Depression Essays (570 words) - Depression, Psychiatric Diagnosis

Depression Depression is a psychiatric disorder characterized by feelings of worthlessness, guilt, sadness, helplessness, and hopelessness. It is different then normal sadness or grief from the loss of a loved one because it is persistent and severe. Clinical depression has many related symptoms trouble sleeping, eating disorders, withdrawal and inactivity, self-punishment, and loss of pleasure. People that are depressed do not like to do things they may usually like to. Surveys that have been taken that show approximately 20 in 100 people suffer from depression at any one time. About one if four Americans will suffer from a depression over the course of their lifetime. Depression strikes men and women of all ages, in all races, but most studies indicate that women are more often afflicted. There are two major forms of depression that people get. One form is called depressive disorder. It is diagnosed only by episodes of depression. Episodes can be short or long but are usually brought about by an incident in a persons life. An example of this is if someone close to them dies. The other kind is called bipolar or manic depressive illness, it is recognized by alternating depressed and manic episodes. This is an actual brain dysfunction. In the major depression or the depressed phase of bipolar illness, a depressed mood predominates, even though the patient may not be aware of feeling sad. Typically, he or she loses all interest in activities. Symptoms include sleep disturbances, not able to concentrate or to make decisions, loss of appetite or greatly increased appetite, slowed thinking and decreased energy feelings of worthlessness, guilt, hopelessness, diminished sexual interest, and recurrent thoughts of suicide and death, sometimes leading a person to actually committing suicide. In the manic phase of bipolar disorder the patients behavior is bizarre and sometimes obnoxious. Symptoms of this are the person being hyper and have lots of energy, they talk a lot, racing thoughts, and a decreased need for sleep. In this stage it is very hard to recognize. Both depressive and bipolar disorders run in families. Meaning if your father or mother had it you have a high chance of getting it yourself. Most people who are depressed are women. They may be biologically induced depression. Meaning that there is a lack of or too much of a chemical or protein. Or it may be that women learn social roles that favor feelings of helplessness. Because women in trouble are more likely to seek professional assistance than men, statistics report that more people who are depressed are mostly women. The depressive disorders are among the most treatable in psychiatry. The usual treatment in modern practice involves administration of a drug plus supportive psychotherapy. Basically going to a psychiatrist and talking to them. The two major drugs that are used to treat depressive disorders are tricyclic/tetracyclic antidepressants and the monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors. The last one requires the patient to follow a special diet because the drugs react to tryamine. Tryamine is found in cheeses, beer, wine, chicken livers, and other foods, and causes higher blood pressure. The tricyclic antidepressants require no special diet. Lithium carbonate is a common mineral that is used to control the manic phase of manic-depressive illness. In small doses it is also used to regulate the mood fluctuations of this bipolar disorder. I also found a little amount on something called electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, is considered most effective for depressions that do not respond to drug therapy. ECT is not widely used and is very controversial. It brings rapid relief from severe depression and can often prevent suicide. But it did not tell me how it works.

Free Essays on Promoting Friendships For Children With Autism

Abstract It’s extremely important to develop belonging and affiliation in general education classrooms for students with autism. Students with autism have difficulty with social skills and friendships. Teachers may use different types of strategies to promote membership for students with autism in the general education classroom. The primary focus of these strategies are used for students in the primary grades, kindergarten through third. Introduction Though the classroom environment can be a helpful aspect into promoting friendship, sometimes other children aren’t so accepting. With the absence of friendship and good social relationships many things can happen. Among them a decreased likelihood of one day obtaining employment. A decreased likelihood of living independently, and a decreased life expectancy (Strain, 2001a). Children with autism have difficulty engaging in social activities, and social interactions. Amid them, language, social cues, physical contact, and nature of pretending (Clark & Smith, 1999). To avoid these problems teachers must do a number of things. They must promote positive interactions, reinforce positive interactions, limit the amount of adult interaction, and educate everyone about diversity. Teachers must also give choices. By giving choices positive antecedent intervention will help. Children with autism will interact more with peers. This will also be a naturalistic intervention, and is an i mportant variable for a student with autism (Carter, 2001). Teachers must also use peers as social models, by direct instruction, and by developing social skills. This can be done by developing friendships, and playing with children who have a variety of disabilities. Teachers can also teach children to engage in social play with children with autism (Turnbull, Turnbull, Shank, & Leal, 1995) Environment To promote friendship, affiliation, and belonging in a general education classroom, for a child with ... Free Essays on Promoting Friendships For Children With Autism Free Essays on Promoting Friendships For Children With Autism Abstract It’s extremely important to develop belonging and affiliation in general education classrooms for students with autism. Students with autism have difficulty with social skills and friendships. Teachers may use different types of strategies to promote membership for students with autism in the general education classroom. The primary focus of these strategies are used for students in the primary grades, kindergarten through third. Introduction Though the classroom environment can be a helpful aspect into promoting friendship, sometimes other children aren’t so accepting. With the absence of friendship and good social relationships many things can happen. Among them a decreased likelihood of one day obtaining employment. A decreased likelihood of living independently, and a decreased life expectancy (Strain, 2001a). Children with autism have difficulty engaging in social activities, and social interactions. Amid them, language, social cues, physical contact, and nature of pretending (Clark & Smith, 1999). To avoid these problems teachers must do a number of things. They must promote positive interactions, reinforce positive interactions, limit the amount of adult interaction, and educate everyone about diversity. Teachers must also give choices. By giving choices positive antecedent intervention will help. Children with autism will interact more with peers. This will also be a naturalistic intervention, and is an i mportant variable for a student with autism (Carter, 2001). Teachers must also use peers as social models, by direct instruction, and by developing social skills. This can be done by developing friendships, and playing with children who have a variety of disabilities. Teachers can also teach children to engage in social play with children with autism (Turnbull, Turnbull, Shank, & Leal, 1995) Environment To promote friendship, affiliation, and belonging in a general education classroom, for a child with ...

