Friday, October 4, 2019
Motivation and Employee Satisfaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words
Motivation and Employee Satisfaction - Essay Example The researcher has done the internship programme at Phoenix Ltd. where the objective of his project was motivation and employee satisfaction. Since the author worked at the HR department of the company; he was under HR Executive assisting him/her in selection and recruitment of employees, motivating the existing employees and providing them different pieces of training and development programmes. The researcher believes as work is undone without proper motivation. So, he tried to instill the same thinking among the employees by giving them prep-talks and encouraging them. The first step towards motivation started with asking them what they want out of their jobs. This meant interacting with them on a regular basis which gave the author an idea about their perspective towards their personal goals. The employees also shared their opinions about the improvement of their roles. The researcher also had to adopt a different approach to motivating employees depending on their age. The resea rcher had also given the task of planning different recreational activities like outdoor trips or indoor games to bring in some amount of fun to help them in getting rid of their monotonous job. Along with this, the author had to make sure that the employees were interacting with each other. He also had to plan for an office party where the employees were rewarded and appreciated according to their performances. At the party, the author also had to give them inspirational speeches to motivate them. The researcher also defined them the vision, mission, and strategies of the company. During the author’s internship period, there were also given the flexibility to choose their own working hours. This showed that the company trusts them. They even came up to the author to discuss their work-related problems. The researcher then discussed this problem with his mentor who resolved it afterward.
Thursday, October 3, 2019
The Influence of Technology on Society and the Economy Essay Example for Free
The Influence of Technology on Society and the Economy Essay The nature of technology possessed by a society happens to be the defining characteristic of the self same society. Thus, the Stone Age, the Iron Age, the Bronze Age, the Industrial Age, and the Information Age are very appropriate terms used to define the nature of human society in different times (â€Å"Technology,†2007).  Man’s living standards are to known to have been improving with new technologies cropping up as a result of his own efforts. Thus, new technologies are also known to have a positive effect on the economy.  At the same time, however, it is a fact that those who do not use the new technologies also do not experience the greatest socioeconomic benefits of the new technologies. This is the reason why man in the Information Age is presently observing the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots (Friedman, 2000).     The Iron Age saw man using tools that were superior to those of the Stone Age. Therefore, both the Iron Age and the Bronze Age increased man’s standard of living. The tools that were made in the Iron Age and the Bronze Age led to an increase in efficiency as well as productivity. By knowing how to make different objects with iron and bronze, man was also able to increase trade with his neighbors. The introduction of new goods and services by way of trade automatically translated into higher standards of living than before.     Thus, new technologies must always translate into higher standards of living. The sixteenth century saw new inventions that revolutionized manufacturing and other features of living. The wheel-lock musket, the helicopter, the spinning wheel, the pocket watch, the diving bell, the seed drill, the camera obscura, the knitting machine, the compound microscope, the Gregorian Calendar, and the enameling of pottery were all brought into the world in the same century (â€Å"Timeline†). All of these new technologies were not only used in trade, but also became a part of people’s daily lives. As a matter of fact, at this point in time we cannot even imagine a world without these objects to help us out with our everyday routines. Hence, society becomes dependent on technology that it has used successfully in the past.     The late eighteenth and the nineteenth century saw the beginning of the Industrial Revolution – a highly exciting time for man. During the Industrial Revolution, man learned how to manufacture goods and services faster than before, and at lower costs of production. The introduction of manufacturing machinery was undoubtedly a gigantic leap in the world of production. More importantly, the enhancement in efficiency and productivity experienced during that time grew the economy by leaps and bounds. All the same, the industrialized nations at the time were separated from the non-industrialized nations that lacked the expertise for developing machinery. The industrialized nations had to export the machinery to the non-industrialized nations. However, they could only sell machinery to the non-industrialized nations when the latter found themselves in a position to pay for them.     Technologies developed in the last century have similarly influenced society. The following passage explains some of the influences of the latest technologies on society:         Technology-driven changes have been particularly evident in the past century.    Automobiles have created a more mobile, spread-out society; aircraft and improved    communications have led to a smaller world and, eventually, globalization; contraception    has revolutionized sexual mores; and improved sanitation, agriculture, and medicine have    extended life expectancy.  A technologically literate person recognizes the rate of technology    in these changes and accepts the reality that the future will be different from the present    largely because of technologies now coming into existence, from Internet-based activities to    genetic engineering and cloning (â€Å"Technology†). Following the Industrial Revolution, the Internet Revolution was the next most exciting technological change experienced by society. Turning the world into a ‘global village’ where people around the world could communicate with each other at low costs and at any time, the Internet also revolutionized the way business is conducted. Today, consumers from around the world may purchase goods sold online from almost any nation. This, of course, is in stark contrast to the shopping experiences on people’s travels when people could only be excited about foreign goods whilst traveling in foreign lands. Businesses from around the world have grown tremendously because of the Internet. The ex-chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan explained some of the benefits of the Internet and other new technologies back in the year 2000:         The relationship between businesses and consumers already is being changed by the    expanding opportunities for e-commerce.  The forces unleashed by the Internet are almost    surely to be even more potent within and among businesses, where uncertainties are being    reduced by improving the quantity, the reliability, and the timeliness of information.  This is    the case in many recent initiatives, especially among our more seasoned companies, to    consolidate and rationalize their supply chains using the Internet. Not all technologies, information or otherwise, however, increase productivityâ€â€that is,    output per hourâ€â€by reducing the inputs necessary to produce existing products.  Some new    technologies bring about new goods and services with above average value added per    workhour. The dramatic advances in biotechnology, for example, are significantly increasing    a broad range of productivity-expanding efforts in areas from agriculture to medicine.         Indeed, in our dynamic labor markets, the resources made redundant by better    information†¦are being drawn to the newer activities and newer products, many never before    contemplated or available.  The personal computer, with ever-widening applications in homes    and businesses, is one.  So are the fax and the cell phone.  The newer biotech innovations are    most especially of this type, particularly the remarkable breadth of medical and    pharmacological product development (â€Å"Remarks,†2000). New technologies are enhancing man’s ability to create products and services of value. In the boundless ocean of the digital culture, everything should appear as a blessing. But, there are problems that the economy must face alongside the blessings. In the music industry, for instance, the digital age has been seen as a mixed blessing. Because of piracy or MP3’s, whichever name we give to the mixed blessing of the digital economy as it concerns the music industry, the digital economy is presently not in a state to flourish as much as possible even if the steadily rising numerical figures related to the growth of electronic commerce tell us another tale (Muhammad, 1999).     As mentioned previously, another problem facing the global economy in our times is the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots, similar to the one experienced during the Industrial Revolution. According to Friedman, those who are able to use the chip technology most productively today are naturally the winners in the global economy. As compared to these successful nations and businesses are those suffering from the symptoms of Microchip Immune Deficiency Syndrome, which include economic slackness, along with a deficiency to increase the use of knowledge (Friedman). This is the reason why the World Trade Organization acts as a protestor of globalization – which is driven by the World Wide Web – on behalf of the poor nations whenever these nations are threatened by it (Lipsey, 2006). Also according to Friedman, the wealth of the prosperous Bill Gates was at one point equal to the total net worth of at least a hundred million poorest of Americans. Another fact to explain the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots during the globalized Internet Age is that in the United States, the incomes of one-fifth of the poorest working families dropped between 1979 and 1995 by at least 21%, for the simple reason that they did not know how to adopt the new technology. What is more, the incomes of one-fifth of the richest Americans increased by almost 30% during the same time period (Friedman).     Still, new technologies are known to be responsible for growing the economy by increasing organizational effectiveness, that is, in the organizations that can afford the new technologies. Organizational effectiveness is for the organization to be doing everything that it knows how to do, and to be doing it well. The organization knows how to manage its employees, and to manufacture the products or provide the services that it originally set out to manufacture or provide. However, in order to be effective in its operations, the organization should be managing its employees well, and manufacturing good quality products or providing high quality services to its customers. In the organizational environment of today, the organization that is effective in its operations must be effectively using information technology. This is, in fact, one of the requirements of organizational effectiveness in our times (Helms).     The computer software designed for the organization in our time helps to organize plans, letters, legal documents, articles, and countless other files as well as indispensable documents. In other words, software can help to modernize as well as simplify the whole process of working with computer documents (â€Å"New Software,†2006). This helps the organization to do its job well, seeing that computer software is designed to perform routine tasks that humans might perform only with mistakes because they dislike and get easily wearied performing monotonous tasks. Additionally, time is money in the business world.  By using computer software to handle routine tasks with speed, the rich organization is using its human resources at jobs that only skilled human beings would be able to handle. Thus, everything at the organization runs well. The computer software does its own job excellently, while the skilled human beings, without wasting time on routine tasks that computers can handle, perform jobs that computers cannot do. Hence, computer software adds to the skills and specializations at the workplace, which in turn help to increase production, thereby benefiting the economy.     At the same time, however, it should be remembered that everybody in society does not benefit when the economy grows thanks to new technology. Rather, the rich get richer and the poor become poorer. This is the reason why the Internet Age has failed to raise the standards of living of the poorest people in the globe. References Friedman, T. L. (2000). The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization. New York: Anchor Books. Helms, M. M. Defining Organizational Effectiveness. Retrieved 28 October 2007, from http://www.daltonstate.edu/faculty/mhelms/citizen/2001_10_28.html. Lipsey, R. G. (2006, April 4). Don’t Give Up On WTO: Fix It. YaleGlobal. Muhammad, T. K. (1999, March). Leaders Of The Digital Economy. Black Enterprise, Vol. 29. New software is first of its kind; Solves file organization problems encountered by all computer users. (2006, September 14). M2 Presswire. Remarks by Chairman Alan Greenspan. (2000, January 13). The Federal Reserve Board. Retrieved 28 October 2007, from http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2000/200001132.htm. Technology Shaped By and Shaping Society. (2007). The National Academies. Retrieved 28 October 2007, from http://www.nae.edu/nae/techlithome.nsf/weblinks/KGRG-55SQTT?OpenDocument. Timeline 16th Century. Magic Dragon Multimedia. Retrieved 28 October 2007, from http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/timeline16.html.
