Individual Differences

http://www. flatworldknowledge. com/pub/1. 0/organizational-behavior/34685#web-34687 Why Individual Differences Are Important: * Individual differences have a direct effect on behavior * People who perceive things differently behave differently * People with different attitudes respond differently to directives * People with different personalities interact differently with bosses, coworkers, subordinates, and customers * Individual differences help explain: Why some people embrace change and others are fearful of it * Why some employees will be productive only if they are closely supervised, while others will be productive if they are not * Why some workers learn new tasks more effectively than others Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle * Different people are attracted to different careers and organizations as a function of their own: * abilities * interests * personalities * Organizations select employees on the basis of the needs the organization has * skills and abilities individual attributes such as values and personality * Attrition occurs when: * individuals discover they do not like being part of the organization and elect to resign, or * the organization determines an individual is not succeeding and elects to terminate * Each phase of the ASA cycle is significantly influenced by the individual differences of each person The Basis for Understanding Work Behavior: * To understand individual differences a manager must: 1. observe and recognize the differences and . study relationships between variables that influence behavior Individual Differences Influencing Work Behavior: 1. Hereditary and Diversity Factors 2. Personality 3. Ability and Skills 4. Perception 5. Attitudes Diversity Factors Primary Dimensions (stable) * Age * Ethnicity * Gender * Physical attributes * Race * Sexual / affectional orientation Secondary Dimensions (changeable) * Educational background * Marital status * Religious beliefs * Health * Work experience Abilities and Skil ls Ability – a person’s talent to perform a mental or physical task * Skill – a learned talent that a person has acquired to perform a task KEY ABILITIES: 1. Mental Ability 2. Emotional Intelligence 3. Tacit Knowledge Attitudes * Are determinates of behavior because they are linked with perception, personality, feelings, and motivation * Attitude – a mental state of readiness * learned and organized through experience * exerting a specific response to people, objects, and situations with which it is related Attitudes: Implications for the Manager . Attitudes are learned 2. Attitudes define one’s predispositions toward given aspects of the world 3. Attitudes provide the emotional basis of one’s interpersonal relations and identification with others 4. Attitudes are organized and are close to the core of personality The Three (3) Components of Attitude: 1. Cognition (Beliefs and Values) – My supervisor is unfair. 2. Affect (Feelings and emotions) – I don’t like my supervisor. 3. Behavior (Intended behavior) – I’ve submitted a formal request to transfer. Cognition * What individuals know about themselves and their environment * Implies a conscious process of acquiring knowledge * Evaluative beliefs – favorable or unfavorable impressions that a person holds toward an object or person Affect * The emotional component of an attitude * Often learned from * parents * teachers * peer group members * The part of an attitude that is associated with â€Å"feeling† a certain way about a person, group, or situation Cognitive Dissonance * A discrepancy between attitudes and behaviors A mental state of anxiety * Occurs when there is a conflict among an individual’s various cognitions after a decision has been made Personality * A relatively stable set of feelings and behaviors that have been significantly formed by genetic and environmental factors * The relationship between behavior and personality is one of the most complex matters that managers have to understand * Set of characteristics that underlie a relatively stable p attern of behavior in response to ideas, objects, or people in the environment * Some Major Forces influencing Personality 1. Cultural forces 2. Social class/group membership forces 3. Hereditary forces 4. Family relationship forces PERSONALITY AND BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS The Big Five Personality Dimensions 1. Extroversion 2. Agreeableness 3. Conscientiousness 4. Emotional Stability 5. Openness to Experience How to Identify the Big Five Personality Traits * Extraversion * An extravert is talkative, comfortable, and confident in interpersonal relationships; an introvert is more private, withdrawn and reserved. * Agreeableness An agreeable person is trusting, courteous and helpful, getting along well with others; a disagreeable person is self-serving, skeptical and tough, creating discomfort for others. * Conscientiousness * A conscientious person is dependable, organized, and focused on getting things done; a person who lacks conscientiousness is careless, impulsive, and not achievement oriented. * Emotional Stability * A person who is emotionally stable is secu re, calm, steady, and self-confident; a person lacking emotional stability is excitable, anxious, nervous, and tense. Openness to Experience * A person open to experience is broad-minded, imaginative, and open to new ideas; a person who lacks openness is narrow-minded, has few interests, and resists change. * Authoritarianism * the degree to which a person defers to authority and accepts status differences. * Machiavellianism * the degree to which someone uses power manipulatively. * Locus of control * the extent to which one believes that what happens is within one’s control. * Self-monitoring * the degree to which someone is able to adjust behavior in response to xternal factors. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Basic Components * Self-awareness: basis for all other components, being aware of what you are feeling * Self-management: control disruptive or harmful emotions and balance one’s moods so they do not cloud thinking * Social awareness: understand others and practic e empathy * Relationship awareness: connect to others, build positive relationships, respond to emotions of others, and influence others Locus of Control * Locus of control of individuals – Determines the degree to which they believe their behaviors influence what happens to them * Internals – believe they are masters of their own fate * Externals – believe they are helpless pawns of fate, success is due to luck or ease of task * Tendency to place primary responsibility for one’s success or failure either within oneself (internally) or on outside forces (externally) * Internal locus of control- your actions influence what happens to you * External locus of control- represents pawns of fate Self-Efficacy Feelings of self-efficacy have managerial and organizational implications: * Selection decisions * Training programs * Goal setting and performance Behaviors Influenced by Personality Authoritarianism = belief that power and status differences should exist within the organization * Machiavellianism = tendency to direct much of one’s behavior toward the acquisition of power and the manipulation of other people for personal gain Individual Differences: Values and Personality ————————————————- LEARNING OBJECTIVES . Understand what values are. 2. Describe the link between values and individual behavior. 3. Identify the major personality traits that are relevant to organizational behavior. 4. Explain the link between personality, work behavior, and work attitudes. 5. Explain the potential pitfalls of personality testing. Values Values  refer to stable life goals that people have, reflecting what is most important to them. Values are established throughout one’s life as a result of the accumulating life experiences and tend to be relatively stable. 