What Is The Nature And Substance Of Organisational Culture To What Ex Essay Example For Students

What Is The Nature And Substance Of Organisational Culture? To What Ex Essay tent Can It Be Changed?Culture, the acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behaviour (Spradley, 1979, p. 5), provides people with a way of seeing the world. It categorizes, encodes, and otherwise defines the world in which they live. Whenever people learn a culture, they are to some extent imprisoned without knowing it. Anthropologists talk of this as being culture boundi.e., living inside a particular reality. References to culture have long abounded in professional literature. However, it is only fairly recently that the literature shows references to culture as a lens through which to interpret and understand organizations, their customers, and the working relationships therein (Lee Clack, 1966; Shaughnessy, 1988). The cultural analysis of organizations, therefore, is the use of organizational culture as a lens through which to examine what is going on in an organization. We will write a custom essay on What Is The Nature And Substance Of Organisational Culture? To What Ex specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Management theory in the 1980s underwent a sea of change in its realization that an understanding of an organizations culture(s) could be a major step on the road to changing or controlling the direction of that organization. There are both positive and negative sides to how an understanding of culture can be used within an organization. For instance, Edgar Schein (1992) considers the process of creating culture and management to be the essence of leadership, while Gideon Kunda (1992) describes a culture which embodies both the implicit and explicit rules and behaviour of a particular group of people and the conscious efforts of management to engineer the culture to its own goals. There is a fundamental distinction between those who think of culture as a metaphor (Morgan, 1986) and those who see culture as an objective entity. (Gold 1982) Metaphors allow us to understand organisations in terms of other complex entities such as the machine and the organism. By observing the similarities, scholars attempt to explain the essence of human organisations. The dangers of such an approach is distinguishing when the metaphor is no longer valid. That is why most commentators have chosen to think of culture as an objective entity. This view have ranged from viewing the organisation literally as a culture with all features of an organisations including its systems, policies procedures and processes as elements of its cultural life (Paconowsky ; ODonnell-Trujillo 1982) to suggesting that culture is best thought of as a set of psychological predispositions, called ?basic assumptions, that members of an organisation possess that leads them to think and act in a certain way.( Schein 1985). The former view presents problems in using the concept to explain other aspects of organisational activity. Indeed if everything is culture, this view becomes indistinguishable from the view that culture is a metaphor. This leaves us with Scheins view of culture as an essentially cognitive phenomena that resides in the psychology of organisational participants, with the acknowledgement that patterns of behaviour are equally important (Eldridge Crombie 1974)The contents of an organisational culture has several levels. At the basic and superficial level, it takes the form of artefacts like stories, jokes metaphors and symbols. Examples of artefacts would be Material objects like mission statements, corporate logos , Physical layout of the office space etc. At a deeper level, culture takes the form of values beliefs and attitudes. Values determine what people ought to do while beliefs are what people think is or is not true. In practice, beliefs and values are often hard to distinguish, because beliefs frequently involve values. Moreover, there is considerable merit to viewing values as a particular sort of belief. (Rokeach 1973: 5) Attitudes connect beliefs and values with feelings. An attitude is a learned predisposition to respond consistently to a particular thing or idea. Attitudes are developed over time and unlike opinions, are held relatively consistently. .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9 , .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9 .postImageUrl , .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9 , .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9:hover , .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9:visited , .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9:active { border:0!important; } .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9:active , .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9 .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ued8e17595f0a6adf7fe0ebdc0a76e7b9:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Reaction Paper on Management Principles EssayAt the deepest level, culture in an organisation takes the form of basic assumptions, a solution to an identifiable problem that is taken for granted. These are implicit, deep-rooted assumptions that people share, and which guides their perception, feelings and emotions about things. (Schein, 1981) Basic assumptions are held unconsciously and are very difficult to surface. Basic assumptions are by definition neither confront able nor debatable. Basic assumptions are also very complex interactions between beliefs values and emotions. Analysing these complex interactions is made more difficult by the fact that cultures change over time. Organisations rarely possess a single homogenous culture. There is often a subculture within parts of the organisations and even countercultures in parts.(Gregory 1983:365) There is also marked difference between espoused culture and the culture-in practise. Thus culture in organisations have to be viewed in terms of multiple, cross-cutting contexts changing through time rather than stable bounded and homogenous.(Argyris Schon 1978)The question then arises as to whether it is possible to manipulate and mould the culture of an organisation. In large organisations, it is quite difficult for a single individual to change the culture. In General Motors John DoLorean tried to change the culture by starting a counter-culture. He failed and left to found his own company. (Martin Siehl 1983) Indeed the work of Schein, Beyer and Trice suggests that organisational change is a complex task involving distinct stages. The current culture has to go an unfreezing mechanism where the current cultu re is questioned and purged. This process often requires outsider, usually in the form of consultants who are supposed to bring unbiased opinions. The firm then undergoes an experimetation phase where there is considerable conflict and degradation. The resulting changed culture then undergoes a refreezing mechanism where the culture is then slowly assimilated and integrated in the firm. The process usually requires the replacement of senior managers.(Goodstein Burke 1991)The degree of malleability of the organisation depends on the type of firm. In industries where speedy reactions and constant change are a necessity for survival, change may be much easier to implement. For example at Microsoft, there is a web of culture and counter-cultures. Indeed every star-programmer tends to bring an element of his culture to the organisation. Some have a culture where names are forbidden and people are know by code names only. Others bring a culture where any practical joke, however costly or disruptive, is tolerated. For example, colleagues vacating their office temporarily can expect unpleasant things like a farm complete with pigs to be there when they return. One could argue that the culture is one that allows new culture to be integrated. The simpler explanation could be that the culture at Microsoft does not exist. The diverse cultures that one observes are simply the cultures of the individuals that are currently employed at Microsoft. In such an organisation, is culture easy to change? Certainly one can bring elements of ones culture into Microsoft. But apart from Bill Gates himself, it would be difficult to persuade co-workers whom one only knows as Radeon to adopt one culture, no matter how great that culture maybe. BibliographyArgyris Schon (1878) Theory in practice, Sans Francisco: Jossey Bass Eldrige Crombie (1974), A sociology of Organisations, London::Allen Unwon. Gold (1982) ?Managing for Success: A comparison of the Public And Private Sectors, Public Administration Review, Nov-Dec, 568-75Goodstein and Burke(1991) Creating Successful Organisational change, Organisational Dynamics, spring, 5-17Gregory (1983) Native-view Paradigms: Multiple Culture and Culture Conflicts in Organisations, Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 359-76Kunda, G. (1992). Engineering culture: Control and commitment in a high-tech corporation. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Lee, S., ; Clack, M. E. (1996). Continued organizational transformation: The Harvard College experience. Library Administration ; Management, 10(2), 96-104. .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2 , .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2 .postImageUrl , .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2 , .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2:hover , .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2:visited , .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2:active { border:0!important; } .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2:active , .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2 .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u206739b54b2b559a3a07978c499d77c2:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Free Processs - Giving Blood Expository Proc EssayMartin ; Siehl Organisational Culture and Counterculture: An Uneasy Symbiosis, Organisational Dynamics, autumn, 52-64Morgan (1986) Images of Organisation, Beverly Hills, Calif::Sage. Pacanowsky ; ODonnell-Trujillo (1982) ?Communication and Organisational Culture, The Western Journal of Speech Communication, 46(Spring) 115-30. Rokeach (1973) The nature of Human Values, New York: The Free PressSchein, E. H. (1992). Organizational culture and leadership (2d ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Shaughnessy, T. W. (1988). Organizational culture in libraries: Some management perspectives. Journal of Library Administration, 9(3), 5-10. Spradley, J. P. (1979). The ethnographic interview. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Sociology Essays