Digitel media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Digitel media - Essay Example Television has started streaming their news live in some sites like face book and YouTube (Papathanassopoulos & Negrine, 2013). There has been an increase in social television. Many people call it the second screen. They distribute news for the traditional television. Many people prefer television as the source of their news. They will follow the way of social television because of their similarity to traditional television. Different statistics around the globe point at the increased number of tablet and laptop owners using their devices watching television. Tweeter said that people post most tweets during the time the programs run in television. This happens when live programs air, example, the super bowl. The business opportunity in the digital universe is so open for the television industry. Social networks, like face book and twitter are interactive in nature. Players in television industry have created interactive television programs. By interacting viewers, television becomes more interesting, bonding closely television and the digital universe. Programmers have developed applications that run online television. Demand for these applications has been on the rise. This shows how the television has encountered major success in digital platform. The applications allow mobile device owners get instant news or watch their favorite programs. Many applications of the same are on the rise, because of competition, giving consumers the hard time to choose which the best is. This has resulted to mergers and acquisition in order to give the consumers the best services, cementing the business opportunity television enjoys in digital media universe. Demand for television services, like adverti sements, are on the rise because of it coping with the technology changes. An average adult spends almost five hours a day online. Online television is the most watched news urgency if a person wants to get the day’s news and

Strategic Audit for the Body Shop Research Paper - 1

Strategic Audit for the Body Shop - Research Paper Example The company, from the very beginning, tried to present itself as the leader in corporate social responsibility. Throughout its history, the company fought against human right abuses and abuse of animals and plants. Environment protection was an important part of the agenda of the company. As a result, the company gained a large number of environmental friendly customers in America and Europe, and this helped develop a standard image in Asia and the Middle East too. The company always promoted five core values which are as follows. Against animal testing: The company claims that it will not purchase any ingredient that is tested on animals for cosmetics purposes. In addition, the company campaigns against cosmetics tests on animals. Instead of testing on animals, the company depends on human volunteer trials like skin patch tests. In 1986, the company joined the ‘Save the Whale Campaign’ along with Greenpeace. In the 1990s, the company conducted a number of campaigns agai nst animal testing. Protecting the environment:Â  The company, throughout its history, has supported all activities aimed at environmental protection. In 2001, the Body Shop joined Greenpeace in the effort to raise awareness of the global warming. In addition, in its environmental policy, the company promoted the idea, ‘reduce, recycle, and reuse’. The company’s policy of recycling, and encouraging customers to refill their products by reusing bottles won the heart of many environment-friendly customers around the world.... 3. Human rights Throughout its history, the company fought for human rights. To illustrate, in 2000, the company started ‘Make your Mark’ campaign with their 3,000,000 customers signed up. The program intends to address human rights issues, especially in neglected areas. Undoubtedly, the Body Shop gets a lot of publicity in the effort to promote human rights. An example of this company’s human rights efforts is the fight for the rights of Ogoni people in Nigeria that won the wrath of Nigerian government. 4. Support Community Trade Through this program, the company collects ingredients and accessories from small producers around the world, especially from underprivileged societies. The company ensures fair prices, and this money goes back to the society to improve their lives’ basic needs like water and education. Presently, the company has trades with more than 42 community trade suppliers in more than 26 nations around the globe. To illustrate, as stated i n The Body Shop International values Report (Living our values, 2009), its palm oil comes from Columbia, coconut oil from Samoa, timber from Russia, Peppermint oil from Norfolk, cocoa butter from Ghana, Soya oil from Brazil, beeswax from Africa, and Footsie Roller from India. However, one has to doubt if the step will help such communities become independent as they tend to be totally dependent on the company for survival. 5. Self-esteem Te Body Shop always advocated the promotion of self-esteem especially in women. According to the company, it is about respecting oneself, looking after body and soul, and being proud of what one is. In 1998, there came a publication named ‘The Body and Self Esteem’ that was meant to raise awareness on the issues of

E Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

E - Essay Example Low interest rates have several impacts on the state of the economy. When interest rates are low, savers get very little returns; hence, they are discouraged from holding money, thus, prefer to spend it. It also makes borrowing cheap meaning that individuals and firms will be encouraged to borrow more and spend on investment. In addition, the low interest rates will lead to depreciation of the currency value, as people would prefer to save in another country with better interest rates. The high spending will lead to an increase in aggregate demand, which will in turn lead to an increase in the rate of inflation. Keeping the interest rates low can be a means of stimulating economic growth. In the recent past, the global rate of economic growth has been low. By keeping the interest rates low, there will be a decrease in the value of the dollar. This will make importing more expensive, thus, encourage people to buy locally produced goods, leading to an increase in aggregate demand of domestic products that will in turn lead to an increase in output, productivity and employment. Therefore, when there is a high rate of unemployment, the Feds can keep the interest rates low, a factor that will have an eventual impact of stimulating growth of the economy. The amount of investment in bonds and treasury bills will be affected by the current and expected rate of interest. Investors will invest their money on the stocks or bonds that they expect will have the highest rate of return. If the rate of interest is expected to remain low, investors will tend to invest more as they expect aggregate demand to increase which in turn will translate to higher business earning and returns. If they expect the rate of interest to rise, they will tend to invest in short term bills. Interest rates have an effect on the price of bonds. The price of the bond is inversely related to the interest rate. As the rate of interest rises, the price of the bonds

