Becoming an Effective Leader Essay

Learner name: Section 1: Understand own ability to fulfil key responsibilities of the leadership role. An evaluation of my own ability to use a range of leadership styles, in different situations and with different types of people, to fulfil the leadership role. There are in essence, four core leadership theory groups [1], which are: Trait theories, Behavioural theories, Contingency theories and Power and influence theories. Look more:  define research objectives essay I strongly believe that a leader must be adaptable to the situation and therefore prefer the Contingency theories. I shall therefore use two contingency theories to illustrate my ability to fulfil key responsibilities of my leadership role. I will use two contingency theories in my illustration. Hersey and Blanchard model The Hersey and Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory was created by Dr Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard in the mid-70’s. The fundamental basis of this theory is that there is no single ‘best’ leadership style and effective leaders have to adapt their styles depending upon the maturity level of delegates. So essentially the model rests on two fundamental concepts; leadership styles and the groups or individuals maturity level [2] . Hersey and Blanchard defines four Leadership Styles [3]: Telling (S1) – where the leader directs people what to do and how to do it. Selling (S2) – where the leader provides information and direction, selling the message to get people on board, and providing support. Participating (S3) – where the leader works with the team, sharing the decision making and responsibilities. Focus is more on relationship and less on direction. Delegating (S4) – where the leader passes most of the responsibility for a task onto the individual or group, only monitoring progress. S1 requires the most effort on the part of the leader which reduces through S2 and S3 to S4,  which requires the least effort. Style S4 therefore would enable the leader to deliver more for the same effort. However effectiveness of the individual or team will depend on their Maturity Level. Hersey and Blanchard also define four Maturity Levels: M1 – where people lack knowledge, skill or confidence to work independently, and require direction and prompts to progress the task. M2 – where people are willing to deliver but still lack the requisite skills for effective delivery of the task. M3 – where people are willing to deliver and have reasonable skill level but still require confidence to deliver effectively. M4 – where people have high skill and confidence levels and are able to work independently and are committed for successful delivery. The model maps each style to the appropriate maturity level. So a leader should identify the maturity level of his reports and use the most appropriate style to ensure most effective delivery of the task. The leader needs to provide a detailed level of direction and regular intervention to less mature team to compensate for the lower skill, motivation and confidence levels. In time the team will improve and will become a less burdensome leadership style. Accordingly, this model is suitable for developing a static team in the longer term. New members into the team will have to be assimilated in a planned way and there needs to be careful succession planning to ensure the maturity level of the team does not deteriorate. Adair’s Action Centred Leadership Model Adair’s theories encompass motivation theories by Maslow, Herzberg and Fayol and he was probably the first to demonstrate that leadership is a trainable, transferable skill, rather than it being an exclusively inborn ability. The model developed by John Adair in the 60’s and 70’s suggests [4] that a leader must: Achieve the task Develop the team, and Develop the individual The three elements are mutually dependant but are separately essential for an effective leadership role. He also defines certain key functions of a leader: Planning- information gathering, scope definition, objective setting Initiation- briefing, allocation, quality management Controlling – quality control, monitor progress, decision-making Supporting – individuals, team, encouragement Informing – communication, feedback Evaluating – assessment In many ways the Adair model is very similar to the Hersey and Blanchard model, particularly the emphasis on developing individuals and team. However the key focus is on the task, rather than developing the team per se. For this reason this model is particularly suited to a non-static team where teams are constructed for specific projects, rather than assigning the project to an existing team. Own ability to use the styles – Hersey-Blanchard model In 2004, I was requested by my then Head of Service to take on a severely broken team due to some significant issues. The team of six was responsible for managing and delivering the work of nearly 100 part time front line staff. It was headed by a senior team leader who had been in post for around 30 years and had moulded the team to her personal style. Anyone challenging the authority of the team leader was bullied mercilessly until they became compliant or simply left. The bullying even extended to life outside work. As a result of the approach, there was high turnover of staff and there was very little initiative amongst the remaining staff. Individuals were initially reported as being highly competent but later were blamed for things going wrong, shortly before they left. The team was very tightly knit and generally appeared supportive of the team leader. However the lack of initiative resulted in a team that would be classed as having maturity level M1 in the Hersey-Blanchard model and therefore resulted in the team leader having to deliver every task with a significant level of personal effort. Things came to a head when five staff left in quick succession, reporting similar issues in the newly introduced exit interviews. I was therefore asked to lead the team and make necessary improvements. Very quickly, I made an assessment of the maturity level of the team and came to the conclusion that the team required a great deal of direction to ensure tasks are delivered. I therefore took the decision to  move my desk to be amongst the failing team to enable me to direct the team more effectively. I would also be able to prevent any bullying and be able to penetrate the ‘closed shop’ of the team. The impact of this action was almost immediate as the team leader refused to cooperate and then went on sick leave when I insisted that she worked with me. With support from the other teams, I was able to support and reassure the dysfunctional team to improve their skill, competence and confidence levels. The task was made difficult by the fact that I had little technical expertise in the area. However, as I gained confidence of the existing staff, I was able to improve service delivery and the absent team leader realised that she was becoming less necessary. She returned and agreed to support me but I discovered attempts to undermine me and observed continued evidence of bullying. I therefore suspended her and commenced investigations by an independent solicitor. During the period of the investigations, I assessed that the team had moved from Hersey-Blanchards M1 maturity level to M2 maturity level. As a result, my life became easier and I was able to start implementing the structural changes that were necessary to improve performance. The investigations took about a year and resulted in dismissal of the original team leader as evidenc e of her actions became clear. The team slowly improved as each team member was empowered to carry out the tasks. The biggest impact was on recruitment and retention in that team, and also in the front line staff managed by them. Previously, we carried a vacancy rate of 35%, which all but disappeared and recruitment drives became oversubscribed. We were able to extend the scope of project delivery and increase targets, partly as a result of the reduced vacancy rate but also due to increased efficiency. By year 4, we were delivering almost four times the projects we used to with virtually the same establishment (albeit without a significant vacancy rate). We were by then identified as national leaders in that particular field and won several prestigious awards. I achieved the above by utilising Hersey-Blanchard model and investing a lot of personal effort and energy into the plan that I developed. To be clear, I did have a great deal of support from my superiors and other teams, but there was a lot of hard work. However, it was also a good development opportunity for me and very rewarding due to the reaction from my staff. Given the outcome described above I consider that I have successfully used  the Hersey and Blanchard model to fulfil the leadership role in managing and developing the team and therefore conclude that I have the ability to use this model in a constructive and appropriate way. Own ability to use the styles – Adair’s Action Centred model In 2010, I was asked to work on a  £133million project to build a new bridge over the River Wear. I worked with the Project Director to design the delivery team. There was three distinct phases to the project: 1. Developing the Business case/Funding 2. Detailed design 3. Construction The project was to be delivered by consultants embedded into the team, constituency of which would vary for the three phases. By necessity, we used the Adair’s model i.e. using a task-centric approach. As the Contracts Manager, my responsibility was to deliver the contract documents, manage the design phase and create a team for the construction phase. I planned how the work would be delivered, defining the scope and setting objectives for each workstream. The Consultants, based internationally delivered the scope to my specification and ensured all parties were aware if exactly what was required. I implemented a quality management system to ensure work was of adequate quality and held weekly meetings through teleconference to check on progress. Critical path analysis of the programme was of significant importance in ensuring delivery was on track. To ensure good communications, I chaired a monthly face-to-face meeting with key staff from all four Consultants when we were able to review and assess the work delivery. I also reassigned members of the team to other tasks for the construction phase to fully exploit the developed team and planned the expansion very carefully so as not to compromise the team dynamics. Unfortunately funding for the project was discontinued and I left for other roles before completion. The contract documents were produced aznd the detailed design was almost 85% complete however. I consider that the above demonstrates that I have successfully used Adairs Action Centred Model given that I have actively planned, initiated, controlled, supported, informed and to a great extent, evaluated tasks produced by the team. Although the project was not delivered due to a funding gap, the output nevertheless demonstrates my ability to use this model to fulfil the leadership role. As  a result of the foregoing, I am able to conclude that I have a developed ability to use a range of leadership styles to fulfil the leadership role. Use theories of emotional intelligence to review the effect of emotions on own and others’ performance. The theories of emotional intelligence that I will use for this task are Goleman [5] and Mayer and Salovey [6]. Mayer and Salovey Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer developed what is widely recognised as the first formal theory of emotional intelligence and carried out a detailed a review of then-existing literature on the subject in a paper published in 1990. They define Emotional Intelligence (EI) as â€Å"The ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and to regulate emotions to promote personal growth.