Studying in Group at High School in Beijing: a Survey

Studying in group at high school in Beijing: A survey LV YUJIA Louisa Student Number: 09010022 Name of the Lecturer: Edwin Baak Date: 12/26/2011 Renda B 09 Acknowledgements Thanks for my friends Zhao Shanshan and Hu Surui helping finish the research questionnaire to students. I am very grateful to teacher Mr. Baak to his useful guidance to write this paper. Table of Contents Abstract†¦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‚¬ ¦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‚¬ ¦. 3 1. Introduction†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦. 5 1. Background†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. â € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 5 2. Statement of the problem†¦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‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 1. Review of the literature†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 2. Design and measurement used†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 10 3. Results†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 11 4. Discussions†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦.. 12 5. Conclusions †¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 13 6. Recommendations†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 14 1. Research recommendations†¦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‚¬ ¦.. †¦.. †¦14 2. Issued-related recommendations†¦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‚¬ ¦. 14 References†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦15 Appendix A†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 17 The Abstract: Nowadays, with the speeding up of world economy, the world is becoming smaller and smaller, so that the competition among people from different ountries is becoming fierce, which is the motivation to promote people to study hard so as to survive in the competitive world. People always try to find the suitable study methods to upgrade the effectiveness. Either studying in a group or studying alone is the better way has caused public debate. Some people hold that there is no denying that studying in a group exerts positive impact on many aspects. First and foremost, studying in a group, the principal methods in many schools, is beneficial to mutual understanding, which will enhance students’ communication abilities.Besides, the efficiency of solving problems will definitely be improved, for they can get he lp from partners. Last but not least, Student can study well when he is studying with a group of students because he can get good ideas from others which he don't know and more over he will not feel bore while he is studying. If he got any doubts while studying, he can clarify the doubts immediately. Other people strongly claim that there are many students who have got great achievements by studying alone insisting that independent study is feasible and more effective. To put it another way, one can study without any disturbance.While studying alone he can't get good ideas. If he got any doubt, it cannot be clarify by his own. Then it will be time waste for him. For example, while he is studying alone if the subject is not interest to him, his mind may get divert from the subject and concentration will be lost. First, I will go to the school to do a survey about study in the class. Second, the questionnaire topic is probably about do you think study in group? And, which way is bette r for you? Is studying in group or studying alone? Third, I would ask some questions to some parents and teachers.Key word: good way to study, group study, study alone, high school, distance education, one-on-one tutoring 1. Introduction 1. Background In the 21st century, most of the family has an only child out of the police in china. Such a child is an apple in the eyes in a family. It is every parent's desire to give their children the best start in life, they would like to search a best way to their children and get a great education. Almost all students were tutored by one-on-one. And some students have an experience of distance learning. At the same time, the traditional educational means confronts a huge challenge.Some parents support their child study alone because of they believe that it is a good way to concentrate on his or her study. Currently there has been a fierce debate over whether students should go to school study in group or study alone at home. Views on the hot issue vary greatly. Advocates of studying alone hold the benefits of students are well documented. Students who study at home by themselves are often described as more confident, independent and worldly wise than schools’ student counterpart. Because of they need to independently read more books and webpage to look for more information.Moreover, there are many ways to acquire knowledge, such as distance learning, one-on-one class and soon on. Students can choose a good way to study according to different situation. Worst of all, reports are often heard that some students committed suicide or murdered their roommates. So that, some people choose to study alone and even gave up the opportunity of go to school due to severe pressure from the student will be compare with others. On the other hand, innovative as distance-learning technology may be, it can supersede classrooms altogether. True education should not be confined to the delivery of information.It should involve the cul tivation of effective learning habits, the development of group discussion skills and the encouragement of collaboration as well, which we cannot find in online course. More importantly, campus-based education tend to foster a mentoring partnership between educators and learners while in reality, distance education rarely helps to establish a mentoring relationship between the faculty members and the students, due to the long physical distance. Amid these people who have argued in study ways the high students take up quite large proportion.According to a net of education, at least half of high schools’ students go through tutoring alone. And most students’ parents willing to spent money on study alone. Thus if you want to research the good way to study, you must focus on high school students. There are many reasons to choose the students of high school as respondents. Firstly, students have more experience than other school of basic education. Secondly, there is bitter competition for student. As is well know the college entrance exam is a real challenge to students, students want to do their best to meet the challenge.Thus they will choose a good way to study at any cost. Finally, and above all, the competition is fierce and the nine-hour test is offered just once a year and is the sole determinant for admission to virtually all Chinese colleges and universities. Moreover, the college entrance examination is seen as potentially life-changing. If you enter a university through the exam, your life career and future life will be decide. Everyone attaches great importance to this exam. In recent years, the field of education becomes a hot industry. Meanwhile, more and more problems appear in education.For school study, they always make a ranking and everyone can see the results of other students to see all the students of all grade rankings. This measure will undoubtedly bring them great pressure to study, even affect health and life. We often read the news student suicides of form the news paper. However, student is more confidence who study alone at home. They can get the tutoring which is face-to-face. It is a very good and effective way of learning. But it is not a good way to good communication skills and has team work spirit. 2. Statement of the problem Each one has its own superiority.During the researching course, I try to analyze and study to this problem from different point of view. I research many different questions, such as which ways of study of you like, do you think some problem exist in study in a group, how long you will study at home everyday and soon on. I survey this question due to we need know whether students more efficient who study alone, whether more and more student don’t like study at school, whether there are some problems exist in tradition education, whether study alone is better than studying in a group, whether parent sand teachers of students support to study alone and so on. . Review of literature According to this literature, there are other factors affect students. Its action cannot small inspect. Firstly, it’s important to spend your time productively. Students need to make a clearly plans and schedule, meanwhile, they should to learn the top student has no intrusions on study time. Secondly, every student should seek out a method of learning which is suit to him/her. They cannot copy other people’s ways due to the different level of different students.Finally, if you don’t have any interesting in study and even don’t know why you need to study, you cannot get a high score even if you stand in a good group or have a good tutor. They need improve their skill and have fun. Indeed, study skills are not the most important things. But there are the bases of study. When you finish it, the environment will become more important. To be sure, people are different. Everyone should to choose a way which is adapt to him or her to study. For t his literature, we know that there are main ways to study. One of this is belong to studying in a group and others are belonging to study alone.They are group study, one-on-one tutoring and distance education. Group study is benefit to establish the confidence of students. It can easily build team spirit among classmate. If you are one member of a group, you will be watching by other members in the group. You will have to try harder due to you wanting to more successful and getting the credit for. Moreover, a group likes a piece. Everyone will do their best to help you when your stand in the same group. Solving problem will become easier, because you're not alone, and there is strength in numbers! At the same time, a problem exists in the group.A member of group in charge of a part so that they cannot understand the whole of one topic which is his or her group researched. If you study alone, you need do anything by yourself. It is a