Building Effective Teams & Daniels and Daniels

As part of determining the effectiveness of a team, the team’s performance needs to be carefully measured. However, measuring the performance of a traditional team, where all members work in the same place in a single location, is different from measuring the performance of that of a global-based team. There are many factors that need to be considered when it comes to these measurements. It is important that the differences be considered in order to create a fair measurement of each member’s performance.Daniels and Daniels (1993, p.  46) said that â€Å"establishing a global system of measuring performance allows alignment of global stages in the company so that any given individual employee knows at any given point in time how his/her performance is contributing to the global business objectives and strategy. † Being a member of a global-based team, there are certain skills that management would desire for the member to have in order to work effectively with t he team. These characteristics and skills need to be exhibited by the members and can be used to determine the performance of each member. The different skills are discussed briefly below. Diversity ToleranceGlobal-based teams would have members belonging to different races, different nationalities and culture. In short, the team is diversified when it comes to its members. For the members of this kind of team to work properly, each of them needs to understand the nature of the team and be willing to work with people from different countries. Teamwork Willingness As with any type of team, members should all be team players. Each team member should know how to cooperate and contribute to the success of the team in attaining its goals. Etiquette Work etiquette is very important especially in a team-based organization.Each member is expected to work with each other. Though the work ethics of each member may differ from the other, the general and standard rules should still be observed. Listening Skills This is a very important skill that any individual should possess, especially when working with teams. Listening to others means that you are respecting their views, thoughts and decisions. You may not totally agree with them but you are sending the message that you are welcoming the idea when you listen. This skill is also crucial for a team’s success. Stress Resistance Stress comes with any type of work.People get stressed due to pressure. But most of the people who are usually stressed are those that cannot manage their time wisely. It is important for a team and each member to have a good sense of time management in order to avoid getting stressed as it affects the performance and productivity of the whole team. Problem Solving and Conflict Handling One of the skills that a mature and experienced professional should have is the ability to handle most of the problems that may occur. Being able to make wise decisions to solve problems is desirable in any t eam structure.The diverse culture and nationalities of the members would also produce conflict more often than expected. Thus, it is important that each member of the team should be able to effectively handle these conflicts and come with resolutions that are amenable to everyone. To measure the performance of the team and its members in terms of the skills mentioned above, I would suggest having a balanced scorecard that encompasses all aspects of performance. The above skills are some of the competencies that each member should possess as an individual and would comprise 50% of the scorecard. The remaining 50% would be quantitative performance, i.e. adherence to the set metrics, and shareholder value. The first 50%, which are composed of the qualities described above, can be measured through peer feedback. Team members get to assess one another in terms of the above skills and rate each other accordingly. Of course, this is done anonymously. Feedback from other team members can re ally help in the assessment of each member’s performance in terms of the different qualities above. Other than peer feedback, managers and supervisors can also add their own observations of the member since there can be times that peer feedbacks become subjective.Another method of evaluating these skills, perhaps, is assessment through case study and defense. Members will be given a scenario, internal or external, that commonly happens in the business and the team and be asked to accomplish the goal described in the scenario. The scenario and the goal can be made to encompass all or most of the qualities stated above. Each member then submits a comprehensive answer and response to the case study. Managers can now evaluate each member’s capability based on the responses received. Each member will also be given the chance to defend his/her responses in a discussion with the supervisor.These performance measurement tools suggested may be presented to the upper management for approval. Perhaps, a sample feedback form and case assessment can be provided for the director to better appreciate the tools being suggested. Team and Individual Performance A team’s performance may be an indicating factor of how each member of the team works. Rewarding the team as a whole when a goal is accomplished is a good way to boost their confidence. However, each individual’s performance should also be rewarded accordingly. A team performing well as whole does not necessarily mean that every member is doing an exemplary job.If individual rewards are given to top performers, other members will also be motivated and be encouraged to work harder to also gain achievement and rewards. That would mean a much better performance that awaits the team. Analysis In my research for the above discussion on suggestions for performance measurement tools, I have come to realize that performance is not only measured in terms of what the member can do and how productive the member is. It is also important to assess different skills sets and competencies that relate to the way a member does the job and work with other people.Since in a global-based environment physical interaction may be very limited, the skills mentioned above would compensate for this and contribute to the overall success of the team. The skills mentioned above can actually be summarized into two major things: total respect for each other despite the differences and ability to work as a team with common goals. These things should be made known to the employees at the very start of building this kind of team. In fact, these skills should also be part of the qualifications in recruiting potential members of the team.With the skills mentioned above, there are some which are based on cultural differences such as diversity tolerance and conflict handling. These measurements can be better understood by the employees by explaining clearly to them the purpose of these measurement criteria. I t should be made clear to them that the purpose of these criteria is only to ensure that the employees are working well with each other despite of the differences and are able to resolve on their own the different conflicts that may exist among different members.These measurement tools can also assure them that there will be no bias on rewarding individuals just because of their cultural background; assessments will be done in an objective manner. References Daniels, J. L. & Daniels, C. N. (1993). Global Vision: Building New Models for the Corporation of the Future. USA: McGraw-Hill Professional. Mitchell, C. (2000). A Short Course in International Business Culture. Novato, CA: World Trade Press.

Han china and imperial rome Essay

Rome was very successful because of its superior military authority. That is the main influential factor that cemented Roman power for nearly a thousand years. They had several advantages – rapid development of the latest technology and vast numbers of infantry along with a stable senate system and much wealth to fuel their ambitions. It had sewers to control waste, aqueducts for plumbing and paved roads for transport – which many other nations simply did not have. Rome had a large assortment of choices when it came to battle. Their army usually consisted of Hastati, Principe’s or Legionary Cohort in the later years – marvelous soldiers and very useful ones to say the least. Having said this, they had access to exceptional horses as well and it was this mixture of troops that was a deciding factor in conflicts. Rome used its sheer force of numbers to overwhelm most enemies and surround them or cave in on their flanks causing a route very quickly. Mind you, tactics were used, but not effectively. The Romans took advantage of technological progressions and were only to happy to inflict deadly harm upon their foes with ballistae, catapults, onagers and numerous other siege equipment. The land they conquered poured much profit into the treasury which was distributed to the armed forces. This was able to give them the latest weapons, brand new armour, plenty of supplies and good morale. You can also look at the sheer amount of land they claimed through war – the empire covered Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, parts of the Middle-East, Egypt, and the Africa coastline. Finally, the Romans brought the ideology of Christianity to the people in Europe – influencing the events that were to proceed in the future greatly, something that has changed the world today. They will be looked upon in 1000 years (during the Middle Ages) with their beliefs, attitudes, values, lifestyle and ingenuity being emulated.

EU Food Supplement Directive Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

EU Food Supplement Directive - Essay Example The directive which took effect in 2005 was also meant to ensure free movement of these products across national borders since there would be harmonised standards of all the supplements. The directive (2002/46/EC) therefore gives important definition on the limits and ingredient for supplements. (Jungbeck, 2004, p. 1) Among the 25 nations which makes up the EU, the EU has put in place directive regarding Dietary supplements which actually reclassifies vitamin supplements as medical drugs and allows for low dosage level in the usage while at the same time it outlaws many other supplements ingredients which are currently unavailable. The EU has therefore created a positive list which mandates some of the dietary supplements which are supposed to be sold in the region. Among the victims of this list has been vitamin E which is widely used by the population. Although this has been turned to legal battle between the health companies and the EU court ruling from the EU courts has given a go ahead in the implementation of the directive. This has been upheld in the sense that it is meant to protect the pupation from the adverse effects of these supplements. The alliance for Natural Health has been one of the umbrella bodies which have taken various measures which are meant to reverse the effect of the directive. It has been calling for the EU to overturn the directive and allow the sale of the supplements to continue. But in 2005 the EU court in Luxemburg gave a ruling which confirmed that the directives were put in place to stay and protect the health of the EU residents. It has therefore been argued that the EU has given the positive list of ingredient which should be used in the supplements and therefore by banning the use of some ingredients, the EU is acting in the interest of the public health. A dietary supplement which is common known as food supplement in the market is a aimed at supplying the important nutrients to the body like vitamins, mineral fatty acids, amino acids and others. Therefore it is usually intended to supplement the supply of nutrient form food especially for the import nutrients which are not supplied in adequate amount in the body. But scientific research has proved that some of the mineral supplement which are used are actual harmful to the body and this has been the main argument of the EU. It has been calling for the continued sale of supplements which are beneficial to the body and banning of those which are not beneficial to the body. The EU directive has shown that there has to prove that the supplements are safe to use both in their quality and their quantity. This is based on the fact that some of the vitamin supplements are very essential when supplied in small amounts but they can be very harmful when the they are supplied in large amount to the body notably among this being vitamin A which is widely supplemented. Therefore the EU directive asserts that it is only those supplements which are deemed safe for the body that are supposed to be sold. The EU has also established that food supplement must not be labelled with drug claims which are contrary to the health concept but which have been widely practiced in many countries in the

Australian government disability policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Australian government disability policy - Essay Example The latest research surveys conducted by global disability association illustrated that, out of the total current worlds’ population; approximately 10 percent are found to be disabled in one way or another. However, it is still contrastingly clear that, disabled persons form the minority on the society. Despite the fact that, communities have been sensitised to recognize the disabled like any other member of the society, persons with disability are still prone to subjection of acts of violence and rape. The offenders are likely to get a way scot free without legal intervention. This is the main reason as to why the federal Government of Australia has enacted the disability policy to ensure fairness and equal opportunities in all roles within the society. Integration of the disability policy Since it had been brought to the limelight that, people associated with disability are often assumed with a lot of neglect in most of the societal structure. The Australian Government, ther efore, pushed for their recognition just as any other normal citizen in the federal republic. To start with, the Government enacted equalization of persons with disability act to drive a sense of equity in the delivery of services and equitable sharing of responsibility in favour of the disabled persons so that, they can enjoy the same kind of life associated with able members of the society. According to this act, the federal government has put in place mandatory policy to all the institutions offering any form of employments both at private and state level to empower and exercise right of the disabled person (Paun 2006). This authority has been designed to be far much felt both in rural and urban areas where the disabled human resource who are otherwise recognised as to able are differently given equal opportunities to ascertain productive employment with respect to the labor market. The basic advantage of this policy is to avert any form of discrimination of persons perceived to be disabled and no obstacles should be brought in their way while pursuing employment. Besides, the Australian federal Government has ensured harmony and integration of disabled persons into open employment. It has offered support which is being driven through different kinds of measures such as offering vocational training for persons considered to have severe physical problems and disadvantaged from joining higher levels of education. With respect to vocational training, talent development and a skilled perfection is made as a way of making them to achieve equal status like the other members of the society (Paun 2006). Some amongst the advantages of this policy is that, the state provides a lot of incentives to the disabled through what is called the quota schemes. Such invectives come in terms of reserved openings and employment opportunities which are specifically meant for the disabled. Besides, they are given fair opportunities in accessing loans at affordable interest rates a nd grants with sufficient settlement duration of repayment, and this makes them feel the advantage of entrepreneurship. However, for this not to be visualized as undue advantage to the rest of the society, strategies can be put in place to disburse incentives to a group or combination of both able and disabled persons so as to avert unfairness or biasness. Moreover, the government is very much considerate and has subsidised the tax collected from such persons and has instead facilitated compliance in terms of offering contracts besides funding and other technical assistance to the institutions that has put in recognition to employ persons with disabilities. This acts as an additional support in generation of returns helping in the collective support in building of the society in all aspects of personalities (Vosko 2006). The Australian National council, a body, which supports the awareness of persons with disa

