Gendered Toys And The Perceptions Children And Young People Essay

Gendered Toys And The Perceptions Children And Young People Essay The focus of this research was gendered toys and the perceptions children and their parents hold about these types of toys, it aimed to investigate childrens reasoning about gendered toys and looked to establish if a link exists between the perceptions of parents and the toy preferences of children. Gendered toys can be described as being toys which are generally thought of as being suitable for one gender over the other, for example wheeled toys for males and dolls for females (Pleil and Williams, 2008; Francis, 2010). Throughout this research the term gender typical toys will be used to describe toys which are traditionally considered most appropriate for the sex choosing them, the term gender atypical is used to describe toys traditionally thought of as being suitable for a child of the opposite gender to the sex of the child selecting them. This subject is especially significant today, as it appears that the manufacturing and marketing of toys is more gender stereotyped now than previously; with the vast majority of toy stores having aisles, or even entire floors dedicated to a specific gender (Francis, 2010). Therefore, todays children are being exposed to gender stereotyped toys to a greater degree than their counterparts would have been in the past (Francis, 2010). Looking at research which sought parents experiences of what toys their children preferred has demonstrated that young children vary vastly when it comes to their choice of toys and that they have very clear opinions of what toys are most suited to each gender (Pleil and Williams, 2008). Furthermore, research has demonstrated that children develop mental schemas of objects, which are gender stereotyped from a very young age (Ruble, Martin and Berenbaum, 2006). The gender stereotypes and gender stereotypical behaviour that forms during early childhood are an interesting and important issue, as it has been established that these gender notions can influence a childs career choices as adults (Cherney and Dempsey, 2010; Francis, 2010). Furthermore, toy choice in itself is an important issue research has shown that toys teach children vital life skills, however, these skills vary depending on which gender the toy is stereotypically aimed at (Fagot and Leinbach, 1983; Francis, 2010). It ha s been argued that the toys stereotypically aimed each gender foster totally different social and cognitive skills, with boys toys developing problem-solving skills whilst girls toys develop nurturing and caring skills (Cherney and London, 2006; Francis, 2010). Therefore, the toys children play with, along with childrens gender stereotypical views of them are important and valid issues to research as the impact is long term and has implications in adulthood. There are several theoretical perspectives on how children come to acquire gender stereotypes and gendered behaviours. The social cognitive theory of gender development postulates that children learn gender norms and gendered behaviours through observing their environment and the people within it; children observe the behaviours of people in their environment and replicate them. Gendered behaviours are reinforced through the reward and punishment of behaviour, considered appropriate or inappropriate by others that the child experiences (Bussey and Bandura, 1999). Therefore, according to this standpoint the concept of gender and the acquisition of gendered behaviour is a socially constructed phenomenon. However, research conducted on Verve and Rhesus monkeys has established that young primates display the same gendered behaviours observed in their human counterparts (Alexander and Hines, 2002; Hassett, Siebert and Wallen 2008). This research suggests that gender stereotypical toy pref erences may be a reflection of the biological differences between males and females rather than being a direct result of socialisation (Pleil and Williams, 2008). Therefore, according to this standpoint gendered behaviour is as a result of biological differences between the sexes. Despite this evidence, suggesting that children may be biologically predisposed to being gender stereotypical in their toy preferences, this paper is underpinned by the hypothesis that childrens social interactions, especially with their parents, are influential on their perception and choice when it comes to toys. The overarching approach of this research was a case study, employing document analysis, questionnaire and interview techniques of data collection. The central research question for this study was How do children and their parents perceive and reason about gendered toys and what, if any, connection exists between these perceptions in relation to childrens toy preferences. Four aims were identified and addressed by formulating four research questions, in order to answer the central research question. These research questions were: What are childrens toy preferences and how, if at all, are these preferences interrelated to the gender of the child? How do children reason about their toy choice when deciding which toys they wish to play with? What are parental perceptions of the suitability of gendered toys? How, if at all, are parental perceptions of toys interlinked with toy choice and the reasoning behind toy choice, of children? Chapter 2: Review of the Literature Introduction This review will examine issues relating to the perspectives held by children and parents on gendered toys. Firstly it will examine childrens toy preferences, exploring the gender dimorphic nature, which research has uncovered regarding childrens toy choices. Then the review will then explore the reasoning behind childrens toy choices, parental perspectives on the suitability of toys in relation to gender and finally the influence of parents on childrens perspective and choice. 2.1: Childrens Toy Preferences and Gender It has been put forward that the vast majority of experiments designed to assess childrens toy preferences were not true reflections of what children would choose in real life (Down, 1983). Down (1983) argues that prior experiments were too restrictive, only offering a very limited choice between small selections of typically male or female toys, which rarely offered a gender neutral choice. In his own research Down assessed elementary school aged childrens toy preferences by utilising childrens letters to Santa Claus, allowing for an unrestricted, ecologically valid method of ascertaining childrens preferences in a real life, naturalistic way. Down found that many of the toys selected by the children were not traditionally gendered toys, rather they were toys which could be considered gender neutral; girls were found to be especially likely to request gender neutral toys whilst boys requested gender typical and gender neutral toys in equal measure. Nevertheless, Downs research also demonstrated that boys and girls both prefer gender typical toys over gender atypical toys, a notion which has been supported through the findings of subsequence research (Carter and Levy, 1988; Martin, Eisenbud and Rose, 1995; Cherney et al, 2003). Recent research which, like Downs work offered a holistic insight into childrens toy preferences, was conducted by Cherney and London (2006). The child participants in this study were asked to list their favourite toys, the participants were free to choose whatever toys they wished. Considerable differences were found in the favourite toys that were chosen based on the childs gender, replicating the previous finding of Down; both boys and girls preferred gender typical over gender atypical toys. They