Psychological Measures in the Multicultural South African Context Essay

South Africa is deeply embedded in the roots of its past and so it inevitable that psychological assessment today would be greatly influenced by the history of our country. Foxcroft (1997) argued that there is a grave importance to understand the impact that South Africa’s past apartheid policies have had on the development and use of psychological testing. In her paper she addresses the impact of Apartheid policies on test development and use as well as linguistic, cultural and norm factors that would pose a threat to the fair, unbiased and ethical use and interpretation of psychological tests. This assignment will follow a similar outline, whereby the past and present of psychological assessment will be discussed in order to understand why the status of psychological assessment has not progressed to the level that was expected of post-apartheid South Africa. Finally, the laws or statutory controls that have been used to regulate measures will be discussed. It is important to firstly understand what psychological testing is and when it can be used. According to Krupenia, Mouton, Beuster and Makwe (2000), a psychological test is an â€Å"objective and standardized measure of a sample of behavior† (Setshedi, 2008). Tests must meet three important criteria; validity, reliability and standardization. According to Gadd and Phipps (as cited in Groth-Marnat, 2009), a standardised test is one which keeps the test items, administration, scoring, and interpretation procedures consistent thus allowing comparisons between scores. The aim of standardising tests can therefore be described as structuring tests so as to compare different persons’ scores (Gadd and Phipps, 2012). However, a problem arises due to the diverse and multicultural contexts of South Africa. It becomes difficult to yield fair and unbiased results without taking into consideration the language, culture and norms of the participants. The Employment Equity Act No. 55 of 1998 (Section 8) refers to psychological tests and assessment specifically and states that: â€Å"Psychological testing and other similar forms or assessments of an employee are prohibited unless the test or assessment that is being used: Has been scientifically shown to be valid and reliable, can be applied fairly to all employees and is not biased against any employee or group† (van de Vijver & Rothmann, 2004). However, this has not been fully achieved and psychological testing in South Africa faces many challenges. These challenges or pitfalls owe themselves to the ideologies of the past, namely, Apartheid. The status of psychological testing in South Africa today cannot be considered without reflecting on the past discriminatory laws and practices of apartheid. These laws discriminated politically and were based on demographics, that being race and social class. The policies and legislation passed during apartheid influenced the way in which test development was approached (Foxcroft, 2004). According to Foxcroft, 2004, the development of new culturally relevant tests has been minimal and the reason for this is that there is a â€Å"dire shortage of test development capacity in South Africa at present. † Joseph & van Lill (2008) state that these large inequalities perpetuated during Apartheid may be embedded in South Africa’s social and economic structures and as a result, variables such as language, race, socio-economic status, the environment and social and educational backgrounds serve as major challenges to the validity, reliability and standardisation of psychological testing. As was mentioned , â€Å"The practice of psychological testing in South Africa needs to be understood in terms of the impact that past apartheid political policies have had on test development and use† (Foxcroft, 1997). To understand this, it is important to reflect on the history of psychological assessment in South Africa. History of psychological assessment There is close relationship between science and politics in South African psychology (Claassen, 1995; Cooper, Nicholas, Seedat, & Statman, 1990; Nell, 1997) and so it is not surprising that the development of psychological tests during the apartheid era was shaped by the politics and ideologies of the time. Under the apartheid regime, there was segregation along racial lines of residential areas and education. Job policies ensured that certain jobs were reserved for certain groups, namely the white population. Claasen (1997) asserts that psychological testing was introduced to South Africa through the British and the development of psychological tests has followed closely to the patterns of tests in the USA. South African tests however, were developed in a context of unequal distribution of resources as a result of apartheid policies and were thus used to exploit black labour and deny black people access to education and economic resources, thereby perpetuating apartheid. It was therefore inevitable that psychological tests would follow the same kind of segregation along racial lines. As a result, assessment became an asset to the Apartheid regime and was reinforced by those scientists who believed in the Western concept of Intelligence (Foxcroft, 1997). Laher (2012) speaks of tests that were standardized for educated white South Africans but were administered to â€Å"illiterate, uneducated or poorly educated black South Africans† without investigating as whether the test was free of bias and suitability for the latter group of individuals. This, once again was done so as to use the results to justify that the white race was superior. Socio-political developments in the latter half of the 1980s led to the start of the abolition of racism advocated by apartheid. It later became apparent that there was a demand from the industrial and educational sectors of society, for common tests that would not be unfair or discriminatory against race or culture (Claassen, 1995). Test developers were then under a great deal of pressure to give consideration to test bias and to also develop unbiased psychometric tests that were not designed to place one group as superior to the other and that would not discriminate along racial lines (Claassen, 1995; Owen, 1991; van Eeden & Visser, 1992). However, it appears the transformation of test development and testing practices has made less progress in the 1990s than was expected and this can be pinned down to the challenges faced due to the â€Å"multicultural and multilingual context of South Africa† (Foxcroft, 2004), thus making the process of transformation more complex. The perception that psychological testing was unjust somewhat changed in the post-apartheid years, however, this transformation of test development and testing practices has made less progress than was expected because of the complexity of developing unbiased and fair testing practices (Foxcroft, 1997, pp. 30). Some of the major pitfalls associated with psychological assessment stems from the â€Å"dire shortage of test ability capacity in the country at the moment† (Foxcroft, 2004). There are very few tests that have been developed in SA, that account for the multicultural, multilingual and socio-economic aspects of the country. South Africa boasts eleven different official languages and an array of different cultures and norms. Although, language and culture are both linked they are completely different and thus pose individual challenges to the assessment process. Culture According to Hall and Maramba (2001), the role of culture in psychology in general, has been of a secondary nature and has acted as a â€Å"moderator or qualifier of theoretical propositions assumed to be universal in scope† (as cited in Gergen, Gulerce, Lock & Misra, 1996). Hall and Maramba (2001:12) further go on to say however, that there is an increasing awareness that European American psychological theories may be of limited relevance in non – European American contexts and thus by considering cultural issues, it can only help in making psychology more comprehensive and relevant. It is therefore important to understand the role that culture plays in the psychological assessment process. The fact that culture has been somewhat ignored in psychological testing becomes a major pitfall as according to Foxcroft (2004), â€Å"the South African society has a diversity of cultures in which appreciation for the culture of origin exists alongside variations in acculturation towards a Western norm† (as cited in Claassen, 1997). Culture-fairness of tests and applicability across different groups of people has emerged as some of the most important themes associated with the fair and ethical use and interpretation of tests (van der Merwe, 2002) and thus it is vital that these objectives are met. With this said, the onus is on the psychological assessment practitioner to use caution when interpreting results especially within the context of South Africa. Without measures with culturally relevant content and appropriate norms, fair testing practice may be compromised thus leading to test bias. The debate around norming The debate around the norming of psychological tests is a complex one. The question practitioners ask themselves is whether norms should be used or not. Some say it is a way of â€Å"addressing the inequities in cross-cultural applications of tests† (Paterson & Uys, 2005), others felt that creating different norms for different groups could be seen as discriminatory and almost comparable to apartheid practices (Paterson &Uys, 2005). A comment from a participant in the study done by Paterson and Uys (2005), put the whole debate into perspective and stated that, â€Å"You should not develop a norm on those people for whom the test does not work. That is a prerequisite: you can only norm on groups where your test is reliable enough to use† (Paterson & Uys, 2005). Foreign tests Psychological tests in South Africa are adaptations of foreign tests and from roughly the 1920s to the 1960s were developed specifically for the white population, not taking into consideration culture and language so as to further differentiate between the white and black population. This has become a major challenge for psychological assessment today as there are very few psychological tests that have been developed in South Africa, that take into account cultural biases, norms and language. The works of Joseph and van Lill (2008) looks at the history of this country and they suggest that there was a recognised demand for tests that were more suitable for the different race and language populations. This need or demand grew during the latter parts of the apartheid era, where there had been a need for change to the discriminatory policies and ideologies of the time. This all occurred during the 1980s to 1994. During this time there had been many studies, which served to prove bias in foreign tests being used in South Africa. The first thorough study of bias was by Owen (1986). He investigated test and item bias using various tests, for example, the Senior Aptitude Test, the Mechanical Insight Test and the Scholastic Proficiency Test (van de Vijver & Rothmann, 2004). He found that there were significant differences between the test scores of black and white participants. His conclusion was that understanding the reasons for these differences and counteracting them would be a major challenge. This proved to be true as even now, psychological test bias in terms of demographics and culture remains a major pitfall of the assessment process. Retief (1992) concluded that â€Å"personality tests seldom retain the level of reliability† and even loses some validity when used across cultures and the validity (Joseph & van Lill, 2008). Abrahams (1996) and Abrahams and Mauer (1999) concluded in another study that some tests such as the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) â€Å"could not be used across different racial groups, as the reliability was not acceptable for the black groups† (Joseph & van Lill, 2008). These results highlighted problems with the construct and item comparability of the test. From the conclusions made by the above psychologists, it is proposed that in order for an imported psychological test to be adopted in South Africa, it must be carefully researched, before it can be used within our South African context (Joseph & van Lill, 2008). Language From looking at the imported tests into South Africa, that being those imported from Europe and the US, it is evident that they have been developed and standardized in English. This poses a major problem in the South African context. Joseph and van Lill (2008) state that taking into account the history of South Africa’s language policies and differences in language proficiencies; it is evident that when a psychological test is administered in English, individuals from a different demographic group find difficulties in understanding the test. South Africa boasts eleven different official languages and not everyone in South Africa can speak fluent English. According to Joseph and van Lill (2008), this may have a negative influence on an individual’s performance on a test (Meiring, Van de Vijver & Rothmann, 2006). Thus, it is of great importance that language be considered when assessing the appropriateness of a psychological test in a multi-lingual context (Van de Vijver & Leung, 1997). There have been some tests that have been translated, for example the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), which has been translated for Setswana-speaking University students in an attempt to standardise the WCST. However, even though translations have been made, there appears to still be some problems as English words with multiple meanings cannot be adequately translated. English idioms cannot be expressed in another language without changing the entire sentence structure along with the underlying logic of the sentence—and when that happens standardization, and the guarantee of fairness it promises, is lost† (Richmond, n. d). The 16PF test used as an example to illustrate the use of foreign tests also serves as a good illustration here. Abrahams (2002) concluded that participants whose home langu age was neither English nor Afrikaans found that the items of the 16PF were more difficult to understand (Joseph & van Lill, 2008). Tests such as the General Scholastic Aptitude Test (GSAT); Ability, Processing of Information and Learning Battery (APIL-B) and Paper and Pencil Games (PPG) are the only psychological tests available today in all eleven official languages. From the cases above, it is clear to see that issues relating to standardization, norm development and cross-cultural relevance to test material are evidence that there are major pitfalls associated with psychological measures used in a multicultural South African context. Statutory Control It is important for certain measures and instruments in psychological assessment to be regulated by law, especially when it involves culture. If there are tests that do not take into account culture and norms, fair testing practices may be compromised (Foxcroft, 1997); thus the need for strict statutory control of psychological assessment. According to Mauer (2000) there are two pieces of legislation that regulate the assessment process. The first piece includes acts and regulations which take the form of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995), and the Employment Equity Act (55 of 1998), (Mauer, 200). â€Å"These Acts deal with matters of individuals’ rights and with specific substantive issues† (Mauer, 2000). The second piece of legislation is the Health Professions Act (56 of 1974) in which â€Å"the scope of the profession of psychology, and the responsibilities and duties/functions of psychologists are addressed within the context of health care in the country† (Mauer, 2000). According to Mauer (2000), it is also important to note that the law restricts psychological assessment measures to only registered psychological professionals. The Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, Section 8 (Government Gazette, 1998), stipulates that: â€Å"Psychological testing and other similar assessments are prohibited unless the test or assessment being used – (a) has been scientifically shown to be valid and reliable, (b) can be applied fairly to all employees; and (c) is not biased against any employee or group† (Mauer, 2000). Apart from legislation, there are also guidelines which help perpetuate fair and ethical practices. According to the International Test Commissions International Guidelines on Test Use (Version 2000) the following fair and ethical practices must be adhered to: â€Å"1). The appropriate, fair, professional, and ethical use of assessment measures and assessment results taking into account the needs and rights of those involved in the assessment process; 2). Ensuring that the assessment conducted closely matches the purpose to which the assessment result will be put; 3). Taking into account the broader social, cultural, and political context in which assessment is used and the ways in which such factors might affect assessment results, their interpretation, and the use to which they are put the test is valid for the purposes for which it is being used; 5). Appropriate norms are consulted; 6). Lastly, where tests that have been developed in other countries are concerned, appropriate research studies need to be undertaken to investigate whether the test is culturally biased and special care should be taken when interpreting the results of such tests† (Foxcroft & Roodt, 2001). From points three and six, it is evident that culture, norms and language hugely determine if a test will prove to be free of bias and is ethically fair. If these variables are not considered, the test is considered inappropriate and biased. This is a serious pitfall for psychological assessment in South Africa. Concluding remarks Ultimately, there are two questions to ask here. The first question is asked by van de Vijver and Rothmann (2004) and that is whether the profession of psychology in South Africa is prepared for the challenge that is implicit in the Equity Act. According to van de Vijver and Rothmann (2004), â€Å"the law is ahead of the daily practice† of psychological assessment and even now no country can live up to the expectations and demands proposed by the Act. To help achieve the propositions of the act, it has become one of the main goals of the assessment profession in South Africa to bring current practice and harmonize it with legal demands of the Equity Act (van de Vijver & Rothmann, 2004). This can be done by â€Å"developing new instruments and validating existing instruments for use in multicultural groups† (van de Vijver & Rothmann, 2004). The second question that is inherent in the argument around historical and current pitfalls is: can the current status of psychological assessment (which is proving less satisfactory than was expected) be attributed to the past racially discriminatory and unethical policies that made up apartheid? In my opinion, the past always shapes the present and future. Apartheid policies, although abolished have left a great impact on the social and economic structures of the country. According to Claassen (1995); Cooper, Nicholas, Seedat, & Statman (1990); Nell (1997), there is a close relationship between science and the politics of the time and thus it can be concluded that the development of psychological tests during the apartheid era was shaped by the politics and ideologies of the time. Today, without considering the culture, norms and language of the context in which we live, psychological tests may perpetuate the type of bias experienced by minority groups during the apartheid era. It is important for there to be new developments of psychological tests that take into account the multicultural and multilingual nature of South Africa and turn them into positives, instead of test that are rendered inappropriate and unethical.