† They view emotions as sources of information to help one to understand and navigate the social environment to achieve performance improvement and conclude that individuals vary in their ability to process emotional information and how they relate emotional information to intelligence. They see certain adaptive behaviours amongst some people as evidence for the existence of this ability. The model claims that EI includes four types of abilities: The ability to perceive emotions – in faces, pictures and voices, including the ability to identify one†™s own emotions. Salovey and Mayer see this as a basic aspect of EI as it enables one to process all other EI information. The ability to use emotions – to facilitate other cognitive abilities, such as problem solving and thinking. The best EI person would be able to use this ability to enhance their performance in other cognitive tasks. The ability to understand emotions – this includes the ability to be sensitive to slight variations in emotions of self and others and also the ability to understand how emotions evolve over time. The ability to manage emotions – to regulate own emotion and that of others. Harnessing both positive and negative emotions and managing them to achieve the goals. Salovey and Mayer later collaborated with Caruso to develop [7] the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) based on a series of emotion-based problem-solving items. The model claims that EI is a type of intelligence, and is similar to the ability-based IQ tests. By testing a person’s abilities on each of the four branches of  emotional intelligence, it generates scores for each of the branches as well as a total score. Because EI requires individuals to be in tune with social norms, the MSCEIT is scored in a consensus fashion, with higher scores indicating higher overlap between one’s answers and those provided by the control sample. The MSCEIT can also be expert-scored, so that the amount of overlap is calculated between one’s answers and those provided by a group of emotion researchers. Although promoted as an ability test, the MSCEIT is unlike standard IQ tests in that its items do not have objectively correct responses. Among other challenges, the consensus scoring criterion means that it is impossible to create questions that only a minority of respondents can solve, because, by definition, responses are deemed emotionally â€Å"intelligent† only if the majority of the sample has endorsed them. Also this is likely to then lead to stereotyping and cultural bias. Organisations using them could therefore be at risk of being in breach of equalities legislation, albeit unintentionally or indirectly. The model has therefore been criticised for lacking predictability and there has been questions whether EI is really a genuine intelligence factor. In a study by Fà ¸llesdal [8] , the MSCEIT test results of 111 business leaders were compared with how their employees described their leader. It was found that there were no correlation between the test results and how the leader was rated by the employees, with regard to empathy, ability to motivate, and leader effectiveness. Goleman Goleman discusses Emotional Quotient (EQ) and sets out two key aspects of intelligence as having the ability to understand self (goals, intentions, responses, behaviour) and the ability to understand others and their feelings. He identifies five ‘domains’ of EQ, which are: Knowing own emotions. Managing own emotions. Motivating self. Recognising and understanding other people’s emotions. Managing relationships, i.e., managing the emotions of others. By developing our own Emotional Intelligence in these five EQ domains, we can become more effective at what we do, and achieve the best from our reports. This would  also reduce stress, by decreasing conflict, improving relationships and understanding, and help in succession planning. Goleman sets out the framework within which to EI competence could be improved and identifies two areas where this is to be achieved; personal and social competencies. Goleman and Cherniss have jointly produced a paper [11] for The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations identifying 22 guidelines which represent the best current knowledge relating to the promotion of EQ in the workplace, summarised as: Paving the way assess the organization’s needs assessing the individual delivering assessments with care maximising learning choice encouraging participation linking goals and personal values adjusting individual expectations assessing readiness and motivation for EQ development Doing the work of change foster relationships between EQ trainers and learners self-directed change and learning setting goals breaking goals down into achievable steps providing opportunities for practice give feedback using experiential methods build in support use models and examples encourage insight and self-awareness Encourage transfer and maintenance of change (sustainable change) encourage application of new learning in jobs develop organizational culture that supports learning Evaluating the change – did it work? evaluate individual and organizational effect Cary Cherniss expands on this [12] and sets out the research demonstrating that someone’s ability to perceive, identify, and manage emotion provides the basis for the kinds of social and emotional competencies that are important for success in almost any job. Furthermore, as the pace of change increases and pressures on existing resources makes ever greater demands from us, this particular set of abilities will become increasingly important. Leaders therefore need to use emotional intelligence to improve both productivity and well-being of our staff. The criticism and research indicating EI not to be a ‘proper’ intelligence mainly relate to objectivity of the premise, inability to use it as a predictive tool and its use as selection criteria. EI nevertheless remains a very useful tool in the armoury of a leader in order to motivate and achieve better outcomes for tasks. Care however needs to be taken to ensure cultural differences are considered when using techniques identified in the EI models. Effect of Emotion on Performance I have had experience of an individual; Richard, who was unable to manage his own emotions, as described by Mayer and Salovey. He would perform quite adequately under most circumstances; however if some of the technical work he was carrying out was contrary to his view, he would slowly build up resentment. For example I used to assign him tasks to investigate and implement accident reduction measures. He would suggest some solution, and if I decided not to take his advice and required him to implement a different solution, his output would reduce and he would take almost twice as long to deliver the desired outcome. Over time, this resentment would build up until he reacted with a disproportionate level of anger to some instruction, manifesting as shouting in an open office and walking off in a huff. I have had discussions with him about this approach during his ‘calm’ periods and he described a ‘red mist’ descending that he was unable to control. Mayer and Salovey’s theory helped me understand that Richard did not have the ability to use, understand or manage his own emotions and this had a devastating impact on his performance, not only for the instances when he disagreed with any decision that did not accord with his own, but also because others around him felt he was somewhat ‘unstable’ and were wary of working with him. Which also had significant adverse impact on Richards performance, acting like a vicious cycle where the more he failed to deliver adequately, the more he received criticism and pressure which in turn  affected him emotionally and reduced his output. Improving his performance was a very difficult preposition and I sought help of HR and arranged counselling and support. However I never did feel that Richard was performing to his full potential for the period I managed him, although there was some improvement. This was a clear example of how performance can be adversely affected by a fa ilure to manage ones emotions as described by Meyer and Salovey. I understand that my own performance is also significantly affected by my own emotions. I have on occasion felt annoyed or even angry due to some action or inaction by colleagues. Conversely, I have often felt compelled to go the extra mile to deliver excellence for a colleague or Manager who gives me praise in the correct manner. Golemans framework has helped me to appreciate that emotions can have both a positive and negative impact on performance and that EI can be used to improve performance. Upon reflection on occasions that I have become annoyed, I have come to realise that there has inevitable been a negative impact on my performance, either due to lack of enthusiasm to perform or as a result of lack of cooperation from others who might had noticed my annoyance. For example within the last few months, I was severely criticised for failing to grasp the nettle with respect to managing my revenue budget by a superior officer. His approach was pre-planned and was clearly bullying behaviour. He did not assess the situation adequately, jumping to inappropriate conclusion about my ability, based on a preconceived view about what the cause of the problem was, when the problem was really a systemic problem with the way we allocate incurred costs to projects. The problem had been ongoing since 2004 when a new financial system was implemented with inadequate verification, resulting in greater and greater errors. His solution, which had been implemented in previous years had the effect of masking the issue period on period and still caused chaos at financial year end with apparent losses having to be covered by other parts of the business The superior officer seemed to think I should have been able to resolve the issue within one month, as he had done previously and sprung a surprise verbal mauling of me in the presence of one of our more senior finance officers, for effect and to demonstrate his superiority over me. Whilst I had an action plan to identify the error before I even considered a solution, I needed several periods of financial data to work on. My guiding  principle had been that if we continue the same way, we should expect the same outcome. This clearly rankled with the superior officer as the ‘way’ that I was abandoning was actually devised by him. The verbal mauling however had a profound effect on me, due to my emotional reaction. I felt unable to trust my superior and reduced my output down to almost nil for a short period. I also chose to avoid contact with my superior as I did not like being abused. I lost all enthusiasm and motivation. It was a discussion with the senior finance officer and au understanding of Golemans theory that helped me pull myself out of this stupor and refocus my emotions to achieve balance. I therefore try to actively use Goleman’s framework to manage my own emotions to minimise the negative impact of inappropriate emotions. I am also starting to manage my own emotions to tap into the performance enhancing effect that positive emotions can have. Using the framework of planning, changing, maintaining and evaluating my emotional reaction to various external factors and turning it into a positive force will continue to take conscious effort on my part but I am certain over time this will become second nature to me and help improve my performance significantly. In summary, my experience has demonstrated clearly that emotions generally has significant effect on performance, either for the better or for worse, and the theories detailed above can help in understanding and managing this. With practice, these theories can help me tap into the beneficial potential of EI for myself and my reports. Review own ability to set direction and communicate this to others In order to set direction and communicate this effectively, I follow a four step process, to clarify exactly what is desired, to understand the needs and motivation of my staff, to select the appropriate method of communication