also discovered that whilst boys preferences became slightly more masculine as the child aged, that in contrast girls toy preference became less feminine with age. More recently it has been discovered that even the youngest children, infants aged between 3 and 8 months, appear to show a preference for gender typical toys. Alexander, Wilcox and Woods (2009) investigated whether infants display a preference for gender typical toys, this was ascertained using eye-tracking technology to measure the time the infants spent focused on either a truck or a doll. It was found that girl infants showed a preference for the doll, whilst the boy infants spent more time focused on the truck. The research of Alexander, Wilcox and Woods, supports the notion of a biological foundation for gendered preferences of toys. The notion of a biological underpinning for childrens gender-based preferences has been highlighted through research conducted with infant monkeys (Alexander and Hines, 2002; Hassett, Siebert and Wallen 2008), as these preferences are being observed at an age before it is commonly accepted that children have established gender identity and gender t ypical behaviour. However, it cannot be ignored that some of the research discussed above (Alexander and Hines, 2002; Hassett, Siebert and Wallen, 2008 and Alexander, Wilcox and Wood, 2009), is guilty of the very criticism put forward by Down (1983). These studies only offered the participants a choice between limited arrays of gendered toys with none offering participants a gender neutral option. Therefore, it could be argued that these studies do not demonstrate well-rounded picture of childrens toy preferences and therefore the validity of these findings could be called into question. Nevertheless, the findings of these studies, when considered alongside the more well-rounded research discussed above (Down, 1983; Cherney and London, 2006) clearly show that children, of both the human and primate variety, demonstrate a marked preference for gender typical over gender atypical toys, therefore providing a valid and important insight into childrens toy preference and the difference between the preferen ces of girls and boys. 2.2: Childrens Reasoning Regarding Toy Preference and Suitability Through previous research, several key factors have emerged that influence a childs reasoning about whom toys are suitable for. Several studies have found that childrens reasoning about who else would enjoy playing with a particular toy is often egocentric. It has been found that when a child likes a particular toy they often reason that other children of their own gender would also like the toy and conversely children of the opposite gender would not like it (Carter and Levy, 1988; Martin, Eisenbud and Rose, 1995; Cherney, Harper and Winter, 2006). These studies show that young children often used egocentric reasoning when thinking about what other children would like, they conclude that what they enjoy others of their own sex would also enjoy and those of the opposite sex would not. However, Martin, Eisenbud and Rose (1995) established that when toys are labelled as being for a certain gender, it is highly influential on childrens reasoning about who would enjoy that toy. They presented children with attractive, but unfamiliar toys and asked them to rate the toys appeal to themselves and other children, the results were concurrent with the previous research of Carter and Levy (1988), the childrens reasoning was egocentric; they concluded that what they liked other children of their gender would like. However, when they presented the children with another set of toys, applying gender labelling to them, they uncovered a very different reaction. The children used the gender labels to reason about their own and others preference for that toy, even with a very attractive toy, if it was labelled for the opposite gender the children were less favourable towards that toy and reasoned that other children of their own gender wouldnt like it either. Therefore, this researc h clearly demonstrates the power of gender labels to influence childrens reasoning and preferences when choosing what toys they themselves would enjoy as well as when considering what other children would enjoy. Another common influence on childrens gender-based reasoning uncovered by recent research conducted by Cherney and Dempsey (2010) is gender association; children would habitually reason that a toy was most suitable for a particular gender based on the gender of the toy itself. An example of this was when a swimming pool, a toy deemed to be gender neutral, was classified as being a girls toy because it featured Dora the Explorer whom is herself a girl. Furthermore, this research has also identified toy colour as being another factor which influences childrens reasoning and toy preferences. Using gender ambiguous and neutral toys, this research aimed to establish how young children classify toys with less notable gender typical features, finding that colour was commonly cited as a reason for the classification of toys by gender (Cherney and Dempsey, 2010). This finding could be due to the increasing trend seen in recent years for toy manufacturers to commonly market the same toy, which is often a gender neutral toy such as a camera, in gender typical colours. With the pink option being marketed at girls and the blue version marketed at boys. The studies outlined above demonstrate that childrens reasoning about toy preferences and suitability is influenced by a number of factors and is often egocentric. However the common thread running throughout all these studies is that outside influences, such a gender labels and colour greatly influences the toys children like. The personal, egocentric reasoning employed by children in the absence of outside influences, coupled with the change in childrens reasoning that comes with outside influences clearly shows that children are highly aware of societal and cultural norms and it would appear that, on the whole, children tend to conform to these gender norms when it comes to the toys they considered to be most appealing. 2.3: Parental Perceptions of Gendered Toys and Their Suitability During the late 1970s an observational study was conducted, which investigated how parents praise and punish childrens behaviour, it was found that the types of behaviours parents praise or punish differ for boys and girls. The study discovered that boys were punished when they played with gender atypical toys and praised when they played with gender typical toys, it also found that girls were punished for rough and tumble play (Fagot, 1978). Therefore, it would seem from this research that parents have clear views on what toys and play styles are suitable for either sex and that they actively discourage their children from engaging in play or using toys traditionally stereotyped as belonging to the opposite sex. This finding was supported by later research, investigating parental participation in childrens play (Roopnarine, 1986), which discovered parents most often participated when their children were playing with toys traditionally considered appropriate for their gender. Therefo re, these studies (Fagot, 1978; Roopnarine, 1986) suggest that parents, either directly through punishment or indirectly through their lack of participation, encourage their children to prefer gender typical toys and reject gender atypical ones. However, more recently a study conducted by Wood et al (2002) investigating parental views of gender stereotyped toys found that traditional gender categorisation of toys did not reflect the parents views on toy suitability. This study found that many toys traditionally