Understanding Rhetorical Structures as They Pertain to Audience

Understanding Rhetorical Structures as they pertain to audience, purpose, and context Understanding Rhetorical Structure Colton Kiefer EN1420 This paper is about the understanding of the Rhetorical Structures as they pertain to audience, purpose, and context and how they affect the argument of whether taxes should be raised on higher income brackets in order to fund social programs for at-risk and underserved, low income children. I will discuss the relationship between the audience, purpose, and context to the context of the argument. Understanding Rhetorical StructuresHow do audience, purpose, and context affect the argument of whether taxes should be raised on higher income brackets in order to fund social programs for at-risk and underserved, low income children. I will discuss the relationship between the audience, purpose, and context to the context of the argument. Discussion The goal of this discussion is to see the relationship between audience, purpose, and context of shoul d Taxes be raised for higher income brackets in order to fund social programs for at-risk, underserved, and low income children.The first audience for this group are wealth fortune 500 CEO’s. They are considered the in the higher income bracket in my opinion. They need to be educated on the understanding that even though most lower income families struggle, it is not because they are not trying. The economy has taken its toll on a lot of jobs here in the US over the past couple of years and even though they are working a full time job and sometimes two full time jobs, they cannot afford any kind of social program for their children.The present economy conditions are hurting the lower income families to the point that they struggle to make ends meet and can sometimes barley afford to put food on the table for their children. The higher income bracket would need to see just how little the additional taxes would take from them and what the benefits of those taxes could do for a low income family struggling to make ends meet. They still could possibly not be receptive to the idea, but giving them examples of the cost and benefits of such programs I think they would start to understand.The second audience for this group is the low income families of at-risk, and underserved, low income children. They need to be educated on the benefits that could come from the higher taxes. In my opinion, the higher income bracket can afford the higher taxes to fund some of these programs. The cost of living, food, gas, and housing all affect the income of many families in the US. If they understood what could come from the taxes, they could get some reissuance as to vote on such a bill if it came up to vote for the public.Education on the subject of the current tax laws would be a good example of what the different taxes brackets that are used today in the US. Lower income families would jump on the idea of being able to send their children to a soccer camp, or baseball cam p. According to an article on â€Å"Taxing the rich is good for the economy†, raising taxes on the higher income bracket would reduce the taxes on low and middle income families. This would also allow for those families to keep more of their income to use towards these programs. All in all I think it would be a beneficial idea to entertain.The context of the economy, food, and taxes all play an important role in this argument. The higher income bracket would be resistant to the idea until they were presented with facts on the cost and the minimal decrease in income for them. The lower income families would be blessed with some relief with their children’s social experience and the ability to provide more learning resources to them. References Taxing the rich is good for the economy Retrieved from http://www. marketplace. org/topics/economy/commentary/taxing-rich-good-economy By Robert Reich Marketplace for Wednesday, April 18, 2012 Marketplace. org