The Effectiveness Of Subliminal Mind Messaging
The Effectiveness Of Subliminal Mind Messaging Subliminal stimuli, contrary to supraliminal stimuli or above threshold, are any sensory stimuli below an individuals absolute threshold for conscious perception. Visual stimuli may be quickly flashed before an individual may process them, or flashed and then masked, thereby interrupting the processing. Audio stimuli may be played below audible volumes, similarly masked by other stimuli, or recorded backwards in a process called backmasking. Introduced in 1897, the concept became controversial as subliminal messages in 1957 when marketing practitioners claimed its potential use in persuasion. Subsequent scientific research, however, has been unable to replicate most of these marketing claims beyond a mere placebo effect. Used in advertising to create familiarity with new products, subliminal messages make familiarity into a preference for the new products. Johan Karremans suggests that subliminal messages have an effect when the messages are goal-relevant. Karremans did a study assessing whether subliminal priming of a brand name of a drink would affect a persons choice of drink, and whether this effect is caused by the individuals feelings of being thirsty. His study sought to ascertain whether or not subliminally priming or preparing the participant with text or an image without being aware of it would make the partaker more familiar with the product. Half of his participants were subliminally primed with Lipton Ice (Lipton Ice was repeatedly flashed on a computer screen for 24 milliseconds), while the other half was primed with a control that did not consist of a brand. In his study he found that subliminally priming a brand name of a drink (Lipton Ice) made those who were thirsty want the Lipton Ice. Those who were not thirsty, however, were not influenced by the subliminal message since their goal was not to quench their thirst. Subconscious stimuli by single words are well known to be modestly effective in changing human behaviour or emotions. This is evident by a pictorial advertisement that portrays four different types of rum. The phrase U Buy was embedded somewhere, backwards in the picture. A study was done to test the effectiveness of the alcohol ad. Before the study, participants were able to try to identify any hidden message in the ad, none found any. In the end, the study showed 80% of the subjects unconsciously perceived the backward message, meaning they showed a preference for that particular rum. Though many things can be perceived from subliminal messages, only a few words or a single image of unconscious signals can be internalized. As only a word or image can be effectively perceived, the simpler features of that image or word will cause a change in behaviour (i.e., beef is related to hunger). This was demonstrated by Byrne in 1959. The word beef was flashed for several, five millisecond intervals during a sixteen-minute movie to experimental subjects, while nothing was flashed to control subjects. Neither the experimental nor control subjects reported for a higher preference for beef sandwiches when given a list of five different foods, but the experimental subjects did rate themselves as hungrier than the control subjects when given a survey. If the subjects were flashed a whole sentence, the words would not be perceived and no effect would be expected. In 1983, five studies with 52 undergraduate and graduate students, found that although subliminally flashing and masking the words affects the availability of conscious processing, it however has little effect on visual processing itself. This suggests that perceptual processing is an unconscious activity that proceeds to all levels of available and redescription analysis. For example if flashed the word butter the individual would be quicker to identify the word bread than an unrelated word such as bottle. In 1991, Baldwin and others in two studies questioned whether priming individuals with images flashed for an instant may affect experiences of self. In the first study, images were flashed of the scowling face of their faculty adviser or an approving face of another before graduate students evaluated their own research ideas. In the second study, participants who were Catholic were asked to evaluate themselves after being flashed a disapproving face of the Pope or another unfamiliar face. In both studies the self-ratings were lower after the presentation of a disapproving face with personal significance, however in the second study there was no effect if the disapproving face were unfamiliar. In 1992, Krosnick and others, in two studies with 162 undergraduates, demonstrated that attitudes can develop without being aware of its antecedents. Individuals viewed nine slides of people performing familiar daily activities after being exposed to either an emotionally positive scene, such as a romantic couple or kittens, or an emotionally negative scene, such as a werewolf or a dead body between each slide. After exposure from which the individuals consciously perceived as a flash of light, the participants gave more positive personality traits to those people whose slides were associated with a emotionally positive scene and vice-versa. Despite the statistical difference, the subliminal messages had less of an impact on judgment than the slides inherent level of physical attractiveness. In order to determine whether these images affect an individuals evaluation of novel stimuli, a study was conducted in 1993 which produced in similar results. In 1998, Bar and Biederman questioned whether an image flashed briefly would prime an individuals response. An image was flashed for 47 milliseconds and then a mask would interrupt the processing. Following the first presentation only one in seven individuals could identify the image, while after the second presentation, fifteen to twenty minutes later, one in three could identify the image. Backmasking is a recording technique in which a sound or message is recorded backward onto a track that is meant to be played forward. During the 1970s, media reports raised a series of concerns of its impact on listeners, stating that satanic messages were calling its listeners to commit suicide, murder, abuse drugs, or engage in sex-which were all rising at the time. In a series of scientific studies, individuals listening to messages played backwards with no accompanying music could discern: the gender of the speaker; whether the message was in English, French, or German; whether the sentence was declarative or a question; and occasionally a word or meaning of a sentence. However when comparing sentence pairs, individuals were more likely to be incorrect than if their response were by pure chance: if the message were spoken by different speakers; whether two sentences were semantically related; and label beyond pure chance whether a message was positive or negative in nature-suggesting that individual expectations influenced their response. Across a variety of tasks, the studies were unable to find evidence that such messages affected an individuals behaviour, and reasoned that if the individual could not discern the meaning of the message, then the presence of these messages would be more likely due to the listeners expectations than the existe nce of these messages in them. Effectiveness The effectiveness of subliminal messaging has been demonstrated to prime individual responses and stimulate mild emotional activity. Applications, however, often base themselves on the persuasiveness of the message. The near-consensus among research psychologists is that subliminal messages do not produce a powerful, enduring effect on behaviour; and that laboratory research reveals little effect beyond a subtle, fleeting effect on thinking. For example, priming thirsty people with a subliminal word may, for a brief period of time, make a thirst-quenching beverage advertisement more persuasive. Research upon those claims of lasting effects-such as weight loss, smoking cessation, how music in popular culture may corrupt their listeners, how it may facilitate unconscious wishes in psychotherapy, and how market practitioners may exploit their customers-conclude that there is no effect beyond a placebo. In a 1994 study comparing television commercials with the message either supraliminal or subliminal, individuals produced higher ratings with those that were supraliminal. Unexpectedly, individuals somehow were less likely to remember the subliminal message than if there were no message. Origins The director of Yale Psychology laboratory PhD E. W. Scripture published The New Psychology in 1897 (The Walter Scott Ltd, London), which described the basic principles of subliminal messages. In 1900, Knight Dunlap, an American professor of psychology, flashed an imperceptible shadow to subjects while showing them a Mà ¼ller-Lyer illusion containing two lines with pointed arrows at both ends which create an illusion of different lengths. Dunlap claimed that the shadow influenced his subjects subliminally in their judgment of the lengths of the lines. Although these results were not verified in a scientific study, American psychologist Harry Levi Hollingworth reported in an advertising textbook that such subliminal messages could be used by advertisers. During World War II, the tachistoscope, an instrument which projects pictures for an extremely brief period, was used to train soldiers to recognize enemy airplanes. Today the tachistoscope is used to increase reading speed or to test sight. 1950-1970 In 1957, market researcher James Vicary claimed that quickly flashing messages on a movie screen, in Fort Lee, New Jersey, had influenced people to purchase more food and drinks. Vicary coined the term subliminal advertising and formed the Subliminal Projection Company based on a six-week test. Vicary claimed that during the presentation of the movie Picnic he used a tachistoscope to project the words Drink Coca-Cola and Hungry? Eat popcorn for 1/3000 of a second at five-second intervals. Vicary asserted that during the test, sales of popcorn and Coke in that New Jersey theater increased 57.8% and 18.1% respectively. However, in 1962 Vicary admitted to lying about the experiment and falsifying the results, the story itself being a marketing ploy. An identical experiment conducted by Dr. Henry Link showed no increase in cola or popcorn sales. A trip to Fort Lee, where the first experiment was alleged to have taken place, would have shown straight away that the small cinema there couldnt possibly have had 45,699 visitors through its doors in the space of 6 weeks. This has led people to believe that Vicary actually did not conduct his experiment at all. However, before Vicarys confession, his claims were promoted in Vance Packards book The Hidden Persuaders, and led to a public out-cry, and too many conspiracy theories of governments and cults using the technique to their advantage. The practice of subliminal advertising was subsequently banned in the United Kingdom and Australia and by American networks and the National Association of Broadcasters in 1958. But in 1958, Vicary conducted a television test in which he flashed the message telephone now hundreds of times during a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program, and found no noticeable increase in telephone calls. 