Issues Of The Work-Life Conflict

Issues Of The Work-Life Conflict Work-life conflict occurs when time and energy demands imposed by our many roles become incompatible with one another; participation in one role is made increasingly difficult by participation in another. Work-life balance (WLB), from an employee perspective, is the maintenance of a balance between responsibilities at work and at home. When the employees have conflicts between their work life and personal life it creates distractions in their work, preventing employees from performing in their best level, which creates obstacles in the achievement of organizational and individual goals. Therefore failure in managing work-life conflict among the employees could lead to problems within the organization. Hemas Hospital is a newly started hospital in Sri Lanka in the year 2008. It is a multi specialty hospital which caters for the whole family by providing highly specialized medical services according to the highest international standards. Around 100 consultants practice in this hospital. As a newly started hospital working for 24 hours they are confronted with problems of employees struggling to strike a balance between their work and life. Employees commitment to their service is vital to provide to provide a according to the standards. At Hemas Hospital Nurses play a major role. Professional nursing is a highly skilled practice directed towards improving the health status of individuals, groups and communities. Nursing activities encompass promoting health, preventing disease, aiding and supporting people in daily living as well as during recovery and rehabilitation, and helping people to die comfortably and with dignity (Nursing, n.d.). The purpose of this essay is to highlight and discuss on the issues of work life conflict how it affects further to discuss about the solutions that could be applied to tackle the conflicts. Secondary researches have been used in order to support the discussion in an effective way. 2.0 Causes 2.1 Womens Family Commitment Over recent years there has been an enormous increase in the number of women employees entering to the paid workforce labor of Hemas Hospital Wattala. Despite the rapid growth in womens involvement in the paid workforce; it appears that little has changed for women in terms of their family commitments. Culture plays a big role in Sri Lanka in relation to this topic. Traditional gender roles prescribe for women to place the role of wife and mother above all others; men are expected to be the family breadwinner. Given the burden of household responsibilities and child care, women employees (doctors, nurses, receptionists) face the demands of multiple roles, which often go beyond the general three roles working mothers generally take on (wife, mother, and worker) to include responsibilities such as: caretaker of aging parents, sister, aunt, cousin, etc. (Scott Coltrane, n.d.) As a result of these multiple tasks work life conflict has been identified as a common problem among most women employees at Hemas Hospital. 2.2 Personal Health Problems Health is the general condition of a person in all aspects. Having problems is a part of life. Most of the researches have found that effects of stress affect the health. The reason is the stress and health is closely linked. And also they have found that the risk factors for health caused by chronic stress causes as much as 60 to 90% of all illnesses. The impact it has on your health, both physical and mental, can be very harmful. And individuals stress does contribute to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other cardiac risk factors such as addictions and obesity. We found that 55% of Hemas hospitals nurses getting sick because of the stress they have. Some of the shifts they have to cover up without taking breaks. Therefore they cannot balance their personal lives with the work they have. So that stress arises and automatically they get ill. 2.3 Tight Work Schedules Workers have to control their working hours to enjoy a better life. Most of time nurses have to do night duty and also they have to do over time work because of this reasons lack of flexible working hours can be arising. Most of times who worked as nurses are young mothers so then they have do their children work, they have to care about children and also their home work. It is very hard to do night duty person who has small child then they might feel time is more important than money after that there can be arise a stress on work place. Organization culture can shape the work life balance. According to our culture most of time mothers are house wifes and also childrens need care of mothers. If mother busy with her job then there will be arises social problem and also family problems. In Hemas hospital every nurse has to do two night duties in each week and then there arises conflict between work life balances. 2.4 Lack of Employee Rewards and Appreciation As a nurse Caring for the sick and dying has never been easy. Though it is a respected, intellectually stimulating, and deeply meaningful career today it offers limited benefits and many challenges. Though its been 2 years Hemas Hospital started their management hasnt introduced proper rewarding system for the nurses. This will directly affect the employees morale; therefore employee productivity would be less. 2.5 Transportation Issues Transportation is one of the main issues that Hemas Hospital employees are facing. Since there are both day and night shifts, the employees main problem will be the transportation. In Sri Lanka with the cultural situations most of the people think in negative way when the females doing the night shifts and/or when they arrives at home in mid night, Since the public transportation is not too safe for female after around 7.30 8.00 pm the transportation will be highly regarded when comes to night shifts. 3.0 Effects 3.1 High Absenteeism Absenteeism is an expensive problem in both public and private sector organizations. Over the past decade, there has been increasing interest in the impact of womens family responsibilities, personal health problems and transportation problems on absenteeism. Many women employees at Hemas Hospital find it hard to achieve their desired combination of work and family time. For example, family responsibilities appear to constrain a womans choice of occupation. Women taking leave due to illnesses of children or their elder parents. 3.2 Less productivity Due to personal health problems, lack of rewards and appreciations and tight work schedules employees productivity getting reduced. This situation is not good for a working place like hospital. Productivity is one of the most important factors when it comes to work. When employees are not healthy they are unable to work properly. Therefore their productivity comes down and the job they do cannot be performed properly. When working in a hospital, the employees have to work very effective manner, because they are the savers of patients lives. It will be a big disaster if they forget or neglect to give proper medicine or giving wrong medicine to a patient. This would highly affect to Hemas hospital if they do not work properly up to the standard. 3.3 Dissatisfaction While the majority of reasons for dissatisfaction usually point to elements of the workplace itself such as: management style, environmental conditions or opportunities for growth, lack of rewards and appreciations, tight work schedules etc. (A guide to grow your personal growth, n.d.). It was found that especially nurses are dissatisfied with their job. Due to this they may move towards competitors or leave the job. Therefore Hemas Hospital has to consider ways of minimizing the work dissatisfaction. 3.4 Stress Stress is the most hated part of the job of healthcare employees. This can be occurring due to personal health problems, womens family commitments and tight working schedules. Therefore it leads nurses to be dissatisfied with their work. Due to the dissatisfaction they will not perform efficiently and effectively through less performance. Furthermore their loyalty for the company will be less and will tend to move towards competitors or leave the job. One of the respondents at the Hemas hospital said that, Too much pressure on this shift Scanty facilities very meageryou feel really exhaustedamounting to tensions and conflicts which are often displaced onto people aroundyou knowyelling at colleagues 3.5 High employment turnover This can be happened due to all of the causes mentioned above. More than the cultural influences nursing is a more stressful and challenging job therefore its a must to recognize them as very precious for the hospital to make them retain in the hospital. The impact of turnover has received considerable attention by senior management, human resources professionals, and industrial psychologists. It has proven to be one of the most costly and seemingly intractable human resource challenges confronting organizations. Analyses of the costs associated with turnover yield surprisingly high estimates. The high cost of losing key employees has long been recognized. When consider the Hemas Hospital the situation also same. It appears high employment turnover, especially nurses. 