considered to be either male or female, were categorised as being gender neutral by the parents. The physical features of the toys used in this study were controlled to limit factors, such as colour, from influencing gender categorisation. Therefore, the parents must have made their decision based on something outside of the physical features of the toys; the researchers believed this could be due to a shift in recent times of the typical gender role stereotypes (Wood et al, 2002). Nevertheless, this study discovered that parents believed gendered toys to be most desirable to the gender the toy is traditionally assigned to. This research also observed parents and children at play to ascertain which toys were utilised most often by each gender. While observing boys and parents typically masculine toys were played with the most, a finding consistent with previous studies however, when observing girls and parents there was more flexibility, playing with feminine and neutral toys equally which deviates from previous studies. Therefore the shift in how parents categorised toys uncovered by this research did not reflect in their real life play situations with their children (Wood et al, 2002). The findings of these studies (Fagot, 1978; Roopnarine, 1986) suggest that parents have differing views on what toys and activities are suitable for children based on their gender, and that they reinforce these views through their behaviour when interacting with their child. However, more recent findings (Wood et al, 2002) suggest that parents view of traditionally gender stereotyped toys is evolving and that modern parents are reinterpreting the traditional roles of gendered toys. Nevertheless, despite this shift in how parents are categorising childrens toys, Wood et al (2002) still found that parents believed stereotypically gendered toys to be most desirable to the gender typically associated to them, showing that there is still a gender division in children toys. 2.4: Parental Influence on Childrens Toy Choices and Reasoning It has been argued by Mischel (1966) that children learn gendered behaviours prior to realising that they belong to a particular gender, this occurs through a process of modelling and reinforcement by adults. Furthermore, as previously discussed the praise and punishment delivered by parents differs depending on the sex of the child, with girls and boys both being praised for gender typical behaviour and punished for gender atypical behaviour (Fagot, 1978). These two pieces of literature suggest that children learn gender labelling and gendered behaviours through the social interactions they experience in their early lives. This standpoint on childrens acquisition of gender labels and gendered behaviour is called social learning theory and opposes the cognitive-developmental theory of children acquisition of gendered behaviours as proposed by Kohlberg (1966). The cognitive-developmental theory argues that children develop an awareness of their own gender before developing an understa nding of the typical behaviour associated with each gender (Kohlberg, 1966). Through the lens of the social learning theorist gendered behaviours are viewed as being a precursor of the gender development process, whereas cognitive-developmental theorists sees gender development as being a causal factor in children acquiring gendered behaviours (Weinraub et al, 1984). Therefore from a social learning perspective parents, as young childrens primary socialiser, have a massive potential to influence the existence of gender behaviour in their child and therefore may influence the types of toys children choose to play with. Research conducted investigating young childrens gender identity, toy choices and family characteristics has found that parents do hold an influence over their childs toy choice (Weinraub et al, 1984). However, this influence was not universal for mothers and fathers. The study found that in the case of mothers it is their occupation, not their sex-typed personality traits, which affect childrens development of gender labelling and therefore their toy choices. On the other hand, the study found that in the case of fathers, sex-typed personality traits strongly influenced the development of gender labels in children, and their toy preferences, especially in the case of boys (Weinraub et al, 1984). However, another study conducted shortly after found that contrary to previous research suggesting fathers as being the primary force supporting the development of children learning gender labels, that mothers and fathers were equally involved (Roopnarine, 1986). The results of these studies (Weinraub et al, 1984; Roopnarine, 1986) demonstrate that parents, especially fathers of boys, can influence the gender labels that children develop, and in turn the choices children make about toys and support the hypothesis proposed by social-learning theorists. Chapter Three: Methodology 3.1: Research Methods The overarching research design of this research was that of the case study. This design was chosen as it enables real life participants to be examined in a real life situation, allowing for an in-depth insight into the phenomenon being investigated (Cohen et al, 2011). The phenomenon this research project examined was gendered toys; it investigated how children and their parents perceive and reason about such toys and aimed to establish whether there is a link between the perceptions of parents and the preferences of children. A further benefit of the case study approach is that it allows findings to be presented in a clear and concise manner, enabling the reader to have a clearer understanding of the ideas being presented (Cohen et al, 2011). Case studies have been defined as being the study of a single instance within a bounded system, for example a school, class, community (Adelman et al, 1980; Creswell, 1994 cited in Cohen et al, 2011). However, it has been put forward that such a tight definition is not an appropriate definition of the case study approach. Yin (2009) argues that the line between the phenomenon being investigated and the context where it is being investigating is not clear-cut; therefore it is important contextualise case studies by employing strategies such as rich descriptions and details. Nevertheless, this case study did investigate a phenomenon within a bounded system, focusing on families from within a community whose children all attend the same school. The case study approach was chosen for this research as the approach is particularly useful in establishing cause and effect, and the aim of this research was to establish if parental perceptions influence children choices. In addition, case stud ies allow the effects of a phenomenon to be observed within a real life perspective, allowing for a better understanding of how the context of a situation influences both cause and effect (Cohen et al, 2011). Case studies are excellent for providing both the researcher and the reader with an in-depth and rich understanding of the phenomenon being investigated. Nevertheless, as a case study is usually focused upon a fairly narrow line of inquiry, focused on a specific phenomenon or a single setting, it does have its limitations. A major, often cited limitation is the lack of generality; finding and conclusion drawn by a case study cannot be applied to a wider context than that within which it was conducted (Robert-Holmes, 2011). It is therefore of upmost importance that researchers conducting case studies do not attempt to make claims applying the knowledge obtained through a case study universally. This research employed three data collection methods within its case study research design, these