1970-2000 In 1973, commercials in the United States and Canada for the game HÃ…Â «sker DÃ…Â «? flashed the message Get it. During the same year, Wilson Bryan Keys book Subliminal Seduction claimed that subliminal techniques were widely used in advertising. Public concern was sufficient to cause the FCC to hold hearings in 1974. The hearings resulted in an FCC policy statement stating that subliminal advertising was contrary to the public interest and intended to be deceptive. Subliminal advertising was also banned in Canada following the broadcasting of HÃ…Â «sker DÃ…Â «? ads there. The December 16, 1973 episode of Columbo titled Double Exposure, is based on subliminal messaging: it is used by the murderer, Dr. Bart Keppler, a motivational research specialist, played by Robert Culp, to lure his victim out of his seat during the viewing of a promotional film and by Lt. Columbo to bring Keppler back to the crime scene and incriminate him. Lt. Columbo is shown how subliminal cuts work in a scene mirroring James Vicarys experiment. In 1978, Wichita, Kansas TV station KAKE-TV received special permission from the police to place a subliminal message in a report on the BTK Killer (Bind, Torture, Kill) in an effort to get him to turn himself in. The subliminal message included the text Now call the chief, as well as a pair of glasses. The glasses were included because when BTK murdered Nancy Fox, there was a pair of glasses lying upside down on her dresser; police felt that seeing the glasses might stir up remorse in the killer. The attempt was unsuccessful, and police reported no increased volume of calls afterward. A study conducted by the United Nations concluded that the cultural implications of subliminal indoctrination are a major threat to human rights throughout the world. Campaigners have suggested subliminal messages appear in music. In 1985, two young men, James Vance and Raymond Belknap, attempted suicide. At the time of the shootings, Belknap died instantly. Vance was severely injured and survived. Their families were convinced it was because of a British rock band, Judas Priest. The families claimed subliminal messages told listeners to do it in the song Better by You, Better than Me. The case was taken to court and the families sought more than US$6 million in damages. The judge, Jerry Carr Whitehead said that freedom of speech protections would not apply to subliminal messages. He said he was not convinced the hidden messages actually existed on the album, but left the argument to attorneys. The suit was eventually dismissed. In turn, he ruled it probably would not have been perceived without the power of suggestion or the young men would not have done it unless they really intended to. In 1985, Dr. Joe Stuessy testified to the United States Senate at the Parents Music Resource Center hearings that: The message of a piece of heavy metal music may also be covert or subliminal. Sometimes subaudible tracks are mixed in underneath other, louder tracks. These are heard by the subconscious but not the conscious mind. Sometimes the messages are audible but are backwards, called backmasking. There is disagreement among experts regarding the effectiveness of subliminals. We need more research on that Stuessys written testimony stated that: Some messages are presented to the listener backwards. While listening to a normal forward message (usually nonsensical), one is simultaneously being treated to a back-wards message. Some experts believe that while the conscious mind is trying to absorb the forward lyric, the subconscious is working overtime to decipher the backwards message. A few months after Judas Priests acquittal, Michael Waller, the son of a Georgia minister, shot himself in the head while supposedly listening to Ozzy Osbournes song Suicide Solution (despite the fact that the song Suicide Solution was not on the record [Ozzy Osbournes Speak Of The Devil] found playing in his room when his suicide was discovered). His parents claimed that subliminal messages may have influenced his actions. The judge in that trial granted the summary judgment because the plaintiffs could not show that there was any subliminal material on the record. He noted, however, that if the plaintiffs had shown that subliminal content was present, the messages would not have received protection under the First Amendment because subliminal messages are, in principle, false, misleading or extremely limited in their social value (Waller v. Osbourne 1991). Justice Whiteheads ruling in the Judas Priest trial was cited to support his position. 2000-Present During the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, a television ad campaigning for Republican candidate George W. Bush showed words (and parts thereof) scaling from the foreground to the background on a television screen. When the word BUREAUCRATS flashed on the screen, one frame showed only the last part, RATS. The FCC looked into the matter, but no penalties were ever assessed in the case. A McDonalds logo appeared for one frame during the Food Networks Iron Chef America series on 2007-01-27, leading to claims that this was an instance of subliminal advertising. The Food Network replied that it was simply a glitch. On November 7, 2007, Network Ten Australias broadcast of the ARIA Awards was called out for using subliminal advertising in an exposà © by the Media Watch program on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). In February 2007, it was discovered that 87 Konami slot machines in Ontario (OLG) casinos displayed a brief winning hand image before the game would begin. Government officials worried that the image subliminally persuaded gamblers to continue gambling; the company claimed that the image was a coding error. The machines were removed pending a fix by Konami. In 2007, to mark the 50th anniversary of James Vicarys original experiment, it was recreated at the International Brand Marketing Conference MARKA 2007. As part of the Hypnosis, subconscious triggers and branding presentation 1,400 delegates watched part of the opening credits of the film Picnic that was used in the original experiment. They were exposed to 30 subliminal cuts over a 90 second period. When asked to choose one of two fictional brands, Delta and Theta, 81% of the delegates picked the brand suggested by the subliminal cuts, Delta. Although, Delta is also a real brand. In 2010, Ferraris Formula One cars sported a barcode design that was criticized for subliminally evoking the logo of sponsor company Marlboro, flouting a ban on tobacco advertising. The design was removed in response. Backmasking Backmasking (also known as backward masking) is a recording technique in which a sound or message is recorded backward onto a track that is meant to be played forward. Backmasking is a deliberate process, whereas a message found through phonetic reversal may be unintentional. Backmasking was popularized by The Beatles, who used backward vocals and instrumentation in recording their 1966 album Revolver. Artists have since used backmasking for artistic, comedic, and satiric effect, on both analog and digital recordings. The technique has also been used to censor words or phrases for clean releases of songs. Backmasking has been a controversial topic in the United States since the 1980s, when allegations from Christian groups of its use for satanic purposes were made against prominent rock musicians, leading to record-burning protests and proposed anti-backmasking legislation by state and federal governments. Whether backmasking can be used subliminally to affect listeners is in debate by both sides Subliminal Advertising Subliminal advertising, as some call it, is primarily a set of techniques that focus and defocus the viewers attention and awareness. Doing this has an impact on what the audience will be able to consciously recall about the ad and what it will remember, but not be able to consciously recall. In magazines, for example, the advertisers main problem is that the typical reader gives a full-page ad only a glance in passing. Less than 3 seconds, typically, the time it takes to slowly turn a page and glance at it as it goes by on the way to the next page. So, in a magazine or newspaper, how can the potential buyers attention be captured and focused, in the absence of what TV depends on: motion, music and natural sound, and a human voice? To do this more efficiently, different levels of attention can be managed within microseconds of each other so that the most conscious level of perception will partially mask, but will not overwhelm low-level awareness at one or more other levels. Subliminal Marketing The use of subliminal marketing is a popular method of enhancing ones life. These messages are hidden in the many form in any music, video or text message. They reach directly the subconscious level of our mind and generally have a positive effect on our attitude, behaviour and thoughts. These subliminal marketing message are many times present in TV ads, movies and in music. They are so well implanted that they are not perceived by conscious mind, but are only received and deciphered by subconscious mind. Subliminal messages have now become a means of using in personal development. With the means of using positive statements to the subconscious mind, people have used it for losing weight, quitting bad habit or improving the overall personality. It gives a positive outlook to the person using it. You can use these subliminal messages to make your wishes and desire obvious. Many times you think of a goal as impossible, but after going through sessions of subliminal messages these goals seem to be quite probable top achieve. It is a powerful tool of your mind that allows you to do things which you consciously never attempted. It removes the mental block from your mind. It makes your brain change the way your subconscious mind wants to do it. It takes time to feel the change come through with the help of this medium, but if done properly you will notice the changes coming in your life. http://www.articlesbase.com/self-improvement-articles/subliminal-marketing-2153211.html#ixzz0vA9MCgFI Studies have shown that every day, each of us is subject to about 10,000 marketing messages, brands, logos and product offers. 10,000? Yes, thats a huge number but when you think about it, its probably close to reality. Lets see for a minute. You wake up and turn off your SONY alarm clock, go to the bathroom and brush your teeth with your BRAUN electric toothbrush and use some COLGATE toothpaste. While youre brushing, you look unconsciously look around you and see your HUGO BOSS cologne, your NIVEA lotion. You turn on your LG TV or your PIONEER radio and hear a commercial for Mossy NISSAN, another commercial for PAPA JOHNS, and another commercial for BANK OF AMERICA. You get a SMS on your APPLE iPhone; its actually a special offer from MCDONALDS because you agreed to receive SMS alerts from them. You make some STARBUCKS coffee in your BODUM French press. Its time to go to work. You grab your keys and walk through the parking lot. You walk by a FORD, a TOYOTA, a BUICK, a KIA, an AUDI (thats mine ;-). You get in, turn on the radio and hear 5 commercials for BUDWEISER, GEICO, BEST BUY, TARGET, and T-MOBILE. You drive off the parking lot and thats when the marketing hammering really starts. You drive by hundreds of different cars (different brands), some of them with stickers for various brand names, you pass hundreds of billboards. OK, lets stop here. I think you get it. How much do you think you saw of all this? None? Guess again. Reality is you saw most of it, even if youre not aware of it. Scary, huh!? But thats what marketing is all about. Its not because you didnt read the billboard that your brain didnt register the information. When you drive by this billboard, your eyes just lay on it without reading it, but your brain is smarter than you and takes a picture of the billboard, processes it in the background and register all the information without letting you know. Then you go to the store and without thinking about it, you grab some Gatorade. Why Gatorade? Maybe because its your favourite drink? Or maybe because you heard 