Dr Pepper Analysis

Individuals, companies, schools, restaurants Bargaining power: low, since Coke supplies a numerous variety of products buyers do to have a huge impact on pricing and quantity. Also, customers develop brand loyalty to Coke, thereby making it difficult for buyers to affect prices and quantities as well. Suppliers: fasted restaurants, vending machines, school campuses. Bargaining power: very high, since companies can easily provide Pepsi products which serve as excellent substitutes.Compliments: pizza, burgers, hot dogs, chips, etc SOOT Strengths Weaknesses Concentrated in North America (US, Canada, Mexico where almost 70% of revenues come from Health Craze will hurt soft drink sales Opportunities Acquisitions & alliances Bottled water growth Hispanic growth in the US and Pepsin's ability to meet their tastes with current product lines (I. E. , Substrata chips) Growth In emerging markets Growing consumer health consciousness will help Pepsi as It Is already a leader In non-carbonated dr inks with brands Storage, Aquifer, Lipton; and also with healthy food brands such as Quaker oats.Threats Declining economy/recession Sluggish growth of carbonated drinks Coca-Cola ; other smaller, more nimble operators Commodity price increases, fluctuating oil prices effect production and distribution gas, plastic) IV) SOOT annals;s of PEPSICO Soot consists of examining the current activities of the organization: its strengths and weaknesses, and then using this and external research data to set out the opportunities and threats that exist. A. Internal Strong market position PepsiCo NAS a tremendous presence on ten snack Ana sort rural market.Inane, TN company owns 25% of the non-alcoholic drinks market and 39% of the snack market. * Good economic situation In 2008, PepsiCo was ranked 26th on the top 100 of the global brands ranking in 2008. The same brand value company has raised PepsiCo as an example during the recession: â€Å"Amazon, Pepsi, Audio, Panasonic, and Campbell have all prospered during a challenging year for marketing executives. † PepsiCo most famous brands are all very famous and successful. Thanks to this notoriety, PepsiCo annual sales reach $35 billion. Rand's Popularity of Pepsi has a wide range of brands. These brands are more famous than the Coca Cola Company's ones. For example: people know what Lipton Teas, Tropical beverages or Traitors Tortilla Chips refer to, whereas: who has heard of Pike, Chino r Spur? On this point, PepsiCo is inexorably in a strong position. * Presence PepsiCo has spread its presence in over 200 countries. Products from this brand are sold all over the world. * Diversification PepsiCo brands include drinks and snacks such as ready-to-drink refreshments, bottled water, cereals, crisps or school-snacks.This wide range of product enables the brand to settle down in any place of the world. Lack of capital constraints (availability of large free cash flow) Strong market position Solid brand portfolio Strong r evenue growth Economies of scale Broader product line Popular brand of pop * Geographical concentration PepsiCo tends to focus its activity in North America (US, Canada, Mexico). Almost 70% of revenues come from this region. * Dependence on important clients A big part of PepsiCo sales (12%) are made to Wall-Mart, which creates a dependence supplier-client.Consequently, Wall-Mart's strategy influences PepsiCo actions, especially on lowering prices. * Bad remunerations PepsiCo employees are less paid than the competitors' ones. It may alter the employees' excellence or productivity: they might want to work for a company that revives higher salaries for the same Job. * High recall I en product recalls are Deterrent. I en problem nerve Is Tanat ten return causes are internal: the defects come from the production, they don't come from transports or storage.For example: the salmonella case forced PepsiCo to recall $200,000 worth of pistachios in the US in 2009. Product recalls decrease t he final customers' confidence in the brand. It inevitably alters the company's image. B. External Threats * New measures for health Many occidental governments are creating new regulations and campaigns in order to change people's eating behavior. Snacks and soft drinks are the first â€Å"victims† of this ideological renewal. Coca-Cola is the worst competitor for DRP Pepper because it is more powerful in terms of image and notoriety.In this sector, competition is so sharp that it has a direct influence on prices and sales. * Many successful brands DRP Pepper brands are successful, well-known and they have a good reputation. The products sold by the company are still very popular to the public. A good marketing activity maintains the company in a good situation and confers it a good image. * Quest of other markets If the fact to be concentrated on North America is a weakness, let's say that this is also an interesting challenge of market conquest, for example in Russia or As ia.PepsiCo is powerful; it has enough resources to develop all around the world. * Customer's well-being An important value, which growth is correlated to new regulations on health, is the customer's well-being. It has become the guideline of a marketing operation in the soft drinks market. This notion gives PepsiCo the opportunity to increase innovation for soft drinks. Indeed, the more original and creative you are, the more successful your product will be.

British Airways- Case Study Essay

The scenario upon which this paper is based relates to the British Airways Swipe Card Debacle case study from the textbook, Managing Organizational Change: A Multiple Perspective Approach (Akin, Dunford, & Palmer, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss the organizational change associated to the implementation of a new swipe card system that led to strike of over 250 British Airways check-in staff, losing 40 million pounds and negatively effecting the company’s reputation. Additionally, this paper will relate the case study to several change approaches (organizational development, sense-making, change management, contingency, and processual) and identify key issues. Additionally, this paper will examine the case study from my perspective, as if I were a hired change consultant for British Airways responsible for providing advise and recommendations on how to avoid this type of situation. Additionally, as a change consultant, I provide my recommendation as t o what possible change approach or combinations of a change approach would have been best to use for the swipe card change initiative. Change Perspective and Key Issues Prior to going into being able to effectively provide advise and recommendations on this case study, it is first important to discuss aspects of different change approaches. Additionally, relate key issues of the swipe card debacle to these change approaches. With that, this section paper will focus on identify specific aspects of the following change approaches and how these aspects relate to the case study: organizational development, sense-making, change management, contingency, and processual. Organizational Development Approach The organizational development change approach is a well thought through and thoroughly planned change approach that focuses on staff development. Additionally, one of the key aspects to the organizational development approach is the importance placed on the need to form groups and teams, which work together to form the key focus for change (Akin, Dunford, & Palmer, 2009). Unfortunately, this very important characteristic of organizational development approach was truly not used as part of the change approach for the swipe card implementation. For instance, if groups and  teams were created to form the key focus for the change, none of the 250 check-in staff were invited to participate. Sense-making Approach The sense-making approach is very similar to Kurt Lewin’s organizational change model. At a high-level, this model has three primary stages known as Unfreeze (identifying where the company is at, in relation to environmental change and organizational structure), Change (period of time where the change is being made), and Refreeze (change is complete and the organization has embedded the change within its culture) (Levasseur, 2001). However, there is one slight difference with the sense-making approach, in that the second stage is more the about rebalance where the organization balances the external environment with its internal environment. An example of a key issue associated to this from the case study is the fact that it appears those responsible for the Future Size and Shape recovery program, did not take the first stage into consideration. More specifically, the group did not factor in how the company was still recovering from environmental changes such as, 9/11, Iraqi wa r, and SARS. Additionally, did not consider if this was the right time for this type of change. Change Management Approach There are several different change management approaches but the one focused on within this paper is the change management approach Ten Commandments approach, developed by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Barry A. Stein, and Todd D. Jick. In the book, The Challenges of Organizational Change, Kanter, Stein, and Jick elaborate on what they believe to be the necessary steps to effectively implement change within an organization. One of these steps, which is something that was not executed in the swipe card debacle, is the step to create a shared vision. While the Future Size and Shape project team may have had a shared vision of the swipe card change, this same vision was definitely not shared by the 250 check-in staff. Contingency Approach Similar to the change management approach, the contingency approach has many different variations. For instance, one of these approaches is categorized into the following four ideal types: commanding (change intervention, directed by leadership and is typically driven by the need to implement  quickly and abruptly), engineering (change agent, who also acts as an analyst implements the change along with those who designing the change to process and systems), teaching (third party consultants work with internal staff to assist with identify new ways of operation and is change intervention that is a long-term plan), and socializing (democratic approach that is a gradual change process approach) (Huy, 2001). Each of these approaches are acceptable but may not all work in every type of situation. For instance, within the British Airways case study, it seems as though the project team chose to utilize the commanding approach for the implementation of the swipe cards. The check-in staff w ere completely resistant to not only the swipe card change but were also resistant to the actual approach taken to implement that change. Processual Approach Similar to the sense-making approach, the processual approach also looks at the relationship of external and internal environments. However, with the processual approach, it focuses on the constraints and opportunities of both environments. Within the case study, the project team did not take into consideration how the external environment impacts the internal environment and how the internal environment also effects the staff. For instance, the staff being on edge and untrusting of change was a result situations and changes both internally (one forth reduction in staff) and externally (environmental jolts like inroads on its markets from budget competitors). The combination of these situations, led to the staff being fearful and overreacting to the possibility that the new swipe card process could lead to another reduction in staff. Change Consultant As a change consultant for British Airways, I would provide the following list of lessons learned from the swipe card debacle: lack in including those directly affected by change can lead to staff being uncomfortable and uncertain about a change; lack of taking internal and external environments into consideration is not fully understanding the cumulative effect that these have on the staff; taking a commanding approach to implement change can lead to staff disagreeing with the way a change is being managed; and lack of communication and gaining buy-in on change can led staff to believe that the change could have negative downstream impact. In order to prevent this in the future, I would advise them to take a different approach by having staff be more involved with projects and include them as part of the project teams. Additionally, allowing the staff time to absorb the fact that there will be changes in the future and giving them a platform to be able to ask questions. In addition to providing the staff a platform, leadership also needs to encourage the staff to ask questions and ensure them that there will not be any backlash for those who do have questions about the change. Lastly, as a change consultant, I would emphasis the importance viewing the organization from a birds-eye view (meaning that leadership the context of the situation from an internal and external perspective). If they would have stepped back and looked all the external and internal factors prior to implementing the swipe card change, they may have seen that implementing change over a holiday weekend might not be the best time, they might have iden tify staff moral being low due to internal reduction in force, and the fact that the company was struggling to recover from other external environmental jolts. While there are many change approaches that may be suitable for this type of change initiative, it is my opinion that the best approach for this change would have been to use the Ten Commandments change management process. The reason for this is that it would have resolved and possibly prevented the reaction that staff had towards the implementation of swipe card because this change approach includes creating a shared vision, involving staff, having the support of leadership and political sponsorship, and developing an implementation plan (Barry, Kanter, & Jick, 1992). Conclusion Based on the information provided in the case study about the swipe card debacle at British Airways and comparing key issues to various change approaches, it can be seen that there are many areas where management taken a different approach to the change. If a different approach was taken, it could have easily lead to a successful swipe card implementation versus the outcome that lead to the 250-check in staff, losing 40 million pounds and negatively effecting the company’s reputation. References Akin, G., Dunford, R., & Palmer, I. (2009). Managing organizational change: a multiple perspective approach (2nd. Ed). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Huy, Q. N. 2001. Time, temporal capability, and planned change. Academy of Management Review 26(4):601–23 Kanter, R. M., Stein, B. A., & Jick, T. D. (1992). The challenge of organizational change. New York, NY: Free Press. Levasseur, R. E. (2001). People Skills:Change Management Tools–Lewin’s Change Model. Interfaces, 31(4), 71.

