White Oleander by Janet Fitch Essay Example For Students

White Oleander by Janet Fitch Essay â€Å"Without my wounds who was I?My scars were my face, my past was my life.† In White Oleander by Janet Fitch,the above quote perfectly describes the confusion of the main character who is desperately trying to figure out who she is in a world that has seemingly forgotten her. The main theme of this book is self-discovery. The main character, Astrid Magnussen is trying to discover herself in extreme circumstances. She is trying to survive in a world that she feels has forgotten her. She has to figure out who she is while remembering who she was. She is trying to find a place where she belongs. This story is about a girl named Astrid Magnussen. Her poet mother goes to jail after murdering her ex-boyfriend Barry Kolter. Astrid is forced into the strange new world of foster care. She is never sure how long she is going to be in each home and never sure what to expect. In each place she finds different families with new problems and different beliefs that she has previously experienced. She is shifted from place to place and family to family while learning important lessons from each place and learning to cope with all of the damage her mother’s beliefs has done to her life. Her mother can be a very cruel person. She is very possessive about Astrid and doesn’t want anyone else to get close to her and take her away. While in jail the words from her mother prove very damaging to Astrid. Her mother seems to be pleased when Astrid is unhappy. Astrid needs to learn who she is and how to make peace with her mother. She goes from place to place searching for an identity , searching for her past, and searching for the truth. We will write a custom essay on White Oleander by Janet Fitch specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Believability is one of the best aspects of the book. The characters seem like they could very easily be real people with real emotions. Each one has problems that are commonly seen in today’s world. Marvel ,one of the foster mothers, is a judgmental racist. Claire, Astrid’s favorite foster mother, is in a marriage that makes her depressed, paranoid, and suicidal. Starr, the first foster mother, is a hypocrite. She goes to church every Sunday and talks about how great God is yet she is having an affair with a married man. These situations can be found just about anywhere in today’s society. The character shave real problems that people in the real world are forced to deal with everyday. Fitch uses language that is absolutely perfect for the individual circumstances. Each different place has it’s own atmosphere and each different atmosphere and living in each atmosphere are people with different accents. She writes each different accent in a way that makes the reader believe what they are reading. The imagery used is beautiful. Each different house is frequently described by the flowers and wildlife surrounding it. The apartment Astrid shared with her mother was surrounded by Oleanders ,a devastatingly beautiful yet deadly flower which Ingrid used in the poison. All of Astrid’s favorite people had gorgeous flowers surrounding them. Smells were also a very important way to describe people. Astrid’s favorite people also had very specific smells. Starr’s boyfriend Ray, who Astrid ended up having an affair with and loved very much, was always described as smelling like dope. Marvel’s black prostitute neighbor, who Astrid became good fri ends with, smelled like a perfume called Ma Griffe. Astrid’s mother smelled like violets. Claire smelled like L’Air du Temps. Music was another important way of describing people and situations. When some one over at Olivia’s there was always specific music. She listened to the older black singers like Billie Holiday. Rena, the last foster mother listened to classic 70’s rock like The Who, The Grateful Dead, and The Rollingstones. The music that everyone listened to went hand in hand with the kind of person they were. .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78 , .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78 .postImageUrl , .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78 , .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78:hover , .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78:visited , .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78:active { border:0!important; } .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78:active , .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78 .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ubffafa2e5bc5330abc40fb8101015f78:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Diary of A Teenage Girl. Becoming Me EssayWhite Oleander was easy to read in the sense that I could understand all the words and it wasn’t about concepts that are beyond me like brain surgery or rocket science. However from an emotional standpoint, it was difficult top keep reading sometimes. Occasionally I had to put the book down and dry my eyes before I could continue reading. I loved the book because it was about life. It is an easy book to relate to. Anyone who cares about some one else can relate to and fall in love with this book.

Manage Stress at University Essays

Manage Stress at University Essays Manage Stress at University Essay Manage Stress at University Essay Stress occurs in human life is frequency because there are many challenge people need to face in daily. Also it is a part of student’s life, when the student study at university, they may face more difficult problem such as more expectation from their parents, financial problems, exam or assignment. There are many definitions about stress, one definition of stress is the body’s reaction from any situation or thought that changes a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response. (Morrow, 2009) Sometimes appropriate stress is good for student as it pushed them to work better. It means that they can enhance their performance, including in exam. However, stress bring harmful more than beneficial, it can separate to physical and mental to present itself. In this essay, it will talk about the symptoms of stress and strategies of manage stress at university. When student was overwhelmed by stress, it can show by physical. Pain may normal in our life but sometime it is because of stress, even though we may not realize it, such as headache, back pain, chest pain and stomach upset, that is the symptoms of stress. Also, long time living with stress can affect health, it may lead to some disease, for instance heart disease, heart palpitations and high blood pressure. One of the symptoms of stress is sleep problems, it can affect student frequent forgetfulness or decreased productivity at exam, also, long time cannot get enough sleep that can cause decreased immunity. (Mayo Clinic staff,2009) Moreover, stress can bring about mental problem. There are some symptoms is about emotion was affected by stress. When student live under pressure, they may always feel anger and they will arguing with their friends or loves one by little provocation or no reason. Stress also can make student feel lonely or isolated, they may trigger crying jags, sometimes seemingly without warning, even they may cry for little things unrelated to their stress. Furthermore, too much stress to take, it will make student avoid the problems, feel hopeless or simply give up and chronic stress can develop to depression or anxiety disorders. They may think negativity when they can’t cope with stress. As they are automatically expect the worst or magnify the negative aspects of any undesirable situation. (Mayo Clinic staff, 2010) There are many strategies to cope of stress, here will provide two methods to help student cope well with stress. First, when you can’t avoid a stress situation, try to change it that may involve change the way of communicate and operate in the daily life. Student may feel resentment sometimes, some of them will endure it but it is not a good way to deal the stress. When student depressive their emotion in a long term, it may develop to mental illness. The better method is expressing their feelings and finds the best way of communication. If does not to convey the feelings, the discontented situation will likely remain the same. Something we have to be willing to compromise. When we hope others to change the treatment to ourselves, others are expecting the same things. For example, if both sides quarrel over something, they can mutually making a compromise and that can peaceful to solve the problem. Manage time better also can help to reduce pressure, as poor time management can cause time to be disperse and influence to study. Smith, Jaffe-Gill amp; Segal, 2008) Make a daily schedule, from social events to assignments to housework, and selective the quality things to do, it better is effective and don’t forget to set aside time for rest. In addition, some source of stress is unavoidable and unable to change, the best way is learn how to accept. Life has too many things under the control such as death, disease and behaviour of others. Student may focus on something can control by themselves, like reaction of the problem and try to face it positive. There are many challenge is a part of development, perhaps we may fault in the process, try to learn from mistake and improve the defect. Also, share the experience with someone can trust until overcome by stress. Even it does not have any realistic action, at least it can release negative emotion. The world is not perfect, everyone can make a mistake and that is a fact student need to accept, so learn to forgive, life will be easier. Negative mood can cause student make a wrong decision and injury the spirits by themselves, therefore let go of the negative energy that is the best way to go on of life. Smith, Jaffe-Gill amp; Segal, 2008) In conclusion, stress is deeply affecting our life, no one can avoid it. It is affect to physical and mental and it can lead to health problem. Therefore, manage stress is very important. Try to alter the situation and accept the things can’t change, even if something out of our expectation, try to face it be optimistic. Student also can do so me exercise to relax themselves. Although this essay only is written two forms of stress and strategies, students will get these problems normally. Reference list Morrow, A. R. N. 2009, Stress  Definition, viewed June 18, http://dying. bout. com/od/glossary/g/stress. htm Mayo Clinic staff, 2009, Stress symptoms: Effects on your body, feelings and behavior, viewed Feb, 20, mayoclinic. com/health/stress-symptoms/SR00008_D Mayo Clinic staff, 2010, Stress management: Reexamine your stress reactions, viewed July 23, mayoclinic. com/health/stress-management/SR00032 Smith, M. M. A. Jaffe-Gill, E. M. A. amp; Segal, R. M. A. 2008, Stress Management How to Reduce, prevent, and Cope with Stress, viewed December, helpguide. org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping. htm#authors