21 commercials about it within the last week, saw 15 football teams with the Gatorade logos on their bottles, or maybe you just really like ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ No! You dont just really like it. Youve been somewhat brainwashed by marketing genius to think you really like it. These are some of the basics of marketing. I remember my first class of marketing in Business School. The teacher asked: what is the goal of marketing? Most answers were: advertising a product, or selling products. The right answer is that the goal of marketing is to create a need! Do you really an iPhone? I mean, your old BlackBerry Pearl pretty much does it all. Well, marketing creates this need for the iPhone. And theyre so good at it they even make you wait for hours in line to get ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Subliminal Messages in Marketing Fact or Fake The Latin word sublimis (meaning uplifted) is the root of the word sublime. It is not at all related to sub-limen (meaning below the threshold). Subliminal messages are very much prevalent in the world of advertising. These are messages which are presented below the threshold of human understanding. The chances of they being understood by humans is lesser than 25%. The technique is to give inputs below the threshold of conscious perception. To illustrate, consider an advertisement that flashes in front of you on TV or cinema, but is so short and fast that your conscious mind does not acknowledge it. Nevertheless, the message does get registered below your level of conscious and thus becomes an input for you to act on. This is easy to practice in cinema halls. Let me explain. It is possible to insert a single frame in twenty four. Suppose the message You are Hungry is flashed a hundred times in short periods of rime. This could stimulate your hunger and make you buy something to eat. Critics say that any kind of message can be induced in this manner, which may lead to violent and criminal tendencies in people to rise. But there is no proof to prove if this principle is true. Yes, subliminal messages are not a fiction, they are real and existent. But the issue is: How often do we encounter them? A study involving advertising executives has found that, agencies practicing subliminal messages are very few in number. Advertisements, by themselves, are very strong means to influence our brains. Hence, ad-designers will not waste efforts into inserting subliminal messages in their work. Also, if any agency practiced subliminal messages, it will sooner or later be discovered by the media. This will definitely cause a huge dent on the image of the agency. Hence subliminal messaging, although it may exist, is not commercially feasible to be practiced. Subconscious Awareness: Each of us has a certain set of principles, ethics, habits, personality which we have cultivated over a period of time. Ever wondered we develop all the above traits? Each second we are bombarded with information in all forms. Our senses observe many of them, and some get registered in our conscious mind. But the rest doesnt get wasted. It is the subconscious mind that stores it and these influence us and play a very significant role in shaping up our habits, personality and skills. So what you are today is a result of what your subconscious mind has stored. We observe a lot of things in our life, but not all information is useful to us, some of it is bad. The ratio of positive to negative feelings is very high as high as 1: 20. Though we are not conscious of these, our subconscious mind registers all the information since it takes everything to be true. Many of these thoughts also make us underestimate ourselves and limit ourselves to trying only thing we are comfortable with. This shapes us what we are today and what capabilities we believe in. We will always be subjected to good and bad experiences and we can control the amount of influence they have on us. When we limit ourselves to our comfort zone, it is indicative of the fact that we are having a high influence of our thoughts which bar us from realizing our full potential. This hampers our creative skills and out of box thinking to a very huge extent. It is very much necessary to overcome these negative influences in our personality if we ever want to taste success. Human being is different from every other living thing on the earth because we are endowed with a unique feature that of thinking. But this has the potential to be our best buddy and even the worst of all enemies. What you think largely shapes up your life. We are never bound to adhere to some predetermined set of values, ethics and culture. We are free to try out all new things and then think over to select some and reject some. The most value adding investment is on oneself. This investment should be such that we become more proactive, creative, inspired, perfectionist and confident to list few of the many possible positive traits. The subconscious mind is not a new concept at all. Its been a subject of huge research for more than a century now. A number of studies and researches have been conducted to understand fully the human behaviour. Hypnosis was a technique which became popular and known in the 1800s. It is from this time that we became our mind that in addition to the conscious intake of input we are also capable of responding to audio, visual stimuli which is below the threshold of conscious brain or in other words we can respond to subliminal stimuli too. Subliminal the literal meaning is below (sub) the threshold (limen) i.e. below the limit of our conscious mind. It is a very self explanatory term. Computers and technology have been very helpful to discover new traits about these subliminal phenomena. A thorough understanding of bio computer has also helped light some light in the dark and mysterious arena of the subconscious. It is the advertising world that is believed to be the pioneer in using subliminal concepts for practical purposes. But it came to the fore only in 1958 through James Vicarys experiment. An experiment was conducted for a period of six weeks during which people watch Kim Novak in the movie Picnic, at Fort Lee, New Jersey were subjected to flash messages displayed on the theatre screen. These messages conveyed them to eat popcorn and drink Coca- Cola. The results were astounding. The sales of Coca cola and popcorn had increased by 18 and 55 per cent! But the degree of influence was not uniform. People, who never ate them, could not be influenced. Subliminal advertising is banned in the US. There are specific norms framed so as to discourage anyone from using subliminal messages. While we can be vigilant towards things that are visible and audible, we cannot be certainly sure about monitoring things like music, colour and the fragrance. To illustrate for colour, Chinese restaurants use a lot of red while designing the ambience. Red is known to stimulate hunger, hence useful for any restaurant. A department store uses a variety of fragrance, which also is a powerful means to communicate subliminal messages. The most powerful way to influence your subconscious for self-help and self hypnosis purposes is, definitely, visual subliminal messaging. There are a lot of programs based on subliminal messages in the Web, the most powerful for today is Subliminal Flash, that displays subliminal messages on your computer screen (duration of every separate message is not more 10 milliseconds, but your subconscious mind is able to notice and accept new objectives that are being sent to it every second). Subliminal Advertising Works Subliminal advertising involves the use of messages sent to the subconscious in order to convince people about a particular product or service from the inner depths of their minds. The subconscious mind of a person is responsible for controlling every action and thought instigated by certain conditions. These thoughts and actions include memory extraction and storage as well as breathing and body temperature maintenance among others. The subconscious mind even controls most of the cor
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Critique of The Breakfast Club Essay -- The Breakfast Club Movies Film
Critique of The Breakfast Club Breakfast Club is a comedy that was released in 1985. It was written, produced and directed by John Hughes. It’s about five teenage students from different social groups when forced to spend a Saturday together in detention they find themselves interacting with and understanding each other for the first time. A jock, Emilio Estevez, a stoner, Judd Nelson, a princess, Molly Ringwald, a basket case, Ally Sheedy, and a brain, Anthony Michael Hall, talk about everything from parental tension to sex to peer pressure to hurtful stereotypes while serving the eight hours in a library. Ultimately, the five find that they may have more in common than they ever imagined and learn more about themselves as well as each other. It begins with loud rock music playing as a quote from a David Bowie song is on a black background. It shatters like glass to show the high school that they are spending their detention in while the brain, Brian, is talking in the background, the movie ends like this also. While he says different things there are parts of the school that are cut to. An example would be when he is talking about a criminal they show a locker that says, â€Å"Open this locker and you will die fag!!!†written in black marker on it. The rest of the story takes place in the school library and what the five students do while their principle isn’t looking. At one point they smoke marijuana and the boy that is a jock breaks a glass door. They also put music on and dance around all over the library. One of the main characters John Bender, who they call Bender, is the criminal. He lights his shoe on fire to light a cigarette, he pulls apart books, and he steals the screw from the door that is suppose to be open so it closes and the principal can’t watch them. He ends up getting two months more of detention for telling of the principal by talking back to the principal. While that section of the movie is going on the camera angle makes the principal look really big because Bender is sitting down and the camera angle is angled up at the principal. Later in the movie he has all of them running in the hallway to go get marijuana. They are about to get caught but he tells the rest of the group to go back to the library and he takes the blame for not being in the library. The principal finds him and takes him to a closet by himself to sit for the ... ...ays in them. This movie was the bases of all other teenage movies. The story was on teenage love and how one got to the point of the first kiss, which all movies have in it now. It didn’t really change people but it made people laugh. It is one of those movies that is out there to make people laugh and want that to happen to them. In the technical sense it wasn’t very difficult to make, but the camera angles showed every side of every character. An example would be when Bender and Andrew are arguing the camera keeps changing from Bender to Andrew but different parts of their faces. Another example is when the principal is giving Bender the other two months on detention. The principal is standing and Bender is sitting. The shoots keep changing from Bender to the principal. The camera angle makes the principal look bigger then he really is and it shows Benders different reactions to what is going on. In conclusion, this movie is not a difficult movie to make but the acting had to be perfect and the camera angles had an effect in the movie. It’s a somewhat realistic movie. Voice over is used and it’s like a story being told to describe the essay that Brian writes for all of them.
