How to Change The world

How to Change The world Free Online Research Papers According to some management guru’s change is a permanent feature in our lives or in the life span of organisations. Change is an inevitable phenomenon. There is no choice in having change. You may choose to have change in your personal life. You may be forced to change in your life patterns. Change may happen to you when you are unconscious. Changes take place in organisations; it may be as a result of premeditated and pre-planned actions. Change may come due to natural phenomenon, for example through a volcanic eruption. All what is acceptable is that change takes place always, either through conscious planning or through evolving conditions. Jackson and McKergaw (2002:3) say, â€Å"Change is happening all the time: our job is to identify and amplify useful change.† This quotation shows how permanent change is to us and the world we live; and how it is necessary to initiate change in the world. In this discussion the writer focuses on planned changes in our organisat ions or communities, changes that affect a large scale of people, change whose impact affects many people and last long, whose effect may take generations while still being felt. The change to be discussed is not due to scientific innovations or through natural experimentation but through social innovation. It is the change that affects our patterns of thinking and our ways of doing things. It is a change that affects the fabrics of our social existence. Some scholars have come to call it social entrepreneurships. By social it means it affects the way people live and the way people do things. According to Wikipedia.com says † a social entrepreneur is some one who recognises a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a venture to make social change.† It seems as if this discussion is drifting in void. To end this void let us put practical examples of social problems which could be solved through social innovations. Examples of social problems are poor accommodation or non-availability of accommodation, existence of diseases in our community, HIV/AIDS pandemic, non-availability of water and other sanitation problems, shortage of food, poor communication system, illiteracy, lack of clothing, poor road systems, poor sporting and recreational facilities. Let us consider an example of a social innovation that could have been used to solve a social problem. The emergence of HIV/AIDS disease means a break down in family structures. In some cases both parents die, and a family is left being headed by the eldest child. The elde st child could be a fifteen year old school boy. How could such wide spread social problem be solved? The creation of a net work to assist child-headed family can be instituted. For example a trust fund could be introduced to assist such families with food, clothes and school fees. That is a social innovation. What is the aim of social entrepreneurship? The aim according to Wikipedia.com is to meet social and environmental goals. Whereas we have looked at an example of a social problem we can now, give an example of an environmental goal. An environmental goal could be to eradicate or reduce land pollution in a certain community. Let us take an example of a work community where plastics are an end product and below standard plastics are thrown away. What could be down as a solution? The solution could be recycling such a waste product. The local residents could be paid for collecting such waste paper, what could be termed waste paper vending. Such plastics could be sold to other industries that mostly use waste plastics. Another example of environmental management goal could be the planting trees in water ways. If water ways are left unattended gullies could develop and valuable soil washed away. These are examples of social goals and social entrepreneurship. Most of the work done by non- governmental organisations (NGOs) is viewed as social entrepreneurship. Probably it could be wise to look at an example of a renowned social entrepreneur. One of them is mother Theresa. She is renowned for championing the cause of children and humanity by her invention. She did all she could do to advance the interest of the poor. Organisations such as the international Red Cross are a product of social entrepreneurship. United Nations and its agencies is a by-product of social entrepreneurship. So far we have looked at examples of social problems and examples of innovative solutions, but we have to look at what is called social innovation. According to the Wikipedia.com, a social innovation refers to,† new strategies, concepts and organisations that meet the social needs of all kinds.† Again the Wikipedia .com sited the following as social problems: â€Å"working conditions, education, community development, health, micro-credit and distance learning.† In this particular instance and according to the Wikipedia.com, an example of a s ocial innovation is distance education. So, for example, the existence of AIU is as a result of social innovation. And all students like me are gaining from a social innovation. What could the world be without distance and currently on line education? Why was distance education and on line education introduced? It was out of a need to meet the education demands of the financially disadvantaged population of the world, probably what CK Prakalad would call â€Å"Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP).† Probably one more concept we need to dwell on is the one of capital venture. Social Venture capital, according to the Wikipedia.com, means, â€Å"capital investment that provides capital to businesses deemed socially and environmentally responsible.† In simple terms it means money and resources that are set aside to be used to solve social and environmental problems. The problem with many people is to think that it is only the duty of rich multi-national companies or billionaires to assist in this respect. No! It should be a challenge and a concern of every citizen and corporate organisation of the world. A lot of individuals could donate whatever they can to assist in the achievement of such noble goals. There are a lot of trust funds that are created, where individuals could contribute. We look forward to the future where every one must be socially responsible. If every citizen of the world could set aside US 1$dollar per month towards averting the impact of global warming, what could the impact be in a year’s time? The idea of social responsibility should permeate within the mind of every one and all of us whether we are the poor, the rich or the CEO of rich multinational companies. With that the world will be a better place, should I borrow Michael Jackson’s own words. Let’s look further at the impacts and aspects of social entrepreneurship in more detail