Night Hoops Essay Example for Free

Night Hoops Essay Fellow Word Shakers, When I started reading the book, Night Hoops by Carl Deuker, I was very bored. I felt like I wasn’t relating to the characters and the plot was moving too slowly. I questioned whether I should start a new book; however, I persevered just like Nick, and I am very grateful that I stuck with it. After reading Night Hoops, I have developed a new mindset on how I should pursue my goals no matter what impediments obstruct my ability to reach them. Nick, the protagonist, always dreamt of earning his spot on his high school’s varsity basketball team, but his road to the team was filled with family troubles; being overshadowed by his older brother, Scott; and run-ins with Trent, the local bully. However, Nick persevered through it all and accomplished his goal of making the varsity basketball team. Over the past few years, I have been extremely dedicated to becoming the best golfer I can be. However recently, I have lost my enthusiasm for the game. Because of this, I feel like I can relate to Nick and although he is a fictional character, use him as inspiration to rededicate myself to the game of golf. Aside from my fascination with Nick’s perseverance and dedication, I was intrigued by the friendship that developed between Nick and Trent, the local bully. At first, Trent and Nick didn’t get along. In fact, Trent beat Nick up. However, as Deuker took us through their relationship we saw how they soon became good friends who were connected through the game of basketball. From this, I realized that some of the people best fit for you could be right under your nose, but they put up a facade to support their tough guy image so you don’t get a chance to get to know who they truly are. Another aspect of the book that really captured my attention was how Nick’s father applied pressure on him to succeed in basketball. At first, this pressure really inhibited Nick’s ability to play good basketball. However, as he became used to the pressure and used it as motivation, Nick became the player both he and his dad always wanted him to be. This brings up the dilemma that a lot of parents struggle with today. Should they push their kids to succeed or should they let their kids succeed on their own? There is no right or wrong answer to this question, but I think it is fascinating that Deuker poses this question in a book written for teens. More than just my experience with the different characters, I loved Deuker’s very tangible description of the basketball games: â€Å"He caught it in stride, soared upward in the same fluid motion, and gently laid the ball against the backboard. It dropped through the net just as the horn sounded. A tenth of a second later we were jumping all over him† (167). I felt like I was at the game, sitting on the edge of my seat praying that the ball falls through the net, and jumping into the air screaming in joy when it does. Although I loved his poetic descriptions of the basketball games, I felt like too often he used very basic, simple language. Every book has its flaws, but if you are into basketball, like a story about perseverance, or want to be taken through a great friendship then this book is definitely for you. I hope that you enjoy this book as much as I did. Yours Truly,

The Policing Of Drugs Criminology Essay

The Policing Of Drugs Criminology Essay Canada has a problem with drug suppliers and the individuals that use these drugs. Canada has a unique way of dealing with the problem that has been working effectively. This is supply reduction, demand reduction, prevention, treatment, harm reduction and public education and The police and the communities all working together toward the goal of reducing drugs all over Canada. It is important to target the communities and make sure that they understand what the ongoing problem is so that they can contribute to eliminating the source. (University, 2011) The whole community must be involved in the needs of society when members are dealing drugs in their community. Individuals must not ignore this serious situation. It may not seem that dire if your neighbour is selling drugs but it really is that dire. There will be increased amount of traffic from individuals looking to purchase drugs at all hours of the day and night. It provides an unsafe environment for all the families that live near or around these types of unwanted behaviours. Drugs bring a whole list of concerns to the table such as many types of unwanted individuals will be trolling the neighbour from drug addicts to gangs. There is concern that there could be break-in on houses and cars because of drug addicts needing items to sell or trade for drugs. Gang members are usually the ones mostly selling the drugs. This is because this is where they frequently get their primary source of income. This is so that they will be able to fund other illegal activities that will benefit them even more. The many types of illegal activities they could be involved in are organized prostitution, weapons related offences, smuggling of individuals, travel document counterfeiting or credit card skimming. Gangs use violence to increase their situation and use their unpleasant character to advance their illegal endeavors. Drug trafficking is commonly connected to other more serious crimes. It is often used to sponsor the more violent and detrimental behavior of the illegal terrorist organizations. This is because of the major cash remuneration resulting from moderately negligible time and venture. The types of drugs they tend to sell are crack cocaine, ecstasy, crystal methamphetamine and marijuana. Gangs tend to sell drugs on the streets or from inside a home in communities. This can lead to turf wars or fights over drugs and who gets to sell in which territory. Drugs can be quite profitable if the gang has enough clients so situations of gang violence in communities can be worrisome to all involved living in and around these types of individuals. The problem with drugs is far reaching and has many consequences than just the end user because along the way many other illegal activities are occurring. A major concern is individuals making or growing drugs in houses. Houses in which have been used for growing marijuana need to be condemned, as they are not fit for living in due to number of health concerns. One such problem is the amount of mold due to all the moisture in the house. It is important to make sure that individuals are safe but there is a far larger concern than the growing of marijuana. One such problem would be the methamphetamine labs exploding are a huge concern a s they affect the houses around them with a potential fire or even result in fatalities. Individuals in the community must not fear speaking out against the drug dealers. It is important to notify the police and work with your communities to control the problem. Catching a problem before it explodes into a more severe problem assists to remove the situation from the communities. When individuals are on drugs this poses a danger to innocents such as children and pets when individuals are on drugs. Drugs cause individuals to fight and be disorderly in their conduct. Educating the public is important so that they understand what to look for and what they need to be reporting to make their community a safe place. Crime Stoppers are a great way for the general public to be able to make a complaint and help in eliminating drugs in their communities. The Calgary Police Service has been effective in recruiting police officers that operates as the liaison between the police services and Crime Stoppers. The Calgary Police services Gang Strategy Unit and the Drug Unit working with Crime Stoppers, can do a lot to prevent and reduce the harmful effects of drugs. This could be in the form of recommending the users attend drug rehab or forcing them through arrests as part of a rehabilitation program. Making sure that the dealers and gang members are arrested and procedures are put in place so that they cannot easily have access to selling drugs. This could be through bail requirements or the sentencing of having a curfew, no cell phone usage, no associating with other known offenders. Many types of other offenses are involved with the problem of drugs. It is important that all the units work together to share vital information to allow for the most effective means of preventing the drugs on the streets and in