Organizational behavior and development Essay

Organizational change or development has evolved overall meaning of business. The set of market-driven, financial and technical changes which, in the eighties, faced better-informed consumers demanded the best and cheapest products accessible worldwide; producing these goods requisite the assimilation of both resources and knowledge on a global scale; at the same time, it became probable to transport information around the world at immensely reduced costs. s multinational organizations had leaned to pursue one of the three basic strategies attaining economies of scale through the centralized management of resources, having a strong (decentralized) national presence, and sharing universal a central pool of skills and experience the predicament for the new ‘transnational’ corporations was to unite these three, often conflicting, approaches into a single strategy: â€Å"To participate effectively, a company had to develop global competitiveness, international flexibility, and worldwide learning competence simultaneously†. Freivalds, J. 1995, 24-28) All these changes need a consummate degree of language interdependence and individual communication something which the usual structure of a multinational (the head office hub surrounded by satellite subsidiaries) is not intended to accommodate. Control has to give way to synchronization, and corporate culture becomes an issue of central significance. But, so as to understand how language functions in an organization, we require going beyond the framework. We also require understanding the points at which management myths stop working or cease to be useful; we require to look for discontinuities and uncertainties (Halcrow, A. 1999, 42-47). To turn language into a really competitive weapon in practical business, we require to start being more conscious of the language we, our colleagues and our competitors use and see it for what it actually is visionary myths, power struggles, group limits, discontinuities, auguries of changes to come or vestiges of changes past. And, when we recognize more about the limitations of organizational language, we will be better located to develop its potential. Discourse is variously used in the gender and language field. It maybe used in a linguistic sense to refer to language beyond that of words. Or it may be used in a post-structural sense to refer to broad systems of meaning discourse is not restricted to spoken language but also refers to written language (Weatherall, 2002, pp. 76–7) Available At: www. palgrave. com/pdfs/023000167X. df What does it mean for an organization to communicate in a particular, national language? A company might and most do have the corresponding of dialects, but a common native language has significant implications which supersede ‘regional’ differences such as these. To appreciate such implications, we require looking first at the role which communication and language particularly, plays in an organization. At the most simple level, communication provides two functions gathering and disseminating information. As, the eventual purpose of both functions is to precipitate action: a head office might act in response to feedback from customers channeled via its field sales force; workers on an assembly line might transform their working practices in accordance with new guiding principle from the operations management. Such actions are not limited to those formally sanctioned by the organization: information, and the actions which consequence from its transmission, can be official or unofficial. Indeed, every organization consists of subgroups who have diverse information needs and channels, and whose reactions to the similar set of stimuli differ. Language is not just the means by which people converse (that is, the medium in which items of information are spoken); it is also the purveyor of meaning. Data is simply information while it has meaning, and data without meaning cannot impetuous action. Language therefore provides a means by which we understand the relative implication of any information and decide how we will respond. Within an organization, the role of language is consequently analogous to other and more well-known aspects of cultural behaviour such as myths, practices and stories. They all offer a context from which we can conjecture meaning; they therefore mainly determine how we interpret information, and this in turn determines how we act. Take for instance the manager who comes in and strangely closes his or her office door. How people interpret this will depend on, amongst other factors, the representation of a closed door in that particular environment (problems? privacy? and myths (‘Smith did that just after being fired’). Just as with myths and stories, individuals in an organization (or organizations as a whole) might seek to persuade the way in which both conversion processes take place by managing the meaning of the language used: the greater the vagueness of the language, the less convenient or conventional the resulting action (Korn, L. B. 1990, May 22, 157-161). Starting with the similar basis of meaning which sharing a common language gives is obviously fundamental to this process, though the success with which this can be attained also depends on many other factors. Anthropologists and philosophers have argued that a national language characterized a ‘contract’ within society which underpins its common culture. Though, some countries are reluctant to have contact with other cultures due to cultural and religious conflicts. It is the lack of understanding that is at the root of all exclusiveness or prejudice, distrust or hatred (Allan, G. 1993, pp. 1-25). There are many examples of countries that are unenthusiastic to have contact with other cultures. For instance, relationship between Israel and Islamic countries, Pakistan and India etc The disparity between the diverse cultures in the world today on reflection is seen to be one of language or appearance more than anything else. The entire of mankind forms a single species; and external diversities of feature and color, stature and deportment, behavior and customs notwithstanding, man ubiquitously is but man, a certain human quality supplying the relation of unity in the middle of all diversity. Humanity is one, and human culture as the appearance of an aspiration, an Endeavour and an attainment, is also one. The countries that are unwilling to contact with other cultures are losing permutations and combinations of the same or similar basic elements of human culture. Basically, the physical urge for getting and begetting, for living and spreading, is everywhere present, as also is the aspiration for a state of permanent happiness for â€Å"all this, and heaven too†. This desire, which is roughly as forceful as the physical urge, is shared by the entire of mankind and has raised men above the level of the simply animal. Religion, with its Janus-face of fear and hope, attempts to untangle the mystery of life and being. These attempts, leading to science and philosophy and nurturing of the emotions (opening up the limitless joys of art and mysticism), are general to mankind in all ages and climes, and they spring all over from the pursuit of what the sages of India regarded as the only end for which man is actually striving cessation of suffering and achievement of an definitive and abiding happiness. And in this common striving, there has never been any segregation of a particular people or group of men from other peoples or groups, whenever contact between them either direct or indirect was made probable (Lane, H.  W. , DiStephano, J. J. , & Maznevski, M. L. 1997). The mainsprings of human culture are thus the same, they are common; and assured ideals, values, attitudes or behaviors, whether good or bad from absolute or relative points of view, have constantly been found to be transmissible. These ideals, values, attitudes or behaviors form patterns comparable to languages. All provide to meet the minimum needs of man, but those which state most adequately and most skillfully the aspirations, the endeavors and the achievements of man naturally have a predominant place in the affairs of men. Certain patterns of culture thus stand out pre-eminent; and, becoming feeders and sustainers of weaker or less complete ones, they attain an international and comprehensive status (Beck, U. and Beck-Gernsheim, E. 1995). This play of action and communication in the cultural sphere is going on for ever. The opposing forces of centrifuge and centripetence are also constantly operating and strife with infrequent violent modification of one pattern by another, or harmony deliberately or instinctively brought about is also in evidence (Allan, G. 998). With the hope of one world, one mankind and one happiness for all inspiring our men of learning and wisdom to find a path that can be followed by all, this contemplative readiness for a single world culture was never greater than now. We leave aside, of course, men of narrow viewpoint whose intransigent support of one particular prototype is merely an unconscious expression of a blind selfishness which has its roots in both ignorance and a ye arning for domination. The time is certainly ripe, and the stage is set, for a correct understanding of the diverse patterns of culture and for exploring the methods for their harmonizing, taking our stand on the essentials and not on the accidentals, on the agreements and not on the divergences. While this is achieved, and mankind everywhere is trained to recognize the fundamental agreement based on the individuality of human aspirations, a new period in the history of humanity will instigate. Besides, as every global organization has its own language for talking concerning strategy: certainly it is possible to track the way in which the organization is developing by the words it uses to illustrate its strategy. If the language of strategy has any single source, it perhaps lies in classical warfare: our plans for expansion and competition remain heavily if unconsciously influenced by ideas of winning wars, beating our enemies, securing our position. However, management strategy first evolved a characteristic language of its own in the sixties and was focused on the decisions taken by management and the types of analysis requisite to ease them: decision-making was the essential activity of management, as decisions led to actions (Hays, R. D. 1974; 25-37). By the mid eighties, the analogies were architectural: strategies were the infrastructure, people the consumable building blocks. The respect principally since the late 1980s that the perimeters of organizations were no longer strong walls has given us a rather diverse vocabulary, drawn from biology and evolutionary theory: our strategic vocabulary is more and more drawn from the natural, rather than the man-made, world: ‘webs’, ‘porous boundaries’, business ‘ecosystems’, and those words which disguised a rigid framework or clear demarcation are starting to fall from favor. Linked to this trend is the idea that thriving organizations efficiently go beyond language they do not need to communicative their strategy because everyone already knows it. However, if we believe that strategy has its own, distinctive language, then this trend is just the most modern development in its evolution: rather than being precise and analytical, the language of strategy is becoming less specific qualitative instead of quantitative. What matters most is that the language is diverse. If the language is different, then the organization can do something different: if the language is that which the organization already uses, then the strategy cannot transform the status quo (Lester, T. 1994, 42-45). The richest sources of new language frequently lie within an organization, but among those people hardly ever asked to put in to its strategy, such as people on the customer front line, new recruits, and many more. Who these people are specifically varies from organization to organization and is a function of the way in which an individual organization manages language. Thus, to recognize ways in which you can incorporate a new language into your own organization’s strategy, you first require understanding how language is managed across your organization as a whole. Language plays a key role in this process: when we think of an organization, the model we tend to have in our minds is one in which those at the top talk, as those at the bottom do. Flatter organizations and the empowerment of those who work in them can mean that the sharing of talking and doing has changed, but I think most of us would still have difficulties in finding a company where this division has totally disappeared, particularly when it is applied to internal processes such as developing a strategy (Nurden, R. 997). Taking the words from the bottom of your organization, rather than from the top, reverses this state: it means that the doers start talking. The effect is less suspicion about language (from the doers) and a diverse way of using language (for the talkers): both ways, it moves the goalposts in terms of what the strategy sounds like, making it more likely that the organization as a whole will listen more efficiently.