than before, point by point. The visible impact of social change must transcend over large areas, being it geographic, ethnic or racial. In other words the impact must affect a large cross-section of the population. It must affect a reasonable segment of a targeted group. By the term targeted group, we refer to the people in the same or similar circumstances who need assistance in a certain way. An example could be people between the age of eighteen years and twenty-four who may need to attend undergraduate courses. Among this target group there are many people who need financial assistance to further their studies irrespective of their race, place of origin, place of residence, among other considerations. Unaffordability of education presents a big social problem. Global sponsorship may be an innovation that is large enough in scale to be a social innovation. Almost all reputable universit ies offer either grants or scholarship as a means of assisting the socially- disadvantaged group. For example AIU has assisted many such needy students over the years. In the same area there is the new innovation of The University of The People. The University of the People based in the United States is an innovation targeted at the said target group. It is the first tuition free university. It was founded under the guidance and assistance of GAID-an arm of the United Nations. The scope of this innovation is international. This fulfils what Briskin (2009) talked about when he/she described the effect that people need to be part of settings where kindness towards other needy people is cultivated; to give others consideration and helpful hand. The other aspect of social innovation is caring. A social problem is identified. A solution is sought because you care about those affected. Caring and concern are the key concern of social entrepreneurs- others choose to call them philanthropists. These are people who are there to assist others not because they need to gain anything out of it, but to assist others. The underlying motive of care and concern is towards other fellow human beings ‘problems and plights. This should never a concern of a few richest people. Many people must be involved. Heath (2004: 4) says, â€Å"Social reality is construed by many voices† again there is a need for social entrepreneurship in corporate organisations. This has called for the creation of the Welfare Departments, community development projects and safety, health and environmental management (SHE) departments. As responsible social and human resources practioners, in particular we must be highly motivated and responsible for the s ocial problems our workers face. As a human Resources Manager I must not assist the workers because it is my duty, but because they are fellow human beings who are vulnerable and who need help. At enterprise level the introduction of a revolving fund; catering for loans, sickness, among other social problems is a social innovation. At Chipinge Banana Company, located in Zimbabwe we introduced many welfare projects. These projects are co-funded by the company and the workers. The workers are the share holders in these projects. What it means is that the workers have a big say in running the projects and in the use of the funds. Therefore, the company becomes more responsive to the needs of the workers. This is currently a unique innovation in our province. And several companies have followed our example. Again the creation of the posts such as Community Liaison Officer, Safety, Health and Environmental Manager; and Safety, Health and Environmental Committees at the workplace is a soc ial response to social problems. As human resources professionals we must champion the causes of social entrepreneurship. Other senior personnel such as the General Managers, Directors, production Managers must get seriously involved at a corporate level. After discussing caring as a characteristic of social entrepreneurship, let’s shift our attention to shift in government patterns. There is need to shift government patterns. By this we mean the way things are being run. There is need to adopt newer systems of doing things. Bureaucracy is a disease that affects may institutions. There is need to decentralise decision making and operations if institutions have to respond urgently, effectively and efficiently to current challenges in the social field. The motto â€Å"That’s what we used to do† must be changed. The world is dynamic and that’s why the way we govern or do things must change. One way in which the world has evolved greatly in the twenty-first century pertains to democracy. In Change your Operational System(2010) the writer says about democracy,† Today’s leading management espouse the need to give employees more autonomy, more opportunities to fully engage in their work, and more cho ice about how they want to work in order to benefit both the employee and the employer.† The principles of democracy have encroached all spheres of our lives. The patriarchal period is over. The period of dictatorship in national governance is over. There is now participative management and governance. In the country there are now elections to choose the leaders we want. There are constitutional procedures for removing despots. A leader must be responsive to the needs of the people. Even in the family the time for the father to dictate every thing is over. The father has to consult. At work the manager has to consult, has to survey and respond accordingly. So to respond to the needs of those people involved we need to consult and involve them. With that, positive and meaningful change takes place. I am a typical fan of AIU’s policy and system of andragogy. The student is the master choice maker in what he/she wants to study. That has been a shift from the traditional an d that underlines a shift in government of education. So, in order to achieve social solutions there is need for flexibility in the way we run and do business, including the ways we respond to social problems. No wonder why the Writer of Change your Operating System says,† Democracy is what creates the optimal conditions for learning, motivation, self-direction and a sense of ownership.† The sense of ownership makes everyone involved in introducing a social change to give everything in terms of effort and dedication. About the power and effect of democracy the writer of Change your Operating system gives the case study of DaVita. The writer says,† DaVita’s management team understood the power of employee voice in creating lasting transformation and a sense of ownership.† It is not only the shift in governance that is vital, but a shift in behavioural patterns is also necessary in order to have meaningful social change. There is an old adage that says:† You can take a horse to the river but you can not force the horse to drink.