Leading Change for Carlos Ghosn at Renault and Nissan Essay Example

Leading Change for Carlos Ghosn at Renault and Nissan Essay Individual Assignment: leading change for Carlos Ghosn at Renault and Nissan – Core Leadership task Carlos Ghosn is very strong leader who leading the Renault and Nissan. He made the Company strategic alliance for Nissan with French auto car manufacturer Renault was mutually beneficial for both companies, each of them expanding portfolio and becoming more competitive in the context of globalized mature automobile market. Analysis the leadership of Carlos Ghosn, actually he made a number of remarkable leadership change management on the Renault and Nissan. And Following core task of leadership were well used at Tenure and Nissan A. Effective leadership instills in the organization behavioral patterns that will support sustained outstanding performance. At Nissan, he want to bring Nissan back to profitability at the earliest date possible and revive it as highly attractive company. But in the cooperation through the merge and alliances, that is not dimply a matters of making fundamental change to a company’s organization and operations so de decided to focusing on specific business objective, means focusing on performance and he could by pass concerns for cultural difference. Meanwhile through the performance management, he remove the executive who failure to meet performance target. Through the over and over change. He equip up the team with good performance to achieve the change the people instead of change person. B. Develop and Communicate Purpose – He made a lot of level communication to member and got much valuable information to help him diagnosis the organization and implemented the change accordingly. Meanwhile to share the demanding of organization performance goal. This is also a upward communication. like the article side: spoke directly to employee was especially important C. Leader development through the cross function team work and make the important decision of organization to let those key member well know operation of other function to give then horizontal view of organization for future development D. Effective leadership will be exercised by multiple individuals at different levels and in different units of the organization. E. Walk and talk in his view the leaders must do what they say and say what they do. We will write a custom essay sample on Leading Change for Carlos Ghosn at Renault and Nissan specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Leading Change for Carlos Ghosn at Renault and Nissan specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Leading Change for Carlos Ghosn at Renault and Nissan specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer And he required the top management team is highly visible and what they think, what they say and what they do must be same. They have to be impeccable in ensuring that they worlds correspond to their action. F. The Effective leadership will be exercised by multiple individuals at different levels and in different units of the organization – he involved NRP and serial of HR management plan to reduce the cost, make the good transformation, transformed a struggling company into a good company. Transform the good company into a great company. Overall evaluated for Carlos Ghosn’s leadership on change management, we may see he well manager those leadership to adapt the organization development needs, he engage the six core of leadership from coupled with demanding performance goal, and employee can then adapt to changing circumstances by finding new petitions while aligned with the company’s purpose and direction. Through the well communication setting up, especially upward communication, support new behavior and help ensure leader will learn from employee at all level about the effectiveness of the efforts. Carlos Ghosn leads the change. And also we may see those changes are involved a lot of party of organization to make those change happen as not individual can change the organization. Effective leadership change requires that collaborative partnership among those individuals who hold the positions of formal authority and employee at other organization level who can participants in the process of leading change. The result of the changes, of course will be benefit to the organization as a whole. Leadership ectation rganization performance dem Cross-Functional Teams When you get a clear strategy and communicate your priorities, its a pleasure working in Japan. The Japanese are so organized and know how to make the best of things. They respect leadership . Carlos Ghosn Even though Ghosn expected that his attitude toward cultural respect and opportunism would lead to success, Ghosn was pleasantly surprised by how quickly Nissan employees accepted and participated in the change of their m anagement processes. In his speech at Tuck school he mentioned that workers love stories, they want to understand the story they are in and the role they are playing, they want to see a happy ending-and they want to be part of that ending. Nissan employees were eager to prove themselves. In fact, he has credited all of the success in his programs and policies to the willingness of the Nissan employees at all levels to change their mindsets and embrace new ideas. Perhaps it was the way he started that set the foundation among the employees. Is this Essay helpful? Join OPPapers to read more and access more than 325,000 just like it! get better grades Carlos Ghosn was the first manager to actually walk around the entire company and meet every employee in person, shaking hands and introducing himself. In addition, Ghosn initiated long discussions with several hundred managers in order to discuss their ideas for turning Nissan around. This began to address the problems within the vertical layers of management by bringing the highest leader of the company in touch with some of the execution issues facing middle and lower management. It also sent a signal to other executives that they needed to be doing the same thing. But he did not stop there. After these interviews, he decided that the employees were quite energetic, as shown by their recommendations and opinions. With this in mind, Ghosn decided to develop a program for transformation which relied on the Nissan people to make recommendations, instead of hiring outside consultants. He began to organize Cross-Functional Teams to make decisions for radical changes in the company. Part of The Global Leadership Of Carlos Ghosn At Nissan In 1999, the Nissan was suffering under a decade of decline and unprofitability, in fact the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, with continuous loses for the past eight years resulting in debts of approx. $22 billion. Elements impacting Nissans performance prior to the global alliance with Renault Internal factors: Emphasis on short-term market share growth instead of a long term success strategy; Advanced engineering and technology, plant productivity, quality management. However, less attention was given to design and innovation, on the assumption that consumers were looking for quality and safety. This implies a lack of knowledge of the market, consumers changing tastes, and showed that Nissan management did not pay too much attention to what competition was doing. External factors: The devaluation of yen from 100 to 90 yen for a US dollar; Moodys and Standard Poorss rating agencies announced in 1999 that Nissan would be lowered from investment grade to junk unless it could not Is this Essay helpful? Join OPPapers to read more and access more than 325,000 just like it! get better grades get any financial support. Both formal and informal internal procedural Nissan norms, as well as Japanese cultural norms were holding the company back. Through keiretsu investments Nissan management believed would foster loyalty and cooperation between members of the value chain, hence they invested in real estate and suppliers companies. 4 billion US dollars were invested in stock shares of other companies as part of keiretsu philosophy. Nissan Company strategic alliance with French auto car manufacturer Renault was mutually beneficial for both companies, each of them expanding portfolio and becoming more competitive in the context of globalized mature automobile market. With Renault assuming a stake of 36. 8% at Nissan, the latter would retain its investment grade status. The alliance enabled Renault to penetrate and expand in international markets that it was looking for Asia and North America. In turn, Nissan would gain market share in South America.