Employee Turnover in Hong Kong's hospitality industry Essay

Employee Turnover in Hong Kong's hospitality industry - Essay Example Turnover implies employee leaving the present job voluntarily and taking up other jobs (Jack Black, 2002). Turnover is not resignation which involves end of employment by the employer for reasons such as a fall in profits of the company, bankruptcy or merger. Thus, employee turnover is taken up by the employee rather than the employer. Employee turnover is dependent on the type of business and the economic state of the area in which the company is operating. Thus where there is an economic boom, turnover is said to be much greater than in areas where there is no growth or which are undergoing the economic down turn (Employee What, 2002). The phenomenon of employee turnover is considered as one of the natural outcomes of conduct of business in modern organizations. Thus it is said that achieving zero percent turnover is not practical and should not even be attempted in today's rapidly changing employment environment (Branham, 2000). It is also said that some turn over may be desirable as it would enable a shake out amongst the employees avoiding bunching up of a large number with similar pay scales, salaries and capabilities making a pyramid (Branham, 2000). To retain all such employees will be extremely expensive for the organization. New employees are also said to bring in fresh ideas, approaches, abilities, attitudes and also prevent the organization from remaining stagnant (Branham, 2000). 2.3 Brief introduction of Hong Kong Hong Kong is said to be a very vibrant metropolis which has a life and dynamism of its own making it one of the unique cities in the World. It has a typical Chinese culture which has remained unaffected by British influence over the years (Hong Kong, 2006). It offers a mix of the modern and the ancient, the Oriental and the Western and therein lies its charm. At the same time the employment environment in Hong Kong follows a very flexible tendency. Thus employees in Hong Kong are not inhibited by generally accepted norms of loyalty and life long service which is characterized by some Eastern management cultures such as the Japanese (Hong Kong, 2006). 2.4 Employee turnover in Hong Kong Hong Kong job market has been continuously improving since the middle of 2003. This has been very dynamic and there has been greater availability of jobs in Hong Kong over the past few years (HR Service Providers Directory, 2005). There is a link between job growth and turn over of employees as seen from the data published in the HR Service Providers Directory 2000. The quarterly turn over rate as per the Directory, HK/HRM 2005 First Quarter Survey on Manpower Statistics has continued to rise which is also in conformity with vacancy rates which have also shown an upward trend due to lack of suitable candidates. In the first quarter of 2005, the overall turnover rate was .62 % higher than for the previous quarter at 2.99 %, and almost 1 (.92) % higher than the same period of 2004. Figure 1 at Appendix 1 refers (HR Service Providers Directory 2005). The turnover in the hotel sector was however slightly lower than the overall trend at 2.77 %. Figure 2 at Appendix B refers (HR Servic

What is a 'conceptual scheme' Do different people have different ones Essay

What is a 'conceptual scheme' Do different people have different ones If so, can they understand each other - Essay Example The moment that one starts discussing ‘conceptual schemes,’ one knows that one is to be dealing with ‘concepts.’ But what are concepts? Philosophers, since perhaps the time of Ancient Philosophy, have tried to understand what concept is. And one of the more common definitions of the term ‘concept’ is that it is the innate, intrinsic ability of man to formulate ideas inside his mind. It presents the idea that the moment that we try to clarify the term ‘concept’ itself it implies that one is going to look into the deep recesses of man’s thoughts, private thoughts. Because that is what concepts are all about, it is how man appreciates things that he perceives. But then, the problem with this is that it is something internal meaning that whatever maybe presents in one’s thoughts may not necessarily be what it is. Why? For the simple reason that concepts are part of man’s internal world. And as such, under this valua tion of concept, it can thus be considered that concepts do not possess any truth-value at all. It can only be considered as right or wrong the moment that concepts are no longer working within boundaries of one’s mind but is now being given an external representation through the utilization of language. The general use of speech, is to transfer Mentall Discourse into Verbal; or the Trayne our Thoughts, into a Trayneof words; and that for two commodities; whereof one is the Registering of the Consequences of our Thoughts; which being apt to slip out of our memory, and put us to a new labour, may gain be recalled by such words as they were marked by. So the first use of names is to serve for Markes or Notes of remembrance. Another is when many use he same words, to signifie (by their connexion and order,) one to another what conceive, or think of the matter;and also what hey desire, feare, or have any other passion for. And for this use they are called Signes.1 Thus, Hobbes looks at language as

The Bottom of the Pyramid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Bottom of the Pyramid - Essay Example Prahalad together with Hart have put forward an opinion that the largest part of the economic market, the fourth and the often forgotten tier has long been hidden in the depths of the marketplace. This tier has never been acknowledged as potential generators of wealth and as a source of innovation by research and development entities (2002). However, this often forgotten, bottom of the social hierarchy, fourth sector has its own set of treasures (Bendell 2005, Viscio and Pasternack 1996). The poor have within them the basic cultural knowledge for innovation and their knowledge of environmental sustainability is quite intimate (Pralahad and Hart 2002). Hence a more full-fledged engagement of this sector within the economy both as producers and consumers will result to a responsible society, marketing strategies that are culturally perceptive and overall will yield a healthy economy. Through these yields the fourth sector might even realize their importance as a generator of wealth, wh ich will naturally lead to their self-determination and empowerment. By harnessing these yields, the fourth tier can very much realize successes similar to those of India and China, opines Prahalad and Hart. However, here it can be argued that if cultural knowledge is valued as intellect, then the fourth sector holds key only for a more integrated world economy with greater participation and products and services that are innovative and ecologically safe, economies that can avoid the mistakes generally made by the developed countries. This argument that the fourth sector holds the key to economic development and social transformation has been countered on several levels, especially by Rost, Ydren and Gustaffen (2006). Most of the points that have been illuminated in these counter arguments have been matters of definition. Moreover the trio, assert that the poor may simply be unwilling or lack the resources to accomplish the transformational business model, put forward by Dr.

Comprehensive service delivery plan Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Comprehensive service delivery plan - Case Study Example The plan is expected to facilitate Sunny in obtaining assistance from authorized agencies, which could provide her with adequate parental education, medical care and adaptive equipment. Through this plan, attempts have been taken to assess Sunny’s potential strengths and her needs towards Assistive Technology (AT) and Augmentative Communication (AAC) abilities to help her succeed in her education. In addition, adequate information has been provided about the responsibilities of parents, guardian, friends, classmates and educational specialists towards Sunny in the plan discussed henceforth. This comprehensive service delivery plan outlines access to appropriate agencies that could provide parent/guardian support, owing to the fact that the role of family in medical care of a child is crucial. The professionals of ‘American Academy of Pediatrics’ also focus towards the recognition of a family, as family members are child’s primary source of health and support. In addition, informing parents or guardians of Sunny regarding her care needs and thereby, obtaining their support as a principal collaborator in care coordination is linked with the achievement of improved health results. In the US, special firms, such as Catholic Guardian Services, have been observed to provide parenting education and support services for the welfare of disabled children. One such organization is Federal Office of Special Education, which governs the norms of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA provides principle grants to various states, targeting the hi gher educational institutes and other non-profit organizations to deliver technical assistance, personnel development and parental training in the interests of disabled children. In this regard, Partners in Policymaking has been a pioneering and capability based headship curriculum for adults and parents of young disabled children (Arizona