138]  The values that are important to people tend to affect the types of decisions they make, how they perceive their environment, and their actual behaviors. Moreover, people are more likely to accept job offers when the company possesses the values people care about. [139]  Value attainment is one reason why people stay in a company, and when an organization does not help them attain their values, they are more likely to decide to leave if they are dissatisfied with the job itself. [140] What are the values people care about? There are many typologies of values. One of the most established surveys to assess individual values is the Rokeach Value Survey. [141]  This survey lists 18 terminal and 18 instrumental values in alphabetical order. Terminal values  refer to end states people desire in life, such as leading a prosperous life and a world at peace. Instrumental values  deal with views on acceptable modes of conduct, such as being honest and ethical, and being ambitious. According to Rokeach, values are arranged in hierarchical fashion. In other words, an accurate way of assessing someone’s values is to ask them to rank the 36 values in order of importance. By comparing these values, people develop a sense of which value can be sacrificed to achieve the other, and the individual priority of each value emerges. Where do values come from? Research indicates that they are shaped early in life and show stability over the course of a lifetime. Early family experiences are important influences over the dominant values. People who were raised in families with low socioeconomic status and those who experienced restrictive parenting often display conformity values when they are adults, while those who were raised by parents who were cold toward their children would likely alue and desire security. [142] Values of a generation also change and evolve in response to the historical context that the generation grows up in. Research comparing the values of different generations resulted in interesting findings. For example, Generation Xers (those born between the mid-1960s and 1980s) are more individualistic and are interested in working toward organi zational goals so long as they coincide with their personal goals. This group, compared to the baby boomers (born between the 1940s and 1960s), is also less likely to see work as central to their life and more likely to desire a quick promotion. 143] Values will affect the choices people make. For example, someone who has a strong stimulation orientation may pursue extreme sports and be drawn to risky business ventures with a high potential for payoff. The values a person holds will affect his or her employment. For example, someone who has an orientation toward strong stimulation may pursue extreme sports and select an occupation that involves fast action and high risk, such as fire fighter, police officer, or emergency medical doctor. Someone who has a drive for achievement may more readily act as an entrepreneur. Moreover, whether individuals will be satisfied at a given job may depend on whether the job provides a way to satisfy their dominant values. Therefore, understanding employees at work requires understanding the value orientations of employees. Personality Personality  encompasses the relatively stable feelings, thoughts, and behavioral patterns a person has. Our personality differentiates us from other people, and understanding someone’s personality gives us clues about how that person is likely to act and feel in a variety of situations. In order to effectively manage organizational behavior, an understanding of different employees’ personalities is helpful. Having this knowledge is also useful for placing people in jobs and organizations. If personality is stable, does this mean that it does not change? You probably remember how you have changed and evolved as a result of your own life experiences, attention you received in early childhood, the style of parenting you were exposed to, successes and failures you had in high school, and other life events. In fact, our personality changes over long periods of time. For example, we tend to become more socially dominant, more conscientious (organized and dependable), and more emotionally stable between the ages of 20 and 40, whereas openness to new experiences may begin to decline during this same time. [144]  In other words, even though we treat personality as relatively stable, changes occur. Moreover, even in childhood, our personality shapes who we are and has lasting consequences for us. For example, studies show that part of our career success and job satisfaction later in life can be explained by our childhood personality. 145] Is our behavior in organizations dependent on our personality? To some extent, yes, and to some extent, no. While we will discuss the effects of personality for employee behavior, you must remember that the relationships we describe are modest correlations. For example, having a sociable and outgoing personality may encourage people to seek friends and prefer social situations. This does not mean that their person ality will immediately affect their work behavior. At work, we have a job to do and a role to perform. Therefore, our behavior may be more strongly affected by what is expected of us, as opposed to how we want to behave. When people have a lot of freedom at work, their personality will become a stronger influence over their behavior. [146] Big Five Personality Traits How many personality traits are there? How do we even know? In every language, there are many words describing a person’s personality. In fact, in the English language, more than 15,000 words describing personality have been identified. When researchers analyzed the terms describing personality characteristics, they realized that there were many words that were pointing to each dimension of personality. When these words were grouped, five dimensions seemed to emerge that explain a lot of the variation in our personalities. [147]  Keep in mind that these five are not necessarily the only traits out there. There are other, specific traits that represent dimensions not captured by the Big Five. Still, understanding the main five traits gives us a good start for describing personality. A summary of the Big Five traits is presented in  Figure  3. , â€Å"Big Five Personality Traits†. Openness  is the degree to which a person is curious, original, intellectual, creative, and open to new ideas. People high in openness seem to thrive in situations that require being flexible and learning new things. They are highly motivated to learn new skills, and they do well in training settings. [148]  They also have a n advantage when they enter into a new organization. Their open-mindedness leads them to seek a lot of information and feedback about how they are doing and to build relationships, which leads to quicker adjustment to the new job. 149]When supported, they tend to be creative. [150]  Open people are highly adaptable to change, and teams that experience unforeseen changes in their tasks do well if they are populated with people high in openness. [151]  Compared to people low in openness, they are also more likely to start their own business. [152] Conscientiousness  refers to the degree to which a person is organized, systematic, punctual, achievement oriented, and dependable. Conscientiousness is the one personality trait that uniformly predicts how high a person’s performance will be, across a variety of occupations and jobs. 153]  In fact, conscientiousness is the trait most desired by recruiters and results in the most success in interviews. [154]  This is not a s urprise, because in addition to their high performance, conscientious people have higher levels of motivation to perform, lower levels of turnover, lower levels of absenteeism, and higher levels of safety performance at work. [155]One’s conscientiousness is related to career success and being satisfied with one’s career over time. [156]  Finally, it seems that conscientiousness is a good trait to have for entrepreneurs. Highly conscientious people are more likely to start their own business compared to those who are not conscientious, and their firms have longer survival rates. [157] Extraversion  is the degree to which a person is outgoing, talkative, and sociable, and enjoys being in social situations. One of the established findings is that they tend to be effective in jobs involving sales. [158]  Moreover, they tend to be effective as managers and they demonstrate inspirational leadership behaviors. [159]  Extraverts do well in social situations, and as a result they tend to be effective in job interviews. Part of their success comes from how they prepare for the job interview, as they are likely to use their social network. [160]  Extraverts have an easier time than introverts when adjusting to a new job. They actively seek information and feedback, and build effective relationships, which helps with their adjustment. [161]Interestingly, extraverts are also found to be happier at work, which may be because of the relationships they build with the people around them and their relative ease in adjusting to a new job. 162]  However, they do not necessarily