Fall of rome essays

Fall of rome essays The Roman Empire is possibly the greatest Empire ever in the history of the world. For over a thousand years the Romans ruled and dominated the area around the Mediterranean as well as most of what is now Europe as well as Asia Minor or the Middle East. In Rome was found one of the wealthiest and most extravagant cultures in the world, Rome for a while also had a great system of government and a great military. The collapse of Rome did not happen quickly, in fact it never really died just the idea of an Empire did. For most of its history the governing body of Rome was a republic where the wealthy dominated the important decisions. Struggle always surrounded from lesser class people or Plebeians attempting to gain political equality and power. The culture became more garbage and the leaders became corrupt and power hungry. As the Empire expanded more money came in and the wealthy benefited from it, while farmers and workers began to fall into poverty. A greater class of plebeians became prevalent and when the demanded equality they were massacred and forgotten about. This lead to turmoil and civil wars for a very long time until Julius Caesar made reforms and changed the system of government, this fell apart after his murder and lead back to civil wars and the inevitable fall of the empire. After the Golden age there were constant struggles for power, at one point there were 26 emperors in a 50 year period, which can bring no stability at all. People fought and killed others for the throne. The economy struggled badly throughout this whole period and measures were taken to try to bring back the power and prominence of the early Empire, this even lead to Emperor Diocletian splitting the empire into two halves. The eastern empire was prosperous and the reforms of the emperors Diocletian and Constantine provided some stability however there were more problems to come. Constant invasions by The Huns as well as pers ...

Characteristics Of Authentic Literacy Instruction Education Essay

Characteristics Of Authentic Literacy Instruction Education Essay Introduction When children come into the world, they come with the innate desire to explore their surrounding and this is seen in their daily interaction with the environment around them when it involves language development and more. They actively participate in their learning of spoken and written language from their parents and other people interactions (Teale & Sulzby, 1986). They see print in the world through signs on shops, along the road and even the supermarket and begin to make associations when they explore printed material (i.e.paper and crayons, and story books). They develop their written experiences by trying out different things, experimenting and inventing their own literacies. As the activities begin to take on more meaning, they increase their knowledge of how written language is formed and how they function in the real world, depending on different situations (Goodman, 1986). As a result, the real world offers these children an entire environment that is literall y rich with language experiences that the children can learn and produce in a natural setting. These settings will also involve human relationships that affect how children may or may not use the literacy tools they encounter (Tharp & Gallimore, 1988). Unlike the empty slate that some people believe children are born with, they are actually vital members of a dynamic system in which the environment influences (Bronfenbrenner, 1977). The more children use the resources available to them in the environment to expand on their knowledge and skills in relation to constructing more solid understanding of factors in the literary world, they are engaging in solving problems that utilizes cognitive skills and through their interaction with members of their environment. Therefore, children’s learning about literacy is integrally tied with practical action, resulting from their need to control, manipulate, and function in their environment. Without a doubt then, children cannot escape t he realities of reading and writing, which are so much a part of their lives as there are so many relationships and contexts that are tied in with these realities (Teale & Sulzby, 1986). Through participating in activities that require cognitive and communicative functions, children are drawn into the uses of these functions by their caregivers in ways that may nurture and develop them. Consequently, children’s earliest conceptions of literacy and strategies for reading and writing are likely to be formed through activities that are often socially instigated (Bruner, 1972). Therefore, the case for authenticity in literacy is a natural process. Authenticity refers to the real-life experiences an individual experiences when carrying out specific activities (Ableser, 2008). This involves life experiences that are naturally occurring in the lives of children and individuals. When a child argues with her parent on the merits of getting a dog, the points and arguments provided are a result of a natural and real reason for doing so. This authenticity is carried into the area of literacy in the classroom as the concept seems a logical progression of utilizing the innate curiosity and purpose of carrying out an activity as a part of the process of learning, into the classroom teacher’s goal of getting her students to learn and do academic related activities. The authentic activities that individuals typically exercise in day-to-day situations are replicated in the classroom. Unfortunately the ordinary practices of the culture-what people do in daily, weekly, and monthly cycles of activity do not seem academically sufficient to meet the educational standards set by the power that be. Such practices, for example, include shopping for the best bargain, figuring out the health hazards of microwaves or examining costs for a planned holiday are not translated adequately and therefore seem to be lacking in some way. Authentic literacy practices then seem to have failed in some way.