House of Quality Essay Example

House of Quality Essay Example House of Quality Paper House of Quality Paper The House of Quality by John R. Hauser and Don Clausing Harvard Business Review Reprint Design is a team effort, but how do marketing and engineering talk to each other? Digital Equipment, Hewlett-Packard, ATT, and ITT are getting started with it. Ford and General Motors use it at Ford alone there are more than 50 applications. The house of quality, the basic design tool of the management approach known as quality function deployment (QFD), originated in 1972 at Mitsubishis Kobe shipyard site. Toyota and its suppliers then developed it in numerous ways. The house of quality has been used successfully by Japanese manufacturers of consumer electronics, home appliances, clothing, integrated circuits, synthetic rubber, construction equipment, and agricultural engines. Japanese designers use it for services like swimming schools and retail outlets and even for planning apartment layouts. A set of planning and communication routines, quality function deployment focuses and coordinates skills within an organization, first to design, then to manufacture and market goods that cus HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW May-June 1988 tomers want to purchase and will continue to purchase. The foundation of the house f quality is the belief that products should be designed to reflect customers desires and tastes so marketing people, design engineers, and manufacturing staff must work closely together from the time a product is first conceived. The house of quality is a kind of conceptual map that provides the means for interfunctional planning and communications. People with different John R. Hauser, at the Harvard Business School as a Marvin Bower Sloan School of Management. He is the author, with Glen L. Urban, of Design Marketing of New Products (Prentice-Hall, 1980). Don Clausing is Bernard M. Gordon Adjunct Professor of Engineering Innovation and Practice at MIT. Previously he worked for Xerox Corporation. He introduced QFD to Ford and its supplier companies in 1984. Copyright 1988 by the Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. HOUSE OF QUALITY Whats So Hard About Design David Garvin points out that there are many dimensions to what a consumer means by quality and that it is a major challenge to design products that satisfy all of these at once. l Strategic quality management means more than avoiding repairs for consumers. It means that companies learn from customer experience and econcile what they want with what engineers can reasonably build. Before the industrial revolution, producers were close to their customers. Marketing, engineering, and manufacturing were integrated in the same individual. If a knight wanted armor, he talked directly to the armorer, who translated the knights desires into a product. The two might discuss the material plate rather than chain armor and details like fluted surfaces for greater bending strength. Then the armorer would design the production process. For strength who knows why? he cooled the steel plates in the urine of a black goat. As for a production plan, he arose with the cocks crow to light the forge fire so that it would be hot enough by midday. Todays fiefdoms are mainly inside corporations. Marketing people have their domain, engineers theirs. Customer surveys will find their way onto designers desks, and RD plans reach manufacturing engineers. But usually, managerial functions remain disconnected, producing a costly and demor- alizing environment in which product quality and the quality of the production process itself suffer. Top executives are learning that the use of interfunctional teams benefits design. But f top management could get marketing, designing, and manufacturing executives to sit down together, what should these people talk about? How could they get their meeting off the ground? This is where the house of quality comes in. Consider the location of an emergency brake lever in one American sporty car. Placing it on the guaranteed that women in skirts could not get in and out gracefully. Even if EXHIBIT II Japanese automaker with QFD made fewer changes than U. S. company without QFD U. S. ompany Design changes problems and responsibilities can thrash out design priorities while referring to patterns of evidence on the houses grid. Japanese company of total Japanese changes complete 20-24 Months 14_17 1-3 +3 Months Job #1 Months EXHIBIT I Startup and preproduction costs at Toyota Auto Body before and after QFD January 1977 pre QED April 1984 post QED (39% of pre QFD costs) Preproduction costs S tartup costs Source for Exhibits I and II: Lawrence P. Sullivan, Quality Function Deployment, Reprinted by permission. the system were to last a lifetime, would it satisfy customers? In contrast, Toyota improved its rust prevention record from one of the worst in the world to one of the best by coordinating design and production decisions to focus on this customer oncern. Using the house of quality, designers broke down body durability into 53 items covering everything from climate to modes of operation. They obtained customer evaluations and ran experiments on nearly every detail of production, from pump operation to temperature control and coating composition. Decisions on sheet metal details, coating materials, and baking temperatures were all focused on those aspects of rust prevention most important to customers. . David A. Garvin, Competing on the Eight Dimensions of Quality, HBR November- December 1987, p. 101 . 4 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW Today, with marketing tech EXHIBIT III iques so much more sophisticated than ever before, compacustomer attributes and bundles of CAS nies can measure, track, and for a car door compare customers perceptions PRIMARY SECOND ARY TERTIARY of products with remarkable acEasy to close from outside curacy; all companies have opStays open on a hill Easy to open from outside EASY TO OPEN portunities to compete on quali AND CLOSE DOOR Doesnt kick back ty. And costs certainly Justify an Easy to close from inside emphasis on quality design. By Easy to open from inside looking first at customer needs, Doesnt leak in rain then designing across corporate No road noise and use Doesnt leak in car wash functions, manufacturers can rel SOLATlON No wind noise duce prelaunch time and afterDoesnt drip water or snow when open Doesnt rattle launch tinkering. Exhibit I compares startup and Soft, comfortable ARM REST In right position preproduction costs at Toyota Auto Body 1977, before QFD, Material wont fade INTERIOR TRIM Attractive (nonplastic look) to those costs in 1984, when QFD was well under way. House of CLEAN Good appearance Easy to clean No grease from door quality meetings early on reduced costs by more than 60%. Uniform gaps between matching panels Exhibit II reinforces this evidence by comparing the number f design changes at a Japanese auto manufacturer noise. Some Japanese companies simply place using QFD with changes at a U. S. automaker. The their products in public areas and encourage potenJapanese design was essentially frozen before the tial customers to examine them, while design team first car came off the assembly line, while the U. S. embers listen and note what people say. Usually, however, more formal market research is called for, company was still revamping months later. via focus groups, in-depth qualitative interviews, and other techniques. Building the House CAS are often grouped into bundles of attributes hat represent an overall customer concern, like There is nothing mysterious about the house of open-close or isolation. The Toyota rustquality. Th ere is nothing particularly difficult prevention study used eight levels of bundles to get from the total car down to the car body. Usually the used to its conventions. Eventually ones eye can project team groups CAS by consensus, but some bounce knowingly around the house as it would over a road-map or a navigation chart. We have seen companies are experimenting with state-of-the-art research techniques that derive groupings directly some applications that started with more than 100 rom customers responses (and thus avoid argucustomer requirements and more than 130 engiments in team meetings). neering considerations. A fraction of one subchart, CAS are generally reproduced in the customers in this case for the door of an automobile, illusown words. Experienced users of the house of qualitrates the houses basic concept well. Weve reproty try to preserve customers phrases and even duced this subchart portion in the illustration clich? ©s knowing that they will be translated siHouse of Quality, and well discuss each section multaneously by product planners, design engistep-by-step. eers, manufacturing engineers, and salespeople. Of course, this raises the problem of interpretation: What do customers want? The house of quality What does a customer really mean by quiet or begins with the customer, whose requirements are easy? Still, designers words and inferences may called customer attributes (CAs) phrases cuscorrespond even less to customers actual views tomers use to describe products and product charand can therefore mislead teams into tackling probacteristics (see Exhibit Ill). Weve listed a few here; lems customers consider unimportant. a typical application would have 30 to 100 CAs. A Not all customers are end users, by the way. CAS car door is easy to close or stays open on a hill; can include the demands of regulators (safe in a doesnt leak in rain or allows no (or little) road HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 5 EXHIBIT Relative-importance weights of customer attributes BUNDLES RELATIVE IMPORTANCE AND CLOSE DOOR Easy to close from outside Stays open on a hill 7 ISOLATION Doesnt leak in rain 3 2 A complete list totals 100% side collision), the needs of retailers (easy to display), the requirements of vendors (satisfy assembly and service organizations), and so forth. Are all preferences qually important? Imagine a good door, one that is easy to close and has power windows that operate quickly. There is a problem, however. Rapid operation calls for a bigger motor, which makes the door heavier and, possibly, harder to close. Sometimes a creative solution can be found that satisfies all needs. Usually, however, designers have to trade off one benefit against another. To bring the customers voice to such deliberations, house of quality measures the relative importance to the customer of all CAs. Weightings are based on team members direct experience with customers or on surveys. Some innovative usinesses are using statistical techniques that allow customers to state their preferences with respect to existing and hypothetical products. Other companies use revealed preference techniques, which Judge consumer tastes by their actions as well as by their words an approach that is more expensive and difficult to perform but yields more accurate answers. (Consumers say that avoiding sugar in cereals is important, but do their actions reflect their claims? ) Weightings are displayed in the house next to list totaling 100% (see Exhibit V). Will delivering perceived needs yield a competitive advantage? Companies that want o match or exceed their competition must first know where they stand relative to it. So on the right side of the house, opposite the CAs, we list customer evaluations of competitive cars matched to our own (see Exhibit V). Ideally, these evaluations are based on scientific surveys of customers. If various customer segments 6 evaluate products differently luxury vs. economy car buyers, for example product-planning team members get assessments for each segment. Comparison with the competition, of course, can identify opportunities for improvement. Take our car door, for example. With respect to stays open on hill, every car is weak, so we could gain an advantage here. But if we looked at no road noise for the same automobiles, we would see that we already have an advantage, which is important to maintain. Marketing professionals will recognize the righthand side of Exhibit V as a perceptual map. Perceptual maps based on bundles of CAS are often used to identify strategic positioning of a product or product line. This section of the house of quality provides a natural link from product concept to a companys strategic vision. How can we change the product? The marketing domain tells us what to do, the engineering domain ells us how to do it. Now we need to describe the product in the language of the engineer. Along the top of the house of quality, the design team lists those engineering characteristics (ECs) that are likely to affect one or more of the customer attributes (see Exhibit VI). The negative sign on energy to close door means engineers hope to reduce the energy required. If a standard engineering characteristic affects no CA, it may be redundant to the EC list on the house, or the team may have missed a customer attribute. A CA unaffected by any EC, on the other hand, presents opportunities to expand a ars physical properties. Any EC may affect more than one CA. The resistance of the door seal affects three of the four customer attributes shown in Exhibit VI and others shown later. Engineering characteristics should describe the product in measurable terms and should directly affect customer perceptions. The weight of the door will be felt by the customer and is therefore a relevant EC. By contrast, the thickness of the sheet metal is a part characteristic that the customer is only by influencing the weight of the door and other engineering characteristics, like resistance to deformation in a crash. In many Japanese projects, the interfunctional team begins with the CAS and generates measurable characteristics for each, like foot-pounds of energy required to close the door. Teams should avoid ambiguity in interpretation of ECS or hasty Justification of current quality control measurement practices. This is a time for systematic, patient analysis of each characteristic, for brainstorming. Vagueness will eventually yield indifference to things customers need. Characteristics that are trivial will make the team lose sight of the overall design and stifle creativity. EXHIBIT V Customers evaluations of competitive products CUSTOMER ATTRIBUTES Worst 1 CUSTOMER PERCEPTIONS 5 Best How much do engineers influEASY TO OPEN Easy to close from outside 7 AND CLOSE ence customer-perceived qualiDOOR ties? The interfunctional team now fills in the body of the house, the relationship matrix, indicating how much each engineering characteristic affects each customer OUR CAR DOOR attribute. The team seeks consenCOMPETlTOR AS sus on these evaluations, basing COMPETITOR BS them on expert engineering experience, customer responses, and tabulated data from statistical studies or controlled experiments. course, there might be an entirely new mechanism The team uses numbers or symbols to establish that improves all relevant CAs. Engineering is crethe strength of these relationships (see Exhibit VI). tive solutions and a balancing of objectives. Any symbols will do; the idea is to choose those The house of qualitys distinctive roof matrix that work best. Some teams use red symbols for rehelps engineers specify the various engineering fealationships based on experiments and statistics and tures that have to be improved collaterally (see Expencil marks for relationships based on judgment hibit X). To improve the window motor, you may or intuition. Others use numbers from statistical ave to improve the hinges, weather stripping, and studies. In our house, we use check marks for posia range of other ECs. tive and crosses for negative relationships. Sometimes one targeted feature impairs so many Once the team has identified the voice of the cusothers that the team decides to leave it alone. The tomer and linked it to engineering characteristics, roof matrix also facilitates necessary engineering it adds objective measures at the bottom of the trade-offs. The foot-pounds of energy needed to house beneath the ECS to which they pertain (see close the door, for example, are shown in negative Exhibit VI). When objective measures are known, relation to door seal resistance and road noise the team can eventually move to establish target reduction. In many ways, the roof contains the values ideal new measures for each EC in a remost critical information for engineers because designed product. If the team did its homework they use it to balance the trade-offs when addresswhen it first identified the ECs, tests to measure ing customer benefits. benchmark values should be easy to complete. Enlncidentally, we have been talking so far about gineers determine the relevant units of measurethe basics, but design