† This saying emphasis the need for change in behaviour. It is the horse at the river which should drink the water. The horse must be willing. If it is not willing no drinking can take place. The effort is wasted. So the people involved must have an attitude that is suitable for change, certain willingness. The willingness to change must be based, as well, on motivation. As a leader motivate your subordinates to change. If you are the community leader is as persuasive as possible if you need to achieve a social innovation. You need not to think and behave in a straight line. You do not need to wear a straight jacket. Be ready to change as the weather changes. We have one social challenge the writer talked about at th e beginning of this discussion that is the HIV? AIDS pandemic. The answer to curb this problem is in behaviour change .If you used to have unprotected sex; you need to change to use protection such as condoms. The willingness to change and the actual behaviour change is a requisitive in social innovation. Let us look at a particular example. Let us say you are in the business of making charcoal from timber. Your current site means that the smoke goes to the nearest residential area. However it is expensive to relocate the factory. What should a social entrepreneur do? Is he worried about the cost or be worried about serving the affected people? Although it is expensive to relocate, the willingness to change is based on your perception of the problem at hand. A social responsive manager will change the location of the plant. He must not only make the plans to change, or calculate the cost, he must implement the change at all cost. A social entrepreneur must have the guts to change be haviours that he or she feels must be changed to meet the people’s needs. The willingness to change and the actual behaviour changing action is important. Gallan (2010:1) says,† Transformation can only occur through behavioural evolution.† The word evolution implies a slow pace at which changes is cemented until the solution becomes a norm. Once a solution has been implanted, soon it will become a norm and it becomes cost-effective. Gilboa (2010) says that once a changed phenomenon becomes a norm it lasts and it becomes much lower in cost. Making a social change is not a simple task. It takes time. It needs patience. Change must be made in manageable steps, not in large leaps at a time. For real change to evolve there must be a suitable time frame. Such a concept is also found elsewhere in nature. If you are a builder and you want to build a strong concrete, you do not applied excessive heat so that the concrete dries quickly. If there is, much heat the concrete cracks. Even in normal room temperature a good builder puts water on the concrete so that, the concrete dries slowly. The slower it takes the stronger the concrete becomes. That is what happens in introducing a social change. The social entrepreneur needs to take ample time to time out and implement the change. In due course the change becomes a norm. A social consultant or a social entrepreneur must possess certain fundamental attributes or dispositions. Such an attitude or disposition must not be purely a borne in thing. Some people are born social entrepreneurs but many others are taught and conditioned to be such. Educational programs such as those undertaken at AIU can assist people to be socially responsible, and responsive to the needs of other fellow human beings. It is a core duty of educators, activist, philosophers, psychologists and writers to disseminate the awareness and consciousness of the necessity to assist to others. Just like how an individual is taught the skills and resilience needed in writing or creative work, people can be trained and conditioned to be social entrepreneurs. One essential thing for a person to assist others to have proper vision. Answers.com defines vision as,† unusual competence in discernment or perception, intelligent foresight.†So the ability to focus on what best to do in the future is important. Focus on the problem, focus on how the problem could be solved, focus on the impact of the solution to the beneficiary; and act according to that focus. The vision can be expressed explicitly through a statement of the vision. Most companies and organisation write down their vision. Vision can also be shown through the organisation’s mission. We have an example of a social program that was put up to find solution to specified social problems. Empowerment prog.org says about their mission, â€Å"The mission of The Empowerment Program is to provide education, employment assistance, housing referrals and support services to women who are in disadvantaged positions due to poverty, incarceration, homelessness, HIV/AIDs infection or involvement in criminal justice system†. Here the vision of the linked organisation is clearly spelt. In this mission the scope of social problems that needs solution has been named as abject poverty, criminal justice system among others. So the social entrepreneur must have a vision and capacity to assist humanity through the provision of needed facilities or the improvement and maintenance of sustainable ecological system. A personal social background can make someone such an entrepreneur or an educational background and awareness is needed. A person can be conditioned to have a feeling of empathy towards others. This could be done through awareness campaigns or creative artistic work such as films, poetry or music. There are different ways in which awareness can be done. Awareness through education, through face to face discussions. Awareness through creative work. Gallan (2010) talked about the importance of education in order to assist in effecting change. There may be need for educational and training background for some to be an entrepreneur. A detailed course work, theoretical and practical assignment can assist. The AIU vision and tutorial programs have such an objective. The power of media and awareness prog rams are vital. Human rights activists and other non-governmental organisation have a role to spread such awareness. The writers have also a role to play in creating awareness. It is therefore a role that must be played by various parties to assist in development of social entrepreneurship. Managers can create awareness programs and assign certain personnel with the responsibility to conduct training sessions to conscientise the other workers on the aspect of social responsibilities. Involvement on a corporate level on social programmes and social activities will assist employees to be socially responsible citizens. Through that organisations can mentor people who will assist in changing the world for the better. The other characteristic of social entrepreneurs is a life commitment to initiate social solutions