Canadian Lumber Trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Canadian Lumber Trade - Essay Example Several meetings were held between the Trade officials of both the countries in order to get to a mutual understanding, which would benefit both the parties, but until today both the parties are seeking for solution for this issue. By May 2002, US International Trade Commission took a stand against Canadian Lumber Producers by stating that the imports from Canada threaten material injury to US industry. The Commission was convinced that Canadian softwood lumber imports are unfairly subsidized. During the same year, Bush administration slapped average tariffs of 29 percent on Canadian softwood lumber imports in a bid to protect US lumber jobs from subsidized Canadian imports. According to Mary Crawford1, the tariffs, known as countervailing duties will be 19.34 percent and the additional dumping penalty of 9.6 percent will be applied to Canadian lumber exporters for selling their softwood lumber at prices below fair market value. The imposition of the tariffs over the Canadian softwood lumber definitely was going to protect the US lumber industry in the longer run, but the most effected ones were the US consumers, as they were going to face the hike in prices of lumber, hence overall construction cost would be high. The NAHB2 believed that the tariff would serve as a hidden tax on US homebuyers and renters. According to NAHB, the overall 29 percent tariff was adding $1000 to the cost of building a new home. NAHB pointed out different types of lumber for house framing is not interchangeable, and the types of lumber being imported from Canada are different from US lumber, and are used in different structural uses in home construction, hence the tariff is going to affect the overall quality of a house. According to Barry Rutenberg3, for house framing the Canadian SPF4 is better than US SPF, and satisfies the requirement. He said, "Homebuilding and remodeling account for two-thirds of lumber consumption in the U .S., and lumber is the primary building material used in home building. Because there are not enough trees available in the U.S. to produce the lumber needed for home building, Canadian lumber imports are critical for the construction of affordable new homes and to make improvements on existing homes in America". As the price of Canadian SPF raises the overall house construction prices also rises, which will decrease the number of homebuyers. Recently US Department of Commerce published a second administrative review in the Federal Register, according to which, for softwood lumber shipped from Canada to the U.S., the combined countervailing and anti-dumping duty rate of 10.8 percent is now in effect. The countervailing duties will be collected at a rate of 8.7 percent, and the "all-other" anti-dumping rate is now 2.1 percent. The real question now is whether the Canadian government is going to tackle the trade dispute issue in a way which enable the Canadian lumber industry to regain the power it needs to shape the economy in the interests of Canadian citizens, the majority of which are women and men who work for wages. Analysis shows that there are certain key points which are going against the Canadian lumber industry interests and overall Canadian labour community. Firstly, the U.S. still manages trade in their own interests whenever they want to do so.

Slavery in North American Colonies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Slavery in North American Colonies - Essay Example According to the discussion  the spread of tobacco farms and the reducing  population  willing to sign-on as indentured servants in the 1680s' increased the importation of slaves from Africa. African slaves replaced Native American slaves, who were susceptible to diseases of the European origin. The  white  enslavement was by kidnapping or for crimes and debts. According to Robinson, about 600 to 650 thousand slaves came to America against their will. Slaves holders treated slaves as property, to be readily sold and bought. Some owners allowed them to marry, while others imposed  marriage  on their slaves. The sad part is that  slave  marriage  was never recognized  by the states. Slave children did not get spared because they joined others in the  field  when they turned 12 to work from sunrise to sunset.   This paper outlines that  the Anglican Church also raised the issue of liberating the black man by teaching them the Christian principles, but their employees were  adamant  to  allow  this exercise. They had a fear that if the slaves received an education on Christianity they would no longer  accept  to be enslaved. By 1808, over 300000 slaves  were imported, and the rest of the population of slaves were almost all born in the United States. In this same year, the importation of slaves became abolished. As a result, slavery in the non-southern states became history. Between 1700 and 1808, few  real  restrictions of the conduct of  master  toward his  slave  were established, although, they  were considered  as Christian virtues and social norms.