better way to acquire new knowledge and research q uestions. The tutoring of one-on-one is benefit to everyone due to the pertinence of student. When you distract to some things, you will not worry didn't hear what the teacher was saying. If you could not compass the simplest problems, you could ask your tutor and do not worries to be laughed by other classmate. And teacher will follow you and choose the best way and important course to you.However, we cannot overlook the disadvantage of this way. First, if you choose tutoring of one-on-one, you will lose the power of activities with other classmates. I maybe feel tired and boring for study alone. Second, it is not easy to find out a textbook to adapt you. Third, you do not know the level of tutoring teacher. You maybe cannot meet a teacher which tutor is suit to you. Distance education has the advantage of low-cost and easy to save time. Students can study on anywhere and any time. Compare with one-on-one tutor is a good way to save money and get pointed comments on study.But it st ill has some problems. First, there are a lot of tutor from 3rd world due to they want to save money. They do not know the system of your country and cannot give you a good idea of study. Moreover, sometimes we cannot meet the on-line tutor to know about teaching level. Lastly, teaching on-line is not a good way to communication with teacher. Because the internet is not very stability, the speed is very slow. Sometimes we will loss some information due to the latency. If you can learning of face-to-face, you can use the body language explain your mind. 3. Design and Measurements usedThere are three kinds of people are relative to this survey. They are parents, teachers and students. Thus, the questionnaire includes three aspect questions to different people. However, the high school students who will accept more in-depth questions as the main respondents. The questionnaire consists mainly of three parts. In the first place, the question is about the basic information of all particip ants. And, the participants will be arranging to different groups according to the basic information. For example, girls and boys will have different choice when they face to some things.If students can choose the school, girls maybe focus on school uniform which school’s is more beautiful and boys will be attracts to excellent sporting facilities. In the second place, the question is about the extant problems and advantage. Such as, what problem you face in study in a group or study alone. This part will be conducive to we find out the problem in the two ways and help us solve current problems more correctly to choose a good way to study. Finally, the investigations are focus on the expectantly things. Such as, which ways you want to add in your study process.We need know which ways of study of people like in further and therefore further research. 4. Result The survey shows that there are seventy percent students choose studying in a group is a good way to study. There are two reasons: Two-thirds of this people gave reason is that they cannot make a good plan and control themselves. One-thirds of this people gave the reason is that they can make new friend and have activities with others. But sixty percent of these persons have experience to study alone by one-on-one tutoring. And nearly ninety people would like to try to study alone in future.Students who support study alone are a good way to study about thirty percent. Most people think that it is a great help for my quick improving the score. However, nine out of ten people claim that it is a method to help study but it is the main way to study. One ninth of the students choose to get the tutor by one-on-on due to they need to be target. A tenth of the students choose the on-line tutoring. They believe that it can save money and easy to control the teaching time. The last part is about the parents and teachers of students. Almost all parents and teachers support study in a group.But they always bel ieve that if their children and students would like to improve the level of student they will to encourage these students. 5. Conclusion My question is that what is better way to study? It can be found there are many ways to study. Firstly, study skills are important whatever you studying in a group or study alone. Secondly, the research show that most people think group study is better to study. Lastly, studying alone only as the assistant study method. However, some students are favor to study alone who are an average student or a poor student.They believe that they can get the effective guidance from the one-on-one tutoring. Other students are support studying in a group who are top student. They claim that it is unnecessary spent to a private teacher. For teachers and parents, they have the same viewpoint. Study alone is a way to help student to improve themselves, but it is not the best way to study. If the student can understand the knowledge in the class, study alone is not n ecessary. 6. Discussion The survey only includes the high school student, and only search the answer form my brother’s class.The class only have 60 members is not enough to a prefect research. For the party of teacher and parents, the research is more imperfection due to small group in search. So the study is no authoritative answer to these questions. And there also have some problem in this research. For example, there have many ways to study, such as, study in a teaching center, study by yourself and soon on. But I only search the study in group. And the way of study alone also has many ways. This paper only aim to a small group who study in high school. Actually, there has a small group study alone now.All in all, the survey has its limitation. [pic] 7. Recommendations 1. Research recommendation Firstly, you need to read a lot of articles what you want to research. Because this can help you gain a main idea of the field. Meanwhile, you will get the different perspectives from different authors. Moreover, making notes is also important to search a problem. Due to we need to understand what the articles say. It is not only to copy it. Next, most information is coming from the Internet which is not regular compare with other academic books. We should go to the library to find information.Lastly but not least, the investigator needs to search from different groups in a particular community and different level. One fields people is different to other fields. 2. Issue-related recommendations First of all, the people should focus on a variety of ways to ask questions. For example, Likert scale guarantees a survey to including the overall aspects of the problem which is very useful. We can ensure that the length of the questionnaire, which respond may a few time. And, there has a easy way to ask questions of the model. Another example is APA style, it is also a good way to sure where the literature.It not only useful to writer to found out more point, but a lso telling the reader where the point from. It is a good way to make you researcher more regular and have authority. References * Brain Stocker: How To Study Alone, August 26, 2008 from http://www. test-preparation. ca/study-center/how-to-study-alone/ * Francois Betim, Reference and Education †¢ Published: December 9, 2008 How to Study Alone and Pass Exams, from * Dr. Bob Kizlik,(1997) Effective Study Skills. How to Study and Make the Most of Your Time September 19, 1997,from http://www. adprima. com/studyout. htm * Wikipedia contributor(2011) Distance education, from http://en. ikipedia. org/wiki/Distance_education * Tutorfi(2009), Benefits of One on One Online Tutoring: Specialized Teaching Methodology. From http://www. tutorfi. com/OnlineTutoringDefined/oneononeonlinetutoring * Merryjazz(2006),The Advantages and Disadvantages of Study Groups, From http://www. studyskillsblog. com/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-study-groups/ * Grace Fleming(2009), Would Group Study Impr ove Your Grades? About. com Guide, from http://homeworktips. about. com/od/homeworkhelp/a/study. htm * Bruno Linhares(2005), Distance education or distance learning, from http://en. wikipedia. rg/wiki/Distance_education * Anton Lebedev(2011), The Disadvantages of Online Tutoring, from http://ezinearticles. com/? The-Disadvantages-of-Online-TutoringHYPERLINK â€Å"http://ezinearticles. com/? The-Disadvantages-of-Online-Tutoring&id=4781285† â€Å"http://ezinearticles. com/? The-Disadvantages-of-Online-Tutoring&id=4781285†³id=4781285 * Guestbook(2001), Group Tutoring vs. One-on-One Tutoring, from http://www. squidoo. com/group-tutoring-vs-one-on-one-tutoring Appendix A Questionnaires What is the better way to study? 1. Tick your gender group. Please choose only one of the following: ?Male ? Female 2. Tick an age group. Please choose only one of the following: ? 16-19 ? 20-23 ? 24-27 ? 28+ If none of these, please state what you think here__________ 3. Please take your grad e in school or your child(or students) in? ?G1-G6 ? G7-G9 ? G10-G11 ? G12 or over 4. Tick where do you study now: ?School ? Home ? Others 5. Tick you get good grades in school: ?Great ? General ? Lower-middle ? Bad If you like you can write you score__________ 6. Do you think the academic environment is important? ?Yes ? No ? Doesn’t matter . Which is better way for you or child? ?Studying in a group ? Studying alone 8. Do you please a tutor of one-on-one? ?Yes ? No ? Never 9. Could you listen attentively and carefully in class? ?Yes ? No ? Most ? less 10. Do you want to study alone? ?Yes ? No 11. Are you always discussed the problem with your classmate? ?Yes ? No ? Sometimes ? Never 12. What would you like to do at home? ?Study ? Play ? Housework ? others 13. Do you think the distance education is a good way to study? ?Yes ? No 14.How many hours did you have for learning everyday? ?1-4hours 4-8hours ? 8hours or over 15. Are you always reviewing your lessons carefully after g oing back home? ?yes ? no ? sometimes 16. Do you have the initiative for learning? ?Active learning ? Can finish ? Can not finish 17. Do you have confident in your ability? ?Yes ? No 18. Do you always attend the discussion in the group? ?Always ? Sometimes ? Never 19. For study, do you to send from your classmate? ?Always ? electric toys ? camera ? other 20. Do you have a good plan for study?