HEALTHCARE ETHICS AND END OF LIFE DECISIONS Essay - 4

HEALTHCARE ETHICS AND END OF LIFE DECISIONS - Essay Example Given a situation where the patient prefers death, the physician has a responsibility to provide valid information on the patient’s health, avail options of handling the illness and providing final options. In cases where the doctor decides to help with death, they assume the final responsibility of administering the lethal injection. This seems a rather controversial issue faced with a need to establish direction, so the legal fraternity has joined the debate. The aim is to establish a legal framework that guides physicians in decisions regarding assisted suicide. The mandate of establishing these laws has largely fallen under the state governments. At the moment, almost every state has a legal guideline on assisted deaths, though there is lack of the specific connection to physicians. It is quite obvious that they are also addressed under the very laws. The law under the States outlines that anyone who deliberately permits, aids, advises, coerces or encourages another to terminate their life commits manslaughter. Some laws go further to specific legal repercussions such as imprisonment. Given the position of the law and the need for compassion, especially for terminally ill patients, controversy arises. This has required court’s interpretation. Several of these cases, touching on physician-assisted suicide, have been heard across American Courts. An example is Washington et al. v. Glucksberg et al. argued in Supreme Court of the United States. The case involved physicians who had sought the indulgence of the court to declare unconstitutional the existent ban on assisted suicide. The Court, though specific to Washington, upheld the law noting assisted suicide as a crime under law (Washington et al. v. Glucksberg et al). Looking through these presentations it is clear that the law, as indicated and interpreted by the Court, is against assisted suicide. Under these circumstances, it is proper

Essay on Augustine's City of God Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

On Augustine's City of God - Essay Example Augustine also says that on the sacking of the city, it was not uncommon for all invaders including Romans and Greeks to do the same this included the likes of Ulysses, Phoenix and Diomede. For this reason, the sacking of Rome was not something that could be blamed on Christians but was instead a common activity that was part of war (I, 2). The Visigoths and other European barbarian tribes had grown in strength over the years and they raided Rome in 410 under King Alaric. Feelings of resentment had also developed among the poorer population of Rome due to high inflation rates and lack of political representation since the position of councilor was hereditary. These factors had therefore weakened the empire of Rome internally and when the time came that the Visigoths invaded it was not the strong empire it had been in previous years. Prior to the invasion, Christians were already being viewed with suspicion and had been barred from working in high ranking offices, the view that they w ere to blame for the fall of Rome therefore came as a natural expectation as a scapegoat was necessary. Lucretia was a woman who was believed to have been raped and out of guilt she committed suicide. Augustine uses the rape of Lucretia as an example to cite to teach Christianity about Chastity. Augustine says that and anyone who is forced to have sexual relations and does not consent to them has not committed a sin. A woman should however not commit suicide for such an act being committed on them, as it will bar them from entering the kingdom of God. The story of Lucretia has never been confirmed as an event that actually happened but remains a significant story that relates to the establishment of the Roman Empire. Lucretia’s suicide is what led people to revolt and remove the old establishment and thus symbolized what the Roman Empire stood for; respect for all irrespective of gender or social class. The story did however also show that the Roman Empire was established as a patriarchy as the men rebel in vengeance of a woman who overwhelmed by shame could not muster the courage to continue living her life and relied on the strength of men to avenge for her. The relationship of Augustine and Christians to the ‘city of man’ Augustine in the city of God believes that in actuality there are two cities; there is Rome the city that has been developed by men as an economic bloc and there is the religious Rome that is a city built by God and whose foundation is Christian religion. Augustine therefore shows that there is always going to be a conflict between the way men want to live their lives and the way they should live their lives according to the Lords commandments. Augustine wrote the book after the sacking of Rome by the Visigoths and therefore uses the book to explain that under the laws of God no one dies at a time not planned by him. In addition, that they could not live their lives in fear of death more so if they did live according to the laws of God and not just the laws of man (II, 15). As men, one should not be afraid to show that they are living under the laws of the city of God even if living in a nation that does not recognizes these laws. Therefore, it is better to be courageous and ready to sacrifice oneself for your convictions for God will restore you in heaven than to live constantly afraid of persecution. On the view of the life or Rome,