to mankind‘s social problems. If an individual has identified a social problem he wishes to solve he/she must be dedicated to deal with that problem not for a short space of time, but for a long period and ideally his entire life. An example could be the story and struggle of Martin Luther King who gave his entire life to make needed social and religious change over a long period of time. What he achieved has affected the lives of many people down to our times. Mother Theresa was a dedicated nun who worked tirelessly for her entire life to assist the poor. These people were sensitive to the people’s needs. Citing similar example of sincerity and consciousness for humanity, Rundle (2010) expressed himself as having been sensitive to what the community would enjoy. Another important attribute of a person who is truly devoted to assisting in changing the lives of people through identification of social problems and then come up with lasting solutions is willingness to self-correct. When you have started on a long journey sometimes you will have to discover ways of dealing with challenges that you come along on the way. You should not wait for other people to correct you all the times. You may have to discover short cuts or you may have to discover ways of conserving the resources that you have. The ideas are that you have to observe things that around you, and take advantage of them so that you will afford to reach your destination. You may need to discover the right pace to travel so that you do not easily get tired. The idea is that you do not need just to be told everything, but you need to discover on your own and make rightful decisions and changes so as to suit to the conditions around you. The scientists would use the terms observe and a dapt in order to survive. In this discussion we can call this self-correction.Encyclopedia.com defines self-correction as, â€Å"correcting oneself without external help.† So as you try to find a solution to a social problem, you come against some challenges, and most of these challenges require you to find solutions yourself. Why this is important is because on such issues you may not have many people who initially support you. If you rely mainly on outside help you may be discouraged by other people, who may be pessimistic or who may not see your vision at the start of your project. An example where self correction is vital is when we set out a revolving fund at Chipinge Banana Company. The revolving fund was used to start fundraising projects. When the idea was borne and put forward to other people many people were against the idea of employees having to contribute towards their own welfare. In this project every interested employee was supposed to pay $1 per, month. A revolving fund committee was put in place. Initially, about 10% of the employees were interested and subsequently got involved. About 98% of other senior management staff was against this idea. At first they said that it was not a working idea, and suspected that the person who had started the project had a hidden agenda either to defraud the people or to have a personal financial gain. And that is the idea that can be found if a person wanted to solve a critical social problem. When the problem took off the ground those who were initially against, when they saw that it seemed to have been succe ssful they became jealousy and tried to influence most employees against it. So where a new idea is implemented there is usually resistance. Instead of people assisting with ideas and resources they resist the purported change. That is the reason why a social entrepreneur must correct himself or herself; relying on outside help may lead to resistance and criticism that can ultimately lead to failure. Many people will only assist you or join you when they are convinced beyond doubt that the innovation is definitely helpful. In the example sighted above of the revolving fund, many of the people who initially resisted later supported the idea and rendered assistance. So self-reliance and self-correcting are vital attributes of the people who want to initiate and institute change. Another essential attribute of people who want to bring social innovation is that of wishing to share credit. To be able to succeed in introducing change one needs as much support from as many people as possible. The people who get involved need credit for their support. In order to succeed in introducing change you have to be self-less or selfish-less. You need to consult widely; you need encouragement and support. For you to be able to achieve this you really need to make people to feel that the project is theirs and that their involvement is vital. So the credit needs to be shared. The success needs to be shared as much as you share the problem. One of the principles of change management is to involve as many people as possible, as long as those people are willing and committed. To achieve this some people who create change make use of committees. In order to share the credit and involve as many people as possible, in the introduction of the revolving fund, a commit was selected. Hitchcok (2008) emphasized the need to create self-directed teams and to consult as much as possible in order to implement change that affect and benefit many people. The principles of using committees and people participation were taken seriously at Chipinge Banana Company when they introduced the revolving fund. These committees brought about a lot of involvement. No wonder why Degraff (2007) emphasised that there is always need to select diverse and insightful individuals to join the leadership teams as participants in the† think tank† process Most people who were represented in the committee became committed to the change. In the committee, a cross-section of the employees was involved; women of various ages and from various work departments, men were recruited from various backgrounds, age and professions as well as from various work units. This brought up a big sense of ownership and the credit was not brought to the person who brought the idea, but to all the peo ple who were involved including a lot of the workers who were willing to part with their money. The idea is that those who are involved in social changes must do it to help the communities where they stay, not to help themselves materially or otherwise .On this Heath (2004:4) says,† analysis of dialogue surrounding a crisis can be sharpened by giving attention to the narrative elements that emerge as various groups interpret the crisis† When a person wants to initiate and develop a solution to a social problem, that person must be able to borrow ideas from different fields and interact with people of various backgrounds, profession and trades. For example to implement successful social change you need to have a rich background