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Intelligent Design of the Universe Essay -- Religion Science Creationi
Intelligent Design of the Universe The search for knowledge about the origin of humanity is as old as its inhabitants. Since the early 1800's mankind has narrowed the debate to creation by a Supreme Being and the theory of evolution. Ever since then, science has been at odds against religion. Now it appears that science is returning to religion. Scientists are finding proof that the universe was created by a Supreme Being. The word evolution refers to the change of something over a period of time(Webster's 634). In biology, the theory of evolution is "the complex of processes by which living organisms originated on earth and have been diversified and modified through sustained changes in form and function"(Valentine). This theory proposes that between 4 million and 10 million years ago, all organisms on earth had a common ancestor and that through a process of evolution, all living organisms descended from this common ancestor(Coyne). Chevalier de Lamarck, a French naturalist proposed a theory of evolution in 1809. His idea did not get much scientific consideration until Charles R. Darwin announced his theory of evolution(Coyne). Darwin published "his most famous book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection"(Valentine) in 1859. Darwin stated that offspring resemble their parents, yet they are not exactly identical to them. He also noted that some of these differences were not effects of their environment, but actually were passed down from parents to children(Valentine). Darwin is the most well known scientist to write on evolution. There are many different variations on the theory of evolution. Darwin states that natural selection is the main reason for the evolution of life. The fight for food, water and other necessities benefits those creatures who are well adapted for the struggle. Those that cannot survive, die with no offspring to continue their genetic line. Natural selection is also called survival of the fittest. Another related idea to evolution is gradualism. "Gradualism is the idea that evolutionary changes do not occur suddenly but over large amounts of time, ranging from decades to millions of years"(Coyne). Genetic drift is another way that scientists define evolution. When two of a species mate, their offspring gets 23 chromosomes from both parents. When a gene does not split and combine correctly, a mutation oc... ... of God." National Review May 6,1996:28-32. Limbaugh, Rush. The Way Things Ought to Be. New York:Pocket Books, 1992. Miller, Kenneth R. "Life's Grand Design." Technology Review. Feb./March 1994:24-32 CD-ROM. 1996 SIRS. SIRS 1994 Life Science. Article 59 Sagan, Carl. "Snowflakes Fallen on the Hearth: The Evolution of the Earth." Planetary Report. Jan./Feb. 1993:4-9 CD-ROM. 1996 SIRS. SIRS 1994 Earth Science. Article 53 Schneider, E.D, Kay, J.J. "Life as a Manifestation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics." Mathematical and Computer Modelling 1994: 25-48. Suits, Conrad. "The Role of the Horsesin 'A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms.'" Modern Critical Interpretations, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York:Chelsea. 116-125 Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels. New York:Penguin,1960. Valentine, James W. "Evolution." Encarta. CD-ROM. Microsoft Corp:1994 Vawter, Rev. Bruce. "Creation." Encarta. CD-ROM. Microsoft Corp:1994 Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary. Second Edition. 1983 Williams, Kathleen. "Animal Rationis Capax." Modern Critical Interpretations, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York:Chelsea. 37-82
Organizational change Essay
Organizational change is an ongoing process with important implications for organizational effectiveness. An organization and its members must be constantly on the alert for changes from within the organization and from the outside environment, and they must learn how to adjust to change quickly and effectively. Organizational change is the movement of an organization away from its present state and toward some future state to increase its effectiveness. Forces for organizational change include competitive forces; economic, political, and global forces; demographic and social forces; and ethical forces. Organizations are often reluctant to change because resistance to change at the organization, group, and individual levels has given rise to organizational inertia. Sources of organization-level resistance to change include power and conflict, differences in functional orientation, mechanistic structure, and organizational culture. Sources of group-level resistance to change include group norms, group cohesiveness, and groupthink and escalation of commitment. Sources of individual-level resistance to change include uncertainty and insecurity, selective perception and retention, and habit. According to Lewin’s force-field theory of change, organizations are balanced between forces pushing for change and forces resistant to change. To get an organization to change, managers must find a way to increase the forces for change, reduce resistance to change, or do both simultaneously. Types of change fall into two broad categories: evolutionary and revolutionary. The main instruments of evolutionary change are sociotechnical systems theory, total quality management, and the development of flexible workers and work teams. The main instruments of revolutionary change are reengineering, restructuring, and innovation. Often, the revolutionary types of change that result from restructuring and reengineering are necessary only because an organization and its managers ignored or were unaware of changes in the environment and did not make incremental changes as needed. Action research is a strategy that managers can use to plan the change process. The main steps in action research are (a) diagnosis and analysis of the organization, (b) determining the desired future state, (c) implementing action, (d) evaluating the action, and (e) institutionalizing action research. Organizational development (OD) is a series of techniques and methods to increase the adaptability of organizations. OD techniques can be used to overcome resistance to change and to help the organization to change itself. OD techniques for dealing with resistance to change include education and communication, participation and empowerment, facilitation, bargaining and negotiation, manipulation, and coercion. OD techniques for promoting change include, at the individual level, counseling, sensitivity training, and process consultation; at the group level, team building and intergroup training; and at the organizational level, organizational confrontation meetings. CHAPTER OUTLINE 10. 1 What Is Organizational Change? Organizational change is the process by which organizations move from their current or present state to some desired future state to increase their effectiveness. An organization in decline may need to restructure its competences and resources to improve its fit with a changing environment. Even thriving, high-performing organizations such as Google, Apple, and Facebook need to continuously change the way they operate over time to meet ongoing challenges. Targets of Change Organizational change includes changes in four areas: 1. Human resources are an organization’s most important asset. Because these skills and abilities give an organization a competitive advantage, organizations must continually monitor their structures to find the most effective way of motivating and organizing human resources to acquire and use their skills. Changes made in human resources include investment in training, socializing employees, changing norms to motivate a diverse workforce, monitoring promotion and reward systems, and changing top management. 2. Each organizational function needs to develop procedures that allow it to manage the particular environment it faces. Crucial functions grow in importance while those whose usefulness is declining shrink. Thus, key functions grow in importance. Organizations can change structure, culture, and technology to improve the value created by functions. 3 Organizational change often involves changing the relationships between people and functions to increase their ability to create value. 10. 2 Forces for and Resistance to Organizational Change Forces for Change If managers are slow to respond to the forces of change, the organization will lag behind its competitors and its effectiveness will be compromised. (Refer to Figure 10. 1) Competitive forces spur change, because unless an organization matches or surpasses its competitors it will not survive. Managing change is crucial when competing for customers. To lead on the dimensions of efficiency or quality, an organization must constantly adopt the latest technology as it becomes available. To lead on the dimension of innovation and obtain a technological advantage over competitors, a company must possess skills in managing the process of innovation. Economic, political, and global forces, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or other economic unions, are significant forces of change. The European Union (EU) includes over 27 members eager to take advantage of a large protected market. Global challenges facing organizations include the need to change an organizational structure to allow expansion into foreign markets, the need to adapt to a variety of national cultures, and the need to help expatriate managers adapt to the economic, political, and cultural values of the countries in which they are located. Demographic and social forces include an increasingly diverse workforce. Changes in the demographic characteristics of the workforce require managers to change their styles of managing all employees and to learn how to understand, supervise, and motivate diverse members effectively. Many workers want to balance work and leisure. Managers need to abandon stereotypes and accept the importance of equity in the recruitment and promotion of new hires. Ethical forces such as increasing government, political, and social demands for more responsible and honest corporate behavior are compelling organizations to promote ethical behavior. Many companies have created the position of ethics officer. If organizations operate in countries that pay little attention to human rights or to the well-being of organizational members, they have to learn how to change these standards and to protect their overseas employees. Resistances to Change Resistance to change lowers an organization’s effectiveness and reduces its chances of survival. Resistances or impediments to change that cause inertia are found at the organization, group, and individual levels. (Refer to Figure 10. 1) Organization-Level Resistance to Change Power and conflict: When change causes power struggles and organizational conflict, an organization is likely to resist it. If change benefits one function at the expense of another, conflict impedes the change process. In the old IBM, for example, managers of its mainframe computer division fought off attempts to redirect IBM’s resources to produce the PCs that customers wanted in order to preserve their own power. Differences in functional orientation: This means that different functions and divisions often see the source of a problem differently because they see an issue or problem primarily from their own viewpoint. This tunnel vision increases organizational inertia. Mechanistic structure: Mechanistic structures are more resistant to change. People who work within a mechanistic structure are expected to act in certain ways and do not develop the capacity to adjust their behavior to changing conditions. A mechanistic structure typically develops as an organization grows and is a principal source of inertia, especially in large organizations. The extensive use of mutual adjustment and decentralized authority in an organic structure makes it less resistant to change. Organizational culture: Organizational culture, values, and norms cause resistance to change. If organizational change disrupts taken-for-granted values and norms and forces people to change what they do and how they do it, an organization’s culture will cause resistance to change. Group-Level Resistance to Change Many groups develop strong informal norms that specify appropriate and inappropriate behaviors and govern the interactions between group members. Often, change alters task and role relationships in a group; when it does, it disrupts group norms and the informal expectations that group members have of one another. As a result, members of a group may resist change because a new set of norms must be developed to meet the needs of the new situation. Group cohesiveness, the attractiveness of a group to its members, also affects group performance. A highly cohesive group may resist attempts by management to change what it does or even who is a member of the group. Groupthink and escalation of commitment also make changing a group’s behavior very difficult. Individual-Level Resistance to Change People tend to resist change because they feel uncertain and insecure about what its outcome will be. Selective perception and retention suggest that people perceive information consistent with their views. If change doesn’t benefit them, they do not endorse it. People’s preference for familiar actions and events is a further impediment to change. Lewin’s Force-Field Theory of Change Force-field theory is a theory of organizational change that argues that two sets of opposing forces within an organization determine how change will take place. When the forces are evenly balanced, the organization is in a state of inertia and does not change. To get an organization to change, managers must find a way to increase the forces for change, reduce resistance to change, or do both simultaneously. Any of these strategies will overcome inertia and cause an organization to change. (Refer to Figure 10. 2) Managerial Implications Managers must continuously monitor the environment to identify the forces for change. They must analyze how the change will affect the organization and determine which type of change to pursue. 10. 