ECO365 Week 2 Simulation Essay

Simulation The supply and demand factors are essential to the work of economics. The use of these demand curves help businesses to maximize profits and the supply curve depicts the best price for the most product. These statistics are shown on a graph, which changes according to the supply and demand in a particular market (Colander, 2010). This simulation is an example of Good life property apartment rental supply and demand. This paper will discuss two microeconomics and two macroeconomics principles or concepts from the simulation. Also it will identify at least one shift of the supply curve and one shift of the demand curve in the simulation. In addition, it will discuss the effects of supply and demand in the workplace. Last, Relating to the simulation, it will explain how the price elasticity of demand affects a consumer’s purchasing and the firm’s pricing strategy. Two microeconomics and two macroeconomics principles Within this simulation are multiple examples of microeconomics and macroeconomics. One example of microeconomics is Good life property raising or lowering its rental rate for the apartments. Because it is a business decision, it falls under microeconomics. Another example is the percentage of inventory that Good Life has allotted for rental of their inventory. Macroeconomics deals more with decisions made higher than the business itself. For example, the increase of income caused by the addition of Lintech, is macroeconomics. Also the government imposing a cap on the monthly rent of 1550 dollars for two-bedroom apartments is a macroeconomic decision. One shift of the supply curve and one shift of the demand curve The supply curve is represented by a gradually increasing line on the graph of the scenario. The line represents the price and quantity for which apartments are purchased. For example, a shift in the supply curve was witnessed when  the new business entered the area. The addition of Lintech working facility prompted more consumers to want apartments. The supply curve moved left to indicate less supply on hand. The downward slope on the graph represents the demand curve. As recently explained, the price and demand are captured on this line. The increase of rent caused the demand curve to shift to the left, indicating a decrease in demand (Colander, 2010). Effects of supply and demand in the workplace In the petroleum industry, the price is relatively elastic. The demand of work from day-to-day is determined by the consumers demand for that product. Some days will require 12 hours of service whereas others will require eight hours of service to complete customer deliveries. With respect to supply, a shortage would negatively affect companies that are already customers. The shortage may increase price temporarily or an increase in the general cost of oil may increase price long term. The idea behind macro and microeconomics help to understand the impact that supply and demand have on the economy. Companies make educated decisions on a products life cycle according to the demand for that item. The equilibrium point (the intersecting point on supply and demand) is best suited for a product or service. How the price elasticity of demand affects a consumer’s purchasing and the firm’s pricing strategy The elasticity of price affects a company’s price tactics and consumer purchasing actions. If a products price changes, customer purchasing habits may rise or fall accordingly (Colander, 2010). If the demand for a particular apartment increases, as seen in the scenario, Good life properties will be able to raise rent rates in order to capitalize on the higher demand. On the other hand, customers may not purchase as much with a higher rent rate. As a result of increased rates, customers may seek alternatives such as conventional homes. This is how price elasticity effects consumer purchasing and the price point set by companies. The price for items or services may be too high which would cripple the potential earnings. A look at the supply and demand charts depicts the best price point. Good life property management have maximized its earnings and optimized its rental rates by using the supply and demand curves. Considering the petroleum industry, supply, and demand directly affect the price. Price elasticity is also a factor to consider when setting  the price for services or products. References Colander, D. C. (2010). Economics (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved April 11, 2013 from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Objective Morality Essay