perform well in all jobs, and jobs depriving them of social interaction may be a poor fit. Moreover, they are not necessarily model employees. For example, they tend to have higher levels of absenteeism at work, potentially because they may miss work to hang out with or attend to the needs of their friends. [163] Agreeableness  is the degree to which a person is nice, tolerant, sensitive, trusting, kind, and warm. In other words, people who are high in agreeableness are likeable people who get along with others. Not surprisingly, agreeable people help others at work consistently, and this helping behavior is not dependent on being in a good mood. [164]  They are also less likely to retaliate when other people treat them unfairly. [165]  This may reflect their ability to show empathy and give people the benefit of the doubt. Agreeable people may be a valuable addition to their teams and may be effective leaders because they create a fair environment when they are in leadership positions. [166]  At the other end of the spectrum, people low in agreeableness are less likely to show these positive behaviors. Moreover, people who are not agreeable are shown to quit their jobs unexpectedly, perhaps in response to a conflict they engage with a boss or a peer. [167]  If agreeable people are so nice, does this mean that we should only look for agreeable people when hiring? Some jobs may actually be a better fit for someone with a low level of agreeableness. Think about it: When hiring a lawyer, would you prefer a kind and gentle person, or a pit bull? Also, high agreeableness has a downside: Agreeable people are less likely to engage in constructive and change-oriented communication. 168]  Disagreeing with the status quo may create conflict and agreeable people will likely avoid creating such conflict, missing an opportunity for constructive change. Neuroticism  refers to the degree to which a person is anxious, irritable, aggressive, temperamental, and moody. These people have a tendency to have emotional adjustment problems and experience stress and depression on a habitual basis. Peo ple very high in neuroticism experience a number of problems at work. For example, they are less likely to be someone people go to for advice and friendship. 169]  In other words, they may experience relationship difficulties. They tend to be habitually unhappy in their jobs and report high intentions to leave, but they do not necessarily actually leave their jobs. [170]  Being high in neuroticism seems to be harmful to one’s career, as they have lower levels of career success (measured with income and occupational status achieved in one’s career). Finally, if they achieve managerial jobs, they tend to create an unfair climate at work. [171] Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Aside from the Big Five personality traits, perhaps the most well-known and most often used personality assessment is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Unlike the Big Five, which assesses traits, MBTI measures types. Assessments of the Big Five do not classify people as neurotic or extravert: It is all a matter of degrees. MBTI on the other hand, classifies people as one of 16 types. [172]  In MBTI, people are grouped using four dimensions. Based on how a person is classified on these four dimensions, it is possible to talk about 16 unique personality types, such as ESTJ and ISTP. MBTI was developed in 1943 by a mother–daughter team, Isabel Myers and Katherine Cook Briggs. Its objective at the time was to aid World War II veterans in identifying the occupation that would suit their personalities. Since that time, MBTI has become immensely popular, and according to one estimate, around 2. 5 million people take the test annually. The survey is criticized because it relies on types as opposed to traits, but organizations who use the survey find it very useful for training and team-building purposes. More than eighty of the  Fortune  100 companies used Myers-Briggs tests in some form. One distinguishing characteristic of this test is that it is explicitly designed for learning, not for employee selection purposes. In fact, the Myers & Briggs Foundation has strict guidelines against the use of the test for employee selection. Instead, the test is used to provide mutual understanding within the team and to gain a better understanding of the working styles of team members. [173] Positive and Negative Affectivity You may have noticed that behavior is also a function of moods. When people are in a good mood, they may be more cooperative, smile more, and act friendly. When these same people are in a bad mood, they may have a tendency to be picky, irritable, and less tolerant of different opinions. Yet, some people seem to be in a good mood most of the time, and others seem to be in a bad mood most of the time regardless of what is actually going on in their lives. This distinction is manifested by positive and negative affectivity traits. Positive affective people  experience positive moods more frequently, whereas  negative affective peopleexperience negative moods with greater frequency. Negative affective people focus on the â€Å"glass half empty† and experience more anxiety and nervousness. [174]  Positive affective people tend to be happier at work,[175]  and their happiness spreads to the rest of the work environment. As may be expected, this personality trait sets the tone in the work atmosphere. When a team comprises mostly negative affective people, there tend to be fewer instances of helping and cooperation. Teams dominated by positive affective people experience lower levels of absenteeism. 176]  When people with a lot of power are also high in positive affectivity, the work environment is affected in a positive manner and can lead to greater levels of cooperation and finding mutually agreeable solutions to problems. [177] Self-Monitoring Self-monitoring  refers to the extent to which a person is capable of monitoring his or her actions and appearance in social situations. In other words, people who are social monitors are social chameleons w ho understand what the situation demands and act accordingly, while low social monitors tend to act the way they feel. 178]  High social monitors are sensitive to the types of behaviors the social environment expects from them. Their greater ability to modify their behavior according to the demands of the situation and to manage their impressions effectively is a great advantage for them. [179]  In general, they tend to be more successful in their careers. They are more likely to get cross-company promotions, and even when they stay with one company, they are more likely to advance. [180]  Social monitors also become the â€Å"go to† person in their company and they enjoy central positions in their social networks. 181]  They are rated as higher performers, and emerge as leaders. [182]  While they are effective in influencing other people and get things done by managing their impressions, this personality trait has some challenges that need to be addressed. First, w hen evaluating the performance of other employees, they tend to be less accurate. It seems that while trying to manage their impressions, they may avoid giving accurate feedback to their subordinates to avoid confrontations. [183]  This tendency may create problems for them if they are managers. Second, high social monitors tend to experience higher levels of tress, probably caused by behaving in ways that conflict with their true feelings. In situations that demand positive emotions, they may act happy although they are not feeling happy, which puts an emotional burden on them. Finally, high social monitors tend to be less committed to their companies. They may see their jobs as a stepping-stone for greater things, which may prevent them from forming strong attachments and loyalty to their current employer. [184] Proactive Personality Proactive personality  refers to a person’s inclination to fix what is perceived as wrong, change the status quo, and use initiative to so lve problems. Instead of waiting to be told what to do, proactive people take action to initiate meaningful change and remove the obstacles they face along the way. In general, having a proactive personality has a number of advantages for these people. For example, they tend to be more successful in their job searches. [185]  They are also more successful over the course of their careers, because they use initiative and acquire greater understanding of the politics within the organization. [186]  Proactive people are valuable assets to their companies because they may have higher levels of performance. 