Ethnography of Soup Kitchen Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethnography of Soup Kitchen - Essay Example The area turned out to be dissimilar in different aspects ranging from the physical appearance to the level of professionalism incorporated. In the situation such as that of the soup kitchen, there are elements of favour-seekers, lawbreakers and the corrupt. Hence, all these form the broader category of the opportunistic members of the society. The society presents a conventional culture stipulating favour to the visitors. The situation is real when the group enters the House of Bread for the research. As earlier proposed by one of the group members, the people at the restaurant are perceived as welcoming. The researchers are accorded profound priority of accessing the critical section of the kitchen and performing the serving tasks. This aspect concurs with the typical human psychology with a lurking intention of seeking generosity perception on the recipient of favour. The scenario at the cafeteria upholds the family culture, but not necessarily related to each. There is a group of persons who seem familiar to each other, yet they come from different locations. These individuals form particular types of families as a result of meeting at the House of Bread. The situation is ordinary among people since they are social beings, and their frequent meetings at this institution allow them to understand each better because they have common interests. These groups would always segregate themselves from other people who do not belong to their inner circles to embrace their preferences. Concerning the authority in the soup kitchen, the rules are notably relaxed due to the weaknesses attributed to by the enforcers. The staff members and the volunteers opted to act as the overseers of the processes in the soup kitchen, yet they manifest numerous facets of irresponsibility. They are the authority figures of the establishment and run the entire show, although the kitchen’s rules are remarkably relaxed and beneficial towards the guests. Nonetheless, there is an under standing that guests are the most fundamental group that is worth the considerations by the soup kitchen authority. The House of Bread regards the guests as their employers and act at their favour in the hotel. In the assessment, it was noticed that there is evident favouritism at the benefit of the guests. Most of the guests were served according to their wishes. For instance, at the coffee serving point, the maximum number of scoops was three, yet many guests would prefer four or five and the patrons are reluctant to restrict the actions. Imperatively, there exists another breed among the House of Bread users who have the full knowledge of the kitchen processes and the staff implying that they were regular visitors. This scenario is common in a normal society for its completion. The hidden motive of this group is to seek favour of the House of Bread formalities. Conclusion The research incorporated assumptions derived by notions concerning the House of Bread cafeteria. Eventually, there was a conflict of presumptions’ with reality. The study disapproved the thought that the institution was a food bank that only helped the unprivileged members of the society. The study led to the understanding that the institution is meant for every individuals. When the researchers reach the cafeteria, they realize that the place accommodates everyone in spite of age, religion or social class. There was also an initial assumption that volunteers will be optimistic because working in the cafeteria

Leadership and People Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leadership and People Management - Assignment Example His action of consulting each member of the team is very crucial to mention. Every aspects of business operation such as financial, sales, human relations and maintenance operations are considered towards formulating a solution. This leads each involved to participate and form part in the decision making. In financial concerns, he was able to think of the cost and consult for figures that can contribute greatly to the existing alternatives on hand. In sales and human relations, he was able to consider the side of customers and employees respectively. His action leads to a group discussion about the issue that gave everyone a chance to voice their comments and suggestion as far as their responsibility is concerned. The consensus of each member results to output that can be consider and use in the decision making process. This will further combine their opinions and mindset in order to come up with a common decision for all. On the other hand, the ineffective actions of Bud will include of his coming late in the set meeting. Though a reason is provided for his action, a misinterpretation in line with the urgency and value of meeting is possible. He is able to create a discussion among members but no define goals is set for each responsibility. Organization of tasks in order to create a common decision is missing. The opinions, suggestions and comments from the group do not reflect goal setting towards achieving the task. His degree of initiating structure is inadequate, with regards to organizing and delegating responsibility to team members. The establishment of procedures, work timetable, and expected output from members is not evident. The degree of consideration on the other hand is given more emphasis by Mr. Bud. The environment became very warmth and full of support that lead each member to eye the effect on their own area of responsibility only. The focus towards the real issue receives little attention against other concerns that Bud and other member finds more interest, the office party and lunch meeting for instance. The idea of Bud of reaching a decision at a later time and seeking a consultant for the said issue is a result of poor focus on the task to be accomplished. The enthusiasm he shows is not sufficient to lead his members to formulate and come up with a right decision. There is no eagerness on his side to accomplish what is viable even when the time seems to be early. In order for the meeting to be successful, various points should be concerned about and done. Foremost is the setting of the meeting environment and work ethic, Bud should give the meeting schedule of high importance that a crucial decision needs to take place, and that his punctuality should be observed on the set schedule. In this connection, the rest of the team will be aware of the significance of the situation and this will entice goal setting and increase drive to accomplish them. As far as every aspect of the operation is concern, every detail should be considered in the process of decision making. In terms of financial issue, Bud should foresight every figure that will count. The decision to be developed should have that capability to deal with possible implications in the future and the cost benefit analysis should be given emphasis. Customers being regarded as the

Rationale - how women are treated in soap operas Essay Example for Free

Rationale how women are treated in soap operas Essay I am going to be investigating into how women are treated in soap operas. The reason I have chosen to carry out this study is due to the fact that I think that women are given very stereotypical roles within soap operas and it is very hard for them to break out of those boundaries and those specific labels they have been given. The method I will take to reach my objective is to use the content analysis approach. This is a method I will adopt using Meehans research. My aim is to compare how much or how less has changed within that period of time. I hypothesise that in comparison to Meehans analysis of soap operas women are still labelled in the same categories. From this method I should be able to reach to a conclusion as to whether my hypothesis is correct. The method of research I am going to use is content analysis of magazines, TV and newspaper. Content analysis involves the very careful quantification of the content of the media messages. It is able to give a general impression about media content, which can be the basis of theoretical work or policy and programme development. Therefore the way I will carry out my research is by using Meehans study that was carried out in 1960s and 1970s on soap operas and how he categorised the women within the soaps into specific groups. I will carry out my research using a lot of primary resources. To investigate this concept I am going to look at the model, which is similar to the hypodermic syringe model. I am also going to use the feminist approach to try to explain some of the reasons as to why there are so many stereotypical views within soap operas towards women. I am going to be looking at Fergusons feminist cult theory. This highlights how there are many stereotypical views within the soap operas. Context She is seen in Meehans content analysis study of the presentation of women in soap operas shows that in American drama serials there are only 10 female character types that are presented, they are; The Imp, a rebellious tomboy character. She is adventurous, not really sexual, often finds herself in trouble, she is the opposite of what society expects a women to be and the trouble she gets into is often a result of this. The Goodwife, she is domestic, attractive, home-centred and content. She does not wish to become involved with the world outside the home, leaving this to her lovely husband. The Harpy, is an aggressive single woman. She is powerful, even overpowering and not afraid to take on or chase after men. The Bitch, is a sneak and a cheat. She is manipulative, dangerous and deceitful. She lacks the power to be a real villain (invariably male) but she causes real trouble for the forces of good. The Victim, is the passive female who suffers accident, disease or violence, depending in the type of show or it could be to domestic violence. The Decoy, she is a heroine disguised as a victim. Apparently helpless and dependent, shes actually strong and resourceful. She is quite likely to be mistreated, hurt or captured, but she is capable of overcoming her difficulties. The Siren, is a woman who uses her sexuality to lure her victim to a sticky end. The Courtesan, is close to being a prostitute and perhaps has been one. The Witch, has extraordinary power despite this she is invariably dominated by a man and is persuaded often reluctantly to suppress her powers or use it for his aims. The Matriarch, prestige and authority. a positive light despite the fact that she is too old to be sexually attractive. Her status is almost of that of a hero. This study shows that women are portrayed as neater good or evil, never a combination. It also shows that good women are portrayed as submissive, sensitive and domesticated. Bad women are portrayed as rebellious, independent and selfish. Male evil characters are always counterbalanced by good ones, this is not so with female evil characters. The number of occupations which women are portrayed as holding is limited to a few, primarily housewife, receptionist and whore, male roles are also few in number compared to reality, but are more exciting, such as doctor, spies, detective and astronaut. While studies such as Meehans, could be criticised for being dated and referring to the series of the 1960s and 70s. The content recycling of such series on satellite and cable channels means that they are still relevant. Moreover, many of the point she makes are relevant even in more recent television. The number of women portrayed in the media depends very much on the medium concerned and the genre type. Soap operas have relatively high proportion of women, though they are still outnumbered by as much of 7 men to 3 women in some types of soap opera. In advertisements, there are three all male ads to every one all female ads. A study conducted by Beuf (1974) was based on 63 interviews with boys and girls between the ages of three and six. Some girls had abandoned their ambitions even by this early age. Several girls mentioned that their ambitions could not be realised because of their sex. The implication is that because of the small number of high-status female models in the media available for girls to model themselves on, the ambitions of real women are limited. The power of the media in this respect is thought to be very strong. This is not surprising as the Average American girl will have spent more time in front of the TV by the time she is 15 than she will have spent in the classroom. Beuf also argues that women suffer anxiety and stress due to this and because advertising and soap operas create concerns in women particularly about; their body image, the constant need to spend money on products to make them more attractive and desirable for males and also the competition with other women to fight and keep their man. Liberal feminists argue that individuals are trained by the mass media and other social institutions into patterns of behaviour which are performed unconsciously. Sex-roles in particular, have been built up over a long period of time and have become embedded in our culture. Radical feminists identify men as the enemy. They believe that men consciously and unconsciously manipulate social institutions for their own benefit and to the detriment of women. Men hold the dominant positions throughout the media and are able to use them to reflect the images of women which they desire. According to socialist feminists the role of the media is to sustain and perpetuate the capitalist system and the supporting role of women in it. Davies says that those who control the media are almost all rich men, there is every incentive for them to present the capitalist, patriarchal scheme of things as the most attractive system available and to convince the less privileged that the oppression and limitations of their lives are inevitable. According to Skirrow, for example video games are particularly unattractive to women, as they are part of a technology which is identified as male power, and they are about mastering a specifically male anxiety in a specific male way.