and finally to monitor and evaluate my effectiveness in order to improve. To clarify my objectives, I would need to understand exactly what we are seeking to achieve. For example, in a recent situation, we were concerned that we could be exposed to litigation due to the way we manage our trade waste. Essentially, we were failing to manage hazardous waste in the manner prescribed by Environment Agency (EA) regulations. Some staff were very concerned as there is a personal liability and wanted to seek external contractors at inflated prices to discharge the duties on our behalf. Instead, I requested an officer to look into the technical process involved and then armed with the report, I sought the help of EA. It transpires that we are not directly in breach but one of our contractors may have moved our waste to an unlicensed location, without our knowledge. I established that we are unable to transfer risk simply by engaging contractors and needed to develop a management plan to deal with the waste in the short, medium and long term. In discussion with EA, I established that they would support us and allow us a period to ‘set our house in order’. We are now in the process of writing the plan, after having clarified exactly what our objectives had to be. Any form of communication will most unlikely to be effective if it doesn’t ring chord with the audience. The audience will not care of the success or otherwise of any task if they don’t have a stake in the outcome. An effective leader must be able to engage the audience in such a wa y that each person has a vested personal interest in the success of any venture which will spur them to go that extra mile to ensure success. This could be something as simple a personal pride in a job well done or a competitive streak to do a better job than someone else. In one of my depots, there is exactly such a situation involving two of my best Construction Managers. They are very good friends who take delight in outperforming each other and achieve far better output than any similar team in the Council or externally. This did not happen by chance but was the culmination of slow work with both officers over a period, using humour and camaraderie to instil a friendly sense of competition. In the example above, I also actively sought the appropriate means of communication, i.e. using interpersonal skills and utilising humour, to set the parameters of the objectives I was seeking to achieve. The method I decided to use would not have been at all effective if I wrote an email or memorandum as my aim was far too subtle to communicate via a written medium. However, in cases where compliance with health and safety regulati ons are concerned for example, I consider it necessary to send out formal instructions to ensure staff complied. Such action would make it clear exactly what was required without any ambiguity. Apart from communicating the requirement, this would also provide me with an auditable trail if any staff member was found not to comply; which would also be one of my key objectives. Using a more formal means of communication when I generally prefer informal means, also has the  effect of underlining the legal obligation we have to my staff, who then take it more seriously. The ability to set direction and communication is closely linked to motivation theory and persuasive skills. The model I find most aligns with my style is Monroe’s Motivated sequence [13]. Alan Monroe developed this technique in the 30’s and identifies that in order to persuade or sell any concept, idea or product, one’s approach should include five separate steps: Attention – relate something that will make the audience take notice. This could be anything shocking or enticing to the target, such as a st atistic, an image or a thought. So in the case with managing our hazardous waste for example, I highlighted that failure to properly manage the waste could result in criminal prosecution, which had the desired effect of bringing this issue to fore in the mind of my staff. Need – link the topic under discussion to the needs to the audience, the premise being that the need will motivate the desired action. This aspect is particularly important because it is unlikely that most people will take action unless they are directly affected by the impact. For the example of the two construction Managers in competition with each other, I used techniques I observed in the mobile telephone sales and replicated the principles. I created a view in the mind of both staff that they needed to outperform each other for the sake of personal pride. I knew they were good friends and by various means encouraged the friendly rivalry, taking care to ensure that this remains friendly and does not become counter-productive. They both feel that they have to outdo each other and their performance continues to exceed expectations. Satisfaction – set out how the audience will be able to satisfy that need that has been established. It is important that the effort to ac hieve the need is presented as the easiest or least painful option. Once I created the need for both my Construction Mangers to outperform each other, I have continued to provide them with the means and resources to achieve this, both by providing support, finding the funding and also creating temporary positions and approving ‘acting up’ honorariums for their reports. So they both have the means to easily deliver their ‘need’ and not delivering when they are able to is now much the more difficult option from a personal pride perspective, as they will have to explain in my regular joint performance monitoring. Visualisation – set out how life would be like if the target were to commit to action.  Using the example of the Hazardous waste issue, I painted a picture of what the situation would be like if we were able to turn the usable material. There is a process whereby the hazardous waste can be encapsulated in asphalt using a cold process (a hot process would release volatile compounds which would not be acceptable ). Encapsulation would render the material inert and this could then be used to construct new roads. The marginal cost of converting this hazardous material into useful product is less than 35% of the cost of purchasing new product but there is a large capital investment (c  £500k) required for the plant. Nevertheless, I outlined a business case supported by the demand that will be generated by a new road due to be constructed in 2015. I therefore helped my staff visualise the savings we could make and the asset we would have after the new road is constructed, giving us even more savings in the long term. I have therefore got their active cooperation to achieve my vision and have managed to turn what was initially a burden and cost, to an opportunity by using the most effective communication and set direction. Action – finally, once the stage is set, the audience need to be shown how they could act to achieve all the positive benefits of doing the thing that is being promoted. In the case of the hazardous waste, business case is now being detailed with the aim of a capital investment in the next few months. I am managing the project and my staff are in detailed negotiations with various suppliers and industry experts to enable the vision to turn into reality. Currently we are negotiating land purchase to site the plant and storage requirements. As with every other process, it is important then to review and evaluate previous actions to enable the leader to ensure improvement in the future. For both the issues detailed above, I have my own evaluation processes established. For the competition between the Construction Managers, I am aware thing could get too far and friendly rivalry could quickly degenerate. I have therefore got regular meetings with both staff, jointly and individually for me to monitor, evaluate and review my actions. I am aware no one likes to be manipulated and things could backfire on me if they felt I was in any way underhand or devious. So, I informed both staff of my actions in a jovial and convivial way and the communication style I have used has been effective in both accepting and even embracing my manipulation. For the management of Hazardous waste issue, I have also put  in a small review group who monitor and evaluate the progress and we discuss the need to change our approach as we become aware of new developments in the field. Given the above, it is my view that I have a well-established and positive ability to set direction and communicate this effectively to others. Review own ability to motivate, delegate and empower others A leader must be able to delegate tasks effectively in order to achieve more than what he could on his own. Along with that, he must be able to motivate and empower others in order to ensure his management burden is optimised to enable him to manage more resources. That is the essence of leadership. Without this ability, he is merely a depository for tasks and does not add value to his organisation. In brief, motivation is the process of finding out what makes your staff ‘tick’ and demonstrate they can meet that need by delivering for you. In this respect there is much in common with style of communication described above and this is due to the fact that effective communication must take make is desirous for the recipient to deliver the task communicated. Monore’s Motivated Sequence, as the name suggests, is a motivational theory but there are a number of other theories, detailing much the same process, albeit in a different way. The two I will focus on are Maslow’s Need Hierarchy and Equity theory. Maslow describes a hierarchy of needs of each individual, which forms a pyramid, also known as Maslow’s Pyramid of needs. At the base of the pyramid is the basic Physiological needs we all have (i.e. access to air, food water etc.). Then comes the need for Safety (shelter, security), above that comes Social needs or Love/Belonging needs (company, acceptance, friendship etc.). Above that comes the Esteem needs (Recognition from others) and on top of the pyramid is Self-Actualisation (self-fulfilment, morality, creativity). Diagram below shows this pyramid: Fig 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs[14] In essence, what Maslow suggests is that people will need to satisfy their more basic needs before they can begin to satisfy a higher level need. In order to motivate them, it would be necessary to demonstrate how they could satisfy their needs at the appropriate level on the pyramid by achieving the goal. In a work situation, appropriate compensation will help satisfy the  lower order needs on the pyramid and little motivational benefit could be derived from focussing of satisfying the Physiological and Safety needs of staff. In order to motivate staff, it will be necessary to demonstrate how achieving the organisational goal or the task at hand will help meet one of the higher level needs on the pyramid (i.e. the need for social acceptance, of increased esteem or of self-actualisation). To do this effectively, it will be necessary for a leader to identify where on the pyramid the reports needs are. Generally the personal circumstances and ambition of the individual will determine which of his needs have already been satisfied and which need should the leader demonstrate as being achievable. The equity theory postulates that if people perceive inequity, they will try to equalise the situation and eliminate that inequity. It is a social comparison of an individual’s perception that drives an individual. They compare themselves against others and make an assessment whether the reward they are achieving for the effort they are expending is similar to the reward others get for the effort they expend. So individuals make a broad assessment of their own perceived reward/effort ratio and compare it to the perceived reward/effort ratio of others. Individual are generally satisfied when the two ratios are generally equal. However, this leads to two different scenarios when it is not: Underpayment