Increasing Organizational Productivity Essay Example for Free

Increasing Organizational Productivity Essay There is a great challenge in increasing the productivity of organizations particularly to the managers who properly have turned to be experts in their specific fields. Basing on an organizational challenge that is tending to ubiquity, the productivity of the organization is the ratio that evaluates the efficiency of the resources used in the production of services. Production refers to the ratio between outputs and inputs. There are some particular companies that manage to produce more after using less as compared to other companies even when the conditions for productions are quite the same. Two companies may happen to be working in the same industry, deal with the same suppliers and resources, and work in similar business environment and after all, show some differences in organizational productivity. It means therefore the greatest challenge for managers of specific organizations is to have ideas on how to increase productivity. This is one of the manager’s responsibilities that lead to increasing the market share of an organization as well as maintaining profit (Smith, 1995). Goal setting A manager of an organization has to clarify the goals of the organizations, device processes so as to achieve them and in addition control the processes. A Service oriented organization basically shares the same goals with the peer organizations. The goals include developing a service that seems superior as compared to those offered in the marketplace. The second goal involves increasing the market share for the organizations. Sustain the profits and at the same time increase sales volume should be included. Moreover, offering suitable return on investment and using the available technology to increase productivity are also included. The goals also include eliminating waste, fostering the morale of the employees, reaching the best level of functioning efficiency and enhancing the image of the organization. It should be noted that the goals are related to each other and more importantly, their major intention is to increase the productivity of an organization. In all organizations the efforts of the employees basically determine the effectiveness of the organization. Generally, productivity happens in correlation to the interest and concern employees portray to a specific input component. Thus the human resource manager should be actively involved in developing and putting into practice practices and policies which encourage employees’ productivity (Maanen, 1998). Coping with factors that affect production There are some factors that have a great effect on productivity in service oriented companies. These are organization factors, environment factors, factors related to employee and management factors. The management of an organization have the obligation of examining the factors correctively to find out how one factor affects the other. This is because failure to examine a particular factor may lead to lowering of productivity. Since nobody can have a control on the environmental factors, the organization must always strive to be flexible so as to adapt to them. The structure of the organization is influenced by the environment it operates on and the environment has a significant impact on the employees. It is obvious that the style of the management establishes the effectiveness of the organization simply because it affects the reaction and attitude of the employee. Considering the relationship that exists among the factors have an ultimate effect on the productivity of an organization (Smith, 1995). The changing conditions in the economy have intense effect on the productivity of an organization and hence the degree of the stability of the company in terms of economy has effects on decisions concerning growth and staffing. As a result the labour union may change the benefits, wages and work rules and therefore the human resource department have to be cautious of the changes in the labour market conditions. An organization ought to be in a position that it can adapt easily to changing work environment. The organization factors which include structure, climate and technology also affect the profitability, efficiency and more particularly productivity (Smith, 1995). The application of management approaches of economy, efficiency as well as effectiveness as productivity measurement in a service oriented company have been noted not to increase productivity significantly (Bass Avolio, 1998). There is need to incorporate the use of ethical approaches such as empathy and evaluation to increase the production of the organizations to a greater extent. There are limits that seem practical in the level of formalization and specialization of an organization. It may be national, privately owned or publicly owned and to increase productivity, the human practices and policies must match with the complexity and size of an organization. The makeup as well as size of the Human Resource department ought to echo with the organization’s structure. Another thing to consider is the degree of specialization or in other words technology. This involves the technical level of the processes in an organization. To sustain market viability, there is need for a particular scope of development and research. Employees should have the necessary skills basing on varying degrees. An organization ought to focus on whether it wishes to be employee-centred hence encourage employees to attain results. It must bear in mind its reward systems, communicating information, decision making and offering a positive climate for all employees. The Human Resource professionals ought to involve themselves in determining the climate of the organization. If it happens that they do not get involved, it means they lack the power to command a position that seems strong to lead to the implementation of policies created by the climate. Each organization has a basic management style that may be naturally evolved or consciously adopted. Whether democratic, task-oriented, authoritarian, laissez-faire, whether it strives to be reactive or chooses to be proactive or innovative, the managerial style for a particular organization has intense effect on the ability of the HR department in developing and implementing procedures and policies as well as on the employees. The function of the Human Resource is also highly affected by the manner in which resources are attained and used, the question regarding who makes decisions and sets the goals, how communication is communicated and the style of motivation used (Warrwick Organizational Behaviour Staff,2001). Employee attitude is another factor that has effect on the productivity of an organization. It is through the employees that the goals of an organization are attained and as a result they drive the failure or success of the organization. It is important to have employees with the proper educational levels or knowledge and skill concerning the job. Moreover, the employees’ motivation and abilities are also important factors to consider. The organization should avoid setting practices and policies that intensify negatively the employees’ social, personal, religious and political factors since this is likely to affect the workers’ effectiveness hence influencing productivity (Warrwick Organizational Behaviour Staff, 2001) What matters most? Productivity is concerned with what can be derived from the organizations’ resources and hence it is important to clearly list the most significant resource. For example in labour-intensive industries, the major input could be total number of hours worked by an individual and in steel plants could be the equipment. To increase productivity it is good to benchmark the operations in an organization to avoid being left behind in competition. An organization should invest in resources and this does not imply that there is need to use large sums of money. Investment could entail training employees on skills, operations as well as procedures. Training employees help impact in them vital skills that would help them to avoid making mistakes in customer service and manufacturing. For example, investing in technology may assist the organization to speed up in production and reduce the head count hence leading to less wastage. Paying the employees for work done would not bring the best for an organization. There are so many factors that affect the employees’ behavior. The organization needs to carry out an analysis and determine what has been missing in the list of motivating employees. To set things straight, there is need for a balanced approach and studies have revealed that doing away with pilferage of efforts could result to increased productivity (Warrwick Organizational Behaviour Staff, 2001). Best practices Increasing revenues and lowering costs are the major fundamental goals for service oriented organizations. At the same time as a businesses strives to attain its goals and objectives, IT organizations are pushed forward to accomplishing more with less. IT organizations have an added obligation of assisting other organizations comply with the regulatory requirements. Apparently, in the past years, reducing risk in organizations has assumed a different meaning and has become the most significant goal for organizations. For an organization to succeed in increasing productivity, it needs to examine the other perspective of reducing risks. This means that the need to manage and reduce risks is intertwined to increasing productivity. Managing risks involves reliability, compliance and security (Kelly, 2005). From the compliance point of view, development organizations ought to make sure that business processes as well as applications data consistently adhere to the regulatory guidelines and requirements. Failure to do this may imply that many IT departments could be exposing the organization to regulatory and legal risks. Organizations need to meet the requirement of the SOX-type reporting and hence organizations need to perfectly ensure that any alterations in their applications do not interfere but rather meet with other regulations including those of SOX. Basing on the reliability perspective, it is better that organizations continue with the attempts of increasing availability and reliability of the internal and facing customers’ applications. The key component to ensuring reliability is testing. However, many organizations fail in the procedure as they test what they perceive as important since they have little testing time at their disposal. This means that the organization leaves what is most important in real sense. Therefore, to become a bit more efficient and effective, organizations are required to perfect their effectiveness in the testing process and this means that testing should including testing the most important aspects or components and not the easiest components. From a security point of view, this is the real meaning of business in organizations. A breach in the application raises the risks involved in the organizations and therefore there should be a good thought on matters to do with reducing possibility attacks and this henceforth reduce risks linked to data access and applications (Kelly, 2005). The issue linked to managing risks is developer productivity. There is a lot of pressure on service oriented organizations to execute more while utilizing less. There is more job security if there is consequent greater effectiveness and developer’s productivity. It does not count much if organizations purpose to increase productivity without the proper tools as this will not show the practicability of the set goals. This is like purposing to work smarter but not harder. To increase organizations’ productivity, developers ought to come up with new ways of minimizing the time that is not utilized in benefiting the business value. For instance, the time utilized in testing does not particularly give business its value, but instead gives support on the release of an application that is complete which focus on a business need. Looking for ways to effectively and efficiently test will lead to an increase in productivity hence affect positively the delivering of the business value. The best way for efficient testing is creating a good level for best practices and not waste time in rebuilding standards from the grassroots (Kelly, 2005). Nothing comes easy and therefore if in an organization there will be addressing of challenges and risks, more effort and may be more time will be used. This implies that more money will be needed for executing the process. There is no way an organization can increase quality without having to increase time and cost. Organizations need to think on the best manner of reaching quality in the current world in the available time in a manner that is cost effective. This is the challenge that organizations face today. The best practices assist organizations to have a good improvement in the performance and efficiency of the organizations (Kelly, 2005). In the past years organizations considered the top down approach as the best in increasing productivity. However, this can also be achieved by using the bottoms up approach and this helps organizations to define, capture and apply the best practices in particular portions of the cycle of development. For instance, a particular organization may put into practice a limited performance of code of review for specific forms of services or applications. On the other hand, the organization may apply development tools and automated testing that streamline the identification of errors and also educate developers on the appropriate modes of solving errors as well as accomplishing a given job.