DNA repair mechanisms role in survival to nucleoside analogues Thesis

DNA repair mechanisms role in survival to nucleoside analogues treatment in S.pombe - Thesis Example Two methods of treatment where this is especially important to consider are topoisomerase inhibitors and nucleoside analogues. In both of these cases, DNA repair systems involve the use of the Mre11/Rad50/NBS1 complex. This project aims to examine how DNA repair mechanisms of Schizosaccharomyces pombe contribute to resistance to treatment with nucleoside analogues. This information should help to provide further insight into the way in which human cells are able to develop resistance to this form of treatment, and perhaps provide some indication of a method to prevent this. In everyday life, cells are exposed to external and internal agents that cause thousands of DNA mutations per day. These mutations range from being small, such as affecting a single nucleotide, to large mutations where accurate repair can be difficult. For the accurate propagation of the genetic information within cells, it is essential that the body has mechanisms of repairing damage in a reliable manner. However, while many methods for DNA repair exist, these are not always successful and mutations can accumulate, resulting in the development of cancer (Helleday et al., 2007). Understanding these processes, why they occur the way that they do and what can be done to influence these is crucial for knowing the way that cancer occurs, and determining methods of treating it effectively. In our modern society, cancer has remained one of the most well studied diseases and perhaps one of the least understood. The fundamental aspects of cancer are damage in the DNA of a cell that results in a lack of control over cell growth and replication, as well reducing the likelihood that cells will enter apoptosis. These cells are able to proliferate well beyond the normal constraints of the tissue that they are in (Loeb et al., 2003). With high levels of replication and low cell death, abnormal cells build up

Reflective Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

Reflective Paper - Essay Example The biographical study approach was leveraged in the effort to analyze the entrepreneurship process from the point of view of Spreckels’ life as an immigrant and the evolution of his business enterprises. There are three steps to the method. The first step relates to the analysis of the family and ethnicity of Spreckels. The second step relates to the evolution of his business interests. The third step relates to how his immigrant status shaped his business life (Spiekermann 1-21). The article is well-written and makes use of the biographical study in a very structured fashion. It is informative and allows the reader to glean insights into the entrepreneurship process in general and its demonstration in the life and times of Spreckels (Spiekermann 1-21). The paper details the results of a case study involving the introduction of information technology into Fairfield University, detailing those aspects of the introduction relating to impacts on management and on the economic considerations relating to the acquisition and rollout of a vital pieces of IT, including computing hardware and networking infrastructure. Those two aspects, management impacts from the perspective of faculty use and economic considerations relating to the demand for the IT resources relative to supply and adequacy of the computing investments. The findings include that such exercises require extensive planning, and can be justified from the point of view of learning and efficiency improvements that offset the costs of the investments in IT (Tellis). The researcher detailed the study methodology within the paper in straightforward fashion, and that methodology had four steps. One is the design of the case study. Two is the undertaking of the case study itself. Three is the analysis of the data. Four is the derivation of conclusions and implications, and the crafting of recommendations for next steps (Tellis). The paper relied

Dehydration - Research paper and PowerPoint Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dehydration - and PowerPoint - Research Paper Example Dehydration requires immediate therapy via rehydrating the body with fluids and also treating the underlying cause. It can be tested for by a physical examination which reveals features like sunken eyes and an increased heart rate and also via laboratory tests which include complete blood count, blood urea nitrogen and creatinine. This condition must be dealt with immediately as it can prove to be fatal in severe cases. â€Å"Dehydration describes a state of negative fluid balance that may be caused by numerous disease entities. Diarrheal illnesses are the most common etiologies. Worldwide, dehydration secondary to diarrheal illness is the leading cause of infant and child mortality.† (Huang H., Anchala K.R., Ellsbury D.L. & George C.S. 2009). Water is an essential component of life and it is a vital part of existence of living matter. Proper hydration of the human body is extremely essential for carrying out the normal bodily activities. Water in the human body is divided into proper compartments which chiefly include the intracellular fluid and the extracellular fluid. This extracellular volume comprises principally of fluid between the cells and the fluid that lies with the vascular compartment. Equilibrium between the water that is taken in and the water that is lost from the human body is very important. Water is lost from the body in the form of urine, feces, breathing and by the proce ss of evaporation. This loss needs to be compensated for. The body performs its mechanisms which include hormonal stimulation and nervous signals which stimulate the thirst center and also the renal function of re-absorption of water is brought into action. This leads to the maintenance of balance between water taken in and lost. Any imbalance in this normal equilibrium can result in the condition which is known as dehydration. Dehydration is the state of the body in which there is decreased amount of