3.6 Work overload for other employees Due to health problems and family commitment some employees cannot perform their duties to the expected level. So others will have to carry out the sick employees work load too. Some times since they havent time to fulfill the work load they might not do even their assigned duties properly. They do not care about the patients very well. Then again it will affect to the overall performance of the Hemas hospital. In addition, inadequate facilities, improper functioning of other employees and neglected responsibilities created pressure and conflict among the personnel. These inadequacies eventually reduced the tolerance threshold, which in turn contributed to the conflict experienced. One of the respondents at Hemas hospital said that, We cant ignore the fact that heavy workload and shortage of skilled human resources affect our performance; despite our effort to get used to the situation, we are limited in coping. When you see that the supervisor stops backing us up and never steps into the ward to listen to us it makes us feel our rights have been violated. 4.0 Solutions 4.1 Paternity leave Paternity leave is the time a father takes off work at the birth or adoption of a child. This kind of leave is rarely paid. A few progressive companies offer new dads paid time off, ranging from a few days to a few weeks. Hemas Hospital can arrange paternity leave for doctors and therefore can avoid the absenteeism and dissatisfaction towards the job. 4.2 Dependent care arrangements Many nurses will be faced with issues of child or adult care giving. Without adequate support, these can create a host of distractions from work. There are many ways that the Hemas Hospital can support their nurses with their personal responsibilities. Some of the ways are on or off site child and adult care centers, lactation programs, dependent care referrals, etc. 4.3 Job sharing Job sharing is a form of permanent part-time work in which a full-time position is divided between two or more people, each of whom shares responsibility for the entire workload. Each job sharer receives conditions of employment and entitlements on a pro-rata basis in proportion to the hours worked. Job share arrangements are suitable for both professional and academic positions. A change from full-time work to a job sharing arrangement does not break continuity of employment. Job share arrangements can facilitate increased workplace flexibility because job sharers can relieve or cover for each other without loss in efficiency and effectiveness. Hemas Hospital also can implement this program and can get the maximum benefit out of it. 4.4 Flexible work schedules A flexible work schedule is a type of flexible work arrangement that allows employees to vary when they begin and end their work day to accommodate their individual and family needs. This flexibility greatly eases the burden of busy employees as they try to juggle their work and home lives Flexible work schedules benefits both employees and organization it self. For employees Increased satisfaction and productivity, reduced stress and health care costs, decreased absenteeism and reduced commuting time. For organizations improved retention and reduced turnover, higher levels of loyalty and commitment ,no change in managers supervisory time, attracts diverse employees who may not be able to conform to rigid schedules (i.e., disabled) 4.5 Incentives As a result if the hospital is not rewarding nurses well the Sri Lankan culture influences them to be not loyal towards hospital and as well to perform poorly. If an employee appreciated or rewarded it will influence them to work hardly than the before and also motivate to keep the work and personal life in a balance. For that reason this is the best time for Hemas to start an appropriate rewarding and appreciation system for their nurses to make them satisfy and happy situation between work and life. 5.0 Recommendations 5.1 Short Term Out of the number of solutions available, according to the situation, a strategy needs to be developed according to the problem but this would consume lots of time and energy to be done, So till a proper strategy is developed, in the short term the hospital can reward employing workers with an incentive programmed to facilitate them to balance their work /life.Hemas Hospital can reward financial non financial incentives to encourage their work force. Under financial incentives they can grant child vouchers and can have a special funding system for employees children. Furthermore the management of Hemas Hospital can introduce a transportation allowance system for the employees who come from distance areas. Under non financial incentive system Hemas Hospital can arrange family friends benefits or annual trips or get together, so that they have sometime to spend their leisure time with their colleagues. Furthermore nurses can be given promotions, scholarships or they can select best nur se annually to encourage nurses. 5.2 Long Term But in the long term proper strategy should be developed to address this problem, because incentives cannot be a solution for all the problems of the employees. While developing strategies the different situations of nurses need to be considered to facilitate them. Providing a flexible work options is a good method that could be developed, because job satisfaction is directly connected to a persons work schedule, especially to a nurses healthy mentality it is very important when dealing with patients. A variety of schedule options could be made available to fit their priorities and life styles. Full-time Options include: Three 12-hour shifts Five 8-hour shifts A combination of 8 and 12-hour shifts Part-time Options include: 8-hour shifts 12-hour shifts A combination of 8 and 12-hour shifts Weekend Program This program is an appealing option for nurses who are in school or who care for children during the week. This option provides short-term disability coverage. Weekend nurses work 24 hours each weekend They receive pay equivalent to 32 or 36 hours The schedule begins Friday at 7:30 a.m. and ends Monday at 7:30 a.m. Casual This option is appealing to nurses who want to work fewer hours but maintain a relationship with their unit and with Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Casual nurses work 40 hours during a 6-week schedule Float Pool Nurses may choose the flexibility and variety of working on multiple units through the Float Pool. Float Pool nurses are required to work two weekend shifts per month. Options include: Full-time work Part-time work Dynamic scheduling to accommodate personal work requirements. Schedule Choices Many nursing units offer nurses a Self Schedule option. They are able to select the days on the upcoming schedule they want to work. When their manager creates the schedule, he or she will balance the schedule requests with current patient needs in the unit (Careers, n.d.). The best recommendation would be to make available lots of flexible work schedule options and offer the nurses with a self schedule option, so that they can use choose a schedule according to their life style. These work options should be for the mutual benefit of both the employee and the employer so that employee can fulfill their responsibility towards their work place and as well as their families. 6.0 Conclusion There is a big difference between doing things and getting something done. Most work-life efforts by HR and work-life balance teams fail despite lots of doing. The problem is that all the doing didnt get anything done. If the organization wants to get something done that produces strong positive results and feedback, it should be start by taking an action in order to ensure success. Good work-life balance seems to be something that well-run firms in competitive markets do naturally. They need to treat their employees well to keep them if not; their competitors will hire them away. Government policies on work-life balance should take this into account. Whether the organization just introducing a work-life program or making an already great one better, the organization will be substantially improving its bottom line results and changing individuals lives for the better. To be an effective worker he/she has maintain a better balance in between work life and the personal life. We can see that there is a clear link between causes for the conflicts and effects of them. So that if Hemas can implement the above mentioned recommendations we think that Hemas can be the best hospital by getting the maximum use of their employees while providing them a conflicts free work life environment. Hence the entire organization and employees will be proud of the results.