Expanding the Horizons of Beauty Through Fiction, Poetry, and Drama Ess

Expanding the Horizons of Beauty Through Fiction, Poetry, and Drama In the short story Everyday Use, Alice Walker employs symbolism to enhance the message of the story and the value of the genre. As she narrates the relationships between Mama and her daughters Dee and Maggie, Walker uses the quilts as the main symbol to support the meaning of heritage and bond between generations of African American women. It is thanks to this symbolic meaning that we are able to reflect on the conflict of the story as Walker presents the contrasting ideas of Dee and Maggie about appreciating family traditions. Maggie knows how to keep her heritage alive as she learned to quilt herself, whereas Dee would hang the quilts as decoration and thus holds a rather superficial view of honoring one’s tradition. Symbolism in fiction, therefore, opens a door to understand the characters in a deeper dimension, identify the conflict in a better way, and help the author develop the plot in an interesting ma nner In addition, symbolism works as an aesthetic glass through which the reader can perceive the beauty and universal appeal of the story. In every culture, heirlooms are a bonding element among family members. Thus, the symbolic meaning of the quilts allows the reader to connect personally with the story, help him reflect on his own family and, possibly, appreciate how past generations have contributed in his or her life. Furthermore, symbolism becomes even more relevant to the African American community. The fire in the Johnsons’ house is an important event that symbolizes the flame of oppression in society before blacks were granted civil rights. Maggie’s scars, therefore, become a symbol of the marks that slavery and abuse left in the hearts of African A... ...read their works, we are encouraged to explore life in a profound way and understand the struggles, fears, and hopes that are part of the human experience. And so, as they skillfully use each key element in their works, these African American writers remind us that the power of creativity and beauty goes beyond the color of one’s skin, that literature is a universal art. Works Cited Walker, Alice. â€Å"Everyday Use.† English 120. (Professor Theresa Sweeney). Fontbonne University. 2012. Handout. Hayden, Robert. "Those Winter Sundays." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 551. Print. Wilson, August. "Fences." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 1517-1566. Print.