were, questionnaires, documentary research and an interview. Three methods of data collection were employed in order to provide the study with triangulation. Triangulation is the process of employing two or more methods of data collection when researching an aspect of human behaviour, allowing the researcher to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the behaviour they are investigating (Cohen et al, 2011; Robert-Holmes, 2011). Triangulation is important as it provides the research with validity, which in turn makes the conclusions drawn by research more believable to the reader (Mukherji Albon, 2009). An overview of these methods and their benefits and limitations, will follow. Questionnaires can be a useful tool for gathering data for research as they quickly collect large quantities of data, and due to the standardised nature of the questionnaire the data collected is easily comparable (Willan, 2010; Robert-Holmes, 2011). However, it must be noted that questionnaire data lacks the depth and breadth of interview data, which offers a more in-depth insight of peoples thoughts, beliefs and attitudes (Robert-Holmes, 2011). Whilst questionnaires can be very useful, being easy to distribute and a comparatively cheap and quick method of collecting large quantities of data, they can prove problematic as getting responses back can often be challenging (Willan, 2010; Robert-Holmes, 2011). Furthermore, the formulation of a questionnaire can be difficult to get right requiring careful consideration; it is especially easy for questionnaires to lack clarity, be ambiguous and to be leading to its participants (Willan, 2010). Therefore, special consideration needs to be t aken to ensure the questions are formulated in a way to ensure the necessary data is collected, whilst making sure that the questionnaire itself is not overly long or complicated. An overly long or complex questionnaire can put off potential participants, which in turn may result in a low response rate which then effects the breadth of the data collected (Oppenheim, 1992; Foody, 1993). For this reason, the questions for this projects questionnaire were designed to be clear and concise furthermore, unnecessary questions were omitted from the questionnaire in an attempt to maximise participation. Documentary research can provide an insight into human social activity, briefly speaking a document can be describes as being a record of an event or a process, which is produced by an individual or group (Cohen et al, 2011). Documentary research can help researchers understand current practices; however through analysing historical documentation researchers can use this method to investigate how historical perceptions have influenced current thinking (Willan, 2010; Cohen et al, 2011). Documentary evidence can come in many different formats and is not merely the analysis of written documents, such as policy documents and letters; documentary evidence can be obtained from various multimedia sources such as radio, films and emails (Willan, 2010; Cohen et al, 2011). The documents analysed by this research were collages of favourite toys produced autonomously by the child participants; it was used to provide a current picture of the childrens toy preferences obtained with minimal adult i nfluence. However, documents do not provide information automatically, they require careful analysis and interpretation to reveal the information contained within them. Therefore, the worth of data obtained through documentary analysis is highly variable, depending on how able the person analysing it is to fully understanding its meaning (Cohen et al, 2011). The final method of data collection employed by this study was the semi-structured interview, employing the use of an interview guide which, while listing areas to be discussed was not a fixed, premeditated interview schedule as would be used in a structured interview (Robert-Holmes, 2011). The semi-structured technique was selected over the structured technique as it provides a good degree exploration whilst minimising the potential to wander from the intended area of discussion (Willan, 2010; Robert-Holmes, 2011). Semi-structured interviews centre firmly on the participant and their beliefs and opinions, rather than the researcher, which is the case in a structured interview; there is far more scope for the participant to influence the course the interview takes. When conducting a semi-structured interview the researcher acts as a facilitator encouraging the participants to vocalise their opinions about the matter being discussed (Robert-Holmes, 2011). The interviews for this study were conducted as a group in the childrens school environment, additionally the researcher was known to these children from their role as a volunteer in the class. These measures were taken to ensure that the children felt as comfortable as possible, as feeling intimidated or uncomfortable by the situation could potentially affect the success of the interview (Robert-Holmes, 2011). Furthermore, it was felt that building a good rapport with the children, through volunteering in their classroom before commencing the data collection was imperative. This was because children are generally not used to unfamiliar adults asking them about their thoughts, feelings or experiences, therefore good researcher-child relationships are fundamental for successfully interviewing children (Folque, 2010). 3.2: Ethical Considerations Before data collection commenced a letter explaining the aims and data collection methods of this research was presented to both the school and the parents of the children participating in the research. This was to ensure that all parties involved were aware of how and why the research was being conducted; a Criminal Records Bureau enhanced disclosure certificate was also shown to the school and made available for the parents to view to demonstrate that the research was being conducted by a suitable adult. Through giving participants transparent information on the aims and data collection methods of the research allowed the adult participants to give their informed consent to participate on the research. Parents were asked for their permission for the children to participate, additionally the children were briefed on their part in the research and it was made clear to all parties that their participation was in no way compulsory and that they were free to withdraw at any point. Copies of the letters sent to the school and parents, along with the ethical approval form for this research can be found in the appendices (See Appendix 2 and 3). Chapter Four: Results 4.1 Analysing Childrens Toy Collages Introduction In order to collect information about the toy preferences of the children participating the document analysis method of data collection was used, the documentary evidenced analysed was collages created by the children of their favourite toys. Full details of this method can be found in the methodology chapter of this research project (See 3.1). Aims The aim of using document analysis was to ascertain the childrens toy preferences in a naturalistic and unbiased way. It allowed the children to complete a collage of their favourite toys autonomously, with minimal outside influences. This information was required to determine to what extent, if at all, children prefer gender stereotypical toys. Procedures In total 31 families of Year 2 children at a West Midlands primary school were contacted with details the research and asked if they would be interested in participating. In total 10 families expressed an interest in taking part, giving a response rate of 32.2 %, 4 families were then selected to participate. The families selected were of white British background and from intact family units. These families were chosen because of the commonality of their backgrounds, in order to minimise variables due to ethnicity, culture and family dynamics. The sample group consisted of four children; 2 boys and 2 girls aged between 6 and 7years old. The children were provided with a toy catalogue, featuring a wide range of different types of toys. The children were also provided with a choice of coloured paper, scissors and glue. Adults were on hand to assist the children with cutting out and sticking if this was needed. The activity was child led but supervised by adults, this was to minimise adult influence on the childrens choices whilst ensuring the activity was safe. The activity was conducted in the childrens school environment, to ensure the children felt comfortable in order to minimise any negative effect on either the participants or the data collected (see 3.1). The children were told that they could browse through the catalogue, cut out the toys which they favoured and use them to make their collage. The children were also informed that if they could not find a toy they l