homes. (The Calgary Police, 2011) The Calgary Police Service and the Calgarys Gang Strategy unit is dedicated to bringing to a halt the violent behavior and eliminating the illegal actions of the gangs that surround drug dealers. The Organized Crime Operations Centre or the OCOC has been developed to organize the prevalent resources essential to deal with the present gang predicament directly. The organization is able to exchange vital information, methods and demonstrated approach with other North American metropolitan cities that have effectively dealt with the illegal gang behavior. The Calgary Police Service has established an inclusive initiative to curb the gangs unsuitable behavior. The Calgary Police Service has a four-point gang strategy, which is through education, prevention, investigation and disruption. (The Calgary Police, 2011) The Drug Unit coordinates investigations of illegal drug distribution within Calgary. It is responsible for investigating street-level drug dealers, targeting crack houses and other locations where drug use may be common. Certain officers are qualified to give expert testimony in court. Members of the Unit also deliver educational and awareness programs for various groups including schools, community associations and healthcare agencies. (The Calgary Police, 2011) It is important that the police and community are able to provide each other with valuable information. This is so that it keeps all organizations are current on the latest status of the safety of the communities. When communities work, together much can be achieved in terms of removing the unwanted behaviours from a particular community. Awareness is the key to initiating any type of investigation into drug issues. Undercover police are used to infiltrate the gangs that sell drugs to street level dealers. The problems associated with drug abuse endure and continue to expand in most areas of the globe. The international abuse of prohibited drugs and the drug trafficking state of affairs is becoming further multifaceted. Many factors contribute to this including the recreational drug abuser with a higher disposable income; a increase in demand and ease of accessibility for most varieties of prohibited drugs; the cultural, economic and political transformations caused by the instant interactions and globalization that have been the forerunner to progressively more wide open borders between many different countries. The drug trade involves all aspects of problems that contribute to the increase of drugs all over the world in most countries. This would be through the producers, growers, users, suppliers, couriers and dealers. (University, 2011) The illegal drugs are a substantial encumber on the Canadian economy and the individuals that abuse these substances. It has been estimated it may cost Canadians around $9 billion annually for the expanse of dealing with the drug issue. This would be including the court system, police services, imprisonment, productivity deficit, medical expenditures and work non-attendance. Those that are addicted to these illicit drugs can also be a threat to themselves, their families, and their communities. (University, 2011) The approach that the Canadian government has taken towards the drug is much different from other countries such as the United States, which has had a war on drugs. Canadas National Anti-Drug Strategy aims to prevent illegal drug use through these following methods: supply reduction, demand reduction, prevention, treatment, harm reduction. The strategy aims to enhance the necessary treatment programs, drug users health and everyone understanding of illegal drugs through education. (University, 2011) Community based programs are used to deal with deterrence, health endorsements, drug treatment, and harm reduction issues. Public education campaigns on substance use and drug abuse, with a specific focus on the youth, to provide Canadians with information to facilitate knowledgeable health and lifestyle decisions. (University, 2011) Supply Reduction is used to control the availability of drugs through stopping the production of crops, smuggling and trafficking. It is important to provide an alternative crop for farmers to grow if the illegal crop is to be prevented. If the drugs are not available for production or sale then supply reduction is working toward the intended goal. (University, 2011) Demand Reduction is meant to diminish the users or potential users from the drugs. This is through education and prevention programs that allows these individuals to learn more about the harm and damage of drugs in the hopes they will not use or they will discontinue using the drugs. The less people interested in purchasing the drugs the less demand a particular will have and the supply will be diminished from that point on. The drug treatment courts are a huge part of the demand reduction since they sentence drug users that have been charged with an offense due to their drug use. (University, 2011) Prevention is by way of the Prevention Action Plan that teaches the youth about illegal drugs and the problems associated with illegal drug use in the hopes of achieving prevention before they even begin. It is important to provide all kinds of information and real people to tell their stories of the hardships they had to bear because of an addition. The Treatment Action Plan, which works toward being able to sustain groundbreaking and efficient advances in the areas of drug treatment. This is to be able to effectively deal with and provide proper aid in their recovery to the addiction of the illicit drugs. (University, 2011) Harm Reduction is used particularly for policies or programs that aim to reduce the harm without necessarily requiring abstinence. if they can be shown to reduce drug-related harm rather than just reduce use and if they are not coercive or punitive in their approach. Some harm reduction strategies designed to achieve safer drug use may, range from simple practices such as needle and syringe exchanges to reduce the rates of needle-sharing among injecting drug users, which can spread HIV, to the more complex such as methadone maintenance treatment, supervised consumption facilities, street testing of drugs, and heroin prescription. (University, 2011) Enforcement actions are vital for preserving a definite amount of power over the flow of drugs in addition to imparting a substantial appearance of the social contempt of drugs. Illegal drug use is so complex and pervasive; it involves law enforcement at almost every turn. The justice-related costs associated with illicit drug use, including expenses for police, courts, and correctional services, have been estimated by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse at about $2 billion annually (University, 2011) (Rehm et al., 2006). I agree with the way that the police force and the Canadian government have decided to deal with the drug problem. Educating and providing safe options is better than putting every drug user through court who has not committed a crime that deems an arrest. It is far too costly to deal with every drug user that exists within Canada. It is better to reduce the supply and availability of the unwanted drugs in the community. Educating the public is a far better option so that the community can understand all the factors of drugs and drugs users and the problem associated with this. There will always be drugs as there will be people wanting to use them. The Canadian government understands these problems. They have therefore has taken a more proactive approach to reduce the amount of people interested in abusing drugs. They are effective in providing treatment and new habits that will aid the individuals in not being as debilitated. This is through education programs, health care and needle exchange programs. No one can win the war on drugs since there will always be individuals that want an illegal escape from reality. As long as the government deems it illegal, the allure will persist. It would not be a good idea to allow harsh drugs such as cocaine or crystal methamphetamine to be legal but marijuana should be legalized, if only to be one less problem for the police to deal with. This is because it takes such a toll on the justice system and the police force. Illegal drugs cause suffering and long-term abuse for the individual and it is important that these in dividuals are given a second chance at creating a new life.