Psychological and Sociological Insights Essay

This essay will address how psychological and sociological insights help nurses to understand health lifestyles by exploring life sciences, focusing on people who engage in smoking and how they seem to override the fact that they are putting their health at risk. In addition to this I will also be highlighting statistics and briefly discussing the health complications that develop from smoking. Consequently, it is important for nurses to understand how people function, more so when they are healthy so we know how to help when a health problem arises. Functioning as a person involves social and psychological aspects, as well as having functioning body systems. Over the decades there have been many different explanations on how people function, this essay will discuss psychological and sociological ideas that will give nurses an understanding of people’s behaviour, thoughts, feelings and lifestyles. For this purpose, this essay will be reflecting on the psychological perspective s of social learning theory, unrealistic optimism and the health model locus of health. Secondly, it shall be discussing the sociological perspectives of socio-class and low-incomes and socialisation to discover why people may start to smoke and why people continue to smoke knowing the risks involved. Ironically, as recent as the 1940’s smoking was considered harmless and the overall attitude of people was that smoking relieved tension but research has since confirmed that smoking causes many diseases detrimental to one’s health such as cancer, cardiovascular and lung diseases. Smoking is a greater cause of death and disability than any single disease, says the World Health Organisation (WHO). According to WHO, smoking is responsible for approximately five million deaths worldwide every year (WHO, 2012). Presently, in the United Kingdom smoking is the leading cause of death with 120,000 people dying annually due to smoking related diseases and costs the National Health Service (NHS) the sum of  £2.7 billion to provide health care for people with smoking related illnesses (Department of Health, 1998). Even so, people still continue to engage in this life threatening behaviour despite knowing the dangers and risks that it involves. Therefore, as nurses we need to consider how addictive smoking is to some individuals (Rana, Upton. 2009) this can influence the health choices people make. Health psychologists attempt to predict how people make choices about their lifestyles. According to Albert Bandura’s theory (1965,1991) on social learning suggested that learning can occur not only by association, reward and habitation but also by observing others behaviour and by imitating it and does not require the individual to be actively involved in the learning process (Barker, 2007) this is referred to as vicarious learning through modelling. The social learning perspective implies that smoking behaviour is learned by modelling and social influences (Rana, Upton, 2009). Statistically, most smokers start smoking as teenagers (Payne, Walker 1996) and children are more likely to smoke if their parents smoke and their parent’s attitude to smoking is an important factor (Action on Smoking and health, 2011).Valente et al (2005) suggests that one of the main reasons for adolescents to start to smoke is the influence of peers and siblings and parents generally become less influential ( Rana, Upton, 2009). Therefore leads us on to social influence, this refers to the way in which people’s behaviour is influenced by the presence and actions of others (Cialdini, 2004). Despite knowing the health risks of smoking, young people still conform to engage in smoking as the number of young people who smoke remains the same (ASH, 2012). Some will manage to quit but a good percentage will endure to smoke for decades, this increases the risk substantially in developing illness and early death (Department of Health, 1998) even though 7 out of 10 adults say that they would like to give up but continue to smoke, the reasons for continuing they say it is a way of coping with stress, a way of relaxing and women seem to be anxious with putting on excess weight. Understanding when and why the individual started to smoke and the reasons for continuing can help the nurse understand more about the individual’s lifestyle. The nurse can then offer support and advice on how the individual can use different strategies enabling them to overcome these hurdles and promote the health benefits of quitting smoking. In an attempt to explain why individuals continue to damage their health by continuing to smoke, Weinstein (1983, 1984) suggests that the reasons people often engage in unhealthy behaviour is due to the individuals perceptions of risk and susceptibility are inaccurate (Rana, Upton. 2009). A study carried out by Weinstein, he asked subjects to examine a list of health problems and to rate their chances of developing the problem, compared to others of the same age and sex. The outcome of this study showed that most of the subjects believed that they were less likely to develop the health problem. Weinstein called this phenomenon ‘unrealistic optimism’, as he argued that not everyone can be less likely to develop an illness (Ogden, 2007). He claims that individuals ignore their own health risks and smokers convince themselves that they are not at risk of developing illnesses, as much as other smokers. Many smokers have the belief that if there is not a problem now there will not be one in the future and their lifestyle continues knowing the risks. This model can be used in nursing to help the nurse to understand the attitudes of most smokers. Understanding the attitudes the nurse can help promote healthy lifestyle choices by providing the individual appropriate information about the impact that smoking has on their health. Reasons for continuing this lifestyle can be explained using the Health Locus of Control (HLC), people’s attribu tions about health and illness. For instance, Wallaston & Wallaston 1982, states that internal control is when individuals tend to regard the control of their health there responsibility by believing that their health and recovery of illness are dependent on their own actions (Payne, Walker. 1996) or they believe it is down to fate or luck this could relate to people that continues to smoke. Whereas external control is when the individuals believes their health is not controllable by them and is controlled by powerful others, for example; doctors and nurses and are less likely to take their own action and believe that it is the responsibility of external factors. The health locus of control has been shown to relate to whether the individual changes their behaviour towards smoking. External individuals who wish to give up smoking will generally be more complying to change their lifestyle and seek advice and help from health care professionals more so than internal individuals (Odgen, 2007). Nurses can apply this model to people with external HLC who are considering giving up smoking by providing the appropriate information enabling the individual to seek help from the available sources and work alongside them to devise a programme in which will benefit them (Rana, Upton. 2009). The sociology perspectives look at the social world and differences in lifestyles that can influence the individual’s health. Studies have shown that inequalities in health is not just down to ones behaviour but displays a connection to the social and economics and environment all of which influence peoples lifestyles (Taylor, Field. 2007). The Black Report 1980 inevitably found that poor health and earlier deaths are the magnitude to socio-economic inequalities (Denney, Earle. 2010). The socio economic classes are still divided as the prevalence of smoking regular among people who work manual jobs are more than likely to smoke more so than people that work in non manual jobs ( Action on Smoking and Health, ASH. 2012), (appendices 1.1). Smoking prevalence is an important element of the differences in the state of health and death rates between social classes and remains high among men and women in the lower socio economic group (Richardson, 2001). As nurses we need to be aware of the social world in which we practice, understanding the differences in how people live will determine the lifestyle choices they make (Marsh, Keating. 2006). Nurses must consider the factors underlying the socio economic differences in smoking such as occupational status, income, education, housing and environment. It may be considered that the decision to smoke is influenced by social factors and social circumstances of the individual. The behaviour of smoking is often linked to poverty and illness, as the poorest family group- single parents have the highest rates of smoking an 80% chance of being smoker if you fall into this social class (Crosier, unknown). Marsh and McKay (1994) reported that people who are living on low income are most likely to smoke; least able to quit smoking; least able to afford smoking; most likely to suffer increased hardship due to the expenditure on tobacco (Richardson, 2001). The debate about women and smoking illustrates this well. Despite over the past decade, the number of people smoking has declined but only has shown a small decrease in women smoking, yet the differentiation between the working and middle class women has increased (Nettleton, 2006). Research into women in low income families with young children, smoke as it is a means of a coping strategy to help deal with the multiple demands that are placed upon them. Graham (1987) found that mothers on low incomes used smoking as a coping strategy that could provide ‘time out’. The mothers where all aware of the health risks associated with smoking so providing more education was unlikely to have an impact (Scambler, 2008). The nurse would, however, have to address that the added pressure for the mothers on low incomes, to give up smoking may cause more stress and could lead to additional health implications, as a result this could have a negative impact on their lives (Bury, Gabe. 2004).It is the nurses role to address this issue by providing appropriate support and information on alternative ways of coping with stress, whilst retaining their autonomy (Naidoo, Wills. 2004). Socialization is more often than not the main reason for people to start smoking, as 82% of adult smokers started smoking in their teenage years (ASH, 2012), as adolescences are more than likely to indulge in risk taking behaviour such as smoking, to create a sense of belonging to a peer group (Clarke, 2010), this soon becomes a regular daily smoking pattern, sustained by nicotine addiction but is reinforced by social norms (Ewles, 2005). It is a nurse’s role to help change of attitudes of the younger society by continuing to provide education on the addiction of nicotine and health risks of smoking and prevention of disease. The Department of Health brought about The White paper: Smoking Kills (1998) as they recognised the health issues of smoking and that one of their main concern was the rises in children /adolescences smoking, Appendices 1.2. They have put in measures to reduce smoking among the younger generation by minimilising tobacco adverts in shops, proof of age cards were introduced and the age to purchase tobacco has risen from 16 to 18 years old. Although in general we are living healthier and longer lives due to the overall improvements that has been made throughout the past decades there is still room for improvement in health inequalities within the top and bottom ends of the social scale (Clarke, 2010). To conclude, nurses need to understand the principles of psychological and sociological insights to health lifestyles. As a result, this helps the nurse understand the reasons why people choose to take up smoking and continue to smoke, leading a lifestyle that is detrimental to their health. From exploring these life sciences the nurse will have a better understanding of the different attitudes, health beliefs, thoughts and feelings that differ within the socio-economic classes, this gives the nurse the ability to deliver the holistic approach relevant to the individuals needs. As nurses by providing care to people, more often than not we do not share the same values and beliefs and may not agree with the life choices people have made but gaining an insight to their lifestyle will in turn enable us to provide the appropriate support, information and treatment. Nurses are obliged to promote good health behaviour but this does not always work towards smoking, many people will take the advice and may try to quit smoking (Appendices 1.3) but due to demands of life some have a tendency to start again but we must realise as nurses, smoking is an addiction and is not easy to give up it, so we have to respect the individuals lifestyle choices without being judgemental.