Recent human resource development analysis

Recent human resource development analysis Accompanied with the increasingly recognized facts that people, together with their knowledge and skill sets, are becoming the underpinning and sustainable drivers of the Companies competitive advantages, the strategic importance of the human resource development (Hereafter as HDR) has merited growing attention from a wide variety of the practitioners and scholars from different organizations and institutions. In many successful learning organizations, which advocated learning and development at workplace, have refashioned their training schemes and put HDR on their top priorities as the primary management tool. According to Bratton and Gold (2003), the HDR has been closely intertwined and interacted to such issues as performance management, organizational improvement, and become the core of the companies strategies. The rest of the paper is divided into two sections. In the first part, the theoretical perspectives of the contemporary HRD will be briefed and compared. Those factors that significantly reshaped the emergence of strategic approaches are discussed as well. The second part mainly endeavors to go further deep by analyzing the practicality of those theoretical perspectives, examining how they reflect themselves in real business environment. The Russells Ltd is selected for the case-study, the companys main problems may get sorted and feasible HDR solutions are offered. Definition of human resource development As the discipline of the HRD is still development and changing, it is impossible to deliver a precise and static definition of the HDR. Among all the researchers, McLean and McLean (2001), give relatively objective description of the HDR. It is any process or activity that, either initially or over the long term, has the potential to develop adults work-based knowledge, expertise, productivity and satisfaction, whether for personal or group gain or for the benefit of an organization, community, nation of ultimately the whole humanity. According to Tseng and McLean (2008), the substance of HDR consists of three core professional and practical issues, learning, performance, and change. In the recent decades, there have been wide scales of changes that occurred and affected the HDR conception and practices. Some of them have larger significance relative to others and are covered in this paper. The recent human resource development The rapid evolution in the technical advancement, together with the globalization of the markets, and the fast growth of the worldwide economies is provoking the dynamism of the global markets, making customers expectations fast changing and highly unpredictable. Against this backdrop, it requires more inputs and efforts from organizations to maintain their competitive edges over their rivalries. (Johnson et al, 2008). The change management starts to catch the spotlight of many organizations and institutions, and the norm, that learning is the only option for companies to remain flexible and responsive to changes emerged. (Bratton and Gold, 2003) At his moment, the HDR is recognized as the creative tool that builds the learning environment, supportive and advocating, helping the individuals in the organizations foster learning oriented mind-set and making sure they have the right skills in working in the changing environment. (Noel and Dennehy, 1991) Garavan et al (2000) specified that there are three major theoretical perspectives on the contemporary human resource development. The first one is capabilities-driven HRD, under which, the people within the organizations are perceived as the source of the firms competitive advantages. HRD in this context is seen as the tool that endeavors to make sure these organizational capabilities are delivered smoothly and freely, and therefore, the organizational performance could be improved as a result. (Garavan et al, 2000). However, this perspective is subject to several limitations. First of all, it fails to capture the reality that the capabilities possessed by the people may be unstructured and could not be used directly to facilitate the organizational growth. Another limitation of this perspective is the assumption that the organizations have clearly measured goals, which are consistent and less changing. However, in the real business, the goals are both changing and ambiguous. Theref ore, the task of HRD is to develop a wide range of skills and capabilities. In spite of these limitations, Luoma (2000) still insisted that the strategic HRD is the most effective approach to synchronize the workforce development with the organizational capabilities, ensuring that the learning and training could help the organizations meet their development goals. The second perspective on contemporary HRD, according to Garavan et al (2000), is connected to the employee-employer relationship and expectations. The role of HRD in the second perspective is all about managing and re-shaping the psychological contract binding between the employees and their organizations. Harrison (2002) specified that the psychological contract contains the feelings and attitudes of the employees toward their employers based on the level of satisfaction of their needs and rights desired. Such HDR is in particular, important and present during the corporate reconstructuring, in which the employee commitment, loyalty and flexibility become essential. (Bratton and Gold, 2003) As an impaired psychological contract could demolish the employees loyalty, commitment, motives and thus, performance level at the workplace, it is important to successfully and smoothly manage such relationship and expectations. (DelCampo, 2007) However, the task is not easy as it is difficult to capture and measure the implicit relationship, as the expectations are both vague and fast changing. Pate et al (2003) indicated that the impacts of the psychological contract violation are contextual, reinforcing the difficulty in managing the employees expectations. Hiltrop (1996) proposes that the reward schemes should be re-designed carefully if the organizations attempt to re-shape and reinforce the psychological contracts, and enhance the employees loyalty and commitment. The performance of the employees should be monitored continuously and contributions recognized fairly. On the other hand, the systematic and effective training should be provided equally to employees within the organizations, allowing them to develop their skills, knowledge, and to take on more challenging but rewarding tasks. However, even with the full implementation of the schemes suggested by Hiltrop (1996) and other researchers, it is still inevitable to avoid employee losses, the reducing level of commitment and loyalty due to the intensifying talent war and growing competition unless the organization is large and competitive enough. Garavan (2000) terms such phenomenon as economical disadvantages with respect to psychological contracts. The third perspective on contemporary HRD is centered on two parts, organizational learning and learning organization. (Garavan, 2000) This approach is developed from the recognition of the first approach. According to Swart et al (2005) the acknowledgement that the people, together with their skills and knowledge, constitute the sources of the firms competitive advantages urges the organizations to invest in the organizational learning. Compared to the first perspective, the third perspective simply shifts the focus from the simple, unstructured training interventions to learning and development throughout the organization, which is more systematic and organized. (CIPD, 2008) According to Bratton and Gold (2003), the major difference between organizational learning and learning organization is the different objectives set and perceived by the organizations. The former is more biased to the achieve the growth through the learning schemes while the later focus on the development of th e training schemes rather than the growth in the terms of other indicators, usually monetary. Thus, the organizational learning is more about the establishment of the accurate objectives of the organizations, which could facilitate the firms to design the training schemes more specially, while on the other hand, the organizational learning uses more accommodative and wide variety of training schemes. It creates a no-blame approach, using every mistake made as opportunities to learn. (Megginson et al, 1999) Compared to the organizational learning, the learning organization focus more on learning and regard the knowledge creation as a source of the organizations competitive advantages. In a nutshell, all the three perspectives on HRD are not isolated but connected to each other. It is worth mentioning that the study of the HRD should as a result, conducted from the multiple perspectives. It is also recognized that the HRD is becoming more and more strategically important. The major aspects and elements of the strategic HRD will be presented in the following section. Strategic human resource development The strategic human resource development (SHRD) mainly concerns the creation of the learning organization that facilitates learning and development at all levels of the organization, enabling the organizations to improve their performance and attain their competitive advantages. The development of the SHRD should be put in line with the design of the overall corporate strategies. (Bratton and Gold, 2003) According to Wognum (2001), there are three steps to align the SHRD with the development of the overall corporate strategy. Firstly, we have to identify and spot the weakness of the organizations, together with the problems and bottlenecks encountered at the organizational level. Secondly, investigating all the issues separately and assess the potential implications of potential HRD solutions. Finally, implement the HRD solutions properly, making sure the problems could be solved and development achieved with the support of the learning and development. In 1991, Garavan recognizes 9 primary characteristics of SHRD. They are listed as follow: 1. Integration with organizational missions and goals HRD should be put at priority of the strategy setting process of the organizations to ensure it can fit into the business planning smoothly. 2. Top management support the effectiveness could only be achieved if the top management give sufficient attention. 3. Environmental scanning in designing the HRD solutions, the environmental factors, both inside the organizations and outside should be considered. It is necessary for the organizations to carry out detail environmental scanning at the early stage of HRD design. (McCracken and Wallace, 2000) 4. HRD plans and policies in order to fully unleash its strategic implications, the plans and policies should be formulated for HRD, and get incorporated into the overall business strategies and planning. (Garavan, 1991) 5. Line manager commitment and involvement line managers participation and commitment are as important as the involvement of the top management regarding the implementation of SHRD. HRD specialist should design particular schemes that facilitate the involvement of the line managers. However, such proposal faces criticisms. The major limitation is that HRD specialist concerned more about the strategic level planning while line managers focus on the operational level. As a result, the partnership, which is more interactive and bilateral, between HRD specialist and line managers should be established. (Wognum and Lam, 2000) 6. Existence of complementary HRM activities the association between HRM and HRD activities should be aligned as well. ODonnel and Garavan (1997) recognized the importance of the integration between the HRD policies and plans with all other HRM process, including recruitment, appraisal, and rewards. 7. Expanded trainer role the trainer should be given more responsibilities in designing the training schemes as they are closely connected to the employees of different levels. Their roles are more strategic than used to be. 8. Recognition of culture the HRD should be planted as part of the culture of the organizations, becoming the values of the organizations that drive the firms growth and sustainability. 