3 Evolutionary and Revolutionary Change in Organizations Evolutionary change refers to change that is gradual, incremental, and specifically focused. It adds small adjustments to strategy and structure to handle environmental changes. Sociotechnical systems theory, total quality management, and the creation of empowered, flexible work groups are three instruments of evolutionary change that organizations use in their attempt to make incremental improvements in the way work gets done. Revolutionary change refers to change that is sudden, drastic, and organization-wide. It has repercussions at all levels in the organizationâ€â€corporate, divisional, functional, group, and individual. Three ways to implement revolutionary change are reengineering, restructuring, and innovation. Developments in Evolutionary Change: Sociotechnical Systems Theory Sociotechnical systems theory is a theory that proposes the importance of changing role and task or technical relationships to increase organizational effectiveness. It emerged from a study of changing work practices in the British coal-mining industry. The socio-technical systems theory argues that managers need to fit or jointly optimize the workings of the technical and social systems. A poor fit between an organization’s technology and social system leads to failure, but a close fit leads to success. When managers change task and role relationships, they must recognize the need to adjust the technical and social systems gradually so group norms and cohesiveness are not disrupted. By taking this gradual approach, an organization can avoid the group-level resistance to change. Researchers suggest that a team-oriented system promotes values that enhance efficiency and product quality. Total quality management uses sociotechnical systems theory. Total Quality Management Total quality management (TQM) is a technique developed by W. Edwards Deming to continuously improve the effectiveness of flexible work teams. It was embraced by Japanese companies after World War II. Changes frequently inspired by TQM include altering the design or type of machines used to assemble products and reorganizing the sequence of activitiesâ€â€either within or between functionsâ€â€necessary to provide a service to a customer. Changing cross-functional relationships to help improve quality is important in TQM. The changes associated with TQM are changes in task, role, and group relationships. Implementing a TQM program is not always easy because it requires workers and managers to adopt new ways of viewing their roles in an organization. Managers must be willing to decentralize control of decision making, empower workers, and assume the role of facilitator rather than supervisor. The â€Å"command and control†model gives way to an â€Å"advise and support†model. Flexible Workers and Flexible Work Teams In implementing socio-technical systems theory and TQM, many organizations are finding it easier to achieve their goals by using flexible workers and teams. Flexible workers can be transferred between departments and functions as demand changes. The advantages of flexible workers include quick response to environmental changes; reduced boredom and increased incentives for quality; better understanding by learning one another’s tasks; and combining tasks to increase efficiency and reduce costs. A flexible work team is a group of workers who assume responsibility for performing all the operations necessary for completing a specified stage in the manufacturing process. A flexible work team is self-managed; members jointly assign tasks and transfer from one task to another. In a flexible work team, separate teams assemble different components and turn those components over to the final-product work team, which assembles the final product. Each team’s activities are driven by demands that have their origins in customer demands for the final product. (Refer to Figure 10. 3) Developments in Revolutionary Change: Reengineering The term â€Å"reengineering†has been used to refer to the process by which managers redesign how tasks are bundled into roles and functions to improve organizational effectiveness. It involves rethinking business processes, activities that cross functional boundaries. Instead of focusing on an organization’s functions in isolation from one another, managers make business processes the focus of attention. A business process is an activity that cuts across functional boundaries and is vital to the quick delivery of goods and services or that promotes high quality or low costs. Because reengineering focuses on business processes and not functions, an organization must rethink the way it approaches organizing its activities. A good example of how to use reengineering to increase functional integration comes from attempts to redesign the materials management function to improve its effectiveness. In the traditional functional design the three main components of materials managementâ€â€purchasing, production control, and distributionâ€â€were typically in separate functions and had little to do with one another. Thus coordinating their activities is difficult. Each function has its own hierarchy, and there are problems in both vertical and horizontal communication. Today, most organizations put all three of the functional activities involved in the materials management process inside one function. Three guidelines for performing reengineering successfully are as follows: Organize around outcomes, not tasks. 2. Have those who use the output of the process perform the process. 3. Decentralize decision making to the point where the decision is made. Reengineering and TQM are highly interrelated and complementary. E-Engineering This is a term used to refer to companies’ attempts to use all kinds of information systems to improve performance. The importance of e-engineering is increasing as it changes the way a company organizes its value-creation functions and links them to improve its performance. Restructuring Restructuring is a process by which managers change task and authority relationships and redesign organizational structure and culture to improve organizational effectiveness. Downsizing is the process by which managers streamline the organizational hierarchy and lay off managers and workers to reduce bureaucratic costs. The drive to decrease bureaucratic costs results from competitive pressures. Mergers and acquisitions in many industries, such as banking, have led to downsizing because fewer managers are needed. Other companies have reduced staff to match competitors. The negative effects of downsizing include overworked managers and lost opportunities. Companies that fail to control growth must downsize to remain competitive. The terms anorexic or hollow are used to refer to organizations that downsized too much and have too few managers to help them grow when conditions change. Restructuring, like other change strategies, generates resistance to change. Often, the decision to downsize requires the establishment of new task and role relationships. Because this change may threaten the jobs of some workers, they resist the changes taking place. Innovation Innovation refers to the process by which organizations use their skills and resources to develop new goods and services or to develop new production and operating systems so they can better respond to the needs of their customers. 10. 4 Managing Change: Action Research In Lewin’s view, implementing change is a three-step process: (1) unfreezing the organization from its present state, (2) making the change, and (3) refreezing the organization in the new, desired state so its members do not revert to their previous work attitudes and role behavior. Action research is a strategy for generating and acquiring knowledge that managers can use to define an organization’s desired future state and to plan a change program that allows the organization to reach that state. Figure 10. 6 highlights the steps in action research. Diagnosis of the Organization The first step in action research requires managers to recognize the existence of a problem that needs to be solved and acknowledge that some type of change is needed to solve it. In general, recognition of the need for change arises because somebody in the organization perceives a gap between desired performance and actual performance. Determining the Desired Future State This step also involves a difficult planning process as managers work out various alternative courses of action that could move the organization to where they would like it to be and determine what type of change to implement. Implementing Action 1. First, managers identify possible impediments to change at all levels. The second step is deciding who will be responsible for actually making the changes and controlling the change process. The choices are to employ either external change agents or internal change agents or use some combination of both. 3. The third step is deciding which specific change strategy will most effectively unfreeze, change, and refreeze the organization. The types of change that these techniques give rise to fall into two categories: Top-down change is implemented by managers at a high level in the organization, knowing that the change will reverberate at all organizational levels. Bottom-up change is implemented by employees at low levels in the organization that gradually rises until it is felt throughout the organization. Evaluating the Action The fourth step in action research is evaluating the action that has been taken and assessing the degree to which the changes have accomplished the desired objectives. The best way to evaluate the change process is to develop measures or criteria that allow managers to assess whether the organization has reached its desired objectives. Institutionalizing Action Research Organizations need to institutionalize action researchâ€â€that is, make it a required habit or a norm adopted by every member of an organization. The institutionalization of action research is as necessary at the top of the organization as it is on the shop floor. Managerial Implications Managers must develop criteria to evaluate whether a change is necessary, and carefully design a plan that minimizes resistance. 10. 5 Organizational Development Organizational development (OD) is a series of techniques and methods that managers can use in their action research program to increase the adaptability of their organization. The goal of OD is to improve organizational effectiveness and to help people in organizations reach their potential and realize their goals and objectives. OD Techniques to Deal with Resistance to Change Education and Communication: One impediment to change is that participants are uncertain about what is going to happen. Through education and communication, internal and external agents of change can provide organizational members with information about the change and how it will affect them. Participation and Empowerment: Inviting workers to participate in the change process is a popular method of reducing resistance to change. Participation complements empowerment, increases workers’ involvement in decision making, and gives them greater autonomy to change work procedures to improve organizational performance. These are key elements of most TQM programs. People that are involved in the change and decision-making process are more likely to embrace rather than resist. Facilitation: Both managers and workers find change stressful. There are several ways in which organizations can help their members to manage stress: providing them with training to help them learn how to perform new tasks, providing them with time off from work to recuperate from the stressful effects of change, or even giving senior members sabbaticals. Bargaining and Negotiation: Bargaining and negotiation are important tools that help managers manage conflict. Because change causes conflict, bargaining is an important tool in overcoming resistance to change. Manipulation: Sometimes senior managers need to intervene, as politics shows that powerful managers have considerable ability to resist change. Coercion: The ultimate way to eliminate resistance to change is to coerce the key players into accepting change and threaten dire consequences if they choose to resist. The disadvantage is that it can leave people angry and disenchanted and can make the refreezing process difficult. OD Techniques to Promote Change Counseling, Sensitivity Training, and Process Consultation: Recognizing that each individual is different also requires them to be treated or managed differently. Sometimes, counseling will help individuals understand that their own perceptions of a situation may be incorrect. Sensitivity training is an OD technique that consists of intense counseling in which group members, aided by a facilitator, learn how others perceive them and may learn how to deal more sensitively with others. Process consultation is an OD technique in which a facilitator works closely with a manager on the job to help the manager improve his or her interactions with other group members. Team building is an OD technique in which a facilitator first observes the interactions of group members and then helps them become aware of ways to improve their work interactions. The goal of team building is to improve group processes to achieve process gains and reduce process losses that are occurring because of shirking and freeriding. Intergroup training is an OD technique that uses team building to improve the work interactions of different functions or divisions. Its goal is to improve organizational performance by focusing on a function’s or division’s joint activities and output. Organizational mirroring is an OD technique in which a facilitator helps two interdependent groups explore their perceptions and relations in order to improve their work interactions. This technique is designed to get both interdependent groups to see the perspective of the other side. Appreciating others’ perspectives allows the groups to work together more effectively. Total Organizational Interventions: A variety of OD techniques can be used at the organization level to promote organization-wide change. Organizational confrontation meeting is an OD technique that brings together all of the managers of an organization at a meeting to confront the issue of whether the organization is meeting its goals effectively.