inequity – when an individual feels they are underpaid for the effort they put in compared to another. The impact of this would be either the individual reduce their effort, productivity or quality of their work to match their perception of what the comparator produces. Overpayment inequity – when an individual feels they are actually overpaid for he work they produce, in which case they expend m ore effort in an attempt to increase outputs or improve the quality of their work. The situation most often manifests itself when staff compare their pay grades, but other rewards, such as praise, mentoring, training etc. could also be used in their comparison. Leaders need to be acutely aware of the situation as a perceived Underpayment inequity can have a devastating impact on productivity and also on the ability to retain staff, unless managed adequately. On the other hand, a perception of Overpayment inequity, although can seem to have benefits, can lead to an overly stressful situation for the individual concerned as they may feel their post will be made redundant or reduced in grade. Own ability to  motivate – Monroe’s Sequence and Maslow’s Hierarchy I have had cause to use both the theories above in motivating my staff. In the example given previously where I set two Construction Managers in friendly competition with each other I used Monroe’s Sequence to develop the strategy. In determining the need, I used Maslow’s Hierarchy to understand the most effective way to approach this. I understood the two individuals were already highly effective and motivated individuals and general discussions with them led me to believe that both would be seeking to satisfy their need to greater esteem. I therefore developed a strategy where I would enable both of them to achieve greater self-esteem whilst improving their outputs and performance. The most gratifying thing is that even though both now are aware of my manipulation, the rivalry continues and is still paying dividends. Own ability to motivate – Equity Theory I am currently dealing with a situation where my Construction Managers are rewarded at Band 9, which is the same as my Quantity Surveyors (QS’s). However, I would assess that the Construction Managers (CM’s) achieve several times more value from their work. They also carry greater responsibility and much greater workload. This has come about as a result of implementing â€Å"equal pay† legislation using a very ineffective evaluation model. The model tries to find equity between too many different types of work and fails miserably in the case of construction activities. There is also the issue of required qualifications of each group and my ability to recruit to these positions. I am currently reassessing the workload of the QS’s and trying to make it more equitable by rebalancing workload. However in the meantime, I have asked the CM’s to identify workstreams that may be suitable to be reallocated. I have also given the CM’s more access to me and have more frequent contact with them, ostensibly to address work issues, but also as a form of â€Å"reward† as there is a tendency for staff to seek some form of approval and praise from their leaders. I am aware though that the QS’s might be excessively stressed and I will have to reassure them. In the short-term this approach has proven to be effective in maintaining morale and motivation and has prevented from loss of staff. I will however need to deliver the implied promise to equalise the burden on both these groups. As  a result of the above I am able to conclude that I have a well-developed ability to motivate staff, based on the relevant theories outlined. Delegation and Empowerment Delegation and empowerment is the act of transferring responsibility to subordinates for delivering a task and ensuring they have the authority, resources and the means of achieving the desired outcomes. Effective delegation and empowerment will result in several key benefits: A leader can achieve more than he could individually Workforce will be more involved and feel empowered which will have a positive effect on productivity, and have a stake in outcomes Delivery will be more efficient Develop subordinates which will help with succession planning Although a leader may make his subordinates accountable for their actions, the leader will continue to be accountable for the completion of the task to his own superiors. There are therefore risks involved in delegating and often a leader will find it difficult to ‘let go’ of projects that are dear to them. There will therefore be a tendency on the part of the leader to use the excuse of accountability to avoid delegating. I have had direct experience of this when some years ago a newly appointed Director decided that he would personally sign all letters emanating from one particular service area. This is because that service area was primarily customer facing and was engaged in managing an ever decreasing ability to deliver due to funding cuts. The team, which I was part of, therefore continually had to say â€Å"no† and this caused political difficulties for the Director. Instead of managing expectati ons, he decided to stop delegating. The result was he had very little time for the task of signing letters, let alone anything else. After some years of this, we had a situation where thousands of service requests remained unanswered, some over four years old. Despite our pleadings, he refused to delegate the work and eventually more senior people reorganised the Department, making the Director redundant. As a consequence of the above, I have learned that I must delegate in a timely manner. To manage the risks outlined above, I always ensure my subordinates are motivated, have adequate resources and the ability to deliver. I also  maintain the constant vigil, both from a project/programme management perspective and also from a financial perspective, ensuring regular monitoring and identifying barriers to work with my staff to ensure delivery. As a result of this approach I have so far, this financial year, successfully delivered some  £14million worth of projects, making some  £3.5million income, of which  £300,000 is surplus. We are on course to deliver the full  £19million programme and make a surplus of some  £850,000 over an income of  £5.4million. Compared to the position two years ago when the service made losses of some  £900,000, my position is a much improved one. The single most skill that has enabled me to achieve such turnaround is my ability to delegate and empower my staff. I am therefore highly confident that I have a well-developed ability to delegate and empower others. Produce a Personal Development Plan to improve own ability to lead. In spite of the above, and perhaps as a result, I feel I will need to constantly develop myself. It is my contention that continuous learning will enable us to achieve continuous improvement. Key issues for me are: Reviewing the above, I feel I have not yet mastered the art of managing my own and others’ emotions to achieve performance improvement. I need to understand better the workings of Local Government to identify areas where my leadership skills need to be improved. In conjunction with the above, I believe I need to improve my ability to set direction and communicate. Emotional Intelligence In completing this assignment, this is one area where I have learned the most. I had been aware of issues surrounding cultural bias in psychometric testing because of my personal interest in equalities issues. The work researching Emotional Intelligence has cast the issue that with issue of equalities. It seems to me that any process designed to value conformity with the majority (which the concept of Emotional Intelligence undoubtedly is), is doomed to discriminate minority groups or those with a different cultural approach. However I recognise that EI remains a very useful tool in the armoury of any leader wishing to improve performance. Actions: Complete this ILM course by December 2014 and seek funding for furthering my education to MBA level Cost:Direct – funded centrally, no cost to service Indirect – 1 day per fortnight cost to be absorbed by service overhead allowance for training and development Leadership Issues in Local Government This is particularly relevant to my field and it is necessary for me to keep abreast of the developing issues surrounding Leadership in Local Government. Several journals are dedicated to latest developments in the sector, including The MJ and The Economist to a lesser extent. Actions: Seek out a mentor within the industry by December 2014. Continue to read relevant periodicals – ongoing. Cost:Direct – no cost to service Indirect – carried out in personal time, no cost to service. Set direction and communicating I have a reasonably well developed personal communicating style, and my written communication is also of reasonable quality. The area I most need to work on is my communication to groups. Actions: Use the opportunity provided by my Chairmanship of North East Performance Improvement Network to practice and develop my ability to direct and communicate to groups. Cost:Direct – no cost to service Indirect – As part of normal day to day duties, travel and time costs covered by capital projects Review and monitor I will review my achievement against these objectives on a six-monthly basis to effect improvement and amend aims and objectives as necessary. Cost:Direct – no cost to service Indirect – 2 hours every fortnight, cost to be absorbed by service overhead allowance for training and development. Bibliography 1 ‘Core Leadership Theories’, MindTools (2013). Available at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/leadership-theories.htm (accessed 22/10/2013). 2 ‘Situational Leadership Theory’, Wikipedia (2013). Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_leadership_theory (accessed 04/11/2013). 3 ‘The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory’, MindTools (2013). Available at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_44.htm (accessed 22/10/2013) 4 ‘Action Centred Leadrship’, Businessballs.com (2013). Available at: http://www.businessballs.com/action.htm (accessed 04/11/2013) 5 Goleman, D., ‘Leadership that gets results’, Harvard Business Review (March-April 2000) 6 Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1989)., ‘Emotional intelligence’, Imagination, Cognition and Personality 9(3), 185-211 7 Mayer, J.D., Salovey, P., Caruso, D.R., & Sitarenios, G. (2003), ‘Measuring emotional intelligence with the MSCEIT V2.0’, Emotion, 3, 97-105 8 Fà ¸llesdal, H – PhD Thesis and accompanying papers, University of Oslo 2008, ‘Emotional Intelligence as Ability: Assessing the Construct Validity of Scores from the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT)’, Available at: http://www.psykologi.uio.no/studier/drpsych/disputaser/follesdal_summary.html (accessed 01/11/2013). 9 Goleman, D. (1995), ‘Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ’, Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-38371-3 10 ‘Emotional Intelligence’, Businessballs.com (2013). Available at: http://www.businessballs.com/eq.htm (accessed 01/11/2013) 11 Goleman, D. and Cherniss, C., ‘Guidelines for Best Practice’, The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations (www.eiconsortium.o rg), Available at: http://www.businessballs.com/emotionalintelligencebestpractice.pdf (accessed 01/11/2013). 12 Cherniss, C (2000), ‘Emotional Intelligence: what is it and why it matters’, Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, New Orleans, LA, April 15, 2000 13 ‘Monroe’s Motivated Sequence’, Changing minds.org, Available at: http://changingminds.org/techniques/general/overall/monroe_sequence.htm (accessed 01/11/2013). 14 Figure.1. [Diagram] At: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow’s_hierarchy_of_needs (Accessed on 16.01.14). 15 Maslow, A.H. (1943).A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–96. Retrieved from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm (Accessed on 16.01.14).