9. Emphasis on evaluation the evaluation of the implications of HRD is an indispensable part of the SHRD. Although the 9 characteristics introduced above seem straightforward and clear-cut, it is difficult task to achieve them all in the real business context. Bratton and Gold (2003) also implied that the SHRD did not merit enough attention in most of the organizations in U.K. The top management only cares about the aspects that have the most direct impacts on the corporations profitability, such as raw material costs and GA expenses. In 2000, McCracken and Wallace tried to reshape the definition of the SHRD and modify the 9 characteristics, making them more proactive. They defined the SHRD as the creation of learning culture, both responding to the corporate strategy and being able to influence it. To put it simply, it is still a long bumpy road for the HRD to become strategic in the management and development of the organizations. One of the key barriers is that the SHRD planning is highly contextual. However, it is insisted that the most effective HRD could be strategic, relevant and unique in any case. It can bring the corporations unique advantages, which are not matched by their counterparts and most importantly, more sustainable than those generated from other corporate strategies. Human resource development in practice As it is difficult to compare the theoretical perspectives without applying them to different real business scenarios, this paper will use the case study of Russells Ltd to illustrate the key aspects of the various perspectives regarding HRD. The major problems and setbacks faced by the organization will be introduced at beginning and the HRD solutions will be given accordingly. Moreover, the people in the organizations responsible for different process of the HRD will be identified and their roles explained as well. Crucial HRD problems in Russells Ltd Russells Ltd is a multinational manufacturing company, of which the business covers a wide range of sectors. The company is going through its tough period as it finds itself hard to maintain its leadership position within the industry. Due to the highly intensified industry environment and the vast changes the organizations have been experienced, the company has decided to sack a huge number of employees, from 2000 works nowadays to less than 800 people in ten years. The negative impacts on the psychological contracts between the employees and the organization will be, definitely impaired as the sense of insecurity among employees and their decreasing trusts with the company starts to dominate within the company. Secondly, to improve the departments effectiveness, Russells Ltd has agreed to use the matrix structure, promoting the project-based working structure. As a result, the company is galloping through a turbulent environment and has to undertake some changes at all level of the organizations. To minimize the negative impacts regarding its HR management, the company has hired some experts at this area and the emphasis is about the training and development that can help improve the employee performance. Thirdly, as the psychological contract becomes weakened, any inappropriate action may further stoke the tensions. Therefore, it is necessary to rebuild the employee commitment as well as enhance their loyalty and flexibility. Moreover, as the company shifts its structure of matrix, project-based nature, it is necessary to develop the multi-skills and fast adaptive employees to make sure the overall performance of the organization will benefit from the structural change. However, it seems that the company failed to align the HRD strategy with the overall corporate strategy. To conclude, the key areas for improvement and solutions needed for HRD include: help the organization manage change through learning and development, improve the performance at all levels of the organization, re-gain the commitment, loyalty and trust from the employees, better align the HRD with the corporate strategy. Solutions for HRD strategy in Russells According to Noel and Dennehy (1991), the organizational reconstructuring provides the opportunity for the companies to improve their HRD strategies and therefore facilitate the companies strategic re-formulation. Russells Ltd is striving to become the company, with its competitive advantages coming from its learning organization, which advocates continuous improvement and constant innovation. As a result, when designing the HRD strategies for Russells Ltd, several issues should be accounted for. Change management As mentioned earlier, the Russells Ltd decided to shift its structure to matrix. This type of structure has both its advantages and pitfalls and HRD specialists should have good understanding of both. First of all, the matrix structure allows a good exchange of ideas from different corners of the organizations and therefore allows better knowledge interaction and integration alongside different organizational departments. (Johnson et al, 2006) However, the overwhelmingly huge information flows may also bring in some confusion. Decisions-making will take more time and the employees may feel ambiguous about their tasks and responsibilities. Therefore, to help smooth the structural change, the communication between the employees and the organizations should be reinforced. At this time, the employees may want to know the process of the restructuring and the downsizing, and also how these changes may impact their work. (Hiltrop, 1996) Organizational visions and objectives should be direct ly channeled to the employees at different levels of the organization. However, it is inevitable to have some resistance from the employees. In this context, the employee empowerment could be used to minimize the friction between the employees and the organization. Performance management The needs of the development at both individual and organizational levels should be specified accurately in order to promote the organizational performance. The performance improvement could only be achieved if the performance appraisal (PA) accurately reflects the development targets and needs required by the performance improvement. The well-designed PA could motivate the employees to learn and develop continuously and to take more challenging but rewarding tasks. (Swart et al, 2005) Moreover, PA represents an opportunity for the management to communicate with the employees from different levels and sectors of the organization. They can together discuss their performance, capabilities, and potential areas for improvement and development. (Bratton and Gold, 2003) Such interaction also facilitates the company in revamping its psychological contracts with the employees, rebuilding their commitment and regaining their trust and loyalty. Through this discussion, the employee involvement is a very important topic that requires the consideration from the HRD specialists. As employees are more aware of the areas that need improvement that the company is, to encourage the employees to participate in the discussion about the PA is very essential. They are not only to listen from the management but should have their own suggestions and opinions. They should have a say in the decision making process. (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2006) This can make employees feel they are the owners of the company. Therefore, the performance management and performance appraisal provides the organization an opportunity to align the organizational goals with employee performance and development. The line managers should work closely with the HRD specialists to identify the key areas for improvement and design the training schemes. (Harrison, 2002) In the longer term, the organization should be able to have its own talent management team, which is able to spot the potential weakness and select the most effective training solutions to improve the employees performances. In the end, it will be expected that the organization itself will have the ability to evolve and improve, a type of learning organization described earlier in this paper. Moreover, it is important to have the schemes that develop the multi-skills employees to make sure the effectiveness of the individuals will not be impaired due to the change of the organizational structure. The project-based nature will also raise the concern for better team communication, which requires a wide range of social and communication skills. (Stwart et al, 2005) Psychological contract As we have discussed before, the employees commitment, trust, as well as their trust with the company may recover during the process of the performance management. However, it still needs extra efforts in rebuilding the relationship between the company and employees. Those who survive during the redundancy should be mentored carefully to make sure they will remain productive. Hiltrop (1996) proposed that the reward system should be refashioned in order to revamp the companys images among employees. In this case, only continuous improvement and learning will be rewarded. Strategic HRD alignment In order to fully carry out the strategic function of HRD, the Russells Ltd should account for the 9 characteristics of SHRD proposed by Garavan (1991). As the organization is attempting to rebuild its leadership position and maintain its competitive advantage through consistent innovation, the learning organization should be built and reward system should be modified carefully to provide incentives for being creative and innovative. It is very essential to form an organizational learning system as Russells Ltd is operating in a very competitive industry. Suggested by McCracken and Wallace (2000), the PESTEL and SWOT analysis have to be applied by both senior and HRD managers. Moreover, as one of the 9 characteristics of SHRD it is necessary to gain the support from both top management and line managers at Russells Ltd. As the HRM department has achieved good results during the past, therefore, it could be assumed there would be little friction from the management and the line manage rs could commit to the changes proposed. However, in order to be more strategic, the HRD should consider more issues surrounding the changing environment. First of all, the role played by trainers should be re-defined. At Russells, the trainers are not just delivering lectures to the employees or design relevant training program, but instead, the facilitators and consultants of the organizational changes. (ODonnell and Garavan, 1997) Secondly and most importantly, it should be recognized that the organizational transformation may have an impact with greater significance on the organizational culture. The shift to the matrix structure, together with the downsizing may possibly create an atmosphere full of uncertainty and anxiety. As a result, the employees are not able to concentrate in routine work and be resistant to the changes. HRD should attempt to minimize the impacts on the employees and take its best try to form the learning culture. Finally, the HRD should be monitored consistently and any variance should be investi gated and any change necessary should be taken. As a result, there is great possibility that Russells Ltd could manage to carry out its change smoothly in making HRD strategic. However, it should be emphasized that although HRD could be given strategic importance, their functions may vary across different industries and companies. There is no single best HRD strategy. (Biswajeet, 2003) The key players in implementing HRD strategy The design of the efficient HRD strategy is just the beginning of the HRD management. The success of the HRD strategy requires the managers to clearly understand the goals of the HRS strategy and effectively incorporate it into daily management practices. (Hiltrop, 1996) At this case, the key players in implementing HRD strategy would be line managers at Russells Ltd. However, a survey conducted by CIPD (2004) disclosed that a large proportion of line managers are reluctant to take on more responsibilities about learning and development, which are the key to achieve the pre-determined organizational goals. The solution proposed by Wognum and Lam (2000) is to give more authority to line managers over the HRD planning. It is not enough to let line managers participate in the implementation stage. Such employee empowerment may offer more incentives and motives to line managers in pro-actively playing its roles during the HRD strategy implementation process. Moreover, it is recognized by CIPD (2004) that the role of line managers is very important as they are the person who holds the performance appraisal meetings. Therefore, it is necessary to organize training for line managers in carrying out performance appraisals more effectively and smoothly. The skills to monitor, motivate and mentor are equivalently important for line managers if they are going to use more accommodative performance appraisals schemes. (Swart et al, 2005). Conclusion To sum up, although there have been researches describing the importance of HRD, its essence is still under-recognized and there are limited association between the HRD and corporations strategic planning. As the on-going evolution of the HRD and the companies commitment to continuous learning, it will not be far that HRD gains the attention as much as subjects like cost management, marketing do. In this paper, three theoretical perspectives of the HRD are introduced. They are capabilities-driven HRD, the psychological contract, and the organizational learning and learning organization. It is worth mentioning that there is a tendency that all three perspectives are equally important and could not be exercised separately. In the second part of the paper, the Russells Ltd is examined to fully understand how different HRD perspectives could work to offer the company better solutions regarding HRM.