187]They adjust to their new jobs quickly because they understand the political environment better and often make friends more quickly. [188]  Proactive people are eager to learn and engage in many developmental activities to improve their skills. [189]  Despite all their potential, under some circumstances a proactive personality may be a liability for an individual or an organization. Imag ine a person who is proactive but is perceived as being too pushy, trying to change things other people are not willing to let go, or using their initiative to make decisions that do not serve a company’s best interests. Research shows that the success of proactive people depends on their understanding of a company’s core values, their ability and skills to perform their jobs, and their ability to assess situational demands correctly. [190] Self-Esteem Self-esteem  is the degree to which a person has overall positive feelings about his or herself. People with high self-esteem view themselves in a positive light, are confident, and respect themselves. On the other hand, people with low self-esteem experience high levels of self-doubt and uestion their self-worth. High self-esteem is related to higher levels of satisfaction with one’s job and higher levels of performance on the job. [191]  People with low self-esteem are attracted to situations in which they will be relatively invisible, such as large companies. [192]Managing employees with low self-esteem may be challenging at times, because negative feedback given with the intention to improve performance may be viewed as a judgment on their worth as an employee. Therefore, effectively managing employees with relatively low self-esteem requires tact and providing lots of positive feedback when discussing performance incidents. Self-Efficacy Self-efficacy  is a belief that one can perform a specific task successfully. Research shows that the belief that we can do something is a good predictor of whether we can actually do it. Self-efficacy is different from other personality traits in that it is job specific. You may have high self-efficacy in being successful academically, but low self-efficacy in relation to your ability to fix your car. At the same time, people have a certain level of generalized self-efficacy and they have the belief that whatever task or hobby they tackle, they are likely to be successful in it. Research shows that self-efficacy at work is related to job performance. [193]  This relationship is probably a result of people with high self-efficacy setting higher goals for themselves and being more committed to these goals, whereas people with low self-efficacy tend to procrastinate. [194]  Academic self-efficacy is a good predictor of your GPA, whether you persist in your studies, or drop out of college. 195] Is there a way of increasing employees’ self-efficacy? Hiring people who are capable of performing their tasks and training people to increase their self-efficacy may be effective. Some people may also respond well to verbal encouragement. By showing that you believe they can be successful and effectively playing the role of a cheerleader, you may be able to increase self-efficacy. G iving people opportunities to test their skills so that they can see what they are capable of doing (or empowering them) is also a good way of increasing self-efficacy. 196] Locus of Control Locus of control deals with the degree to which people feel accountable for their own behaviors. Individuals with high  internal locus of control  believe that they control their own destiny and what happens to them is their own doing, while those with high  external locus of control  feel that things happen to them because of other people, luck, or a powerful being. Internals feel greater control over their own lives and therefore they act in ways that will increase their chances of success. For example, they take the initiative to start mentor-protege relationships. They are more involved with their jobs. They demonstrate higher levels of motivation and have more positive experiences at work. [197]  Interestingly, internal locus is also related to one’s subjective well-being and happiness in life, while being high in external locus is related to a higher rate of depression. [198]  The connection between internal locus of control and health is interesting, but perhaps not surprising. In fact, one study showed that having internal locus of control at the age of ten was related to a number of health outcomes, such as lower obesity and lower blood pressure later in life. [199]  It is possible that internals take more responsibility for their health and adopt healthier habits, while externals may see less of a connection between how they live and their health. Internals thrive in contexts in which they have the ability to influence their own behavior. Successful entrepreneurs tend to have high levels of internal locus of control. [200] Key point: Values and personality traits are two dimensions on which people differ. Values are stable life goals. When seeking jobs, employees are more likely to accept a job that provides opportunities for value attainment, and they are more likely to remain in situations that satisfy their values. Personality comprises the stable feelings, thoughts, and behavioral patterns people have. The Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) are important traits that seem to be stable and can be generalized to other cultures. Other important traits for work behavior include self-efficacy, self-esteem, social monitoring, proactive personality, positive and negative affectivity, and locus of control. It is important to remember that a person’s behavior depends on the match between the person and the situation. While personality is a strong influence on job attitudes, its relation to job performance is weaker. Some companies use personality testing to screen out candidates. This method has certain limitations, and companies using personality tests

Analysis and interpretation of ”Elephant”

When all hopes and dreams are abandoned from our lives, the only thing we can do is taking advantage of others lives and make it our own. A life well planned can cost us our freedom and our ability to make decisions which are radically different from our previous ones. When desire, lust and romance have been deselected and †the normal life† has taken its place. These obstacles are what William meets and sooner confronts in the short story by Polly Clark called †Elephant†. The story begins in media res, so as soon as the story begins we get engulfed. We are meeting William sitting at his desk surrounded by notes and facts, where his Muse has left him and he has trouble finding inspiration writing biographies of pop singers as Christine, who he finds most adorable and attracted to (l. 46 – 51). The character Christine can be interpreted as Christina Aguilera, who, with her voice and her sexual behaviour, usually is very appealing for average men. William is the typical American man, who has settled down with his wife and currently is trying to start a family. Their marriage is not filled with romance and love as one could expect, but more with expectations and compromises and it furthermore seems like William does not want a baby as much as his wife does. His mind is filled with thoughts of his biographies and how Christine must have wanted him to write about her (l. 71-72 and 76). He easily gets distracted from his thoughts and one could imagine that they are filled with his lost childhood and the things he had never been able to do in life. His flash-back to the moment when his mother gives him the blue elephant (l. 9-66) could easily be interpreted as the childhood his mother tries to give him. However, at first he could not remember the blue elephant from his childhood. It had vanished from his memory. The only thoughts that go through his mind are how he can revenge his lost childhood and regain consciousness of his identity. The narrator tells us at line 21-22: †William would have preferred the film stars (male, golden age of cinema) but those had been claimed by someone quicker of the mark †¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This specific passage shows that William was needed to give up his dream because someone got in his way. By writing about male actors it would have been possible for him to get famous and his life would thereby be complete. Happiness and celebrity goes hand in hand in his mind, but ever since