Children and Television Essay

Nearly every household has access to television programming. With the variety of programs available children are exposed to many factors concerning choice. These choices can lead to a wide array of results depending on the type of content which is viewed. Positive programming can promote the learning of valuable skills and knowledge to enable success in life, while negative programming may have diverse opposite effects. The contents of television programming affect the health, behaviors and learned life skills in children. First, a discussion of physical health concerns. Television viewing by children can cause a variety of physical health concerns. Children face physical health issues because of the amount of time they spend watching television. A couple of these physical concerns are eyesight and eating disorders. The length of time children focus on the television screen, and the proximity they sit from the television screen, causes them to develop eyesight problems. Ideally, children should sit approximately â€Å"five feet away† from the television set according to McWilliams and Moulder. (1999) On the contrary, The Nemours Foundation explains the fallacy of children sitting close to television screens is not a cause of eyesight problems because children have the ability to focus at a closer distance than adults. (2010) In either event whether the sitting close to the television is the cause or a sign of an eye problem caution should still be used in not allowing children to sit too close to the television screen. Children also face problems with eating disorders from watching television. Children become fixated on programs causing inattention to their eating habits. Some children will not eat at all while others tend to overeat. These eating disorders are influenced by the content children are viewing through specific programming. One factor of this programming is that the advertisements target children encouraging them to desire specific products, such as how McDonalds offers toys to attract sales of their products. Findings of Zimmerman and Bell conclude, â€Å"Television viewing may be a sedentary activity, but it is not for that reason that it is associated with obesity in children. The relationship between television viewing and obesity among children is limited to commercial television viewing and probably operates through the effect of advertising obesogenic foods on television† (2010 p338). Children also face psychological health concerns in relation to television viewing. As children advance in age their minds become more developed giving them a better understanding of the environment surrounding them. Some content available on television causes specific phobias which â€Å"include fear of insects, snakes, and dogs; escalators, elevators, and bridges; high places; and open spaces† as well as many others† (Healthofchildren. com, 2012). The development of these phobias causes elevated anxiety levels in children. Children who watch many hours of graphic content such as horror movies, nature programs, and news broadcasts which implant images in their impressionable, young minds providing them with a sense that the world is an unsafe place. These anxieties influence different behaviors in children. Generally the negative content that can be viewed on television causes children to mimic behaviors and actions of the characters they see. â€Å"Repeated exposure to TV violence makes children less sensitive toward its effects on victims and the human suffering it causes† (Boyse, 2010). Children use their imagination during play. Children will oftentimes play games such as cops and robbers, cowboys and indians, or even mimic their favorite wrestling star causing harm to each other. These behaviors are viewed as unacceptable in society and can overflow into situations where the actions are inappropriate such as in school, grocery stores, or movie theaters. As children may not have a complete understanding of the motives of the content which they were presented though television, they may accept them as reality. However, the acceptance of this reality can cause positive behaviors as well. â€Å"Children imitate their parental role models that they love and trust; then they imitate other role models that might not be so worthy† ( Jagers, 2007). Depending on their understanding of the consequences of an action, children may choose a different mode of behavior concerning situations they encounter throughout their lives. A child who views someone getting burned may take caution when they are in a similar situation themselves. If a child observes someone calling 911 seeking assistance in an emergency situation, when confronted with this type of situation they will think to use this to their advantage. Some television shows for children encourage positive behaviors such as empathy, kindness, and helping others. These television shows encourage emotional development allowing children to display positive behaviors. One show that has these qualities is â€Å"Dora the Explorer† which highlights characters helping each other, helping other characters to achieve tasks, and being kind by using polite language such as please and thank you. Shows like â€Å"Dora the Explorer† provide children with a foundation of necessary life skills. Children learn various life skills such as social roles and interactions through the content of television programming. Television characters through their interactions teach children how to behave within certain situations. Viewing these interactions give children a guideline of social behaviors in a variety of situations that allow children to react to real life situations in a similar manner. The roles are not limited to specific situations in childhood, but reach across the lifespan. Children use television as an expectation of real life situations. A child who views family based programs will conclude a model of functionality within a family. Some shows portray families that are functional whereas other shows portray dysfunctional families. These programs provide children a model to relate their personal experiences. If a child comes from a dysfunctional family they may envy the lives of characters in functioning television families. In other ways, when viewing a dysfunctional family on television, a child may find new methods to solve problems within their own family. Television shows such as â€Å"Reba† may give children who are subject to divorce and remarriage of their parents a way to deal with the new family life they encounter. Also the gender roles highlighted on television provide children with expectations they should follow in their own lives. For girls, television may portray female roles of characters as mother, caregiver, and oftentimes business women. For boys, male character roles may be portrayed as father, disciplinarian, and supporter of the family. These expectations learned provide a productive model a child should attain in the eyes of society. Consequently, later in life a child’s impression of social rules and roles become part of their personality and can become individualized. This allows a boy who wishes to become a nurse not to view this decision as deviant. Another source of skills for success in life learned through television is the acquisition of knowledge and academic skills. â€Å"Children imitate their parental role models that they love and trust; then they imitate other role models that might not be so worthy† (Kirkman, Wartella, and Anderson, 2008, p. 47). One area of knowledge present in television shows targeted toward children is the recognition and association of letters, numbers and words. Children can be taught at a young age the association between what they are presented and hat they perceive, such as the #1 and the letter A. Through the elementary impression of these concepts a child learns secondary concepts such as reading, writing, and more. Some programming encourages the learning of foreign languages such as Chinese Spanish and French by exposing children to these languages making these concepts fun to learn. The acquisition of all these skills through television occurs in a passive manner. A child does not realize they are learning the content they perceive making television an effective outlet for teaching. Another skill set taught through television is problem solving through visual examples. As children view others making decisions concerning real life situations they can refer back to the outcome of a similar situation they may have previously viewed. This allows for them to make educated choices within their own lives or experiences. Such programs show the process one must take in problem solving, empowering them with the skills to decipher between right and wrong. Television also presents a less desirable outcome for successful life skills. Children who view content inappropriate for their age struggle with academics as well as face specific challenges later in life. As children gain an understanding of the content they are watching on television the presence of these struggles begins to decrease in their influential strength. An effect previously mentioned of children mimicking behaviors viewed on television, if a child learns and reflects defiant behavior toward authority the effect will not only cause poor grades but also dropping out of school. The child will avoid homework assignments because of the commands and deadlines made by the teacher. This defiance of authority leads to reprisals from administrators such as principals and academic counselors. Another challenge to the academic lives of children is the presence of structure in schools. This struggle exists because television can be accessed at any time whereas school has a specific schedule. A child struggles to focus during these times. A major cause of this inattention is that television produces a higher level of activity than school. Naturally the child would choose the more stimulating activity, which in the eyes of the child is television.