The Chosen Essay -- Essays Papers

The Chosen The Chosen, a fiction novel written in 1967 by Chaim Potok, is about two young Jewish boys and their friendship. It takes us along with them on their journey from adolescence to adulthood. They face many conflicts, and through those trials the author makes his readers think more deeply into life’s true meanings. The novel was set in New York during the Second World War. Since the main characters are Jews, this period of time is very significant. Not only were the Jews persecuted during WWII, but New York was also close to a military base, which made it a prime target for bombing. Even the setting has an underlying sense of tension. One of the protagonists in The Chosen is Reuven Malter. Reuven is an orthodox Jewish boy. He is a very smart and diligent student. His father, David Malter raises Reuven alone in Brooklyn, New York as his mother has already passed away. Reuven has glasses, brown hair and eyes, and dresses in the typical orthodox manner. A plain boy, he has a bright mind and a very caring soul. The other protagonist in the novel is Danny Saunders. Danny is the son of a very devoted Hasidic Jewish tzaddik. However, Danny is not a very enthusiastic Hasid. He has earlocks, grows a beard, and wears the traditional Hasidic outfit, but he doesn't have the reverence for it that he should. Danny is a genius. His religion forbids him to read literature from the outside world, so he struggles with his thirst for knowledge and the restraints that have been put on him by both his father and his religion. He lives with his father, mother, older sister, and younger brother in Brooklyn as well. The first antagonist is Danny. He and Reuven had many difficulties. They resolve their problems in the course of the book, but at the beginning they hate each other. Their religious views are also very opposite. Once they overcome their differences, they become best friends. Reb Saunders is the second antagonist. A Hasidic tzaddik, he led his people into freedom in America. Reb has strange ideas on raising Danny. He believes that silence will teach Danny compassion and give him an understanding for pain. He does not talk to his son about anything but the Talmud. Loving and respecting each other immensely, Reb and Danny just never get a chance to express their feelings with one another. Reb holds Danny back and do... ...alizes that he can’t expect to keep such a genius in the cage. Reb finds out about Danny’s plans for the future, and although they contradict the way he would have wanted Danny to continue with his life, he agrees to let Danny decide for himself. Satisfied as a father, Reb says, â€Å"†¦I had to make certain his soul would be the soul of a tzaddik no matter what he did with his life.† Once Reb has given his son freedom, Danny remains faithful to his religion and, although he is not as devout, goes out into the world. Throughout this novel, there is an underlying force of prejudice. The two different Jewish sects are prejudiced against one another. Alongside, WWII also has a lot of prejudices locked up in it. The Zionist and anti-Zionist movements were prejudiced toward each other and many of these examples are found in the novel. Reuven Malter narrated The Chosen. This gives it a youthful perspective. It is very descriptive. Potok used many detailed vocabulary words to communicate his point. A lot of figurative language helps develop analogies and insights, as well. The Chosen is a very insightful novel about the Jewish culture and the trials that come with growing up. The Chosen Essay -- Essays Papers The Chosen The Chosen, a fiction novel written in 1967 by Chaim Potok, is about two young Jewish boys and their friendship. It takes us along with them on their journey from adolescence to adulthood. They face many conflicts, and through those trials the author makes his readers think more deeply into life’s true meanings. The novel was set in New York during the Second World War. Since the main characters are Jews, this period of time is very significant. Not only were the Jews persecuted during WWII, but New York was also close to a military base, which made it a prime target for bombing. Even the setting has an underlying sense of tension. One of the protagonists in The Chosen is Reuven Malter. Reuven is an orthodox Jewish boy. He is a very smart and diligent student. His father, David Malter raises Reuven alone in Brooklyn, New York as his mother has already passed away. Reuven has glasses, brown hair and eyes, and dresses in the typical orthodox manner. A plain boy, he has a bright mind and a very caring soul. The other protagonist in the novel is Danny Saunders. Danny is the son of a very devoted Hasidic Jewish tzaddik. However, Danny is not a very enthusiastic Hasid. He has earlocks, grows a beard, and wears the traditional Hasidic outfit, but he doesn't have the reverence for it that he should. Danny is a genius. His religion forbids him to read literature from the outside world, so he struggles with his thirst for knowledge and the restraints that have been put on him by both his father and his religion. He lives with his father, mother, older sister, and younger brother in Brooklyn as well. The first antagonist is Danny. He and Reuven had many difficulties. They resolve their problems in the course of the book, but at the beginning they hate each other. Their religious views are also very opposite. Once they overcome their differences, they become best friends. Reb Saunders is the second antagonist. A Hasidic tzaddik, he led his people into freedom in America. Reb has strange ideas on raising Danny. He believes that silence will teach Danny compassion and give him an understanding for pain. He does not talk to his son about anything but the Talmud. Loving and respecting each other immensely, Reb and Danny just never get a chance to express their feelings with one another. Reb holds Danny back and do... ...alizes that he can’t expect to keep such a genius in the cage. Reb finds out about Danny’s plans for the future, and although they contradict the way he would have wanted Danny to continue with his life, he agrees to let Danny decide for himself. Satisfied as a father, Reb says, â€Å"†¦I had to make certain his soul would be the soul of a tzaddik no matter what he did with his life.† Once Reb has given his son freedom, Danny remains faithful to his religion and, although he is not as devout, goes out into the world. Throughout this novel, there is an underlying force of prejudice. The two different Jewish sects are prejudiced against one another. Alongside, WWII also has a lot of prejudices locked up in it. The Zionist and anti-Zionist movements were prejudiced toward each other and many of these examples are found in the novel. Reuven Malter narrated The Chosen. This gives it a youthful perspective. It is very descriptive. Potok used many detailed vocabulary words to communicate his point. A lot of figurative language helps develop analogies and insights, as well. The Chosen is a very insightful novel about the Jewish culture and the trials that come with growing up.