Personal Development in Human Relations

Personal Development in Human Relations Robert McGregor Section I Is Human Relations (HR) an art or a science? Personally, I believe that HR is a science that must be artfully managed to utilize lessons learned and best practices for improving the well-being and effectiveness of employees within the organization. As our planet becomes interconnected, via satellites and the internet, it is now just as easy to communicate with someone across the globe as it is someone across the street. Therefore, it becomes increasingly important to gain a better understanding of the different people and different cultures that enrich our every shrinking planet. HR professionals have the very important task of gathering, training, and organizing the human assets who make the difference for an organizations success or failure. According to DeCenzo and Silhanek (2002) Human Relations is the composite of interactions that exist between people in all aspects of their personal and professional lives (p. 2). This broad and all-encompassing definition provides a general baseline for the study of HR and its guiding principles. However, it is necessary to dig deeper in order to understand the connections and relationships between the people and the organization. In doing so, it becomes possible to unlock the maximum effectiveness of both. The history of Human Relations, or Human Resources, can be traced back to England, where masons, carpenters, leather workers, and other craftspeople organized themselves into guilds They used their unity to improve their working conditions (Ivancevich, 2010, p. 5).ÂÂ   The industrial revolution brought about a significant change to the work environment and shifted the demand for the workforce. The introductions of machines in manufacturing propelled the need for workers, supervisors, and employers to build the complex new society. Time, efficiency, and productivity became the only metrics of concern in the workplace. As the population increased so did the demand for mass produced products which propelled the demand for the labor force. The people moved from rural and agricultural areas to fill jobs in the growing cities. The economic growth spurred the production requirements. As a result, in 1878, Fredrick Taylor, an engineer in Philadelphia began to study worker efficiency in an attempt to find the fastest and best way to do a job. His efforts summarized scientific management, the focus of job efficiencies (DeCenzo Shilhanek, 2002, p. 12) The manufacturing processes brought about bigger organizations which required increasing the number of workers. The workers, in turn, organized and formed unions to communicate their needs to the managers and owners for better pay, benefits, and working conditions. Ivancevich (2010) observed that in the 1920s, more firms began utilizing personnel departments to bridge the gap between management and workers. Researchers from Harvard, Elton Mayo, and Fritz Roelthisberger, started a series of experiments to research how physical working conditions affected worker productivity. Over the course of a decade, their observations led them to shift their focus to interpersonal relations among workers and management. Sundstrom et al. (2000) documented the Hawthorne studies research and found that employees needs and desires to belong to a group proved more influential than monetary incentives and good working conditions at improving employee productivity. This investigation into human factors and the work environment began human relations movement. Much like the advent of machines during the industrial revolution, todays technology pushes change to organizations and the labor force they employ.ÂÂ   The need for HR is vital now more than ever for firms that want to remain relevant in the global economy. Globalization has forced the business environment to evolve, thus strongly influencing the organizational behaviors of managers and workers of today. Laptops, iPads, and smartphones have mobilized the workplace. In addition, the immediate ability to connect has abolished the notion of managing locally. Firms now have offices around the globe and supervisors, are no longer limited to their geographic location. They must know and understand their new workforce who live in different countries, practice different religions, and come from vastly different cultures. The HR professional is key to bridging the new geographic, cultural, communication gap that now separates employer and employees. The valuable human relations information necessary to aid organizational communications both linguistically and culturally, flow is the responsibility of the HR team who must shape and develop the most valuable asset to the firm; people. Technology is forever advancing and pushing economic growth. Therefore, change will always be a part of the organizational structure. This means future workplace will be vastly different than what previous generations could have ever dreamed. Meister (2010) predicts that the next decade will usher in companies and business models that are unimaginable today, and will dramatically change how we live, work, learn, communicate and play. However, people will still be at the core of the company. HR will be needed to continue aiding in the interpersonal relationships necessary to make everything and everyone work together. Section II My coursework in Human Relations provided a solid foundation of the three primary areas of study. I found the organizational module particularly interesting and selected it as my literature area of emphasis. The organizational aspect of Human Relations provides a significant challenge to the HR professional. Large or small, simple or complex, the HR department must understand completely the company and its mission in order to recruit, train, and employ the best most efficient workforce needed. Ultimately, people make the organization and it is the job of the HR team to fit people into work an environment that will motivate them to work together harmoniously. As a field of study, there are many different facets to the organizational setting that must be considered. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has developed a competency model which details the knowledge requirements the HR professional needs to help meet the needs of the company (SHRM, 2016). The organizational behavior, structure, culture, strategy, diversity, and quality of life are just a few of the areas of competencies the HR team provides guidance on to the management team when they are strategically managing people as business resources. According to author Stephen Robbins (2014), the goal of studying organizational behavior is to understand and predict human behavior in organizations.ÂÂ   Several different specialties, such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology, contribute to the comprehensive literature for human behavior. While they are not as concrete as the laws of physics or chemistry, understanding these disciplines allow the HR professional to generalize about human behavior and how it will impact the organization. The organizational structure is identified by Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskission (2015) as the formal reporting relationships, procedures, controls, authority, and decision-making process. The U.S. military has a very ridged and formal chain of command organizational structure; however, human behavior still drives the culture and customs. If change is to be made within the organization, it must begin with the people. HR is one of the central vehicles for creating culture change (Grundy and Brown, 2003, p. 171). Many organizations focus on changing the organizations culture in order to improve performance and becoming more competitive in the marketplace. This is best accomplished by aligning the HR strategy with the organizations overall strategy for the business culture. Edgar Schein (2010) defines culture as A pattern of shared basic assumptions learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, which has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. An organization determined to change their current culture will often release a large number of employees such as CSX laying off 1000 managers or Hershey terminating 2000 employees (Utermohlen, 2017, Wattles, 2017) These drastic changes should be made with the HR team in full understanding of the personnel requirements desired for moving forward. They must get the people part right; then the strategy and execution will happen. A diversity strategy is another important consideration for todays global organizations. As companies branch out into new developing countries, it is important to consider the idea of differentiation and integrations. Morgan (2006) refers to this as requisite variety; the internal regulatory mechanisms of a system must be as diverse as the environment in which it operates (p. 44). Basically, the employees of a multinational company should reflect the suppliers with whom they work and customers whose business they wish to attract. Humphrey and Stokes (2000) predicts that twenty-first-century caliber supervisors must understand the purpose of building a dynamic team is to enhance performance and to grow a successful organization of the future. Diversity is a complex and challenging strategy for the HR leader to manage. Some of the employees within the company will be unwilling to see the need to integrate as well as to see the discriminatory nature of their actions. HR must be proactive in protecting the organization from individuals who fail to understand Federal Employment Laws and potentially jeopardizing the company with potential litigation. Employers must be careful when they treat similarly situated employees differently because discriminatory intent can be proven by either direct or circumstantial evident (Muller, 2013, p. 152). Legal ramifications due to discriminatory practices can destroy an organization. The HR professional should be proactive in training all staff members on the importance of diversity, acceptance, and inclusion as well as the dangers of discrimination. Organizations often depend on human resource professionals to help maintain positive relations with employee (Noe et al., 2016, p. 10). I believe the art of human relations management relies on the knowledge, experience, and competence of the HR team and it is a major function of what makes a business work. A stable and appealing workplace with a content workforce are more likely to attract and retain the best employees, maintain loyal customers and adjust to the ever-changing marketplace. These concepts were very apparent in the organization I was fortunate to work for during my internship. The personnel were very well trained, the work environment provided a comfortable place to work with challenging tasks that made a difference on the world stage. The communication both up and down the chain was clear and effective without being condescending or overbearing. Workers were allowed to have meaningful input on assignments and feedback from supervisors was timely and on target. The training and skills I learned both through my classroom literature and my internship experience, prepared me very well for the international relations challenges that I will discuss in the next section. The HR professional must be prepared to utilize a wide array of skills, techniques, and competencies to meet the organizations needs for a stable work environment. They should also continually add to their toolbox by remaining current in new trends in the human relations field. However, they can never forget at the end of the day, it is all about the people. The human talent that makes the company great.