Explain The 5 Marketing concepts Essay

Firms and businesses, approach and conduct business in different ways in order to achieve their organizational goals. There are five competing concepts by which firms and business are guided in their marketing effort. The first three concepts production, product and selling, focus all on the product. The last two concepts marketing and societal marketing, focus on the customer. However, the commonality in all five philosophies is that they all have the same goal which is organizational profit. The choice as to which concept or philosophy to adopt depends on the circumstances of the situation The first concept, the production concept, is the philosophy that consumers will favour products that are available and highly affordable. This philosophy states that any amount of goods produced will sell if it is available and affordable to customers. When firms adopt this concept, generally they produce goods on a mass production level, to be able to produce large quantities, therefore make it more available; investing in technology is essential, to reduce the costs of production and make it more affordable. In such case the management is required to focus mostly on improving the production and distribution of a particular product. The production concept can be an appropriate philosophy in two types of situations: The first one is where the demand for a product exceeds the supply. Here the management should concentrate on finding ways to increase production. The second situation is where the product’s cost is too high and therefore improved productivity is needed to bring it down. A disadvantage of the production concept, is that firms which employ this concept risk to lose sight of what the customers really want. The product concept holds that consumers will favor those products that offer the most quality, performance, and features, and therefore the organization should devote its energy to making continuous product improvements. Firms adapting this concept believe that customers are attracted to products which are very efficient and therefore the management emphasizes on adding and  building more value on a product. This concept holds that if one manages to produce the best product it will sell it self easily. A disadvantage of this concept is that firms adopting the product concept, tend to focus too much on the product and this can lead to marketing myopia. Buyers might be looking for a better solution to a problem, but not necessarily a better product in that category. The selling concept states the idea that consumers will not buy enough of the product unless the firm undertakes a large-scale of selling and promotional effort. Firms adopting this philosophy do not produce goods and services in line with people’s need and wants because they try to create demand for that particular product themselves. This task involves investing a lot in advertising and selling because this concept states that demand will be generated by doing so. This requires a good sales force, and firms to perfect various sales techniques to track down prospects and hard-sell them on the benefits of their product. The selling concept is generally practiced with unsought goods, such as insurance, encyclopedias, and funeral plots. A situation in which the selling concept is typically adopted is, when firms have overproduction, and try to sell what they have rather than what people want. A disadvantage of the selling concept is that by adopting this concept, firms mainly aim to get the sale and do not bother about any post-purchase satisfaction. This carries high risks, if customers are not satisfied, relationships are not created and therefore they are not inclined to make other purchases. The marketing concept is the philosophy that holds that achieving organizational goals depends on determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than others do. Firms practicing the marketing concept, start from the customer, by targeting a specific market and determining its needs and wants through market research. Products and services are than developed accordingly with the market’s demand through integrated marketing. In the  marketing concept profit is generated through building long-term relationships with customers, by delivering superior value and satisfaction. The focus of management is on the customer’s ultimate satisfaction. Hence, while the selling concept takes an inside-out perspective, the marketing concept takes an outside-in perspective. The selling concept focuses on the needs of the seller whilst the marketing concept focuses on the needs of the buyer. The Selling concept’s aim is to convert the product into cash. On the other hand the marketing concept aims to satisfy the needs of the customer by means of the product and the whole process associated with creating, delivering and finally consuming it. A disadvantage of the marketing philosophy is that this concept must be based on a long-term process and profits are realised in the long run. Also firms adopting this concept must invest a lot financially, in conducting research and in building relationships with their customers. The fifth concept, the societal marketing concept is the newest concept. It holds that the organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that it maintains and improves the consumer’s and the society’s well-being. The societal marketing concept is similar to the marketing concept, except that it also takes into consideration the society’s well-being. This concept was developed in a time where society began to question if the marketing concept was adequate in the face of worldwide environmental problems, resource shortages, and other social problems. Firms adopting the societal marketing concept believe that consumers will respond more favourably to companies which are socially responsible and react unfavourably to companies which they feel are not socially responsible. This gives socially-responsible companies a competitive edge over their competitors. The disadvantages of the societal marketing concept are the same disadvantages of the marketing concept, with the exception that this concept involves more extra costs with regards to the well being of society.