An Epic Tragedy of History Essay

Both Native American literature and film have been inspired by the oral tradition of passing down stories and cultural folkways, through the spoken word. The personal journey of chronicling these stories in literature and film is very allegorical in that the personal journeys that these writers also parallel their struggle with a literal journey. As such, these stories become full of symbolism for the types of cultural artifacts that cannot be assimilated into mainstream culture; not in the English language, not in the Christian religion, and not in the reservations that hindered spirituality. There is a theme in all of the texts and in the film that depicts the struggle of trying to determine where the individual and the culture fit into the wider world that knows little of their existence. Other texts provide specific insight into how conversion of Native Americans into Christianity was essential for those of European descent to explain this mysterious group. It becomes apparent that the oral tradition sustained these groups for centuries until the loss of land led to the loss of more freedoms, especially that of having the right to shape ideas about the world without the influence of others. The film and the Native American writers reviewed all seek to exert their power and use words and motion pictures to explain all the literary and historical meaning of the stories told to them, predating all these modes of communication. Scott Momady in his book, The Way to Rainy Mountain describes the story of the creation of the Kwuda, which was passed down in the oral tradition. What is interesting is that he notes that the names of the tribe did change and there was a sense of this tribe being divided. â€Å"Later still they took the name Gaigwu, a name which can be taken to indicate something of which two halves differ from each other in appearance† (17). It is not only the way that this group of people came into existence but also the diversity and difference within this particular tribe that is extremely important. When Native Americans were forced onto reservations, it was of the utmost importance for the rest of the world not to see all Native Americans as the same, as they were varied with the many tribes and also within tribes. These oral stories become even more important to dictate into print or film to show how Native Americans viewed the world, themselves, and most importantly to realistically illustrate their heritage with the hopes of changing how many whites viewed them. The allegorical and symbolic divide that came to move all of these authors to write stories that bridged the gap in their own respective lives, also helped to create a film as well. The movie Dreamkeeper, directed by Steve Barron, shows how a family divided will struggle to keep tradition alive despite the death or disappearance of an important figure. In this film the pressing issues between the grandfather, grandson, and absent father serves as a metaphor for the intrusion on the culture of the family’s tribe versus the tradition of passing down lineage and heritage. The metaphor is that the grandfather is rooted in the past, the grandson is heading into an uncertain future, and the father is the only link to the present. These cultural threats are more than just the loss of land or the loss of a father, it is the changing of times into a future that is being mapped out by another group entirely, that being white Americans. These maps, so to speak, or the oral tradition that has mapped out the history of entire tribes and families has been written about by other prominent Native Americans in their journey and tragedy of trying to fill this divide between past and present all the while wondering what the future will hold. These types of worries were normally settled by spiritual means, but loss of land meant loss of the ability for Native Americans to go on their spiritual quests. Charles Alexander Eastman in his passage from â€Å"The Soul of an Indian† writes about the mystical quest undertaken by Native Americans in his native Sioux tribe that required several nights away from camp in meditation. He also writes of the divide of the Native American, a common theme in all the reviewed works. â€Å"The red man is divided into two parts,-the spiritual mind and the physical mind. The first is pure spirit, concerned only with the essence of things, and it was this he sought to strengthen by spiritual prayer† (767). Because of this loss of land, essentially the loss of spirit or at least the ways in which spiritual rituals were conducted came to an end. Also, the fear of the future was replaced by Christian ideals to help Americans of European descent understand how these natives fir into their Bible. In this way the Native Americans, already concerned with loss of identity were split even further in a divide that led them to an uncertain and uncharacteristic future. It was only through the oral tradition of preserving identity that Native Americans could attempt to achieve a personal wholeness while the many tribes and family members within tribes became scattered and disillusioned. It is through the personal journeys of the writers that it becomes apparent how the loss of land impacted not only an entire civilization, but individuals, who lost identity and did whatever was necessary to try to discover, rediscover, and preserve all that was left. Gertrude Bonnin, in passages from â€Å"Impressions of an Indian Childhood† talks about living what could be considered a double life. Gertrude sometimes refers to herself as her Sioux name, Zitkala-Sa, which means Red Bird. She was born on a reservation to a Sioux mother and her white father was absent in her life. She struggled between the old ways that her mother tried to teach her in the oral tradition and the ways that people conducted themselves outside of the reservation. She became torn and decided that the reservation life was not for her and the American way of treating Native Americans was not appealing either. So she began compiling all the information she could gather from what was relayed to her by her mother in the oral tradition and then wrote these stories in English. She abhorred the fact that the language of her ancestors had disappeared and she was just as concerned as Eastman was about the loss of spirituality for all Native Americans under the conversion to Christianity. Bonnin writes, â€Å"I prefer to their dogma my excursions into the natural gardens where the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers† (939-940). It becomes clear that for the spirituality of Native Americans to thrive, then land uninterrupted by industrialization was needed in order for this group to be who they had always been before they were removed to reservations. So taking their land was not a simple geographic issue, this also took these peoples’ essence and spirituality from them. It is therefore important for these texts and films to exist as reminder of what was lost, not just space, but a place in history for people who had to rely on a few to pass on as many of the stories given to them in the oral tradition and put it in print or in film. All three written pieces reviewed and the film help to show the importance of the land that was taken from the Native Americans, as well as the influence of the oral tradition of passing down stories and spiritual pathways to each ensuing generation. The film and the written works display both a metaphorical divide in the ways of the respective authors and tribes and the bigger community, showing that differences need to be acknowledged as well as the common goal of this group to gather their cultural artifacts that would have disappeared into an assimilated America. Also, the allegorical journey that all these contributors took to discover their part in history is akin to an epic and a tragedy. Scholars, as well, have looked at the impact of the spiritual strivings of Native Americans and the ultimate need for tribes to achieve a new identity in a foreign land to them, a land that was once their own. It was the need for Christian legitimacy on the part of European settlers that led to a need for Native Americans to be stripped of their spiritual roots and forced to resign to religious conversion. The mission of these Christians â€Å"absorbed Native Americans into a Christian world view that made them comprehensible to Euro-Americans, who were otherwise faced with a population whose mysterious origins threatened to call into question the explanatory value of the Bible† (Wyss, 162). So as Euro-Americans sought to explain the discrepancies with Native Americans and their absence from the Bible, Native Americans had to wrestle with their own identities that were being challenged by these settlers for purposes other than just the acquisition of land. What then became an issue was the questioning of creation on the part of settlers and the â€Å"lost tribe theory† (162) that proposed that Native Americans were part of a tribe that was not thoroughly explained in the Bible. All the while many Native Americans asserted their own creation myths while other Natives tried to assert superiority over whites with the reasoning that if Natives were a part of Israel’s lost tribes then, therefore, they were closer descendants of Jacob. This hierarchy of Biblical place did play an important role on the identity of Natives during their assimilation into Euro-American culture, though the oral tradition certainly did support a different idea for the origins of each tribe. Even those Native Americans that did subscribe to a Christian ideal were â€Å"defined by a constant deferral of home, or the constant movement, both geographical and cultural, of a fragmented people† (165). It seems then that the roots of all Native Americans, who were fragmented and spread across the nation, was entrenched in the oral tradition of creation stories and spirituality. However, the many Native American stories that were told and passed down led to they idea the Euro-Americans had as Natives being savage and mythical, making their stories, even true encounters appear to be false. This led to the Natives â€Å"invisibility in the annals of encounter: constructed as tellers of myth and as peoples of myth, they are denied a place in the national story and a voice in recounting it† (Bellin, 99). This created the powerlessness found in Natives attempting to assert their place in the new America that was founded on laws, both the divine and those conceived by Europeans. The fact that Natives had stories, spirituality, and kinship was not enough to place them in a position of asserting their power in any way that seemed rational to Euro-Americans. As well the illiteracy of Native Americans certainly did not assist this group in gaining any type of recognition for having much to offer the Europeans in their stories. â€Å"the oral nature of much Indian narrative has been taken to explain both the Indians’ irrelevance to history-for what could illiterates offer? -and their inability to remember and record it† (102). As well, Native Americans stories were not just told, they were animated through acting, making the stories more meaningful to the Native audience but meaningless to a person outside of a tribe. It is fair to say that the identity of Native Americans was not only in their oral tradition, but in the ways in which stories were acted out. This is something that is lost even if a story is recounted by a Native to as close to the original message as possible. Much is also lost in translation further undermining any attempts that Natives could make when forced on reservations, where their land and language was taken along with the ties of spirituality that sustained them. It also makes the spiritual identity of Native Americans more complicated when they are not only placed in an Anthropological category of uncivilized, the literary category of completely mythical, and finally over romanticized by scholars, who do not understand the deep meaning behind Native American spirituality and ritual. These rites and rituals are meant to cement a community of people together and individual identity can be created within these rituals. Instead, many times, these acts and stories are perceived as more universal and therefore there is the mistaken implication that Native American spirituality can be lumped into a religion that can be used by all. This has placed and continues to place the sense of community outside of the purposes intended and sadly many people use information gleaned from Native spirituality for profit or for writing scholarly articles that do not take into account the private lives of a single Native, but instead combine individuals into a whole. With a fragmented sense of history and culture, it is right to note that there has been and continues to be fragmentation in the Native American communities, but for an individual, a sense of self requires both community identity and a complex set of cultural artifacts to make that individual whole and not a watered down, assimilated version of the Euro-Americans. To be more clear, the text versions of Native Americans stories involving spirituality and rituals many times do not take into account the personal nature of these events. It is not only a matter of entire communities of Native American feeling the need to forge and reclaim their converted or dismissed identities as a whole, but the essence of the individual in a tribe, separate from others that must do the same. â€Å"Nicknames, shadows, and shamanic [sic] visions are tribal stories that are heard and remembered as survivance [sic]. These personal identities and stories are not the same as those translated in the literature† (Grim, 44). This lack of voice to individual Native Americans and stereotyping of all communities and persons being inherently the same in their spirituality and other social activities makes more important the voices, such as the Native authors and filmmakers reviewed all the more important. These artists have shown how gender, tribe, place, and, politics, to name just a few social forces can affect an individual struggling for acceptance within him or herself and in the larger world. All these factors must be considered when looking at film and literature, separating the individual from the group while at the same time seeing the struggle for those individuals as being the best representation available for a group without a strong voice. In conclusion, the film and the literary works of Native Americans highlight the voice of a specific individual, attempting to speak for their community. Taken with scholarly research, it can be seen the effect of colonialism and religious conversion on the vulnerable Native American population. Their history has many gaps in that the myths and traditions were many times dismissed and the absence from the Christian Bible made their existence confusing and unsettling to the settlers. The voices that have been stifled serve to help save the history of the mainstream at their expense, and this powerlessness and absence from history can only be reconstructed in the best way possible. Though even stories passed down in the oral tradition are lacking in the gestures and actions of the storytellers, which is the essence of oral storytelling. Works Cited Joshua David Bellin, The Demon of the Continent: Indians and the Shaping of American Literature, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001. Gertrude Bonnin, â€Å"Impressions of an Indian Childhood† in The Heath Anthology of American Literature Vol. 2. Ed. Paul Lauter, Lexington: D. C. Heath and Company, 1994. Dreamkeeper, Dir by Steve Barron, Hallmark Entertainment Productions, 2003. Charles Alexander Eastman, â€Å"The Soul of an Indian† in The Heath Anthology of American Literature Vol. 2. Ed. Paul Lauter, Lexington: D. C. Heath and Company, 1994. John A. Grim, â€Å"Cultural Identity, Authenticity, and Community Survival: The Politics of Recognition in Native American Religions† in Lee Irwin Native American Spirituality: A Critical Reader, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. Scott N. Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1969. Hilary E. Wyss, Writing Indians: Literacy, Christianity, and Native Community in Early America, Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000.