Digi Employee Motivation

INTRODUCTION DiGi is a leading Malaysian mobile and Internet service provider. The company and brand are known for innovation and continue to challenge market norms in efforts to deliver what is relevant and easy to use for customers to enjoy the best deals in the market. DiGi is a primary mobile communications company providing a comprehensive range of affordable, convenient and easy to use wireless services to simplify and enrich the lives of its customers.They create value for their customers by selecting the most appropriate cutting edge technology so that users benefit from products and services that give them choice, convenience and control. DiGi. Com Berhad is recognised in the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad and is part of the global telecommunications supplier, Telenor Group. They have a well-known presence as a leader in voice and data prepaid services with a number of first that have set industry benchmarks for creativity and innovation.These services are o ffered under the DiGi Prepaid brand name. Their Post-paid services under the DiGi Post-paid brand name delivers high quality voice as well as value added mobile content and data services to both individual and corporate customers. MISSION 1. Provide customers specific solutions to meet individual needs for communications, connectivity, and access to information and security 2. Provide an environment where our employees can grow and be fulfilled 3. Provide superior returns to shareholders 4. Contribute to improving life in Malaysia VISIONTo be seen as stars in excellent customer experience which we think will be one of the few differentiators in the longer term given the rapid commoditization of mobile services. CONTENTS Employee motivation is defined as the key for the effectiveness of an organization as whole. An understanding of the applied psychology within a workplace, also known as organizational behaviour can help to achieve a highly motivated workforce. Frederick Herzberg, a behavioural scientist proposed two-factor theory which is also known as motivator-hygiene theory in 1959.According to Herzberg in hygiene theory, there are some job factors that result in satisfaction while there are other job factors that prevent dissatisfaction. When a hygiene factor is provided to the employees who are not satisfied, it creates a favourable environment for motivation and prevents job dissatisfaction. It is not included as an intrinsic part of a job, but they are related to the conditions under which a job is performed for instance company policy and administration, wages and salaries, quality of inter-personal relations and feelings of job security.If these factors are considered inadequate by employees, then they can cause dissatisfaction with work. The motivation theory shows that this factor motivates the employees for a superior performance which is called as satisfiers. It is involved in performing the job and employees usually find these factors as intrinsi cally rewarding. The factors include status of employee, opportunity for advancement, gaining recognition and responsibility of employee and sense of personal achievement.The motivators symbolized the psychological needs as an additional profit. If they are effective, then they can motivate an individual to achieve above-average performance. Digi’s working environment is built around openness, transparency and flexibility with excellent mobility which verifies that they practise hygiene factor. Previously the organization chart has 12 stages of hierarchy which starts from CEO until the junior technician. This makes the communication and decision making process to proceed in a very slow, tough and unpredictable situation.Hence, the higher positioned employees will have higher benefits such as medical & hospitalisation, travel, personal accident & term life coverage, number of annual leave and bonuses according to their ranking in the organization. Each employee has their own w orking desk to organize their work documents and settle their job. However, the current organization chart has only 6 stages of hierarchy from the CEO to the Engineer. This will enable the company for fast decision making and the communication will more efficient with better reliability.Hence, today, the company are among the most competitive players in the industry. DiGi selected for a flat organisation in order to remain true to its core values of simplicity, innovation and best value. Digi’s reinvention has enabled the organisation to be more transparent and streamlined. All DiGi employees, from top management down to the receptionists, have the same kind of benefits, regardless of level or job title which shows that they are placed in the same flat working environment. It  nurtures more open communications and innovative-thinking.There are no barriers for communication in this new organization chart where by all the employees will be operating in the same place with an open environment. They can always sit wherever they prefer in the office because there is no specific place assigned for each employee. They create a challenging and rewarding work environment for our people to excel to bring out the best in them and to stimulate a high performance culture. The DiGi Technology Operating Centre met the specifications of Green Building to motivate the employees through the hygiene factor.The new sustainable and energy efficient centre will incorporate eco design elements which will translate to significant lifecycle savings with intelligent systems, while providing employees with a healthier and more comfortable work environment. DiGi empower the employees to have a committed sustainable future. Part of DiGi Deep Green programme is to increase employee’s awareness about the impact of climate change with the aim to motivate them to take action, either individually or collectively to reduce their carbon footprint.With increasing awareness of the individual impact, DiGi realised that this sense of responsibility for the environmental satisfaction will slowly, but surely, being entrenched into a smooth management without criticizing the surrounding condition and encouraging employees to take small steps in making some working lifestyle changes. Changing people's mind sets about their lifestyle habits is the biggest hurdle, for instance, carpooling versus personal transport and fluorescent lights versus energy-savings bulbs.DiGi, as a responsible corporation, can only aim to reach out as many of its employees as possible to prompt them