The ethical challenges of the biomedical revolution Essay

The ethical challenges of the biomedical revolution - Essay Example The concept of genetic engineering has risen due to the realization that some medical conditions emanate from genetic abnormalities. Genetic engineering is not a new practice. For example, farmers have long tried to enhance productivity by crossbreeding plants to eliminate undesirable traits and enhance the positive traits. The same case applies to people to explain the root of diseases and highlight disorders that are likely to be transmitted to offspring. The application raises the question of ‘breeding people’ to produce a superior species with disease resistance and desirable traits such as body strength and looks. In fact, there is an increase in the number of women seeking artificial insemination due to the reducing values of traditional institutions of the family. Therefore, the concept of genetics as used today creates ethical challenges because it increases social strains and treats people like animals and plants, which are bred to produce superior offsprings (2 3). Though the above case is practical in the present day, there are possibilities for improvement that would reduce the ethical concerns in the future. For example, germline therapy is a proposed genetic therapy that would erase defective genes and eliminate the possibility of passing the genes to the future generations (26). Though the technology is still in the growth stages, it holds the promise of reducing disease prevalence in the future and thus reduce the cost of healthcare for future generations. It is an advanced form of genetic engineering with an ability to revolutionize the field of healthcare and reduce human suffering. Therefore, though the perception of genetic engineering has a negative outlook, there are possibilities of development that would overcome the ethical concerns held about biomedical revolution. However, religion places God’s supremacy beyond the reaches of human