The Bald Eagle

The bald eagle or Haliaeetus leucocephalus, a specie of sea eagles, is the only eagle that is unique to North America. Recognized for being the national bird of the United States, it can be found today over the North American expanse from northern Mexico, to Canada and to Alaska where approximately half of the estimated total population of 70,000 live (Bald Eagle Information).Together with the Golden eagle, the bald eagle or American bald eagle, is the largest of the eagles. It has a wingspan that reaches some 79 to 89 cm.  long, an average weight of around 14 pounds for males (females are slightly larger and heavier) and a strong and large hooked beak two inches long and one inch deep (Merry  ¶ 1).Classification Class: Aves (birds) Order: Falconiformes (along with falcons, hawks, old-world vultures, condors, buzzards, kites, caracars, ospreys, harriers, accipiters, secretary birds and bateleurs) Sub-family: Buteoninae (together with true buzzards, true eagles and other sea eagle s) Family: Accipitridae (hawks and eagles) Genus: Haliaeetus (all sea or fish eagles) Species: leucocephalus (derived from the Latin word â€Å"leukos† that means white)There are two sub-species of bald eagles: Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus or the traditional â€Å"southern† variety, which lives in the gulf states, south of 40 degrees north latitude and the slightly larger Haliaeetus leucocephalus alascanus or â€Å"northern† bald eagle, which inhabit the states north of 40 degrees north latitude across North America (Bald Eagle Information P 1-3). Living Habits Bald eagles inhabit North America because of the abundance of their diet sources. The rivers and streams in Washington, Montana and Alaska are visited by the American eagles in large numbers during the spawning seasons of salmon, shad and eulachon.The bald eagle is primarily a scavenger bird that feeds on dead, dying or weakened fish and other prey but they have the predatory skills and equipmen t when needed (Merry  ¶ 4-5). Based on radio telemetry, the American bald eagles have been shown to regularly roost right after dawn, alternatively glide and flap on its flight direct to their favorite feeding perch and roost back in the evening (Merry  ¶ 8). Maturity, Mating and Nesting At juvenile age, the American bald eagle is a mix of brown and white feathers. They attain sexual maturity when they reach four or five years of age.Adult eagles are covered with white head, neck and tail feathers and blackish-brown breast and back feathers (General Fact). They build their eyries or nests atop tall trees near bodies of water or coasts where they perch. Bald eagles, who mate for life or until the death of their partners, use and add sticks and leaves to the same eyrie year after year. Two to three eggs are laid every spring; the males help the females in incubating the eggs from 35 to 40 days. The eaglets, when hatched, are covered with grayish-white downy and will need to be fed by their parents until they become six eight weeks old.At 9 to 14 weeks, they fledge and at 4 months old, the eaglets come of their own. As Endangered Specie The American bald eagle was categorized as endangered for over half a century until the United States Fish and Wildlife Service upgraded its status to ‘threatened' in July 1995. Earlier in 1967, the specie was officially listed as an endangered species in most of the lower parts of the country because of continuing decline for several decades because of the loss of habitat, prey and the then widespread use of the pesticide DDT.In 1973, the Endangered Species Act was passed in a bid to halt the loss of several endangered animal species and to help reverse environmental degradation. The Endangered Species Act has been shown to be at least fairly effective at preventing the extinctions of many animal species, including the bald eagle whose number increased from under 500 in 1963 to over 9,000 pairs in 2006 (Wikipedia, Endan gered Species Act  ¶ 19). References bald eagle. (2007). In Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved March 5, 2007, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Online: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-9011927 Endangered Species Act. (2007, March 1).In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12:35, March 5, 2007, from http://en. wikipedia. org/w/index. php? title=Endangered_Species_Act&oldid=111852673. General Facts About Bald Eagles. American Bald Eagle Information Site. Retrieved 05 March 2007 from http://baldeagleinfo. com/eagle/eagle-facts. html. Homepage. American Bald Eagle Information Site. Retrieved 05 March 2007 from http://baldeagleinfo. com/index. html. Merry, Sondra. Species: American Bald Eagle or Haliaeetus Leucocephalus. University of Wisconcin. Retrieved 05 March 2007 from .

Hospitality Business Development Essay

Hospitality business development of hospitality industry analyses the aspects of the business growth and evaluate the developing process of the industry. In the eyes of Hassanien et al (2010), â€Å"Hospitality business development is a procedure of using external and internal resources of an organization to bring out some new product in the market for the customer. In the essay all points are discussed and argued on developing the hospitality industry by referencing through secondary data which includes books, journals and educational and websites has relates to the topic. Moreover, in the essay the research is systematically paragraphed, introduced issues are customer role, market research, and analysis of business development, designing of new products in the market and customers satisfaction for organizations in the hospitality industry. According to Jones & Merricks (1994), a customer is one who buys a product or consumes a service in terms of monetary exchange from any Organization or a company. According to Chervonnaya. o (2003) A set of behavoiur of the ustomer is concludes through its experience and effective interaction and effective performance of an individual which help them to achieve and fulfill the desire goal which defined as role of the customer in developing the business. The customer is the main focal point of any organization as in the increase competitive market. The feedback of the customer is very important, as they are the end users of the product. A long-term relationship with a customer creates a very good trust essentially, w hich is very important both for the customer and for the organization. It lows its transaction cost on the both side where as the wining a new customer cause more than maintaining and expanding the relationship with its existing customer. Thus, Hyatt’s groups of hotels offered to their regular guest a program, name as Gold Passport, which provide the guest accounts for 20% discount of all Hyatt room nights worldwide. According to Zeithanal. V. A. etal (1997) the role of a customer in developing the business as a productive resource, contributive to the quality of a product, satisfaction and the value of the product and services. Lastly, they are the only competitor of the organization. According to Jones and Merriccks (1994) The resources used by those who supply goods and services to keep themselves in contact with the requirements and desires of the customer those who purchase and utilize goods and services. The process of market research includes the following steps such as finding out the information required, preplanning goals. Internal secondary research the goals and the organization detail of the research goal in brief. The resource plan systematically collecting data from the market with the help of secondary and primary research analyzing the data lastly preparing the report. According to Michael J. Croft (1994), separated products could target Market segmentation, which is the process of identifying different customer group’s users with in a market share similar level of interest in sets of needs. Market segmentation is an important part of any organization because it helps in the organization to satisfy the different kind of customer and their needs. Introducing new product in the market to bring more choices for the customer. The new segments can forecast with cost, profit and investment return of any company on demand of new segments in the market. It helps the company to achieve the goal by analyzing and forecasting all information of market segmentation According to D. Hoyer & J. Macinns(2009), consumer behaviour imitate the entirety of consumer decision with admiration to the attainment, utilization of products and character of goods, services activities in the market, experiences of people and ideas by decision making. Consumer behaviour is more than purchasing tangible goods from the market; it also includes services experience and having new ideas. It involves customer time consumption and choice. Marketing of Organizations always try to offer new product, idea, and services to the customer. Consumer can acquire, buy, and dispose the offering new products. It occurs a reason that sometimes offering new products meets customers’ needs, value, and goals. The organization now get to know the understanding that what, when and which products consumer acquire and buy and when they dispose it before offering new products in the market. This refers to customer satisfaction in means of quality and availability of products with good services in the market that includes tangible and intangible elements also. Customers have many expectations about the products in the market. According to Parasuraman et. al (1988) owing to a standard involvement in the expectation, customer could judge the service providers performance and quality service. Analyzing the customer expectations and needs plays an important role. According to Zeithanal et. al (1993) that customer service expectation can be divided into two parts or level which are desire and adequate. In desire, the customer is willing or wanting services provided by the suppliers. In this customer behaviour customer, use the combination of ‘can be’ and ‘should be’. In adequate level customer expectation have very low faith on the services offered to them and they believe these services as it ‘will be’. Thus, the Taj group of hotels within the aim of targeting the corporate tourist within the budget hotels sectors the new idea of Ginger a low budget hotels has effectively well matched with the requirements and needs of such kind of customers. Competition is practically excludes for the consideration set when customer feels so strongly that you can meet his or her important wants and supplies and the consumer buy nearly exclusively from you. According to Anderson and Jacobsen (2000) â€Å"Is in point of fact that achievement of desired goal of an organization creates a benefit for a purchaser so with the purpose they will sustain or enlarge their purchase from the organization. † Maintain customer reliability is clearly a key goal for any business. Loyal customers mean a dependable revenue flow and a constant profit. Not surprisingly, then, the subject of how you maintain customer loyalty has been one that many researchers have looked into. If a business owner or manager, there is a variety of theories on customer loyalty that he/she should be aware of, as building, a base of loyal customers is key to the growth of a company. To improve the loyalty of the customer it is very important to building up the customer satisfaction in the terms of providing good quality products and services. This process should do continuously. Taking feedback and analyzing what the customer needs and what the customer wanted to see the improvement in the product and services. Building trust plays an important role in customer. Regularity of the customer is the source of profit gaining for any organization. Profit will not earn before customer repeatedly come to buy or purchase the products and services. Kotler (2000) referred that customer satisfaction as â€Å"a person’s view of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Ensuing as of evaluate manufactured goods is apparent presentation in relative to their prospect. Customer satisfaction refers to the level of customers in which they are pleased with the supply of the products and services provide by an industry in the market. According to Hoyer and McInnis (2001), satisfied customers are the form organization of any Successful company. Customer pleasure, which leads to replicate purchase, product reliability, and affirmative statement. Customer satisfaction levels can calculate by analysis technique and questionnaire. In advance elevated levels of customer satisfaction is especially significant for the business because satisfied customers are mainly expected to be reliable and to create repeat orders and to use a extensive range of services presented by a company.. Therefore, in the essay conclude that growth of a successful business is depending upon some important stream of positive factors. These factors conclude the developing strength and the significant prospective that can move forward the growth of an organization and leads forward to accomplishment of the goals. Each feature of the stream of factors are interlinked to each other, which means one function cannot run not including the other. Customers and potential customers are the definitive goal of a rising firm. In order to accomplish those, organization requires to exposed strike to their competitors by means of certain advertising, customer-centric strategies and further such tools. Thus, organizations would-be customer pleasure, development, and stay competitive in the market require to watch executing the earlier mention factors before they be able to predict success.