Development: Advantages and Disadvantages

Development is often defined in terms of progress, forwardness, and modernity. It is characterized by high-rise building, state-of-the-art gadgets, consumer goods, and an over all idea of a good life. However, according to Amartya Sen, development â€Å"is a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy† and also a â€Å"process of removing unfreedoms and of expressing the substantive freedoms of different types that people have reason to value† (Gasper, 2000). This definition has to be further analyzed because the real effects of this so-called development are very much contested.There have been numerous debates whether development infused positive or negative consequences. Development is a very controversial term and much is to be known with regards to its effects, whether it is indeed beneficial to those under it or it is a curse that they are better off without. Development brings a more comfortable life but at the expense of the environment and the tradi tional culture of the people. The advantageous effects of development which is primarily focus in the idea of giving a better life for the people under it has also been discussed and taken into account.This is best described by the changes in the way of life of the Ladakhi people in the midst of development. One of the most important contributions of development is through health and the decrease in life mortality. It is through the progress of science and technology especially in the field of medicine that treatments for diseases which were incurable before are now given solutions. The traditional life of the Ladakhis is a good example. Previously, people in Ladakh die from diseases that western medicine has found a cure for but the introduction of development in this place has aided in solving this problem.Furthermore, infant mortality in Ladakh which is estimated to be as high as fifteen percent decreases due to improvement in health conditions (Norberg-Hodge, 1991). Development has also given the opportunity for people coming from one part of the world to be more accustomed and familiar with those living in the other parts of the globe. The idea of development has paved the way for better communication and interaction by means of the media, trade, and other methods of progress.Many Ladakhis are enjoying some benefits of development as the introduction of money and technology made their lives more comfortable than before. They enjoy the ability to travel to new places and buy various kinds of material goods outside like imported rice and sugar which have become parts of the everyday meal of the Ladakhis (Norberg-Hodge, 1991). Development has also answered one of the serious problems in Ladakh, which is illiteracy. It is through the idea of development that new opportunities for education are provided.Education gives those people who traditionally belongs to the socially disadvantaged the chance to acquire higher position. People do not have to be contented by simply being a blacksmith because they could apply for a better job by educating themselves. This opportunity is especially seductive to younger people because of the freedom and mobility that they associate in living the modern world (Norberg-Hodge, 1991). Moreover, education also opens new horizons for these people as they could learn different things coming from various places instead of being confined in their own environment.Development has brought real improvements to the traditional society of Ladakh. The introduction of money, technology, as well as improvement in the medical conditions entail with it significant benefits for the Ladakhi people. Using these aforementioned factors as a gauge, it can be said that their condition is better and far more comfortable as compared before (Norberg-Hodge, 1991). The effects of development is not always seen in an advantageous lens because there have been instance wherein it has bring more harm rather than good.This is greatly felt in third world countries or the so-called developing countries that are just recently undergoing the path of industrialization. The study of Ladakh before and after the influences of development came into their place is a good example in order to measure the negative outcomes of development. One of its adverse effects is in terms of the environment. The establishment of factories, buildings, and other form of modernity has taken its toll in the ecological condition of society. The western idea of development has forgotten to include the importance of sustainable development.A good example is Ladakh, a territory that is situated in the Indian region of Jammu and Kashmir. It is known for its breathtaking environmental beauty especially its mountain formations. For 500 years, the Ladakhis have been self-sufficient as they are only dependent upon their environment where they acquire their basic needs as well as their little luxuries in life. However, this kind of situation changes drast ically with the presence of westerners that insisted in changing Ladakh in a more progressive territory.The usual source of living of the citizens that is greatly through agricultural means is now changed with employment in factories at the center of town. Majority of Ladakhis have their own land but they have foregone tilling their own soil to acquire occupations that give them money in return rather than natural resources that they need. Such kind of thinking is highly influenced by tourists coming in Ladakh that are instilling the idea that the their form of life is backward and that through the aid of science they could even maximize the products that they get from the environment.This perception of development is producing discontentment and greed among the people that forces them to destroy the environment which have been a source of their livelihood for many years just so they could satisfy this new form of desire (Norberg-Hodge, 1991). The presence of new source of modernity in return is polluting their environment. The rivers that have been a source of life for these people could not even be drunk anymore. The fresh air that they once breathed is now polluted and even the land that play an important role in their traditional culture and local economy is being replaced by infrastructures.Being the case, it is just evident that the idea of sustainable of development is not given due importance but rather what is observable is the destruction of the environment that is inconsiderate of the succeeding generations’ welfare. Another important drawback that is brought about by development is its ability to destroy the traditional culture that has been the very roots of people’s identity. New ideas of what development is, of what is modern and what is not, and even the idea of what is civilized from what is not are threatening the values and traditions that local people uphold.In the case of the Ladakhs, as their way of life is infiltrated by mo dernity their value system is also being in changed. These people strongly believed in their strong relationship with nature and among themselves. This is rooted from the idea that each and every life form is dependent upon each other. Nature and everything in it as well as the people have an interdependent and intertwined interaction. One cannot survive without the other and vice versa. Unfortunately, this had changed dramatically.The old tradition wherein they acquire their fundamental means of living in the environment has its limit but this is not the case anymore as progress persist ecological boundaries are being transcended. This is even observably in the relationship of the Ladakhis, which is communal in nature. Before, to be able to sustain their everyday needs they work together characterized by cooperation and harmony amongst them with each individual taking equal responsibilities in the accomplishment of a particular task.They do such as a mutually beneficial practice be cause whatever they gained as a group would eventually be advantageous for them individually as well. As the idea of stiff competition enters the frame of mind of these individuals they started to take for granted their communal identity and instead focused on their personal gains. Such incident resulted in the break down of communities as less interaction among them exists due to the fact that they no longer work together in acquiring their needs but rather they compete against each other in order to acquire a job.The kind of work that allows them to be source of cheap labor, which is seen in the establishment of call centers in India (Can, 2004). This competition has been the cause of friction among citizens. The Indians and Muslims in Ladakh who has live side by side in harmony for many ears are now experiencing conflict due to the struggle for scarce resources, the unequal competition in the market, and the over all idea of greediness (Norberg-Hodge, 1991). Lastly, development c laims to bring security through employment, maximization of resources, and easier access to other parts of the world.Ironically, its outcomes brought more insecurity not only to the environment but most especially to the perception of the people towards themselves. By means of western tourists and the influence of media, the idea of comparison is produced wherein people like the Ladakhis evaluate their way of life based upon the lifestyle of those in the west. This intends creates an idea of inferiority to these people because they cannot measure up to the western idea of what a good life is. They feel ashamed of what they are as well as to the values and traditions that they once uphold.Their choices and actions changed in a way that they want to pattern it with the west. Ladakhi people lost their self-esteem and their very sense of self-identity (Norberg-Hodge, 1991). Such kind of mentality is exemplified even in their form leisure. If before they find pleasure by bonding among th emselves they now seek new ways of enjoyment. Children now play with toys like Barbie and Rambo and the adults want to watch movies and read magazines. Being the case, this resulted in less time for the family and even changed their perspective of how to view a man from a woman.A woman should give value to her aesthetic importance while a man should maintain a macho imaged which the media enforces. Even the idea of education has a polarized perspective as it is based upon the western curriculum. Traditional form of education is based upon ones’ experienced as how it would be useful in their environment unlike the western education that specializes on a particular field that limits a person capability. These aforementioned situations, heightens the insecurity of these people to see themselves as second class citizens and forced them to be prototypes of the westerners.There are two faces in the idea of development. One side of development has its positive or advantageous effect s. Using freedom as a lens could aid in seeing the beneficial outcomes of development. There are three important roles that development contributes in the attainment of freedom. First, its â€Å"direct importance† that enables people to decide for themselves without any constraints. Even the poorer section of the society could participate in the market place as they are given the chance to participate in the activities within the market. Second, development entails â€Å"instrumental importance†.This paves the way for people to achieve their desired results through the freedom that development gives them. Development provides the means or methodology that enables individuals to accomplish their objectives. Lastly, its â€Å"constructive role† that provides the venue for easier exchanged of information. This allows people to participate more in the formation of policy as they have the ability to express their opinions and suggestions. Development empowers them to participate more and enables them to highlight important issues that should be immediately addressed. However, development also has its negative side.It is seen in the adverse outcomes that it brought. This is mostly highlighted in the case of Ladakh wherein it has experienced drastic changes in its environment, its way of life, and its people’s perception of themselves. Development has affected the ecological state of Ladakh that diminishes the source of natural means for its people. The idea of environmental sustainability has been neglected in order for modernity to take place. The once beautiful place of Ladakh has very disturbing problems of pollution. Another adverse consequence of development is how it undermines the traditional culture of local people.They no longer adhere to their usual practice of communal activities. The people become more individualistic that resulted in the breakdown of communities. This affected their relationship that is previously grounded in the belief of the interconnectedness of their lives with nature and among each other but has changed due to development. Furthermore, even the way people look at themselves have changed as they lost their self-esteem and identity. They compared their way of life to that of the west, which resulted for them to feel a sense of inferiority.Ladakhis have to change their selves in order to measure up to their western counterparts. The advantages and disadvantages that development brings should be further studied. A deeper understanding of its effects could aid in finding the balance of how development could best be practiced in such a way that it could helped the people to live a life of comfort without undermining their local values and traditions. The lesson that can be learned from these outcomes is that the meaning of development should be re-assessed and re-evaluated.Development should not simply be taken as it is especially if the only basis of what development is comes from the p olarized definition of western standards. Another factor that also have to be taken into consideration is who really benefits from development. If its really after the good of all or just a few. A better understanding of development and a sense of awareness of how it takes place as well as its results are effective means by which development could be gauged whether it really has advantageous or disadvantageous effects. References Can, M. ed. (2004). Chains of Future: Linking Women Producers and Workers in the Global Markets. London: Commonwealth Secretaries. Gasper, D. (2000). â€Å"Development as Freedom: Taking Economics Beyond Commodities- The Cautious Boldness of Amartya Sen†. Journal of International Development. 12. 989-1001 Norberg-Hodge, H. (1991). â€Å"Nothing is Black, Nothing is White†. In Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh. London: Random. Norberg-Hodge, H. (1991). â€Å"The Development Hoax†. In Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh. London: Random. Sen, A. (1999). â€Å"The Perspective of Freedom†. In Sen, A Development as Freedom. Oxford.