he had to choose another career, his dreams fell apart and he was, in his own eyes, nothing but an ordinary man. That is why he is writing about the female pop singers so in that way he partly can fulfil his dreams through the women. Nevertheless, this solution does not satisfy his desires, since he cannot relate to these women. He can relate to the male actors because of their sex, but the difference between men and women in this context becomes a huge factor for him and that gives him reason to change the stories about the women. Christine gives him trouble because of her pure mind due to her relationship with Christianity (l. 49), and his urge to make her life as miserable as his becomes even stronger. Therefore he synchronizes his life with hers and mixes the blue elephant into her childhood. For him the elephant is a symbol of regret and grief and therefore he tries even harder to make the life of Christine miserable in the eyes of the readers. As he says at line 146-147: †He wanted to give Christine something she had never had, something important of himself. † – the aspects of life he wants to give Christine are defeat and loss because she, to him, never have had a change to experience it in her famous Christian life. But because the negative symbolism of the elephant only exists for him, his made up story about the life of Christine does not become a bad experience for the readers. His attempt to make Christine a bad person is not successful (l. 135-142). That is when he realizes that his profession is not what he wants to do. The name Christine has not been chosen by coincidence and it was solely that choice of name, which gave Christine power over him. The relationship Christine has with God has been transferred to William and through it he is able to confront his obstacles and by typing the untruth about her he learns that, that is not the person he wants to be, and by this realization he becomes complete. Even though he knows that someday he is going to be †vanished from the face of the earth† (l. 148), he feels ready to start living his life again, because he finally has triumphed over his lost childhood and he definitively has found himself. His last falsity gives him the strength to stop telling lies about others, stop living trough others and gives him power to live his own life (l. 142-144). Therefore, the truth is the main theme of this text. As a subcategory comes the blue elephant being a symbol of how important the childhood is for humans. If the blue elephant vanish from the life of a child, pain and regret will come later. Therefore, the story is a form of a aide-memoire in life to parents to teach them how to raise their children. Polly Clark has written this text to tell us how important it is to keep believing in something that helps us maintain our dreams in life pure.

Great Sioux War Battle of the Little Bighorn

Drinking Water and Irrigation Water Shortages in the...

One would think there are enough conflicts to be had in the Middle East. The area is simply a breeding ground for turmoil, and has been for centuries. Of the many conflicts that revolve around the areas history, politics, religion, territory or ethnicity, one more can be added to the group: water. These societies all need water, but not all have the same resources to get to that water. What is the hotbed of vice in this situation is only a few of the countries in the Middle East have total control over their own water, leaving most of the others to depend on the graces of those few countries to manage their water magnanimously enough to supply them with what they need. With Turkey and Israel in control of much of the Middle†¦show more content†¦If a river is located in multiple countries, often the country downstream will find itself at odds with the country that is located upstream. According to the Water: fuel for conflict in the Middle East article in the Washington Repor t on Middle East Affairs in July, 2003, it said that generally, the country downstream was better able to utilize the rivers water for agriculture and industry, but saying that, today, newer technologies and techniques give upstream countries more options and are disrupting ancient patterns of water usage, threatening relationships built on these patterns (Washington). The lifeline of Iraq has always been the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, but most of the water from these rivers originates in another country. Eighty-eight percent of the water from the Euphrates River originates in Turkey, with the remainder from two rivers that enter in Syria (Francona). One expert has gone as far to say that 98% of the Euphrates starts in Turkey (Kaya). That leaves virtually nothing added to the river from water in Iraq, meaning that Iraqs supply of water from the Euphrates is totally dependant on the nature of control that Turkey and Syria have over the river. The Tigris largely originates in Turkey as well, supplying as much as 51% of the annual water volume, while Iraq has its only claim toShow MoreRelated Water Shortage in the Middle East Essay1272 Words   |  6 PagesWater is the main source of life on the Earth. It is vital for normal existence and functioning of organisms. Earth is sometimes called â€Å"water planet.† But, in fact, the number o f freshwater is limited. â€Å"Only about 2 percent of the planets water is fresh.† (How much water is there on Earth?) This water is not enough even to meet daily needs of mankind. 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The Problem Of Shrinking Diversity - 881 Words

INTRODUCTION Imagine the planet Earth without plants or animals. What would it look like? Could humans live and thrive in such a world? What is scary is that in the future, such questions may not just be left to imagination. Humans have undoubtedly been affecting our environments since the beginning of our species from hunting to pollution. Some experts believe that we are now living in the period of the Anthropocene. Meaning, humans are almost solely responsible for the current state of the Earth. The planet Earth is now riddled with problems and impeding dander that, in the anthropogenic view, is attributed to humans. Correcting such problems will take more than a simple solution, if they can be corrected at all. Among the many problems within the Anthropocene, the problem of shrinking diversity poses a tremendous threat to the millions of species on the planet. Reducing the amount of green house gases released is a way to correct the shrinking diversity problem and although this solutions appe ars simple and potentially effective, it is just as riddle with problems like the big problem itself. THE BIODIVERSITY PROBLEM Over the last half billion years on Earth, there has been five mass extinctions which succeeded in wiping out ninety-five percent of the planets species. Some experts believe that we are on the verge of the sixth mass extinction. For example, journalist Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction, believes that humans are â€Å"living in a time of very,Show MoreRelatedWhat Does The Richness And Fullness Of That First Cup Of Coffee?1733 Words   |  7 Pagesleast two hours of sunlight each day (â€Å"Shrinking Shadowland† 60). These are the only requirements nececssary for coffee to grow well. Coffee comes from small green beans that are really pits of a fruit resembling a cherry. 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Marketing and the Other Business Functions - Research in Marketing