Malcolm X : Identity Formation

Multicultural Issues Identity Formation: Malcolm X Everyday African-Americans go through identity formation. Identity formation is the development of the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity. While watching the movie, Malcolm X, starring Denzel Washington as Malcolm, he shows many stages of identity formation. His whole life, he went by taking chances. The choices and decisions he made either ended good of ended bad. By the end of the movie, it ended in a tragic massacre that sadly ended his life. Throughout the movie, they jumped around about his life.They showed flashbacks of his childhood and continued from on through his life. I’m going to begin with his life transformation. As a child, he was faced with bad racism. His family would be tortured by the KKK (Ku Klux Klan). His father did everything he could do to protect his family. The KKK (Ku Klux Klan) killed his father after all the torturing. Malcolm and his siblings were taking away. Ma lcolm was sent to an Orphanage where in school he was the only African-American (black) student in his class. His teacher even told him he couldn’t become a lawyer. He should consider becoming a carpenter.Malcolm was faced with man racist comments. Later on in his life he lived the life of a â€Å"street hustler. † He went to prison and that completely transformed him. We must transform ourselves, as a people, as a condition for securing our freedom from oppression. This was the beginning of his phase of identity transformation, Who are you? The question Malcolm stressed. The first time Malcolm was asked that he said Malcolm Little. He was told that’s the white’s man name for you, now who are you? He didn’t have an answer. He had to find his self. Then he gave his self the name Malcolm X.The â€Å"X† representing the unknown name of his African ancestors and their culture that had been lost during slavery, discovering all of this after six y ears in prison, after being convicted of robbery and sleeping with white women. This identity transformation was also spiritual and intellectual transformation. He undertook a rigorous process of self-education. He was all about Black Power and the Power of the Great and Almighty Allah. This was a form of his identity transformation One aspect of the African-American life in society today, as well as in the movie, is the role and identity of women.The women serve as the backbone of the family that prays and request that God would watch over and protect the family. The focus of my writing is geared towards discussing the woman’s identity development in the African-American culture and the world at large. Research express that in order to be able to understand what the significance of identity development in African-American women consists of, it is important to get the picture of the racial undertones in society. Throughout our country’s history, African-American women have been subjected to digesting negative stereotypes about themselves in comparison with their Caucasian counterparts.The belief behind this statement is that Caucasian females were closely associated with having more positive qualities than African-American women. As a result, a sense of shame has been connected with the concentrated effort to explain what it means to be an African-American that leads to an existence of racial consciousness in the minds of everyone within the culture. Moreover the conversation continues by stating that research that focuses on identity development in African-American women includes the suggestion of oppression and the requirement for self-determination and/or strength through resilience.In order for African-American women to move towards self-determination through resilience, they have to acknowledge both the commonness and the actuality of racism and sexism in today’s society. These â€Å"isms† impact the everyday lives and experien ces that they have and will encounter at school, at work, and in places where they may receive any form of public assistance. An author named Black talk about faith in God as foundational in a woman’s life toward the development of a sense of identity and value as the women eal with the trials and tribulations that she faces. The use of faith helps her to keep perspective on God as a loving, caring person as she learns to redefine what adversity looks like. Another writer named Mattis says the study’s focus on African-American women is intentional because they weave together culture and spirituality as part of how they identify themselves . Moreover, Black comments that an African-American woman’s faith and how she interacts with God is effective because there are two key components to their relationship: reciprocity and familiarity.These two characteristics work together as a way to help African-American women deal with their struggles because: a) their self-wo rth is rooted in the fact that God loves them and b) no matter what they face in this life God has a plan to reward them now and forevermore. Just like any other family, we you grow up, you go through a reaching transformation. As I stated before, in African-American families religion is an important factor to their culture. Just like in the movie and in Malcolm’s real life, he became educated and went around the world teaching.He taught was it means t be black, what it means to worship the Nation of Islam and becoming Muslim, and opened the world up to the real racism of society. When he became Muslim, he seized to live in the society of whites. He believed in going back to our roots, back home, back to our original civilization, back to West Africa, South Africa and Central Africa. These teachings cost him his life, yet his legacy live in his family and around the world of African-American and Muslims