ÂÂ   Authors Sartain and Finney (2003) noted that companies depend more than ever on the unique contributions, passion, commitment, and heart of every single individual within them (p. 104). I am excited about the HR community and its future. Section III This country recently completed a presidential election that will have social repercussions for years to come. The shift in our new government is having a tremendous social impact, both domestically and abroad. It reverberates around the globe as so-called enemies and allies work to determine exactly how to reestablish their relationship with America. During my internship, I experienced first-hand Americas political and social interactions with many other nations; learning how critical the human element is to the negotiation and agreement on issues important to the national security of our country and its allies. Understanding and relating social theory to actual social practice is critical when working with the delicate intricacies of human relationships in a highly charged political environment. This is perfectly illustrated by the situation faced by former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn. He ultimately resigned because he allegedly overstepped in his discussions Russian leaders, and his behavior potentially violated the Logan Act (Miller Rucker, 2017). This will be discussed later. Over my 26-year military career, I have held a wide range of positions; from Dental Assistant to Helicopter Pilot. However, my brief internship in the Foreign Affairs Office for the Commander of Naval Forces Europe has had a profound impact on my understanding of human relations. In my primary function as a pilot, I naturally held leadership positions that correlated with the rank that I held. My aviation units did not have HR departments to hire, train, and help manage workers. As leaders, we simply did it all. I grew accustomed to taking care of my people and for the most part always giving orders. When a new person reported on board, I reviewed their records and arranged for the training they needed. If they had pay or benefits problems, I sent them to our administrative department to get them fixed. All basic HR functions were handled in-house. Although we had general leadership training, we did not have formal training in human social relations. I gave orders and they were obeyed, if not then the offender was disciplined. Sounds a little draconian, but military units are focused on accomplishing a mission that often puts lives in danger, not for sensitivity groups wanting to get in touch with our feelings. So I grew accustomed to dealing with people in a certain way. This mentality would rapidly change as my internship progressed. Lacking a formal HR department, I chose to do my internship with the local Foreign Affairs Office. The Foreign Affairs Officer (FAO) is a specific career path in the U.S. Navy. The officers are specially trained to for a variety of diplomatic assignments around the world. Navy FAOs maintain knowledge of political-military affairs; familiarity with the political, cultural, social, economic, and geographic factors of the countries and regions in which they are stationed; and proficiency in one or more of the dominant languages in their regions of expertise. (Navy Personnel Command, 2017) These skills I would have to learn through on the job training. The function of the FAO office in Europe is to plan and execute operations, provide liaison with foreign militaries operating in coalitions with U.S. forces, conduct political-social-military activities, and execute military-diplomatic missions. This is known as Theater Security Cooperation. I was assigned to help in the Black Sea department of the FAO office during a unique time. Russia had recently annexed the Crimean Peninsula by force from the Ukraine. Many of our NATO allies were deeply concerned that President Putin would not stop there and continue to push his forces into other neighboring nations and eventually occupy the entire Black Sea region (Treisman, 2016). The FAO office was tasked with coordinating meetings and activities to reassure our allies of Americas commitment and support to NATO. In the beginning, my role was to coordinate simple maritime interactions with Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania. I learned to work with our embassies in those countries to set up port visits by U.S. ships. Having our troops in their cities was a big boost of confidence to our partner nations. I also organized Passing Exercises (PASSEXs), these are maneuvering drills that the ships do together to render honors to each other as they pass. This seemingly simple activity required considerable coordination as numerous messages must be sent back and forth from our commanders to our embassy over to their embassy to their commanders. However, these engagements provide a sense of comradery. In my opinion, it is reflective of the findings from the Hawthorne studies mentioned in earlier which show the strong intrinsic desire for human beings to belong to a group. We continued to plan activities to reassure our allies. I took on the daunting task of arranging and organizing a Secretary of the Defense to visit Constanta, Romania. Another task that sounds simple, however, requires a tremendous amount of preparatory work to execute smoothly. The diplomatic coordination required was astounding to me. Especially in light of the recent Russian and Ukraine hostilities. The detailed attention to social protocols and customs were particularly challenging. The visit extremely well, projecting the desired effect of NATO unity. However, I was admonished by my supervisor for failing to delegate. Due to the sensitive nature of the information, all the details were reviewed by the senior officers before approval. Trying to do everything myself, and lacking formal diplomatic training, I happen to miss a few necessary items that could have impacted the trip. Fortunately, my supervisor caught my errors before they became an issue. Official diplomatic negotiations were another aspect of the FAO liaison duties I was able to observe. The United States and Romania agreed to build a U.S. military installation in Romania. The specific details required for construction had to be discussed at length in very formal diplomatic meetings. I was fortunate to attend two of these meetings. The process is long and drawn out with extensive cultural activities that must be considered and observed. Our European hosts enjoyed visiting and drinking coffee before a meeting started. It would be offensive if we did not partake in this ritual before getting down to business. This was a big part of the social theories that I had to put into practice. It was interesting that while a lot was said during the official meeting, the real agreements were worked out during the breaks when counterparts could talk offline and come to an understanding. However, as Mike Flynn learned, you have to be very careful what you discuss during these moments. The Logan Act basically forbids any citizen of the United States, from promising or influencing any foreign government or agent thereof, any disputes or controversies without proper authority (Legal Information Institute, 2017). Our partners always want more than we are able to give and it is imperative that we refute them without insulting them. Communicating skills are vital for building successful professional relationships. My final major event was planning, directing, and executing all aspects of the Eurasian Partnership Dive exercise (EP Dive).ÂÂ   EP Dive is a multilateral interoperability event, involving over 30 Officers and Sailors from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Romania, and Ukraine. The goal is to promote Theater Security Cooperation as well as increased maritime stability within the Black Sea Countries. This exercise demanded all of my leadership, communication, and human relations skills without being in a combat environment. I led a team of 4 junior officers. We obtained approval and funding, then planned the facility, the equipment, the translators, and the rooms. We enabled over 30 divers from different countries, with different languages, and different cultures, to conduct coordinated, military, deep sea dive exercises for a week without incident or injury. The EP Dive engagement exemplified the purpose of the Foreign Affairs Office; to build cooperation and interoperability while enhancing theater security. This is done by engaging the human element in the spirit of friendship and not battle. As an organization, the FAO office faces many challenges, however, through creative use of human relations skills, they work to resolve issues in the European community. Cooperating with diverse international staffs, U.S. Embassies, and U.S. State Department personnel, the organization meets the ever changing demands of our partner nations. It is difficult to be critical of this organization as I was completely impressed the FAO department. They are well suited to meet the needs of the international community with whom they work. The staff is exemplary, and they are managed and trained very well in the art and science of human relations.ÂÂ   It was a pleasure getting to know some of the smartest people I have ever met. I was immediately accepted as part of the team even though I lacked their formal training and language skills. My supervisor provided solid guidance while still allowing me to learn and operate independently. The demands of the job are never ending as the political climates around Europe change almost day to day. They must continually adapt to fluctuating needs of the partner nations. Therefore, my only recommendation would be for more exceptional personnel to help relieve the stress. Otherwise, they are successful at accomplishing a difficult mission. I truly enjoyed learning by doing. I made my fair share of mistakes, but I learned from them. Fortunately, the lessons I learned in Grad Studies, the techniques acquired in Stress Management, and the understanding I gained in Organizational behavior helped me adjust quickly to the international relations community. I interacted well with foreign counterparts and gained a breadth of experience in relating to a diverse community. I did not cause an international incident, so I would say this internship was a very successful venture. I can now see myself potentially working for the State Department in the future by using the human relations skills that I have learned in this program to make difference help our allies. The European Foreign Affairs Office for Commander of Naval Europe is an organization I would be happy to work for again and one that I would highly recommend as an internship opportunity to future Oklahoma University HR students. REFERENCES DeCenzo, D., Silhanek, B. (2002). Human Relations: Personal and Professional Development (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Grundy, T., Brown, L. (2003) Value-based Human Resource Strategy. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. Hitt, M., Ireland, R., Hoskisson, R. (2015). Strategic Management: Competitive and Globalization Concepts. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Humphrey, B., Stokes, J. (2000). The 21st Century Supervisor: Essential Skills for Frontline Leaders. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer. Ivancevich, J. (2010). Human Resource Management (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Legal Information Institute. (2017) 18 U.S. Code ÂÂ § 953 Private correspondence with foreign governments. Cornell University Law School. Retrieved from https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/953 Meister, J., Willyerd, K. (2010). The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and Keep Tomorrows Employees Today. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. Miller, G., Rucker, P. (2017, February 14). Michael Flynn resigns as national security adviser. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/michael-flynn-resigns-as-national-security-adviser/2017/02/13/0007c0a8-f26e-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html?utm_term=.64e02686f459 Morgan, G. (2006). Images of Organization. Thousand Oak, CA: Sage Publications Ltd. Muller, M. (2013). The Managers Guide to HR (2nd ed.). New York, NY: American Management Association. Navy Personnel Command (2017, February). Foreign Area Officer (PERS-473C). Retrieved from http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/officer/Detailing/FAO/Pages/default.aspx Noe, R., Hollenbeck, J., Gerhart, B., Wright, P. (2016). Fundamentals of Human Resource Management (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Robbins, S., Judge, T. (2014). Essentials of Organizational Behavior (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Schein, E. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Sartain, L., Finney, M. (2003). HR from the Heart: Inspiring Stories and Strategies for Building the People Side of Great Business. New York, NY: AMACOM. Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). (2016). The SHRM Body of Competency and Knowledge 2016. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/certification/about/ bodyofcompetencyknowledge/pages/default.aspx Sundstrom, E., McIntyre, M., Halfhill, T., Richards, H. (2000). Work groups: From the Hawthorne studies to work teams of the 1990s and beyond. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 4(1), 44-67. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/docview/614355706?accountid=129464 Treisman, D. (2016 May/June). Why Putin Took Crimea. The Gambler in the Kremlin. Retrieved from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2016-04-18/why-putin-took-crimea Utermohlen, K. (2017, February 21). CSX Corporation (CSX) Layoffs: Company to Cut 1,000 Management Jobs. Investor Place. Retrieved from http://investorplace.com/2017/02/csx-corporation-csx-layoffs/ Wattles, J. (2017, February 28). Hersheys bitter news: Cutting more than 2,000 jobs. CNN Money. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/28/news/companies/hershey-job-cuts/index.html