Global Cultures Essay -- essays research papers

Begler, Elsie. â€Å"Global Cultures: The First Steps Toward Understanding† Social Education. September 1998, 62(5) pg. 272-275.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Begler’s Article a discussion on how educators should go about teaching culture occurs. The article starts out by giving a definition of what is meant by culture and the different aspects of culture. The Author sets up the guidelines for which she will interpret and use culture. The definitions of culture are presented very clearly so as the reader can fully understand where the author is coming from in the rest of the article.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The author spends significant time discussing the World Culture Model, which could be a very useful tool to a teacher that is developing a unit on culture or just incorporating aspects of culture into the classroom. The model that is presented can be particularly useful when comparing cultures because one of the hardest aspects of comparing different cultures is the fact that there are no common grounds to judge the different cultures. The model breaks down culture into easy to look at portions, which makes it easier for both student and teacher to study.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The end of the article is dedicated to giving a lesson plan and examples of how to use the model and implement culture into the classroom. The example given is very well displayed and gives some great ideas that teachers can use in everyday lessons or as ideas for their own lessons. ...

Developing yourself Essay

Findings: The CIPD profession map is a tool used to support the profession as a whole to develop products and services, yet it also accelerates the professional development of individuals. The map was created and is used by individuals and organisations; it’s a vital resource if you are working or connected in the HR profession. Whatever sector and/or size of an organisation the professional map is a great help, whether you are a specialist or generalist in talent, reward, learning development, employee relations and engagement. There are three key components to the map, which are: professional areas, behaviours and bands and transitions. The core professional areas show how a HR professional should think and look at tasks, then how to influence the relevant employees to the best outcome. There are then eight further areas surrounding the professional areas and when they are all combined, create the role of a great hr employee. Each area is essential to any business. The eight areas are: service delivery and information, organisation design, organisation development, resourcing and talent planning, learning and development, performance and reward, employee engagement, employee relations and service delivery and information. Once professional HR areas are covered, behaviours are the next vital key to becoming an effective HR professional. There are eight behaviours and they require an employee to be a strong character that leads by example and is confident when advising and influencing all levels of staff from entry to high level. Each behaviour is divided into four bands of professional competence. Each behaviour also lists a number of contra indicators which illustrate negative behaviour. Comment on the activities and knowledge specified within any 1 professional area, at either band one or band two identify those you consider most essential to your own or other identified hr role. Conclusion: A HR practitioner should ensure the services they provide are timely and effective. Different customers have different needs in a HR role and you need to prioritise conflicting needs. Shown below are different customers to  a HR practioner and examples of what needs they may have. Managers look to human resources for sound business advice on how to review, analyse and address people issues. They expect the HR services to be timely and accurate. Supervisors expect human resources to be available on an as-needed basis to help solve people issues. They expect, and frequently demand, help interpreting company policies, expediting personnel matters and preparing or completing paperwork. Most importantly, supervisors expect to learn from their interactions with human resources in order for them to return to their work unit and handle personnel matters. Associates look to human resources to provide, explain or confirm information about company policies and procedures. They expect human re sources to be an empathetic ear to their concerns and to help them solve work-related problems. They expect human resources to anticipate problems and to provide sound recommendations to management. To the applicant, human resources are the company. Applicants expect accurate information about employment opportunities, fair consideration of their qualifications and courteous treatment. An example of how you would prioritise conflicting needs is shown below: When in a HR role a supervisor may need a report by the end of the day completing, a manager may need you to sort a conflict between two members of staff and a member of staff may be dealing with bereavement and is upset. You would then organise how and who or what task is the priority and arrange how it will all be dealt with or completed. In this situation I would delegate the report to another member of staff, I would then arrange a time to address the issues between the two conflicting members of staff then I would then deal with the member of staff with bereavement as I would see them as the highest priority. Then all issues and tasks should be completed/ resolved by the end of the day. This shows how you have an empathetic ear to concerns, you are helping solve work related problems and you are completing tasks under a time scale with organisation and delegation. Communication methods: Employee communication is about the HR aspects of communication from management to employees and of course employees to management. The first aspect is downward communication this is where management communicate to employees the second aspect is upward communication and this is when  employees communicate to management. Managers have to communicate with employees all the time that they are at work it is impossible not to, plentiful communication with employee’s has been shown to be linked to good company performance. Communication could be formal or informal. Smaller company’s often rely on informal methods and have few formal methods of communication with employees. In some cases they prefer to encourage social events for promoting mutual communication. Shown below are some examples of communication: Downward communication: Upward communication: Workforce briefings for all or part of the workforce on key issues Employee attitude surveys Quality circles, regular meeting with all or part of the workforce Suggestion schemes Appraisal interviews Employee forums Newsletters, electronic circular and dvds Project teams With communication you can come across issues these are: Subject What is communicated is the most important issue. HR can send a message to employees only on subjects which they choose to communicate with them. For example, certain information may not be passed on to certain employees because the organisation may not want to disclose this information. Quality You do not want to give too much information as employees may have problems digesting it. You need to make sure the quality of communication is high. Depth The depth of the information must be fit for purpose for example it may be too detailed and confusing for those who it is aimed at as it may have initially been designed for a management circular, re-worked slightly and the circulated to part time workers. Receptiveness Employees should feel that they are being listened to; they may voice their  ideas but feel that they are not listened to, and this would then create a negative effect amongst them and actually demotivating them. Action on their views may or may not be considered a good idea, but employees should then receive feedback on their views. Regularity Employees learn to trust the communication if it is regular and tells them important information. Regular communication means it is less likely rumours which are incorrect circulate in workplaces. A balance must be made between giving people information so regularly that they are swamped with it, and too infrequently so that uncertainty arises. Timing Information may be released when leaked information has already reached employees as rumour and it may then be treated with contempt. Information may be released too early or too late. A good example of this is redundancy information. Employees themselves are sensitive when they read about their own redundancy in the newspaper or see it on the news. You should inform employees of this information at the relevant time so they find out from you first. In the HR role you are likely to have an important role in building managers presentational and communication skills, since operational managers are often appointed mainly for other skills that they have, they may need help in developing their interpersonal skills. HR professionals have people issues at the forefront of their minds, they may advise on where and when sensitive meetings such as appraisals or disciplinary meetings might be best held. HR professionals can act as advisors to individual operational managers on how to communicate to employees on issues such as their pension or legal rights, or alternatively communicate directly with the individual employee’s on such subjects. These matters are of vital importance to employees, for whom areas like pensions and benefits packages are central issues. Getting communication right in these areas is therefor also at the centre of HR professional jobs. HR professionals sometimes have to advise both senior and operational managers on employee’s feelings on different subjects. It is usually the HR professionals who are called on to run or at least source and oversee employee attitude surveys, forums etc. to some extent they may also try to act as employee advocates in order to maintain employee commitment and motivation. HR has a key role to play in improving  communication including by providing training and coaching for other managers and workers which can improve their informal and formal communication. Effective Service delivery is a vital key in a HR role shown below are the key points of how to achieve it to a high standard. Delivering service on time: Delivering service on a budget: Dealing with difficult customers, Handling and resolving complaints: When dealing with difficult customers that may have a complaint or issue there are certain ways to deal with the situation so that it does not escalate and gets resolved. Firstly you need to identify the complaint and get as many facts together as possible. You always need to listen and empathize whilst clarifying that you both understand. Then you would log the complaint and investigate why, who, how and what evidence. Once that is achieved I think it is best to identify an end goal so there is something to aim for and the issue should then be resolved. When trying to resolve the situation always keep the complainant updated with any progress and also make sure you are following the company’s policy and try and keep it to the smallest time frame. Once the situation is resolved I would then try to investigate why it happened and how to prevent re-occurrence. In a HR role I believe you should be committed to treating customers with courtesy and respect at all times, responding promptly to all enquiries made by telephone, email, post, fax, or in person, ensuring accuracy of administration, respecting and maintaining confidentiality, equality of opportunity in employment, updating skills through continuous professional development, regularly and systematically seeking, listening to and acting upon the views of customers. I think a HR function should obtain much more thorough feedback from its internal customers these are line managers, senior managers and employees. This should cover both what they need from HR, and their user experience of current services. Such feedback, as this study illustrates, can generate a clear overview or ‘footprint’ of the HR function in a particular organisation. It can provide fresh insights and help the HR function to focus its efforts in areas that add value to the  business. Bibliography: http://www.cipd.co.uk/cipd-hr-profession/profession-map/professional-areas/service-delivery-information.aspx