How useful is the concept of ideology for media analysis Discuss in Essay

How useful is the concept of ideology for media analysis Discuss in relation to soap operas - Essay Example As the strength of the British army grew weak in confronting an imposing German hostility, the military administration had to resort to Conscription as a means of restoring its strength. But a glimpse at the history of media in the backdrop of public administration and consumerism will show that the positive application of ideological propaganda is an exception than the rule. Almost every known media type is susceptible to ideological undercurrents, whether as a result of design or accident. The Television as a medium of communication and entertainment allows sophisticated application of ideological persuasion. It has to be remembered that television is a product of the twentieth century. The centuries prior to its invention were not devoid of prevalent ideologies or their imposition on the masses. However, the imposition of the desired set of beliefs and habits were achieved through brute force. These centuries saw colonialism at its peak; and where imperialism exists violence follows. But the twentieth century is different in that empires were giving way to independent republics, especially after the Second World War. Soap Operas, which form the bulk of cultural programming, are truly representative of the rest of the electronic media. A careful study of soap operas helps us understand media in general and media’s role as vehicles of ideological propaganda in particular (History Today, 10). The soap operas serve as vehicles of ideology in two different ways. The more obvious way is through advertisements and sponsorship. Advertisements are essentially messages to the target audience as to what is good for them, what is it they should aspire for, what it that will gain them respect, etc., is. Of course, the process is not based on force but manipulation and exploitation. In a study conducted by Cynthia Frisby for the Journal of Advertising Research, the relationship

Why are similar independence claims the subject of different responses Essay

Why are similar independence claims the subject of different responses from the international community The international communitys position on Kosovo, South Ossetia and Abkhazia - Essay Example vestigation of the issues and facts that divide the international community in its responses to the secessions of Kosovo, Abkhazia and South Ossetia reveal that the legality of these secessions are not the only determining factors. A review of the literature seems to suggest that power politics has a role to play in the responses to these secessions. In other words, there is an emerging trend indicating that it is possible to conclude that world powers are more inclined to support or refuse to support an entity’s secession based on political rather than legal reasoning. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate that power politics permits what amounts to a spin on the international legal framework for statehood and state recognition. The secessions of South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Kosovo will be compared and contrasted with a view to determining the way that the international community should have responded to these secessions and how they in fact, responded. It will be argued that from a purely legal perspective the secessions are no different from one another, and power politics plays a greater role in the international community’s responses than international customary law. The 2008 declarations of independence by South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Kosovo was met by entirely different responses by the international community, specifically international organizations such as the United Nations (UN), the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Organizations for Security Cooperation with Europe (OSCE) .2 The CoE, the UN and the OSCE readily recognized Kosovo’s independence but at the same time did not accept and recognize the secession of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.3 The European Union (EU) which occupies a unique position in its relationship with Russia, was split on Kosovo’s independence and unquestionably unsupportive of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.4 NATO and the United States (US) accepted and recognized Kosovo’s independence but outright refused to accept

Economic Growth in Israel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Economic Growth in Israel - Essay Example From this essay it is clear that  the OECD aims at providing support to the member countries to restore confidence in their market and institutions and foster new sources of growth through technology and innovation which would provide a basis for sustainable future economic growth. The data analysis provided by OECD regarding the major economic indicators of the member country Israel will provide a clear picture to its institutions and organisations about the current scenario of the economy and help them to propose appropriate solutions through the application of economic theories and practices. OECD works with the prime motive of providing information on a wider range of topics to provide assistance to the government and other institutions of a member country to formulate appropriate polices that can help them to foster growth and stability in the economy. This report analyzes the major indicators of economic performance of Israel. The data of major economic indicators of Israel a re collected from OECD and can be used to analyze how the growth and performance of the country can be improved based on its reports. There are variety of economic indicators like agriculture, energy, finance, governmental interference, employment, technology and research, health and environment on the basis of which OECD analyzes the performance and growth of Israel. It provides a relative framework for understanding the role of government and local organisations in their contribution towards long term growth and efficiency of the economy.