Monday, September 30, 2019
What is it to be Homeless?
Homelessness, it carries strong connotations of poverty, abandonment, and despair, yet it is still a major problem in American society with no end in sight for the people who find themselves in its midst. In 2004, over 7% of Americans found were defined as homeless, a number which continues to grow in connection with job losses and housing unavailability (Donohoe, 2004). Growing up in an upper middle class family, homelessness is something I’ve never had to experience firsthand but have witnessed time and again in people pandering for money in parking lots and on street corners. I have seen men, women, and children huddled together as they brace themselves for a night on the streets but until this point had largely kept myself separate. Through my field work and research for this project, I have come to a better understanding of the causes and effects of homelessness not only on the individual but on the family and society as a whole. Defined as sleeping in shelters, on the street, in cars, abandoned buildings, train or bus stations, homelessness is a constant reminder of the inequalities of society (Donohoe, 2004). In Kentucky, where the homeless rate has climbed steadily, it is a growing problem. In 2005, the number of homeless persons seeking assistance in Kentucky was 19,908 – a noticeable jump from the previous year when the number was 15,226 (Kentucky Statistics). The question is posed in viewing these statistics, as to what happened to cause such a high increase in individuals and families finding themselves without a home during a time when the economy was in an upturn. Now, in recent light of the recession and overall jobless problem in the United States, the outlook does not seem promising. The primary causes of homelessness range from domestic abuse, lack of housing, poverty, low wages, post-traumatic stress disorders, etc (â€Å"Factors Contributing to Homelessness†). The causes are as varied as the people who find themselves in this situation. Annually there are anywhere from 2. 3 million to 3. 5 million people nationwide who are homeless, 39% of which are children (â€Å"How Many are Homeless,†2006). Their day to day lives center around finding food and shelter for themselves, of which are becoming scarcer as public assistance continues to decrease. As part of my research I conducted several interrelated field studies, each meant to give me a better understanding of the homeless in Kentucky and to better ascertain the reasons behind their homelessness. The best way to understand this, I reasoned, was to place myself in their shoes. My experiments involved viewing the public’s response to homelessness. Dressing down in jeans, a t-shirt/sweatshirt combination, and a pair of old gym shoes with an old baseball cap borrowed from a friend, I set out to downtown Lexington to try and pander for loose change. As this had been my most common experience with the homeless, I sought to dispel my own stereotypes as well as experience through action what it means to be reduced to these circumstances. Standing on the corner of S. Broadway and Main streets, I scanned the area and saw a man farther down the street dressed in rags and holding a cardboard sign. I momentarily regretted my decision to forego the sign myself as it would be helpful in drawing people to me. However, I reasoned that as this was meant as a means of interacting with the public as a homeless person I had a better chance at verbal communication without the sign. Having chosen both a high traffic area and a busy afternoon, I was soon watching people pass me without so much as a backward glance. Unsure of myself, I tried to remember my own experiences with being asked for money. It had seemed almost an effortless endeavor, lending to the stereotype I have heard most commonly thrown about that people begged no out of necessity but laziness. I soon discovered that pandering was no easy task. Seeing an elderly woman, who reminded me of my grandmother, I called to her, asking the standard question, â€Å"can you spare some change? Maybe I called it too loud in my nervousness or possibly the dirt I had purposely smeared and worked into the fabric of my clothes and my general appearance of disarray but she moved away from me seeming to hold her breath. I smiled, trying to dispel her unease but it was too late. Surprising me with her speed and agility, she quickly made her way past darting between other ongoing pedestrians. Trying not to lose my ner ve, I quickly turned my attention to the other people crossing in front of me. A man in a business suit, out of place himself on a Saturday afternoon, stopped in front of me as I called to him trying this time to temper my voice and not appear over enthused or worse disingenuous. â€Å"Why don’t you get a job? †he asked. â€Å"I work 50 hours a week to support my family, and you can’t go to McDonald’s and flip burgers for some cash? No! You expect me and all of these other hardworking people to give you theirs! †and with that he dug in his pocket, tossing a handful of pennies and pocket lint on the sidewalk in front of me. This was not easy. Pandering required that you have not only a tough skin but also that you set aside your pride. I found myself struggling with tears, wanting to call out to the man as he plowed his way down the street that I wasn’t really homeless. I wanted to call, but I’m a college student, I have a job, I have a home but this would only stunt any further work I wished to accomplish in this area. I needed to blend. A young woman, not much older than myself, stopped in front of me as I struggled with my own ego trying to reconcile the humiliation of the research with understanding I knew I would gain. I looked up and she appeared the very opposite of the man in the business suit. Dressed similarly to me, though clean with freshly washed hair and fashionably distressed jeans and a bright green sweater, she held a cup of coffee in one hand and a few dollar bills in the other and on her face was a sympathetic smile. â€Å"Don’t let him bother you,†she said handing me the coffee and forcing the bills into my hand. â€Å"I know where you are coming from. I lost my job two years ago and was in the exact same spot as you. I was evicted from my apartment and lived in my car and the shelter for 2 months before I was able to get back on my feet. Just be happy you don’t have kids, I still feel guilty that my daughter had to go through all of that with me. †With this, she smiled and waved to me before crossing to the other side of the S. Broadway. Within minutes of each other, I had experienced the two extremes of the human interaction side of pandering. Though the man in the business suit had almost discouraged me to the point of blowing my cover, the kind young woman’s kindness made me feel a new kind of guilt. She did not seem a financially well off woman but she had still tried to help. Even more than the embarrassment and loss of pride at the man in the business suit judging me all from a simple request, â€Å"can you spare some change†I felt guilt at having taken money from this woman and her daughter. I made a mental note to try and ask the homeless people I encountered how they felt at asking for money from strangers. First, I had the day to worry about. I had purposely set off on my research without money or other means of procuring food and drink. For the moment, if I wanted to eat, I would have to continue to pander for a little more cash. As it went from morning to afternoon, I had no repeat encounters with the anger of the businessman but also did not experience any more of the kindness of the young woman. Many people either ignored my call for spare change or reach into their pockets without looking in my direction. One man asked why I needed the money. I tried to reply that I just needed enough to get a meal or two, at which he laughed before tossing some loose change my way, â€Å"Sure. Last time I checked, crack wasn’t a meal. The audacity of the man completely surprised me. Did I look like a drug addict? Did he think people only became homeless because of personal mistakes? I realized I was taken aback because he had asked a question aloud that I had only thought in my own head as I gave spare change to people in the past. Though drug addiction is a major problem for the homeless community, it is not the root o f the problem. Given the discrepancies in statistics though it is understandable that this would be associated with and even blamed for the continually growing rate of homelessness. In information published by the National Coalition for the Homeless in 2005, it is noted that early statistics for substance abuse and addiction among the homeless were incorrectly calculated leading to an assumption that over 60% of the homeless suffer from one form of substance addiction of another. However, recent statistics from US Conference of Mayors in 2005 puts the number as being closer to 30% (â€Å"Who is Homeless†2005). The question is though, did their drug addiction lead to their homelessness or is it a result? After collecting almost $15 dollars, I set off to find a homeless person or people who would talk to me about the circumstances that led to their current state. Walking toward the man with the cardboard sign, I thought at first to speak with him as I had grown to feel a certain kinship with the man having worked the same street this morning. As I approached him, I saw a group of teenage boys stopped in front of him. They were laughing as one of them tore the man’s sign from his hands and proceeded to tear it in half. The man, obviously angered, kept his head down to the verbal abuse that rained from the teens mouths. No one it seemed was in the least concern. Pedestrians kept a wide breadth of the scene and kept their eyes to the ground. Finished with their fun, the boys threw the sign at the man’s feet and continued walking, still laughing at the humiliation of the man. Seeing the anger of the man, I decided that now would not be a good time to speak with him. Instead, I continued walking past him knowing that while his pride may be hurt, he had been spared any actual physical violence. I knew that this man had been one of the lucky ones. From 1999-2005 there were 472 acts of violence committed against homeless individuals (â€Å"Hate Crimes. †2006), targeted specifically because of their homeless status. Of that number, 169 were murders. Shelter workers and advocates have heard increasing stories of harassment, beatings, being set on fire, and even decapitation (National Coalition for the Homeless. â€Å"Hate Crimes. †2006) as the years have gone by. After walking for several blocks, I stopped in a corner store to buy myself some water. Walking to the back of the store where the refrigerators were, I could feel the clerk’s eyes follow me. I guess, making sure I was not shoplifting. With this, I understood yet one more stereotype and misconception of homelessness – namely the role of criminal. Though I had the money to buy the water, though I had spent a day being verbally abused and ignored in order to scrounge together the change for this very water, the clerk assumed I would steal it. I walked to the counter, feeling his eyes on me, I assume checking my body’s silhouette for bulges of pilfered food. 1. 