on various fields. You may need to understand accounting principles because you shall deal with finances, you need knowledge of economics because you may need investment to fund the projects, you may need to have knowledge of legal issues, and you need principles borrowed from sociology and psychology to deal with people. You must be a mult-disciplinarian. Robinson (2008) explained that learning should transcend across various disciplines for it to be most beneficial. Not that you have to study all these subjects at University but you need to consult. I attended a certain seminar that was based on environmental management one year. I was a teacher and a participant in the seminar. The first p rinciples that people were taught there was the principle of de-roling. By De-roling it means people need to stop considering the positions in the companies or institutes where they come from. Some people were teachers, others were students, others were managers, and others were simple people from the community. People, who were there had to ignore their roles. So in other words there were no longer managers, teachers, students or community members. All those who were there were the same. That was important and that is still important. If there is no de-rolling students would not participate actively they would leave everything to be done and said by influential people such as managers. Failure to de-roll would mean very little involvement. This all calls for a mult-disciplinary approach to solving social problems. I saw people involved in social issues such as HIV/AIDS. This needs people who have an open view and who apply knowledge and skills gained from various areas. At a corpor ate level when you want to introduce social changes you need to stop thinking that you are a manager and that your decision – as a manager- are better than the decision of a general hand worker. Where committees work it has been seen that brilliant ideas may not come from CEOs, or Managers, but some times from general workers. In the revolving fund committee that has been discussed earlier on a number of brilliant ideas came from the general workers. Those ideas were implemented and the results were excellent. This however does not suggest that good ideas come from uneducated, simple people only. The point is that in brainstorming and surfing ideas we have to open and not accept ideas on the consideration of a person’s qualifications or position in the society. The other essential aspect of introducing successful social change is to involve those whom are affected by the change or the program. What we are talking about here is empowerment of those who are affected by the proposed changes. Give the people involved the power to make their own decisions and to get actively involved. According to Joe.org, â€Å"empowerment is a social a multi-dimensional process that helps people gain control over their own lives. It is a process that fosters power in people for use in their own lives, communities and in their society.† So people must make decisions their own decisions where the proposed changes affect them. This brings on to them a sense of ownership. Even in the event of things not working according to the plan, these people will not shift the blame on the person proposing the change. The difficulties faced will be solved as a group again. This will also foster a spirit of resilience. A sense of ownership is a very powerful motivating factor to people. No one wants to see what she/he has worked for to fail. As many people are involved in a project there is going to be a lot of brainstorming and innovation when a problem presents itself before them. No projects or changes are without challenges. However the power of togetherness will make it easy to overcome difficulties. In the case of the earlier quoted revolving fund, at one time there was problem when we ran out of funds, but because we engaged many people from the onset, those who were involved worked hard so that we had increased membership and subsequently improved inflow of income. In this discussion there has been the example of the revolving fund. This example is suitable as it meets the criteria of a social change. Firstly the vision for the introduction of the fund was to assist all employees of Chipinge Banana Company who at one time have problems that the company could not provide assistance towards. This involves assisting parents with fees for their children, assistance towards bereavement, assistance towards any social problems the committee feels it warrants assistance .The focus of the fund is that, the fund shall run as long as the company exists and will assist workers for generations. It is a change that affects many people. This innovation has already been applied in companies that are around the place. Despite the fact that the fund was introduced about a year ago it is being a case study for many companies and even communities around. The other essential thing is that there has been a fundamental paradigm shift. It was unheard of in our country that workers would champion their own welfare through a common fund. The fund can also be used to sponsor training workshops especially in issues of HIV/AIDs and safety issues at the work place. So it is a typical example to use in this discussion to exemplify the practicality of what is discussed here as it relates to the planning and implementation of social change. Although this is a small scale social change it is a sample for other major social changes. As for the Human Resources Manager in the said company and for the other managers and personnel it has been an n essential hands-on example of how to institute change. For the proposer of this innovation there has been a conscious way to follow the learned parameters and theories of managing change. The knowledge and skills acquired will be essential for future consulting in change management. In the video watched there has been a case study of empowerment of the participants involved in the introduction and evolvement of the proposed changes. In this case the empowered people were the children that were the beneficiary of the child line service in India. That practical case brought a significant impetus on the idea of managing a social change. If in this project the affected children were greatly involved, what about circumstances in which we introduce changes that affect the adults or the educated population. It clearly demonstrates the importance and practicality of involving the affected people, no matter who they are, what their status is, where their live and what their backgrounds might be. This involvement is important in work place settings as well. The management team must involve the grassroots workers to be involved; their views on matters that affect them must be taken into consideration, and be