to think twice before making a decision that may impact positively on the working environment convenience. So, to reach out and educate its employees about climate change, a 3-week campaign was launched on 30 June 2008. The objective was to grow together with all those we connect with green environment and the work environment for a better future.The aim of Digi Deep Green programme is to create awareness among the employees about the effect of climate changes and encourage them to act individually or in a group to lower the carbon footprint. The other factor that is practised by Digi is motivation factors. The Digi Company has received two Merit Awards in Malaysian Business Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Awards in 2007 which are Best Innovation and the Best Overall Winner in CSR categories. This acknowledgement was received after winning three PM’s CSR Awards in Cultural ; Heritage, Best Workplace Practices and the Best Overall CSR categories in 2006.The employee was inspired by this reward to work even harder and to please the organisation. Educational cultural programs are conducted through workshops, seminars, lectures, training sessions, conference, symposiums and forums where it helps the employees to have a strong relationship between each other no matter what race are they in. They will not critique or misunderstand other cultures or races and they wi ll be able to tolerate and be respectful to each other.These award giving creates employees with higher level of creativity, motivation and productivity which cause them to have drastic changes through their behaviour and the soft skills. Digi was also selected by the Carbon Disclosure Project as the top 5 in Asia and the first company in Malaysia among the other awards in 2011. This is shown by reducing the use of printed bills, where the customer needs to pay an extra fee to get the bills. Customers are also provided with a special place to lend their used mobiles for the recycling purposes.Moreover they have to agree and sign up a code which instructs them to fulfil the environment friendly practices. This will influence the employees to be more responsible towards the goal of this project. FINDINGS In order to obtain data regarding this topic, a short survey was constructed to be specific about the information needed about the Digi Company to identify employee weakness. In this report, there are two types of data used to have a clear picture of the study which are primary data and secondary data. Primary data is the data that is collected for a specific purpose from original sources such as interview and surveys.The survey form and the pictures are attached in the appendix as the evidence. The other source of getting the data to complete this research is from online resources where the websites are cited in reference. Strength Digi D’house in Shah Alam quarters physically shows that it is environmental friendly building. It is because the glass windows are built from floor up to the roof that gives so much natural sunlight but breezy at the same time, allowing them to reduce the power consumption for lights and air conditioners. Dr. Ken Yeang designed the Digi Technology Operations Centre (TOC) which is located opposite the D’house.It is designed in a way that the external walls are covered with green plants to enhance the heat absorbance and increase the air quality inside the building. Lights in the building are controlled by the brightness of the natural lights outside where it will balance the brightness of the internal light of the building. It can also sense the presence of people in the room where it can turn off the light automatically. Digi employees experience balance working life which leads them to provide productive thinking and creativity.For instance, Digi staff mothers who newly delivered baby will have options to extend their maternity leave for almost two months total with the last 2 months at half pay beyond the mandatory 60 days. Nursing rooms are also provided by the management at Digi office to support breast feeding and also for the storage of breast milk. Flexible working time is offered but it depends on the nature of work responsibility. Moreover, important topics for the training are delivered to the employees in 2007 where over 30000 hours were spent to increase the performance level of the e mployees.The common topics used are Intellectual Property (IP) Training, Integrity! Programme, Radio Frequency (RF) Awareness Workshop, Telenor Global Trainee Programme, DiGi Internship Programme and â€Å"Digi Meets† Programme. Weakness Although the Digi Company provides a lot of benefits, some employees still have conflict in the organization’s management which leads to demotivation of employees especially if issues are not resolved properly. If an employee comes from a very good and higher educational background, they will expect appreciations and more benefits such as special working environment than thers who do not have the same education as them. Being treated as same as other employees will cause them to be demotivated. Based on DiGi’s flat organization, all DiGi employees from top management down to the receptionists have the same kind of benefits, regardless of level or job title where they are placed in the same flat working environment. These will ca use them to have dissatisfaction in the working place. When the employee is given more workloads he or she feels it’s too unrealistic. There are times where the employees will have to work more than their usual working hours but are given the same pay.There are now supervisors or managers in a ratio of 1 to 7 employees. The shift schedule is 12:30 pm to 9:00 pm or whenever shipping is done. They used to have a large day shift, but they cut that down and forced most people to work the other shift. Now whether they realize it or not, this has caused a lot of families hardships by not getting to spend time with each other. There is no increase in the pay even though they work for extra hours. In the end, their performance will be below their usual performance levels.When DiGi undergoes mergers, acquisitions, downsizing and retrenchments, they can have many nervous and anxious members of staff who have worked hard for the organization for years and suddenly they are told that the y may not have a job. This can put them in a very negative frame of mind and lead to the employee becoming very disillusioned with his or her current job. There may also be a lot of gossip going around in these organizations and employees may become demotivated out of fear of the unknown. If an employee feels that he or she is likely to lose their job anytime, that is there is job insecurity.Employees need to feel that their organization values them. Poor organizational skills, leading and control by upper management to all levels of employees is another cause of the employee being demotivated. The managers monitor the employees every minute. An employee is only given 30 minutes for lunch. They keep track of every time you are 1 min or more late. Still in the dark ages about how they treat part-time employees. Apart from that, some employees feel that very open communication will cause trouble in decision making process.This is because everybody will tend to give their ideas and whe n their ideas are not taken in count, it will create misunderstanding and distress the employees. Employees will be mentally distracted which will lower down the work productivity. RECOMMENDATION DiGi must treat their employees fairly in all the ways as well. Placing employees according to their educational background and what they deserve can satisfy them and it can even make employees more productive. Employees