Apple Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Apple Inc - Essay Example Leadership demands self-improvement and self-renewal to continue. Leaders make decisions that create the future and above all, successful leaders of today dare to desire. They must dominate the events around them while maintaining an atmosphere of dignity and mutual respect. In this paper, we would be discussing on the roles and responsibilities of leaders in creating and maintaining a healthy organizational culture. The ability to look at the world as it is and view something new and improved is a valued leadership trait. Leaders with this quality have been able to create something new by breaking down the barriers caused by existing paradigms that once stifled progress. They have been innovative, creative, flexible, responsible and not afraid to experiment. Many organizations consist of multi-disciplinary teams as a way of doing business. This system may work well until a problem occurs. The teams' behavioral interaction may change and they may begin finger-pointing and apportioning blame, instead of finding solutions cooperatively. For example, the marketing department may look at what is perceived to be a distribution problem. Instead of the unnecessary finger pointing, marketing adopts the customer's perspective and suggests a solution to solve the problem. Ideas and solutions can be found in some of the most unlikely places and leaders should not be too quick to dismiss the less than obvio us. Once the idea or solution has been sourced, one should not be afraid to experiment and take risks to invest in ideas that show promise, even if it means trying the idea again and again in different variations. To understand management and leadership better, it is essential to analyze the role of leaders in creating and maintaining a healthy organizational culture. Fred E. Fiedler and his associates at the University of Illinois have suggested a contingency theory of leadership (Fiedler, 1967). The theory holds that people become leaders not only because of the attributes of their personalities but also because of various situational factors and the interactions between leaders and group members. On the basis of his studies, Fiedler described three critical dimensions of the leadership situation that help determine what style of leadership will be most effective (Miner, 1982, p.22): Position power is the degree to which the power of a position, as distinguished from other sources of power, such as personality or expertise, enables a leader to get group members to comply with directions; in the case of managers, this is the power arising from organizational authority. As Fiedler points out, a leader with clear and considerable position power can obtain good followership more easily than one without such power (Bowers, 1975, pp.167-180). With the dimension of Task structure, Fiedler had in mind the extent to which tasks can be clearly spelled out and people held responsible for them. If tasks are clear (rather than vague and unstructured), the quality of performance can be more easily controlled and group members can be held more definitely responsible for performance. Fiedler regarded the dimension of Leader-member relations as the most important from a leader's point of view, since position power and task structure may be largely under the

Oil on the Airline Industry Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Oil on the Airline Industry - Research Paper Example re – high demand and low supply leading to projections of increased fuel prices in the future, dependence on OPEC countries for fuel leading to change in political equations in the future, need for the airlines industry to look for better utilization of its resources to counter increasing oil prices and also invest in alternative green fuel. Fuel costs have become largest single cost component of the global airline industry reaching at 29% of the total operating costs in the year 2007 and 34% in 2008 as compared to 13% in 2001 as per IATA calculations (Conrady). This cost further increases to 50% for budget carriers (wikinvest.com). These calculations by IATA are based on crude price of $73/b. With increase in this price, the percentage will increase even further. The future projections of fuel consumption and hence the prices are even more disheartening if we look at the figures projected by Energy Information and Administration (EIA). They have projected the world’s petroleum products consumption to increase from 84mb/d in 2005 to 113mb/d in 2030 with even more consumption in developing economies of Asia and Middle East (Conrady). With the increase in demand for fuel there is a further threat from peaking out of oil reserves in Non-OPEC regions. 70% of the remaining reserves are hence located in OPEC countries. These countries are economically disturbed and also depend on their oil reserves for their economic growth as this sector represents a major part of their earnings. Because of this dependence on oil their predictions regarding their oil reserves is not very reliable as they will always give out biased information so as not to harm their financial and political prospects (Conrady). It has been estimated that the airline industry contributes around 2% of the greenhouse gases and 11% of the total green house gases emitted by U.S. also (Stuijt). The industry has too much dependence on fossil fuels. This is the greatest threat to this sector. The

Research Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Research Article - Essay Example According to the authors, this study is the first step in definition of differences related to location and kind of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations and awareness of mutation-specific dangers may offer critical information for evaluation of clinical risk which will assist women and their physicians to establish the finest treatment plan for them. Everybody has BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes; which carries instructions for manufacturing proteins that are tasked with fighting tumors through fixation of mistakes in the DNA. Nevertheless, some unfortunate individuals experience mutations in these genes that increase their vulnerability of getting ovarian and breast cancers as well as other cancers such as prostrate, pancreas, peritoneum and fallopian tubes). It is approximated that 1 in 300 to 1 in 800 individuals have one of these destructive mutations. Nonetheless, some populations have much higher prevalence. Having BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations raises the risk of having both ovarian and breast cancers by various percentages. A JAMA study enlisted over 30,000 women from 33 countries on six continents; all having BRCA mutations known to raise the risk of cancer. Over 90 percent of the women were white while almost 10 percent were Ashkenazi Jews. The women were categorized into â€Å"bins† on the basis of where mutations occurred in the genome. They then examined to know how many women in every bin were diagnosed with ovarian/breast cancer while being monitored. It was discovered that 46 percent of the 19,581 women having a BRCA1 mutation tested positive for breast cancer, 12 percent tested positive for ovarian cancer,5 percent had both and only 37 percent were cancer free. In addition, the average age during diagnosis was 39.9 year s for breast cancer and more than 50 for ovarian cancer. On the other hand, amongst the 11,900 women having BRCA2 mutation 52 percent tested positive for breast