Origin of the Cold War Essay

For more than four decades, world politics revolved around the Cold War. The foreign policy of both the United States and Soviet Union was dominated by the Cold War with far reaching social, political, economic and military consequences. The domestic politics and foreign policy of other nations around the world was also shaped by the Cold War. Very few countries escaped its influence. Since the distinctive features of the Cold War era was shaped in the years that immediately followed the Second World War, an analysis of its origin is important in understanding international history in the second half of the twentieth century. There are various conflicting interpretations of the origin of the Cold War. These interpretations are often based in deep philosophical and ideological differences. A great majority of these interpretations were themselves structured by the ongoing Cold War. The end of the Cold War together with the release of important information over the past years has provided an opportunity to reassess its origins. The earlier controversies concerning the responsibility of the Cold War can now be transcended in an attempt to understand what happened and why. New questions concerning the origins of the Cold War can now be asked. In this paper, I will focus on the international system and the events in the United States as recounted by Kissinger. Kissinger analyzes geopolitics and the perception of threat, ideology and social reconstruction, and strategy and technology. He examines how the American perceptions of national security interests were influenced by global distribution of power and deeply ingrained ideological predispositions. He also demonstrates how the need for hegemony helped shape the political conditions of other nations. There are two dominant views concerning the outbreak of the Cold War. The first is the view that the Soviet Union was mainly responsible for the outbreak. This view pictures the Soviet Union as persistently expansionist and being motivated ideologically. According to this perception, the United States authority wanted to get along with the Soviets. However, they realized that accommodation was not possible since the Soviet authorities quested for world domination. The second view is that the policies of the United States were also expansionist and therefore contributed to the beginning of the Cold War. The idea points towards the long history of American expansionism and argues that United States policies were shaped by ideological beliefs and economic interests to a large extent. It is this second idea that I wish to explore in the writing of Kissinger. The American foreign policy until the early into the twentieth century was characterized by isolationist tendency. According to Kissinger (29), the rapidly expanding power of the United States and the gradual collapse of international system that was previously centered in Europe projected the United States into world affairs. There was wide recognition by the United States administrations during this era that America had an important role to play in world affairs. The international balance of power could not be conceived by American leaders without the role of the United States. There was a deep philosophy that underlay this idea; America had an obligation to spread its principles throughout the world (Kissinger 30). The rise of new powers had been vehemently fought by European powers. The United States was however confident that they could resist any challenge. The American foreign policy was crafted on the conviction that the constant wars that were being fought in Europe were consequences of Europe’s cynical methods of statecraft (Kissinger 32). Ingrained in the American thought was the idea that peace depended on the promotion of democratic institutions. America saw it her responsibility to spread this idea. A great majority of American leaders were convinced that the United States had a special responsibility to spread its values in order to foster world peace. American foreign policy was radically transformed by Roosevelt who strongly believed that America was a great power. He also believed that in a world regulated by power, the natural order of things was reflected in the concept of spheres of influence (Kissinger 40). He was committed to engaging America to reestablish the equilibrium. He saw Germany and Russia as posing a threat to United States dominance in Europe and Asia respectively. He particularly saw Russia as holding in her hands the fate of the coming years. It is during this era that the United States begun seeing Russia as a possible threat to her interests. Weakening of Russia thus became a major issue. The United States saw itself as solely responsible for the security of the entire mankind. This perception foreshadowed its containment policy that was later developed after the Second World War. These sentiments obviously rubbed any nation that desired dominance the wrong way, invariably resulting ion conflict. With the Soviet Union having its own philosophy, the result would not have been anything apart from the Cold War. Work Cited Kissinger, Henry. Diplomacy. Simon and Schuster.

Memo Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 10

Memo - Assignment Example Most of the times the clients do not know the technicalities involved in ones job. Clients expect the job to be completed in high standards. In the case of side tracks from schedule, the professional should assure the customer that all is well and avoid mentioning the main course of side track. The information relayed should be well organized and to the point. The client only needs the crucial part of the communication and not the details of the delay. This helps save the image of the company. The communication, format, plays a big role and helps portray the professional image of the company (Baugh 45). Company logo is important on the memo to assure trust - A memo to the customer is written on behalf of the company and should portray the company logo. This assures the confidence of the client in the company and increases his trust in the communicated message. Visual aids such as font sizes and color are critical for an official communication. They help to emphasize the information relayed. The memo is an official document, the recommended font size is twelve block style. This emphasizes on the fact that it is an official document (Mathur

Barriers to trade Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Barriers to trade - Case Study Example of September 2009, the Chinese government filed an economic complaint with the WTO as a response to the announcement by the US that an ongoing plan of increasing the tariffs on the tires produced from China was about to be implemented (Bown, 2002). Consequently, on September 2010, the US Congress Committee made an approval of the bill that was to impose tariffs on China. Nonetheless, the trade relations between the Chinese government and the US government is significant to the two countries since China is reported to be the second largest trading partner of the US globally (Bown, 2002). Further, recently there have been legal battles between China and the United States. On May 23, 2014, the WTO dispute settlement panel ruled that the duties of up to 21.5 percent that were imposed by China on some of the U.S. imported vehicles were inconsistent with the WTO obligations of China. Moreover, on March 23, 2014 the WTO made a ruling that China’s restrictions on the rare earth elements as well as the two other metals were extremely inconsistent with its WTO obligations. However, the decision was later appealed on April 8. Indeed, the trade relationship between China and the USA has been strained recently and more negotiation and talks are being done to ease the tensions. On July 9 to 10 of the year 2014, the Chinese and U.S. officials held talks under the S&ED (Walker, 2014). The WTO is simply a negotiating forum which has the overall mission of promoting free trade all over the world through multilateral negotiations among the member states that is currently reported to be composed of approximately 153 members (Bown, 2002, p 54).The member states are expected to ensure that their various trade laws conform to the terms of the 16 different agreements that comprise the rules of the WTO. In case one of the member countries is of the opinion that the other country’s laws are a violation of the WTO rules, the complaining country is expected to file a complaint in the

Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Argument - Essay Example Although many prefer to practice premarital cohabitation, some sectors who are conservative within the society view premarital cohabitation as abominable. This is because of the consequences it brings. To them cohabitation causes confusion among younger generations and other people. They find the value of marriage and marriage certificate for granted. Marriage becomes a matter of ceremony without importance because they do not exactly know what constitutes marriage. However, some people find marriage as not the sole criterion of confusion among younger groups when considering the relationship of couples. In fact, youth who comes from a family whose parents are married but quarrel most of the time are more confused. Younger generations who understand the goal of premarital cohabitation may find it not confusing and may consider it a better option of marriage. This idea is supported in the article of Budinski & Trovato (72) where they made it clear that cohabitation is a viable alterna tive for marriage especially to those who do not have the confidence in entering a long term marriage just yet. They further stated that when couples cohabit, components of marriage are present like sharing of home, sexual intimacy, childbearing, and economic resources. With this, the couple may live like husband and wife just the same where they can enjoy playing their role as partners and parents. Individuals of any age who understand this purpose may consider premarital cohabitation as a springboard to marriage. Thus this does not post confusion. People who are against living together before marriage or premarital cohabitation claim that entering such situation may result in habitually changing their partners and are observed to be having difficulty finding a lifelong partner. This practice gives a belief that repeated cohabitation would be a predictor for future marriage failures as a result of weeding out process. Through selection, the person may change partner every now and t hen. However, observation shows that cohabiters and non cohabiters experience divorce at almost the same rate. In the study of Bruderl and company (1), they explained that it is not the cohabitation that increases the chance of couple’s separation but rather mismatches of some psychological traits. Once the mismatch traits are detected, it is likely that the person is going to weed out those incompatible traits resulting in an improved experience which makes the next relationship a success. This is evident among couples who were recently questioned in their answers that they are improving their chances of success in their marital relationship with their experience thus the prevalence of separation or divorce is reduced in the subsequent relationship. A large number of people especially Muslims believe that the practice of premarital cohabitation is better because it ensures stronger compatibility and commitment of couples. To be compatible needs adjustment to each other. Perh aps the way couples do this would be to live together. Couples have to be close together to really observe the way each lives. Doing this could help couples find out if they could bear each other without too much tension, quarrels and other problems. If they find out that they are comfortable with each other’s lifestyle, then they may consider marriage. However, if they are not, then it would be easy for them to just break apart because of the absence of legal paper works and commitment. Taxes would be easier to handle

GP210 week 2 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

GP210 week 2 - Research Paper Example nalist views argue that a constitution does not evolve or change; therefore, it will always mean what it meant when it was adopted in a country (Exploring Constitutional Conflicts, 2012). With this view in mind, its interpretation must be in line with the thoughts that the people who came with it had in mind. These people also argue that originalism preserves the authority of the court which is a mandatory element in ensuring that there is the prevalence of justice in a country. Thus, this school of thought believes that the constitution must be interpreted with regard to the views of the original composers. On the other hand, those who oppose this viewpoint argue that no written constitution can anticipate the means that the government might use to oppress people; hence it is sometimes mandatory for judges to fill in the gaps that exist in the constitution through their interpretation (Exploring Constitutional Conflicts, 2012). With these view in mind, the constitution must be interpreted with the needs of the people it is supposed to govern in mind. In addition to this, non-originalism allows judges to rectify inflexible interpretations that no longer serve their original purposes (Whittington, 2001). The need to amend or possibly revoke bad laws that exist in the constitution will be realized with continual originalist interpretations. Other than leave courts to continuously find fault in the constitutional provisions, the people concerned will be obliged to come up with a new constitution that best suits the needs of people. However, coming up with a new constitution is a costly affair and this is the reason why non-original interpretations should be given way. Moreover, they will allow for more enlightened understanding on contemporary issues such as equal treatment of blacks, women and other minority groups (Whittington, 2001). With these views in place, it is clear that non-originalist interpretations of the constitution are more favorable. Apart from

Distribution strategies within the marketing mix Essay - 1

Distribution strategies within the marketing mix - Essay Example However, wholesalers are incapable of marketing the products and also eat a big chunk of the profit. In such a scenario, telemarketing plays an important role for a company. The article is highly relevant from point of view of Distribution Strategies because with changing nature of businesses, the proliferation of technology and shorter product cycles, the distribution strategies must also evolve. A large number of customers are getting used to Internet and e-commerce. Telemarketing has been existent for a long time as an effective sales channel. However with growing customer base and complexity, larger organizations need to take help of specialized brokers and agents to take advantage of economies of scale. It saves considerable long-term costs for the company as well. Also the use of wholesalers for distribution must be though over rigorously. While they are a vital link in the distribution chain, they also act as a cost centre for a company. Economically, it may not make sense for small organizations to use external agents or brokers for this purpose. However, in order to venture into foreign markets, they may be required in small

Deaf infants and development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Deaf infants and development - Essay Example (The Care of Infants and Young Children) Speech does not disappear, but voice gets a strange sounding, there is a intonation breach, stress breach, speech is quick, vocabulary is limited (lack of words that expresses abstract notions, only simple sentences are used) Everything mentioned above proves that hearing reduce negatively influences on the speech development. Besides we should take into consideration that we use different loudness while speaking: there are stressed and unstressed sounds in speech, voiceless consonants, etc. Among the different factors that impact the child’s speech we can outline: the degree of the hearing reduce – the worse a child hears, the worse he/she speaks; age of the speech breach – the earlier it happens the more difficult it is; conditions of the child’s growing – the results of bringing up are better if the child is treated in time; physical and psychological development. A negative impact has the limitation of the social contacts in infant’s age when a person should take the world through the sounds. The defected children require special treatment and control by the doctors and teachers. Though the sign systems have different meanings for socialization in different periods of childhood. Usually children use verbal, imaginary-moving and imaginary-graphical signs and socialize through the playing games. Role games, painting and drawing are very important for socializing children who have any kind of defects. All these kind of activity help to form imaginary thinking. (Dr. Eloise Murray) Bringing up the child with diminished hearing, parents should make a responsible choice – method of teaching. Besides the family climate is also very important for the social and cognitive development. The psychologists differentiate several types of relationship with a deaf child: understanding; â€Å"overcaring†; non-real treatment (parents treat their child as a healthy one); indifference(the most dangerous type of

Discussion Question Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Discussion Question - Assignment Example He has an autocratic style that created an environment of fear among his managers which resulted in high employee turnover (Kapner, 1998). A former manager of the company described Schmitt as one who â€Å"destabilized the company and surrounded himself with Yes people. All the entrepreneurial spirit left" (Kapner, 1998). Some investors and analysts have faulted Schmitt because of his inability to react immediately to the changes in the marketplace (Kapner, 1998). Michael Hamilton, a portfolio manager at Invista Capital Management stated that Rubbermaid â€Å"lost control of the brand and expenses† (Kapner, 1998). Given the above scenario of Rubbermaid during Schmitt’s time, it would have been for the good of the company if Schmitt was more open to the opinions and suggestions of people who are more knowledgeable than him in certain aspects of the business. Major strategic decisions cannot be made with a snap of a finger; it should be discussed thoroughly and comprehensively. In an organization as huge as Rubbermaid, Schmitt cannot solely rely on his abilities to come up with major decisions. Schmitt can definitely learn a lesson from Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks who said, â€Å"I think its very difficult to lead today when people are not really truly participating in the decision. You wont be able to attract and retain great people if they dont feel like they are part of the authorship of the strategy and the authorship of the really critical issues. If you dont give people an opportunity to really be engaged, they wont stay" (Vogan, 2006). This statement from Schultz is certainl y the wisdom behind the amazing success of Starbucks. Jackson, E. (2012, January 2). The seven habits of spectacularly unsuccessful executives. Retrieved May 30, 2012, from forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/01/02/the-seven-habits-of-spectacularly-unsuccessful-executives/ Kapner,

HOW EASY IT IS TO BE FAMOUS TODAY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

HOW EASY IT IS TO BE FAMOUS TODAY - Essay Example At some point in their lives everyone thinks that fame is the ultimate prize. This desire for fame has given rise to countless TV shows. So, whether it’s America’s Next Top Model or American Idol, these reality shows will always have an audience because they cater to a very deep desire of the audiences. Everyone sees a little bit of themselves in the participants. Being famous does not seem that bad. Fame is the most powerful resource of the American society. After all, it was Oprah’s fame that landed her in Forbes list of most powerful women in the world. People, who command fame, become the privileged upper class of our society. Fame is greater than sex appeal; it is above charm and charisma. Fame brings with it wealth, appreciation and credibility (Jessup n.d.). Famous people are poised, outgoing and fun. Everyone knows them and wants to be like them. The Hilton sisters and the Kardashian Clan are celebrities. They are simply famous for being famous and thanks to them we know that it doesn’t take talent, beauty or even intelligence to become famous. To become well-known, you just need to be born in a wealthy family that readily indulges your every whim. Of course, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet worked hard to get rich, they are no doubt famous but Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian and Nicole Richie didn’t work at all for any of their wealth. This method of achieving fame is obviously not for the person who knows the real value of a dollar (Kelley, 2010). Our next lesson in fame is also brought to you by the same people. This may be a shocker, but it seems that sleeping with famous people and making sex tapes is the perfect way to achieve fame and glory in today’s content crazy world. Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian have benefitted extremely well from this phenomenon. Soon after their tapes hit the market, these ladies were glossing up the covers of magazines and getting million dollar endorsement deals and Kim is even

