. Cross cultural communication- recognizing what is involved in ones image of self and ones role, personal needs, values, standards, expectations, all of which are culturally conditioned. Such a person understands the impact of cultural factors on communication. Furthermore, they are aware of verbal and non-verbal differences in communication with persons from another culture. Not only does such a person seek to leans another language, but also they are cognizant that, even when people speak the same language, cultural differences can alter communication symbols and meanings and result in misunderstanding. Cultural sensitivity- integrating the characteristics of culture in general, with experiences in specific organizational, minority, or foreign cultures. Such a person understands the cultural influences on behaviour. This individual translates such cultural awareness into effective relationships with those who are different. Acculturation- effectively adjusting and adapting to a specific culture, whether that be a subculture within ones own country or abroad. Such a person knows the impact of culture shock in successfully managing transitions. Therefore, when dealing with employees from diverse cultural backgrounds, this person develops the necessary skills and avoids being ethnocentric. Cultural influences on management- understanding that management philosophies are deeply rooted in culture and that management practices developed in one culture may not easily transfer to another. Effective intercultural performance- applying cultural theory and insight to specific cross-cultural situations that affect peoples performance on jobs. Changing international business- coping with interdependence of business activity throughout the world as well as the subculture of the managerial group. The global manager appreciates the effect of cultural differences on standard business practices and principles, such as organisational loyalty. Cultural synergy- building on the very differences in the world worlds people for mutual growth and accomplishment by co-operation. Cultural synergy through collaboration emphasizes similarities and common concerns and integrates differences to enrich human activities and systems. Work culture- applying the general characteristics of culture to the specifics of how people work at a point in time and place. In the macro sense, work can be analysed in terms of human stages of development. In the micro sense, work culture can be studied in terms of specific industries, organizations or professional groups. Global culture- understanding that, while various characteristics of human culture have always been universal, a unique global culture with some common characteristics may be emerging. Global managers are alert to serving this commonality in human needs and markets with strategies that are transnational. 2.5 Construct area of diversity: Diversity is â€Å"the representation, in one social system, of people with distinctly different group affiliations of cultural significance† Cox (1993). Deresky (1994) also highlighted that, the differences between group members illustrated in terms of the extent such as culture, age, race, sexual orientations, gender and ethnic. There are three characteristics of construct area of diversity, which are classified employees differences. These are Demographic, organisational and socio-cognitive diversity. Demographic diversity: According to Jackson et al (1995), diversity such as ethnicity, age, nationality and gender those are considered visible attributes that can be easily characterised in particular individuals. Organisational diversity: The second category is organisational diversity. It may include: a) Staff job security in the firm. b) Work or professional experience. c) Occupation, functional or job portfolios of the employees such as marketing, production, and finance. Socio-cognitive diversity: The last category is socio-cognitive diversity, which includes cultural and religious values, knowledge level, beliefs and personalities characteristics. By establishing and organising the staff according to their distinctive attributes, it will facilitate business managers to have a more objective understanding and appreciation of their diverse staffs behaviours, attitudes and values, given the implications for interpersonal and organisational processes and outcomes when staff members work together. As peoples values and beliefs vary individually as a result of their socio-cultural differences, this will affect organisational processes and configurations. For examples:- cross-cultural communication, management-subordinate relationships, international team management, leadership and decision-making styles, staff motivations, staff recruitment, selections and development, and other managerial functions. Apart from the jobs, employees also have differences based on their position within society. Whether an employee a man or women, from a particular ethnic group, is of a particular sexual orientations, has a disability may affect what they want from employment and what are able to offer. Some of these differences may also affect peoples access to jobs and their progress within organisations. 2.6 Discrepancies between academic research and HRM practice: While HRM executives and managers are more educated and professional than in the days when they were in charge of personnel, the level of knowledge in practicing HRM in another part. Many companies hire MBAs for HRM jobs when not even a single HRM course is required in the typical curriculum for an MBA. Recruitment: As an Academic research finding, quantitative analysis of recruitment sources using yield ratios can facilitate in recruitment. On the other hand HRM practices, less than 10% calculate yield ratios and less than 25% know how. Staffing: According to academic research findings, realistic job previews can reduce turnover and weighted application blanks reduce turnover. Alternatively, HRM practices, less than 20% of companies use RJPs in high-turnover jobs and less than 30%. Performance appraisal: According to academic research findings, do not use traits on rating forms, make appraisal process important element of managers job. On the other hand, more than 70% still use traits, less than 35% of managers are evaluated on performance appraisal. 2.7 International HRM: Domestic HRM is involved with employees within only one national boundary. And we define the field of IHRM broadly to cover all issues related to the management of people in an international context. Hence our definition of IHRM covers a wide range of human resource issues facings MNCs in different parts of their organisations. Additionally, we include comparative analyzes of HRM in different countries. The complexity of international HR can be attributed to six factors: More HR activities. The need for a broader perspective. More involvement in employees personal lives. Changes in emphasis as the workplace mix of expatriates and locals varies. Risk exposure. Broader external influences. In addition to complexity, there are four other variables that moderate differences between domestic and international HRM. These four additional moderators are: The cultural environment. The industry with which the multinational is primarily involved. The extent of reliance of the multinational on its home-country domestic market. The attitudes of senior management. 