Question: Describe about the Marketing and the Other Business Functions for Research in Marketing? Answer: The Cool Car Company based in London has the core business of buying and selling cars. The organisational structure of the company can be represented as: The main goal of the organisation is provide prompt services to its customers in buying and selling cars and to meet this goal all the departments need to work in harmony. All the departments are interconnected to each other. The functioning of one department depends on the functioning of other. A brief discussion of the roles of different departments and their interrelation is as follows: Purchase Department This department is responsible for purchase of cars by the company. The team has to work closely with the sales and marketing department as they deal directly with the customer so the demands and requirement s of the customers are known by them which information is used by the purchase team to purchase the cars. They make a planned forecast of the number of cars required based on this information. Marketing Department the main role of this department is to market the product of the company by different modes of advertising. The company has an active website which is maintained by the marketing department so it is the marketing department which is the face of the company. The information required by marketing department to update the website on the new cars available for sale, no. of cars sold, etc. would be required from various departments like sales, finance. Also a marketing plan is developed by the marketing team. The team can only develop the plan keeping finance team in the loop as the budget is decided by them. Sales Department this department is responsible for selling the cars of the company. The sales department deals directly with the customers so they are aware of the demand for cars, hence they help the purchase department in deciding on the purchase of cars depending upon the requirement and demand by the customers. Also the service since the sales person is the face to the customer so any matter relating to finance, legal or service is approached to by the customer to the sales department which further directs the customer to the concerned department. So the sales department is involved in most of the department work. Operations Department once the car is sold to the customer, the process of delivering the car to the customer starts. This is the job of the operations department. All the paper work is done by this department and it also maintains a stock of inventory. Dispatch and Service Department once all the necessary paper work is done, the final delivery of the car is done by the Dispatch. This department needs to work closely with both sales and operations department. The customer and car information is given by sales team and all documents provided by operations team to ensure right delivery of car. Also after the car is dispatched, after sale service is important which is given with support of the sales team. Finance Department this team is responsible for giving the business results and also forecast the future sales and revenue of the company. The team has to work closely with the sales and marketing team to get those figures. Also the team prepares the overall budget for the company, hence all the departments are linked to the finance dept. as their budget is also allocated by the finance dept. the dept. prepares financial statements taking cost information from purchase dept., revenue information from sales dept. , various business expenditures from operations department. Legal Department this department takes care of the legal issues that may come up during the course of the business ranging from drafting waiver forms for employees to handling suits from angry customers. This department works closely with the service and sales department as complaints from customers are lodged to them which are further transferred to the legal department to resolve the issue. Determining goals and objectives is imperative to the success of an organisation. The set goals and objectives help the people in the organisation to work in way to achieve those goals. In fact, the various stakeholders in an organisation help to identify the goals and put plans into action to achieve the decided goals and objectives. The main goal of CCC is to keep its customers satisfied by giving best quality services and also maximising its profits and having a good growth year to year. Now, all the departments work in harmony to achieve the above objectives. In order to keep the customers satisfied, the sales and service department have to perform well by resolving all their queries and fulfilling their needs. In order for the sales dept to fulfil needs properly, marketing dept. has to give right information as to the demand for the cars and the customer requirements. This information is used by the purchase dept. to decide on its buying. The operations department has to work in harmony with other depts. to ensure smooth running of the business. The measurement of the fulfilment of objectives is done by the finance dept. which is reflected in financial statements in terms of profits. Also the different dept. can give insights in forming the objectives of the organisation based on their experience. The sales and marketing dept. team will understand firsthand which of companies policies and processes are working or not and can suggest improvement. All the depts. in the process of their working can suggest improvements in the processes and the new objectives may be formed accordingly. Process Management is an approach to making an organizations work flow more effective and efficient. It includes defining a process, establishing responsibilities, evaluating process performance and improvement of processes. CCC has a process of selling a cars which starts with purchase dept. buying cars, marketing dept. identifying customers, sales dept. selling the cars, dispatch and service dept,. Delivering the car and providing after sales service, operations dept. maintain documentation, finance dept. collecting payment. CCC should document all the processes so that the employees can know the working process. Once documentation is done, the responsibilities will be allocated to respective dept.. An e valuation should be done on a periodic basis to see if work is being done as per standards or not and also if improvements are required in the ongoing process, the same should be taken care of. When all dept. will work according to laid down standards, the output will be automatically good and quality services will be given to customers. Purchase Department is an important department in CCC as it buys the cars which are further sold by the company. There are many responsibilities to be met by this dept. which include both internal i.e. specific to the company and external i.e. to the third parties. Internal responsibilities can be stated as below: Placing order for the cars Keeping a stock of cars kept as inventory from time to time Inspection of incoming cars Verification of invoices Maintain purchase record and files Reporting to the Managing Director Maintaining coordination with other departments Analyze on long term availability and costs of purchase External responsibilities include: Develop and maintain healthy relation with active suppliers Negotiation with various suppliers to get the best deals Assessment of demand Selection of sources of supply Monitor and control the suppliers performance Smart Objectives The three objectives to be laid down by purchase dept. for the year would be: Increase the source of supply the dept. will look out for more sources of supply i.e. procure cars from more suppliers than it is doing currently. By doing this, the company will have a competitive advantage as it will be able to negotiate well and thus bring down its cost of purchase. A decreased cost will lead to higher profit margins. Also more cars at disposal will lead to pushing of sales which will expand the operations. To maintain uninterrupted flow of materials a companys growth is characterised by increasing sales, high sales is possible only if there are uninterrupted flow of materials i.e. cars for the sales team to sell. This will ensure smooth functioning of all the departments. To procure cars at a cost which is economically consistent with the quality and service required low cost will ensure high profit margins. The various systems that could be implemented to achieve quality, time and financial constraints are: Managing Bottlenecks means identifying operations with large quantities of inventory waiting to be worked upon, removing such bottlenecks by subordinating all non bottleneck operations to bottleneck operations. Identifying quality problems using control charts, pareto diagram and cause and effect diagram Employing financial and non financial measures of quality. Monitoring the performance of various departments is very important to know if they are operating as per the set standards. The various control techniques which can be applied include: Budgetary control every dept. has its assigned budget, hence they should keep a check that their expenses do not cross the budget Inventory control - there should be a control of minimum level of required inventory at any point of time. Quality control to ensure cars sourced meet the quality standards Quality is imperative to the success of a business and in an industry like healthcare, quality is of utmost importance as a little negligence may lead to high risks. There are various quality management systems available which can be