Vertigo essays

Vertigo essays Alfred Hitchcocks Vertigo is a thrilling film filled with mystery and suspense. However, Hitchcock left many unsolved issues at the end of this film. In contrast, when comparing Vertigo to more recent films of similar genre, mysteries are usually always solved and thoroughly explained by the end of the film. Ironically, Hitchcocks failure to explain everything to the audience in Vertigo is one of the films best attributes. This lack of knowledge allows the viewer to use their own imagination and speculate as to what might or might not have become of certain characters. Vertigo boasted several different themes. However, the Ideal Woman Lost theme was the most prevalent (Handout #1). This theme was brought on by an obsessed everyman type. Jimmy Stewart, otherwise known as Scottie in the film, played this everyman type whose personality was maliciously twisted into an overly obsessive man. His cause for obsession was a beautiful, young woman played by Kim Novak, known as both Madeleine and Judy in the film. Madeleine drew Scottie in so deep, that he literally became a different person. This film mirrored Hitchcocks personal feelings and was considered to be his favorite film. While there are many scenes that prove the above theme, the following are three specific scenes that clearly spell out Scotties obsession. The scene where Scottie was sitting in his car alone after dropping Midge off at her home is a good first example. Midge and Scottie had just spent an afternoon together researching Carlotta Valdes history. Before Midge got out of the car she told Scottie, much to his dismay, that she was going view Carlottas portrait at the museum. As soon as Midge got out of the car, Scottie pulled out his brochure from the museum and turned to the page that hosted Carlottas portrait. As he stared at her pic ...