2.8 International HR policy: In spite of the corporate business strategy unique to each company that they will drive the specifies of an international human resource policy, there are certain objectives that any effective IHR policy should aim to accomplish. And these objectives are: The policy should attract and motivate employees to accept international assignment. It should provide competitive pay plans to ensure the assignee can maintain his or her accustomed lifestyle. It should promote career succession planning and include guideline on repatriation and additional overseas assignment. It should facilitate relocation between home and host location. And finally, it should be cost-effective, understanding and easy to administer. To meet these objectives, we must have internal and external programs functioning to handle the following six areas. In addition to the required technical and business skills, key traits to consider include: cultural sensitivity, interpersonal skills, and flexibility. Document and formally communicate the assignees specific job requirements and associated pay in an assignment letter. Identify the compensation, benefits and tax approach that meets company objectives. Some common approaches to pay include: home balance sheet, destination-based, net-to-net, flexible. Assist the assignee with disposition or management of home and automobiles, shipment and storage of household goods, work permits and pre-assignment visits. Provide cultural orientation, language training, spousal support, education assistance, home leave, and emergency provisions. As the average cost of sending an expert on an overseas assignment is between three and five times the employees pre-departure salary, quantifying total costs for a global assignment is essential in the budgeting process. 2.9 Integrated HR systems to develop global leaders: Companies with global human resource information systems are likely to be far better positioned to succeed in the highly competitive international market. The task of developing global leaders and global HR function over the next decade in IPAs latest research effort. Multinational companies often discover that, especially in newly emerging markets, local management talent is rarely available to establish and build operations. Consequently, many companies conclude that the only way to start doing business in these markets is to relocate experienced managers from around the globe. Companies doing work in the international marketplace have discovered that providing pre-departure screening and orientation- a potentially lengthy and time-consuming process- is essential to achieving the highest rates of success. A human resource information system might include data on the potential expatriates families, training needs and past technical and cross-cultural experiences. Having such data would enhance the probability not only of selecting the best candidates, but of chances for success on the assignment, thus having a great impact on the future development of global leaders. Because most multinational companies now require international experience in ord er to move up the corporate hierarchy, tracking information related to international assignment can make a significant contribution to management development. 2.10 Diversity in multinational companies: The rise of multinational companies and increased global diversification by even small companies has resulted in people of diverse background and cultures working together in the same office or for the same organization. Conflict in such situations is expected, but understanding the diversity issues can help to minimize the conflict and take benefits from diversity group of people brings to an organisations. To understanding how diversity is manage in multinational organizations, try to understand the concept of corporate culture, which defines organisational diversity programs and their use to minimize conflict among employees. Companies and countries can no longer operate as if the rest of the world did not exit. New trading blocs, based on regional, not national, interests have formed with the European Economic Community and the North America Free Trade Agreement. There will be increased pressure influenced by the country culture. For examples, some corporate cultures may encourage women and men gathering together socially after work while country culture would prohibit this. A female executive from t

An Examination of the Complexities of Love in Millays Poem, Love Is Not All :: Millay Love Is Not All

An Examination of the Complexities of Love in Millay's Poem, Love Is Not All [Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink] Edna St. Vincent Millay It is said that Millay's later work is more of a mirror image of her life. This particular poem was written 1931, when she was thirty-nine. Unlike some of her earlier work this is not a humorous poem. It is very deep and meaningful. This is a complex poem. She even began with a complex idea, love. What exactly is love? Is it a feeling, an emotion that no one has control of? Is love something you can feel or touch? Some say it is not something that you can feel or touch, but you are well aware when love touches you, because you can feel it. It is an emotion that causes pleasure and pain. In this poem, Millay is showing how complex love is. The first half is about what love cannot do. Love is not a lifesaver, shelter, or a doctor. The second half is about the power of love. Even though love is not tangible, is it as important as something that is? Millay seems to be coming from the idea that love is not everything, but it is important. A question is raised, is love necessary for survival? Millay uses romantic language. That is evident in the first line, "Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink". The romantic aspect of love is shown in the language of this poem. The poem is not directly about two lovers. It is more indirect, this is what two lovers may face. Her language is picturesque. "Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink / And rise and sink and rise and sink again;" It is as if the poem was showing a picture of a man in the sea that is struggling to survive and throughout the course of bobbing up and down he continues to see a pole or paddle, but he just can't reach it. There are more ideas that can be pictured easily throughout the poem, because of the language that Millay uses. "Love can no fill the thickened lung with breath, / Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;" These lines create an interesting picture in your mind.