Web Server Application Attacks Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Web Server Application Attacks - Research Paper Example A command injection attack refers to an attack aimed at compromising the sensitive information featured in the back end database that supports the interactive aspects of a web application. Included under this category are issues like cross-site scripting (XSS) and Structured Query Language (SQL) injection. To curb this attack, organizations need to plan and address the security matters that pertain to their web solutions during web development or planning stages. Examples of such approaches would be to hire web application developers with proper knowledge on use of more sophisticated database capabilities like stored procedures to reside in the back end database system or the concept of data objects when writing APIs to access the database system that supports the web utilities. Equally, XSS issues can be handled by employing Model Viewer Controller (MVC) frameworks like Codeignitor while developing web applications. Such frameworks have in-built capabilities to suppress the efforts of clients who try to launch XSS attacks. A precaution taken during the development or planning of a web application is worthwhile for the reason that security issues are harder to handle once a system is deployed or implemented. The third type of attack that targets web servers is interception of unencrypted information that is channeled in communication sessions that take place between the client browsers and the servers. One way to combat this problem is to use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) in web-centered communication. SSL helps in creating an encrypted link between client-server communications. In particular, the concept uses SSL certificates (typically methods like symmetric and asymmetric encryption) to transfer sensitive information like social security numbers and credit card numbers. In the diagram, the server first sends a copy that bears its asymmetric

Personal Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 12

Personal Statement - Essay Example working at a hedge fund as a junior trader in Goldwater Capital Corp, New York where my responsibilities include reconciling cash, positions, coupons, pay-downs, write-downs and wires for various cash accounts; handling daily and end-month accounting, third party administration, and audit work. I also have the responsibilities of closely examining and monitoring stock market on daily basis and I have initiated new trading strategies that have boosted the firm’s quarterly revenue. I have also worked with Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) Accounting/ Advisory where I performed compliance attestation examinations on third-party recipients of the Universal Service Fund disbursements for a large government entity. My duties included obtaining and reviewing documentation and work papers, performing test procedures and documenting results, as well as managing workload and proactively communicating findings to KPMG engagement leadership and clients. Here, I gained immense knowledge on telecommunications accounting. I also performed attestation engagements in accordance with Yellow Book and Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS) requirements in addition to participating in an agreed-upon procedure engagement for a third-party independent review in evaluating a newly implemented billing system and assisting the management in verifying the accuracy and completeness of invoices generated. My responsibilities included drafting the agreed-upon procedures, providing guidance to new hires, performing test procedures and documenting results, managing workload and proactively communicating findings to KPMG engagement leadership and clients. Here, I gained much knowledge on the nature of agreed-upon procedure engagements. In KPMG, I also participated in performing a payphone compensation attestation of a telecommunications service provider. My duties included performing and documenting audit procedures, obtaining and reviewing documentation, and testing

The Impact of the US Economy on the Events Industry Research Paper - 1

The Impact of the US Economy on the Events Industry - Research Paper Example To the customer or guest, as special event is an opportunity for a leisure, social or cultural experience outside the The definition was corroborated by Getz who traced the evolution of the events planning and management as a profession and disclosed that â€Å"events are an important motivator of tourism, and figure prominently in the development and marketing plans of most destinations† (Getz 403).With more organizations pursuing endeavors that focus on a variety of events, it was, therefore, imminent that a categorization of events naturally occurred. From among the events categorization that emerged, the following were noted: local, major, hallmark and mega events (Skoultos and Tsimitakis); and the typology of planned events as presented by Getz who differentiated cultural celebrations, political and state events, arts and entertainment, business and trade, educational and scientific, sport competition and recreational events, and finally, private events (Getz 404). At this point, the definition of events tourism has been clearly established as â€Å"a systematic planning, development, and marketing of festivals and special events as tourist attractions, image-makers, catalysts for infrastructure and economic growth, and animators of built attraction† (Ghazali, Collins and Minnis qtd. in Skoultos and Tsimitakis 2). In different studies, it was clearly established that holding significant events generate marked impacts on the promoter of events, as well as in the location within which these events were organized and implemented. From a more traditional perspective, it was deduced that event tourism aims to spur economic growth and gain profound benefits in terms of money generated from the event (â€Å"expenditure on travel, entertainment, shopping, and pre- and post-conference tours† (â€Å"Labour Market Review of the Events Industry† 29)). Getz, on the other

Art and Protest in Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Art and Protest in Writing - Essay Example From this paper it is clear that to a new writer, attitude would be a critical component especially when sharing what has been written with other writers. Wiggins argues that every successful writer needs to posses some degree of arrogance. For example, Alvarez is a renowned novelist. In her novel Something to Declare, the author includes a reader’s comment claiming that after finishing one book by the author, the reader would automatically be led to buy another of the author’s books. This has been used as an intentional strategy by most writers to gain trust from the readers and thus make it easy to manipulate their minds in line with their purpose of the writing. This study highlights that Cambridge Educational Services introduces an important aspect in writing referred to as â€Å"wordsmithing†. This involves categorizing alphabetic symbols so as to convey a particular meaning. Writing involves use of symbols that could be easily predicted and symbolism plays an important role of communication in writing as writing in itself could have desirable or undesirable consequences. Probably, Alvarez avoiding to attack America directly for racism could be an example of symbolism in use. The author chose to use the America beauty pageant instead thus reduces chances of undesirable consequences. Most people would write about others but their works would not last. But for writers like Alvarez, their works become constantly new in the reader’s mind.  

Buyer behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Buyer behavior - Essay Example Once the customer decision making process of the customers is understood, it becomes relatively easier to develop a customer profile as the customer’s decisions to buy specific items are rationally and emotionally influenced. In the process of making their decisions, customers consider categories based in rationales, and they may make a decision, particularly in the case of repeat customers, based on the brand or based on emotions. The decision making of customers can assist the business to ensure that they have an emotional attachment to the brand which is among the key elements that build brand loyalty(Wright, 2006, p. 27). Additionally, it is also among the key factors in obtaining recommendations and referrals, and when seeking more customers for the business, it is relatively easier to choose the best marketing strategies when the business has an understanding. Understanding the manner in which customers make decisions assists business in various ways in its future operat ions as it seeks to be successful. Understanding how customers make decisions makes it easier for the business to comprehend rational and the emotional reasons that affect customers and thus the business can make decisions based on this (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2009, p. 140). For instance, a customer may have tax issues and be in need of advice making their situation acute, thus they will seek a business that provides peace of mind and assists them to worry less. If the business understands the manner in which the customers make their decisions, it will be easier to come up with ways that will ensure they are at peace. This is because the emotional reasons of the customers have a higher influence on the manner in which they make decisions compared to price. Understanding decision making process of the customers is also important for the business as this will assist the business as it makes plans on timing of strategic market