My purpose in writing this is to argue for the existence of an objective morality based entirely on rational and scientific reasoning. By â€Å"objective morality† I do not simply mean that morality exists in the sense that various societies consider various actions to be immoral. What I mean is that certain actions are inherently right or wrong regardless of what any society thinks about them. In other words, I mean that there is an â€Å"objective morality† which exists independently of human beliefs and human civilization. There are many people who have the opinion that it is not possible to believe in such an objective morality without also believing in concepts such as God or an eternal soul. I believe that they are wrong. I will attempt to show that an objective morality exists and that this morality is the same regardless of which religion, if any, is correct. Many people believe that without a religious framework, the only possible conclusion is that all morality is nothing more than a human construct without any objective existence. In other words, what morality a person or a culture accepts is like picking a favorite flavor of ice cream. Some individuals prefer strawberry ice cream, other individuals prefer chocolate, and no person’s preference is â€Å"more correct† than another’s. In a similar manner, they argue, different individuals and different societies have various favorite moral belief systems, and just as with ice cream, no particular set of moral beliefs is â€Å"more correct† than any other. A common argument for this type of thinking is the following. Throughout history, different cultures have had vastly different moral systems. In fact, on almost any moral issue, it appears that there is absolutely no agreement or consensus shared by even a majority of the cultures throughout history. In addition to this, there appears to be no way to prove the superiority of one moral system over another using logic alone. So the only way in which one moral system can actually be the correct one is if religion is the tie breaker. That is, whichever value system the â€Å"correct religion† advocates is the correct value system. Otherwise, there is no way to decide between them. I believe that this type of argument is easily refuted. In order to argue for the existence of an objective morality, I will have to do more than just point out the flaws in lines of reasoning such as this. I will have to provide my own arguments that an objective morality does exist, and I will have to discuss where this morality â€Å"comes from†. I will also have to explain a process by which we can attempt to determine what it is. This is what I intend to do. I would first, though, like to take some time to point out some of the errors in the reasoning above. There are two points that the argument above makes. The first regards the lack of consensus regarding morality. The second involves the inability to prove the superiority of one moral system over another using logic alone. It is true that throughout history, different cultures have held vastly different beliefs about morality. These cultures have also held vastly different beliefs regarding natural physical laws. Consider, for example, the belief in gravity. Currently, it is believed that the phenomena which we call gravity is the result of the fact that objects with mass cause a curvature in â€Å"space-time†. Under this framework, we believe that a clock located in a high gravitational field will appear to run slower than an identical clock in a region with low gravity. We also believe, under this framework, that the path of something without mass, such as a beam of light, is affected by gravity. This was not always the case. At the beginning of the twentieth century, for example, it was believed that the phenomena of gravity is the result of the fact that all objects with mass exert an attractive force on each other. According to this view, the path of a beam of light should be unaffected by gravity and identical clocks should run at the same speed everywhere. This had not always been the case either. At an earlier time it was believed that the natural place for objects such as rocks was on the ground while the natural place for things like steam was up in the sky. According to this perspective, rocks fell to the ground while steam rose because everything tends to go to its natural place. If we do a more thorough examination, including all the cultures throughout all of history, we will find an even larger variety of opinions regarding the law of gravity. This does not, though, mean that there is no objective law of gravity which exists independently of human society. The beliefs in gravity which I described are attempts by human societies to approximate reality. Clearly, some approximations are better than others. Perhaps the current belief in the curvature of space-time is also incorrect and will later be replaced by an even better approximation. However, most people would have no problem agreeing that the curvature of space-time explanation of gravity is a better approximation to reality than the explanations which came before it. All that this shows is that even though different cultures hold very different beliefs about a certain issue, this does not necessarily imply that there is no objective reality behind these beliefs. The claim which I will be arguing for is that this is the same for morality as it is for gravity. All the moral beliefs which came before us and all the moral beliefs today are, in exactly the same way as in the case of gravity, approximations to the objective reality which exists independently of human beings. Although probably none of these approximations correspond to reality exactly, as with gravity, some approximations are better than others. For example, the value system of a society which condones slavery but condemns cannibalism is incorrect, but it is a better approximation to reality than that of a society which condones both slavery and cannibalism. The claim that no one has yet been able to prove the correctness of a particular moral system through logic alone is also correct. However, if we continue the analogy with gravity, we will realize that no one has also been able to prove the existence of gravity through logic alone either. The reason we believe that a rock will fall to the ground is because that is what we have always observed when we have let go of rocks in the past. There is a little more to it than that, of course, but not much. Our current theory of gravity predicts many specific phenomena. These include rocks falling to the ground, planets orbiting the Sun, the creation of ocean tides by the moon, and identical clocks running at different speeds. The only reason why we do believe in our current theory of gravity is because every time we have observed these phenomena, what we saw corresponded with what the theory predicted. If we were deprived of these observations, we would have no reason to believe in gravity at all. There is no way, using logic alone, that a person can prove the existence of gravity or the superiority of one theory of gravity to another. It is only by using logical reasoning in combination with observation that a person can argue for the existence of gravity. Even then, it is not be possible to do so with total 100% assurance. The fact that the current theory of gravity has always made correct predictions in the past does not guarantee that the theory will give correct predictions tomorrow. What a person can do, though, is to show, by using logical reasoning in combination with observations, that our theory of gravity is most likely true. This is what I intend to do for morality. There are, of course, some differences in arguing for an objective moral law and an objective gravitational law. Perhaps one of the most significant is that it is possible to construct equipment which quantitatively measure the effects of gravity. That is, it is possible to construct a speed detector that tells you that a rock is moving with a velocity of ten meters per second at a certain moment in time. On the other hand, it is not currently possible to construct a morality meter which tells you that a certain action is wrong with an immorality of ten immorality units. Nevertheless, this is an obstacle which I believe can easily be overcome. I will explain the way in which I overcome this obstacle a little bit later. For now, I would just like to point out that the fact that we can not build such a detector does not automatically imply that an objective morality does not exist. It was not that long ago that we were unable to detect or measure the existence of electrons. This, however, does not imply that electrons did not exist in that time period. Electrons (objectively) existed regardless of whether or not we could build devices which detected them. The same, I believe, is true for morality. I have divided my discussion into four parts. The first part is this introduction. In the second part, I attempt to show that it is objectively wrong to torture another person for pleasure, and I discuss where this objective morality â€Å"comes from†. In this second part, I do not deal with something even as mildly complicated as torturing one person to prevent the suffering of another. Since I am trying to show that an objective morality exists independently of human beliefs, just showing that there exists one action which is objectively wrong should be sufficient to demonstrate my position that some objective morality exists. However, just believing that an objective morality exists should not be enough to satisfy anyone’s inquiry into the matter. In part three, I discuss how we can determine what this objective morality says about controversial moral issues. As in the case of gravity, I only claim to have a method to find good approximations to this objective moral law, not to get it exactly right the first time. By spending more time applying this method to a particular moral issue, we will obtain better approximations. I give examples of how this method can be applied to issues such as abortion, war, animal rights, and forcing your morality on others. I also discuss if an action which does not harm anyone can be immoral and if it is ever correct to say that one life is â€Å"worth more† than another. In addition, I give a method for establishing a belief about if another being possesses consciousness, which is useful in attempting to determine if we have an obligation to act morally towards that being. The fourth part is relatively independent of the rest of my discussion. In part four, I briefly discuss other alternative views about the nature and origin of morality. I touch on several topics. I discuss how a belief in God can be reconciled with the position which I advocate and why I think that it is not logically consistent to hold the opinion that a belief in God is necessary in order to believe in an objective morality. I discuss moral systems based on ideas like karma and perfect justice which are often associated with reincarnation. I also discuss a few other views regarding morality and what I think their flaws are. I talk about what I think is wrong with thinking of morality as just a social behavior which evolved to help our survival. I also discuss why I think that it is not possible to successfully base the foundation of a society on self interest or a social contract. I also mention why morality is much more than simply attempting to maximize a certain quantity such as happiness. Nowhere in my presentation do I discuss whether any particular religion is correct or incorrect. I limit my presentation to discussing the development of a belief in an objective morality without appealing to religious teachings. I do, though, show how my position can be reconciled with various religious beliefs. I also show how the definition of morality which I am about to give can be reconciled with the theory of evolution and natural selection. In addition, I discuss if moral beliefs improve in the long run with the passage of time. My definition of the word â€Å"morality† does not correspond to the way in which the word is usually used, but I believe that this definition closely approximates what â€Å"morality† is. In order to better explain my definition, I would first like to give an example of what â€Å"morality† is not. Suppose that a man comes home after shopping for food at a supermarket. When his son sees him, he comments on what good and moral people the owners of the supermarket must be. He remarks that the store owners must have been very kind and generous to give all this food to his family. How do you think that his father will answer? Clearly, the father will answer that the supermarket owners did not give him the food because they were kind or generous people, but because it was in their self interest to do so. Although the store owners might indeed be good and moral people, this action is in no way any indication of this. They did what they did because they believed that the action would profit them, and for no other reason. This action, the father would conclude, says nothing about the morality of the store owners. I will now give my definition. All actions can be placed into one of two categories. Some actions can belong to both of these groups simultaneously. However, all actions must belong to at least one of these categories. The first group consists of all actions which we do out of self interest while not harming others. Simple examples of this are riding a bicycle or watching television. These are activities which we engage in because we believe that these activities will benefit us. If an action belongs exclusively to this category, then it is of the same type as that of the supermarket owners in the previous example, and has nothing to do with morality. The second group consists of two types of behavior. The first type is behavior which either harms or intends to harm others. The second type is behavior which we engage in, not because we believe that it will somehow benefit us in the long run, but because we believe that it will benefit others. This includes any action we do, and any action which we refrain from doing, not for ourselves, but for others. It is with this second group of behaviors with which morality is concerned. Morality, then, is engaging in behavior, not out of self interest, but because it is in the interest of others. This is how I define morality. Many people would argue that altruistic actions belonging to the second group which I described do not exist. That is, they would argue that every action every person does is done out of self interest. If a man gives money to charity, they say, he does so only because he gets a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. If a woman donates blood, it is only because doing so makes her feel good about herself. This line of reasoning claims that all these seemingly benevolent actions are really done out of self interest. That is, people engage in such activities only to get these good internal feelings which they want. I disagree with such thinking. Although it is correct that a woman who gives to charity will probably obtain a warm and fuzzy feeling from doing so, it is incorrect to assume that this is the only reason why she engages in this activity. This is an example of an action which can simultaneously fit both of the groups which I described. That is, this woman may be giving to charity both because she feels good after doing so and because she wants to help others. In this case, so long as it is not done entirely out of self interest, it is still related to morality. Some actions which people engage in fall exclusively into my second category, and could never be explained in terms of self interest. An extreme example of this is when a person, who does not believe in an afterlife, makes a split second decision to give up his life for others, as in a case of a soldier throwing his body on a live hand grenade in order to save his comrades. There is no way to argue that the soldier is doing this because he seeks a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, since he is not going to live long enough to enjoy it. Human beings often attempt to persuade others into behaving a certain way by pointing out that it is in their self interest to do so. A police officer may say, for example, that you shouldn’t steal because there is a good chance that you will go to jail if you do. Similarly, a mother may tell her son that he will be punished if he his found misbehaving. None of this, though, in any way influences anyone to become a moral person. It just tells people how to behave in their own self interest. The only lesson this would impart on the child is that if he wants to avoid punishment, he should not misbehave. This will not prevent him from misbehaving the moment he knows that his parents aren’t watching, or after he grows up and moves out of his parents’ house. Similarly, this type of reasoning will not convince a person not to steal if he finds himself in a situation where the chances of being caught are small or non-existent. Nor is there, based on self interest alone, much reason for police officers, judges, and law makers to not abuse the power of their positions. What religions often do with regards to morality is to argue that it is always in a person’s self interest to behave â€Å"morally†. Some religions teach, for example, that if you engage in murder, rape, or torture, you will go to Hell. Others teach that if you engage in such activities you are going to have a very unfortunate next reincarnation. Others may believe that there is no life after death, but that you will be punished in this life for engaging in improper acts. However, this does not really tell anyone to be a moral person. This, again, just tells people how to behave in their self interest. If a woman refrains from killing other people only because she does not want to go to Hell, or if a man gives to charity only because he does not want to be reincarnated as an insect, then these activities have nothing to do with morality. As in the case of the supermarket owner, these people are just acting in their self interest. A religious person can, of course, be acting morally if he engages in activities for the purpose of benefiting others as well as seeking a reward. It is just that, as with the supermarket owner, although an action may have the side effect of benefiting other people, it is not related to morality if seeking a reward or avoiding a punishment is the only motivation. But then the questions before us are the following. Without making an appeal to religion, why is it that we â€Å"should† behave â€Å"morally†? Why is it that we â€Å"should† engage in activities which benefit others and refrain from activities which harm others? In a situation where which course of action is moral is itself a matter of debate, how is it possible, without using religious concepts, to persuasively argue that a particular answer is in fact the correct one. It is these types of questions which I will attempt to answer.