Legal Aspects of Supply Chain Management Case Study

Legal Aspects of Supply Chain Management - Case Study Example The M.D. would like to clarify some details of the contractual report based on these guidelines. The less favoured common laws (or case laws) for contracts are developed through individual contractual decisions by judges necessary to decide cases brought before them. On the other hand, statutes formed via legislations have become the commonest source of contract laws. These statutes are actually derived through Acts of UK Parliament. Since the sales of goods are within the United Kingdom, it is important to note that all statutes can be applied to any combination of jurisdictions within the UK, whereas the common law jurisdictions are more limited. In order for the contract to be legally binding under local English law and statutes, it requires the main following contractual elements: an offer and an acceptance.With respect to frozen food contracts, these basic contract requirements require careful consideration. With respect to offer of a contract, it is an expression of willingness for both parties, MorrisBury (buyer) and Freeze'n'Go (seller), to agree on certain bilateral terms that would benefit both sides. It must be made with the intention that the contract will become binding upon acceptance. The nature of an offer can be encapsulated by a case involving the defendant, Manchester City Council. The Council decided to sell houses that it owned to sitting tenants. In two cases, the claimants entered into agreements with the Council. The Council then resolved not to sell housing unless it was contractually bound to do so. In this case, the question arose as to whether or not the Council had entered into a contract. In the case [25], the Court of Appeal found that there was a binding contract. The Council had sent Storer a communication that they intended would be binding upon his acceptance. All Storer had to do to bind himself to the later sale was to sign the document and return it. In similarity, MorrisBury could make an unconditional offer which could be accepted by Freeze'n'Go.In this case, if the supplier informs buyer that the offer is accepted, there will be a binding contract.It is particularly important for the buyer wanting to purchase frozen foods are interpreted as a legal binding contract.If MorrisBury constitute a formal offer to receive certain foods, then the they may be in breach of civil and even criminal laws if there are certain categories of Freeze'n'Go who would not ordinarily be entitled to sell which are being offered [1]. For an offer to be effective, an offer must be communicated. Another way of stating this is to say that there can be no acceptance of the offer without knowledge of the offer. The reason for this requirement is that if we say that a contract is an agreed bargain, there can be no agreement without knowledge. There can be no meeting of the minds if Freeze'n'Go is unaware of the MorrisBury. Stated another way, an acceptance cannot mirror an offer if the acceptance is made in ignorance of the offer. In an exemplary case of [14], a policeman was