Strategies to Measure Poverty

Strategies to Measure Poverty Poverty is a social problem and it has been considered as a feature of inequality in society. This view is shared by Machperson Silburn (1998, 1), as they consider poverty as a cause of political and morale challenges to all societies at all times. Roll (1992, 7) defined poverty as a shortage of something which is morally unacceptable and calls for action. Or in a more official way, poverty can be defined as the number of people with incomes below an arbitrary percentage of the average Gordon et al (2000, 8). There are two types of poverty depending on the way that it is measured, those types are: relative and absolute poverty. Absolute poverty refers to the minimum physical needs that are associated with physical survival, taking account of food, clothing, and shelter (Roll, 1992, 14). On the other hand, relative poverty is usually related to social needs and as is a feature of income inequality and can be described as being a comparison to something else (Roll, 1992, 15). In other words it could be the inability to have stuff that most people in society think it is essential. To illustrate this and to understand public opinion on the subject of necessities, a survey carried out by 1500 people in 1999 produced the following results: over 90% of the population in each case perceive beds and bedding for everyone, heating, damp-free home, visiting friends or family and medicine prescribed by doctor as items which adults should have in Britain. By contrast, less than 10 per cent sees mobile phones and internet access as necessary Gordon et al (2000, 18).However, nowadays, internet access and mobile phones are considered as necessities to most people in society, so those who cannot afford them are counted in relative poverty. There are many ways to measure poverty and they could vary from country to another. The measurement of poverty aims to help develop new policies to reduce the extent of poverty, and enables politicians to determine how many people live in poverty and what the social characteristics associated with them are, such as gender and age (MacPherson Silburn, 1998, 8). Each measure of poverty has advantages and disadvantages, and has different influence on policy. For example, income thresholds approach defines poverty as being under a specific threshold level in terms of households average income or benefit levels. In the UK, it is the most common measure of poverty, and a household is said to be in poverty if its income, after taxes, is less than 60% of the UK median for that year (Aldridge et al, 2013). The main advantage of this approach is that it is simple as it does not require detailed data from people (Gordon et al, 2000, 74), and that the standard of need is implicit in the benefit levels decided by government (Gordon et al, 2000, 74). However, there are some problems with using this approach; for example, it could be argued when the thresholds based on the average income that it is measuring the inequality of income rather than measuring poverty. Also MacPherson Silburn (1998, 14) argued that the benefit rates may be set at a very low rate, well below average earning, and thus do not provide an acceptable poverty threshold measure. Low income is a major problem in the United Kingdom, as it is at the centre of poverty matters. It has short term as well as long term effects on individuals and society overall, as people who are in low income are more likely to have serious illnesses, for example Cancer mortality rates in the poorest areas (200 per 100,000) are 50% higher than average, and have not fallen in the last decade, while the average has fallen by one-sixth (Aldridge et al, 2013). Low income also affects the whole British economy, as British society has turned out to be controlled by material goods and market relationships and any shortage would have a great effect on the economy. This means, that measuring poverty in the right way would help to reduce the pattern on low income (Kenway et al, 2002, 18). The cause of the rise and fall of the number of people with low income is debatable. Some consider it to be the individuals fault because laziness and passivity. However, others see it deeper than that and put the responsibility on the governments policies as Kenway et al (2002, 18) state that the chief weapons that have been used in the assault on low income over the last few years are first, reforms to the tax and benefit system and second, the national minimum wage. For example, if the government raises taxes and cuts down on benefits, as a result, the number of people on low income will rise, as well as poverty. On the other hand, it could be argued that this weapon can be used in a positive way to decrease the number of people on low income and against poverty, by decreasing taxes and offering more/higher benefits. The same also applies for minimum wage, where it could be increased or decreased, which in turn will have an effect on the level of poverty in Britain. Thats why ther e are many measures of poverty, as each measure is used to look deeper into the problem from a different angle to try and conclude where the responsibility/blame lies and the best ways to deal and solve this problem. Another way of measuring poverty is by using consensual/social indicators. This approach is very much dependent on social surveys and on public view of necessities. Not only the UK implemented this approach of measuring poverty, but many other countries did, such as, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Germany and Vietnam. That made it one of the most common approaches of measuring poverty. However, it has been criticised because peoples responses are firmly based on their own subjective experience, which may be far removed from the poverty level (MacPherson Silburn, 1998, 12). Budget standard is another method to measure poverty. It is based on a very basic basket of goods, the only good thing about it is, that things can be put into or taken out of a budget standard easily (Gordon et al, 2000, 75). But when it comes to weakness points, budget standard has some, for example, it only focuses on a group of people and does not cover all types of people, such as, people from various cultures, or with special needs, as Roll (1992, 39) confirms; the argument is that people have different spending patterns so that, even if they had the same amount of income from benefit, they would not spend it on the basket of goods. Because of that, this approach is not used much now to measure poverty. So, other ways of measurement had to be developed such as social exclusion. This approach is used in the UK, and it focuses on the shortage of access to the types of social relations, norms and interests (Gordon et al, 2000). It refers more to relative poverty rather than absolu te poverty. Lastly, poverty can be measured subjectively, or in other words, using subjective measures. This method is based on categorizing the poverty thresholds by society itself without any intervention from experts or the government, making it the most democratic approach of measuring poverty, which is the best thing about it. On the other hand, it could be argued that subjective poverty lines tend to fluctuate over time depending on changes in the social reference group and on period of reference (Gordon et al, 2000,73). In conclusion, poverty is a serious issue which affects the individual as well as the whole society. Many elements are involved in it such as the place, time, income, gender, health, and benefits. And in order to take all of these into account, many approaches and methods have been developed for measuring poverty, each one being applied to a specific element. As a result, this has produced measures which look into the issue of poverty from various angles, which in turn, offer policy makers the opportunity to develop new rules and regulations to minimise poverty as much as possible.

Embryo Transfer :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Embryo transfer is the process of taking fertilized embryos from one animal and inserting them into another. This is very useful today in cattle, because now it is economically feasible and it allows the producer a greater number of offspring from one cow with desirable traits. The process starts normally by artificially inseminating the cow. Exactly seven days later, the uterus is flushed, and the embryos and ova. Next, the embryos will be isolated. The embryos are then inserted into the recipient cow.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Artificially inseminating the cow is the preferred way to fertilize the eggs in the donor cow. The cow should be inseminated at least three times at intervals of twelve hours, to insure fertilization. In preparation for AI, a shot of FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) should be given to the cow to super-ovulate her. This causes more eggs to drop from the ovaries, allowing more embryos. Seven days after the cow is inseminated the third time, her uterus should be flushed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before flushing the cow, her posterior should be cleaned up as much as possible. After this is complete, an instrument known as the â€Å"introducer† is inserted into the vagina. The instrument is much like a long syringe with a plunger going through the center. The vet then will push his hand through the anus and guide the introducer along the cervix. The instrument is pushed through the cervix and into the uterus. Once it reaches the uterus, the plunger is pulled out and a catheter is inserted into the uterus, against the uterine horn, through the center of the introducer. The â€Å"cuff,† a small balloon type object, is inflated in the cow’s uterus, and a sodium based phosphate is released for lubrication. It is then pumped back through the introducer, and filtered by an embryo filter. The liquid caught by the filter is then examined to determine the number of good embryos. At this stage, the sex can even be determined. They are graded, the n placed in straws or frozen for later use.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Implanting the embryos into the cow is done just like artificial insemination. The straw is inserted in the vagina, while the vet’s hand guides the straw through the cervix, and then released into the uterus. Success of the process can be determined one to three months later through palpation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The embryos can be stored safely at 37 degrees Fahrenheit for six-eight hours, however implanting as soon as possible is recommended for the best results.

An Exposition on Peanut Butter Cookies Essay -- Exposition Essays

An Exposition on Peanut Butter Cookies Have you ever tried to bake peanut butter cookies, and for some reason they were a complete flap because they were dry and crunchy, too moist and crumbly, or perhaps they had a terrible taste? Well, I have discovered this cool new recipe and I have never failed at making them. Have no fear, the ultimate peanut butter cookie recipe is here. We will need the following ingredients: 1c. of brown sugar, 1c. of white sugar, 1c. of margarine or butter, 1c. of peanut butter, 2 large eggs, 1 tsp. of baking soda, 1/4 tsp. of salt, 2 tsp. of vanilla, 3 cups of flour, and 1/2 cup of white sugar. As far as cooking utensils go, we will need the following: 2 large bowls, a small cup, a microwavable bowl, a baking sheet, one set of measuring spoons, one se...

Government Welfare

Obviously not, Welfare, at the government level, is mainly monies given to promote the basic physical and material well-being of people in need. This would include survivor benefits given to the widow/widowers of service-members. I don’t feel all areas of welfare should be abolished for instance the WIC program which provides vouchers to low income mothers to assist in buying formula and healthy foods in which would not be possible without the program.The price of baby formula can be very expensive in which millions of children would suffer from hunger, unhealthy diets and other health problems in regards to nutritional factors. Sometimes, it's just a matter of helping someone who's down on their luck for a short time, and then there are cases where you've got an elderly person who is all alone and needs some assistance. However, corporate welfare should be abolished, and regular welfare should be better managed. Anyone who is on welfare should be required to work or go to sch ool 40 hours a week to get their check; welfare should be a hand up, not a hand out.I think some people definitely need help. Sometimes, it's just a matter of helping someone who's down on their luck for a short time, and then there's cases where you've got an elderly person who is all alone and needs some assistance. However, corporate welfare should be abolished, and regular welfare should be better managed. Anyone who is on welfare should be required to work or go to school 40 hours a week to get their check; welfare should be a hand up, not a hand out.The system is so bloated and unmanageable that it allows many people to abuse it. Abolishing welfare would truly be one of the most unthinkable things to do to our fellow men and women not to mention the children involved who weren’t quite as â€Å"Lucky† as many of us have been in life. The Family Support Act, America's most recent effort at welfare reform, begins to take effect this year. The new law seeks to get si ngle mothers off welfare through a combination of job training, work requirements, child care subsidies, and child support enforcement.Cutting the welfare rolls is, in turn, supposed to save the taxpayer money while enhancing the self-respect of single mothers and their children. ( http://prospect. org/article/real-welfare-problem) Some Democrats believe the 1996 welfare reform is better than the recommendations of the Obama Administration. â€Å"The House voted Thursday (September 20, 2012) to block the Obama Administration's unilateral weakening of welfare's work requirements, and political reporters are writing it off as a partisan primal scream if they notice at all.† (Unknown, 2012)All Republicans and nineteen Democrats showed their dislike of the current administrations path down the welfare reform road with an astounding 250-164 rout over welfare reform recommendations. That’s one-tenth of the Democratic caucus joining with the Republicans to say our people need welfare in its current state during these hard economic times. The Reform Act was started during the Clinton Administration in August of 1996. However, welfare has been a controversial issue since the 1960’s.It was not until the late 1980’s, when the citizens were concerned and asking for some kind of reform to the welfare system. I do think that over the years there have been many changes to welfare programs. Many of these changes have been good, although some have been bad. The current welfare program will not see any beneficial changes until someone offers a more beneficial way of doing things. Unfortunately there have been very few ideas to change the welfare system. Hopefully in the future this changes.