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Quality Improvement Part 1 Essay Examine three external indicators and how customers use the indicators as part of the Quality Improvement process; finally explain how stakeholder’s feedback is used in the quality Improvement process. Performance Measurement vs. Quality Improvement process â€Å"The primary concern of managers responsible for the operations of hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare delivery organizations is the quality of the non-clinical aspects of care over which they have most control, most visibility†. (Ransom Joshi Nash, 2008. P. 31). Performance measures are an important element of quality management process. Performance measures has the responsibility to directing their effort when change need to be institute. In the healthcare organization performance measures are a tool used to help managers understand and improve quality of care for patients and to develop a better functional programs for the staff. In contrast, Quality Improvement focuses on bridging the gap between current levels of quality. It is a way to be proactive in preventing errors or perhaps respond to near misses and develop a plan where safety is major components to process improvements. In case of medical errors, quality improvement help identify and see what changes can be made to improve or have preventive measures. Quality Improvement and quality Measures assist owners and managers with improving performances and raising performance standards. Norman Clinic Quality Improvement goals Norman Clinic of Physical Therapy is one of the largest hospitals in the state of Ohio. This clinic is about fifty (50) miles from downtown is dedicated to five key of quality measures. Emergency Services, Physical Therapy, Heart Failure, Surgical, pneumonia. This hospital offers a standard service and has earned its reputation in the management of individuals with disturbed functions or impairment related to neuromuscular, musculoskeletal, cardiopulmonary, and integumentary systems. Norman Clinic has specific service in quality improvement process such as reducing the occurrence of ventilation of patients in the ICU and NICU. Role of the Consumer Healthcare consumers play an important role in the quality improvement of Norman Clinic and can impact hospital’s reputation, and feedback received from consumers. During admission, each patient receives a booklet who allows him to understand the mission, the goal, and different realization of the clinic in intensive care. This booklet outlining way patients may become active member of the clinic, include the methods used by healthcare providers to meet patient expectation, reduce risk of infection, improve quality of care, decrease medication errors, increase customers satisfaction as it relates to pain management and post discharge care. External Quality Indicators

A Critical Analysis Of Patriarchy Sociology Essay

A Critical Analysis Of Patriarchy Sociology Essay In the article Patriarchy, the System, Allan Johnson defines patriarchy, and in doing so addresses the common misconceptions and stereotypes that people inaccurately identify with the term. He argues that people tend to generalize and attach the term patriarchy with men, and therefore come to the conclusion that all men are oppressive people.  [1]  Johnson recognizes a pattern in which women feel free to blame men for oppressing them and therefore men take it personally and become defensive. He argues that women will blame men for patriarchy simply because theyre men.  [2]  Johnson also considers the possibility that perhaps people are simply confused, that they cannot distinguish the difference between patriarchy as a system and the individual. He argues that people have to recognize this, and examine larger contexts, in order to solve social problems. Johnson suggests that race, gender and class oppression are not actually oppression, but rather the sum of individual failin gs.  [3]  Johnson argues that in order to solve social problems, these misconceptions must be cleared up. If were ever going to work toward real change, its a confusion well have to clear up.  [4]  Johnson effectively identifies common misconceptions about patriarchy, and convincingly argues that this ignorance and individualist perspective is contributing to problems within society. Allan Johnson goes on to argue that patriarchy is organized around relationships and shared understandings, and he argues that this can limit you to some degree.  [5]  Johnson provides an interesting perspective on how we participate in our social lives. He makes a very good point when he suggests that patriarchy can exist without men being portrayed as the villains. People tend to follow along with what society deems is the norm. This is significant; as it explains why individuals make the decisions that they do, in a larger social context. Johnson further analyzes what patriarchy really means, and explains that it is simply part of our culture, and the symbols and ideas within it. He argues that the make up of patriarchal culture is important to understand because it affects the structure of social life.  [6]  He discusses the possibility that culture enforces gender roles and power positions, therefore shaping and influencing our values. Allan Johnson goes on to say that everyone contributes to patriarchy, the system, whether theyre aware of it or not. We are all involved in patriarchy, but it does not necessarily mean that women are the victims, and men are the oppressors. He explains that who we think we are is closely related to who others think we should be and where we fit in social systems. He sums up his ideas by stating that all men and women are involved in patriarchy because we occupy social positions.  [7]  This further proves his point, that patriarchy cannot be constrained to individuals themselves, as patriarchy is beyond the individual experience. This article studies the concept of patriarchy as a framework. It provides a sociological perspective on social inequalities and attempts to explain why they exist. Johnson convincingly argues that people dont truly understand the origins of patriarchy. He has taken the term patriarchy and uses a sociological approach to uncover what it really is, a social construction or framework. He defines patriarchy in broader social terms and effectively proves that there may be oppressive individuals in society but patriarchy is not the result of all men being oppressive people, it is the result of individuals collectively possessing power. The sociological approach that Johnson uses helps to examine and analyze society as a whole, a structure in which everyone participates in and contributes to. This approach can help to explain why individuals act out certain behaviors in their own social lives. Perhaps people behave in such patriarchal ways because the system has influenced us in such ways. Maybe gender oppression has nothing to do with men being patriarchal, but more to do with how our society has been constructed and how our culture and our ideas about men and women have been shaped within it. Johnson helps us to use our sociological imagination to better understand the problems society currently faces. To conclude, Allan Johnsons article Patriarchy, the System can help us to analyze society in broader social terms in order to understand systems like patriarchy and our participation within these larger systems. Johnsons article helps us to use a sociological perspective to better understand the individual and why things like gender oppression occur. This article is useful, as Johnsons argument could be applied to other social contexts as well. This article allows us to further our knowledge of social constructions and how we participate in them, and therefore how we can change them to improve equality and eliminate the ideas present in our culture that limit us.