Importance of Teaching Listening Skills

Importance of Teaching Listening Skills Listening comprehension is an important language skill to develop. Language learners want to understand target language (L2) speakers and they want to be able to access the rich variety of aural and visual L2 texts available via network-based multimedia. Furthermore, listening comprehension is at the heart of L2 learning and the development of L2 listening skills has demonstrated a beneficial impact on the development of other skills (e.g. Dunkel 1991; Rost 2002). Therefore, it is important to develop L2 listening competence; yet, in spite of its importance, L2 learners are rarely taught how to listen effectively (e.g. Mendelsohn 2001, 2006; Berne 2004; LeLoup Pontiero 2007). In addition, listening is an essential skill which develops faster than speaking and often affects the development of reading and writing abilities in learning a new language (Scarcella and Oxford, 1992; Oxford, 1993). According to them, the main reason is that one receives input through listening to instructions or explanations prior to responding orally or in writing. Listening is not an easy skill to acquire because it requires listeners to make meaning from the oral input by drawing upon their background knowledge of the world and of the second language (Byrnes, 1984; Nagle Sanders, 1986; Young, 1997) and produce information in their long term memory and make their own interpretations of the spoken passages (Murphy, 1985; Mendelsohn, 1994; Young, 1997). In other words, listeners need to be active processors of information (Young, 1997). Meanwhile, Vandergrift (1996, 1997, and 2003) asserts that listening is a complex, active process of interpretation in which listeners try to su it what they hear with their prior knowledge. According to Richards (1983), this process is more complex for second language learners who have limited memory capacity of the target language. Therefore, it is necessary for them to utilize various listening strategies. As most English teachers Iran believe, although we have learned a lot about the nature of listening and the role of listening in communication, L2 listening has been considered to be the least researched of all four language skills. This may be due to its implicit nature, the ephemeral nature of the acoustic input and the difficulty in accessing the processes. In order to teach L2 listening more effectively, teachers need a richer understanding of the listening process. Research into L2 listening is important because a better understanding of the process will inform pedagogy. According to Vandergrift (2007), students who learn to control their listening processes can enhance their comprehension; This, in turn, affects the development of other skills and overall success in L2 learning. 1.2. Statement of Problem Listening comprehension may seem relatively straightforward to native language (L1) speakers but it is often a source of frustration for second and foreign language (L2) learners (e.g., Graham, 2006). Further, little attention has been focused on systematic practice in L2 listening (see DeKeyser, 2007) i.e.; on the integrated instruction of a sequential repertoire of strategies to help L2 learners develop comprehension skills for real-life listening (Berne, 2004; Mendelsohn, 1994; Vandergrift, 2004). A review on recent research on second or foreign listening instruction suggested a need for an analysis of the effectiveness of metacognitive instruction for developing L2 listening comprehension. Current approaches for effective L2 listening are toward real-life authentic ample-input listening with more of top-down approaches and process instruction. Most of the studies, support real-life listening with authentic materials (Buck, 2002; Goh, 2008; Richards, 2005; Vandergrift, 2007; Veenman et a1., 2006). Top-down approaches have drawn more recent favors than bottom-up approaches (Goh, 2008; Rost, 2002; Vandergrift, 2004). Process listening was favored to product listening (Vandergrift, 2004; Field, 2003; Buck, 1995; Krashen, 2008). Interest was also indicated in raising student awareness of the listening process (Vandergrift, 1999; Mendelsohn, as cited in Vandergrift, 2004). Among the approaches to L2 listening, metacognitive instruction for L2 listening was noted to be a most recent trend (Annevirta et al., 2007; Beasley et al., 2008; Chen, 2007; Derwing, 2008; Field, 2008; Goh, 2008; Graham et al., 2008; Lee Oxford, 2008; Vandergrift, 2007; Veenman et al., 2006; Zohar Peled, 2008). In general, comprehension historically has received only minimal treatment in the teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL), but it is, in fact, one of the most important skills a second language (L2) learner must master to succeed in academic studies (Jung, 2003, Thompson Rubin, 1996). For learners to become proficient in listening comprehension, they must receive comprehensible input (Vandergrift, 1997, p. 495) as well as have ample opportunity to practice using, or producing, the language. In second language acquisition, listening comprehension used to be considered a passive activity; thus, it did not merit researchers attention (Jung, 2003; Thompson Rubin, 1996; Vandergrift, 2004). It had been assumed that a learners ability to comprehend spoken language would develop entirely on its own in an inductive way through repetition and imitation. As recently as the 1970s there were no textbooks devoted to teaching the skill of listening in a second language. It was assumed that the ability to comprehend spoken language would automatically improve because learners with exposure to the oral discourse would learn through practice. Listening texts are a relatively recent addition to the ESL or ESL curricula; the focus of earlier second or foreign language learning texts which included a focus on listening comprehension was primarily on testing students ability to listen to oral discourse and then answer comprehension questions based upon the information (Carrier, 2003; Field, 1998). Today, however, a growing body of research indicates that the focus has shifted to actively and intentionally teaching strategies for learning how to process, comprehend, and respond to spoken language with greater facility, competence, and confidence (Rost, 2007). Despite, recognizing the importance of listening strategies for the development of foreign language proficiency, very limited studies have been performed in Iran concerning the strategies employed by Iranian EFL learners in relation to listening proficiency levels. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine how strategies training may benefit L2 learners in their development of listening comprehension. 1.3. Significance of the Study The current study addresses the need for further research in the area of systematic teaching of listening strategies. Accoding to Carrier (2003), for L2 learners, the ability to use strategies effectively in their academic listening is crucial (Carrier, 2003). He believed that learners need to be able to actively and selectively choose the strategies most applicable for a given listening situation and evaluate strategy effectiveness in their everyday learning tasks. As Carrier (ibid) indicated in her study, students can benefit from instruction in strategies for academic listening in a variety of settings and incorporating many types of media. This study adds to the growing body of research of how adult EFL students pursuing academic study may benefit from explicit, systematic teaching of listening strategies. Doing this research contributes a method to introduce and model L2 listening strategies. Results of the study provide insight into participants self-perceptions of their use of listening strategies both before and after systematic classroom instruction. 1.4. Research Questions The following research questions formed the basis of the study: 1. Does explicit listening comprehension strategy training based on CALLA instructional model increase Iranian EFL learners listening comprehension 2. What metacognitive listening strategies, based on Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ), do Iranian EFL learners report before and after metacognitive training program? 1.5. Research Hypotheses Based on the above questions, the following hypotheses will be estimated: 1. Explicit listening comprehension strategy training based on CALLA instructional model cannot play any role in increasing Iranian EFL learners listening comprehension. 2. There is no significant difference in using metacognitive listening strategies, based on Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) by Iranian EFL learners before and after metacognitive training program. 1.6. Limitations of the Study One limitation of this study relates to the selection of participants. It was anticipated that the body of participants was likely to be of predominantly one language and cultural background. While this could provide insights into the strategy use of that particular language group, it might preclude broader multicultural generalizations of the study. In addition, it was impossible to randomize the selection of participants because of the structure of the research. The study needed to be conducted as a component of regularly scheduled EFL coursework. Limited randomization was provided in the anonymity of participant responses on the research instrument questionnaires as well as with proficiency leveling. Participants prior exposure to listening strategies instruction or to the manner in which such instruction may have taken place is another area that was impossible to determine. Indeed, students may consciously or unconsciously use strategies transferred from their learning and listening experiences in their first language. In addition, instructors may offer strategies instruction without intentionally planning to do so. If students have friends who are native speakers of English, spend much time watching American movies or listening to news broadcasts, or in other ways have a lot of exposure to English outside of class time, they may have adopted a variety of listening strategies that their classmates who do not engage in such activities have not. 1.7. Definition of Key Terms The following terms are used throughout this study and are defined as related to use in this research. Listening: an active process in which listeners select and interpret information that comes from auditory and visual clues in order to define what is going on and what the speakers are trying to express (Thompson Rubin, 1996, p. 331). For this study, the focus is on listening for academic purposes. That might include listening during academic lectures, seminars, group work, or any other aural discourse that is likely to occur in an academic classroom setting. Metacognition: Metacognition refers to the learners knowledge of whatever strategies s/he might use for specific tasks and under what conditions those strategies will be most effective (Pintrich, 2002). Strategy training: teaching explicitly how, when, and why to apply language learning and language use strategies to enhance students efforts to reach language program goals (Carrell, 1996; Cohen, 1998; Ellis Sinclair, 1989, as cited in Chen, 2005, p. 5). CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 2.1. Overview This chapter presents a brief historical timeline of the teaching of listening comprehension in EFL and ESL context. Of note is that listening research and teaching has a relatively short history as compared to that of reading, writing, grammar, and speaking. Certainly, the process of learning how to listen in a second language shares features with learning to listen in ones mother tongue; however, some features are different. The literature provides insight into these similarities and differences. Within this section, top-down and bottom-up processing as they function in the L2 listening process are explained, as is the interaction between the two processes. Finally, learning strategies, in particular, those used in the L2 listening process are presented. In most of the research accomplished to date, strategies have been classified in a descriptive manner. Researchers agree to the dearth of studies showing what types of intervention-or instruction-of listening strategies will help L 2 students to improve their listening comprehension. It is to this end that the current study was undertaken. 2.2. History of Teaching Listening Comprehension Though one of the most important but also most difficult skills a second language (L2) learner must master to succeed in academic studies, L2 listening comprehension has not received the research attention it deserves (Jung, 2003, Thompson Rubin, 1996). Though the focus in teaching today is on presenting listening as an active receptive skill which needs special attention in language study (Morley, 2001, p. 72.), listening was traditionally considered to be a passive skill, unlike speaking or grammar (Vandergrift, 2004). Even as recently as the 1970s there were no textbooks devoted to teaching the skill of listening in a second language. One hundred and fifty years ago, it was thought that speaking and writing in a second language were productive, or active skills, while listening and reading were receptive, and thus passive. In some of the earliest recorded language classes, listening was not taught at all. In one of the earliest of the language teaching approaches, Grammar Translation (Felder Enriquez, 1995; Flowerdew, Miller, 2005), teaching was conducted in the learners native tongue, and only the grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary of the foreign language, generally Greek or Latin, were taught so that learners could translate texts. The first of the language teaching methods that touched upon the importance of listening comprehension is known as the Direct Approach (Felder Enriquez, 1995), in which learners were immersed in the target language, with the L2 being the language of instruction (Flowerdew Miller, 2005). Taught inductively, learners mastered the grammar by creating rules based on their ever-growing experience with the language. Correctness in all aspects of the language was emphasized. In the Direct Approach, by necessity, listening comprehension played a major role. However, the development of listening comprehension was not actively taught; it was assumed that learners would pick up this skill in an inductive way, through repetition and use. Certainly, with its focus on inductive learning, no listening strategies were actively taught in the Direct Approach. Although listening comprehension was a component of the Grammar Approach also, students were constantly tested on their listening ability only as it related to their ability to simultaneously read and listen to a recorded piece of discourse and make sense of the grammatical and lexical rules of the language. One major drawback of this method was that the classroom activities did not relate in any meaningful way to everyday listening activities outside of the classroom (Flowerdew Miller, 2005). Students using this method were called upon to fill in missing words, a task they could easily perform without having any idea of the actual meaning of the discourse. The Audiolingual Approach (Larsen-Freeman, 2000), which became popular in the 1960s and 1970s, required the listener to recognize and practice utterances and then create similar utterances patterned after the ones they had heard in a dialogue. It was during this time and with this approach to teaching languages that the audio-cassette language labs became widely used (Ross, 2003). The language lab focus was based on drill and practice, requiring much repetition and error correction with the goal of instilling in students correct patterns of discourse. Developing listening comprehension strategies, again, was not the focus of this approach; rather listening skill was taught only