Gender Communication Essay Example for Free

Gender Communication Essay The concept of gender is often poorly differentiated with sex, at times even being utilized synonymously with sex. The terminology gender commonly appears within both popular and academic discourses regarding social event dynamics. However, regardless of the form in which the term appears, authors seldom specify what they imply by the terminology. It is widely assumed that readers and listeners already comprehend the connotation and hence explanation is ruled out as being unnecessary. The sex/gender disparity embodies some feminists’ attempts at breaking the link between the organic sex category and the social gender category. As per this social molding viewpoint, gender refers to the customary sense which ultimately becomes dependently linked to the body. When gender becomes understood to be culturally molded, it becomes likely to evade the essentialist notion which suggests that gender emanates for the organic body (Clancy, 2004). However, despite the fact that the disparity between culturally molded gender responsibilities and ahistorical organic sexes attacks the idea that females’ organic configuration make up their social fate, it encounters some difficult dissociation of culturally-derived genders out of sexed bodies. Women and men exhibit dissimilar but similarly valid communication styles. The speaking modes displayed by both women and men have gender differentials. Essentialism belief holds that, since biological disparities between men and women exist, men and women are obviously dissimilar with regard to personality and character. Strict organic essentialism proposes that ones gender construction is not influenced by nurture. Essentialists assume men to be aggressive, strong, violent, logical, brave, lustful, independent and disciplined. Conversely, women are viewed as being passive, weak, cowardly, gentle, emotional, having no sexual appeal, having no stamina and self-control plus extremely invested in their associations with other persons. Aristotle suggested that men are more courageous, virtuous and noble as compared to women. The 1900s saw philosophers like John Locke and Emmanuel Kant argue that the social separation of female and male gender is reasonable owing to the innate disparities between female and male bodies. Scientist in the 1900s studied studies on female and male bodies and proposed that since male craniums were bigger in comparison to female craniums and feminine pelvises proved bigger than masculine pelvises, males are more suited for business, politics and general community life, whereas females whose little craniums supposedly signified lesser intellect, were most suitable to child bearing and home tending (http://www. humboldt. edu/~mpw1/gender_theory/perspectives4. shtml). The ramifications of essentialist gender perspectives are extensive. Conventional gender responsibilities are somewhat based upon some fundamental organic determinism; a viewpoint that views biology as being destiny. Consequently, females have had the principal responsibility of housework and parenting, with men being the wage earners. Even presently, males outnumber females in government and business and women and girls are not as powerfully urged to practice occupations in science, technology and math as are men and boys. Essentialists hold that gender is the same as sex, or that the two concepts are naturally-derived (God-given) and indivisible. Gender and observable sex indicators, such as, vagina and penis are inseparable. This theory holds that merely two gender types exist from birth and they are not altered throughout life. No continuum exists between these two genders since any appearances or behaviors not coherent with such suppositions are considered as being perverse. Essentialism holds that females are dissimilar with men owing to their anatomy, particularly their minor sex traits, hormones plus reproductive structures. Gender disparities in verbal capability and visuo-spatial, aggression plus other actions, as well as other mental and physical characteristics are attributed to pubertal or prenatal hormone contact. Essentialist stances may exist within developmental psychobiological, sociological, neuropsychological and ethological work. Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) female and male brain picture Disparities or other mental aspects, for instance, are at times regarded as mirroring inborn disparities. Gender disparities in spatial, verbal and Mathematical capabilities are usually regarded as being organically based (http://www. humboldt. edu/~mpw1/gender_theory/perspectives4. shtml). Constructivists hold that gender as well as sex are derived from social relations and do not exist without social contact. It admits social influences upon persons’ gender. It assumes that manhood or womanhood implies endorsing some general function unique to an individual’s sex. Personal uniqueness, sexual inclination, as well as modes of socially interacting is determined by some set of individual constructs. This implies that gender and sex do not have natural foundations because nature itself is essentially socially defined. The constructivist quality of Gender and sex is rendered invisible through typical social life dynamics and this makes the two notions seem natural as opposed to artificial (Gergen, 2007). Persons construct fresh knowledge, through assimilation and accommodation processes, out of the experiences they undergo. Assimilation involves integrating fresh experiences into previously existent frameworks with no alteration of such frameworks. Such events could happen when person’s experiences reflect their inner world representations; however, they may as well happen whenever alteration of some defective understanding happens, for instance persons may fail to detect events, could misinterpret others input, or could conclude that some occurrence is offer some unimportant information regarding the world. On the contrary, whenever persons’ experiences disagree with their inner representations, they could alter their viewpoints of such experiences with a view to conforming to their inner representations. Accommodation involves restructuring ones intellectual outside world interpretation to suit fresh experiences (Glasser, Smith, 2008). It is the means though which learning emanates from failure. When persons act based on the anticipation that the world functions in some specific way only for such expectations to be violated, such individuals usually fail. However, through accommodating such fresh experience as well as restructuring their model regarding the functioning of the world, persons learn through experiencing disappointment or the failure of others. . Constructivists suggest that gender representations systematize an individual’s personality uniqueness, social awareness and interpersonal actions. The notion of classifying as either female or male is the vital initial action in the classification of human beings following birth, and owing to contemporary technological advances, even some months prior to birth. Sexual inclination; whether bisexual, homosexual or heterosexual, at puberty it too viewed as a vital gender representation element that is vital to interpersonal actions and societal lives (Rosser, 2003). Men interact with the world as persons within hierarchical communal order whereby they are either placed down or up. Conversations in Such worlds comprise of negotiations whereby persons attempt to attain and uphold the dominant position when they can, as well as shield themselves from the attempts of others to shove them about and drag them down. Life, in such circumstances comprises of some contest or efforts to uphold autonomy and evade failure. Women approach the world as individual within some system of linkages. Ni such a world, dialogues comprise of consultations for intimacy whereby persons attempt to look for and offer support and confirmation, as well as to arrive at a consensus. Persons attempt to shield themselves from the attempts of others to drive them farther. Therefore, life consists of some community and efforts to uphold intimacy as well as evade segregation. Despite the fact that hierarchies exists in such world too, such hierarchies are associated more with friendship as opposed to accomplishment and power (http://openlearn. open. ac. uk/mod/resource/view. php? id=166569). Females too are inclined towards attaining status as well as evading failure, however, such objectives do not occupy all of their time, and women seem to seek for such goals while disguised as maintaining connection. Men too are inclined to attaining participation as well as evading segregation, however, they do not focus on such objectives; they seem to seek for them while disguised ads opposing them. Thus, Women and men seek entirely different entities during communication, and they as well functions as per varied rules. Men’s self-worth originates form the capacity to attain outcomes; whereas women’s self-esteem originates form her sensations as well as the fineness of their relationships. Therefore, women fair better in personal contact and communication; communication has primary significance (Armstrong, 2006). For womenfolk, relationships take precedence over technology and work. Individual expression, particularly regarding their emotions, is extremely crucial. Sharing of personal emotions has greater significance than attaining goals as well as success. Interpersonal contact and talk grants tremendous satisfaction. References Armstrong, A. (2006). Foucault and feminism. Retrieved on 25th May 2009 from http://www. iep. utm. edu/f/foucfem. htm. Clancy. (August 7th 2004). Essentialism: draft of 3W encyclopedia entry. Culturecat. Retrieved on May 25, 2009 from http://culturecat. net/node/486. Gergen, M. (2007). Positioning in general relations: from constructivism to constructionism. Retrieved on May 25, 2009 form http://74. 125. 95. 132/search? q=cache:rvPREfxYUt8J:www. taosinstitute. net/Websites/taos/Images/ResourcesManuscripts/manu_gergen_01. doc+constructivist/constructivism+views/approaches+on+gendercd=8hl=enct=clnk. Glasser, H. M Smith III, J. P (June 30th 2008). On the vague meaning of â€Å"gender† in education research: the problem, its source, and recommendations for practice. http://74. 125. 95. 132/search? q=cache:KNx-Y-ZIM_EJ:aera. net/uploadedFiles/Publications/Journals/Educational_Researcher/3706/09EDR08-343. pdf+Compare+%26+contrast/ANALYZE+the+essentialist+view+%26+the+constructivist+views+on+gendercd=3hl=enct=clnk. Humbolt edu. Perspective used to look at gender. Retrieved on May 25, 2009