Hopes and dreams Essays

Hopes and dreams Essays Hopes and dreams Paper Hopes and dreams Paper Hopes and dreams help people to escape the harsh realities of their ordinary lives. To what extent is this statement true in Of mice and men? Of Mice and Men is a novel written in the year 1937 when the whole of America was suffering from the great depression and the poor economy. In such conditions, it is natural that the economic conditions of the country were not very good which would have directly affected the American population such as the lower-middle class. This is what Steinbeck tries to portray in Of Mice and Men that although the life was difficult for the poor people in America they had hopes and dreams and to fulfil that they used to work hard. Some such examples are of George, Lennie, Slim and Crooks. From the first chapter itself, Steinbeck describes George and Lennies dream. George dreams of owning his own farm so that he could be a boss of his own but because of financial reasons he is unable to and his dream remains a dream not coming true. In the beginning of the novel we also see that Lennie is a burden on George and because of that he is not able to marry a girl, I could get a job an work, an no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want. We also realise, that whenever George tries getting settled in a ranch, Lennie would do something horrific which would then lead them from escaping the farm, You cant keep a job and you lose me ever job I get. Jus keep me shovin all over the country all the time. An that aint the worst. You get in trouble. Every time this happens Georges dream of owning a farm fades away. Lennies dream on the other hand, is a lot more immature compared to Georges because all he wants is to tend rabbits, I can let you tend rabbits the rabbits all right. In some parts of the novel, his dream comes true such as in the first chapter when he kills a mouse, Uh-uh. Jus a dead mouse, George. I didnt kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead. Lennie is the most innocent character in the novel because when George says that they will have a farm of their own, he believes that it would come true and takes it from his heart. That is why, he always gets excited whenever George talks about their future being bright, I forget some a the things. Tell about how its gonna be. Curleys wife has a completely different dream than that of George and Lennie. Steinbeck uses her character to show that women in those days were not given a lot of freedom from their husbands and were only meant to take care of their homes and families. Although, she goes around the ranch and flirts with all the workers despite Curley warning her, bye, boys, this is when she comes to the bunkhouse searching for Curley. In chapter five, when Lennie is sitting on his own in the bunkhouse, Curleys wife goes to him and tells him about her wanting to become an actress, Coulda been in the movies, an had nice clothes- all them nice clothes they wear. An I coulda sat in them big hotels, an had pictures took of me. In this quote she is telling Lennie about her past. Curleys wife gets Lennie to admit that he likes stroking soft things and makes him stroke her hair. He strokes too hard and she cries out, frightening Lennie and making him cling on to her. When she will not stop screaming Lennie shakes her head and by accident breaks her neck. This therefore ends up the dreams of another character in the novel. Candy is another character who has hopes and dreams. Candy had lost his lost his right hand in a farm accident and is now reduced to the meanest job on the ranch, that of swamper or menial cleaner. He also loses his beloved dog since Carlson kills him which makes him even lonelier. He then thinks of helping George and Lennie with their dream of having a farm of their own and agrees to join them as well and tells them about him having two hundred and fifty dollars, An they give me two hundred an fifty dollars cause I los my hand. An I got fifty more saved up right in the bank. Right now. Crooks is a negro and because of that he is given a different room in the ranch. He feels lonely since he has nobody to talk to and is a victim of racism from Curleys wife nigger, I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it aint funny. He therefore has two dreams; the first is to fit with all the other ranch workers who all call him a nice falla and the second is to get away from the extreme racism he gets on the ranch and to start a new life. Unfortunately, none of his dreams are fulfilled, just like the other characters. Altogether, hopes and dreams definitely help people to escape from the harsh realities of their ordinary lives. Every character in this novel has some problem or the other such as, the colour of their skin, being less bright and being lonely. After reading this novel, we certainly get a feeling of the difficult lives that were lived by the poor people of that time. Also, hopes and dreams make people stronger with their lives since they have a motive to live for.

Relationship between christmas and religion Essay

Relationship between christmas and religion - Essay Example which were not directly related to Christianity, but were inspired from the former popular religion Pagan are Christmas tree, decoration on it and around it, gathering around it, stuffing stockings with goodies and hanging them on the top of fireplaces. Nevertheless, in the past exchange of presents and opening them on the day of Christmas was also not a part of Christmas tradition, but was supposed to be linked with New Year celebrations. In the contemporary world this occasion is not only associated to Christian faith only, but non-believers also celebrate it due to its global popularity, adaptability by the Western society, business and media publicity and promotion and eventually its acceptability by all faith holders. Now Christmas is a time of national holidays, time to bond with families, eat turkey, shop endlessly and exchange of gifts. It’s a time for which business entrepreneurs plan carefully and media gives full coverage to it worldwide. It gives a chance to job-tied people to relax and mingle with family and friends. Hence, Christmas holidays are celebrated around the globe with or without relating it to the Christian

Education Experience in a United States University vs. Education in Essay

Education Experience in a United States University vs. Education in South Africa - Essay Example Later in the day I met the human resource manager, who assessed my credentials together with my goals and interests and then suggested the most suitable mentor. For once in my life, I felt happy about myself. I was taking action and doing something about my career development plans. The next day, I booked an appointment with my mentor at ten in the morning. I couldn’t wait to hear what he thought and had to say of my plans on career growth. At exactly ten in the morning, I left my office and headed for my mentor’s office in a happy mood. By now he had already been briefed by the human resource manager of the agenda. He went straight the point, asked a series of questions. These included; why I chose to become an assistant, what were my expectations as regards the job, where do I see myself in ten years to come, what fields was I interested in working and what my long term goals and dreams were. I struggled to answer some of the questions and this made me realize that I had become complacent. I had lost sight of everything that was important to me with regard to career progression. After a long chat, we came to a conclusion that for me to experience the career development that I have always wanted I had to go back to school. ... How long will it take? All these questions ran though my mind. Acquiring higher education in this day and time is undoubtedly critical; this is due to the ever increasing demand for skilled manpower in our economies. Universities, colleges and technical training institutes are the single source of skilled manpower today. Currently, there are tens of American institutions of higher learning and making a choice on which university to join poses a major challenge to many would be students. The situation is not any simpler in South Africa. South Arica has struggled to become the flag bearer in Africa when it comes to academic matters and has invested heavily in its universities in an attempt to improve the quality of education they offer and meet world class standards. According to Education UK, while choosing the course to take, one should check whether the course is right for them? What type of degree it is, whether it improves chances of following ones career plans, options available to the course, methods of teaching the course, and performance of the department in the Quality Assurance Assessment external review. After considering the advice from my mentor and my personal goals and objectives, I settled on a course that would best suit my needs. I was to take a master of Business Administration. I had always wanted to move onto a management position in employment. There are so many factors to consider when choosing which institution to join. According to the Fulbright Commission, there are over 1,700 American universities that offer postgraduate courses or degrees. It is thus not easy to narrow down to the particular institution to join. Students aspiring to join South African universities face the same challenge, they thus have to put all the