as it pertained to the manipulation of newly learned grammatical and lexical structures. An unfortunate result was that in their learning process, students interacted much more with machines than with other humans. Then focus shifted toward student interaction in authentic language situations so that students could have exposure to comprehensible input as well as practice using the target language in real life situations. While cassette language laboratories are still in use today, many of these have been replaced or supplemented with computer laboratories and digital language laboratories. Emphasis on authentic tasks and projects, particularly those using the Internet, has become highly regarded (Ross, 2004). In the 1980s and 1990s, the Communicative Approach (Oxford et al., 1989)-one in which error was tolerated, provided the learners intended message could be conveyed and understoodbecame popular. The Communicative Approach, in which the focus is on use of authentic language, places the learner in a real exchange of meaning; the learner must process input and produce output such that each participant can understand the other. Once again, we see that listening strategies are assumed but not actively taught. Within this method, two schools developedthose who embrace the Cognitive Approach (Ellis, 1999) and those who embrace the Sociocognitive Approach (Warschauer Meskill, 2000). Another approach which came into existance was Cognitive Approach, the first of the two schools, which focuses on the view that all language learning is a unique psycholinguistic process (Warschauer Meskill, 2000, p. 3). Learners are said to have a built-in cognitive ability to interact with and communicate in language that is both meaningful and comprehensible to them and construct their own meaning. Making errors is seen as a positive learning process through which learners construct the rules of the target language based upon input/output. Technologies that support this learning theory/style include text-reconstruction software, concordancing software, telecommunications, and multimedia simulation software (p. 4). Teachers can easily manipulate authentic text to create meaningful exercises (cloze-type), and students can use all sorts of software and Internet access to discover computer microworlds that, at their best, simulate an immersion or a linguistic bath environment (p. 5). They can experience the target language by conducting searches, interacting with and manipulating their findings. In many cases, students need not actually interact with other humans at all. The other school within the Communicative Approach embraces Sociocognitive Approaches. This school of thought contends that learners benefit greatly from interaction with people. Students need to interact with other humans in authentic language situations so that they can have comprehensible input as well as exposure and practice in the types of speech acts in real life outside the classroom. Authentic tasks and projects, particularly those utilizing the Internet, are highly regarded in this approach. Teaching methods that exploit computer-assisted discussion have become accepted. We see synchronous and asynchronous chat becoming a major component of language learning. While this medium is seen as somewhat artificial, it is still said to give students authentic practice in extended discourse and to provide an extra layer of language practice for students, one that is democratic. Students who are hesitant to use oral language in the classroom have greater opportunity to use language w ithout fear of making mistakes and thus losing face. The result can be class discussions that are both highly democratic and collaborative. Next in the progression of accepted language teaching approaches is one known as the Task-Based Approach (Brown, 1987; Bruton, 2005). This approach requires the learner to listen and, based on the input, complete some sort of task, perhaps note-taking or filling in a chart or form. The tasks tend to be oriented to real-world needs of the learner but are frequently based upon discourse (lectures or passages) that is at least partially contrived. While not exactly authentic, these types of activities provide practice in completing the types of tasks students might be called upon to use in real life, such as noting information or completing forms. In current language learning approaches, we have the Learner-Strategy Approach (Floweredew Miller, 2005; Mendelsohn, 1994). This approach accounts for learners needs to initiate and recognize their own listening strategies what works for each individual learner. The Learner-Strategy approach examines listening comprehension from the perspective of individual learners and their independent learning with activities created to help learners discover what particular strategy works for them, including foci on schema activation, authentic tasks, presentation of many types of activities in many different contexts, and total interaction with the task. It is in this approach that metacognitive realization plays a significant role. Metacognition refers to the learners knowledge of whatever strategies s/he might use for specific tasks and under what conditions those strategies will be most effective (Pintrich, 2002). Pintrich pointed out that metacognition refers to knowledge of strategies; h aving the knowledge doesnt necessarily mean that the learner actually uses the strategies. It is important, however, for learners to identify which of their own listening strategies produce success, and it is helpful for them to share their strategies. Not only does the sharing help them to activate schemata and to recognize how the strategy works for them, their sharing may also serve to activate other learners schemata and be instructive for fellow learners. Both learner and fellow students become more autonomous and develop more control over their own learning, the goal of this particular approach. The more aware learners are of the learning process, more specifically, their own learning process, the greater the chance they can influence conscious learning (Nakatani, 2005, p. 77) and enhance their own strategic competence. According to Osada (2002), with the development of research, new theories, and development of second language curriculum, researchers interest in listening comprehension has grown. The 1990s showed a far greater interest in this skill than had previously been realized. Today, it is a widely accepted belief (Flowerdew Miller, 2005; Jung, 2003; Savignon, 2001; Wilson, 2003) that all skills, certainly including listening comprehension, require active negotiation with the language. Savignon (2001) likened the collaborative process involved in oral/aural communication to the game of football. The different strategies players use and the different moves they make as they avoid, block, or tackle the opposing teams players are similar to the strategies language learners use to negotiate meaning with their interlocutors in the new language. Not only do learners need to know the sound system, grammar, and syntax of the new language, but they also need to understand the pragmatic, or discourse meanings of the language. A final learning approach that is worth mentioning here is the Integrated Approach (Flowerdew Miller, 2005). Teachers of today recognize readily the need to actively teach strategies for developing accuracy in listening comprehension. The goal is to make students able to listen for and identify main ideas as well as details, to develop their critical listening and thinking skills, and to enable them to manipulate the language and show that they comprehend and can use what they have heard. An expected outcome is for students to be able to use heard information and present it in an intelligent and intelligible way. In the Integrated Approach, we see complementary strategies at play as students use aspects of the various approaches to language teaching and learning to comprehend, manipulate, and produce language in authentic, meaningful language tasks. 2.3. Different perspectives toward listening 2.3.1. Listening as Negotiation of Meaning That most peoples daily experiences are often not linked to reading and writing- but to situations where the spoken word is the dominant medium has already been noted in the context of first language (LI) listening (see, for example, Bohlken, 1999; Frest, 1999; Furnis, 2004). In academic contexts, for example, research on LI listening has shown that listening comprises more than 50% of college students total average communication day followed by reading (17%), speaking (16%) and writing (11%) (Emanuel et al, 2008). With the significant role that listening plays in our lives, therefore, it would be worthwhile to examine what facilitates and/or hinders listening. Changes in listening behavior have been associated with different factors including purpose for listening (Wolvin Coakley, 1996), types of interaction possible or required in a listening situation (Rost, 1990; 2002), personal dispositions (Sargent, Fitch-Hauser, Weaver, 1997), gender (Sargent Weaver, 2003), and cultural context (Keiwitz, Weaver, Brosius, Weiman, 1997). Imhof (2004) posits that, while listening, individuals tend to adjust swiftly to perceived characteristics of the [listening] situation (p. 43) such as the status they hold as compared to their speaking partner. In a study of listeners and speakers with English as a first language (ELI), Harms (1961) found that listeners comprehension was highest when listeners held the same status as the speakers. These findings accord with the results of the Varonis and Gass (1985) study on EL1-ESL and ESL-ESL interlocutor dyads, which demonstrated that meaning negotiations occurred less frequently between EL1-ESL interlocutors t han ESL-ESL. Varonis and Gass (1985) concluded that ESL speakers recognize the inequality of the conversation situation (p. 85) and thus are reluctant to attempt any further negotiation of meaning. In a critique of the cognitively-oriented L2 listening studies that have ignored the social context in which conversation occurs, Carrier (1999) argued that unequal status between ELI and ESL interlocutors hinders negotiations of meanings and thus has an adverse effect on comprehension. Carrier also suggested that status unequals may perceive their relationship as sharing no common base socially, occupationally, and economically (p. 74). In the context of L2 classroom settings, Pica (1992) reported that social relationships between teachers and students give them unequal status as interlocutors, which can hinder L2 comprehension, production and ultimately acquisition (p. 4). In an interesting case study of an intermediate level learners progress in listening comprehension during and after a pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes course, Lynch (1997) reported the discrepancies between performance within the sheltered setting of the language classroom and success in real interaction in the (non-sheltered) academic world. The study, which included evidence from performance (entry and exit listening tests), process (negotiation of meaning in the classroom) and perceptions (of listening difficulties after the course), pointed to the ways in which the listeners fears about being labeled as an ESL student hindered his negotiations of meaning in the classroom and ultimately his performance. When asked to make a conscious effort in applying meaning negotiation strategies (which he had learned in the sheltered language course) in his academic courses, the ESL listener replied, But I am the only foreign student and so I cannot interrupt very much (Lynch, 1997, 394). These results are in line with other work on first language listening, which demonstrate that inter-individ ual differences affect patterns of communication between listeners and speakers (Beatty, Marschal, Rudd, 2001; Imhof, 2004). 2.3.2 Listening as Comprehension Listening has been demonstrated to be one of the essentials of language learning (Rost 2002; Tafaghodtari Vandergrift, 2008; Vandergrift, 2007). Yet, with the diffusion of new technologies, which have particularly changed the ways in which university students spend their time (Emanuel et al., 2008), listening has become one of the most challenging aspects of L2 development for adult learners (e.g. Hasan 2000; Graham, 2003; Kim, 2002; Vandergrift, 2007). In a review of the recent developments in L2 listening research, Vandergrift (2007) rightly points to the significance that listening has in todays reality of L2 learners lives: Language learners want to understand target language (L2) and they want to be able to access the rich variety of aural and visual L2 texts available today via network-based multimedia, such as online audio and video, YouTube, podcasts and blogs (p. 191). Given its central role in the new media age, listening has remained surprisingly underresearched in the field of L2 education, and those studies which seem to address this neglected aspect of language development have been generally concerned with listening as an end-point, rather than an active process of meaning making. Many, for example, reduce listening to finding the right answer to a set of comprehension questions at the end of a passage. This focus, which reflects the nature of commercial and high-stakes tests, ignores the processes involved in any meaning making situation, listening being no exception. This trend has also fallen short of providing a framework for adequately taking account of the variables which affect listening ability (Tafaghodtari Vandergrift, 2008). 2.3.3 L2 Listening: A Cognitive Perspective Drawing on a wide range of disciplines (e.g., cognitive psychology, LI speech education, language pathology and artificial intelligence), current L2 listening theorists recognize that L2 listening draws on multiple sources of information such as linguistic, contextual, and schematic knowledge (e.g., Buck, 2001; Lynch, 1994; Vandergrift, 2006). A consequence of such recognition has been a focus on different textual, cognitive and affective variables such as memory, discourse markers, prior knowledge and anxiety which are believed to affect performance in L2 listening. Based on earlier work by Buck (2001), at least three types of variables are posited to be critical to L2 listening success: linguistic, strategic and learner variables. Linguistic variables entail knowledge of the sound system (phonological), grammar (syntactic), vocabulary (semantic) and contextual influences on interpretation (pragmatic) of the L2 (Flowerdew Miller, 2005). Listeners use L2 phonological knowledge to se gment the stream of sound into meaningful sound units. This includes knowledge about phonemes, stress, intonation, assimilation and elision. Grammatical or syntactic L2 knowledge helps listeners to process or parse the sound stream for meaningful units of language and contributes to comprehension by assigning semantic roles to words (Rost, 2002). L2 semantic knowledge helps listeners assign meaning to word-level units as well as the relationship between those words at the discourse level. L2 pragmatic knowledge helps the listener to infer the speakers intention, particularly if there is any ambiguity in the literal meaning of the utterance. This is closely related to sociolinguistic knowledge (e.g., formal/informal registers, idioms and slang) which listeners use to further interpret the utterance (Buck, 2001). These five elements of linguistic knowledge involved in speech perception are an essential part of any model of listening. Yet, research has shown that listening comprehension is more than speech perception (e.g., Rost, 2004; Schmidt-Rinehart, 1994). Comprehension includes matching what is heard with what is known. According to Rost (2004), the central component in the comprehension process is the activation of schemata in the listeners memory structures to anticipate and monitor,