Genetic Manipulation: Advantages and Disadvantages

Genetic Manipulation: Advantages and Disadvantages Science on the other hand, fills my brain with questions and answers the knowledge that I crave. The theory of evolution does not dismiss there is a God. It is a theory trying to explain the beginning of life, how we evolved. The Old Testament professes to do the same thing, however, the stories are symbolic in their meaning. I am a Roman Catholic, and our dear Pope John Paul II acknowledged evolution as more than a hypotheses. Only the divine soul is untouched by evolution (Jurmain et al. 2010:44). The fact that some fossils are not preserved does not disprove evolution. Many species might not have left fossils. Some organisms just do not fossilize well. The geological record is not perfect. The fossils are not laid out perfectly waiting to be discovered by paleontologists. Chances are it is highly unlikely that an organisms remains will become fossilized, rather than decomposed. For the remains that do become fossilized, their preservation is unlikely due to erosion, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions , etc; Evolution continues to be rejected by some religious conservatives and fundamentalists. A lot of them believe that evolutionary biology ignores that God exists. They state that it does not account for how the world was really created according to the scriptures in the Bible. There have been numerous efforts to block teaching of evolution in U.S. public schools since 1968. The US Supreme Court overturned the first case in Arkansas stating that there could be no law barring the teaching of evolution on the grounds that it breached the separation of church and state as stated in the U.S. Constitution. Fourteen years later the federal courts rejected a statute to teach both creation science and evolution in the public schools. The courts stated that creation science was not actually a science. To try and get around the law of separation of church and state, evolution opponents began to propose the teaching of intelligent design. They stated that it was non religious, and a scientific alternative to evolution. Intelligent design claims that the living world was too intricate to have been made by the workings of natural selection. That some living things were too complex to have been developed by evolution and could have only have been created by an intelligent designer. But, they did not identify this intelligent designer. This presentation again was blocked by a federal district judge who found intelligent design was not a science (Jurmain et al. 2010:44). What can be done to correct this controversy, or should it be corrected? Why? Although I dont agree with the Christian fundamentalists opinion, my answer is, no. Why? It is called the First Amendment. Describe and evaluate some of the positive and negative consequences of genetic manipulation Genetic engineering entails the manipulation of DNA. The tools in this process are very important for the restriction of so called enzymes, which are produce by various species of bacteria. A particular sequence of a chain of nucleotide bases, can be recognized by restriction enzymes. The nucleotide bases that make up the DNA molecule; cut the DNA at that location. Parts of DNA formed in this way are joined using enzymes called ligases(joining of two enzyme molecules to form a covalent bond, accompanied by the hydrolysis of ATP(adenosine triphosphate)) Positive side of genetic manipulation Genetic therapy entails supplying a particular function to a gene, and in turn to cells that are lacking that function. The intention is to correct a genetic disorder or an acquired disease. One type of gene therapy used today is, somatic cell therapy. It is similar to an organ transplant. One or more specific tissues are targeted for treatment by therapeutic genes from the lab or the tissue is removed and replaced with the treated cells and given back to the patient. Researchers have had success with somatic cell gene therapy for the treatment of blood, lung, liver disorders and cancer. Another positive side to genetic manipulation also involves the health industry. The manufacturing of recombinant factor VIII, a blood clotting agent missing in patients with hemophilia A. Practically all of the hemophiliacs who were treated with factor VIII before the mid 1980s contracted AIDS or hepatitis C from viral contaminants in the blood that were used to make the product. Now donor blood is screened for the presence of HIV and the hepatitis C virus. The process now includes inactivating the viruses if they prove to be present. The possibility of a virus contamination is eliminated completely by the use of recombinant factor VIII. Negative side of genetic manipulation Explanation of Cloning: A technique that is a process of several stages. An egg is taken from a donor animal The nucleus is then removed from the egg. The nucleus containing the DNA is taken from the tissue cell of the animal being cloned. The nucleus is inserted into the donor egg cell. The fused egg is then placed in the uterus of a surrogate mother. When that mother eventually gives birth, if all goes well, the baby is genetically identical to the animal that provided the tissue cells that contained the DNA. I understand the potential benefits that genetic engineering has for the future of this world, however, the thought of it getting into the wrong hands terrifies me. My main area of concern is cloning. From the beginning, back in 1997 when I heard on the news about the sheep, Dolly, being cloned in Scotland, my heart sank. There is even talk of people ordering what type of children they want, as if they were ordering from a dinner menu. I knew eventually that people would be cloned. There is evidence they have already. People are desperately waiting for transplants. Why are we not using the clones vital organs? This is something would like answered. Would you agree with your textbook authors when they say: Indeed it would not be an exaggeration to say that this is the most exciting time in the history of evolutionary biology since Darwin published On the Origins of Species? Would you agree or disagree with this statement? Why? Please provide some detailed examples? Yes, I would agree. In my younger days, I worked as a chemotherapy technician in Childrens Hospital, Boston. I worked closely with one little girl who was born without a stomach, preparing parenteral nutrition for her daily basis. Children also dying at a very young age of diabetes. But due to the amazing research done in genetics, and recombinant DNA technology, children have a much better chance of reaching adulthood and leading normal lives. Regarding the field of anthropology, the sequencing of human genes in the Human Genome Project. The progress being made in comparative genomics is terribly exciting. Personally, I cant wait to hear the DNA comparison results of the Neanderthal, modern human, and nonhuman primate. What is natural selection? The theory of Natural selection is actually the key to evolution. It is based on the following processes that include: Biological variation within all species Individuals within a species that have favorable traits are more likely to survive in their environment and produce offspring. The environment of the species determines whether or not a trait is satisfactory or not. Traits are inherited and over a period of time, favorable traits will be passed on generation to generation and become more common in the population. Isolation of a species may lead to the formation of a new species due to inhabiting a different environment and will in turn adapt to that environment. Natural selection only operates on an individual within a population, but it is the population that evolves. Why is genetic variation necessary for the process of natural selection to operate? Genetic variation plays a significant role at the microevolutionary level, producing evolutionary change. Directional evolutionary trends can only be sustained by natural selection. Individuals who carry a particular allele or a combination of alleles will produce more offspring than other individuals with different alleles. The frequency of the new allele in a population will increase slowly from generation to generation. This process is compounded over hundreds of generations for multiple loci, the result being a major evolutionary change(Jurmain et al. 2010:107). What are the sources of genetic variation? Mutations: When there is a change in the DNA molecule that means there is one type of mutation and that multiple genes occur in two or more forms called alleles. If an allele to another allele, or if the gene is altered in some way, a mutation has just occurred. Alleles are, in fact, a direct result of a mutation. The substitution of simply one DNA base for another, a point mutation, can cause a change in an allele. However, to be important to the evolutionary process, the point mutation has to occur in the sex cells. This is so the mutation can be passed on from generation to generation. Examples: No changes in phenotype due to mutations No evidence of a change on the phenotype of an organism due to mutation. Mutation occurred maybe in a stretch of DNA with no function, or perhaps the mutation occurred in a protein-coding region, but ended up not affecting the amino acid sequencing of the protein. Small change in phenotype due to mutations would for example be a single mutation like a cats ear slightly curling back. Big change in phenotype due to mutations This would create some major phenotypic changes. DDT resistance in insects are usually caused by single mutations. A single mutation can also have very strong negative effects on an organism. Mutations that would cause the death of an organism are called lethals. Gene flow Migration is used here to refer to the movement of people. This occurs when the exchange of genes between different groups of migrants interbreeding. It can also occur when an individual(s) move temporarily and produce some offspring in an entirely new population. This way they have left their genetic contribution. An example of gene flow: Happens a great deal in war. When male soldiers are stationed in remote parts of the world and impregnate the native women of that country and then the male returns to his native land. The impregnated native women in the remote country represents the gene flow. Genetic drift is known as the random factor in evolution. The population size is its entire function. Drift only occurs because a population is small. If an allele is rare in a very small population of less than 400 people, there is a very great chance that it will not be passed down to the offspring. Eventually, the allele may disappear entirely. In this instance genetic variability has been reduced drastically. Genetic drift can cause big losses of genetic variation for small populations. An example of genetic drift: The B allele was evidently not passed down to generations of Blackfoot people. There is evidence that present populations are deficient in genotypes that contain the B allele (BB, BO and AB). When the populations became greatly reduced in size, some genes may not have been passed on to the next generation. This phenomenon is referred to as a genetic bottleneck. As a result, genetic variability may have been severely reduced in succeeding generations. Founder effect is a type of genetic drift and is seen in human and non human populations. An example of the founder effect is the Baptist German religious sect that settled in Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. These families didnt marry outside their own religious sect. There has been evidence of some dramatic changes in their gene frequencies. For example; the type A blood in the sect resulted in 60 percent. United States is 42%. It is 45 percent for the sect in West Germany. They also have fewer people with certain recessive traits, such as hitchhikers thumb and attached ear lobes, compared to the U.S. population as a whole. The founder effect helps explain the high frequency of dwarfism and polydactylism (extra fingers) in the Amish of Lancaster Pennsylvania. The colony began when at least one of the individuals carried these traits. Recombination is a source of genetic variation that introduces new gene combinations into populations. For example: Siblings are never genetically identical to either of their parents or to each other (unless they are identical twins.)This is because when organisms reproduce sexually, some genetic à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"shufflingà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  occurs. This brings together a new combination of genes. How is natural selection related to environmental factors? All the evolutionary factors of mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, and recombination, interact to form genetic variation. Genes are then distributed within the populations. There isnt any long term direction to any of the above factors, but for adaptation and the evolutionary process to occur, the gene pool of the population needs to change in a certain direction.Some alleles need to consistently become more commonplace, while other become less common. Natural selection can cause a change in direction in allele frequency relative to specific environmental factors. If there is to be a change in the environment, then the selection pressures will also change, and a shift in allele frequencies is called adaptation. Now if there are long term environmental changes in the same direction, then allele frequencies would also shift very gradually over time. Example:Hemoglobin S (Hbs) which is an abnormal form of hemoglobin that is formed from a point mutation gene, produces part of the molecule of the hemoglobin. If an individual inherits this allele from both parents, he or she will have sickle cell anemia. HbS is a mutation that occurs in all populations occasionally, but the allele in generally rare. HBs, however, is more common in central Africa where it reaches 20% of the population. With the devastating effects of the HbS homozygotes, one would think that natural selection would have acted on eliminating it. But that is not the case. Natural selection has actually increased the frequency of HbS. This is because of the disease malaria. People with one HbS and one HbA allele (heterozygotes with the sickle cell trait) have red blood cells that contain hemoglobin S. Hemoglobin S is not a suitable environment for the malarial parasite. So having HbS is beneficial, because it protects that person from malaria. In this instance, malaria is the selective agent. and favors the heterozygous phenotype. In this part of the world, individuals with sickle cell anemia trait have a higher reproductive success than those with normal hemoglobin, because they are more apt to die of malaria (Jurmain et al. 2010:105). Discuss genealogy of the Blue Fugates of Kentucky. Describe Mendelian principle of inheritance as well as a phenotypic effect of an enzyme deficiency. Mendel discovered through his experiments with plants, that the inheritance of traits was not due to blending as he originally thought. He found that specific units (genes) of inheritance were passed down from generation to generation. No matter what trait Mendel selected for the second generation of the plants, it would show a ratio of 3 to 1. This meant that there were 3 dominant genes to every 1 recessive gene. Mendel realized that this 3:1 ratio occurred in later generations as well. He had found the key to understanding inheritance. Mendel came to three very important conclusions from his experiments The inheritance of each trait is determined by units(genes) that are passed on to descendents and are unchanged. An individual would inherit a gene from each parent for each trait. A trait just may not show up in an offspring but could be passed on to their offspring. Mendels observations have been summarized in to two principles: The principle of segregation and the principle of independent assortment. According to the principle of segregation two members of alleles separate from each other in the formation of sex cells (gametes) Half of the gametes carry one of the allele and the other half of the gametes carry the other allele. Principle of independent assortment-Genes for different traits are assorted independently from one another in the formation of sex cells. I feel the principle of segregation applies in the case of the blue Fugates of Kentucky. It was determined that the Fugates inherited an autosomal recessive trait. Both Martin Fugate(heterozygote) and his bride Elizabeth Fugate(heterozygote) had one recessive allele each of this disorder. Since both Martin and Elizabeth were both carriers, there was a 25% chance of their offspring being affected. There is usually a predictable phenotypic ratio of 3:1. The family would marry people who lived close by and this intermarrying continued. The community was isolated, without roads. When the railroad was completed 30 to 40 years later, roads were built and they started venturing out and marrying outside their community. The strain of the inherited blue gene began to disappear. The recessive gene was not likely to find a mate with the same recessive gene. A baby named, Benjy Stacy was born blue, 100 years later. He had the recessive gene from both his mother and fathers side. His blue color, however was only temporary. It was assumed that Benjy had just inherited one gene of the condition, and being a baby had a smaller amount of the enzyme diaphorase, and it built to normal levels as he got older (Jurmain et al. 2010:86-89) and Fugate family literature. Why do we see this rare, phenotypic deficiency? It was first seen in Alaskan Eskimos and Indians. It is a human genetic disease. The gene is located at chromosome 22. In normal people, there is a dominant, allele that is responsible for the production of the enzyme diaphoreses. Normally hemoglobin is converted into methemoglobin(a brownish compound of oxygen and hemoglobin) at a very slow rate. Diaphorase in normal blood, changes the methemoglobin back to hemoglobin. The homozygous children of the Fugate family, lacked the enzyme diaphorase. therefore this conversion could not take place. Therefore, all of their hemoglobin in their body was considered useless. Instead they had a mutant allele that produced an inert enzyme that was unable to reduce the