Discuss Four Models Of Strategic Change Business Essay

Discuss Four Models Of Strategic Change Business Essay Now-a-days all organizations are facing a variety of challenges caused by change in internal and/or external environment of the organization. Change itself is changing at ever increasing rate resulting in uncertainty and insecurity. For organizations to carry through growth and development stage need to have a proactive approach to strategic change management. There are many theories about how to manage change. John P Kotter, Leadership and change management expert, introduced his eight-step change process which is very successful. According to these steps: 1: Establish a sense of Urgency When some people in the organization notice some susceptibility, need to change takes place. It then involves simplifying goals and objectives, setting deadlines, establish consequences and finally feedback. It motivates the people and leads them to action. 2: Form a Powerful guiding Coalition It highlights the level of uncertainty involved and the level of collaboration that is required to overcome the resistance to change. Generally starts with one or two people then gradually grows involving more and more people who believe that change is in anyway unimportant. 3: Create a Vision for Change When you first start thinking about change, there will probably be many great ideas and solutions floating around. Link these concepts to an overall vision that people can grasp easily and remember. 4: Communicate the Vision What you do with your vision after you create it will determine your success. Your message will probably have strong competition from other day-to-day communications within the company, so you need to communicate it frequently and powerfully, and embed it within everything that you do. 5: Remove Obstacles If you follow these steps and reach this point in the change process, youve been talking about your vision and building buy-in from all levels of the organization. Hopefully, your staff wants to get busy and achieve the benefits that youve been promoting. 6: Create Short-term Wins Nothing motivates more than success. Give your company a taste of success early in the change process. Within a short time frame (this could be a month or a year, depending on the type of change), youll want to have results that your staff can see. Without this, critics and negative thinkers might hurt your progress. 7: Build on the Change According to Kotter that many change projects fail because success is declared too early. Real change runs deep. Quick success are only the beginning of what needs to be done to achieve long-term change. 8: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture Finally, to make any change stick, it should become part of the core of your organization. Your corporate culture often determines what gets done, so the values behind your vision must show in day-to-day work. Model 2: Then there is another theorist Kubler-Ross who presents five stages transition cycle and according to Kubblers model for many years, people with terminal illnesses were an embarrassment for doctors. Someone who could not be cured was evidence of the doctors fallibility, and as a result the doctors regularly shunned the dying with the excuse that there was nothing more that could be done (and that there was plenty of other demand on the doctors time). Elizabeth Kà ¼bler-Ross was a doctor in Switzerland who railed against this unkindness and spent a lot of time with dying people, both comforting and studying them. She wrote a book, called On Death and Dying which included a cycle of emotional states that is often referred to (but not exclusively called) the Grief Cycle. The Extended Grief Cycle The Extended Grief Cycle can be shown as in the chart below, indicating the roller-coaster ride of activity and passivity as the person wriggles and turns in their desperate efforts to avoid the change. The initial state before the cycle is received is stable, at least in terms of the subsequent reaction on hearing the bad news. Compared with the ups and downs to come, even if there is some variation, this is indeed a stable state. And then, into the calm of this relative paradise, a bombshell bursts. Denial stage: Trying to avoid the inevitable. Anger stage: Frustrated outpouring of bottled-up emotion. Bargaining stage: Seeking in vain for a way out. Depression stage: Final realization of the inevitable. Acceptance stage: Finally finding the way forward. Model 3: While many change management projects focus on the steps necessary for organisational change, ADKAR emphasises that successful organisational change occurs only when each person is able to transition successfully. The ADKAR model consists of five sequential steps or actions: Awareness of the need for change. Understanding why change is necessary is the first key aspect of successful change. Planned communication is essential. When this step is successfully completed the individual (employee) will fully understand why change is necessary. Desire to participate in and support the change. In this step the individual is able to reach a point where they make a personal decision to support the change and participate in the change. Building desire is partly achieved by addressing incentives for the individual and creating a desire to be a part of the change. Knowledge on how to change. The third building block of the model, providing knowledge about the change, can be achieved through normal training and education methods. Other methods of transferring knowledge, such as coaching, forums and mentoring, are equally useful, so dont limit this process to formal training. Ability to implement required skills and behaviors. In the ADKAR model Ability is the difference between theory and practice. Once knowledge on how to change is in place (theory) the practice, or actual performance of the individual, needs to be supported. Reinforcement to sustain the change. This final stage of the model is an essential component in which efforts to sustain the change are emphasised. Ensuring that changes stay in place and that individuals do not revert to old ways can be achieved through positive feedback, rewards, recognition, measuring performance and taking corrective actions. Model 4:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The McKinsey 7S model involves seven interdependent factors which are categorized as either hard or soft elements: Hard   Elements Strategy Structure Systems Soft Elements Shared Values Skills Style Staff Hard elements are easier to define or identify and management can directly influence them: These are strategy statements; organization charts and reporting lines; and formal processes and IT systems. Soft elements, on the other hand, can be more difficult to describe, and are less tangible and more influenced by culture. However, these soft elements are as important as the hard elements if the organization is going to be successful. Task 1: B) Evaluate the relevance of these models of Strategic Change to the Zurich Financial Services Plc in the current economy. (LO 1.2) Explanation:   Above discussed all four models have a value in the change management strategy but how can we evaluate these models according to the current economical condition of Zurich Financial Services Ltd. Lets have a look one by one to all given models and apply them to the Case Study given above. Zurich Financial Services Ltd. is established since past five decades and committed to customers satisfaction companys all stakeholders and its employees devotedly working with the company but the companys decision of expanding globally create a kind of uncertainty among its employees as well as its other stakeholders. So why this is happening? And what should company need to overcome this issue? According to Kubler-Ross transition cycle stakeholders of Zurich Financial company after hearing the decision of expansion have a kind of uncertainty about company and their own future in this way there is possible way of stakeholders to start looking some other place for their better and stable future and in this way employees are right on their side but if company creates a sense of belongingness with its stakeholders and give them importance clarify its decision and its need for not only companys own but also for the more incentives for its stakeholders then according to this model stakeholder will realize the change process more easily and support the decision as compared to resist on it. Proscis model is saying the same thing but in different way and according to ADKAR awareness of need of change should be established among employees and that awareness create a kind of future incentives desire in stakeholders then company provide knowledge or ability required for change that what steps should company required for future development and how to continue these skills and abilities for longer term sustainability. McKinseys 7S are clearly defined all the elements which are directly and indirectly effect the companys decision hard elements are easily to be carried with the decision taken by Zurich company but this is not possible for company to carried soft element also with its decision at the same time because soft elements required some time to accept any kind of change in their way of working or routine methodology. So in short according to current economic condition company will not be able to carried out its decision without keeping all the aspects in mind and by doing so company will face an unbearable resistance globally which will not in favor of companys future. Task 1: C) Asses the value of using strategic intervention techniques in organaization. (LO 1.3) Explanation: Any organizational development process starts with the identification of problems that can be solved within the organization. This process progresses through different stages and determines satisfactory progress made for additional involvement. The procedure is cyclic and terminates only when desired result is obtained. It can also be a series of trial and error and a discovery of the best practices that can be implemented in the organization. Zurich Financial Services Ltd. is facing tha same problem but by using strategic change management model this company will be able to change its current cenario and remove all the obstacles with its strategic intervention and such interventions not only provide a boost to the company but also help it out to make a place in the global business what interventions will be more helpful for its productivity ? These are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Problem identification à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Situational assessment à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Action planning/ planning of the intervention à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Implement plan/ implementing the intervention à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Gather data/ collect data to evaluate the intervention à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Determining the results à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Feedback By using these techniques as the companys future strategy interventions Zurich Financial Services Ltd. have bright chances not oly for its globally growth but also meet the up coming challenges with its strong team of all stakeholders.