Do We Really Love Our Animals? :: essays research papers fc

Do you consider yourself a pet lover? Do you love animals in general? Can you imagine yourself as a little boy in a trailer far away from the depths of socialization? Once upon a time there was this boy, and this boy had a friend. No matter how hard times got he had Bo. The boy was incredibly happy because he had always dreamed of having a dog like that, a companion. Then your friend dies and you are left standing. Can you imagine the pain?Nobody likes to lose a good friend or a pet, and the majority of the population loves animals. However, evidence points that people don’t like animals as much as they claim to because the majority of the population tends to over look the genocide that exists this very instance. Gandhi once wrote, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the ways its animals are treated"(Why Vegan? 1) Gandhi brings up a good point because the issue of Animal Rights is in fact an issue of one’s moral code. To define the morality and ethics, this paper will refer to Ayn Rand’s definition taken from the book, The Virtue of Selfishness. Rand describes itthis way, "It is a code of values to guide a man’s choices and actions that determine the purpose of his life" (Rand 13). Can the common animal lover really love animals that much and is it in their moral code to protect the living? Maybe they would if they were presented with the facts about vivisection and the meat industry. The truth of the matter is, people don’t love animals as much as they claim to, because they allow mistreatment, support companies that practice Vivisection, and the majority of the population still eats meat. The first form of oppression comes from probably one of the most grotesquely cruel practices of all. Did you know that from buying your toothpaste to buying your cosmetics, you open yourself up for the opportunity to participate in the funding of Vivisection? PETA, an international non profit organization designed to protect the rights of animals has defined the term as, "Vivisection is the practice of experimenting on live animals" (PETA 1). Let’s start with the large amount of animals Vivisection effects. The American Anti-Vivisection Society reports that, "Between 25 and 50 million animals are killed in American Laboratories each Year"(www.

Green Mountain Case Essay

Introduction Green Mountain Resort is a small resort that gives people a choice to buy vacation homes with the added luxury of golf, tennis and skiing. With Gunter as the new owner, his main issues were the high turnover rate. In such a small operation and the type of industry, the opportunities for promotion were few and Gunter was faced with the irony that if he reduced the turnover, there would be even fewer openings for advancement (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009). This was due to the type of industry and the fact that the resort was a rural area. Green Mountain Resort Change Images There are six change images; each Gunter, the hospitality literature and the consultant have been described by an image. Gunter is the director (during the beginning of the story), he is the owner of the resort and he is the one who wants to change the turnover rate. The assumption is that change is a strategic choice that mangers make and the survival and general well-being of the organization depends on them (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009). As the story went on Gunter became a mentor and began to change with the help of the consultant to more of a coaching image. The hospitality literature falls under the navigator. In the navigator image, control is still seen as at the heart of the management action, although a variety of factors external to managers mean that while they may achieve some intended change outcome, others will occur over which they have little control (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009). The literature played a role of navigator as it identified turnover as a chronic prob lem that the industry endures and made several suggestions on how one can help reduce the effects. Lastly the consultant, he played the role of the interpreter as he was able to interpret the problem of turnover and how he was able to change the perspective of Gunter in a way that dissolved the problem. Instead of a problem turnover instead, became a way that the resort could use as a way to recruit talent. Assumption -Turnover Problem Each of these assumptions influenced prescriptions for dealing with the turnover problem. For example, Gunter only seemed to make the problem worse when he played the director when he attempted to solve the turnover as a problem, but when he changed the way he looked at the issue he became the coach and turned the problem in to an advantage. The hospitality literature was the navigator as it defined turnover as a problem that was considered chronic and something that must be endured in the industry. It’s prescription for dealing with the turnover problem included streamlining training, simplifying jobs and making the HR process more efficient. The consultant seemed to make the allow Gunter to look at the ‘problem’ from a different perspective. He mentioned in that if you do not try, try and try again, but if at last you don’t succeed then try something different and that is exactly what Gunter had to do. Change Image- Turnover Problem Another image that can be applied to the turnover problem is the nurturer. Like a parent’s relationship with a child, future outcomes are nurtured or shaped, but the ability to produce intended outcomes at the end of the day is severely limited because of the impact of much wider, sometimes chaotic forces and influences (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009). The turnover problem is something (like a child) that is not going away, especially in the hospitality industry. Gunter had to accept the issue and try and work with it rather than against it. With the new insights to advertise Green Mountain Resort as a company that they ‘recruit high-potential people, offering them promise of rapid career development’ helped bring new insight to the turnover problem (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009). Conclusion Conclusions that I drew from the statement ‘if we only draw upon one particular frame, then this will take us away from thinking about what is going on from an alternative perspective?’ would be that a single structure can effectively make it impossible to come up with innovative solutions. The Green Mountain case showed that it is not enough to believe that a problem can have different solutions. Rather the problem can be enhanced rather than gone completely. Conclusion This case has changed the way I look at problems. You cannot always make a problem go away and there are times where you may need help and calling someone in to give the problem a fresh set of eyes to see what they suggest may be exactly what the problem needs. Gunter at first was looking at the high turnover rate as a problem and that he wanted to lower the rate. Being in the hospitality industry high turnover is almost a given. After calling in the consultant Gunter realized that he need to change how he handled the turnover rate. He did this by advertising his company and a company that hired well educated employees that were likely to advance their career quickly. By doing this he helped employee grow and always had applicants wanted to be hired so they could grow as well. References Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Akin, G. (2009). Managing organization change. (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Foreshadowing in Moby Dick