hemoglobin. What is the nature of the evidence supporting punctuated equilibrium? The theory was advanced by two American paleontologists Eldredge and Gould. They agreed that the fossil record was incomplete, but that it could not be incomplete enough to account for the near absence of the gradualistic change from the fossil record. They said that species originate too quickly for the normal geological processes to record the event; a single bedding (a thin layer of sedimentary rock)often compresses more than tens of thousands of years into a thin slice. Speciation usually occurs when small populations cut off from the interbreeding with groups, evolving rapidly in isolation. With fewer people in an isolated population, the favorable mutations spread more readily. A small, isolated, evolving population may become extinct and may not leave a trace of a fossil record. Eldredge and Gould said that if it does remove itself from its isolation, and spread over a much wider area, its likely to be seen in the fossil record as making a punctuational appearance, fully forme d. The nature of the evidence supporting punctuated equilibrium was from the paleontologist, Cheetham. He gathered a large sample of bryzoan fossils from the Caribbean and surrounding regions. He painstakingly classified them into 17 species using 46 microscopic characteristics of their skeletons. Measured their length, dimensions of pores, and all the orifices on the fossils. He then arranged them into a family tree. He analyzed them and split a single species into several species. The abruptness in the tree, appeared more clear to him and stronger than ever. He concluded that through 15 million years of the geological record, these particular species persisted unchanged for 2-6 million years. Then in less than 160 thousand years, split off in to a new species. This new species would coexist continuously with its ancestor species. This was his punctuated result. But this was not proof The morphological differences being used to split the fossil species? What if it really did not mark a separate species, but was just another version of the species? A model of speciation was needed to recognize a new species and support any evidence of punctuated equilibrium. Several biological tests were performed and then he performed a test in genetics. Using a test of protein electrophoresis, he extracted enzymes and analyzed each of the eight morphologically defined species. In every case, the specimen from each species had very similar enzymes. This indicated they belonged to the same genetically related species. Cheetham had passed the fossil species test. His conclusion was that morphology still seems to say how evolution occurred(http://science.jrank.org/pages/5591/punctuated-Equilibrium.html)(Kerr 1995:1421). Would you agree or disagree with this? Why? Many paleontologists still say that many of these studies have their weaknesses. There is overwhelming evidence that speciation is sometimes gradual and sometimes punctuated. It is very complicated, and until there is more proof, I think I would prefer to stick to the middle ground. Theories of Psychopathy | Overview and Analysis Theories of Psychopathy | Overview and Analysis A lot of research has been conducted in the area of aggressive, antisocial, and criminal behaviour (Frick Viding, 2009). Indeed, persistent antisocial behaviour results in human suffering associated with criminal offences, and high economic costs from detaining these offenders to prevent recidivism (Loeber Farrington, 2001). What is Psychopathy? Previous findings demonstrated that over a third of incarcerated offenders have Antisocial Personality Disorder, characterized by pervasive antisocial and exploitative behaviour (Black, Gunter, Loveless, Allen, Sieleni, 2010). However, offenders with psychopathy represent an even greater danger to society. Individuals with psychopathy often use instrumental aggression for personal gain. When compared to non-psychopathic offenders, they tend to commit more serious and violent crimes (e.g. premeditated homicide), are three times more likely to reoffend, and four times more likely to recidivate by a violent offence after being released from prison (Porter, Brinke, Wilson, 2009). Psychopathy is a developmental disorder characterized by antisocial and bold disinhibited behaviours, lack of empathy and remorse, and low anxiety (Hare Neumann, 2008). Previous studies demonstrated that adults with psychopathy all display persistent antisocial behavior across the lifespan with first signs of psychopathy, such as behavioural disturbances and emotional deficits, being evident as early as childhood (Blair, 2013). While the diagnosis of psychopathy is generally applied to adults, some children present with antisocial behavior and core psychopathic traits (comparable with callous-unemotional (CU) traits) such as low empathy, lack of guilt, shallow affect, and callous use of others (Frick Viding, 2009). Although it is important not to assume that children and adolescents with psychopathic traits will exhibit psychopathy in adulthood, the assessment of psychopathic traits and antisocial behavior in youth provides considerable evidence of their persistence over time (Erme r, Cape, Nyalakanti, Calhoun, Kiehl, 2013). Psychopathic Traits in Children and Adolescents Children with conduct disorder and callous-unemotional traits show more instrumental aggression for personal gain, higher prevalence of Antisocial Personality Disorder among their parents, more frequent interactions with the police, and a greater number and variety of conduct problems than children with CD and no psychopathic traits (Herba, Hodgins, Blackwood, Kumari, Naudts, Phillips, in press). While callous-unemotional traits during childhood have been often associated with severe antisocial behavior, children with callous-unemotional traits but no antisocial behaviour frequently show higher levels of other impairments such as increased hyperactivity, low prosociality, and poor interpersonal relationships (see: Frick, Cornell, Bodin, Dane, Barry, Loney, 2003; Barker, Olivier, Viding, Salekin, Maughan, 2011; Rowe, Maughan, Moran, Ford, Briskman, Goodman, 2010). Callous and unemotional traits have been recently added as part of the diagnostic criteria for Conduct Disorder in the new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V) (Decuyper, Caluwe, Clercq, Fruyt, 2014). Moreover, due to its high predictive validity, CU traits may have independent diagnostic value, even without the diagnosis of conduct disorder (Barker, et al., 2011; Frick, et al., 2003; Viding McCrory, 2012). Evidence of Emotional Dysfunction in Individuals with Psychopathic Traits Previous findings demonstrated that callous and unemotional children show similar emotional deficits as psychopathic adults, such as poor emotion recognition and deficits in emotional empathy (Herba, et al., in press; Blair, 2003; Pardini, Lochman, Frick, 2003). Emotional empathy represents affective reactions to emotional expressions and to verbal descriptions of the emotional states of other individuals. Empathic reactions, which can be evoked by facial expressions, voice tones, body postures, and even script, serve a communicatory function, and are processed by separate neural systems (Blair, 2013). Emotion Recognition Findings Youths and adults with psychopathic tendencies display a significant selective impairment in emotional empathy. While they normally recognize and differentiate between expressions of disgust and anger, their processing of distress cues (expressions of sadness, pain, and fear) is significantly different from healthy youths and adults without psychopathic tendencies (Blair, 2013). Studies demonstrated that distress cues inhibit antisocial behaviour in humans as well as primates by eliciting empathy in observers (Marsh Blair, 2007). Meta-analytic review of the literature shows that while having a normal processing of anger and disgust, individuals with psychopathic traits and persistent antisocial behaviour display poor recognition of certain emotional expressions, particularly fear, as well as reduced recognition of expressions of happiness and sadness, though to a lesser extent (Marsh Blair, 2007; Dawel, O’Kearney, McKone, Palermo, 2012). Blair, Collegde, Murray, and Mitchel l (2001) conducted a study looking at emotion recognition in boys with and without psychopathic tendencies (measured by a Psychopathy Screening Device). Children were shown a standardized set of six emotions (sadness, happiness, anger, disgust, fear, and surprise) morphed into different intensity levels and shown in 20 successive frames from neutral to full expression. Results demonstrated that children with psychopathic tendencies made more mistakes in recognizing expressions of fear even when they were presented at full intensity. Moreover, these children also needed more stages to be able to recognize expressions of sadness (Blair, et al. 2001). Similar impaired recognition of sad and fearful expressions is also observed using vocal tones and body poses (Stevens, Charman, Blair, 2001; Blair, Budhani, Colledge, Scott, 2005; Munoz, 2009). Psychophysiological findings A number of studies that looked at psychophysiological responsiveness of individuals with psychopathic traits provided additional evidence towards the idea that these individuals have impaired processing of expressions of distress in others. Children and adolescents with high callous-unemotional traits and psychopathic adults show reduced autonomic responses including heart rate, facial electromyographic responses, and electrodermal responses to fearful and sad expressions and distress cues in others (Blair, 1999; de Wied, van Boxtel, Matthys, Meeus, 2012; Blair, Jones, Clark, Smith, 1997). In addition, youths and adults with psychopathic tendencies also display atypical electroencephalography responses to pain in others (Blair, 2013). Functional neuroimaging findings A new study by Motzkin, Phillippi, Wolf, Baskaya, and Koenigs (2015) provided tentative evidence that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) might play a significant role in regulating amygdala activity in humans. This is not surprising given the substantial amount of evidence, containing lesion studies, demonstrating that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala play a critical role in empathic response and emotion regulation (Blair, 2008; Blair, 2013). Studies of youths with high callous-unemotional traits and conduct disorder, as well as studies of psychopathic adults, showed decreased activation of the rostral vmPFC in response to images of other individuals in pain. (Marsh, et al. 2013; Blair, 2008). Previous fMRI studies also repeatedly demonstrated reduced amygdala activation in individuals (children, youth and adults) with psychopathic traits when they are presented with images of faces expressing fear, or images of others individuals in pain (Blair, 2008; Jones, Laurens, Herba, Barker, Viding, 2009; Marsh, et al., 2007; Munoz, 2009). Moreover, studies consistently reported that lower activity in the amygdala, vmPFC, as well as the anterior insula in response to distress cues are associated with higher severity of psychopathic traits, particularly in children and adolescents (Marsh, et al., 2008; Sebastian, et al., 2012; Marsh, et al., 2013) Structural neuroimaging findings Given the amount of evidence demonstrating reduced activity in vmPFC and amygdala in youths with psychopathic traits and psychopathic adults in response to distress cues, it is worth considering whether structural abnormalities are also observed within these neural regions. A large neuroimaging study conducted by Ermer and colleagues (2013) looked at the structural brain volume in over 200 incarcerated adolescents in a maximum security facility. Their findings demonstrated volume reductions within a large brain structure that centered on the vmPFC and included the amygdala, which is associated with the emotion dysfunction component of psychopathy. Another structural neuroimaging study demonstrated an inverse relationship between the structural volume of amygdala and the severity of psychopathic traits in a large sample (N=296) of incarcerated adults (Ermer, Cope, Nyalakanti, Calhoun, Kiehl, 2012). Summary of existing findings In summary, the aforementioned findings demonstrated that individuals with psychopathy show poor recognition of, and reduced autonomic response to distress cues in others across the lifespan. Functional neuroimaging studies identified various neural structures involved in the processing of distress cues, with the most consistent evidence pointing towards the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. fMRI studies repeatedly demonstrated reduced activity in these brain regions in children and adolescents with callous and unemotional traits, and psychopathic adults in response to facial expressions of fear and sadness. Structural neuroimaging studies provided additional evidence towards the importance of the amygdala and the vmPFC in processing of distress cues, demonstrating volume reductions in these areas in incarcerated adolescents with psychopathic traits, and a significant inverse relationship between the structural volume of the amygdala and the severity of psychopathic traits in incarcerated adult. Current Theories Given this considerable amount of evidence demonstrating emotional dysfunction in individuals with psychopathic traits across the lifespan, several models have been proposed in hopes to shed more light on this impairment. Violence Inhibition Mechanism Previous animal studies suggested that display of emotions of sadness, pain, and fear, also referred to as distress cues, serve an important evolutionary function: when displayed to a conspecific aggressor lead to the termination of the attack (Blair, 1995). Blair (1995) proposed a functionally analogous mechanism in humans referred to as violence inhibition mechanism (VIM). According to Blair, VIM represents a cognitive mechanism normally activated by non-verbal expressions of distress, which predisposes an aggressor as well as a bystander to withdraw from the situation. According to the model, moral socialization takes place through pairing of the activation of VIM by the sad and fearful expressions (Unconditioned Stimulus) of others with representations of the acts that caused this distress (Conditioned Stimulus: moral transgressions, such as an aggressive act towards an individual). As a result, representations of these moral transgressions become triggers for the VIM through classical conditioning. Thus, a normally developing child will initially find pain of others aversive, and then through socialization would learn to dislike the thoughts of acts that cause pain to others, and as a result will be less likely to engage in violent behaviour (Blair, 1995). According to Blair (1995), this mechanism is absent in individuals with psychopathy, which might be due to a specific physiological deficit or lack of early socialization experiences. Due to the absence of VIM, individuals with psychopathy are not negatively reinforced after any action (moral transgression) that results in the display of distress cues in others. Using VIM, one might predict that these individuals who were unable to form US-CS association would show emotional dysfunction, early-onset of violent behaviour, and lack of guilt or empathy post-violence, which all represent core features of psychopathy. The Response Modulation Hypothesis Another concept that has been suggested to explain the nature of emotional impairments in individuals with psychopathic traits looks at psychopathy as a disorder of attention. According to the response modulation hypothesis, individuals with psychopathy fail to recognize and process distress cues in others due to their inability to shift attention to this information when they are engaged in goal-directed behaviour. Given the amount of evidence demonstrating severe emotional processing impairments in individuals with psychopathic traits, it has been suggested that this emotional dysfunction may underpin the deficits seen in psychopathic individuals (Blair, 1995; Frick Viding, 2009). Indeed, previous studies demonstrated pronounced deficits in emotional learning and poor decision making in psychopathic adults as well as youths with psychopathic tendencies. Previous studies on decision-making behaviour in psychopathic adults demonstrated significant deficits underlying aversive conditioning, reversal learning, operant extinction, and passive avoidance learning (Blair, 2013). In an fMRI Study by Birbaumer and colleagues, a sample of ten offenders with psychopathy and ten matched controls was used to investigate the activation of neural structures, skin conductance, arousal and emotional valence in an aversive delay conditioning paradigm where neutral faces were used as conditioned stimuli and painful pressure as an unconditioned stimulus (Birbaumer, Veit, Lotze, Erb, Hermann, Grodd, Flor, 2005). Finding of this study showed inability of psychopathic individuals to learn to differentiate between conditioned stimuli, or show increased skin conductance response to the paired conditioned stimulus. Moreover, fMRI findings demonstrated reduced activity in the limbic-prefrontal circuit (combined of amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and a nterior cingulate) in psychopathic individuals when compared to the matched controls. Another study which used a similar fear conditioning paradigm as Birbaumer and colleagues (2005) further demonstrated deficits in aversive fear conditioning in psychopathic adults (Rthermund, Ziegler, Hermann, Gruesser, Foell, Patrick, Flor, 2012). In this study, psychopathic participants showed lack of a differential startle response and lack of skin conductance towards a paired conditioned stimulus. Moreover, these results cannot be explained by differences in detection threshold of electric shock, or levels of pain tolerance, since there was no significant differences in these measures between the two groups. This study confirms previous findings of impaired ability to form associations between neutral and aversive events in adults with psychopathy. Previous studies in decision-making behaviour and the propensity to learn from punishment in youths with psychopathic traits demonstrated significant impairments in the capacity to associate outcomes (reward or punishments) with stimuli.