HR Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

HR - Assignment Example Downey (2007, p. 6) provides further insight on what PEST analysis means, highlighting the fact that it is a scan of the external macro-environment within which an organisation operates. It is broadly broken down into political, economic, social-cultural and technological factors which form the four tenets of PEST analysis. This part of the study will explore the concept of PEST analysis using practical examples. The political aspect of the PEST analysis involves the effects of government policy on a firm since this consideration impacts nearly all aspects of the firm’s operations. Henry (2008, p. 52) states that the political factors affecting a firm do not merely arise from legislation but encompasses issues such as government stability, taxation policies and government regulation. With the advent of globalisation, government stability, which has traditionally not been a concern in developed nations such as the UK, can now not escape attention as firms seek to transform into multinationals. Establishment of supranational cooperation such as the European Union also comes into play as cross-national standardization takes course. Deregulation of an industry by the government may result in new entrants that practice competitive pricing and thus affect incumbents. The second aspect in PEST analysis involves economic considerations, where there is the analysis of economic indicators such as interest rates, people’s disposable incomes, unemployment rates, inflation, currency strength and global economics (Henry 2008, p. 54). A practical example is one in which a firm dealing with importations in the UK has to monitor the strength of the Sterling Pound since a strong Pound could easily make importation quite expensive. The same firm is also affected by global oil price dynamics and must have felt the repercussions of an economic downturn resulting from American economics. In such a recession, the spending power of consumers declines and lay-offs increas e hence affecting such a firm’s sales. All of these should be analysed if the firm is to navigate the industry properly. Osborne and Brown (2005, p. 17) explain that firms are impacted by social factors like an aging population, social inclusion agitation, new social needs and transformation of previous needs and need for sustainable societies. All these affect a firm’s market size, customer loyalty and growth and thus are weighty considerations for firms. For instance, population demographics may determine the products that will have large markets and strategies that will access such markets. Different products and strategies appeal to both young and ageing populations in significantly different ways; hence a firm has to ensure it analyses population trends and future expectations. The last aspect of PEST analysis is technology, where a firm has to ensure it places itself in a strategic position to take advantage of new and useful technologies since the implications i n terms of competitiveness are far-reaching (Gimbert 2011, p. 49). Some of the most impacting technologies include IT, internet and genetic engineering while emerging areas such as nanotechnology are bound to be influential. A practical example of how analysis of the technological factors is crucial is in the advent of the internet, where the first firms to capitalise on its advantages such as ease of communication and access to wider markets gained immense competitive advantages over their rivals. Part 2: a) Structural Problems Sony is a largely successful

The role of using first language and translation in young learners Essay

The role of using first language and translation in young learners classes - Essay Example The paper tells that the most appropriate way to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is a source of primary scholarly debate. Recently, more attention has been given to the use of translation and the native language (L1) in communicative English Language Teaching (ELT). Most of the theories inform us that young children's language development is influenced by many factors, including using their first language to explain concepts and express abstract reasoning. This is due to the presence of what some researchers call the cognitive window of development. This is often used in cognitive learning in association with the development of self-motivational strategies in children who are learning to use cognitive learning skills that focus on self-efficacy. Planning and goal-setting are involved with what is perceived by many to be an increasing amount of self-regulation in children who succeed in forming self-regulating meta-cognitive processes as they grow older through early to middle childhood (ages 7-12). This theory can exist comfortably alongside theories of the cognitive window, as these self-regulation methods also help children to assimilate knowledge, not intuitively through a window of cognitive functioning, but structurally in terms of cognitive awareness of the expectations of others in the learning process. This theory pertains directly to middle childhood, which is an age range that is currently and actively taking ESL in Oman.

The Definition of Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Definition of Art - Essay Example Art in the Middle Ages can be seen to be dominated by themes of Christianity as the Paganism of the shattered Roman Empire gave way to the Christian belief structures of the new emperors and rulers. From roughly the 500s to the 1500s, art was dominated by a rigid interpretation offered by religious leaders rather than through any of the science or knowledge that had been gained in earlier centuries. Like the Renaissane itself, the Middle Ages can often be broken down into three distinct periods: the early middle ages, the central middle ages and the late middle ages. â€Å"During the early Middle Ages, most paintings were found in the form of illustrated manuscripts. This remained the chief form of painting for years† (Rymer, 2004). A chief reason for this was due to the fact that much of the art produced during this period was produced in the only place where individuals had the leisure and materials with which to produce it and where the wealth consented to support it. Manus cripts were important in preserving the knowledge of the church before the printing press was invented and the illustration of these manuscripts was encouraged by those individuals with the power and strength to encourage it but without the knowledge to read it. â€Å"During the time of Charlemagne, a large emphasis was placed on learning. Though Charlemagne could not read, he supported the development of illustrated texts† (Rymer, 2004). Color usage was relatively muted in the earliest examples of illustrated manuscripts.

The Role of Nursing Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Role of Nursing - Article Example The boards set the minimum competencies and qualifications such as academic qualifications, age and experience for practitioners in the professions. One of the reasons the nursing profession requires to be regulated and closely monitored is for the reason that the risk associated with the civic being attended to by unqualified or incompetent practitioners. The boards therefore only offer the licenses to competent and qualified nurses who have met the minimum set qualifications. Because the public may not identify unqualified practitioners or the irregularities, they may be vulnerable to exploitation from unprofessional practices (Shirley, 1998). The state nursing boards ensure competence in the nursing practice through regulating license issuance, entry into the profession, disciplinary action and license renewal. The duties and responsibilities of state nursing boards are defined by the law makers so as to protect the public from unsafe nursing practices. The establishment of state nursing boards ensures that the stake holders in the nursing practice are competent enough and that they meet all the requirements as per the regulations (Shirley, 1998). State nursing boards of nursing are agencies formed by the governments to regulate the nursing practice in the state. ... The state boards of nursing are also involved regulating the nursing practice through licensing all the nursing operations in the state (Allen, 2011). The board issues the nursing license only if they are qualified to safe nursing. After the issuing of the licenses, the state nursing boards continue monitoring the nursing practice where be if unsafe practices are identified the licenses will be reclaimed and legal actions taken. The roles of the board in the nursing involve employing and registering nurses and inquiring on irregularity cases by applying the set discipline procedures. The state nursing boards are required to report to the state administrations such as the governor of the state and the state agencies (Staunton & Mary, 2007). The state boards of nursing are allocated the authoritative powers to make decisions on the nursing practice as well as registering all the qualified practitioners in the nursing sector. The board also has the powers to take disciplinary actions ag ainst unsafe nursing practices (Allen, 2011). Some of the authoritative powers that the nursing boards are allocated involve developing standards of safe nursing, licensing and developing organizational rules and regulations. The nursing boards have also been allocated the powers to approve or disapprove the nursing and health care educational programs offered in colleges and universities. All the nursing practitioners are therefore responsible for understanding all the nursing regulations and applying them in practicing safe nursing. The development of the policies and structures governing the nursing is also the responsibility of the nursing board. The primary legislation is made up of the rules which make up the standards. The primary

The basic characteristics of literary journalism Essay

The basic characteristics of literary journalism - Essay Example Chronology refers to the arrangement of scenes or events in order in which they take place in a particular eventful situation from the perspective of journalism. Within this context, it can be deduced that this arrangement can be of two types: scenes or observations. In the scenes, there is a particular sequence or arrangement of carefully arranged scenes because this sequence is highly important as it retains a required level and type of structure which is the base of any particular theme involved in the scenes. A sequence of observations can also be used to describe a particular events leading to a meticulous outcome or other effects. Simultaneously, within this context, both types of chorology have different objectives and outcomes as the entire piece of literary journalistic writing is based on the factual or real-life situations in which a particular arrangement of scenes retains a specific type of chronology. As a result of in-built chronology, the piece of journalistic writing becomes able to create an impression of depicting or portraying reality as if it is happening in front of the reader. In the literary journalism, parallel structures are those storylines in which story have more than one causal chain of events and have two different stories are highlighted simultaneously.It can be said that the use of parallelism can increase the level of suspense and adventure in the story in which a particular perspective or use of chronology can be included to make effective.