should be given the opportunity to voice an opinion on the matter and to discuss whether they think the management treating them right or not.There should a suggestion box so that for the employees who feel unfair and unsatisfied with how the management treats them, they can put in their comments, questions, and requests there. Teamwork is the way to go. Instead of giving the workload to one person, they can distribute it to a group of people. When the work is distributed evenly in the organization, the work can be done quicker and much easier without the need to force the employee to work for more hours. For the employee who’s working for more hours should be given extra pay compared to the one did lesser work.Simple praise and words of encouragement for a task well-done are always welcome. Employees should always be informed of changes, and even if they cannot be involved in the decision-making process, procedures should be clearly explained to them to ensure they believe that the decision-making process is fair. Employees who have worked hard for the organization for years should always be appreciated and the company should not just dismiss them from the company without giving them early notice if the company is under crisis. Company should always let people know of their plans and change of plans, if any.This makes life easier and better both for the employee and the organization. More time should be given to the employee to take their lunch. 30 min is too less for the employees. They have been working for hours so at least 1 hour should be given for them to relax their mind and thus they will feel refreshed to continue with their work. Employees should experience job rotation because this can provide them with more knowledge and working skills in different kind of environments. Part timers should not be monitored all the time as this will make them think that they are trusted.Hence, there are high possibilities for them to work better and in a productive way with high self-esteem. CONCLUSION In a nutshell, Digi Company acquires the employee motivation concept to improve their performance level by practising Herzberg Theory. However, employee’s motivation should not only rely on these factors as there are many others factors that promotes to employee motivation. Each manager should understand it clearly and know how to motivate their employee in order to produce better business output performance. Employee motivation is said to be a major factor in the success or failure for Digi Company.DiGi as the industry sh aper, has created many new innovations and more to come in the coming years. Digi is always the smarter choice. REFFERENCE 1. Farezza Hanum, R. (2012, June 5). DiGi spreads green practices among staff, clients. New Straight Times. Retrieved from http://www. nst. com. my/streets/central/digi-spreads-green-practices-among-staff-clients-1. 91120 2. Ching Thut, C. (2008, March  . It all starts from within for Digi. The Star. Retrieved from http://thestar. com. my/starbizicrm/pdf/0668389_2. pdf 3. DiGi’s Workplace – As they see it. (2008, January 16). Retrieved July 17, 2012, from http://www. nugerahcsrmalaysia. org/2008/01/16/winner-workplace-practices-digi/ 4. About DiGi-Careers. (2011). Retrieved July 17, 2012, from http://www. digi. com. my/aboutdigi/careers/index. do 5. Siti Sakinah binti Ab. Rahim (2009, August) . Factors Contribute To Employees Motivations Towards Individual Output Performance In Telco Company. Retrieved fromhttp://etd. uum. edu. my/1755/1/Siti_Sak inah_Ab. _Rahim. pdf APPENDIX EMPLOYEES SATISFACTION SURVEY FORM 1. MaleFemale 2. Permanent staffPart time staff 3. Are you happy with your job overall? If no, state why. Yes No __________________________________________________ . Do you like the policies, rules and the way your company treats you? If no, state why? Yes No __________________________________________________ 5. Are your works very stressful? Yes No ___________________________________________________ 6. Are you paid well for the work you do? Yes No ____________________________________________________ 7. Comments ____________________________________________________ The award ceremony was on Friday, 29 Feb 2008, with guest of honour, Dato' Dr Mohd Taib Hashim, Deputy Secretary-General of the Ministry of Higher Education representing the Minister.Best Overall CSR Winner in 2007, DiGi Telecommunications which had also taken home two awards that night – the Award for best Workplace Practices and the Award for contrib utions to Culture & Heritage preservation. Digi Deep Green 2009 Clean Tech Open  Malaysia became a success. This event has attracted 47 entries and I was made to understand that Clean Tech USA had praised this achievement. D’House, DiGi’s Shah Alam headquarters, is an environmentally sustainable building where natural resources are used efficiently Interview session with one of the employee working in Digi Telecommunication Company.

Parenting and Psychology of children Essay

1. Discuss how a person’s beliefs (i.e.: nature vs. nurture; medical vs. behavioral) have a profound impact on our understanding and interactions with children. A belief can be defined as something, which a person is accepting as true whatever may be the situation. All the reactions of a person will be based on these core beliefs (Where Core Beliefs come from, 2008). People fail to see reality in front of them if they are blind in such beliefs. Each and every person in this world will be a bundle of beliefs and superstitions that he or she has gathered from the childhood days onwards. These beliefs may be about oneself and about the environment or surroundings. Negative beliefs about oneself would result in channeling the entire energy, money and everything he has towards moving away from these beliefs and in this effort they will move away from love. Such people will not be able to understand or interact properly with their children.   When people become educated they discard most of these beliefs and view whatever that is happening in their life with an open mind. But less educated people strictly follow these beliefs and would not be able to understand their children properly and interact with them properly. Some people will become strong followers of these superstitions, when they face serious problems in their life. There are beliefs about the time of birth of children and some people in India believe that the star in which he was born will govern the character of a child. This creates a lot of misunderstandings of the behavior of the child. The way of interaction will not be normal when these beliefs are in the mind of the parent. Girls and boys are brought up in different ways in many societies because of these beliefs (People, 2008). 2. Many things contaminate the waters of the earth, including the amniotic waters. What do you see as the greatest threats? The greatest threat of the today’s world is the non-availability of quality drinking water as a result of the unscrupulous contamination of all the water resources by humans. One billion people do not have good quality water to drink. Children die in every second due to diseases caused by waterborne contamination. Most of the aquifers including well are contaminated. Tap water, which is supplied as free purified drinking water in most of the countries, are also contaminated. People are turning towards bottled water and its business is the quickly increasing and developing business of the century. But now even the bottled water cannot be trusted upon. The factors that lead to the water contamination are many. The most important ones are the elimination of toxic wastes including heavy metals into water by industries and sewage pollution, which introduce harmful disease causing organisms into water. The world population is increasing day by day and the availability of water is decreasing day by day. If it continues like this the next generation will have only less water to drink and finally there will be no water at all, not only for drinking but to carry out all the other activities, which require water. We are having a ‘right’ to have good water, but future generations will be deprived of this right. This is one of the greatest crimes that can be done to our children (Wetzel, 2008). 