Computers Modulator Demodulators (Modems) are used to change the analogue :: Computer Science

Computers Modulator Demodulators (Modems) are used to change the analogue to digital and the other way around Analogue to Digital Conversion Matt Davey Analogue to Digital Conversion is the way of converting a continous analogue signal to a series of digital binary numbers. This is done in many pieces of hardware by taking samples of the analogue signal and then each sample is digitised into a binary code by a microchip. This process is known as Quantization a process where a continuous signal is converted to a series of points at discrete levels. This process is specific to the music industry. In Computers Modulator Demodulators (Modems) are used to change the analogue to digital and the other way around. The modem uploads data to the Internet by converting it to an analogue signal and broadcasting it through the phone line, then when downloading it converts the analogue signal to binary 1’s and 0’s. The analogue wave is created by vibrations in the sound the waveform today is usually recorded into digital format by an Analogue Digital Converter (ADC). The Waveform is turned into a stream of numbers and the ADC records the numbers and feeds them through the speakers. In the computer world a modem is commonly used to connect to the largest Wide area network the internet. The modem uses ASCII Code to translate the waveform to the computer and then back to waveform to translate it and broadcast it over the phone line again. This was thought to be irreverent when ISDN came in because ISDN was a digital network but this didn’t take off because of the price and the work involved in setting one up but speeds of an ISDN reached 128kbps this was fast for the time. All ADCs work by sampling their input at intervals of time.

Ritalin: Abuse Essay -- essays research papers

Ritalin: A Miracle Drug, or Another Cocaine?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If the term â€Å"Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder†(ADHD) is mentioned, the first thing that comes to many people’s minds is a drug called Methylphenidate, commonly referred to as â€Å"Ritalin†. Most people know Ritalin is prescribed for ADHD, and they most likely know at least one person who is currently taking it. However, in the 1960s, Ritalin and many other amphetamines were recognized as abusive substances, so many new controls were introduced to more closely monitor the prescribing of these drugs. Despite these new restrictions, the abuse and over-prescribing of Ritalin has re-emerged from the shadows.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One way the over-prescribing of Ritalin has emerged is its constant use for treating ADHD in children and adolescents. ADHD is a behavioral disorder and generally infects boys between the ages of six and fourteen (United Nations Warning on Ritalin, 1). Data shows that 10-12% of all boys in this range are taking Ritalin for the treatment of diagnosed ADHD. Since 1990, the number of people taking Ritalin has increased by 500%. As of now, the United States has the highest level of Ritalin use and production. Canada uses just under half of what the U.S. uses of Ritalin and no other countries have come close. 7-10% of the U.S.’s boys are on this drug, which is an overwhelming number compared to other countries around the world. As a result of this, the gover...

Normality in Subcultures :: Sociology Sociological Papers

Normality in Subcultures My family's subculture in a larger subculture Once you are born, you become a part of a larger group. You will grow up starting at a point in your parent's life and then over time they or even you will change the direction of your families subculture in whatever country you all live in. In America, People strive for the best. Not all get it, but somehow or someone will push that family into a situation where they can move up in the world. Over the years America has came to a point where most jobs pay well and mostly anyone can be considered a middle class resident. In America this is considered normal to the general public. Being normal and striving to be normal is the focus most people try to reach within their lifetimes. Normality is a subculture in itself. My family wasn't always an upper middle class family. Starting with my grandparents, my mom's mother named Bonnie Langdon. She lived in what is a now West Bloomfield in Oakland county Michigan. She was a sister to 9 siblings and she attended a One-room schoolhouse. Bonnie's mother Betty Worked in the post office for 30 year and her father Harry drove an oil truck for about the same amount of years. They were mostly lower class but they did manage to get themselves more towards the middle class. Over the years bonnie my grandmother graduated from high school and started to work for Pontiac motor, which moved Bonnie up tom middle class. She met my grandfather Names Fred shortly after and married. My grandfather grew up in Redford Michigan with 3 other siblings. His mom was named Pearl and his father was named Fred. His mom was from Canada who liked to hold old traditions such as eating soft-boiled eggs and drinking tea for breakfast. My mother remembers That Pearl would make her eat them each time she came over and she hated them. Pearl was a housewife and his dad worked as a carpenter. His dad Fed worked with Henry ford the man. His father was the personal Carpenter for Henry ford. Over the years my grandfather graduated from High school in Redford and started to work for the Oakland county Road commission. Over the years Bonnie and Fred had a higher class than there parents and they became the norm in the family. After Bonnie Langdon and Fred wood met they married and had one daughter names Janet, my mother.

Identifying Factors Which Affect the Job Satisfaction of Nurses Essay

We live our lives aiming for satisfaction. The satisfaction we want to achieve can be from our studies, our business, our health status, our body image, or our jobs. In health care profession, the article â€Å"The Determinants Of Job Satisfaction Among Registered Nurses† discuss the contentment of nurses with their jobs. Job satisfaction has a lot of factors that affect it. These factors include workload, stress level, personal needs, environment, relationship with co-workers and supervisors, and the number of hours that they are working in a week. In one research by Kalist and Okoye, they used the question on how would a nurse best describe their feelings about their principal nursing position to determine their job satisfaction of a population of nurses. Then they came up with â€Å"A nurse may respond to the question by indicating that she is either extremely satisfied, moderately satisfied, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, moderately dissatisfied, or extremely dissatisfied† (D. E. Kalist, I. N. Okoye, 2011). The result of their study concluded that age, marital status, gender, salary, hours of work, position, and setting are the factors affecting the job satisfaction of nurses. They also came up with a result that women are more satisfied with their jobs more than the male population and married women reported higher job satisfaction. We can observe that most married women are more stable on their jobs because they tend to find a job that would meet their expectations or a job that would last long for them. They have also gathered information which would mean that in managerial positions, they have higher job satisfaction compared to the ones in non-managerial position. But in a study done by C. G. Andrews and J. Allen in their article â€Å"Analysis of Management and Employee Job Satisfaction, they have concluded that there is no significant relationship of job satisfaction between managerial and non-managerial position. Taking a closer look at their study, the population involved does not come specifically from the nurses’ population. They conducted their study in a general workplace setting. We can say then that the nurses, specifically, consider their position when it comes to their satisfaction at their jobs. Another author included additional factors that affect the satisfaction of these nurses such as â€Å"Recognition of frustrations, such as turnover, lack of internal empowerment, burnout, and, elimination of external sources of stress can decrease dissatisfaction in the health care setting† (J.L. Kettle, 2002). Most of the factors discussed on the first article are regarding the physiological needs of the nurses which should be considered and are mostly being considered by health administrators. The factors discussed by J.L. Kettle though are more into the emotional which are mostly being ignored but actually has an impact when it comes to job satisfaction of nurses. Understanding the job satisfaction of nurses is very important in the role of a health care manager. Nurses are the ones who get in touch with the patient most of the time and they are the ones who improve the quality of health care service given. Their satisfaction is very important just like the satisfaction of patients receiving the health care treatment. The emotional needs of nurses are as important as their physical needs. If their needs are being met, they will be able to provide a better service. Therefore, we can say that identifying and understanding the factors that affects the job satisfaction of nurses will definitely affect their performance. Peer Support: Peer’s Name: Ma. Lyngee Caduco She helped me pick a topic that is interesting for me and she advised me on the formatting of this paper. References Kettle, D.L. (2002). Factors Affecting Job Satisfaction in the Registered Nurse. Retrieved from:http://www.juns.nursing.arizona.edu/articles/Fall%202002/Kettle.htm Kalist, D.E, Okoye, I.N. (2001). The Determinants Of Job Satisfaction Among Registered Nurses. Retrieved from: http://journals.cluteonline.com/index.php/AJHS/article/view/6623/6699 Andrews, C.G., Allen, J. (2004). Analysis of Management and Employee Job Satisfaction. Retrieved from: http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31078/m1/1/