Educational Aspiration of Primary School Child Essay

The topic Educational aspirations of rural India deals with studying the aspirations of the rural children and trying to focus on the various factors that affect the aspirations of the children in some way or the other. Five of us had gone to five different states in India with the aim of studying the aspirations of the rural children of that region and then trying to find out the factors that really contribute towards them. The reason for selecting this particular topic was that we were given a choice of our own to explore any field we want. We were all interested in knowing more about the rural youths and their aspirations. To try to know what is the difference between the kids from a rural India and since we some of us had lived and had our education in rural India we wanted to go back and explore the changes that have come in the society if any. Our curiousness towards the education system and to know where the future of India sees itself made us choose this topic. Initially we all were thinking individually on the topic but once we knew about our similar interest, we tried coming up with a topic in the field that excites us all and finally we chose this topic. Also one more reason for choosing this topic was that few of us were going to really backward states and some of us were going to the states with the best educational services. So in a way we were getting the opportunity to study across states and come up with our findings of the reasons of particular aspirations in particular regions and how these are affected in different societies. The topic in our view holds quite an importance in today’s time as learning about the primary kids of the rural India gives us a glimpse into what the future might hold in for them and also for the nation. Since children of today are the future of tomorrow so knowing their aspirations, factors affecting them can certainly help in making changes that can lead the society and the nation towards a better future. The five of us had gone to five different states namely Bihar, Odisha, Haryana, Kerala and Uttarakhand. The comparative study in the later part of the report talks about the status of primary education across these states along with the factors affecting them. 2. OBJECTIVES * To develop an understanding of the educational aspirations of the primary level children in rural India. * Trying to understand the various factors that play an important role in affecting the aspirations of the primary level children. * To do the comparative analysis across 5 different states under a common platform and identify common issues and problems. 3. STATUS OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN INDIA Education is important not only for the growth of an individual but also for the nation as a whole. Primary education has been the foundation on which the development of every individual as well as the nation depends. But making primary education available to everyone has been a major issue and along with this making quality primary education available has all been more problematic for the state. But in the past few years, India has shown tremendous growth in the literacy levels and achievements in providing successfully education to all at the primary level. Various govt. schemes are being implemented in different states that have resulted in providing assistance as well as incentives to the children to come to school and study. Right of children to free and compulsory education bill was passed in 2008. Special schemes for the underprivileged sections of the society are being implemented. 3. 1 Govt. schemes Different govt. schemes are being implemented in various states across India at the primary level. Some of them are: * Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS): MDMS is a scheme that was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in 1995. This programme ensures provision of cooked mid day meal to children studying at elementary level at govt. , local body or govt. aided schools. * Cycle distribution: Another scheme in Bihar where a cycle is distributed to the children†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. * Scholarships for EWS: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. * SSA: Sarva Siksha Abhiyan meaning education for all is another one of the many govt. schemes that aims at providing education to all. This program aims to universalize elementary education by community ownership of the school system. This program also provides an opportunity for improving human capabilities to all children. * Education Guarantee Scheme: This is one of the components of SSA aimed at providing education to the children. 3. 2 Literacy level The literacy level has been on a rise in India with the latest census report stating the literacy rate of our country to be 68% in 2007. This is a substantial increase from 12% at the time of independence and is commendable since the population is also growing at an abrupt pace. Among the Indian states Kerala holds the highest literacy level where Bihar is the lowest. This also accounted for an interesting study as these were the 2 of 5 states being covered. The adult literacy rate was 66% in 2007 whereas the youth literacy rate was 82% in 2001. 4. METHOD OF STUDY * Structured and unstructured interviews: One of the techniques used by us for getting information was structured and unstructured interviews. Many a times, going with questionnaires in our hands raised doubts in the minds of the people, so to avoid that we started with informal chats and then went on with the topic. * Questionnaires: Questionnaires were a means of getting information especially from the primary teachers and the village level authorities. Household interviews were also conducted based on the questionnaires. * Emoticon analysis: For the children of primary level it is many a time difficult to ask questions and get the answers. Also they identify more easily with the visual aids rather than talking, so for a part of our questions to the primary children, we had a set of emoticons for them and they had to choose the answer based on the emoticons. These emoticons basically expressed their feelings and moods at different points of time. * FGDs: FGDs were conducted among teachers so that we can come to know their view points on the current education system and the factors affecting the level of primary education. * Observations: Also observing was one of our main methods of studying about the village and also what the kids do in the school during their breaks and the classes. 5. CHALLENGES FACED There were many challenges faced by us during the work we were carrying out on the theme paper. Many a times the teachers were suspicious as to why we are doing this work and why do we want to know about them and the education there from the kids? Initially most of our time went in explaining our field work objectives and our reasons to be there. Getting information from the kids was one major challenging task as most of them were very shy and it really took great effort to get things out of them and that too correct information. Also a major challenge faced was that many lower caste families who didn’t send their children to primary schools showed no interest in talking on this topic to us. It was hard for us to convince them to talk to us. Language was one more challenge that was faced especially in Odisha. Few of the people in Uttarakhand too, especially women talked in the local Jaunsar language that made things difficult to interpret. 6. STATEWISE DATA All of us had gone to different states viz. Bihar, Odisha, Haryana, Kerala and Uttarakhand. Following is a brief description of the villages that we had gone to along with some of the information about our villages and the level of primary education there, along with the factors affecting them in our respective villages. The comparative analysis across states shows the factors affecting the aspirations of the primary level children and how they differ in different societies. 6. 1 BIHAR Literacy rate of Bihar: 47. 53% Literacy rate of Samastipur: 45. 76% Male: 57. 83%. Female: 32. 69% Educational programmes going in Bihar: 1). Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) 2). National programme for Education of Girls at Primary Level (NPEGEL) 3). Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) 4). School Sanitation and Hygiene Education Programme (SSHE) Literacy rate of Muhammadpur Kowari village: 42% Population of Muhammadpur Kowari village: 11,500 Income sources: Agriculture Laborer Business Rickshaw pulling Government and private service. Income level: Annual income ranged from Rs. 20,000 – 1, 50,000 per annum of the respondents. Education Infrastructure: 1) Anganwadis- 11 in no. 2) Government School- 5 in no. Primary-4 Middle- 1 High– Nil 3) Private School- 1 ( upto class 8) 4) LSC runned by AKRSP-22 Village had eleven Anganwadi centres which would impart learning to toddlers and preschoolers. There were five government primary schools out of which one was upgraded to the middle school. In addition to this there was one private school in village upto class 8th. For higher studies students had to go to Tajpur for class eighth upwards. Apart from this there were private schools at Pusa Road and Tajpur where students of better off families used to study. Muslim families preferred Madarasa education for their children in adjoining village Shahpur Baghauni. One can also find coaching centres mushrooming in and around the village where unemployed college graduates were taking classes and also private tuitions. We came to know that this mushrooming was due to ‘Haushla Afjaaayi Sceme’ of state government who would reward students promoted from class ninth to tenth and those who passed tenth board examination with first division marks. Parent would supplement government school education with private tuitions (Rs.50-100 per student) and coaching for class eighth upwards. But this was not the case for poor who had higher dropout rates. Regarding this the role of AKRSP is worthwhile to mention that it ran Learning and Support Centre (LSC) in minority and dalit tolas which imparted free education at nominal fee of Rs. 10 per child per month for two hours in the morning at 22 centres. It was not considered as substitute for schools rather a complement to emphasize role and awareness regarding education. It attracted students from muslim community and dalits who could not afford high cost otherwise. Here education was more fun rather than drudgery unlike government schools. 6. 1. 1 Factors affecting primary education: a). Parents- Parents attitude and perception regarding the education determines the education and aspiration of children. This attitude and perception in turn is decided by the education of the parents, environment they live in, earnings, some past experiences and interest in child development. Muhammadpur Kowari village had 58% muslim population and 42% hindus of lower castes and their education level and income was very low. Mostly worked as farmers, laborers, and rickshaw pullers and migrated to other states and cities as land holding was less while family size was quite large. So they had a pressure to earn from the very beginning and hardly anyone was matriculate except few. Given the constraints they could not afford good education or think big and were reluctant as many had daughters to marry. Though fathers were not so optimistic regarding education of the child but mothers were very conscious and enthusiastic. Mostly the reply came they don’t want their children to suffer hardships as they had and education was the way to end misery by getting better jobs and lifestyle. Migrant workers that returned on Chhath and BakrId had exposure to outside world and emphasized the need of education and it was evident in their family. However there existed a disparity between spending on education of male and female child in financially sound or medium families whereas there was slight or no difference in poor families as both sexes went to same school and no access to tuitions or coachings or private school. The difference was owing to notion that male child would support family while girls are a liability. b). Teachers- Their qualification, training, apathy, absenteeism or engagement in other works( e. g. election duty, vaccination drives etc. ) proves to be a deciding factor in shaping the minds and thus aspirations of the children. The differentiation on basis of caste, religion or gender has very deleterious effect emotionally and psychologically. Such children develop low self esteem, unwantedness and develop bitterness. In this village when the teachers were interviewed regarding this topic they agreed the lack of staff s (4 teachers were for a middle school upto 8th standard) and hampering of studies due to other official works. Also, the teachers arrived late for the duty and could be seen chatting on the verandah and had no concerns what was going inside the classroom. The lack of trained teachers was felt as para teachers appointed to take classes were not qualified enough to take classes off higher standards. In 2 schools it was found that more than 1 class was going on in a single classroom and in 1 school had 2 rooms only so the classes were conducted under a thatched roof. It was common in many schools the student of class 6 had less learning what would have been otherwise obvious for class 4 reasons being the quality of teaching in government school. An incident was there when a teacher was asked in an informal conversation about aforesaid e. g. he told parents would come and quarrel that my child knows less than the ‘Y’ child and create nuisance so they had to pass all. As a result of this child would fare badly in high classes. Moreover the mismanagement of funds in midday meal scheme was brought in a notice in panchayat meeting. In another example when an Anganwadi staff was asked about the afternoon meal offered at anganwadi she told that out of Rs. 10,000 allocated Rs. 6000 would be shared among officer issuing the fund and the rest would serve the purpose naturally the quality will decline. c). Students- When the students were interviewed along with emoticons it was a real fun for them. However it was tried best to interview them post school so in front of teachers they would hesitate and could not express freely. Female students were interviewed in school only because of the conservative nature of the households and they used to come from far places. In schools as well as at LSCs the performance of girls was better than that of boys. The students had interest and had better result in mathematics but had poor performance in language paper. According to the survey it s because of 2 reasons- teaching was boring and teacher was usually absent, secondly many students had been taught in urdu at home and thus had difficulty in writing in hindi. When boys were asked about being absent from school they gave following reasons- going to relatives house ( as it was a festival time), helping father in fields( sowing time for tobacco and cauliflower), no teaching in school as many teachers were either absent or had taken leave after the election duty. Also, there were boys who came to school but did not attend classes as their peers were playing. However girls had a different reason as some of them had to look after their younger brother or sister while her mother went to work in fields while some of them accompanied their parents to pusa road market to sell vegetables. But surprisingly the attendance, interest and performance of the students were better at LSC because it incorporated rhymes, playthings, drawing and games period and more dynamic teachers. LSC had meeting with parents once a month, emphasized on curricular activities as well. It had organized ‘Bal Sabha’ (parent’s day) on 19th November which was a new experience for kids and more fun. d). School infrastructure- The debilitated conditions of government schools with leaky roofs, lack of drinking water and toilets is a discouraging factor for girl child enrollment and also absenteeism. Lack of teaching aids, text books, sports articles makes teaching learning process a monotonous act so a child tries different ways to escape school. Also, bullying by other boys or fear of corporeal punishment