greatly applied. It is great learning to us Human Resources perso nnel to involve the workers in issues that affect them. This has a big impact not only in motivating the workers but in creating a loyal, reliable, responsible and stable work force. At Chipinge Banana Company, a very stable company in terms of employee relations, the workers are highly involved. In most issues that affect them there is the use of committees. There are committees in sports teams, health and safety, HIV/AIDS awareness programmes, during end of year parties, among many other such instances. And the great results are that you create a stable work force. Again in the same company there is the open door policy on dealing with employee problems. The managers, the supervisors and forepersons are taught to deal with employee problems at any time and at any place. Employees must not wait to come to the offices assistance. The Human Resources Manager moves from place to place during the work days to hear the workers’ grievances and problems. I know the system is unique but it has also a unique way of making the workers happy and the work force stable. Social innovations by their nature must not be very expensive. These must be cost effective. The reason is that there might be very few people who are willing to put in their monies there, just for the sake of assisting others. The issue here is to have small investments that sustain some social projects, rather than waiting for a time when there is a large sum of money. However with this small investment there must be great courage to ensure that the projects or changes succeed. It is the power of vision, courage and resilience that must be at work most in order to achieve and sustain a social innovation. Penton.com (2010:1) emphasised that the key to change is the nature of the innovation, its scope and applicability rather than the amount of funds required to invest in it. In its explanation it says,† innovation of your products, processes and services will be key to delivering results.† In the example of The Revolving fund, under discussion, the amount of initial capi tal injection was very small. For the first three months there was a cash inflow of US $80 per month only; however that amount kick started a project that is now after about a year has a capital of about $8000.00 and which has assisted more than 500 people in all. So it is the vision and courage that is of great essence to achieve great social innovations. The video demonstrated the importance to impart and use soft skills. Soft skills are qualitative aspects that are essential for the success of projects. These are qualities that are not measurable but are essential .These are opposed to aspects of projects that are quantifiable. Money used to effect change can be quantifiable, the number of people involved in the projects is quantifiable, some resources such as motor vehicles involved can be quantifiable, but there are certain traits and characteristics that are essential for success of the innovations that are not numerable. In the video presentation, listening skill has been identified as a soft skill that is essential for social innovation to succeed. People involved in the projects must listen carefully to different points of view that come from the people involved. From listening then the people involved deduce the implication then later apply what is implied. Other soft skills which we can talk about include the communication s kills, interpersonal relations, mutual trust among others. Heath (2004:4) says, â€Å"Communication is a corporate strategy for dealing with a major business interruption.† In this case Heath emphasizes the importance of communication in business and social spheres. The change agent must also have core value that globally acceptable. Such values as integrity, creativity, multi-skilling, problem solving, inquiry, flexibility accountability and transparency among others. He/she must be able to use the principles of good governance. The innovators and consultants must have such basic skills in order to be able to implement the proposed changes. Another essential aspect is of ethical considerations. If you want to implement social changes you must have a high sense of ethics. You have to know what is just to the people and the community. Know what is good to all and what is acceptable. It is not considering the legal and economical aspects only that are important. Have a wider understanding of the community around where you are making the change and what is moral and acceptable to that area. This again calls for an interdisciplinary approach to introducing social innovations. Ethics are associated with certain disciplines which a social entrepreneur must be acquainted with, such as public relations, religious orientation or understanding social science principles. If you introduce something that is not morally acceptable in that area you wont succeed. If you introduce something that is a taboo in that area then you can not succeed. This calls for a lot of research before you come up with your innovations. The idea of consult ing and empowering the people affected come handy in this regard as well. So on the other hand the social consultant must develop a lot of research skills and knowledge and use that before introducing any changes or programs in a certain area. The other essential aspect is the willingness to work quietly. This means that although you work very hard, the intention is not to show people that you can come up with something spectacular. You work hard to achieve the mission you set out to achieve. It is not you who go about advertising how hardworking you are, but the community will observe that for itself and come in and join to assist you. There is need for humility in order to achieve the mission. Then there is the idea of social blue print. That is need and ability to come up with innovative solutions to social problems that haunt the community. For the problems bedevilling the people a home grown solution should be devised fast enough to avert any catastrophe. This, however, also calls to adopt new ways and to adapt to other conditions for survival. Adaptation is another way that is used to solve social problems, especially problems that arise from perceptions. For example there is a perceived problem in Africa, the problem of homosexuals. To many people this is a problem that is causing sleepless nights to religious leaders, politicians, HIV/AIDS activists and human rights activists. But what is the solution the community is searching for? Will the community able to eradicate homosexuality? What real harm can homosexuality cause? It is a problem-yes. But it is a perceptional problem, and the only sure, cheap and easy solution is there- the community has to adapt to this new phenomenon, since it can not cause