Psych Profile of Kennedy

During one of the most tumultuous times in United States history, our president John F. Kennedy exhibited his decision making style and leadership qualities such as vision, delegation, focus, and ambition. His term was short lived, lasting only two years and ten months, but in that time he made a great impact on the United States and even the world. He was so important because he was a great leader in a time when the United States was in dire need of one. John F. Kennedy’s leadership qualities and decision making style reflected in the ways he responded to such events as The Cuban Missile Crisis and The Bay of Pigs Invasion. John F. Kennedy was a strong president; he showed vision, decision making style, and delegation through his enactment of policies and the decisions he made while he was president. These three aspects of his character provide a framework for how he handled situations. â€Å"'Vision' mobilizes external support for the leader's overarching goals, and charts out a national direction. ‘Decision making style' focuses on the ‘internal', process-oriented aspects of leadership. The Delegation factor assesses what competence and perspectives that will bring input into the decision-making which will carry out the vision. Kennedy was concerned with the national security of the country and did everything he could to ensure the safety of its people. One of the decisions carried out by John F. Kennedy was the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an invasion of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba by special CIA trained Cuban exiles in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. The decision was ultimately made by John F. Kennedy and it failed in just a couple of days. Many men had died and others were taken as prisoners of war. Kennedy would eventually have to negotiate for the release of well over 1,000 survivors. The invasion failed for a number of reasons. Kennedy’s Presidential advisory committee made six false assumptions regarding the Bay of Pigs Invasion: no one will know that the United States was responsible for the invasion of Cuba, the Cuban air force does not pose a threat, the Cuban exiles have high morale and are willing to carry out the mission without any support, Castro’s army is weak, the invasion will spark a revolution among people in Cuba, and if the brigade doesn’t succeed then they can retreat to the Escambray Mountains. Kennedy admitted later that he had his doubts about the mission but kept them to himself. â€Å"†How could I have been so stupid?   President John F. Kennedy asked that after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. He called it a â€Å"colossal mistake. †Ã‚  It left him feeling depressed, guilty, bitter, and in tears. One historian later called the Bay of Pigs, â€Å"one of those rare events in history — a perfect failure. â€Å"† So why then, did Kennedy not voic e his concerns? There was an underlying force that was apparent while Kennedy was discussing the invasion with his advisors, it is known as Groupthink. Irving L. Janis wrote a book explaining group think and failures that occurred in history as a result of it, The Bay of Pigs invasion being one of them. Janis describes Groupthink as â€Å"An excessive form of concurrence speaking among members of high prestige, tightly-knit policy making groups. It is excessive to the extent that the group members have come to value the group (and their being part of it) higher than anything else. This causes them to strive for a quick and painless unanimity on the issues that the group has to confront. To preserve the clubby atmosphere, group members suppress personal doubts, silence dissenters, and go along with the general consensus of the group. † This theory of groupthink has affected many groups in history negatively. Had groupthink not been present then the Bay of Pigs Invasion may not have even happened. All it would’ve taken was for the closed mouth president to speak up and voice his opinion about how it could go wrong. Mongar argues that it appeared as though â€Å"Kennedy experienced difficulty separating the administrative and political functions of the presidency, which would have been understandable in view of the fact that the Bay of Pigs was his first important political decision. † As far as the Bay of Pigs is concerned, Kennedy started out as a simple decision maker or foreign policy leader. He would since become a more complex decision maker, using carefulness and strategy to implement policies and decisions. Kennedy later revised his group decision-making process to encourage more dissent and debate. This change would later help to avert a potential nuclear disaster. Even though the Bay of Pigs Invasion turned out to be a complete failure, Kennedy demonstrated that he was ambitious. He was a new president and wanted to start off strong, so given the opportunity to attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro, he took it. This showed in his actions following the invasion as well, for he had to negotiate for the lives of over a thousand survivors or POW’s that were captured during the failed invasion. The psych or individual attributes of any given leader are important in the decision making process. Some situations even encourage leaders to fuse their own attributes with the problems they’re dealing with. The Cuban Missile Crisis can be attributed as being one of those occasions. The Cold War Rivalry had been extremely high between America and the Soviet Union for years. The Cuban Missile Crisis was an event that had the entire world standing in fear and attention. In October of 1962, aerial photos showed Soviet nuclear missile sites that were armed in Cuba. If the program were to continue, their nuclear warheads would be able to reach most of the United States. John F. Kennedy’s first inclination was to launch an air strike to take out the missiles; but upon further speculation and debate with his advisors he concluded that it would be a poor idea, thinking back to the debacle of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He instead decided to use soft power through negotiations and blockades. Soft power is the use of alternatives to military conflict such as treaties, negotiations, and policies. Kennedy was offended by what he believed were false assurances from Khrushchev that the Soviet Union was only introducing defensive weapons to Cuba as a means to defend the country from a potential attack from America. Kennedy said that the missiles would have to be removed because he did not want it to have a negative effect on the â€Å"global political balance. He took the action of making a quarantine or blockade around Cuba, which was considered an act of war but he did not think that the Soviet Union would launch an attack from a mere blockade. What this meant was that every ship entering or leaving Cuba was to be inspected by the U. S. Navy, mainly for offensive weapons of any kind. The failure that Kennedy faced from the Bay of Pigs Invasion was not something that he was willing to face a second time , especially since in this case it could mean the fate of the world. He was diligent and focused in his plan with the Cuban Missile Crisis. â€Å"†¦Kennedy's succorance need and his obsession for competence: demonstrable expertise. In general, the implementation groups brought together in crisis situations were superior to any the White House has ever known. The indirect effects were largely cognitive, involving the manner in which his operational regulators structured and expectations of his advisers: Kennedy's pessimism about he probability of failure sharpened their sense of professional craftsmanship and dedication to sound judgment; his sense of caution produced a reluctance to act prematurely which usually gave them more time to work; his natural skepticism encouraged them to thoroughly question every conclusion and item of information encountered. † This shows that through Kennedy’s personality traits, he was able to influence the people around him and thus making everything run smoothly. He had a sense of caution and thoroug hness that enabled him and his advisors to handle the situation without any hiccups.

Of Mice and Men Main Question Essay

The question we are focussing on throughout the whole essay, which is the main theme, is whether Curley’s wife is a victim in the story or a tramp. The two different sides of Curley’s wife are hard to determine in Steinbeck’s ‘Mice and Men’, as she tends to swap roles from time to time. At points in the story we have reason to believe that that she is a victim, from the way she feels about Curley and her unattained future, which I will explore further on in the essay. I will also put across my points on how she can be a corrupting tramp by exploring her physical appearance, body language and other characters opinions of her. From Steinbeck’s letter we can see that she couldn’t really trust anyone from a young age because every time she trusted in anyone she got hurt. This shows her innocent side. There are not many points in Steinbeck’s letter that show that she is a corrupting tramp as he tends to mainly focus on her innocent side and he goes through all the times she got hurt and why she got hurt. I will now go on to explain my points in further detail. In this section I will explain how Curley’s wife could be an innocent victim in her life and in the eyes of others. She is the victim of the ‘American Dream’, her desire to go to Hollywood and be an actress, which was a dream that she could not fulfil because of her mother denying her to leave at such a young age. On page 125 she proves that she really could have been an actress by the text stated ‘She made a small grand gesture with her arm and hand to show that she could act. The fingers trailed after her leading wrist, and her little finger stuck out grandly from the rest’. This small quote shows how talented she could have been and it makes you feel heartbroken that she couldn’t fulfil her dream. From then on she has been crestfallen and cannot trust anyone, this shows her innocent side. She was told by a man that he could put her in the movies; she was thrilled as she wanted to be a famous actress and be sexy like Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe but when her mother said she couldn’t go she opted for an easier option to get out of where she was by marrying Curley. She says in the text on page 125 ‘I don’t like curley, he aint a nice fella’ which proves that she was forced to get married to him as it was the last option. Because Curley was the easiest and possibly the last option, he didn’t actually love her and just wanted to use her. She knew this and even though he treated her badly, she couldn’t leave him as she did love him. Even if she didn’t she had nowhere else to go so she was basically trapped in her own home. Her life with Curley is miserable which makes her even more upset about not being able to fulfil her dream and have freedom. In the story she confesses to Lennie the one thing that she’s never confessed to anyone, that she doesn’t actually like Curley and that she can’t escape for fear of what might happen. You can see from this that she just needs someone to talk to as she is so lonely and can’t really confide or talk to Curley about anything. The people on the ranch give her the same amount of respect that Curley does. When they call her or see her around the ranch they don’t associate her with her own name, to them she’s just Curley’s wife and they call her ‘Jailbait’ and ‘Good looking’. You can tell she gets frustrated by having no one to talk to when she gets angry on page 123 and says ‘What’s the matter with me? Aint I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am anyways?’ In the story we don’t even find out what her name is which shows how much attention she gets for her looks instead of her personality which is where she wants most attention. From this we can see that she just wants someone to talk to. On the other hand there are main features we can see in the text that describe her to seem like a corrupting tramp. Looking at the way Steinbeck describes her physical appearance we can see how at first impressions she would come across as sluttish. For a start, he describes her outfit. On page 53 when she first appears the first impression would definitely come across as tramp- like as he says ‘She had full rouged lips and wide spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. She wore a cotton dress and red mules. On the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers’. The dress and feather shoes give us a glance of how she wants to accentuate her body and her legs and its almost like she’s trying to prove that she could be a famous model and have pictures taken of her if she’d have had the chance to. The colour of the dress and shoes are red which propose danger as we usually approach red as a threatening colour. So from the start we can she that she is going to be trouble for George and especially Lennie due to previous circumstances with him and a girl. Her hair is described as ringlets like ‘sausages’ which is good use of foreshadowing as Lennie is described as an animal, and food is used as bait for animals therefore she literally is ‘Jailbait’. She wears lots of makeup to accentuate her facial features; this is another reason why she could be a corrupting tramp. The first time she walks into the ranch she leans against the door and leans forward to show off her body to Lennie and George, on page 53 Steinbeck states ‘She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward’. With her accentuated make up and clothing she fails to receive a notice for her feelings and for her emotions and they only concentrate on the way she looks which tells George from the start that she is going to be trouble as she throws herself forward too much for attention. In the way she speaks you can hear the sexiness and huskiness of her voice, as described on page 53 when Steinbeck says ‘Her voice had a nasal, brittle quality’ which shows us that she wants to entice people or entrance them. To conclude I think it is important to include the death scene where Steinbeck describes her as being free and innocent after her death. He describes her in a child like form and finally being beautiful and achieving everything she needed to achieve because she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. This really finalises my decision for her being innocent because it shows that she really wasn’t ever, or didn’t ever mean to be, a corrupting tramp. Her excuse for wearing slutty and provocative clothes could be because she wanted love and affection which she couldn’t get from her own, broken relationship with Curley. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it wasn’t her fault. My conclusion is that I think she is innocent because of previous points that I have made and stated.