Equal Rights for ALL Americans Essay -- Gay Marriage, argumentative, p

Marriage has always been a sacred agreement between a man and woman. However, as times have changed, our ideas involving marriage are forced to change with the times. Our country has developed throughout the years to enforce the belief that all Americans should be granted equal rights no matter what their skin color or cultural background. Granting gays the right to marry would simply be giving all people equal rights in the issue of marriage. When it comes to the issue of gay marriage, Americans have many different views. Research shows that the majority of Americans oppose gay marriage, but when it comes to deciding who should make the laws, Americans are split in half (Bayles 6). 48% of Americans said that the federal government should make the laws and 46% say it should be left to the states (6). This information shows that the majority of Americans have strong opinions about the issue, but don’t know of any way to solve the issue (6). The controversy of gay marriage is seen even in groups who support strong marriages. Author Karen Peterson uses her article to address the issue of how gay marriage sits with the â€Å"marriage movement,† the coalition of professionals dedicated to strengthening marriages (7). This movement has successfully included pro-marriage initiatives across America and formed new high school courses on relationships (Peterson 7). Peterson finds that the â€Å"marriage movement† has many different views within itself and struggles with the question of â€Å"How can one be a proponent of marriage in general but oppose marriages between gays† (7). David Blankenhorn who is the founder of the Institute for American Values and an important member of the coalition, says that they ... ...g gay marriage is simply the next step that is necessary to support the growth and change of America’s people. Works Cited Bayles, Fred, and Andrea Stone. â€Å"Gay-marriages foes try to stop ‘activist courts.’† USA Today 25 Feb. 2014: 06a. Bennett, William. â€Å"Leave Marriage Alone.† Newsweek 3 June 1996: 27. Breslau, Karen, Brad Stone, Debra Rosenberg and Tamara Lipper. â€Å"Outlaw Vows.† Newsweek 1 Mar. 2004: 40. â€Å"Broken marriages, not gay nuptials, pose risk to kids.† USA Today 23 Feb. 2014: 18a. Peterson, Karen S. â€Å"On gays, ‘marriage movement’ is on both sides of the aisle.† USA Today 4 Aug. 2014: 07d. Dlugacz, Judy. â€Å"Same-sex marriage: Time to end the bigotry† CNBC Web 30 April 2015. http://www.cnbc.com/id/102624368 Taylor, Chris. â€Å"I Do: No You Don’t.† Time 1 Mar. 2009: 3c. â€Å"USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll.† USA Today 24 Feb. 2014: 06d.

Capital Punishment Essay - It’s Time to Turn the Other Cheek :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Capital Punishment – It’s Time to Turn the Other Cheek If... he has committed murder, he must die. In this case, there is no substitute that will satisfy the legal requirements of legal justice.There is no sameness of kind between death and remaining alive even under the most miserable conditions, and consequently there is no equality between crime and the retribution unless the criminal is judicially condemned and put to death." Immanuel Kant. About 2000 men, women, and teenagers currently wait on America's "Death Row." Their time grows shorter as federal and state courts increasingly ratify death penalty laws, allowing executions to proceed at an accelerated rate. It's unlikely that any of these executions will make the front page, having become more and more a matter of routine in the last decade. Indeed, recent public opinion polls show a wide margin of support for the death penalty. But human rights advocates continue to decry the immorality of state-sanctioned killing in the U.S., the only western industrialized country that continues to use the death penalty. Is capital punishment moral? Capital punishment is often defended on the grounds by the government, that society has a moral obligation to protect the safety and the welfare of its citizens. Murderers threaten this safety and welfare. Only by putting murderers to death can society ensure that convicted killers do not kill again. Second, those favoring capital punishment contend that society should support those practices that will bring about the greatest balance of good over evil, and capital punishment is one such practice. Capital punishment benefits society because it may deter violent crime. While it is difficult to produce direct evidence to support this claim since, by definition, those who are deterred by the death penalty do not commit murders, common sense tells us that they will die if they perform a certain act, they will be unwilling to perform that act. If the threat of death stays in the hand of a would-be murder, and we abolish the death penalty, we will sacrifice the lives of many innocent victims whose murders could have been deterred. But if, in fact, the death penalty does not deter, and we continue to impose it, we have only sacrificed the lives of convicted murderers. Surely it is better for society to take a gamble that the death penalty deters in order to protect the lives of innocent people than to take a gamble that it doesn't deter and thereby protect the lives of murderers, while risking the lives of the innocents. Finally, defenders of capital punishment argue that justice demands that