Employee Resistance to Change: Dissertation

Employee Resistance to Change: Dissertation Chapter 1- Introduction Change comes from anywhere, and is the only constant. Propelled by the driving force of technology and globalization, the economic landscape continuously transform in a way that has come to undermine the relevance of received wisdom on how a firm should be managed and what underlies its success (Gregory Prastacos, et al., 2002). In this new millennium, it is more challenging for an organization to sustain its competency or even survive in the diversity market. When an organization is threatened by environmental changes such as crisis or competition, it results in the increasing needs for communication as technology develops rapidly and higher customer demands will be foreseen. Organizational change is not an option; it constitutes a fundamental necessity for success within the new competitive landscape (Hamel and Prahalad, 1996). An organization need to evaluate its performance and review its business strategies, corporate structure, operational process and HR policies to identify th e areas that need transformation. To maintain its competitive advantages,ÂÂ  an organization must make effort to implement changes accordingly. Usually changes to be made in an organization is for the seeking of extending the ability of the organization to achieve the strategic goals but sometime changes do not necessarily contribute to the improvement of the organization (Stroh, 2001). The expected result of the change might vary due to other unexpected factors, such as resistance to change. Resistance is a phenomenon that affects the change process, delaying or slowing down its beginning, obstructing or hindering its implementation, and increasing its costs (Ansoff, 1990). Effect of resistance of changes in organization will cause distorted perception, interpretation barriers and vague strategic priorities, low motivation among the people and lack of creative response (Val, 2003). It is crucial for change initiators to deal with resistance for a successful change. Forasmuch as employees are the one who get the job done, and they the one who possess the knowledge, skills, tools and experiences, it is clear that organizational changes cannot be achieved without employees support and involvement. Employee acceptance and commitment are the key factors for successful changes. Effective change management should recognize the importance of its employees and the way to minimize the resistant from employees. Therefore, understand why it is caused, the forms of resistance and the factors determine employees reactions to change is significant. 1.1 Research Objective This research will study on the factors of resistance to change from employees prospective. The aim of this research is to review the factor and find out the correlates among the factors. By better understanding these which a shift in perception could occur, the paper hope to develop a framework to change initiators of how certain group of employees is the likely to react and behave to change that being unleashed by the value and perception, this knowledge will enable change initiators to design change plan and training programs which recognize the values of employees, and to interact with diverse others in order to optimize the expected change affect. The research attempt to explore the followings areas as a systematic way to rationalize the value of this project study: To identify the natural of employee resistance to change. To identify the symptoms of employee resistance to change. To identify the reasons of employee resistance to change To determine the various factors to effect employees resistance to changes. To evaluate the effect of these factors on organizations future development. 1.2 Chapter Summary Chapter 1 of Introduction has provided a background of the circumstances that force organization to change, and examined the inevitable resistance can undermined organizational change. By identifying the importance of employee in the organizational change, research objectives were generated to study on the resistance of change from employees perspectives and listed done the areas of the study to be explored on. The research was planned in a systematic way to rationalize the value of this project. Next chapter of this project will touch on a review of current literatures on the natural, symptoms and the reasons of employee resistance to change and factors affect employee resistance, followed by the research methodology, samples and limitation of the research. The subsequent chapter will be the questionnaire data analysis presentation and lastly the paper will conclude the findings and its implications for change initiators. The aim of this research is to review the factors that affect employee resistance and evaluate it thought the target samples. Chapter 2- Literature Review 2.1 Employee Resistance to Change 2.1.1 The nature Organizations can be confronted with incremental changes that focus on doing things better through a process of continuous tinkering, adaptation and modification or transformational changes that are regarded as revolutionary and break with the past.(John Hayes, 2010) Although the incremental changes rarely presented any abrupt challenges to the assumptions people make about how they related to the world (John Hayes, 2010), this is not always that case. People are not duplicate, the values, beliefs, assumption and knowledge of that person will be developed over the time, formed as a set of personal opinion, perceptions, views of the world to guide their behaviors (Hallie Preskill and Rosalie Torres, 1999). It is concerned with whether employees regards view change can bring present or future personal benefit and opportunities or change is a threat to their job, skills or any other interests. The implementation of changes inevitably involves the vital interests of various shareholders, and especially employees.Resistance occurs since most employees desire to be successful in their work environments due to they have basic needs which must be satisfied. To begin with, employees want to know their role and their responsibilities within the organization. In additional, employees want to be able to predict what they will face in the future (Appelbaum, S.H. et al, 1998). Even though old procedures that were initially regarded as cumbersome, costly or ineffective, after a prolonged recursive execution, employees become comfortable and are used to the ways things were done. Employee might fear in a changing organization, therefore change are frequently be seen as a threat to ones existence within an organization if upgrading or acquiring new skills are a problem because of time constraints , or the inability of the person to learn these new techniques. Change within an organizational setting usually poses several problems and challenged by the pressure in aspect of money , ego, and power for those who resist it. Employees resist change because they have learned to associate it negative feelings since their basic needs may now be threatened (Mealiea, 1978). Thus it is human nature that employees look at Change negatively, resistance thereby coming into play. 2.1.2 The symptoms Resistance, described by Kilian M. Bennebroek Gravenhorst (2003) is commonly considered to be standard or even natural in reaction to organizational change. It is described as an most inevitable psychological and organizational response that seems to apply to any kind of change, ranging from rather modest improvement to far-reaching change and organizational transformation. Symptoms are the specific behaviors exhibited when employee resistance to change (Albert F. Bolognese, 2002) According to Bhutan (1995), it is important to distinguish between the symptoms of resistance to change and the causes behind them. Symptoms can be reflected in varies of forms, which Marc Maltz (2008) categorized it into the two varieties: overt and covert. Overt resistance is concern with obvious opposition, disagreement, arguing, debating, etc., to any change effort. While, covert resistance comes in two forms: one is conscious covert which employees are concerned about the consequences of their actions that they apparently agreed but actually not following though or withhold information and avoid implementation. Secondly is the unconscious covert resistance, which is the most difficult to see symptoms among employees as employees are unaware their resistance. 