Business Partner Model Essay

The business partnering model and its impact on both the HR function and HR practice Since the concept of the business partnering model was introduced by Ulrich in 1997, the composition of the HR function has dramatically changed. As Goodge (2005) identified, â€Å"partnering is fundamentally changing almost every HR function, every HR job, and every HR career† (Pg. 32). Ulrich argued that HR needed to deliver on both a strategic and administrative level and identified four key roles through which organisations could achieve this (Torrington et al. 2007). The model has become a fixation for much of the HR community and its introduction has initiated a fundamental change to the HR function’s anatomy over the last decade (Francis & Keegan, 2008). The key themes which will be discussed within this literature review are the impact of the model on the competencies required of successful business partners, the debate of HR’s strategic focus as a result of the model and the loss of the employee champion role. However, attention must first be brought to the partnering model itself. The Model Ulrich’s business partnering model focuses on four key roles that HR need to address in order to deliver organisational excellence (Ulrich 1998). Becoming a ‘strategic partner’ in the execution of organisational strategy, increasing functional efficiency by being an ‘administrative expert’, fully engaging employees by becoming an ‘employee champion’ and finally, through facilitating and encouraging a culture of flexibility and acceptance to the evolving business environment as a ‘change agent’ (Ulrich 1998). Precursors to Ulrich’s partnering model are Tyson and Fell’s 1985 model, based upon three fundamental positions using a construction site metaphor (architect, clerk of works and contract negotiator) and Storey’s 1992 model based on the four roles required in the shift from personnel management to Human Resource Management (regulator, handmaiden, adviser and changemaker) (Torrington et al. , 2007). In 2005, Ulrich and Brockbank mused over the partnering model once more and proposed a refreshed framework. This was not a revolutionary diversion from the original model, however a reflection of the changing roles that they had been observing in organisations since the introduction of the original model (Ulrich & Brockbank, 2005a). The model was upgraded with the omission of the roles ‘employee champion’, ‘change agent’ and ‘administrative expert’, with these being replaced by ‘employee advocate’ (focusing on current employee needs), ‘human capital developer’ (preparing employees to be successful for the future) and ‘functional expert’ (administrative efficiency and the development of policies) (Ulrich & Brockbank, 2005a). The ‘strategic partner’ role remained within the refreshed model and they also added a fifth dimension which was that of the ‘HR Leader’, the genuine leadership role which ties all four key roles together (Ulrich & Brockbank, 2005a). What is interesting from the literature, is that although this more modern model has been considered, it is the original model to which most commentators refer. Before considering the impact of this model on HR functions and practice, it is important to first consider why such a large number of organisations have found it appropriate to restructure their HR departments in this way. In 1998, Ulrich himself questioned the effectiveness of the role that HR played in organisations and recognised that his model needed to move away from HR’s traditional activities, which focused on processes, to a focus on deliverables (Ulrich, 1998). The new model was a way of ensuring that HR as a function was adding value and increasing organisational competitiveness (Ulrich, 1997) and his approach of using HR professionals as strategic business partners was being seen as a mechanism for allowing changes to be made in order for HR to make these significant competitive and strategic contributions (Goodge, 2005). Lawler & Mohrman (2003) argued that in organisations where competitive advantage was created through human and intellectual capital, the demand for HR to be a strategic partner was greater. What makes a competent business partner? Defining what the single role of a business partner involves is rather ambiguous and much of the recent literature identifies that there is no single model for HR business partnering, therefore leaving each organisation to have their own interpretation of what a business partner is (Caldwell, 2008 & 2010; Torrington et al. , 2007; Beckett, 2005). In some organisations the impact of the model has only gone as far as an upgraded ob title (Beckett, 2005; Pitcher, 2008) and it is this weak implementation in some companies that has led to various criticisms of the model (Peacock, 2008; Pitcher, 2008). This leads to the first key discussion identified within the literature, which questions the use of competency models in the selection, development and success of business partners in achieving the outcome of ‘organisational excellence’. With the business partner role seeking a more strategic mind-set, it has been seen as increasingly more difficult to find people who fit the role (Beckett, 2005). Caldwell (2010) has most recently discussed the use of competency models for the better selection and development of HR business partners, as a new way of aligning HR strategy with organisational performance. The competencies that have been argued as most essential for a successful business partner are being a strong operational executor, a cultural steward, a strategic architect, a business ally and credible activist, an experienced talent manager and organisational designer (Ulrich, 2008 cited in Caldwell, 2010). The competencies, in theory, would lead the business partner to performing a balance of the four key roles originally proposed by Ulrich, however what is clearly apparent from the literature, is that the business partner role is wide open for interpretation (Torrington et al. , 2007; Beckett, 2005). Therefore what can be argued as a benefit of using a competency framework, is that it can potentially offer a more consistent approach to selection, development and success of partnering (Caldwell, 2010). Caldwell’s (2010) study considered the HR and business strategy linkage, with selection and development of business partners through the use of competency models as antecedents to this link. What was indicated in his study was that using these competency frameworks was largely effective in the selection of HR business partners, however much less effective in the development and linking between HR strategy and organisational performance (Caldwell, 2010). The relationship between HR roles and competency models is an area of significant controversy and it was not long before questions were raised as to how each key role played out within the business partner position; whether there were a holistic set of competencies for the business partner role or separate competencies for the four key roles (Caldwell, 2010). Other queries were raised in the literature regarding the weighting of importance of each of the competencies and also whether or not these competencies were generally applicable to all HR practitioners or just to those playing a business partner role (Caldwell, 2010). Ulrich and Brockbank (2005a) appreciated that not all of the key roles could be played to the same degree and depending on which HR category you specialised in, different roles may take a priority. This therefore brings the reader back to Torrington et al. (2007) and Becketts’ (2005) notion that there is no single model and that although the discussions are advancing within the literature about the role of business partners, it appears there has been no agreement of the best method of implementation. This was reflected in Caldwell’s study, where he appreciated that the creation of the competency models was beneficial, but that the problem highlighted in HR practice was the difficulty of managing the transition from possessing the competencies, to delivering the capability (Caldwell, 2010). One of the most talked about competencies within the literature is that of possessing business understanding. Lawler and Mohrman (2003) discussed in their research that for someone fulfilling the role of business partner, strong understanding of the business was essential. Beckett (2005) also advocates the need for a commercially aware candidate, however in practice, this is very difficult to recruit for within the pool of HR professionals. As a result of this limited pool of resources, there has been a rise in members within the HR function who have been parachuted in from other areas of the business, such as marketing or sales (Francis & Keegan, 2006). Lawler and Mohrman’s (2003) study noted that one quarter or senior HR professionals had side stepped into the HR function from these other business areas, with the objective of greater strategic alignment with the business. Therefore potentially increasing the impact the HR function has on organisational performance (Francis & Keegan, 2006). There are, however, various implications to HR practice by focusing business partner competencies in such a way. Although HR professionals may see this odern commercial and strategic focus as enhancing the value of their role, it is being observed that line managers and employees can often become sceptical and mistrustful that HR are focused too much on business objectives rather than on those of the people (Caldwell, 2010). Beckett (2005) also outlines concerns of appointing a HR business partner who only has commercial experience by arguing that you are open to the risk of unsafe management of the business, however on the flipside, by getting the balance wrong and isolating your business partners from the rest of the HR function, it can result in losing the HR focus. Therefore a ‘perfect’ business partner would have a balanced background of commercial and business acumen, coupled with the experience of the multiple facets of HR in order to really add strategic value and deliver ‘organisational excellence’ (Lawler & Mohrman, 2003). The shift towards a strategic focus One of the fundamental factors of the business partnering model is ensuring that the HR and business strategies are aligned, therefore enabling the HR function to deliver organisational excellence. This leads to the next key theme identified within the literature regarding the shift to a strategic HR focus which has resulted in a repositioning of the identity of the HR profession (Wright, 2008). Wright (2008) observes that moving towards strategic HRM has contributed to the occupation losing its wider social objectives and transforming into a simple agent of capital (p. 1068). These discussions are contradictory to the balanced purpose of Ulrich’s four key roles, however the literature has suggested that out of the four roles, the strategic partner has been represented with unbalanced proportion. Lawler and Mohrman (2003) argue that if HR does not play a strategic partnering role, how can the function be fully aligned with what the business needs are and then deliver the most effective activities? It is clear from the discussions within the literature that as organisations become more cost effective and streamlined, they will increasingly require fewer HR practitioners to undertake the transactional workloads as this will be transferred to shared service models or outsourcing. Therefore the argument for a partnership to be truly effective, requires the HR function to put more emphasis on the strategic activities such as organisational design and planning (Lawler & Mohrman, 2003). In practice this seems to have been the case and the impact on organisations who have adopted the partnering model have witnessed a transformation in their HR activities, shifting away from the traditional administrative functions to devoting more attention to organisational level activities such as those strategic activities discussed above (Lawler & Mohrman, 2003). Focusing competencies on this link between HR and business strategy however, could lead to the business partner role becoming unsustainable (Caldwell, 2010) and Hope Hailey et al. (2005) question the strategic-heavy focus. Their study demonstrated that while the HR function is becoming more notable strategically, the human side of the functionality is deteriorating (Hope Hailey et al. 2005), thus suggesting that the strategic role on its own does not necessarily enhance the organisational performance of the human capital. Ulrich’s (1997) proposal required HR professionals to be both operational and strategic in their focus through all of the four key roles, however Caldwell (2003) noted the inherent ‘role conflict’ which would naturally emerge from this performance of more than one role, due to the competing demands made upon them by employees and senior management (Hope Hailey et al. 2005). As discussed earlier, the partnering model is most effective and successful in organisations which rely on human and intellectual capital as a source of competitive advantage (Lawler & Mohrman, 2003), therefore if business partners don’t balance the needs of the people focusing roles, they will not achieve the organisational excellence Ulrich’s (1997) model was designed for. Hope Hailey et al. 2005) agree with Caldwell (2003) that ‘role conflict’ is inevitable with the performance of multiple roles and therefore question whether it will ever be possible in practice for the HR function to balance both employee and management needs through fulfilling Ulrich’s four key roles. The ‘perfect’ partner can balance these conflicting roles by having a strategic influence at a corporate level and strong expertise in operational delivery, however as noted in the literature around competencies, these qualities are not easy to find, nor to develop. What has happened to the role of ‘employee champion’? The final key discussion which has been noted from the recent literature, progresses from the fixation of the strategic focus of the partnering model and questions the shift of attention away from the employee. Wright (2008) observed that for nearly all respondents of his study, the strategic adviser role was seen as a much more attractive identity than that of the traditional image of the bureaucratic HR manager. Therefore, one can see how the profession is seen to be losing its focus on the people facing ‘employee champion’ role. Lawler and Mohrman (2003) argue that for partnership to work HR must increase their faith in line managers and transfer various transactional HR responsibilities to them (Lawler & Mohrman, 2003), therefore the answer to this lost role therefore seems to be addressed by this devolvement. The benefits which have been argued for doing this are that it creates more time for HR to become more strategically proactive (Lawler & Mohrman, 2003) and line managers can become responsible and answerable to their employees which strengthens their relationships by almost becoming an HR champion (Ulrich, 1998). In practice however, Hope Hailey et al. (2005) believe that the failure to recognise the importance of the employee champion role is a big mistake and that the devolvement of such a responsibility to line management may be flawed. They noted that empirical research had suggested that devolving various HR responsibilities to the line was being met with certain inefficiencies to deliver such responsibilities, such as lack of training and lack of time, few incentives to fulfil the additional work and the need to focus on delivering their own short term business results (McGovern, 1999 cited in Hope Hailey et al. , 2005). The devolvement is also problematic in the sense that line managers are not always capable or motivated to take on the role of employee champion (Hope Hailey et al. , 2005). Francis and Keegan (2005) were also sceptical over the benefits of devolving HR responsibilities to line management and identified three major problems associated with the delegation of such duties. Firstly, they observed a loss of employee confidence as HR focus shifted to strategic business issues; a cost to employee well-being as a result of potential inconsistent application of policies and processes; and finally a disenchantment amongst HR practitioners who were unable to perform the role that was at the fundamental heart of HR – the employee champion, advocate and counsellor. Francis and Keegan (2005) concluded that not only did this affect the relationship between HR and the workforce, but between the HR professionals themselves. They also noted the strangeness of this shift away from the employee champion role amid the HR community’s grand plans to increase employee engagement (Francis & Keegan, 2005). In essence, it therefore appears that considerable caution must be used in initiating such transfers of accountability. Conclusion It can plainly be observed that over a decade after the introduction of Ulrich’s business partnering model, the HR community are still avidly debating its practical usefulness. What can be gathered from the key discussions is that the theoretical model makes a stellar case for increasing organisational performance and raising the profile of the HR function, however it seems that the impact of the model in practice is that it is the implementation of the model that is failing its success in most organisations. The academic writers are keen to dissect the benefits and limitations of the model, however what really needs to be reported is exactly how to implement the model in practice and to identify this across a range of different organisations. Further research also needs to be undertaken in the area of business partner development, as it appears the essential competencies have been numerously defined, but the focus on training HR practitioners to think and behave in Ulrich’s business partner mind-set requires further investigation. As businesses change, HR functions are being increasingly required to demonstrate their strategic value and this model seems to have provided a platform for really adding value, however as discussed in the final section, it is imperative that the HR function retain a balanced approach to their roles and not to lose sight of the fundamental people side of the people versus processes equation.