Foreshadowing in Moby Dick Free Online Research Papers During the â€Å"gams† between two ships in Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick, the communication- or lack thereof- between the ships often serves as foreshadowing of the Pequod’s ultimate demise. The gams, meant to be seen as a social gathering between the two ships to exchange mail and news, occur during Moby-Dick nine times. Each of the gams sheds some light on the quest for the great whale, but ultimately it is the communication that occurs between the Pequod and the other ships, particularly the Albatross, the Jeroboam, and the Samuel Enderby, that dictates the kind of information that will be gathered during the gam. The gam between the Pequod and the Albatross is the first gam in Moby-Dick. Although the gam with the Albatross is not particularly successful, the lack of communication between the Pequod and the Albatross during the gam has much significance. When the Pequod and the Albatross first meet, Ahab’s first question to the captain of the ship is â€Å"Have you seen the White Whale?† This same question is asked of the other eight ships that the Pequod encounters, and when Ahab doesn’t get a good answer to this question, he refuses to participate in the gam. Because Ahab is so focused on whether the captain of the ship has seen the white whale, he is unwilling to participate in gams unless he can use them to gain information relevant to his quest. Ahab waits anxiously for the captain of the Albatross, to answer his question. But the captains speaking trumpet falls into the sea, and his unamplified voice doesnt carry in the wind. To the Pequods sailors, the accident is a symbol of Moby-Dicks evil power. It is also Melvilles way of saying that there are mysteries that cant be communicated to others, and that the future is unknowable. Melville gives another clue to Ahabs personality when he describes the captains reaction as the wakes of the two ships intermingle and schools of fish that had been swimming alongside the Pequod go over to the Albatross. Such movements by fish are common at sea, but Ahab reacts with shock. Ahab reacts in this way because he realizes that his quest for Moby-Dick is unreasonable, even abhorrent, a judgment confirmed by the departure of the fish. He also wants help-spiritual or physical-in his quest, and is saddened when the fish wont accompany him. Seeing an albatross at sea is usually a good omen. Ho wever, because of the little communication between the Pequod and the Albatross, as well as the schools of fish going to the Albatross, the gam is seen as a bad omen. If communication between the two ships has been better, we may have found out more about the White Whale and Ahab’s quest. But, since communication wasn’t possible between the Pequod and the Albatross, the mysteries of the Albatross will never be communicated to the Pequod. In the rest of the gams in Moby-Dick, communication plays a big part in foreshadowing for the Pequod. In the gam with the Jeroboam, for example, the sailors from the Pequod can’t step aboard the Jeroboam because of an epidemic that has broken out on the Jeroboam. Thus, communication is limited between the two ships, foreshadowing bad news for the Pequod. Indeed, in every way the Jeroboam is a warning to Ahab. Gabriel is one of a series of prophets able to speak a mad truth about the dangers of Ahabs quest. To Gabriel, as to Ahab, the whale is a symbol of Gods wrath. But where Gabriel madly flees the whale, Ahab pursues it. By contrast, the gams where communication is better between the two ships often bring better news. During the gam with the Samuel Enderby, Ahab finally finds a ship that has seen the white whale, after dealing with inexperienced ships that had never even heard of Moby-Dick before. Even during the Samuel Enderby gam, communication is limited because Ahab can’t set foot on the ship because of his leg. The captain of the Samuel Enderby, Boomer, is in a similar position, as he lost his arm to the white whale. Boomer tells Ahab that he glimpsed Moby-Dick twice more, but didnt chase him. Losing one arm is enough. But what Boomer thinks is best left alone is the very thing that most draws Ahab. When Bunger jokingly checks Ahab to see if hes feverish, Ahab roars into a rage so great Boomer asks if hes crazy. But the man Boomer asks is Fedallah, fully a part of the mad quest. Ahab and Fedallah leave the Samuel Enderby, ignoring Boomer’s shouts. Boomer and Bunger are representatives of a common-sense attitude toward the dangers of the world-if something has injured you once, it should be avoided in the future. And Bunger, in his dry, witty way, gives the common sense view that the whale is not evil, merely clumsy. But Ahab is incapable of such sense about the creature that maimed him. The gams highlight Ahab’s obsession with Moby-Dick by introducing characters like Boomer, who have seen the white whale but did not react as strongly as Ahab. The communication between the Pequod and the other ships during the gams in Moby-Dick serves as foreshadowing for what happens to the Pequod at the end of the novel. A lack of communication between the two ships, as seen in the Albatross gam, shows a lack of understanding. Limited communication, or none, foreshadows negatively for the Pequod. Ahab also limits the communication during the gams, because his obsession with the white whale prevents communication. The communication during the presentation of the gams during Moby-Dick is an indicator of what information will be gathered during the gam. Research Papers on Foreshadowing in Moby DickBringing Democracy to AfricaMind TravelThe Hockey GameAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementWhere Wild and West MeetBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaOpen Architechture a white paperQuebec and CanadaEffects of Television Violence on Children

Why I want to be an Army Officer Essays

Why I want to be an Army Officer Essays Why I want to be an Army Officer Essay Why I want to be an Army Officer Essay Being an army officer is not an ordinary profession. It requires commitment, dedication, loyalty, selflessness and a whole lot more qualities that makes a person go the extra mile for his country. I have thought long and hard, and without any shadow of doubt, I know that I am ready and prepared to join the army. I want to be an army officer because I strongly believe in the fundamental ideas that this country is founded on, and I am willing to give my life to preserve and protect them. Embarking on this mission is an extreme challenge, and I can say with confidence that I have been looking forward to this moment for as long as I remember.I graduated with a degree in Psychology from Wesley college in Dover and as early as college, I mustered the strength to overcome adversities. I was part of the defensive side of the football team and as the season went on, it became clear that this strategy will not help us win the competition so I had to switch roles from an adversary to a benefact or. I was not particularly fond of the idea, but at that time, I knew that I had to do it for the team.I also had a chance to work for New Behavioral Network for two years. The company was contracted out by the state to work with children suffering from mental disorders. The company gave me the responsibility of creating and implementing a treatment plan with the therapist.I also experienced working in the security department of Bubbas Rock Shack for three years. I covered a large portion of the club with three other security personnel. The owner wanted to resolve conflicts as peaceful as possible, so I was instructed to use verbal persuasion to resolve potential conflicts and to use force as the last option. As a result, my communication skills were honed, and I learned how to be direct and show sympathy at the same time.The biggest test of perseverance in my life happened during my last two years in college. My best friend from high school, both my grandmothers, my two aunts and u ncle died within a span of less than 18 months. Just when I thought that my life hit rock bottom, my mother was diagnosed with cancer and my girlfriend for 7 years broke up with me.Overcoming death and adversity at an early age gives a man a whole new perspective and attitude in life. Making sacrifice for the football team shows that I have loyalty, selfless service and commitment. Moving on through life despite the simultaneous loss of loved ones shows my personal courage and focus, and performing the task entrusted by the employer shows that I have integrity and work ethics.I am aware of the qualifications that the army is looking for in a man, and I can say with utmost confidence that I have what it takes to serve this country not because of everything I went through but mainly because I am willing to devote my whole life and sacrifice my self for it.

The data search assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The data search - Assignment Example HRM plays an important role in improving the productive contribution of people in the organization that are strategically, ethically and socially responsible. HRM practices and policies translate change as employee commitment & opportunity. HRM is concerned with the people as every organization is made up of people, acquiring their services, developing their skills and motivating them to high levels of performance and ensuring that they continue to maintain their commitment to the organization in achieving organizational objectives.HRM can practically help organization pull off a great deal of coup by selecting, training and managing excellent people. The task of managing people in today’s world of work is particularly challenging in the light of the changes in efficiency step up. It is difficult to delineate, gauge and evaluate the productivity. To all intents and purposes, cutthroat competition has gained much currency. Never before has the world of work been so challenging. Never before has it been so imperative to our career that we need to learn and develop our skills of management. Never before have had people so many vast opportunities with so many potential rewards. The sources that predominantly support my research are : online databases and hard copy books and journals. The reason I choose these two data sources is that they are highly reliable. There are plenty sources of data but journal and carefully scrutinized research reports do not provide generic information. The differences in information collected from both sources may not be pronounced but it will still help me decide which data source is relatively better for different purposes. Let us first review data collected from online databases. For this purpose I will choose PubMed Central and Medline Plus. Medline is a free online database. The advent of the Internet is dramatically changing scholarly publishing. The growth is because online

The Main Codes Of Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Main Codes Of Ethics - Essay Example There is a difference however in the two groups codes when it comes to whether the principles are obligatory or aspirational. The ASPA's code is much shorter than the ACA's. If you were to ask the author of the ASPA's code if the principles were obligatory, he or she would probably say yes. However, because there is so little detail, the principles are really more aspirational. They do not cover specific situations (unlike the ACA's) and they are full of generalities. The ACA's code is much more specific and lays out what counselors should do when they are faced with various scenarios. This is a better form of guidance. ACA code A2a talks about Informed Consent—this is something much more specific than in the ASPA's code. This difference is noticeable as well in terms of illustrative versus exhaustive elements. The ACA's is exhaustive. It is long and complex and can be used in disciplinary hearings in order to punish counselors who go astray. It details what is appropriate and what is not appropriate regarding relationships with patients. The ASPA's code is not exhaustive. It isn't really illustrative either. It just lays out a few general ground rules. The sad truth is that we need such codes of ethics. Without them, each of these organizations would have trouble with their members. Codes of ethics bind together members. In today's world ethical relativism dominates so it is important to have codes that are carefully written down and that are exhaustive and detailed such as the ACA's. What is ethical relativism?