used by the managers to ensure quality by the employees in delivering the services. Quality management systems allow companies to keep up with the current quality levels, meet customer requirement for quality, retain employees through competitive compensation programs and employ the latest technology. There are three quality systems which can be deployed by the operations manager: Total Quality Management (TQM) TQM is a quality management approach in which quality is emphasised at every step of the business. It aims at developing long term quality services. The approach breaks down the process into small activities and emphasises that each activity be quality controlled. Under TQM, a quality strategy is developed by the management, the strategy development strategy is made with the involvement of all departments who are to execute such strategies. The strategy is based on customer and stakeholder needs and is communicated well to the organisation to act as a motivating force. In light of SCAS, the operations manager can deploy TQM. For this, he needs to break the process of receiving calls at 999 to receiving the patient in the ambulance and hospitalising him into smaller activities in terms of quality. Like he can set a minimum call answer time, minimum time to reach the place of emergency, the quality of medication to be provided in the ambulance and so on. While framing these quality strategies, he should also consult the employees responsible for execution of the same as they will give realistic figures for setting standards. This way the employees will also be motivated as they are involved in decision making and they will e more responsible. Also there will be more clarity as to different standards set for various activities. Continuous quality Improvement ( CQI) CQI aims to develop a quality system which is never satisfied and required continuous improvement and innovation by reducing time consuming and low value add activities. CQI has been adopted in many industries including healthcare industry mostly known in acronym FOCUS-PDCA process to improve to improve a process what is known variation a process improvement Then move through the process improvement plan: Plan create a timeline Do implementation and collect data Check analyze the results Act take appropriate action The manager at SCAS can implement CQI by rewarding the employees for delivering the desired results of giving quality services to customers. Such rewards will motivate the employees to perform well and continuously improve the performance by improving the process itself. Six Sigma six sigma is a statistical measure which tolerates no more than 3-4 defects per million. Sig sigma eliminates wastage and it is suitable for high volume business. SCAS being a business model where high volumes of calls have to be answered and acted upon, six sigma is suitable where the manager can break the process into individual steps and identify the possible defects in each step and allow only the minimum percentage defect in each step by ensuring control. Such a check will motivate employees to minimal negligence. Quality Culture means having a culture in the organisation where all the members of the organisation have a mindset of delivering a quality product or service. Having a culture which has positive internal environment and creation of delighted customers. The various benefits of having a quality culture are: Increases Cooperation since the leader involves the staff also in forming strategies, there is more cooperation from them. Enables change there is strong communication and and the information is accessible so the information can be used as direction for what to do next and how to improve , thus enabling change Process improvement there is no blame game and the blame is on the process, so efforts are directed towards improving the process. Staff develops, takes risks, admits failures and learns The various methods that the company can use in evaluating and monitoring the performance of employees for continuous improvement are: the manager can carry out inspection on the accident sites or the call centre where all the calls are answered. Such inspections can be sudden so that the actual working of employees can be seen and improvements can be suggested. Also manager will have the chance to see the employee on the job, so any shortcomings in the process can be identified on the job and rectified thereafter. Consumer Surveys Consumer surveys can be carried out by the company as to their reaction to the quality of services being offered by SCAS. This will provide the company with first hand information and the process can be tailored as per customer needs. Third party assessment the company should obtain certification from International Organization for Standardization which measures the company performance in terms compliance with international quality standards. Statistical Indicators statistical indicators give suggestion for issues for performance management, quality improvement and further scrutiny. Indicators assess the company performance both internally and externally. The indicators should be designed in a manner that it can measure the achievement of predetermined objectives. The main objective of the organisation is to provide quality service to its customers and also maintain promptness in its services as it is an emergency case. However, off late employees at SCAS have compromised on quality in order to fulfil targets, hence it is imperative for the operations manager to implement changes in the operations to make it more efficient and effective. The various improvements suggested by the manager are: Provide incentive on qualitative basis instead of quantitative the employees should be rewarded for providing quality services instead of quantitative. They should be encouraged to take extra care while responding to emergency calls on 999 as these are life risking cases and should be done with utmost care. Development of customer oriented culture in the organisation currently the employees are compromising on the quality of service to customer, this may be due to absence of a customer focused culture in the company, the manager should try to build such culture by emphasising on customer service, involving employees in decision making w.r.t. customer satisfaction. Addressing employee grievance - the manager should make special efforts to listen to employee grievance if any and try to resolve their problems. Putting a performance improvement plan in place putting a plan that sets specific goals for improvement, attendance being one of them. Explain clearly the consequences of not fulfilling it. The improvements suggested above would be beneficial to the whole organisation. Other departments can also implement the above improvements as it will only lead to increased employee motivation. Customer oriented culture will not be specific to only emergency department but all other departments as all are necessarily working for its customers. The WHS Act and Regulations has made it mandatory for a person/company who has a duty of ensuring health and safety to manage risks related to it by eliminating it or if it cannot be completely eliminated, then of minimising the risks. The risk assessments required to be undertaken by CSAS by law are: Work out how severe the harm could be it includes working on how severe the harm could be in terms of may it result in serious injury or even death. How many people are exposed to such hazard or could one failure lead to another failure and so on. Work out how hazards may cause harm in most of the cases, the accident occurs due to a chain of events, hence, it is important to work on each component of the chain from the starting point till the end and determine where things may begin to go wrong. Work out the likelihood of harm occurring it means considering how often is the task done, how often are people close to the hazard. Health and Safety requirements under different situations: When new staff has joined the organisation employer must give information about the risks in the workplace and also give training on how to protect one from risks. A new telephone system has been introduced to assess any risks associated with the operation of the telephone. Also train the employees on the usage of new system. Dangerous waste product need to be disposed the waste is disposed off in a manner that the disposal does not harm the people staying in the area of disposal. Maintenance work needs to take place in call centre dept. the calls should be transferred to other dept. i.e. the