any catastrophe to the human race. Adaptation is a solution, and an added way to overcome this is through awareness programs so that the community come to accept the new phenomenon. The ideas discussed in the video on how to change the world are very essential and practical. These aspects have a global focus and can be applied anywhere where change or innovation has to be made. The fact that in this discussion the writer based in Africa finds the suggestion applicable shows the universality of what was discussed in the video. The example of India shows that the ideas can not only apply in America, but also in Asia. When the writer followed the discussion on how to change the world he was able to give practical example from Africa to exemplified how useful the suggestions are and how applicable the recommendations are. The example from Brazil also shows the practicality of the ideas. The example of the revolving fund brings Europe into the picture. The idea of the revolving fund that is now being used across Africa has its beginning in Canada, which is a European Country. The implementation of the revolving fund was done after studying the Canadian example. So fo llowing the discussion on how to change the world, the description equally fits the change that started in Canada; the issue of the revolving fund. It is therefore important to note that the innovation, implementation and evaluation measures applicable in the first word countries can be done in developing countries. With this in mind it is easy to conclude that if we apply the concepts and philosophies explained and expanded in the video How to Change the World, surely the world can be changed, and together we can change it for the betterment of mankind. BIBLIOGRAPHY McAdam, R and Moffett, S(2010)University Of Ulster Innovation. Shirley Ann Hazzlet: Belfast Rundle,C.R(2010)Communication problem Solver: Simple Tools and Techniques For Business Managers. AMACOM books: New York Robbin,S(2008)Spirituality, Ethics and Care.Kingsley:london Heath, R.C(2004)Responding to Crisis.A Rhetorical Approach to Crisis Communication. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwa Jackson, P.Z(2001) The Simple Way to positive change.Nicholas Brealey Publishing:London. Hitchcok, D.E and Willard, M.L (2008) step by step Planning: How to Create and implement Sustainability Plans in Any Business Organ.Va Earthscan Ltd:London. Maser, C(2009).Earth in Our Care: Ecology, Economy and Sustainability. Rutgers University Press:New Brunswik. Lenner, P (2009) Environmental, Law, and Non profits: How NGOs Shape our Laws, Health and Communities. Pace Environmental review 26 No 1. Wint 2009 MAGAZINES Brunchhorst, D.J: landscapes Shaped by People and the Place institutions Require A new Conservation Agenda. BioScience 60 No 8 (2010) Nigg, J.N et all. Measured Gene-By-Environment Interaction In Relation to Attention- Deficit /Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology 49 No(Sept 2010 Raudsepp,H et all. Untangling The environmentalists paradox: Why is Human Well-being Increasing as Ecosystem Services Degrade. BioScience 60 No 8 Sep 2010. Singer,J and Helfrich C. Supporting RD support Groups. Research Technology Management51 No1 Jan/Feb (2008) Allen, S.M .Missed Connections. Social Forces 79 No 4 (2001) Karen,H(2008)Care Sociacultural Practice , Aesthetic Experience in the Art Clasroom: Visual Arts Research 34 No 1 Atkins, M. Five Key Concepts For Suitanaible Innovation. Industry Week 259 No.7. J1 2010. Mansdorf, Z. Sustainability-EHS Challenge . EHS Today 3 No1 Jan 2010. Penton Media Inc. Cleveland. WEB PAGES Nature versus Nurture www.wikipedia.com Research Papers on How to Change The worldEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married Males19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeThree Concepts of PsychodynamicGenetic EngineeringCapital PunishmentHip-Hop is ArtAnalysis Of A Cosmetics Advertisement

The Success Story of Toyota Comapny in Qatar Essay

The Success Story of Toyota Comapny in Qatar - Essay Example Current paper focuses on the performance of Toyota in Qatar. Toyota is one of the major competitors in the global automobile industry. The success of the firm has been highly related to its supply chain management system. The relatively low prices of the firm’s products, compared to the products of competitors, is another factor that has highly benefited the performance of Toyota worldwide. In Qatar, Toyota has followed similar goals and strategies. The history of Toyota in Qatar are presented and evaluated. Also, reference is made to the automotive industry of Qatar, at the level that the external environment can highly influence organizational performance. It is revealed that the prospects for Toyota in Qatar are significant. However, it is necessary for the organization to review its strategic framework periodically ensuring that the competitiveness of the firm towards its rivals is kept at high levels. A brief history of Toyota Toyota Motor was established in Japan in 1937 (Toyota Corporation 2012, History). Toyota Motor Corporation has resulted from the merge between Toyota Motor Co and Toyota Motor Sales Co in 1982 (Toyota Corporation 2012, History). Through the decades the firm established production units worldwide; still, the firm’s critical strategic decisions have been traditionally developed in Japan. Of particular importance have been the organization’s production units in USA, established in 1988, in UK, established in 1992 and in China, established in 2000 (Toyota Corporation 2012, History). Toyota Corporation focuses on the ‘Motor Vehicle Production and Sales’ (Toyota Corporation 2012, Overview). In 2011, the firm’s employees worldwide were estimated to 317,716 (Toyota Corporation 2012, Overview). In 2011, the firm’s profits reached the 18,993.6 (in billion yen), slightly increased from 2010, when the firm managed to achieve a profit of 18,950.0 (in billion yen, Toyota Corporation 2012, Overview). In 2009 the firm’s profits were estimated to 20,529.5 (in billion yen, Toyota Corporation 2012, Overview). In other words, the firm faces delays in regard to its profitability. This problem is made clear by reviewing the firm’s performance for the years 2006 to 2010 in US and Europe (Graph 1). Still, the performance of the firm in other markets is quite encouraging. For example, reference can be made to the case of China and Brazil (Graph 2). Graph 1 – Toyota Corporation in USA and Europe, for 2006-2010 (Source: Toyota Corporation 2012, Figures) Graph 2 - Toyota Corporation in China and Brazil, for 2006-2010 (Source: Toyota Corporation 2012, Figures) How it all started in Qatar The presence of Toyota in Qatar is closely related to Abdullah Abdulghani & Bros. Co. (AAB), a firm that was established in 1958 (Qatar 40 Years Organization 2012, Attendees).