Supporting Children and Young People Essay Example for Free

Supporting Children and Young People Essay P1. Describe how one activity/experience supports the communication and intellectual development of a child or young person. (P8) I recently sat with a group of children aged 2-4 years in the book corner during group time, the children were all participating in a story/singing activity also using puppets. There were two of these which the children participated in, they were; five little ducklings and the other was, There was an old lady who swallowed a fly. For the activity one child held the book, another child held the main puppet and the other children in the group each had a puppet or two to hold. The children then all sang the song There was an old lady who swallowed a fly ,the lady also swallows other animals so the children enjoy letting there puppet get eaten by the old lady. This activity would support communication and intellectual development, because the children all need to communicate with each other deciding who is going to take what role; the song/story also helps develop listening skills. The children need to listen and think about what comes next and decide when it is their turn to either hide their duckling or let the old lady swallow their animal this is the intellectual part of the activity. Every child is different but this activity may cover a specific aspect to support a child’s individual communicational or intellectual development need. P2. Describe how one resource or type of equipment supports the physical development of a child or young person. (p8) I have chosen to set up an obstacle course for the children to complete making decisions about ways to travel from one end of the number line to the other, they will be taking the risk to balance along tyres trying not fall off. They will then need to walk along the wooden bridge down the steps collecting a conker from the bowl, posting it down the drain pipe, watching it roll out into the empty container. This activity is aimed to support a specific Childs interests and needs aged 3-4 years. This activity will support physical development through both fine motor skills and gross motor skills allowing them to take a risk and challenge within the health and safety boundaries. By this I mean that I have not created something that will be dangerous yes they may wobble and take a tumble but the obstacle course I have created is within safety regulations. The fine motor skills will be completed by picking up the conkers and using their hand to roll them down the drain pipe. The gross motor skills will be completed through their movements both across the tyres and bridge as well as using there travelling techniques such as hopping running jumping across the number spots. During this activity the children will also be using their intellectual skills to think about the ways they will travel along and judging how risky it is to go across the tyres. Here is a plan I have drawn of how the obstacle course would look. P3. Identify ways the practitioner can support the emotional development of the child or young person.(P8) Practitioners can support the emotional development of a child by building up a relationship with the parents. They could send home fact sheets and all about me books for the parents and children to create; including photos, pictures, drawings and information about the child’s key interests. This could be information about their favourite things such as what they like to eat, characters they are interested in, what they like to do at home , where they like to play for example outside or in the sand pit. Practitioners have the important role of making sure that all children’s needs are met as every child is different not all children will need the same support. It is the practitioner’s job to support the Childs emotional development they may use singing and stories, whilst comforting the child as a distraction from being upset and thinking about home. Each child is given a practitioner who is known as their key worker. The key worker is the practitioner who has majority of responsibility of making sure the child’s development needs are being met but also having a strong bond with the child to be able to give one to one attention to for emotional support. Furthermore the practitioner can use the information found from the parents about the child to help them to settle , they can take their key interests into consideration and plan activities based around the key interest to support the development of the child. For example when the child has to separate from carer they may be rather emotional but you could take a key interest such as â€Å"likes to play with trains† into consideration and get out the train set using this as a distraction. Also use appropriate language such as â€Å"mummy will be back after lunch don’t worry† , talk about the fun things you have planned to do that day asking the child wha t they would like to where they want to play. P4. Describe ways the practitioner can use care routines to support the development of children aged 0-3 years. (P8) There are several ways Practitioners can are routines to support the development for children aged 0-3 years. It is important that you communicate with a child whilst changing them. Discuss what you’re doing â€Å"I’m going to wipe your bottom make sure that it is nice and clean so it’s not sore.† When dressing them say what your doing allowing the child to know what’s going on. Sing songs to the children, if they are slightly older have a conversation with them. Practitioners use encouraging language during step by step daily routines such as, before snack and meal times don’t forget to wash your hands with soap. Sometimes we use little rhymes and songs to encourage and help the children with the routine. For example wash, wash, wash your hands, wash, wash, wash your hands, let’s wash the germs away. Do the same with drying their hands. This helps to support the child’s independence allowing them to do it for themselves with a practitioner’s encouragement before collecting their own cups, plates and name cards for meal times. Practitioners can also support development through care routines by allowing the child to have a try at wiping their own bottom after going to the toilet, reminding them to flush the chain and wash their hands not forgetting to use soap. When potty training practitioners should give lots of praise and acknowledge that the child has tried to use the toilet even with help or if they have had no accidents, but also comforting the child if they do have an accident. Perhaps use sticker charts as encouragement. P5. Describe how the setting can effectively support the child through one transition.(P8) I am currently in a position where I am supporting a child through a transition. They are moving from the baby room into the big room consisting of children aged 2-4years. Each child will have their own individual plan with information about ways we can support them through their transition. It will need to include care plans, routines, key interests and useful tips in ways which we can help and support the child through their transition. Practitioners will support the children through their transition on the understanding that every child is different and one transition may be more successful and the child may settle sooner than expected. However it could also be the total opposite and another child may take longer to settle than another, but this proves the differences between children’s development stages. I have experienced such ways of supporting a transition, rather than carrying the child around all the time allow encourage them to walk holding your hand. Allow them to come for cuddles and except that they may want to be with you whilst they are through into the new room. I have recently supported a child where when they were near the gate to the baby room they thought about going back in but I diverted their attention by using some of their key interests to engage them in an activity instead. To support a child’s transition you need to prepare for them to be emotional and need 1:1 support. To begin with allow the child to come through and have meal times at the table with the big children, and then once they seem to settle encourage them to come through for half an hour to an hour a day increasing the length of the stay one they are stable in the room. Perhaps start with using their key interests allowing them to want to come through, play and engage with the older children. When the child is through into the new room allow them to explore give them options and choices ask them where they would like to play, who they would like to play with. P6. Describe how effective communication supports all areas of development (P8). Practitioners and parents can support children’s all round development through effective communication. By this I mean being a good role model as children pick up on what you say and do. Also speak clearly to the children allow them to have their say and take time to listen to them, use eye contact ,facial expressions and don’t interrupt when they are talking as this could is likely to knock their confidence and self-esteem. When talking to the child think about the tone of voice you need and the way you need to respond to a situation but using a cross tone of voice all the time will affect the child and think that they have done something wrong causing their confidence and self-esteem to be lowered. Practitioners and parents need to have time to communicate whether it be a quick chat at drop off and collection times or a parent consultation, but it is important that they share relevant information about the child to help support the child’s development. Furthermore practitioners try their best to support the children’s development in all areas to do this they need to think about the ways they say and do things and the way to respond to the child. If a child was to pronounce something incorrectly it is not appropriate for the practitioner to respond to the child by saying â€Å"that’s wrong you say it like this†. As that will knock the child’s confidence and put them off talking. The correct way to help them would be to repeat what the child has said but repeat it correctly for the child to hear how you say it correctly and then they will pick up on that. For example if a child was to say â€Å"nana pwease† you as a practitioner would say â€Å"yes you can have a banana as you used your manners and said please†. This helps the child to hear how you say the phrase correctly. It is down to the parents/carers and practitioners to effectively communicate with the children which will support them through all round development. Practitioners will plan around the child’s individual needs looking at their strengths and weaknesses selecting an area in which they will need to progress and ways in which the setting can support them as an individual. P7. Describe the role of three other professionals whom you may work with. One of the professionals whom I may work with would be a speech and language therapist. Their role is to work with individual children who have been referred by doctors and early years workers due to parents and practitioners concern of their speech and language development, to improve their speech. Speech and language therapists are the people who alongside practitioners will use their skills to support the child needs. As a practitioner I use my knowledge and give the opportunity for all children to join in â€Å"Mr Big mouth† activity which is a sound game. Speech therapists will work with the individual child on a one to one basis maybe twice a week for an hour to help with the child’s speech development. Another professional whom I may work with would be a health visitor.