The Alcan Organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Alcan Organization - Essay Example The company is highly vertically integrated having eight deposits and mines, seven alumina plants with a transport networks including rail and port facilities, seven alumina refineries, 12 electric power plants, 170 packaging material plants, 26 smelter, 50 engineered product plants and 18 laminated product plants (INDUSTRY CANADA, 2005). In an attempt to understand the Alcan’s IT structure, this paper explores a range of issues that are linked to the Alcan Organization as an IT oriented organization. This includes its organization and operating technology, its dominant IT Strategies and Practices, technological contributions linked to the organization, its technological barriers, as well as its business continuity plan. Organization and Operating Technology. In the Alcan Company, all groups are centrally coordinated. The information and technology organization works on the objectives of the organization rather than for each specific business IT group. The requirements of each group such as its activities are closely linked and cooperation amongst the business IT groups is up to date (Foster, 2007). The wish of the IT individuals is always to fulfill the particular demands of the whole organization and it is worth noting that estimating and analyzing of the costs of IT for the whole organization is achievable (Dube, & Roy, 2009). ... The group that is concerned with financial and other includes 14 resources that are divided among Singen, Montreal, Paris and Zurich. The Architecture group consists of three resources having technical skills corresponding to Infrastructure Planning and the Shared Infrastructure Service group. The technical skills for this group are middleware and Web technology. The Information System Solution group is composed of sixty resources that are distributed in five different cities. The cities are Issoire, Paris, Neuf Brisach, Voreppe and Warmley. This group’s major focus is on main SAP Implementation projects among the Engineered Product group. The last group is the Infrastructure Shared Service group which has about forty resources that are all located in 6 different sites. These are Montreal Paris, Singen, Chicago, Warmley, and Voreppe (Dube, Bernier, & Roy, 2009). This group helps in operation of the infrastructure components that include e-mail, global network and data processi ng. The group, as well provides workstation support alongside the collaboration of tools. All these groups are integrated (Foster, 2007). Technological Contributions to the Organization. The plan adopted by the Alcan management team has seen drastic changes in the IT sector of the Alcan organization. The plan has been a corner stone in so far as the implementation of the management services common to the business groups is concerned and the services are now handled by a central organization unit with the support of the internal billing mechanism. The centralization of the IT shared services has gone a long way in promoting economies of scale,

Effect of Poverty on Women's Healthcare Research Paper

Effect of Poverty on Women's Healthcare - Research Paper Example health, it becomes imperative to identify and disclose health disparities related to gender and economic level so that appropriate actions are taken to help the needful. In this article, feminization of poverty and the health effects of poverty on women is discussed. It is a well known fact that the health of women is not only determined by biological factors but also by several social factors, the most important of which is poverty. In fact, 2 out of every 3 women in the world are plagued by poverty leading to an array of clinical problems like malnutrition, anemia, easy fatigability, increased susceptibility to infections and even premature death (Cohen, 1994). Though several organizations like the World Health Organization have asserted that health is a fundamental right of every human being irrespective of sex and other aspects, several women are being denied of this right and the main cause for this happens to be poverty. It is very important to tackle poverty of women for the purpose of long term success of the child poverty strategy of the Government (WBG, 2005). In this essay, the impact of poverty on the health care of women will be discussed through review of appropriate literature. In several countries like even developed countries like Canada, the poverty rates of women across all age groups is higher than in men. One of the main reasons for poverty among women is their dependency for living. In many races, women are not provided enough education and this leads to poor vocational opportunity and poverty. Many researchers favour the link between education and poverty (Zaki and El-Deeb, 2004). Also, many women cannot get employed full-time because of the responsibilities they have towards their children, husbands and elderly people at home. Lack of awareness which is more predominant in those belonging to lower socio-economic group is another major factor that influences health. In a study by Ailinget et al (2009), it was found that poor women had lower

Fitness Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fitness - Assignment Example Chad may be having. This initial formality is quite crucial for any trainer and their client. For Mr. Chad, a medical form was sent to his doctor and later returned with all the necessary medical questions and requirements filled out. It turned out that Mr. Chad is quite healthy, with no chronic illnesses. For a personal trainer, it is always important to familiarize with a patient’s medical history. This familiarity ensures that one is fully aware of the client they are dealing with and whether they are fit enough for some of the exercise routines being made ready for them (Graves, 2000). Once the decision to begin exercising is reached, cardiac anomalies are usually tested. This examination is done through a graded exercise test. This test was recommended to Mr. Chad because of his age. It is generally not performed on people under the age of 40 years. The test was done with utmost care, under the supervision of three highly trained medical personnel, who had brought with them emergency response medical equipment. A treadmill was used for running and walking exercises, after which his heart rate and blood pressure were measured and compared to the standard range. To determine how hard Mr. Chad should train, a level of exercise intensity that would reasonably overload his cardiovascular system was identified. This identification was through the THR, which relates increasing exercise intensity to a faster heartbeat. The increasing pulse is caused by the muscles demanding for more blood and oxygen. After this test, the next exercise was to assess Mr. Chad’s cardiovascular endurance. This examination was done through the 12-minute run-walk test. The test was used to verify aerobic fitness levels before and after training. In this exercise, Mr. Chad covered a distance of 1.3 miles in 12 minutes, indicating that he had good cardiovascular endurance (Graves, 2000). Having tested Mr. Chad’s cardiovascular endurance, a

Typhoons Case Essay Example for Free

Typhoons Case Essay Being raised in a country where typhoons are frequent has helped me a lot. It made me the type of person who is always on his guard and very vigilant. Typhoons strike our country practically every month and it could last for days. On the first few signs of a typhoon coming, my instincts become to protect my family, all our belongings, and myself. And that feat is not very easy when you come face to face with a rather catastrophic natural disaster. Typhoons have also made me a quick-thinker. Typhoons would require you to think on the spur of the moment as lives can either be saved or lost. Everything you have worked for can be gone in an instant. Saving others in times of typhoons is critical. There has been an instance that the typhoon became so strong and it blew our neighbor’s roof away. I was faced with a scenario wherein I can help them by asking them to come into my house and stay there until after the storm subsides, but I can endanger myself in that process. Or I can just protect myself and wait for them come to my door. This simple instance has helped realize that typhoons could bring out the best and the worst in a person. And I did go out and helped. Typhoons are a natural calamity. If you look at it on one side, it is nothing but an inconvenience to our lives and our livelihood. But if you look at it harder, it is some sort of a test a test of will and strength. Only a person who has come so near to a life-shattering event can view life differently. He will not be careless or irresponsible. Typhoons are strong forces. No man can make it or will it to go away. The only weapon you have against it is your strong will and determination that after it has passed by, the sun will surely shine once more.