Coping, Stressor Anticipation and Endurance Assignment

Coping, Stressor Anticipation and Endurance - Assignment Example ctions can include anger, guilt, anxiety, sadness, or despair; physical reactions like sleeping problems, change in appetite, health issues can occur. Disturbances in social aspects may be in the form of taking over other family responsibilities, interacting with family and friends, ability to return to work etc. In such situations, grief counselling and grief therapy can be very effective. It helps the person to accept the loss, to live without the loved one and to make decisions, emotional separation from the person, and makes the mourner stronger mentally, emotionally and physically. Allowing the mourners to experience the entire grief process helps in relieving them from grief and depression, and in bringing their lives back to normality (Cancer, 2003). Kissane et al.’s (2006) research identified that a family-focussed grief therapy is most effective in coping the grief from loss of loved one. This specifically brings about reduction in complications of bereavement, helps the family members function normally, and helps in cohesion and communication among family members. In conclusion, coping with loss and grief due to illness is specific to every individual and should be approached considering all the impacting factors and their

Week 3 Discussion Post Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 3 Discussion Post - Assignment Example Marginalization refers to the relegation of people or societies to the fringe preventing meaningful participation (Faizi 29). The examples of marginalized people are many. I have seen many homeless people spending their lives in subways or under some bridge, and their presence always conjures the concept of marginalization. Governments and social care offices have excluded these people; that is what I feel when I see them. Artists need space, and this demand drives them to work and live in marginalized regions. However, other factors motivate artists to marginalize themselves. Some of the factors are pragmatic while others are philosophical. The overriding reason, though, is that artists see assets, possibility, opportunity, and potential for conversion where other people see deficiency and blight (Jackson 5). Cities that are highly connected provide accessibility. One can hop from a bus to another means of transport say an electric train making movement easy. Accessibility invokes feelings of belonging, and it empowers men, women, and young people alike. They can take part in various things that are of economic and social value. Accessibility and empowerment create conditions that conjure self-reliance, confidence, and capacity to make strategic choices in

Editting in Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer, 1998) Essay

Editting in Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer, 1998) - Essay Example The film editing of â€Å"Run Lola Run† is a very unique one because it incorporates fast paced action with equally pulsating type of music, especially in those scenes where Lola had to run very fast to be able to beat the deadline that was given to her boyfriend, who was poised to rob a bank as a last resort. The story, which unfolded in such a way as to have 3 possible outcomes, was edited in a manner that would show the pressure building up for Lola and Manni with each tick of the clock, and the potential difference every moment creates to generate varied solutions to a single problem. At the initial part of the movie, black and white scenes were used to show flashbacks or past occurrences which somehow made a great bearing on the present situation Lola and Manni were in. Medium shots of Lola holding a red telephone at home, and Manni in a phone booth somewhere in town, were used to orient the viewer and to set the mood for the story. Later on, when the dialogues were getting intense, the shots used were in close-up to show the emotions of desperation and helplessness on the part of Manni, and the determination and firm resolve to find a solution on the part of Lola. Lola’s running scenes were combined with animated scenes as if she were part of a video game. Different shooting techniques, – like fade in/out, zoom in/out, still shots – varied camera angles and shots were utilized. There were also continuity shots made, and close-ups were played-up in the emotional scenes between Lola’s father and his mistress, the confrontation scene between Lola and her father among others. Slow motion cuts were also used to add emphasis in some scenes. Snapshots of the various personalities Lola meets on her way to meet Manni were also included to add more sub-plots which added to the overall impact of the story. One of the most distinctive editing features of this film is the use of split screens for the most essential scenes. An example of such scene

Comparing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Comparing - Essay Example The rules therefore appeared restrictive to the older population leading to protests. Freedom that college students experienced, including interactions outside campuses that strengthened comradeship bonds, also motivated students into protests. College administrators were also strict in implementing rules, in punishments, and this led to protests in reaction (Conlin 275). In addition, ethnic based concerns, especially in the United States, such as discrimination, and governments’ arbitrary decisions over students, such as involvement in national services caused the protests (Kennedy & Null 1). The ten points were significant in defining the change that the black community desired in the United States and beyond. The points followed the war for equality that shifted from civil rights to black power that the Black Panther Party championed. Achieving objective of the ten points would identify a revolution, a factor that also identifies significance of the demand. There would be a change to autonomy among blacks, eradicated unemployment, and abolition of slavery, access to education, and exemption from military service. Other desired changes were abolition of police brutality, freedom for black convicts, and jury composition of black juries for black cases. Success in realization of the points, even if not immediate, also establishes the significance because the points offered a blueprint for change. Adherents of the Black Panther Party platform would make such demands because of the oppressions that Blacks experienced in the American society. Factors such as slavery, unemplo yment that meant poverty and poor quality of health, and discriminatory treatments in various places are examples of the experiences that would motivate the adherents into the demands (Pinkney 103, 104). Significance of students’ power in the movement and factors into the protests were some of the major themes in the article. The author notes continued expansion

Healthcare system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Healthcare system - Essay Example There are a number of health care systems within a nationality that may include the occupational safety and health, military medicine and school health services among many others. The health care systems have identified a number of goals to meet to ensure the health concerns of the population are met. Health systems seek to ensure good health among the people, to help the people to have a fair system of contributing their finances towards the system, and to increase the rate of responsiveness in order to meet the expectations of the beneficiaries of the system. To meet this goals therefore quality of service provided, the efficacy of the provision of these services, their acceptability among the people and their equity in dealing with the target population must be on the forefront of all the health systems. England has adopted a health system known as The National Health Service (NHS) which has the mandate to provide healthcare for English nationals. Serving under the department of health of the government of the United Kingdom, this body is publicly funded and it provides most of its health care services for free apart from some medical services that relate to the eye tests, prescriptions and the dental care as well. This body provides health services like in-patient care, dentistry, primary care, ophthalmology and long time health care to the patients in need. The body has a private clause as well where the patients can privately pay for their medical care. This system of private medical care has been used to expand the services of the National Health Services. Most of the funding used to cater for the services in the National Health Service comes from taxation among other sources. The largest portion of the expenditure of the department of health is taken up by the National Health S ervice. Main body The National Health Services (NHS) is driven by a number of goals in its service to the people of England. It has identified its core value as the provision of quality medical attention to the people regardless of their ability to pay for the services they require. It provides a great number of services to the people including the fore mentioned dentistry services, optical services and the overall medical care among others (Brodie 2003). It aims at providing medical services that are customized in relation to the needs of the people, their preferences and those of their families as well as those of their careers. Some of the aims of the NHS include to; utilize public funds to offer healthcare services to the patients in the NHS system; support and treat staff as valuables; be sensitive to the needs of the different sections of the population; to adopt a collaborative approach to ensure optimal provision of medical services to the patients; and to assist with ensuring the physical as well as emotional well being of the people in the process mitigate inequalities of health among many other aims. Structure The department of health of the government of the United Kingdom has been charged with the control of the NHS. It provides a political inclination to the NHS representing the will of the government in its jurisdiction. Under the department of health are a total of ten Strategic Health Authorities which directly take up the overseeing

Workforce Shifts In Types Of Jobs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Workforce Shifts In Types Of Jobs - Essay Example According to the Society for Human Resource Management (5 trends changing the nature of work, 2013), there are such main trends that impact the nature of work as the globalization, technology, outsourcing, workers’ changing expectations, attitudes and values and diversity. All these trends are interconnected with each other and modern businesses use them fully to reach the highest results. Thus, the increase in technology enabled companies to connect teams across the world enhancing the number of distributed teams and giving them an opportunity to work cross-culturally. The trend of globalization has changed dramatically in the last years bringing more benefits and challenges to the workers (Wilpert, 2008). The diversity creates more positive predispositions for the businesses where usually there was a cooperation and interaction between people of one nationality. The cultural diversity brought many changes in the way people do their jobs, especially when it comes to the speci fic group of people ready to face challenges while the native-born employees were not capable doing that (Global diversity and inclusion, n.d.). Diverse teams provide more powerful insight into challenges through gaining of new and different perspectives and more effective work. Technologies as the other important aspect influencing the way people work, including mobility, cloud computing and web conferencing have driven connectivity all around the world enabling more employees to work remotely and in different locations (Lewis, 1996).