2.1.3 The Reasons There are many causes attribute to employees resistance to change, such as Coch French (1948), studied the workers of a clothing manufacturer and find that lower employee participitation causing the mistrust of management and increase their resistance to change. Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) identify four common reasons why people resist organizational change: people focus on their own interest and fear of losing something of value, it can be power and status, autonomy and control, or specific skills; Misunderstanding the change will cost them more than they will gain and lack of trust to the person who initiating change; Different assessment of the necessity and benefit of change situations; Low tolerance for change, sometimes people just resist to change emotionally even they understand the need for change. Several studies have acknowledged what Kotter and Schlesingers publication and enhance these categories with further researches, according to Prosci- A business process reengin eering directory and resource companys study (2003) in past six years in 288 organizations from 51 countries, result shows the top reasons employee resist to change is because of corporate history and culture, which the organizations past performance of change project failed or did not make much sense, employees are less interested to take initiatives to support the current change, they are not in the flavor the month , thus employee expected it go away like what happened in the past. Lorenzo (2000) also acknowledge that one attribute to employees resistance is that past failures leaves negative image for future changes. Another reason added on in Prosci (2003)s research is that employee often opposes to change because of the added job responsibilities, new processes or technologies. Changes with lower motivation to get employees involved and less consideration of employees interest and their emotional and perceptual perspectives thereby eliminate their initiatives and level of comm itment. Pardo Del Val, Manuela and Martinez Fuentes, Clara (2005) conclude above sources to employees resistance are most likely happen in change formulation stage, they further identify some reason rise resistance that consist of: (a) organizational values in relation to change values that cause a strong implementation climate to determine whether employee to accept or oppose to change; (b) departmental politics that form employees resistance. 2.2 Factors affect employees resistance to change Literatures have identified variety of factors affect employee resistance to change, the most cited views of the factors fall on the organizational level, for instance the communication process, employee participation, change facilitation procedures in change process (Ricky Griffin ,2008) to improve organizational effectiveness. Moreover, employee motivation (David Clarence and McClelland, 1987) and quality of leadership (Ken W. Parry, 1999) have been widely acknowledged to have influence on employees work initiatives, involvement and commitment, so that it can argues to be a significant factor to affect employees willingness to change. Above factors virtually are the ways to deal with the subtext of organizational humanity on the stage of change process. However, one must understand the root factors played to affect employees perception towards organizational change. Fail to understand the intrinsic factors govern employees values and beliefs guided behavior in the context of the way they were doing and expected in the future, and all the necessities organization attempt or should to do to implement and facilitate change is crucial. Therefore, the research will mainly explore on the personal factors played to affect employee resistance to change including age, gender, personality traits (Locus of control) and employee educational level as follows: 2.2.1Age Baby Boomers refer to people who are born between 1945-1964. This generation grew up in an era of unprecedented economic growth and stability, so as to be regarded as a generation that finds comfort with long term employment with one organization. This has provided them with a false sense of stability (Loomis, 2000).Their perceived working values emphasize on chain of command, teamwork, technically challenged, team work and loyal to employer As they born after War II, which they entered the economic boom era, Money and job security such as life time employment are definitely extremely important for them to sustain their living. In this regard, it is argued that Baby Boomers are easier to accept organizational change as their working value of chain of command which they tend to commit to the hierarchical order. Moreover, the inception of organization loyalty also attributes them to be more committed rather than resistant or any other negative reactions. (Hui-Chun, Yu and Peter Miller, 2003) Another neuropsychological research held by (Stanford University professor Laura L. Carstensen et al. 2000) on the relationship between age and emotional experiences found that the periods of highly positive emotional experience were more likely to endure among older people and periods of highly negative emotional experience were less stable. With age, older adults report relatively low levels of worrying (Sandra Hunt, Patricia Wisocki and Julianne Yanko, 2003), experience less anger (Schieman,1999), and have lower levels of emotional distress after natural disasters (Bolin Klenow, 1982-1983). The implication of these findings are older employees have better capability to regulate their negative emotions with organizational change and adjust themselves to adapt the environment.Employees adaptability has been seen a key attribute to a successful organizational change (Heslin , 2005). Compared with Baby Boomers, Generation X refers to those people who were born between 1965 to 1980. This generation of employee tend to more independent, self-motivated and self-sufficient (Loomis, 2000). This is because most X generations did not have enough of their family attention as children because their parent may have been single or working parents. X generations therefore became adaptive at handling things on their own and in their own ways. Their work value is perceived more on personal satisfaction, and their attitudes towards work are focus on flexibility empowerment, loyal to skills. (Hui-Chun, Yu and Peter Miller, 2003). Hence, when the change conflict with their own interest such as against what they used to do , their skills, or leave less empowerment to them, they will feel unmotivated towards to commit to the change. However, David J. OConnell, Eileen McNeely and Douglas (2004) argue that since Xers entered the workforce under the employment of deal, in which career planning and development are largely individual responsibilities and where the average worker can expect to make several changes during their working lives. In this regards, it seems like Xers are more adaptive to change. However, there are also many scholars debate the relationship between the age and the personal adaptability to change, such as Mirvis and Hall, 1996. Recent research held by OConell, McNeely and Hall, 2008 also support this assertion, reporting that age is limited measured as a categorical variable namely the characteristics about an individual . 