Research on Mental States of Non-Human Animals

Research on Mental States of Non-Human Animals To what extent does research support the claim that non-human animals, particular chimpanzees, have human-like understanding of mental states? In the last three decades, cognitive approaches to the study of animal behaviour have attracted increasing research attention. Much of this interest has concentrated on social cognition and whether animals understand the mental states of others in the same way humans do. In an attempt to address this question research has predominately focused on non-human primates (hereafter primates), especially chimpanzees. This popularity is probably owing to chimpanzees’ evolutionary relatedness to humans, which is the closest of all the primate species and therefore increases the likelihood that they might share human cognitive abilities. Human mental states are a suite of cognitive abilities which allow us to understand others’ psychological states. One example is theory of mind (ToM) which is the ability to understand that other individuals have beliefs and that such beliefs can be different from your own. This is illustrated by the ‘Smarties Test’ in which an individual is shown a tube of smarties and asked what they think is inside the tube, they correctly infer ‘smarties’ however when the tube is opened it is revealed that the tube contains only pencils. The individual is then asked what another naà ¯ve person would answer if given the same test. If the individual has a ToM they should understand that the naà ¯ve individual will have a false belief about the tube’s contents and therefore answer in the same way, i.e., smarties. Research shows that children under the age of 4 years have not fully developed a ToM and invariably fail the smarties test whereas children above t his age pass the test. Experiments conducted on primates have shown little evidence that they have a ToM. For example, Call and Tomasello (1999) tested chimpanzees, orangutans and children with a non-verbal false belief task. The task involved a series of finding games in which a reward was hidden in one of two identical containers by an adult (the hider), and another adult, who had witnessed the hiding process (the communicator), placed a token on the baited container which acted as a marker to indicate to the subject where the food was hidden. The subjects learnt to use the marker to locate the reward and ignore the marker when they knew it to be incorrect (during visible displacement trials). In the crucial false belief trials, the communicator watched the baiting of the container and then left the area and during the communicator’s absence the hider swapped the location of the containers. When the communicator returned she placed the marker on the container in the location she had seen the rewar d being hidden, which was incorrect, and therefore the communicator had a false belief about where the reward was hidden. To show an understanding of this belief the subjects would have to choose the container which the communicator did not place the marker on. The results showed that children chose the correct location of the reward demonstrating their understanding of the communicator’s false belief whereas none of the apes succeeded in choosing the correct location demonstrating their lack of false belief understanding. Other studies have also failed to find evidence of ToM in primates (for review see Povinelli 2004) and many now think that language is needed for the development of ToM which seems to have led researchers away from studying ToM in primates and other species of animals. Another mental state that has received much research attention is intentionally. Intentionally can be defined as understanding the behaviours of other as intentional, goal directed activities. The first study to address this issue was conducted by Premack and Woodruff (1978). They presented Sarah with videotaped sequences of a human actor in several problem-solving situations that were familiar to Sarah. For example, the actor was depicted looking up toward an out-of-reach banana hanging from the ceiling, or attempting to operate a hose that was unattached to a tap. After Sarah had viewed each problem, she was shown a pair of photographs, one of which depicted the solution to the problem. For instance, in the out-of-reach banana situation, the solution consisted of the actor moving a box under the banana. Overall, Sarah performed well on these tasks from the beginning but Savage-Rumbaugh et al (1978) pointed out that Sarah might have been choosing alternatives based on the simple ass ociations among objects formed from her experiences with caretakers and their behaviour with test items, such hoses and taps. Savage-Rumbaugh et al (1978) analysed each item Sarah was presented with and found that, overall, items for which such associative procedures were most straightforward were the ones on which Sarah performed best. In addition, Savage-Rumbaugh et al (1978) presented two language-trained chimpanzees with a matching-to-sample task in which the chimpanzees were shown, for example, a picture of a key and asked to select between pictures of a box and a padlock. Both chimpanzees performed well above chance in this task and selected the correct alternative in the majority of trials. These results therefore provided an alternative explanation to that of understanding of intention in others. Other research on chimpanzees’ understanding of intentions has produced mixed results. Povinelli et al (1998), for example, tested six chimpanzees who could choose to point to one of two caretakers to provide them with a cup of juice. However, prior to the choice the apes had experience of the caretakers’ behaviour in which one caretaker would accidentally drop the drink on the floor and the other would purposely empty the cup of juice on the floor. The authors reasoned that an understanding of the intentionally of the caretakers would result in the apes choosing the caretaker to provide them with juice who had previously acted with good intention but accidentally spilled the drink. The results showed that the apes made no preference for the ‘clumsy’ caretaker indicating that the apes were unable to understand the experimenters’ intentions. However, Call and Tomasello (2004) argue that there was no motivation to choose between the two caretakers beca use whomever they chose they would receive no juice. This possibility can be tested by repeating the experiment and allowing the caretakers to sometimes drop or purposely spill the drink on some trials but not on others. This would allow the apes to receive juice in some of the trials e.g., 50%, and therefore raise the apes’ motivation whilst maintaining the essence of the experiment. In contrast to the Povinelli et al’s (1998) study, Call et al (2004) found evidence that chimpanzees do show understanding of intentional behaviour in humans. The authors conducted an ‘unwilling’ and ‘unable’ test in which an experimenter would feed an ape a grape through a hole in the Plexiglas window. On some trials the ape would not receive the grape from the experimenter who in one condition would accidentally drop the grape and in a second condition would tease the ape by repeatedly pulling the grape back from the hole. When the apes’ behaviour was analysed it was found that they behaved differently in the two conditions. When the grapes were accidentally dropped the ape remained in the room longer than when the experimenter teased the ape. Moreover, during the teasing condition the apes often showed frustrated behaviour, such as spitting and punching the plexi-glass panel. The authors suggest this demonstrates the apes’ understandi ng of the experimenter’s intentions of being unable to give the grape in one condition and unwilling to give the grape in the other condition. However, it would be interesting to know exactly how the teasing behaviour was executed by the experimenter. For example, if the experimenter used loud vocalisations in the teasing condition but not in the clumsy condition it is possible the apes were just reacting to this rather than the experimenter’s intention. Knowing what others can see is another mental state humans possess and one that chimpanzees have shown evidence in possessing. For example, Hare et al (2001) used a competitive paradigm to test whether a subordinate chimpanzee would take into account how a dominant rival would behave depending if the rival had seen food being baited behind a barrier. The two chimpanzees faced each other across an ape enclosure which had one barrier in the middle of the enclosure. An experimenter hid one piece behind the barrier (on the subordinate’s side) and one piece in the open. In some conditions the dominant saw the reward being placed behind the barrier and in other conditions did not see the food being placed there. After the baiting procedure the subordinate and dominant were then allowed access to rewards. When the subordinate had observed that the dominant had not seen the food being hidden behind the barrier the subordinate would approach the food behind the barrier leaving the domi nant to retrieve the reward that was out in the open. However, when the dominant had seen the food placed behind the barrier the subordinate showed no preference for the food behind the barrier. In a follow-up study Hare et al (2001) extended these findings by repeating the experiment but in some conditions the dominant was switched (after seeing the food being hidden) with another dominant who had not seen the food being hidden. The results showed that the subordinate approached the reward placed behind the barrier more often when the dominant had been switched with the naà ¯ve dominant and the authors suggest that this demonstrates chimpanzees can predict who had seen what. In addition, a control condition ruled out the possibility that the subordinate was acting on simple rules such as preferring food lying close to the barriers. For example, when the opaque barrier was replaced by a transparent barrier, so that the dominant would see the reward even when he had not seen the foo d being placed there, the subordinate’s preference for the food behind the barrier disappeared. Although the above two studies seem to show that chimpanzees understand what others see, several researchers suggest that chimpanzees are using simpler mechanisms to solve the task. Karin-D’Arcy and Povinelli (2002), for example, argue that subordinate chimpanzees might simple prefer food that is next to barriers as this provides some safety from attack by the dominant. The authors repeated Hare et al’s 2002 study and found that subordinate chimpanzees preferred food next to the barrier even when both chimpanzees could see both pieces of food (the barrier was positioned vertically in relation to both chimpanzees). In addition, Povinelli and Vonk (2003) argue that even if the chimpanzees did not have a preference per se for the barriers in Hare et al’s 2002 studies the chimpanzees can understand which food the dominant will be likely to go for without evoking any mental states. For example, behavioural abstraction taken from previous experiences of similar interac tions can be used to predict the dominant’s behaviour. This can occur if the subordinate understands that when the dominant is facing the food the dominant will go towards that food, so use the rule ‘don not go for the food if the dominant is orientated toward the food’. Povinelli and Vonk (2003) further argue that experiments testing mental states in animals will only be of value if the possibility of behavioural abstraction is removed from the experimental equation. The authors therefore advocate that mental attribution can only be tested in chimpanzees and other animals by showing evidence of an individual extrapolating its own experiences to the mental states of others, a theory first put forward by Heyes (1998). Povinelli and Vonk (2003) suggest the following as a suitable experiment to address Heyes’ (1998) idea. First, allow an ape to interact with two buckets, one red and one black. The red bucket is placed over the ape’s head and the ape ca n clearly see its surroundings through the bucket, however when the black bucket is placed over the ape’s head he can see nothing. Now if the ape is confronted with two experimenters, one wearing the black bucket over her head and the other the red bucket over her head, and the ape begs for food only from the experimenter wearing the red bucket then it is likely that the ape is using mental attribution as the only experience the ape has had of the buckets is through its own experience. Povinelli and Vonk (2003) argue that experiments of this nature can provide evidence of mental states and rule out alternative interpretations such as behavioural abstractions. Conclusion The mental states of humans include a suite of cognitive functions which allow us to understand others’ knowledge and beliefs such as theory of mind and intentionally. Many argue that only humans have these types of mental states and other animals use lower cognitive functions based on learning and experience, such as behavioural abstractions. However, there is increasing evidence that other animals, especially chimpanzees, might also have human-like mental states, such as understanding intentions and understanding the relationship between seeing and knowing. One major caveat, however, is, to date, the most convincing research on chimpanzees’ mental states can not distinguish if the chimpanzees’ actions are based on human-like mental states or based on mechanisms not involving mental attribution such as behavioural abstractions. What is therefore needed is further research which can distinguish between these two possibilities and therefore increase our understand ing of the psychological abilities of chimpanzees and other animals. References Call, J., Tomasello, M.(1999) A nonverbal theory of mind test. The performance of children and apes. Child Development, 70, 381-395 Call, J., Hare, B., Carpenter, M., Tomasello (2004) Unwilling or unable: Chimapnzees’ understanding of human intentional action. Developmental Science, 7, 488-498 Hare,B., Call, J., Agnetta, B., Tomasello, M.(2000) Chimpanzees know what conspecifics do and do not see. Animal Behaviour, 59, 771-785. Hare,B., Call, J., Tomasello, M.(2001). Do chimpanzees know what conspecifics know? Animal Behaviour, 61, 139-151. Heyes,CM (1998). Theory of mind in nonhuman primates. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 21, 101-148. Povinelli, D.J., Perilloux, H.K., Reaux, J.E. Bierschwale, D.T. (1998) Young and Juvenile chimpanzees reactions to intentional versus accidental and inadvertent actions. Behavioural Processes, 42, 205-218 Povinelli, D.J. (2004) Behind the ape’s appearance: escaping anthropocentrism in the study of other minds. Dadalus 29-41 Povinelli, D. J., Giambrone, S. (2001). Reasoning about beliefs: A human specialization? Child Development, 72, 691-695. Povinelli, D.J. Vonk, J. (2003) Chimpanzees minds: Suspiciously human? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 157-160. Povinelli, D.J. Vonk, J. (2004). We dont need a microscope to explore the chimpanzee mind. Mind and Language, 19, 1-28. Tomasello, M., Call, J., and Hare, B. (2003b). Chimpanzees understand psychological states- the question is which ones and to what extent. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 153-156. Savage-Rumbaugh, E.S., Rumbaugh, D.M., Boysen, S.T. (1978). Sarahs problems in comprehension. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1, 555-557.