Examining The Concept Of Green Economy Environmental Sciences Essay

Examining The Concept Of Green Economy Environmental Sciences Essay Nature is important and valuable for us and it is our responsible to keep maintain it. By this, green economy is an economy when we are concerned on the environment, not only on the monetary. Supporters of this branch of economics are concerned with the environment and believe that actions should be taken to protect nature and encourage the positive co-existence of both humans and nature. Green economy is when human needs, earth materials and world of work have the harmonious interaction with each other. Green economists assert that the basis of all economic decisions should be in some way tied to the ecosystem. The economic growth and the environmental friendly are the trade-off between each other. The only economy that can eliminate the trade-off between this trade-off is green economy. The effort to eliminate this trade-off needs human creativity, tremendous of knowledge and a good participation from all people and not only from our government. Green economic emphasize the creation of positive alternatives in all areas of life and every sector of the economy. This effort needs a great support from private and public sector. Green economy also can be defined based on triple bottom line which is the environment sustainable, social just and stable economic activities. Environment sustainable is mention about the scarcity of raw material. The scarce material should be used wisely and the environment should be protected. Thus, tremendous knowledge and creativity of the human being is needed. The supporting systems also must be considered. Socially just is about considering our social life will affect our economic and it will directly affect our environment. Social, economy and environment is a strong connection in order to achieve a great and harmony life. It is the human being responsibilities to gain a good standard of living without damaging our environment. Our economics is generated by the human being, so it is our responsi bility to concern from every aspect. Figure 2: Triple bottom line Principles of the Green Economy The world already comes out with ten principles on the Green Economy. The principles touch on every aspect that takes into account in economy. The first principle is the primacy of use value, intrinsic value and quality. This principle is the main of the green economy and this principle see the green economy as the service economy. It takes into account on the final customer who receives the product. In the result, the customer gets the product correctly and it did not affect the environment. Human needs and the environment condition is the major aspect that green economy must achieve. The main purpose is to satisfy the human needs. What you get, that is how much you must pay, that is the suitable to describe about this principle. Equal pay is to reflect on the exchange that we already get, for example if we make some product, we must not consider it cost but also on the cost of environment. The second principle is the following natural flow. This principle tells us that the economy process is not only walk alone. It comes with the environment as the complement. The economy must build the boundaries in order to be fair to the environment. A firm can maximize their profit, but they also must minimize the pollution. The third principle is the waste must equal to the food. We must minimize our waste in order to stabilize our environment. We can produce non-toxic product in order to minimize the impact to our environment. Appropriate scale is considering on the activity of the economy. It is not mean that we must takes into account on the only the large firm. We must also see the small firm which there also gives large impacts to our environment. Green economy also needs the participant and direct democracy. In order to build flexibility and sustainability, participation from all people is important. The definition of participation is the creativity and the efforts in build the healthy economics process to achieve a high development and clean environment. Besides that, human creativity and development is also needed to achieve the green economy standard. Of course the machine and technology in green economy is expensive, but is human have the creativity in manipulate and think on the way to achieve green economy, the world can easily practice green economy. The next principles are the diversity which tells us that there are variety factor that affect the ecosystems. So, we must analysis all the factor in order to get the best result to take care of our environment. All the factors are connected each other, so we must master all the aspects. Self-Reliance, Self-Organization, Self-Design is the complex systems necessarily rely on nested hierarchies of intelligence which coordinate among themselves in a kind of resonant dance. These hierarchies are built from the bottom up, and in contrast to civilizations social hierarchies although these local and regional domains must be attuned to larger processes. Self-reliance is not self-sufficiency, but facilitates a more flexible and holistic interdependence. The strategic role of built-environment, the landscape and spatial design is the last principle that we are going to touch. We can achieve the perfect result if we can arrange the right steps to achieve the green economy. Our government must also play role in order to minimize the pollution in our production. The quality and the effectiveness is important to recover all the effects in our economy. Benefits from green economy Eradicate poverty Poverty remains a major global concern, despite impressive reductions especially in East Asia. A transition to a green economy can contribute to eradicating poverty by across a range of key sectors. These potential green economic sectors are including agriculture, forestry, fishery, and water management. These sectors especially the agriculture sectors are particularly important for the poor in developing countries because they are depending on these sectors as major sources of income. This is especially critical for subsistence farming because almost1.3 billion people depend upon it for their livelihoods (UNEP et al. 2008). Investing in greening agriculture benefits the poor in terms of secure livelihoods. The investment in the natural capital and ecosystem services will increase the poors income opportunities through increased yields and creation of new green jobs especially in rural areas. They will also gain other social and environmental benefits from the direct use of ecosystems. The Bill Melinda Gates Foundation have awarded $15 million for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa to work on the effort to the farming techniques that are both environmentally responsible and highly productive, focusing primarily on small-scale farming in sub-Saharan Africa (Garthwaite, 2009). According to the recently launched UNEP Green Economy Report, for every 10 per cent increase in farm yields, there has been a 7 per cent reduction in poverty in Africa; and more than 5 per cent in Asia. Evidence suggests that the application of green farming practices has increased yields, especially on small farms, between 54 and 179 per cent. (Herren, 2011) Furthermore, a green economy can alleviating poverty and improving overall quality of life by increase access to basic services and infrastructure. For example, Renewable energy technologies like solar and wind power, and supportive energy policies promise to make a significant contribution to improving living standards and health in low income areas, particularly to those that currently lack access to energy. Create green job A global transition to green economy will create large numbers of green jobs in many economic sectors that includes renewable energy, buildings and construction, transportation, basic industry, agriculture, and forestry and indeed can become an engine of development. Current green job creation has so far occurred mostly in developed countries and in some of the rapidly developing countries such as Brazil and China. Green Jobs are also beginning to be seen in other developing economies.