by teachers is a major cause of dropouts and absenteeism in these schools. All these were common in the village and absenteeism was more in rainy season as school had lessrooms or was leaky. One can imagine the scene of two classes commencing in a single room and learning of child in this environment. Moreover if there were any marriages around it was a practice to stay Baraat in the school so unofficially it was a kin of holiday. e). Economic condition of family- This factor was found to be the most important factor along with parent’s attitude and perception during the village stay. Now here are 4 cases- firstly the family was poor and wanted the child to continue study, secondly they wanted child to earn or assist in fields or do other works for livelihood, thirdly family was well off and could afford education and fourthly they wanted them to look after agriculture as land holding and agricultural income was more so they felt there is no need to study. It has been discussed in detail in parents section. f). Societal culture – It describes how the society affects parents and children thinking and feeling about education and what they aspire to become in future. At Muhammadpur Kowari the villagers were involved in agriculture and labor works mainly and were either illiterate or had very less formal education so they were less informed. They viewed education as a way to overcome poverty by seeking jobs such as teaching, police, army, government service etc. So any successful example of anyone getting such jobs was looked with respect and younger generation wanted to emulate his success. On the other hand many of the views that every educated man does not gets the government job so there is no use to study and wanted their child to engage in works. Another kind of thought that emerged was to seek benefit of schemes by enrolling child to school or to engage naughty children for few hours or the meal served in the afternoon at school. Many dalits had bitter experience of discrimination in the past and viewed education and ‘aspirations’ as privilege of upper class and caste and it would make no difference to their conditions. Muslims send their children to madarsa for education and by 14 years of age they dropped out to learn some tailoring or masonry works to earn bread and butter. Very few muslim households send their children to school and those belonging to Sheikhs and business class had tutors for their children. Home tutors were available for girl child because of parda system they were not going outside the village to study and after 8th standard they dropped out. However it was a matter of surprise that these girls when interviewed were happier and had no desire to study further and it had developed in their society as upper limit of girl education.. One more observation was that muslim family had no issues in sending their girl child to LSCs run by AKRSP because it was nearby or in their locality and mostly the female teachers were in that centres. Hence concern for security and parda system was guiding the aspirations. 6. 2 ODISHA Village:Badampada Block:Kaptipada District:Mayurbhanj State: Odisha 6. 2. 1 Village:Badampada: -The village Badampada is 60 kms from Baripada, the district head quarter of Mayurbhanj. It is around 8 km away from block head quarter, kaptipada. The place I visited is coming under tribal belt of Mayurbhanj. The Similipal reserve forest is near to our village. since the area is surrounded by the dense forest, people are more involved into NTFP collection from the jungle. Since the forest cover is depleting day by day, more people are diverted towards agriculture. Besides agriculture, some people depend on livestock. A very few people are salaried and a small fraction of the villagers are businessmen. The literacy rate of Orissa is 63. 08% (2001 census), while the literacy rate of the district is 52. 43%. The literacy rate of the district is not par with the state, because the tribe constitute 57. 67% of the total population of the state. Since there was very less tribal family in our village, literacy rate of the village is more than that of district i. e 60%. The various schemes are implemented by the state govt to attract the children to the school. The children in the primary school are provided Mid Day meal . The students are also text books, free of cost through District Primary Education Programme (DPEP). To improve the female literacy rate, the state Govt is providing school uniform to girls in the primary school. TheState govt. declared Rs 500 cr for Sarva Siksha Abhijan scheme . There is a primary school in the village, badampada which caters to the need of nearby villages like vaisnab sahi,Dhumkheta ,sisodia etc. Among them Vaisnab Sahi is the tribal dominated village. 6. 2. 2 Factors Affecting aspiration of the Children of Primary School * Parents- School students in the village are enthusiastic about education; however, parents are not very supportive. Most parents seem to think education as a meaningless practice without any real benefit. Most people in the village are from the working class, they force their children to help them in their work. I found major difference between Odiya and tribal families. While parents of Odiya family are very much enthusiastic to send their children to school, the case is opposite is in tribal families. * Teachers-The teachers play a vital role in the primary education. The teachers in the village show very little interest towards the education . I came to know, some teachers are involved in parallel business during school time. They do not work for the entire duration of their duty period and go home early. Another trick used by teachers is periodic presence by teachers (at a particular time one teacher remains present, while may be the remaining one is absent) . I am reliably informed that the school Head master was caught while stealing eggs which were provide for Mid day meal . * School Infrastructure- There is two class rooms and one office room in the primary school. So multiple classes are going on in one class room. The situation inside the class room is very much chaotic. It is very difficult on the part of the teacher to handle the multiple classes at a time. I have observed number children moving outside the classroom during school time. The teacher student ratio is 38 in the school. The school children are not getting books at the right time. No audio visual aid is provided to the school. * Economic status – The parents of the well off family send their children to English Medium School at Kaptipada. Due to poor economic status of the tribal household, they can’t afford the other facilities to their children during festival period; there is high absenteeism in the school in case of tribal students. Since they are not provided with any amusement in their home, they attend the fair without going to school. Some children help their household working in others firm to meet the day to day household consumption. * Societal Culture- Children imbibes from the society, surrounding them. Since, the parents are not much aware about the benefit of the education; they don’t motivate their children to attend the school. They are in favour of instant income. Children leave school in early age to earn money in tribal family. 6. 3 HARYANA Village : Gundiani Block : Mustafabad Tehsil : Jaghadhari District : Yamuna Nagar 6. 3. 1 Village: Gundiani: – A small village of population 494, located about 4 km away from a small town called Mustafabad, connected via road and rail routes. According to my fieldwork stay , village seems to be prosperous and it was supported by government data of BPL family number which was eight only out of total 68 households. Major income generating source of villagers is agriculture and apparently few villagers do have some business and services options as well which they have chosen over agriculture, even there are some instances of villagers going abroad for earning livelihood. Hence as the sources of income was varied so the income level was also have a varied range of about one lakh to 60 lakh per annum. Infrastructures related to education available in village boundaries were a government primary school, however within a 3 km radius of village one government higher secondary school, three private schools were located and school buses of 3-4 prominent private schools of which one include Delhi Public School, ply to the village for picking students. Literacy rate of Haryana is 67. 91 % ( 2006 data ), and that of the Yamuna nagar district is 72. 20 % ( 2006 data ) while that of village Gundiani was found to be 68. 81% ( 2010 data collected by Kamal & Sandeep). Well irrespective of all these infrastructure the literacy level of village was on not a brighter side as compared to overall state literacy level and on the lower side as compared to that of district. This can be attributed to the previous generation literacy as the thinking of previous generation was that they need to do agriculture only, so there is no need of education for that, hence this thinking pulled down the overall literacy level to lower side. 6. 3. 2 Factors affecting aspiration of primary school children: * Parents: They play the most important role as home is the building stone of the child’s life and in the home the family i. e parents play a vital role in aspiring the child for education. Educational qualification of parents is a major factor which shapes the thinking of parents towards education and future of their child. In village Gundiani, although the literacy level was low but still parents were conscious enough about education of their child. But they were not aware of future aspects and where to get this information. Parents just see other children from the village and their society and hence understand the importance of education and hence inspire high for the children. * Teachers: At primary level teachers influence the most the future of a child as they mold the mind of a child and hence inspire the actions of child towards life and education as well. In village Gundiani, in government primary school there were only two teachers and they were taking enough pain to work towards better future of students. They used to educated students regarding what they have to face in future if they don’t study well and always used to give examples of various other people from their village only so that children can easily relate them and can learn easily the importance of education. While in the private schools in nearby areas it was not so as the teachers employed by majority of schools were not well qualified, they were there to just teach from text books and were helping the children to understand the importance of education. But still the parents tend to send their child to a private school, the main reason behind this was that admitting your child to private school was seen as a status symbol in the village, and even few poor people used to send their child just to develop their status. Hence we can say that the teachers play a vital role developing the aspirations of a child at primary level. * School Infrastructure: This is one of the vital components affecting the aspiration of children and their perception towards education. In the village Gundiani the government school was having two class rooms and one room for mid day meal scheme meal preparation. There were six standards in the school but there were only two class rooms in each of which three consecutive standards were taught by teachers side by side. While in case of nearby private schools each standard was taught in different class room and enough teachers were available but the qualification of teachers was questionable to some extent. In the class rooms teaching aid were available in case of government schools while in some of the few private schools they were thinking of incorporating it. * Economic Status: Economic status of family matters a lot in case of the education provided to the child and hence in direct proportion affects the inspirations of the child as well parents towards education. As the family income largely determines the chances of a child getting education and its quality depending upon the schools to which children are sent. Apart from the school the outside school education and facilities provided by parents according to their economic status like availing school bus so that child can go to far off better school and also time wastage in traveling can be minimized, availing private tuitions, better text books. Also better economic status of parents give a high confidence level to the child and in turn all the above factors highly influence the inspirations of child as well that of parents towards education of their child. * Societal culture: This section basically include the society and culture the village which highly affect the thinking of parents, teachers and in the end that of child. In society parents see the other children and then compare their child with others and hence try that their child also progress up to some benchmark set by them. Also availability of few role models in the village like few villagers have migrated to other big cities due to jobs and a few migrated foreign which proved to be role models for the parents of other children and hence they also wanted their child to prosper in life and get up to those positions. For this the parents were clearly aware that their child needs to be sent to school. Hence the societal cultures of the village influence significantly the inspiration of the parents in in turn that of the child. 6. 4 KERALA It is possible to say that the state of Kerala has a unique position in the education map of India with a literacy rate of 90. 92%. This rate is the highest in India according to 2001 census. Out of which literacy rate of men and women accounts to 94. 2% and 87. 86% respectively. Kerala became the first state in India to declare full literacy in one district called Ernakulam (1990). With the support of central government, government of Kerala launched a number of programmes in education sector. One of such programmes is â€Å"Akshara Keralam† introduced in 1991. It was aimed at bringing maximum number of illiterates to schools and other study centres. Apart from all these NGO interventions on education are also there in rural and backward areas of Kerala. In April1991 Kerala was declared as fully literate state by NLM (As per the norms of NLM, a literacy rate above 90 % shall be treated as complete literacy). Kerala topped the Education Development Index (EDI) among 21 major states in India in year 2006-2007. A report by NLM in 2007 states that Mizoram surpassed Kerala in literacy rate. SSA is also running well in Kerala. CDS, Trivandrum is monitoring the activities of SSA in Kerala. Kerala has made major achievements in school enrolment at the primary level and in preventing drop outs. Education providers in Kerala include both government and private parties. The percentage of private aided schools is considerably high. Government schools constitute 33% of total schools in Kerala. Education in these schools is completely free. Government aided private schools and fully private owned schools accounts to 45% and 22% respectively. Number of primary schools in Kerala is 6712(2551-govt, 4003-aided private, 158-unaided private) Education accounts for more than one third of the total revenue expenditure of the state. The per capita expenditure on education is the second highest among states in India. 6. 4. 1 Idukki District Profile Idukki is the high range district of Kerala. It is famous for its Mountainous Hills and Spices. This district occupies 13% of the area of Kerala. It can be said that for Keralites Idukki, means power generation also. About 66% of the state’s power needs come from the Hydroelectric Power Projects in Idukki. 88. 58% of the district population is literate. Male literacy rate (92%) is much higher compared to female literacy rate (85%). 6. 4. 2 Karunapuram Village Profile Karunapuram village comes under Udumbanchola taluka of Idukki and Nedumkandam block. It has a population of 26033 according to 2001 census. The major source of income is agriculture and allied activities. The literacy rate of this village is 87%. 40 Anganwadis are there. 6. 4. 3 Factors affecting the educational aspirations and their role in Karunapuram * Parents: -.