2.2.2 Gender Although many literatures have acknowledged the impact of gender difference on the management practice, there had been little systematic attention focus on identifying the gender roles on effective change management relatively. Feminist perspectives have tended to highlight not only the impact of organizational change on womens relatively marginalized position but also the role of women in the change management (Melissa Tyler, 2005). Jamie L, Michael G and Homer Tolson (2005) research findings suggest that there is a difference between male and female executive of their emotional expressiveness, and women are regarded to process better skill at encoding and decoding emotions (Laura K. Guerrero and Kory Floyd, 2008). Emotions are intensive feelings that are directed at someone or something (Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge, 2010). Goleman-the founder of emotional intelligence theory also mentioned that women are good at reading others feelings than men averagely in his book pub lished in 1995. The skills to encode and decode emotions generally have advantage to develop and maintain relationships (Laura K. Guerrero and Kory Floyd, 2008), because skilled encoders have ability to express their internal emotional state so that other people can decode their emotions more easily and accurately (Burgoon and Bacue, 2003). In this regard, the chances such as misunderstanding and conflict due to implicit or unclear message delivered or received prone to be decreased, the communication becomes more easily and effective. In many literatures, communication has been widely acknowledged as a useful approach to eliminate resistance to change. Therefore, women are deems to be more successfully engaged in change circumstances. Maddock (1999) added that Women focus on relational aspect of how to do things, while men tend to be expected to think what to do. It appears that women are emotionally discreet on how they are going to process the information, express and interpret their view points to react to change before making any decision. Combined with womens secondary position in labor market due to gender discrimination, especially in Confucian countries, in addition to their greater responsibilities in family and child care than men, which cause women are relatively powerless to challenge the situation (Melissa Tyler, 2005). Hence Melissa argues that women in change management appear to be positioned as performing an interpersonal function associated with safety; providing security in times of unexpected turbulence and anticipating. On the basis of these arguments, it seems that women tend to avoid conflict in working in this regard and to accept the change accordingly. 2.2.3 Personality Traits Some people are quiet and reserved, while others are aggressive and outgoing. Some people are trustworthy, some are not. People differ with each other in various dimensions as a result of different behavior and attitude towards things in personal life and working. The individuals differences are shaped by personalities (Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge, 2010) Personality refers to the traits and characteristics that make individuals unique (Greenberg and Baron, 2002). The most frequent used definition of personality was produced by Gordon Allport nearly 70 years ago which he commented that personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment. Personality thus becomes an important reason mangers need to know to generate a view of employees likely behaviors and examine their coping reaction. Meselaar and Cozijnsen (1997) further highlighted the personality is a determinate of individ ual reaction to organizational change. Locus of control refers to the degree people believe their own behaviours determine what happens to them. People believes they have more control over their destiny are referred as internal, and people who believe they have less control over their life and the results are attributing to the will of God, or to the fortune of being born in the right social class or family are referred as external. At this point, it is suggested that people behave differently towards change. Wilson (1992) developed an approach referred as determinism to study change management portrays the manager and other organizational members as pawns affected by change rather than as agents who can initiate and secure change. Their ability to influence is limited because of the main determinates lie outside the organization. John Hayes (2010) argues that those who are overcommitted deterministic view of change may be inclined to believe that the locus of control is external to themselves and the organization and may therefore develop view that there is little they can do to influence events. Hence, people who think this way is less likely to attempt to adopt a proactive approach to the management of change than those who have more internal view about locus of control. 2.2.4 Educational Level Although there were not many literatures specifically emphasize the employees educational level to their resistance to organizational change, it is widely acknowledged (e.g.: George H. McCall, Karl E. Ristow and Daniel J. Cimini, 2004) that higher education improves employees personal management, time management, communication skills and problem solving skills. Higher education defined by Roberg (1987) refers to the instruction that was obtained at university or colleague. According to Thomas Kent Gaylor (2001)s research on 286 police officer from two North Texas Police department in 2001, result shows no significance relationship between the educational level and employees openness to change. However the limitation of his research was lack of variation in respondents education level. Nevertheless, the author believe that higher education of employees will be more likely to support and commit organization change with more positive thinking of why the change is needed, hence the resea rch intend to do further evaluation with different samples on the relationship of educational level to employee resistance to change since it is a logic factor that higher education equipped with employees more knowledge and broader thinking and believe, which reduce the tendency to be dogmatic and to be more creative. 2.3 Chapter Summary Chapter 2 of Literature Review has explored on the current literatures on employee resistance to change in terms of the natural, symptoms and reasons. The inevitable resistances from employee impulse the research to further find out the factors that affect employee resistance to change. The research noted many factors including communication process, employee participations, change facilitation process, employee motivation and quality of leadership, and lastly mainly reviewed the personal factors played consist of age, gender, personality traits (locus of control) and employee educational level influence various aspects from values and beliefs and emotions as a result of different behavior and levels of adaptability reacted to change After exposit the literature review of factors affect employees resistance to change, the paper will tackle the main objectives of this research. Starting with the description of research methodology, samples and limitation of the research, then paper will touch on the analysis part of the questionnaire, to examine the reflected results against with the literatures reviewed earlier on, so as to evaluate its universality of the factors in the sampling organization. Chapter 3- Research Methodology 3.1 Secondary Research The research was carried out at the beginning though a secondary research to review the current literatures on the areas of the study, which contains of the nature, symptoms and the reasons of employee resistance to change and the factors affect employee resistance to change from a more intrinsic view by looking at employee personal factors. The factors focus on the employees adaptability to change determined by age and gender, one dimension of personality traits -locus of control, and employee educational level. The information is collected from textbooks, journals and articles from reliable and creditable online Journal Publications, National Library and Campus Library. 3.2 Primary Research In order to evaluate the factors been presented in literature review, the research will primarily employ questionnaires as the main methodologies for information gathering. The questionnaire will be carried out with various employees working in a large organization. The methods allow directly and original information to be gathered from participants. Questionnaire results are to be consolidated, and will be analyzed using various questionnaire analyze techniques, to interpret the data. The main reason of using questionnaire and interview is because data is collected directly from specific target respondents. Interviewers have the ability to ask extra intensive questions of the respondent concerning survey responses. 