incoming calls should not be stopped. Health and Safety Policies and Procedures are administrative measures to control hazards in the workplace and should be used to eliminate or reduce risk of injury or illness at workplace. The various policies for CSAS are: Elimination of risk elimination of any toxic substance or hazardous process which is not important for the system to work. Substitution substituting a hazardous process with one which is less harmful. Isolation isolating a hazardous substance or process from the employees to reduce risk of illness or injury. Administrative Controls changing the procedure of work to reduce exposure to existing hazards. Personal protective clothing and equipment proper training also must be imparted for use of protective clothing and equipment to employees. The effectiveness of the policies and procedures can be measured in short term and long term. Short term measurements include Assessment of plans being properly implemented Reduction in number of injuries Proportion of HS grievance which were resolved Long term measurements include: Rates of injury and illness Hidden coat of injuries/illness Training Guide for employees of SCAS SCAS is committed to providing safe and Healthy workplace to all and to providing training to achieve this. The employees can play an important role in maintaining a safe and healthy workplace through: Being involved in workplace safety system Wearing protecting clothing and equipment when required Reporting all incidents and accidents Reporting any discomfort or injury Informing about any health and safety concerns Sticking to the policies and procedures Keeping the work place tidy to minimise risks of any trips. Your participation is appreciated. References Wind, Y, Marketing and the Other Business Functions, Research in Marketing, Vol 5, pages 237-264 Micu,D, Ifrim,L, Daraban,C, Purdescu,C, (2012), Corss-Functional Linkages Between Marketing and the Other Business Functions in an Industrial Organisation, Vol. 74, Iss.3 Daft,R.L, (2009), Organization Theory and Design, South Western Educational Publishing Burt, David N., Donald W. Dobler, and Stephen L. Starling.World Class Supply Management: The Key to Supply Chain Management.Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2003. Chen, Injazz J., Antony Paulraj, and Augustine A. Lado. "Strategic Purchasing, Supply Management, and Firm Performance."Journal of Operations Management22 (2004): 505523 Kujansivu,P., Lonnqvist,A., (2008), Business Process Management as a tool for intellectual Capital Management, Vol. 15, issue 3 Weele, A., (2010), Purchasing Supply Chain Management- Analysis, Strategy, Planning and Practise, Cengage Learning EMEA Work Safe Victoria, (2001), Getting started with Workplace Health and Safety, An introduction to Workplace Health and Safety Policies, Procedures and Evaluation World Health Organization, (2003), How can hospital performance be measured and monitored, Health Evidence Network Liberati A et al. A European project assessing the appropriateness of hospital utilization: background, objectives and preliminary results. International Journal for Quality in Health Care,1995, 7:187-199. Powell,T.C., (1995), Total Quality Management Management as Competitive Advantage: A review and empirical study, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 16 Biolos, Jim. Six Sigma Meets the Service Economy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002. Whakatutuki, H, Sample Health and Safety Policy, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, viewed on 17th May, 2015, https://www.dol.govt.nz/infozone/businessessentials/safety/staff/draft-policy-health-and-safety.asp Garvin, David, and Artemis March. A Note on Quality: The Views of Deming, Juran, and Crosby. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1981. Radawski,D., Continuous Quality Improvement: Origin, Concept, Problems and Application, Reichheld, Fredrick F., and W. Earl Sasser Jr., Zero Deflections: Quality Comes to Services, Harvard Business Review (SeptemberOctober 1990). NSW, (2011), How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Wolkins, D. Otis. Total Quality: A Framework for Leadership. Management Leadership Series. New York: Productivity Press, 1995. Harvey, L, (2006), Quality Culture, quality assurance and impact , Centre for Research and Evaluation Sheffield Hallam University,

The Significance Of The Beginning Chapter Of Frank Mccourts Angelas As

The Significance Of The Beginning Chapter Of Frank Mccourt's Angela's Ashes He is just another poor Irish boy. His story is of poverty, emotional struggles, and growing up. Have we not read about that already? Everyone thinks their childhood is unique, but do we not all have basically the same experiences? Frank McCourt experiences events similar to other children, but that fact is forgotten once the reader begins Angela's Ashes. Actual reality becomes less important than this little boy's perception of reality, upon which the focus is set and remains there throughout the book. McCourt is not telling the story of what happened, but rather of how the events related to his own development. He draws the reader into himself by writing in the first person and using a personal tone which always reflects his outlook. In the first chapter, he inconspicuously establishes himself as the only character in his memoir, causing the reader not to follow him through his childhood, but to become him as a child. ?People everywhere brag and whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version?(1), McCourt writes as he begins to describe the world in which he grows up. For he creates a separate world for himself, where people he knows wander in and out whenever they can hold his attention. McCourt's world serves as a coping mechanism as well as an expression of his creativity. He surrounds himself with the depressing truth about his home and family, but brings in each morsel of truth with his own explanation, often humorous, thus exposing himself only to his interpretation of reality. McCourt's task is to contain his world in the four hundred sixty pages of the book and to have the reader immersed by the end of the first chapter. The opening pages provide a foundation for McCourt, himself, and for his perception, enabling the reader to follow his stream-of-consciousness sentences throughout the book. He gives a flash preview of the book's content on the f irst page, giving the reader an idea of what he is getting into. McCourt then abruptly interrupts himself (which becomes common throughout the book) as though he has forgotten to mention some pertinent fact, and then proceeds to introduce his parents. Although he is now writing from his parents' point of view, the reader is quite aware that this is still McCourt's interpretation of their story. After briefly establishing both his mother and father's basic background, he begins his first story of the book. McCourt wisely chooses the story of his parents first meeting, their marriage, and his birth, which all occur in a surprisingly short span of time. This first story allows the reader to get accustomed to McCourt's style of story telling and also plunges the reader into the lives and personalities of his parents. In building a foundation for them,he creates the two individuals who are the foundation of his early years. His language includes very little actual description, but he imp lies hundreds of little details which the reader can sense, but must read on to further understand. Once McCourt is born, he shifts the perspective immediately to his point of view. He begins with his first memory as a toddler, conveying his thoughts through simple, short sentences. As he progresses through his childhood, he uses grammar and vocabulary corresponding to his level of knowledge at his current age in the book. By the end of the first chapter, the reader succumbs to dwelling in McCourt's world as though it were his/her own memory. In the beginning of the book, McCourt's interpretation of reality is established as well as his attitude about his family's financial and emotional struggles. He conveys to the reader his knowledge that he is poor through bits of his parents arguments. McCourt accepts the fact that they have hardly enough money to feed the family and that he can do nothing to change the situation. However, he does not deny that he keeps hoping for better times. McCourt realizes early on that his father is responsible for supporting the family, and he feels ashamed that his beloved Dad can hardly keep a job. He wants to have food