3. Now that we have discussed the issue of consciousness, how would you explain the concept of intelligence and morality? The ability of an organism to process information is called as intelligence. It is actually a biological trait and using this trait one can decide the effectiveness of his actions in achieving his goals. The manner in which information is processed is the measure of one’s intelligence. This trait is there not only in humans, but also in all the living creatures that are having a central nervous system. Although this concept was a matter of study for many researchers for many years a clear-cut definition has not been made. Although people talk about this aspect quite frequently it is very difficult to explain what it is actually. This is because the word is having many technical senses associated with it and so its ordinary sense is indescribable. The concept of intelligence is different from that of competence. For example a person may be competent in math and another may not be. This doesn’t mean that the former is more intelligent. The latter will be competent in other subjects in which the former is less competent. Competence can be acquired quite easily, but intelligence cannot be acquired very easily. So both intelligence and competence have a role to play in a person’s performance. Intelligence is a quality of mind that is present in different degrees in different people. It is actually not known whether this is having a biological or environmental origin. Both nature and nurture can affect the intelligence of a person. There are some features closely associated with intelligence (Nickerson et al., 1985). It can be called as the ability of a person to classify patterns. It is also the ability to adapt one’s behavior through the process of learning, it is the ability of reasoning and it is the ability to understand and use skills that are present. Finally it is the ability to understand everything around. These abilities will enable a person to process information passed on to him in the correct way. Three central aspects of intelligence are adaptation, induction and deduction. Through adaptation one can easily cope with the environment. So adaptation leads to change in behavioral patterns. Deduction is the ability to draw conclusions from whatever that is happening around. Induction is the ability to understand a general law from whatever that is happening around. It is very difficult to acquire these aspects from schools or colleges. It has to come from within, from mind. The concept of morality is also not explained accurately by anyone. Some consider it as a set of rules which one should follow, where are for some others it is their principles in life. For some people whatever parents and society taught them is regarded as morality. Some believe that morality is what they think right and are of the idea that different people have different morality and people should not interfere in each other’s morality. Religion as well as political environment in which one lives also influences the concept of morality by a person. Morality affects the conduct and behavior of a person in the society. It also affects interaction between people. It is morality that actually governing our contacts within the family among friends, in church or any such religious place and also in the work place. A person’s attitude towards everything around him including his parents and children will be determined by his sense of morality. It will also determine his attitude towards life and death, war and peace etc. Thus it plays an important role in every aspect of a person’s life. 4. How can we, as parents, as educational and spiritual models, produce the â€Å"Christ† child (or one who is strong, accepting, capable of unconditional love, humane, and peaceful)? In order to bring up a child who is strong, accepting, capable of unconditional love, humane and peaceful as Jesus Christ, it is necessary that parents should follow Christian parenting. There are many books that provide information on Christian parenting, but the best book is of course The Bible. The parents should represent themselves as spiritual models to their children and educate them on the principles of Christianity. If the parents could make Jesus as a real model for their children, definitely, they will imitate all the characters of Jesus Christ. Such parents should understand that to bring up such a child, the first thing they can do is to pray for the child. This itself brings a lot of difference to the kids (A Christian Parenting Resource†¦..The Word, 2008) During the young age itself children should be attracted towards bible and prayer. Apart from these, the story of Jesus may be told to instill the personality of Jesus. When they enter into teens, intensive teachings on the principles of Christianity should start. The parents should spend quality time with them playing and laughing with them and answering all their embarrassing questions. In this way they can become the trustworthiest person in the child’s life and then it will be easy to guide them according to the principles of Christianity.

Reform by Destruction The Black Death Essay - 914 Words

As the residents of Europe conducted their activities of daily living during the mid-fourteenth century, they had no knowledge of the fate that they were to succumb to. Twelve Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after venturing through the Black Sea. Those that were waiting at the dock for the sailors believed that all was well. However, they were proved wrong (â€Å"Black Death†). Not only were the ships carrying cargo; with it, they carried a silent pestilence. This pestilence had already taken the lives of many on the ships, only to leave those who remained gravely ill. Not only did they exhibit delirium and excessive vomiting, the sailors also had mysterious black boils enveloping their bodies. Those boils oozed a†¦show more content†¦Without compensation, they refused to work any longer. This caused the nobility to finally realize that with such a high demand for these workers, they had to pay them. In addition to their newfound freedom and pay, peasants could now purchase their own land (47). This was a major change in the system of feudalism. The world of the nobility was forever upturned (47). In addition to structural changes, the Church changed as well. It altered by losing its prestige and power. Due to this, people began to question why the Church could not receive forgiveness (Marks 133). As a result, the authority of the church began to e rode and the Church began to weaken (Bill 46). Faith was no more, and the Church was no longer infallible. Some believe this single change was the most vital influence on the future of Europe (Marks 133). Psychologically, people who survived were numbed by shock. Every man had to be selfish in his actions. In the words of de Chauliac, â€Å"Father did not visit his son, nor the son his father. Charity was dead and hope was crushed† (Marks 99-100). Those who were not yet afflicted by the Black Death took refuge in groups. 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