3.2.1 Research Samples The research was conducted using data collected from a large size agribusiness organization located in Singapore, mainly doing palm oil plantation and trading. The reason of choosing this organization is because it is currently undergoing turbulence and change on merger with one small size palm oil trading company and one ship chartering company. And it also has experienced many merger and change in the past. Therefore the target samples of the questionnaire participants in the organization must have many varies views on organizational change to enable the research generate more practical reflections from employees perspective on organizational change and change effect on them, aims to evaluate the universality application of all those factors on employee resistance to change presented in literature on the target sampling. The questionnaire attempt to invite 150 employees in this organization from four departments who are affected by the merger plan, respectively 25 employee from IT department, 35 employees from logistic department, 25 employee from finance department and 65 employees from operation department. 3.2.2 Limitation of This Research During the research, data collected could be deviated due to limitation in the research methodology as follows: Data may not represent the entire population due to the limitation of sampling size As the four department employees may experience different kinds of minor changes in their department respectively, whether the change offend their interest or not might bring subjective bias towards their response to the questionnaire, hence the accuracy of data collected will be deviated. Respondent who experience the past organizational change may bring different perceptions towards new change. The choice of the question may limited respondents response. 3.3 Chapter Summary Chapter 3 presented the methodology of this research which employed on secondary research to review the current literatures on the area of the study, and also the primary research using questionnaires to collect data. Research Samples chosen was a large agribusiness organization who is experiencing turbulence and undergoing merger and work structural change. The limitations of the research were also discussed including the sample size, respondents bias, past organizational change experience as well as the choice of questions may also affect the accuracy of the survey result. Next chapter will touch on the research result analysis and discussion. Chapter 4- Result Analysis and Discussion The questionnaires were distributed to 150 employees in IT, Logistic, Finance and Operation department respectively as planned in Chapter 3, the responding rate is about 76%, namely 114 employees attend the questionnaire. Following are the result of each factors being tested. 4.1 Age The research finding on age factors shows that respondents in different age group perceived change differently and appears with different level of resistance. In contrary with literatures presented earlier on demonstrating age have negative relationship with organizational change where people are more emotional stable and adaptable to organizational change as they age. Instead, the result shows that in the age group of 20 to 65+, employees are more resistant to change as they age; an interesting finding is that for employees aged below 20, whom were surprisingly scored higher marks on resistance. Figure 4.1.2 shows details of scores on resistance in each age group. Figure 4.1.2- Age group vs Resist to change score The possible causes lead to this result might because when younger people firstly enter the workforce with no experience and lower educational background, they are uncertain about their skills and abilities. They may behave self-concerned and less flexible dealing with working matters, and not mature enough to regulate their emotions as they are undergoing a transition from childhood to adult, school life to working life with increased responsibilities, time is needed to help them accept such big changes and adapt themselves in the new environment. As they age and become more mature, they seek for competence, career movement and relationship, they are more flexible and motivated to change themselves in the organization to achieve their objectives. As time goes on, they feel tired and queried about what supposed to be. They are loyalty to their skills and fear losing it in the future. Stability, job security and sense of seniority may become the main values after they age 46. Hence th ey might act more resisting to change as demonstrated in below figure. Super (1980)s Life Stage Theory displayed some common characteristics against to the above analysis and assumptions, which the author would like to research further. 4.2 Gender Out of total 114 respondents, 78 are women, and 36 are men, most of men respond strongly agree that organizational change is necessary and beneficial, and express their willingness to take challenges. Although there is no strong evidence to show that women are more resistance to change, most of women strongly agreed with the statement that when things are not going as plan, they tend to feel stress and if there is significant change regarding the way things are done, they would probably feel stressed. At this point, the research result suggested that women tend to be trapped in stress situation more easily than men. Hellriegel, D. Slocom, J. W., and Woodman, R.W.(2001) has pointed out that organizational change can be viewed as greatest source of stress on job and perhaps employees life. Stress cause low morale, high desertion rate and consequently reduce in job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The women research samples in this study reflect lower ability to regulate stre ss in working and life that affect their job performance. When organizational changes go against their interest, plan or principles, family life, it easily get women feel stress emotionally and potentially raise their resistance level which can be described as unconscious covert resistance (Marc Maltz, 2008) whereby employees are unaware of their resistance to change. Such symptom as mentioned in Chapter 2 is difficult to recognize and manage. The result urges the management to recognize gender-related problems in the organizational process. The implication of the result underlines the importance of evaluating and managing performance between women and men employees in implementing change. 4.3 Locus of Control Figure 4.3.1 shows the relationship between Locus of Control versus Resist to Change scale. The extent of Locus of Control are divided into 5 category based on the score respondents received on answering 10 specially designed question (Q7-Q16) catered to identify the individual level of locus of Control. For each correct answer that suggested Internal Locus of Control, the participant are give 1 point, the end results are totaled up with a formula (N/10)x100. The result are categ

Comparing Fascism, Communism and Nazism Essay examples -- Compare Cont

Comparing Fascism, Communism and Nazism Fascism, and discontent go hand in hand. After WWI Europe was devastated, the people had lost hope in the systems, neither the liberals, nor conservatives had been able to prevent the terrible disaster that was the war. Socialists were the closest one, however not happy with socialism either, a group of socialist joined and formed their own ideology. The difference between this new ideology, and other that had originated before, is that the first thing that comes to mind when you talk about fascism, is not what they stood for but what they hated most. Fascist hated socialism because of its internationality. They hated liberals because specifically because their ideology center in the individual strength of the human been, and in sharing when a variety of thoughts are in conflict, not imposing. They hated conservatives because they like to preserve the system, and for them change had to be very small, and slow, while fascist wanted radical change now. Fascism and communism had a lot in common. They both wanted radical change,...