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Quotes

'Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry' Quotes Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, is an award-winning American novel written by Mildred D. Taylor about a black family living in Mississippi during the Depression-era. The story is narrated by 9-year-old Cassie Logan, who tells the story about her family, their land, and the struggle for survival in the face of racism. In 1977, the novel won the Newbery Medal, an award for exceptional literature for American children. Roll of Thunder, Hear My  Cry, received critical acclaim, and the social commentary it raises remains an enduring topic in American society. Here are some quotes that exemplify the novels themes of racism and culture during the 1930s: Chapter 1 Look out there, Cassie girl. All that belongs to you. You aint never had to live on nobodys place but your own and long as I live and the family survives, youll never have to. Chapter 2 Papa always meant what he said- and he swung a mean switch. Chapter 3 Its them again.  Theys  ridin tonight. Chapter 4 Friends gotta trust each other, Stacey, cause aint nothin like a true friend. The Wallaces did that, children. They poured kerosene over Mr. Berry and his nephews and lit them afire. Chapter 5 Well, you just get your little black self back over there and wait some more. No day in all my life had ever been as cruel as this one. Chapter 6 Big Ma didnt want you hurt. That was the only thing on her mind. Chapter 7 Seems to me if Staceys not smart enough to hold onto a good coat, he  dont  deserve it. These are things they need to hear, baby. Its their history. We aint never gonna lose this land. We Logans dont have much to do with white folks. You know why? Cause white folks mean trouble. Im a Southerner, born and bred, but that doesnt mean I approve of all that goes on here, and there are a lot of other white people who feel the same. Chapter 8 I expect youd best just forget about teaching altogether. Got me better friends than yall! They give me things and treat me like Im a man. Chapter 10 Hes got a need to show us where we stand in the scheme of things. Hes got a powerful need to do that. Chapter 11 Yall decide to hold court out here tonight? Chapter 12 Theres smoke coming from my forest yonder! What happened to T.J. in the night I did not understand, but I knew that it would not pass. And I cried for  those things  which had happened in the night and would not pass.

Nutrition and Health in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nutrition and Health in America - Essay Example The physical education programs which are introduced at the school level don't offer sufficient physical activities which could keep a child healthy. So in their grooming ages like at the age of 5 they are not groomed well by their physical health trainers. And parents even don't account the importance of physical education programs and they are only concerned about the academic activities of their children. Unfortunately the schools don't pay attention towards this serious matter and they take physical education program as an optional task for the students. They feel that they are only responsible to polish student's mental abilities and to train them to get good grades. The fact is that if the students are physically fit they can produce even more positive outcome. A well know proverb also says that "health is wealth" .If you are healthy then only you can contribute towards good and can perform better. This is plenty evidence to turn around the educational policies. For example like mathematics and reading, the physical education should be made compulsory to pass the grade. It should be given its due importance like the other subjects as it grooms the personality of the child and takes him towards fitness as well as good grades. Americans like to spend their leisure time in front of televisions, computers, electronic games etc. But some forces are trying to divert their attention towards the fact that exercise can bring health benefits for people belong to any age group and both genders. American Heart Association has also taken step by giving awareness that the exercise could keep people away from heart problems. The opportunities to take part in marathon, cycle races and walks are being introduced by different charity fund raisers. It also plays role to motivate people to take part in such activities which could fulfill the need of exercise. The laws and regulations have also played its part in it. The walk paths are created for people to encourage going by walk wherever they want to go and not by motored transportation. Pilates, yoga and other gentler activities are becoming popular among the people and attaining their attention towards them. World's population on the world sports reveled that the participants were growing in many sports which were above 45. Now days the events are specifically arranged for the people who belong to age group of 45 and above. They participate in such activities and pass their leisure time instead of watching televisions as they used to generation ago. Now its time for parents and the education policy makes to take corrective action and should realize the importance of the physical education in the early ages of child. Parents should encourage their children to carry outdoor activities and to participate in such games which offer exercise .So that their adult ones could be able to develop immunity against different life taking diseases.Work cited: British Journal of Nutrition (2008), 99, suppl.1, S26-S32 The author

Business Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 13

Business Law - Essay Example Clearly, the absence of a written partnership agreement between Jamie and Joe/Jack does not negate the fact that they both entered into a partnership agreement. Its existence may therefore be inferred from other grounds such as entering into business contracts with third parties in the name of or in representation of the partnership. Having established the existence of a partnership agreement between Jamie and Joe/Jack, the latter is liable for the funds as well as the other assets of the partnership, with special mention (Last Name) 2 of Jamie’s trademark and special design processes which Joe/Jack sold to clients without the consent and/or knowledge of Jamie. Section 404 Paragraph b of the Uniform Partnership Act of 1997 clearly states that, â€Å"(b) A partner’s duty of loyalty to the partnership and the other partners is limited to the following: (1) to account to the partnership and hold as trustee for it any property, profit, or benefit derived by the partner in the conduct and winding up of the partnership business or derived from a use by the partner of partnership property, including the appropriation of a partnership opportunity; (2) to refrain from dealing with the partnership in the conduct or winding up of the partnership business as or on behalf of a party having an interest adverse t o the partnership; and (3) to refrain from competing with the partnership in the conduct of the partnership business before the dissolution of the partnership.†