The Nature of class relations in 1880s Canada Essay Example for Free

The Nature of class relations in 1880s Canada Essay In Canada, the response to industrial capitalism was evident between the year 1867 and 1892 by the Toronto workers. The exercise began in the late 1960s at the Toronto University. In North America Universities this period was very exciting whereby many of them accepted the dogmas and came under vigorous re-examination. However, the history of Canadian was one of the disciplines which did not address the question of the events which were prevailing by that time. The Canadian traditional histography had been very narrow until the times of leader Harold Innis who came up with considerable useful system of work on the political economy of Canadians.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Class was one among the factors which had been completely ignored by Canadian historical writing. Although there was a great value of historian sources, the work was somehow antiquarian and also indicated a conservative methodology. Involved in the list of the generalization’s list were political economists like Eugene Forsey and Logan both whom had restrictions towards the study of the working class in narrow sense of institution. The essence for account of the working class in Canadian which was a new approach in history and methodological innovations which was very apparent. After several studies, it indicated that a community study seemed to be the place by then to start reconstruction of Canadian working class experience. The main reason of choosing the Toronto city was due to its economic importance and also its key role in development of the earliest labor movements. Toronto workers who used to live in Ontario’s leading city were among the first group to experience the industrial revolution to join Unions of Institutions so as to create the city labor centre and also to national labor organizations. More so, Toronto proved to the especially to the rich that it had achieved holdings pertinent to the studies which were proposed (Alexander 1962, p. 43).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the nineteenth century the city’s press was very vibrant and also well preserved. It had very well maintained trade union records and the other materials of work. The city also had a very lively labor press where much of it was still extant. The essence of choosing the period of the nineteenth century was to capture the Toronto’s working class at its conception. The establishment of the class relations lay in the workers and industrialization’s response to that process. Such was a study of the interaction of economic transformation and the emerging working class that both of them shaped and was on the other hand shaped by the new class. The emergence of trade unionism, the struggle for shorter hours in the 1870s, the surge of oppositional cultures based on the knights of labor in the years of 1880s and the establishment of institutional framework for movements of trade unions lay during this period.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Important new organizations were created from the development of the working class. To achieve the full analysis, it required that the placement of the economic transformation context and cultural adaptations which were denied to them by the institutional labor history. In the decade of 1880s, the industrial conservative and industrial expansion ruled not on even a single important measure on behalf of industrial workers which was placed upon Dominion’s book of statute. In 1889, the government passed measures which had no division and in turn removed the afforded protection by the Act of 1872. Also, the same regulation in the labor interest was declared but for this case, by the provinces. According to Armstrong report, it states that Armstrong was primarily an employee in the Toronto daily meal since 1872. He later became a leader in one of unions. He was later appointed to head an investigation committee whereby he analyzed the membership in terms of eligibility, reliability and other past records. He ensured promotion of the female organizations in terms of labor and rated their wages according to the work completed. In his report, he stressed that childhood labor should have very tough laws in its enforcement. He recommended that, boards of arbitration should deal and handle cases and disputes of the workers who complain about long working hours. To this case, he recommended for shortening of the long and exploitative hours. He further suggested that all Canadian laborers or workmen should have proper compensation which should be fully supported by the union. Contrary to that, he was however opposed by all other private agencies that offered employment services. http://www.books.google.com/books?isbn=0802039987   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to the testimony of A W. Wright, he testified for the Son of Man who is against the offspring of prediction. It stresses on setting for the father and obedience to God’s elect, testified by the month of he lord, angles and men. With a true discovery of a bundle of equivocations, confusions and hypocrisy in those who term themselves as preachers and to the light with all men. Richard Dennis he argues that in Canada, exists a long history of suburban working class settlement. However, the conditions have improved. The workers in suburban once lived at the frontier line of the urban economy, after 1945, they occupied a more standardized and financial subdivisions, they became apart and parcel of its consumer apotheosis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There has been a noted variation in working conditions across different trades. For instance, when compared to Canada, the trade union membership in Australian grew dramatically. Comparative analysis of to steel and iron plants in Australia and Canada there was a broad union growth in a five time. One firm was locate at New South Wales while the other at Sydney. The workers at both firms unionized and the union of the Sydney firm collapsed due to strike. The union of steel and iron did not revive at the Sydney Firm until the time of World War I. with the exception of a brief period, steel and iron unionism continued under examination at the lith grow plant. The ideas of employers about the proper economic relations and their power in the workplace varied from a location to another according to different writers. Their suggestions included the problems which were encountered in the service employee international unions which needed to be addressed. They also suggests that many of the issues that would not be resolved without the unions establishment. There was a need to blow up the worse unions before fixing them incrementally as a result to dysfunctional unions. Improper distribution of the enough money in the economy was the main problem. There was also a suggestion that the people should be independent and be able to provide for themselves. There was attacked to the major organizations through their way of exploiting their workers in cutting their benefits. To most of the workers, there was the idea of benefiting from the employees because this drastically raised their incomes in the workplace. After industrialization in Canada, most of the employees were forked to join the trade union. As a result majority were affected by the laid down regulations like termination of child labor and standardization of wages and salaries as they were used to exploitation. Their powers in the work place was adversely reduce because they were forced to abide to the unions rules had limited powers in the workplace (Alexander 1962, p 66).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Before the industrialization in Canada, the employees had negative attitudes towards the labor organizations. Such included low organization in preventive measures while at work among other risky and exploitative measures.   Immediately after the industrialization was put in place, there was mobilization in formal sector. There was also appeal to the government for provision of welfare benefits. According to study, neoliberal reform surprisingly had opened up new channels for the informal workers which contributed them as a class. The employers also put more emphasis to organization and improvement of the workers conditions of safety in the workplace. Due to along period of exploitation and intimation in the work place before Canada’s industrialization, the employees reviewed themselves as devaluated in the workplace. Their rights were not considered, for instance through working for long hours and paid very little money, working under danger situations without protection among other work threats. After industrialization in 1880s, the employees were better placed because most of their problems were addressed in the international union guide. It protected their rights in payments according to the work done, ensured provision of protective measures while at work for instance when working in mines and mills among many. Most of the employees in America joined trade unions just as their colleagues did elsewhere. This caused eruption of strikes. For instance, some worked out of the American Railway Union’s in protest of the Pullman Company’s treatment of its operatives because violent. Majority showed a little or no desire in reduction of employment hours. In the real sense, the unions formed served to boost their wages and also improved their working conditions. Their sporting events, dinner, lectures and others enhanced their quality of life. Also the well developed insurance plans enabled the vagaries of life to be very manageable. As a result of the social role being more in evidence in the membership’s daily experience than were the Union’s economic responsibilities, many employees were drawn to knight labor.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The knights of labor was a good representation of a significant experience in the phase of Canadian working class formation. This was the group of renegade intellectuals who brought the labor questions into federal and provincial politics. They aimed at articulating labor’s struggles. However, it faced many challenges for instance the employee resistance, the 1880’s economic crisis and trade unions which opposed an internal divisions. Most of the members of knights of labor were usually wave earners who could work for long hours in very hazardous conditions. They lived in utter poverty whereby their dwellings were tenants and hovels, their wages however were too little even to cater for their necessities. On the other hand the knights were highly cooperatives which practiced state ownership of all the public utilities they believe in sincerity and honesty of all the members. They were neatly knit together and maintained secret of order. Consequently, they together created a movement culture of alternative, potential social and cultural difficulties. This was the main reason why some workers were drawn to the knights’ labor. Various groups approach in the subject of women and children labor. Before 1880, the women labor force was endless and very diverse. Some of jobs include helping the men in the fields at planting and harvesting times among other household duties. According to Colonial theory, a woman was by no means a weak culture at the beginning of the 19th century, the industrialization in market place began and also the flowering of capitalism. The change established new hierarchies for work between unpaid and paid labor. This was because of absorption of large numbers of men where some women were involved in work or wages outside their homes. In 1880s, although most of women in working class worked outside their homes, there was still a notion by middle class society that the woman’s place was the home where the work had less value. Although the number of women workers in paid labor force raised in percentage from 23.7 percent to 26.3 percent between 1880 and 1920 the total women working number tripled. Due to this, the society accepted the fact that women should work and should do so having their reputations ruined. Although their number increased, this was not nearly significantly as the shift in the occupations. This however left the laws status of women in the work force unchanged. For the case of children’s labor, according to many of the writers, many children were involved in work place. The opportunity of paid employment widened the minority of children not attending schools. Due to Canada’s industrialization and urbanization new children jobs become available especially in Montrà ©al textile mills, Cape Breton and BC mines, Hamilton and also in small manufacturing enterprises. As a result, several conditions combined to end child labor in Canada. This was due to most of the jobs being dead end and poorly paid mineral jobs which led no advancement opportunities. Consequently, by the end of 1980, a large number of children under the age of 14 had been excluded from mines and factory employment. There was a great depression when many adults sought some of the jobs formally done by children hence the children were forced back to school (Alexander 1962, p.98). According to the Freed report, which basically gave 10 years, outlook of the Canadians labor market between the periods of 2004 to 2003, the Freed’s report articulated to the views of employers who attained the sustainable economic growth. This resulted from utilization of high skilled labor due to educational standards of Canada’s labor force which had kept pace with the skilled demand. Also the low skilled occupations had been created. For the medium term, employment growth was determined by demographic development and economy which reduced employment rate through creation of slow and sustained growth. The difference between Armstrong’s report and Freed’s report was that with Armstrong, there was analyzation of membership reliability, eligibility and prevention of child labor. It also considered the unpaid working hours and advocated for rectification. It also ensured union’s support in workplace. For Freeds, it only stressed on better skills which can improve the outcome in occupations. Training for career was his most requirements to venture in to any workplace so as to growth in economy. Reference. Alexander R, (1962). Labor Relations in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. New York.