47†he said, simply, still not taking his eyes off of me, his nose curling at the smell he assumed must be wafting off of me. Counting the change onto the counter, I saw my hands with the fingernails lightly ingrained with dirt and the grime of the street. Reaching forward to hand him the change, I saw him recoil slightly and I instead placed the change on the counter where it was carefull y counted. Expecting the â€Å"have a nice day†I had come to rely on as part of the retail experience, I was surprised when after processing my order, I received no more than a nod. Later that afternoon, I found myself sitting on a park bench beside a young homeless man, trying to find his life story in the sometimes incoherent ramblings. John was an Iraq War veteran who after returning from his stint in the Army, found himself increasingly anxious and unable to forget the bloodshed. Now a methamphetamine addict, he is thin to the point of starvation. Under his beard, I could see sores where the meth was surfacing and his front teeth were rotted to nothing. John is just one of many veterans who make up the homeless population. With approximately 11% of the total homeless population veterans, comprising 40% of the total male population of homeless persons (National Coalition for the Homeless, â€Å"Who is Homeless,†2005), John is the embodiment of the what happens to veterans when resources become limited and their problems too big to be handled effectively by the system. â€Å"A lot of the guys you see out here who are veterans were in ‘nam, they’ve been back and forth between the veterans hospital, group homes, and the street. When I first came back, I went back to working in my uncle’s garage fixing engines and changing oil. I hadn’t really had many plans before I signed up following 9/11. When I came back, my mom and girlfriend were pushing me to go back to school. Use the G. I. bill, you know. But I just couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t sleep at night. When I did sleep, I had bad nightmares, bodies piled to the ceiling, blood everywhere. I started drinking, so I could sleep but it just made things worse. I slept but when I was awake nobody wanted to be around me. I went to the V. A. and they diagnosed me with post traumatic stress, gave me a couple prescriptions and a list of counselors and sent me on my way. For a little while the pills helped, but I was still drinking and had started to smoke meth. It kept me awake a lot but I thought I was getting things done. But then I lost my job, my girlfriend left me and I was stuck living in my parents’ basement. I started snorting meth and then shooting up,†with this, John pulls up his sleeves to show me the track marks running along his forearms. â€Å"Eventually, even my parents had enough. I wrecked their car, stole $4,000 worth of jewelry and computer equipment that I pawned for half that to buy more meth and booze. This is where I ended up. I told John about my earlier experience pandering and asked him if he ever felt bad for asking strangers for money. To this he shrugged and smiled, showing blackened gums above where his two front teeth once were, â€Å"You must be new. When I first started asking, sure I felt bad. I never thought I’d be asking for handouts. I wasn’t raised that way. Shit, if my dad saw me o n a street corner begging he’d probably kick my ass. But you gotta do what you gotta do. I mean, come on, who is going to hire me? I stink, I’m paranoid, I have a meth addiction and no teeth. If I want to eat or get more drugs, I have to beg or steal. I’d rather beg than steal any day. I still have some scruples,†he laughingly explained. Had he ever tried rehab or contacting on the programs that helps the homeless? â€Å"Sure. I’ve gone down to the shelter and filled out the paperwork but they don’t have a whole lot of money either so I couldn’t stay forever and the rehab program they tried to get me into was full. I tell myself everyday that this will be the last. Once I’ve shot up the last of my bag, I just won’t buy anymore but it never works out that way. I start jonesing and the nightmares come back. I sat over in there one night,†he said, pointing to a pavilion on the other side of the park, â€Å"and cried because I thought I was back in Iraq. I could hear the mortars exploding around my head and the screams of children in my ears. My friend found me after a couple of hours and offered me his needle and it all melted away. Of course, I found out a couple months later that he had hepatitis and had passed it onto me but he was just trying to help, I guess I can’t blame him too much. I’ll die sooner than later anyway. †When I asked him what he meant, he shrugged again. â€Å"Look at how I live. I’m lucky to eat every other day. I’ve shot up so much meth that it’s coming out my pores and am lucky to find a vein anymore. I’ve been beaten up, pushed in front of cars, spit on. I had pneumonia last winter, almost died from that. And I want to die. I should have died in Iraq, I think of that every day. If I knew then what my life would become, I would have shot myself when I still had a gun. The day I don’t wake up, will be the best day of my life. †Shaken, I thanked John for talking to me and tried to make sense of what he had told me. Before talking, he had taken a quick dose of meth to loosen his tongue but what he let loose was more than just his own story. Between John’s veteran status, gender, drug addiction, and mental illness he is unfortunately a prime example of homelessness in America. Approximately 22% of the homeless population suffers from one form of mental illness or another (â€Å"Why Are People Homeless,†2006). Though it has been said that the increase in mentally ill homeless people is due to the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, this is false. Most of this was done between the 1950s and 1960s but homeless rates did not begin to reach their current rates until the 1980s. According to a 2003 report from the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, many of the mentally ill homeless could and can live within the community and receive treatment from outpatient facilities. Many however, are unable to receive treatment or housing because of the lack of availability (â€Å"Why Are People Homeless,†2006). As John noted, with waiting lists and the unpredictability of street life, finding ones next meal is hard enough. Finding help with housing and medicine is even more of a challenge. Having been shaken by my experiences at pandering, moving through regular daily activities like making a small purchase at a convenience store, and John’s own tales I knew I was neither prepared nor willing to spend my night as a homeless person. Before going home, I ventured to the bus station, where I had originally planned to spend the night. Walking towards the entrance, I saw a man holding a cardboard sign. Thinking he was the man from earlier, I hurried forward to try and see how he had fared after his run in with the teenagers. I was wrong. Though similar in dress and situation, this was a new man. Much older, appearing to be in his sixties or seventies. I braced myself for a request for spare change, forgetting my own appearance, but he ignored me. I knelt down to ask him some questions, figuring that this would be my last chance as I was now determined after my brief experience before returning to my normal life. No one, I now knew would knowingly choose homelessness. Asking his name, he eyed me warily, â€Å"you ain’t a cop are you? †Deciding to blow my cover, such as it was, I explained that I was a college student trying to understand what it means to be homeless. â€Å"Why would you do that? You think this is a game? Just go home, at least you have one. I been sleeping on park benches and in bus stations for 5 years, count your blessings. †With this he turned away from me, his eyes fixed on a couple walking along the sidewalk. Speechless, I left him to his pandering. Regardless of my experiments, I had still only had an outsider’s experience of his daily life. I could, as he put so bluntly, go home. I had a home. Even as I begged on the street, I knew that I had a bank account across town with more money in it than this man would see in a week. I would finish my education and get a job, buy a home and build a family. For this man, that kind of life must seem a dream. I now knew, however, that the future I have so long imagined and planned for can just as easily be taken from me. It can start with something as seemingly changeable as losing a job and spiral into a hopelessness that left some dead, others wishing for death. For John the tipping point had been a combination of factors: mainly his drug use and trying to cope with post-traumatic stress. The causes, I now realized were encompassing of us all in one form or another. I now was able to understand through my experience that just like the woman from that morning find myself living in a car one day and begging on a street corner for real next time.
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