Evaluation of Soil Management Strategies in Two Named Farming Systems Essay

Evaluation of the soil management strategies in the India The more time goes past, the more man starts realising how the management and the way we threat soils is important to insure its preservation and conservation. Nowadays, around 9. 4 million hectares of soil, which represent the 0. 5% of the land present on our planet, is irreparably damaged and has no longer any biological function. In other words, it can no longer be used in any useful way to provide food or other elements to the earth’s tenants. There are though, two factors that influence soil degradation; the human factor and the natural one. The most impactful one is the human one, as we tend to create disequilibrium in the rate at which soil forms and at which it is eroded or degraded. This is due to the fact that farmers work the soil too frequently or misunderstand and mismanage their lands. On the other hand, erosion and degradation, which embody the natural factors, are part of nature’s cycle and over time, they do not create imbalances. In poorer countries, farmers use subsistence farming and they are in a way constricted to do so, as they not only lack of economical resources to buy machinery and conditioners, but also because the quality of the soil often doesn’t give them the opportunity to be able to work the land more intensively. In the regions of West Bengal located in the northwest of India to take an example, the density of the population is so high that farmers only can use their little land holding to produce enough in order to feed themselves and their families. This way of managing the soil is called subsistence farming and is also used in the entire southeast of India, where the soil is so degraded that the population has no other choice but to use this agricultural strategy named sedentary farming. It involves farming always at the same place, living there and getting crops relying uniquely on labour and not on any capital investments. In India we can find a very large division, varying from economical to socio-political, and even agricultural. Up in the Northwest of India, within the hills of Jaipur in Rajasthan, intensive commercial farmers are predominant as the country represents the fourth biggest agricultural power of the world. The practices and components involved in intensive farming are harmful to the soil because farmers take advantage of the resources that are available and often abuse their terrain in such way that it harms it, leading to an increase of the rate at which the land is deteriorated. But not all methods are harmful to Nature; the method used in the forests of north India by the poorer citizens has a much better environmental impact than the industrial one used by richer farmers. As equally common, this method is called shifting farming which consists in burning a piece of land so that the ashes fertilise the soil. Then the famer grows its crops for around 2 to 5 years, until the soil’s fertility starts to decrease so he moves to another place repeating the same process. After a break more or less long 10 years, the farmer can go back to the first place as the terrain supposedly had time to regain its fertility and he can so for cultivate his crops again. In fact, the material and gears used, plus the methods are much different one from another. Within the subsistence one, natural fertilizers will be more likely to be used while on the intensive one, chemicals and heavy machinery often take the lead. These different strategies used to manage the soil comprise advantages and disadvantages, to both the farmers and the land. The sustainable farming strategy is on the short term less beneficial to the farmer as it will limit his production. But this technique won’t make any harm to the soil because the method used is less intensive, and natural fertilisers such as animal rejections and organic wastes replace chemicals and fertilizers used in the intensive method. But as stated above, India is the fourth largest agricultural force on this planet and that’s when the management of the soil starts becoming problematic in accordance to its sustainability and the preservation of its quality. The choice of a farmer to opt for a specific technique rather than another relies on the income on a short period of time. Even though in India this choice mainly depends on the financial resources available, the farmers using subsistence farming will be able to use their land for a much longer period of time than those who use intensive farming. It’s also in the farmer’s benefit to use its field in a sustainable way; for environmental ssues as well as for its personal profit as on the longer term, a farmer who farms on its land in a sustainable way will be able to get an equal amount of crops over a larger period of time. To conclude, if we keep abusing the soil as they still do in certain parts of the world, by 2050 we will severely lack of available healthy soil to satisfy our needs as a result of the population’s growth rate. And even though the governments and citizens didn’t realise that before severe issues and frightening statistical data came out from the topic. We know how to prevent soil erosion from natural factors by simply planting grass or other clumping vegetation; building shelter belts and hedgerows are other examples. We can also improve the methods of cultivation, using the techniques of terracing and contour ploughing. But to prevent the abusing human activity like deforestation, I believe that the only answer is the willing and devotion of individuals of using proper pesticides and fertilizers.

Psychoanalytic and Trait Approaches Personality Assessment Essay

I have always attributed personality as being a culmination of environment first, biology second, and traits, or what my understanding of them was. I was not aware of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic approach, or the correct definition of the trait theory prior to beginning this class. The psychoanalytic approach to personality defines the origins of personality as being divided in to three parts; the id (unconscious), the superego (preconscious) and the ego (conscious). Each part plays a distinct role in memory, response, desire, decision making, and conscience. With all three parts interacting, conflicting, expending psychic energy, and dictating who we are. In contrast the trait theory approach describes personality characteristics that are stable and are the basis of why individuals to do something, in certain ways, consistently. The psychoanalytic approach is subjective and is not easily measured whereas the trait approach specifically identifies and measures the various tr aits that make up an individual and how they interact with each other to form a personality. Freud believed that personalities are formed in the early stages of childhood, and are a series of sexually themed developmental stages. The first stage; birth to roughly 18 months, is the oral stage. At this stage babies are all about their mouths, and their behavioral patterns originate from this area. Freud believed that during this stage if a negative experience occurs, and too much of the psychosexual energy is expended in this area, then a fixation of psychic energy can occur. The result would be the development of an oral personality as an adult. Adults with oral personalities tend to need some type of oral fulfillment; often putting their hands to their mouths, they may be smokers, or may drink too much. The second psychosexually themed developmental stage that children go through, according to Freud, is the anal stage. This stage, like the first, is where behavioral patterns can emerge depending on the amount of psychosexual energy which is expended. Here, children have to learn control over bodily functions and depending on whether the experience is positive or negative, like behavioral patterns emerge. Freud believed that a negative experience could result in an adult personality that is obsessive, and stubborn. According to Freud, defense mechanisms exist as a way for the ego to deal with things it cannot filter from the anxiety created within the superego and the id. Displacement is a classic example of a defense mechanism. Have you ever had a bad d ay at work where nothing you did would satisfy your boss? Wanting to tell your boss off or acting on the frustrations or feelings would be detrimental to your job status. Instead of acting on that frustration it stays pent up, and by the time you get home from work you explode at your child, or spouse for some insignificant little infraction. Your taking your aggression out on a person who did not pose a threat to you is displacement. A second defense mechanism is reaction formation. Freud believed that using reaction formation allows us to hide how we feel by acting the exact opposite. A good example would be a person who is extremely outspoken about gay rights. Freud would have no doubt believed that because this person’s beliefs were so extreme that this person must be fighting an internal demon; maybe this person was fighting their own secret feelings of attraction for the same sex. Hence the old adage â€Å"†¦doth protest too much, methinks† (Shakespeare, 1601). A third defense mechanism is Intellectualization. This defense mechanism helps a person to distance themselves by removing the emotional side of the circumstance which allows a person to focus from a colder intellectual viewpoint. A good example of this would be a husband that passes away and the wife, also a mother does not allow herself to feel or show her pain for the sake of the children. She reasons that if she shows her pain the children will feel worse and above all else she must protect them so she reads, learns, and concentrates on methods to help get them through it. The Big Five Factor that best describes my personality would be openness. I do have an active imagination, and am open to considering new idea’s, and am not happy in an environment that is routine. I tend to thrive in chaos, and enjoy research. The Big Five factor that least describes me is Agreeableness. I do c onsider myself to be a helpful person, and while I volunteer for many organizations, I tend not to be sympathetic or trusting. I guess I have some trouble categorizing myself as being one way or the other, or having a specific trait over another because I find that it all so subjective. I would have to say the trait theories best align with my personality. I have some trouble identifying with the psychoanalytic personality description. The core theories, though some of them make sense, do not seem to align with what goes on inside my head. I have been through some pretty traumatic things in my life, but I am conscious of all of them. Why? I am so aware of them, have had to feel them in my head, my whole life. What makes me so different from other people who have been able to shove them to an unconscious level? And, is that better? The psychoanalytic approach as found in the text says that defense mechanisms are believed to offer an instrument for the mind to be able to isolate what it cannot deal with, yet this approach does not offer any stable patterns on what makes one person less able to deal with something than another. In conclusion, it appears that no one theory easily defines what makes up an individual’s personality and so far it all appears to be subjective. Reference: Burger, Jerry M. (2008). Personality (7th ed.). Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.