Home Depot’s Bumpy Road to Equality Essay

Internet/Case Study Assignment: 1. If Home Depot was correct in that it was not discriminating, but simply filling positions consistent with those who applied for them (and very few women were applying for customer service positions), given your reading of this chapter, was the firm guilty of discrimination? If so, under what theory? Yes, Home Depot was accountable of discrimination towards women due to their standards of hiring by reinforcing gender stereotyping; causing them to be guilty of disparate treatment. The disparate treatment in this case was due to women being treated differently in comparison to their male co-workers in regards to promotions, pay, and hiring. Female applicants who felt discriminated were mainly those who applied for jobs within Home Depots West Coast Division. They felt they were being overlooked during hiring and bypassed in connection with promotions, salary, and job assignments opportunities within the workplace. Home Depot, however, felt they did nothing wrong and stated the unfairness of what they were being accused of was due to most female job applicants having experience as cashiers, so they were placed in similar positions, such as, cashier positions, clerical duties, customer service, and so forth. In addition, their explanation for the high turnaround in percentage of male employees within the home repair, plumbing, carpentry departments, etc†¦ were due to male applicants expressing interest in those type of skilled employment. 2. How does this case illustrate the application of new technology to solving issues that have never been tied to technology? Can you think of other ways technology might be used to address diversity/EEO/affirmative action issues? Home Depot was able to tie technology by solving issues by introducing a Job Preference Program, which provides in-store computer kiosks that allow employees to check job opportunities within their workplace and the skill requirements for each position. This system helps employees upgrade their skills. In addition, Home Depot offers a web-based learning program which allows employees to increase their product knowledge and eligibility for new  positions. The Job Preference Program has helped the company eliminate discrimination and other barriers within the recruitment process. Since its roll-out in 1999, the program has reduced employee turnover and in a single year, female and minorities have attained management positions increased by 28 to 30 percent from earlier periods. This system has also shown to be a huge success among managers as they feel they are now able to prescreen adequately qualified applicants. Technology can also be used to address diversity/EEO/affirmative action issues by having a systematic process in place which can help with gathering, analyzing and documenting information about particular jobs, and personnel information including but not limiting to disciplinary actions as well as promotional considerations. For example, a systematic analysis can specify each workers job description entailing their salary base range, this way employees don’t feel underpaid but satisfactorily compensated amongst their peers performing their same duties. By having such technology in place a company can avoid fines, penalties and costly litigation of unhappy employees feeling discriminated and pursing legal actions. In addition, technology can address some diversity by providing employees with online trainings which will enable them to apply to new positions within the workplace and track their preparation and job skills; causing maximum strategic development. Furthermore, with the ease of technology, employers can have the capacity to monitor working conditions to ensure each job is being performed successfully and satisfactory. Technology can also help with affirmative action’s, by doing so, companies can develop tutorial guides which can help employees with a variety solutions to problems within their working environment. Tutorial guides can help improve workforce diversity, by assisting and addressing how one can handle issues among the workplace, for example, directing employees how to affectively respond to relationships between coworkers of other ethnicity, race, religion, etc.., and how to cope with personality conflicts; among others criteria’s within the workforce. Technology can also help with developing a systemic job analysis tool which can be resourceful to help with useful information for HRM practices. A systemic job analysis will provide useful plans for coordination, for example, determining job qualifications for recruitment purposes, developing training programs, developing performance appraisals rating forms, determining pay rate  factors, and performance standards for productivity improvement to name a few. All in all, technology can only get better with time by utilizing these tools within the workforce by complying with compliances and avoid lawsuits and penalties in the future.

Literature and Human Behaviour Essay

Literature has been a major part of human culture throughout human existence. It has always been used as a way of defining how humans interact with each other. Literature is defined as ‘the writings of a period, language, or country’. If ancient times are also to be considered, then myths, legends, and theatre, which passed down literary ideas, and social critiques before the time of the written word, should also be included in this definition. The plays of William Shakespeare are a perfect example of pieces of literature that are not only entertaining, literature for literature’s sake, but also provide great insight into human nature. In one form or another, literature is entrenched as an expression of the ways of humanity, and so by absorbing it, one can gain a greater understanding of human behaviour. The human sciences offer a different angle to the understanding of human behaviour as literature does. Literature gives us insight into what is going on inside people’s minds. How someone from a culture that one might not understand, thinks. Many of Shakespeare’s plays are centered around the downfall of a particular character. This downfall arises from within the character, it is the result of a tragic flaw. The human sciences on the other hand, provide information on how humans interact with each other. They often involve social studies in which experiments involving the interactions of humans are observed and recorded. If for example some human scientists performed a particular experiment with enough people, and got a similar result each time, they can conclude that a human being is likely to act in a certain way, given the situation which was in the experiment. In this way human scientists can draw conclusions as to what is a normal reaction for a person to have in a situation, and can describe traits which are almost universal to humans. These human sciences give us a knowledge of the external aspects of human behaviour, which is extremely valuable to have. If for example, a police force wanted to know whether or not a new method they had developed for deterring graffiti artists worked efficiently or not, they might perform a human science experiment, where they secretly test their  method on a sample of would-be graffitists. The results could tell them if it would be productive for them to put resources into developing and employing this method, or whether it was inefficient and would be a waste of resources. Literature will often delve deep into the human mind, to seek the unknown. Some literature may attempt to describe perceptions of the world from the mind of a serial killer. If written well, and researched thoroughly, this literature would be enthralling, and probably disturbing, because it is teaching us about the human behaviour of someone who is very different from ourselves. (hopefully) It would show to the reader an aspect of human behaviour that is not common among all people, but is infact rare. From this we would learn about an aspect which we did not have an understanding of, and would therefore increase our knowledge of human behaviour. Other literature may reveal something about people that relates to a great many people. People will engage with this literature because they will have some understanding of it, and so the book would increase their knowledge of their own human behaviour, and would also show them that this human behaviour is common to many people. From this we can see that a study of literature can give someone a deeper understanding of what goes on in the human mind, and a study of the human sciences can allow someone to have a greater knowledge of the way that humans interact with each other, and certain situations they may be faced with. There are of course some problems with both of these ways of attaining knowledge of human behaviour. Although experiments can be done in the human sciences, they can never give a result which is 100% accurate. They may provide a conclusion which will probably be correct in most cases, but it’s never certain. This is because of the fact that these experiments deal with people. People are not like objects in the experiments of natural sciences. They are prone to performing differently each time the experiment is carried out. For example, if sodium bi-carbonate is put in vinegar, it will cause an almost violent chemical reaction every time, but if icing sugar is put in,  it will not. However, if a person suffering from a headache is given a painkiller, they might feel an easing of the pain, but if they are given a placebo pill, they might still think they are feeling an easing of the pain, but it would be purely psychological. This shows that what people expect to happen can alter the results of the experiment, and this gives the observer inconclusive answers. Basically, when looking at results achieved through the human sciences, we can not be totally sure that we are learning anything about human behaviour, because we can never be certain that the results are completely accurate. There are also problems that can occur when trying to gain a greater understanding of human behaviour through the study of literature. I don’t feel that all literature is valid for this purpose. If a piece of literature has not been well researched, and not well written, then it’s content may give a misrepresentation of the real world. A book written by an english pioneer on the subject of the lifestyle of the Aboriginal race may provide a bias and incorrect view. This would lead the reader to gain a perception of the human behaviour of that particular culture and people that does not coincide with the truth. If this is the case then it is clear that in order for somewhere to gain a greater understanding of human behaviour in reference to a particular culture, then a wide range of literature need to be considered. However, the pieces of literature that give a bias or incorrect view needn’t be totally disregarded. These pieces of literature, while they may not provide a truthful description of a culture or civilisation, they can often reflect on the culture that the author of the literature belongs too. They can give an idea of what kind of perceptions were held by that culture, on the other culture. This can add to our understanding of human behaviour because when several of these types of articles are read, patterns can emerge as to how a culture that is seemingly more civilised than other, views that less civilised culture. A wide study of literature, and an appreciation of the human sciences can greatly add to our understanding of human behaviour. Though often biases, and discrepancies in results have to be taken into account, they provide insight into what goes on inside the minds of people, and in what ways they  react to other people and situations. When this sort of knowledge has been attained, one can have a greater understanding of the human behaviour related to different cultures, different ages, different sexes, and it can also give them a greater understanding of themselves. Bilbliography: The World Book Dictionary, Doubelay & Company, Inc. 1982