Black holes :: essays research papers

black hole, in astronomy, celestial object of such extremely intense gravity that it attracts everything near it and in some instances prevents everything, including light, from escaping. The term was first used in reference to a star in the last phases of gravitational collapse (the final stage in the life history of certain stars; see stellar evolution), by the American physicist John A. Wheeler. Gravitational collapse begins when a star has depleted its steady sources of nuclear energy and can no longer produce the expansive force, a result of normal gas pressure, that supports the star against the compressive force of its own gravitation. As the star shrinks in size (and increases in density), it may assume one of several forms depending upon its mass. A less massive star may become a white dwarf, while a more massive one would become a supernova. If the mass is less than three times that of the sun, it will form a neutron star. However, if the final mass of the remaining stellar core is more than three solar masses, as shown by the American physicists J. Robert Oppenheimer and Hartland S. Snyder in 1939, nothing remains to prevent the star from collapsing without limit to an indefinitely small size and infinitely large density, a point called the "singularity. At the point of singularity the effects of Einstein's general theory of relativity become paramount. According to this theory, space becomes curved in the vicinity of matter; the greater the concentration of matter, the greater the curvature. When the star (or supernova remnant) shrinks below a certain size determined by its mass, the extreme curvature of space seals off contact with the outside world. The place beyond which no radiation can escape is called the event horizon, and its radius is called the Schwarzschild radius after the German astronomer Karl Schwarzschild, who in 1916 postulated the existence of collapsed celestial objects that emit no radiation. For a star with a mass equal to that of the sun, this limit is a radius of only 0.9 mi (1.5 km). Even light cannot escape the black hole but is turned back by the enormous pull of gravitation. It is now believed that the origin of some black holes is nonstellar. Some astrophysicists suggest that immense volumes of interstellar matter can collect and collapse into supermassive black holes, such as are found at the center of some galaxies.

Human Rights on Film: Regret to Inform Essay

Life taken for the purpose of valor and nobility shows a terrible disparity between actions and reasons. Hollywood, when tackling the issues and conflicts of Vietnam War has the tendency to give more focus on how to show the life of a soldier in reference to their personal relationships. They are sometimes forgetting the crucial portion to discuss the political and social aspect of war. Vietnam War had been featured in some literary works, written and in film, and it is unusual that it had been perceived in a point of view of widows, who seems like the victims of war’s aftermath. Widows of Vietnam War, when used in art, tend to create subject of sentimentality but not with Barbara Sonneborn’s award-winning masterpiece, Regret to Inform, which showcases the situations and sufferings of women who had their husbands died in the midst of fires and bullets. The movie describes not just the lives of American women but also paid attention to the same frustrations that Vietnamese soldier’s wives in the extent of the war. Brief Review On the twentieth anniversary her husband’s death, Barbara decided to meet some war widows to learn more about the war. She attempted to root the actual nature of this war and analyze its extent of devastation. With this started as a personal quest, Sonneborn had expanded the picture of the war victim’s situations as she set foot on the land where Jeff died. This journey deepened her as she said (PBS 2010). This movie anticipated long time peace by sharing the views of isolated set of people involved in Vietnam War. It serves as a challenge for those who wish to realize the actual scenarios when war was waged. Regret to Inform is not created for the awareness of the public but for the purpose of inspiring the more humane side of every human who are doubtlessly sharing the same value for love and peace. This is a love story telling how deep love for country, love for humanity and camaraderie despite of the origin, race and disparity can be grouped and be transcended. It tells the story of victims of the real enemy of mankind which is the irrationality in our reactions and decisions. From the Character’s Viewpoint  Giving equal attention on widows of soldiers on both sides, western and Asian, the movie exuded profoundly the moving story about the aftermath of war in a straightforward manner as observed through feminine eyes. Sonneborn shares the post war predicaments with her companion, Xuan Ngoc Nguyen, another widow of the war and also followed the lives of some soldiers who were at war. It transcends the boundaries given that the same conflict brought these victim’s lost – the War. On one of the scenes there, a Vietnamese widow couldn’t believe that an American wanted to listen to the stories they had regarding the war. The war created horror which is inevitable for those people who are in the midst of it. But, the worst thing that it created is its extension right after the war is over. During the war, one of the actions taken by the US military is the application of chemical known as Agent Orange which aims to oppress their enemies in the forest. Some civilians had been affected by this move and their widows could do nothing but to express the sentiments regarding this unfair causality. As they say about the situation, it is either you are dead or you are not safe. Apparently, among them, no one will ever forget the hardship they had in order to survive that non-stop battle. The film shows no evil character as usually being used to portray Viet Nam. It is more than just identifying who’s right or wrong but apparently, the victims didn’t just concentrate in one side. Viet Nam, as the setting of the war didn’t carry the weight of all the war’s burden. It is just a location where the real enemy lies. The enemy here is neither a person nor a battalion of soldiers but the collective actions of misunderstanding, lack of diplomacy, violence resulting to death of children, women and men alike. The war is in Vietnam but its terror could have surpassed the oceans. When you are relying on media to hold on to the situation, what could we expect to happen? American women had the discomfort of being uncertain by feeling like anytime, they will be receiving bad news despite the fact that the war remained far from them. This uncertainty can make a woman walk thru life in a routine based pace without a grasp on what is going to the interviews part. It managed create the heart trembling spirit of each stories told. The interview part supplied some highlights in the movie. Good questions were given in the movie providing the most. These questions provoke unbiased reasoning of the people involved and managed to remove being self fulfilling in dwelling with the depression of those being interviewed. They questioned the righteousness versus faults such as when they are trying to ask whether a soldier can be considered a murderer or a hero. Sonneborn was able to use her skill as a visual artist as she was able to apply the sustained touch of great picture quality throughout the film. The feminine voice of the documentary’s narration serves as the perfect tool to bring out the right essence of the stories given. In fact, it is not the story which served the framework of the movie but the desire of Sonneborn to see the real picture of war and expanded as she tried to achieve it. Cultural Implications to the Human Rights Issues Views against each race differ relatively. Western people viewed Vietnam as a place for war, for violence and as a country of widow maker while Vietnamese people saw Americans and they saw oppression. Wars are being brought by differences in