Reserach Report and Problem Analysis Report Essay

Reserach Report and Problem Analysis Report - Essay Example The audit led to a loss of a lot of money for Mrs. Roadway because she did not have any paperwork like a VAT invoice from the supplier to substantiate that she had paid VAT. The legal representatives for the Jeffersons Company maintain that she does not have the right to ask for a VAT invoice but they were willing to give her their VAT number. The reason given to Mrs. Roadway by the legal representatives for not providing a VAT invoice (i.e. no other customer has ever requested for a VAT invoice) is not sufficient enough to deny her the invoice. For Mrs. Roadway’s business proposal to be financially viable, she has to be able to reclaim this VAT from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) because the repayment will reduce her borrowings to a manageable level. However, without a valid VAT invoice from Jeffersons, reclaiming the VAT might become problematic. As a corollary this research report will cover the issues of whether a supplier is required to issue an invoice, when it should be issued and what it must contain. CONCLUSION: Value Added Tax (VAT) can be defined as a category of consumer tax charged for any manufactured consumer product. A VAT invoice is usually dispensed to purchasers who give substantial statistics and details to prove that they have an intention to claim back the VAT paid to the government. In order to acquire a VAT invoice there are a set of some very precise pre-details which must appear on the VAT invoice such as the name, address and VAT number of the company or enterprise that provided the merchandises. For continuous and excellent book-keeping, accurate VAT calculations and invoices are required (Ebrill, et al 2001)1 Mrs. Roadway has already made strides to hire a Private Wealth team which has handled her application to HMRC so that she can charge VAT on the leases and reclaim the VAT that she will pay to Jeffersons. As a result, she has the right to request a VAT invoice from Jeffersons solicitors so that she can have the right paper work to help her with the process of reclaiming the VAT. Mrs. Roadway had to needed a VAT invoice from Jeffersons’ solicitors because she had previously gone through problematic experience which was brought about by lack of a VAT invoice. The fact that Jeffersons’ solicitors has never issued a VAT invoice to any of their consumers, will help Mrs. Roadway and build up her case against Jeffersons’ solicitors. The pre-requisites put in place to guide the process of dispatching an invoice for purchases as denoted in Article 33 of the VAT Directive2 might make the process of acquiring a VAT invoice frustrating but it is considered important for regulation purposes. In Mrs. Roadways case, the guidelines denoted in the VAT Directive will help Mrs. Roadway show that she deserves to be issued with a VAT invoice from Jeffersons’ solicitors because as per the VAT Directive a potential beneficiary of VAT refund should be issued with a VAT invoice. REPORT: Primary Sou rce: Staatssecretaris van Financien v Stadeco BV, 2009: A primary ruling in relation to the explanation of art21 (1) (c) of the 6th Council Directive was offered. The ruling was that a VAT invoice should be issued to a potential beneficiary of VAT refund. This was in line with Article 33 of the VAT Directive. HMRC concisely states that a registered VAT member has an obligation to provide any VAT-registered clients with a VAT invoice

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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The themes of the poem are Shelleys own fear that he is losing his abilities as a poet, his belief in political reform and social justice and his spiritual emptiness. Shelley was still reeling after the Peterloo massacre when he wrote this poem and the forces of nature used as imagery reflect the strength of his feelings. The poem begins with a vivid descriptionRead MoreReforms of Diocletian1268 Words   |  6 PagesDiscuss the reforms of Diocletian. What were they, why did he think they were necessary, what impact long and short range. Be sure to include comments regarding dominate, tetrarchy (not year of 4 emperors), edict of Prices (Bailkey Lim) and Xp (Christians). Diocletian affects greatly the modern world. End of antiquity was around 9th century. Diocletian brought an end to the period popularly known to historians as the Crisis of the Third Century (235–284). He established an autocratic governmentRead MoreThe Slavery Of The United States1545 Words   |  7 Pagesslavery into the western territories, arguing that free men on free soil comprised a morally and economically superior system of slavery. Free Soil and Free Labor arguments became more public. Document I displays a street poster that encourages free black people in Boston to avoid police offers who may have been ordered to catch escaped former slaves and return them to slavery. The fugitive slave laws were laws passed by the United States Congress in 1793 and 1850 to provide for the return of slavesRead MoreBrief Information on Different Topics: Opium War, Taiping Rebellion, British Raj942 Words   |  4 Pagesto create a new society. 2. Tanzimat Reforms (1839-1876) The Tanzimat were a series of reforms in the Ottoman Empire that brought the culture, education, religion and society more in line with Europe and the United States and western ways. During these reforms, Chinese military was influenced by western uniforms, education was done in western systems, politics took on a western influence and society experienced westernization. In the end the reforms brought the end of the traditional OttomanRead MoreDemocratization Of The United States936 Words   |  4 Pagesof all blacks and women did not vote. However, the southern states white regime through various means, deprive blacks the right to vote, the main use of the poll tax, culture tests, grandfather clause will limit blacks and whites preselected to participate in elections, to vote again on the law in fact blacks were deprived. Meanwhile, the racists of the South, but also the use of violence, to strengthen the role of the legal limit, they often use intimidation, destruction of property, blacks, and evenRead MoreJudaism : The Religious Life Of Israel1590 Words   |  7 Pagesand Jacob and Leah, Zilpah and Bilhah, and Isaac and Rebekah. Orthodox Judaism is the stric test commitment to the traditional beliefs and traditions of all the Jewish observances. It originated in response to the Jewish practice introduced by the Reform movement. Orthodoxy asserts that both the The Torah, which is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, and the Oral Torah, which is the interpretive Talmud are authoritative regarding observance and Jewish doctrine, instructing modern Orthodox Jews