Motivation Essays

Motivation Essays Motivation Essay Motivation Essay In todays highly aggressive business environment, international air passenger transport Is known as one of the most competitive sectors which demands finest of service towards customers. In delivering a high quality service, it is required to have a well-equipped staff force with an unmatchable caring factor and experience. Its evident to satisfy a big ask, comes a great deal of stress. In order to evade these subjects, Motivation plays a huge role. This case study elaborate the difficulties airline, its staff and the passengers faces. 1. Pieta Andorra, being employed in a traditional hierarchy organization, higher management expects him to be self-motivated and to pass this motivation down to his staff. As pieta receives negative or no comments from the management, he will be denominated and In turn his and his teams performance will decline. As his contribution not being recognized, it will lead him to consider other opportunities. As the airline sector is aggressive, other airline s will make a lucrative offer which he will be forced to accept as motivation declines further in the long run. Airline will have a boost In ticket sales due to their overbooking strategy In the short term. Other hand, the management will see an increase in customer complaints as quality of staff service has deteriorated. As more complaints arises and news of staff leaving the airline spreads, dissatisfied customers will shift to other airlines which will affect the three Kepis of this organization. Customers will experience a negative change In service which will lead to dissatisfaction. As the over booked situation becomes regular frequent flyers will look for alternative airlines. In the long run, credibility of the airline will decrease as the loyalty of the customers. 2. Failure to recognize staff requirements and having no means of proper communication with Its employees, high staff turnover Is Inevitable. To train new recruits to be as professionals costs and takes time. This will not only cost the airline financially but also its reputation and loyalty of customers. Positive personality, attitude and motivation are the three key areas which defines stress of an individual. Communication can play a vital role In achieving the above and its cost effective and makes a big difference on employees. Without contact with the management staff test denominated. In other words, they feel unwanted. This directly influence on employees personality and brings negative attitude towards the airline. This can be easily avoided by having regular Interactions with your subordinates and providing encouragement. 3. 0 Content theory and Process theory are two divisions of motivation. Content motivational theory includes Masons theory, two factor theory and Miscellanys theory of needs and Process motivational theory derives from expectancy theory, equity theory, Goal setting theory and reinforcement theory. Masons theory divided he individual needs into five levels which are physiological, security, belongingness, esteem and self-actualization needs. Correct communication can achieve all the needs which Is lacking from the airline. Two factor theory, Intrinsic and extrinsic, Intrinsic which states that people tend to relate achievement, responsibility and recognition to job satisfaction and extrinsic which explains factors like remuneration, 1 OFF providing more responsibility accordingly will boost motivation of staff and in turn make the airline profitable. McClellan theory of needs divided an individuals need s for achievements, for power and for affiliation. People tend to perform more when the Job responsibility increase and motivation increases. As high staff turnover was common, to motivate its employees, limiting new recruits and increasing Job responsibility to a certain limit suffice. In process motivational theories, expectancy theory states that employees will be more motivated when they expect good Job appraisal like bonuses, increasing salaries and promotion. Equity theory is concerned with productivity, turnover rates and absenteeism. Employees who perceive that their inputs and efforts, experiences towards the Job are not equivalent to the output like salaries , promotions and recognition they tend to be less motivated and in result they will produce less or the turnover rates increase. Goal-setting theory explains that defined, specific and hard goals lead to higher productivity levels. Reinforcement theory considers the contrast of the goal setting theory as it concerns with the quality and the quantity of the Job itself and considers the behavior as environmental factor. For individuals as Pieta Andorra, who has the natural desire to service people and sonnet need external motivation, McClellan theory could be applicable for this category as their needs for achieving the best outcomes (more satisfied customers) will motivate them to do his Job; in addition expectancy theory will be suitable for Pieta does not need any responsibility. For staff who are motivated with external rewards, expectancy theory will be more applicable as more appraisals they expects to get to do a certain task the more they will be more motivated to do his Job. Senior managers can adopt equity theory which is based on the organizational Justice, where employees will be motivated when they feel that the organization rewards to its employers equally according to their efforts and experiences. 4. The Airline has focused on high margins and customer satisfaction but they have not focused on Job satisfaction of employees which ultimately effects the above two factors. According to the best fit approach of HRS, the organization strategies and HRS strategies must be aligned. Therefore, HRS department of the given company should focus on staff motivation in order to retain the employees and achieve the company Laos. Airline has failed to provide this environment. Lack of communication between the employees and management have created disputes in the company. Senior management should communicate with the staff to identify the operational problems in the organization. They should provide support and guidance or necessary trainings to handle the operational problems. Communication will be helpful to identify intrinsic employees and provide a better environment for them to perform and identify extrinsic employees and appraise them in a better way.

Ethics in Action

Ethics in Action Ethics plays an important role in our decision-making process, be it individually or collectively in an organizational context. Ethics deals with knowing what is wrong and what is right. Thus, it involves analyzing ethical decisions, beliefs, and actors inline with different activities. Recognizing the risks of poor decision-making can prevent ethical issues that arise in our daily life or career.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Ethics in Action specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In this light, this paper focuses on the attributes of poor decision making, how to resist unethical acts, and the essential components of ethical leadership. Decision-making entails reducing uncertainty about many alternatives, which allows the decision maker to make the best choice. However, several people are not good in decision-making as they believe, and the few who set goals do not achieve them. According to Mallor et al (2010), the thr ee common characteristics of poor decision-making are failing to remember objectives, overconfidence, and complexity of issues. It is easy for people to set goals and not achieve anything. The reason is that they set them, but do not do anything to make sure that their activities do not deviate from the set goals. After setting the goals, managers fail to remember them on daily basis and thus, they make no progress. Similarly, overconfidence causes people to overvalue their knowledge and underestimate the risks in decision-making. Many decision makers think that if they are able to accomplish their goals before without much effort, then they are too confident that they will achieve them without working hard or considering other alternatives. Complexity of issues is another cause of poor decision-making. As the issues become more complex, it is not easy to come up with meaningful and best solutions. There is a possibility of ignoring some important issues and considering the simple a nd less important ones.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Resisting suggestions to act unethically is helpful in avoiding the causes of poor decision-making. First, finding mentors and peer support group is essential in resisting unethical acts. Individuals in these groups will be able to share information that relates to their work, and discuss on many matters such as the code of ethics. Second, the team members can forward their concern to the authority about any unethical matters. Individuals should work with the firm to stop unethical behavior where they report such matters to the top management. Lastly, recognition of unethical requests and people is important in this sense. When team members are taught on how to deal with unethical issues in their daily activities, they will be able to tell between both ethical and unethical issues (Mallor et al., 2010). In thi s regard, there are many ways to act ethically as a leader in an organization. First, the leader should put the organizations interest first. This means that the leader should listen to the other team members and more so give them more power in decision making. In other words, he should leave his ego and his self-interest behind and do what is best for the firm. A good leader should implement ways in which those who are under him can question his authority just in case he acts unethically. Additionally, participative decision-making is the best rather than autocratic leadership because the other group members will be able to give more information and thus, it is easy to make decisions. The group members will have a feel of ownership in making decisions and more so in areas that affect them and thus, become more productive. Gaylord et al (2009) suggests that a leader must also strive to become interpersonally competent. He should learn to understand more on body language and facial e xpressions, which could have many meanings. Communication and good listening skills are also important because the leader can understand the team members better. However, before trying to understand others, he should first have self-understanding. In conclusion, ethical consideration takes an important part in decision-making. Understanding and avoiding the major characteristics of poor decision-making, including failing to remember goals, overconfidence, and complexity of issues provides an avenue for solving ethical problems.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Ethics in Action specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As a leader, it is therefore important to find help from support groups, work with organization, and recognize suspicious activities in order to resist unethical acts. Finally, a good leader must first consider organization’s interest, apply participative decision-making, and practice interpersonal compet ency to lead ethically. References Gaylord, A., Jentsz, Miller, R. L., Rank B. C. (2009). Business Law: Text and Summarized Cases: Legal, Ethical, Global and E-Commerce Environment. Cengage Learning. New York. Mallor, J.P., Barnes, A.J., Bowers, T., Langvardt, A.W. (2010). Business Law: The Ethical, Global, And Ecommerce Environment (14th ed.). New York: Irwin/McGraw Hill.

Comparing And Contrasting Two Selected Learning Environment Venues Essay

Comparing And Contrasting Two Selected Learning Environment Venues - Essay Example Furthermore, by comparing the campus to a joint "information space" where we are gratis to roam and "interoperate" at will, we underline the role that proprietary limits have played in making online learning a outlying, cramped, and sensitively "flat" skill (A. Kay and A. Goldberg,2002, 31-41). The famous instructive developers regard this supple platform as the base for a next-generation online learning environment, one that is really further multi-dimensional than the management system paradigm. Any approach to online education that carry on restrict itself to the discharge of content alone ignores all the penetration and surface of campus life, the length of by the social and joint nature of learning. Of the three broad aspire of higher education- 3) Growth of an intentional, or independent, approach to life-long learning present online learning environments are moderately successful in organization only the first, most transactional of goals. In this respect, they have failed to give a "port of entry" into theoretical consideration for students who learn most excellent by doing and during straight interactions with their peers (C. Dede, 2004). The mainstream of these "virtual universities" futile as commercial ventures mainly since they accessible their register of online courses as a feasible alternative rather than a addition to conservative campus instruction. Considerably, these "virtual campuses" transfer to the online empire only those real-world campus practices that necessary the least technical complexity to duplicate e.g. course management and lecture-style, one-to-many lessons techniques. By contrast, the Education environmental factors are worried with raising a next-generation technical environment that encourages educational novelty rather than easy duplication of managerial practices and release of pre-packaged satisfied. Among other reason, such environment platform would proffer educational researchers with an open-source "collaboratory" in which to build, split, apply and assess transformative instruction practices, counting research in simulation-based learning, all inside a unrelenting and immersive so cial circumstance (C. Levi-Strauss. 2005). College Study Environment What is it concerning the college campus that makes it dissimilar from further spaces One meaning of a campus is the open space among and approximately the buildings, but as the experts suggest, the word has forever alluded to the type of human interactions that take place there. These connections, taken jointly, make up what is recognized as "campus life." Housing, protect, and preserve the finest that is recognized and deliberation in the world, the campus buildings and grounds provide a sense of pushiness and permanence to a student's knowledge over time (Covey, S. R. 1989). How much of a position does campus life play in effectual