ideologies and poor application of international and civil policy. Culture should never violate anyone’s right to have protection from harm and being hurt, thus, we need to strive for total eradication of all unnecessary risks that may result to serious health consequences. Cruelty and inhumane practices such as waging war and counter offensive actions applied on physical integrity has no space in an ideal society between men and women regardless of the belief and ethnicity of a foreign class. If there is any way that this will be contradicting to a belief or a practice, it would not show lack of respect in customs and traditions because as a culture, all actions in a community contribute to its enrichment and should always to be perceived as evolving variable that defines an individual or a group. All collective actions of people in group made the culture established and there is no way that it can be destroyed but can only change to adopt in better situation in their immediate community. It only goes towards the direction of better conditions. All people in the world who has participations in war must serve as variable in making analysis thru discovering patterns of its occurrence. In this kind of issue and conflict, social planning requires sensitivity to all differences while achieving the goal of greater good in a way that luxurious peace can be very much affordable. Intellect and Emotion It was thought that the ability of an artwork to be appreciated and affect the heart relies on the ability of the craftsman to portray life as it is with the application of all his or her intellect and mastery of the craft. Barbara Sonneborn proved this ability as she created a well crafted piece and touch people around the world. There is a very thin line between being great and sentimental and no doubt that this masterpiece is a great one. Like in Michelangelo’s sculpture ‘Pieta’, which has the Madonna figure carrying Jesus with no tears, it doesn’t require such object to show the strength of the grasp of the artist in the reality. It is not all crying. It should be humane enough to capture humanistic side of any person. The movie is intrusive in the sense that it will show you a brand new perspective in the stereotyped subject. It pioneered new ideology regarding not just the Vietnam War but the war itself as a concept. The whole movie is coherent and let you hold until the end and this quality was sustained by the creator. This movies’ intellect is a challenge for the eager young filmmakers who wanted to create sociopolitical movies. The Issues and Conflicts Sonneborn married again and had been happy but her desire to accomplish her goal of identifying the entire relations of war as a social concept to her husband’s death suggests that there is something deeper than the lost of Jeff. She deserves to resolve the agonies that are situated in all war settings. This is the only way that a conclusion can be drawn in response to the issues and conflicts of her fellows who lost their husband in parallel to valor for the nation. What are the issues, then, of these women across the globe after losing their husbands? The answer is socially and politically related to personal frustrations. The pain and anguish of war continued to haunt these women as the situations in the past pushed them to cross boundaries to sustain their life such as, in the case of Xuan Ngoc Nguyen, who also became a prostitute to survive. Conclusion Whatever happened in the past cannot be undone and reversed but the ability not to let it happen again is one of the most admired ability of the people today. That is what the movie had shown to the public and thus, making us felt more sorry. It made the audiences feel more responsible in making decisions as a group for its extent is countless and immeasurable. The movie has a personal purpose of learning social ideas and tends to track social frameworks that are resulting to unwanted public situations. Women, for example, are not intended to participate to war but its doom were not just to punish the men who were there but will also bring tears to those who are left at home, minding the babies, minding the chores, and minding all the worries of uncertainty while holding on no assurance of having their loved one’s back. For this to be achieved, Sonneborn applied the right skill of film making guided by her intuition to know the truth behind the sorrows of all women victimized by war.

Joseph Andrew

â€Å"Joseph Andrews† as a Picaresque Novel ________________________________________________ What is a picaresque novel? The term picaresque has been derived from the Spanish word picaro which means a rogue or a villain. Originally, a type of romance that dealt with rogues or villains was called picaresque. A picaresque novel presented , in an extravagant style, a series of adventures , and misadventures , mostly on the highways . The earliest examples of the picaresque novel are Lizaritle de Tormes and Guzman de Alfarachi. Fielding was considerably influenced by Gil Blass and Don Quixote.In fact there are marked resemblance between Joseph Andrews and Don Quixote. Parson Adam is clearly a Quixotic figure. The Picaresque element in the novel is introduced in Book 1 chapter 10 with Joseph setting out on his journey in the moonlight. From here onwards to the end of Book 111, it follows the picaresque tradition closely. Joseph soon gets robbed and is thrown into a ditch , stripped and half dead. The stage – coach episode provides Fielding with an opportunity to expose their hypocrisy and callousness of the respected people.Joseph and Parson Adams run into the picaresque journey that began with satirical exposure of the society assumes a partially humors tone. In a part of the book 1 and the middle two Books where the picaresque motif is followed, Fielding brings his major characters in contact with different strata of society- country squires, divines and philosophers , lawyers and surgeons , landladies , beggars and highway men- and exposes the contemporary social evils as well as human follies and foibles of a more general nature.Finally , the rambling or destructive narrative of Joseph Andrews also enforces the picaresque motif of the novel. Fielding employs here a very lose plot, for his purpose is the depiction of the society and the plot is not given much importance. How does Fielding as a satirist project his moral vision? / Discuss Joseph Andr ews as a social document. Fielding is considered to be the pioneer of the realistic novel in England. Defoe’s novels, apparently grounded in reality , are romantic in spirit. In fact, Fielding based all his novels on actual experience.In â€Å"Joseph Andrews†, Fielding presents a very realistic picture of the life of the English countryside in the first half of the 18th century. The first thing that strikes us about the society is its extra- ordinary callousness, even downright cruelty. Most of the members are selfish, insensible and hard- hearted. The stage-coach episode where Joseph , half killed and stripped naked by robbers , is reluctantly rescued by the passengers in the stage coach, but receives no sympathy or comfort from any except the poor postilion, full brings out this callous temper.The surgeon refuses to leave his bed to attend Joseph just because he has no means of paying HIS FEE. Mrs. Tow-Wouse forbids her husband to lend him a shirt . Parson Trulliber can’t afford even 14 shillings to assist Parson Adams; on the contrary , he accuses him of being a vagabond. Lawyer Scout is of the opinion that there are far too many poor, and that we’ we ought to have an Act to hang or transport half of them. The novel also depicts the wide gulf that seems to separate the high people from the low people. The distinction between these two groups is quite rigid. Lady Booby refers to her country neighbors as brutes. She grossly insults Adams on his insistence on publishing the banns of marriage. These high class people show utter disregard of the rights and interests of the poor people. For example, Lady Booby is not concerned whether pr not servants get their wages in time.