(Institute, 2008) Bangladesh has a project to train local youth and women as certified solar technicians and as repair and maintenance specialists. This is aims to create some 100,000 jobs. At the same time, in India, an initiative to replace inefficient biomass cooking stoves in nine million households with more advanced ones could create 150,000 jobs. It now appears that a green economy can generate more and better jobs everywhere and that these can be decent jobs. (Institute, 2008) Pew (2009) state that the number of jobs in Americas emerging clean energy jobs in the clean energy economy grew at a national rate of 9.1 percent while traditional jobs grew by only 3.7 percent between 1998 and 2007.  This report has count across all 50 states of the actual jobs, companies and venture capital investments that supply the growing market demand for environmentally friendly products and services. Climate change has damage the livelihoods of millions, mostly poor people in developing countries. Sectors consuming large amounts of energy and natural resources are likely to see a decline in jobs. So, transitions to new opportunities and sustainable jobs and incomes are urgently needed for those impacts. In some countries, especially in the developing countries, new jobs being created in the food, agriculture and recycling sectors as a result of climate change and environment leave are the desired and considered new decent. (Institute, 2008) Environmentally-friendly Green economy describes sustainable growth that is environmentally-friendly, sensitive to the need to conserve natural resources, and minimal emissions during the production process, and promotes environmentally-friendly lifestyles and consumption patterns while growing the economy. While meeting the industrial needs of one state to produce their service and commodities not only local environmental disturbances are created but the environment of the other states is also affected. This is mostly happen in Developed Countries (DCs) and much more due to the greed rather than the need factor dominant in less developed countries (LDCs).The environmental crisis need for deep reform of production and consumption patterns especially the DCs that are rich in resources and able to transform into green economy. The green economy can help in reduce the pollution by the green waste, green building, and green transportation and so on. For instant, by green waste that turning waste into a resource and encouraging the reduction, reuse and recycling of waste, significant gains can be achieved in decoupling waste production from economic growth. Besides that, investment in green transport that means to use more public transport than use own car and car pool with others to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gas emissions by more than a quarter and deforestation in developing countries, is one of the biggest drivers of climate change and a major threat to sustainable development. Thus, wind, solar and other sustainable renewable energy could provide almost a third of all global power needs and this energy could reduce those greenhouse gases and could be almost fully halted. Generate healthful society The green economy as a means to raise living standards and emphasize environmental friendly will also improve health and well-being for all segments of society. This will generate a healthier future generation. By shifting toward greening economy, the future of technology is most definitely green. With the rising energy costs and the threat of global warming, many businesses are now recognizing the benefits of using technology to reduce carbon footprint and also to minimize waste, while giving a positive outcome to their business. (SME Corporation Malaysia, 2011) The field of green technology is continuously evolving various methods, materials from technique for generating energy to non-toxic cleaning products (SME Corporation Malaysia, 2011). One of the example of greening product is Natura paint from Benjamin Moore is an odorless interior paint. This paint has zero VOC colorants which is the organic chemicals that will affect the environment and human health. The other example is the poly Whey wood finish from Vermont Natural coatings uses recycled whey protein which is a by-product of the dairy industry a binder. This helps produce this low-odor coating that has no toxic heavy metals and low VOCs. This innovation will change the daily of society gradually. (Automattic , 2008) Reduce waste and inefficiency Going to green economy will lead to resources efficient. Much of the problem with conventional agricultural, manufacturing and other industrial practices are stems from inefficiency and waste. For example, the inefficiency of energy, the waste of the paper and material, usage of the expensive chemicals though natural methods are more practical and unsustainability of conventional farming methods over the long-term. Eliminate waste and increasing efficiency are critical parts of a green economy. Green solutions can save much for the cost. There are a few examples of economic and cost-efficient changes. (Cosmato, 2010) Hemp fibers are more sustainable and less expensive to grow than cotton. Hemp paper is more eco-friendly, sustainable, and longer lasting than paper made from wood pulp. Save on paper and packaging by sending documents online. Use more eco-friendly packaging, and less of it. Wood from sustainable forests should be used to replace the unsustainable forest over the long-term keeps the price of lumber under control because resources not be depleted. Using less water in textile production will save on water and energy costs. The manufacturing sector can saves money and reduces greenhouse gas emissions and pollution by using fewer chemicals. Using natural soaps for cleaning, natural dyes, or looking for natural instead of chemical solutions to problems also helps. Making workspaces green such as energy-efficient light bulbs, solar lighting and heating options, using recycled office supplies and recycling office supplies, can help in reduce costs and waste. The enormous opportunities of separating waste generation from GDP growth also can be highlight, including what is recovered in recycling. For examples, the Republic of Korea has enforced regulations on products as batteries and tyres to packaging like glass and paper, through a policy of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). This has triggered 14 per cent increase in recycling rates and an economic benefit of $1.6 billion. Besides that, Brazils recycling already generates returns of $2 billion a year. At the same time, this country has avoiding 10 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. (Nazareth, 2011) Opening up of new export markets A shift to a green economy will also generate economic benefits. One of the obvious potential benefits to a green economy is the opening up of new export markets. Export opportunities exist in all sectors of the green economy. The significant new markets are biofuels, and for renewable energy technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines. ( Ocampo, 2010) Opportunities in these markets are driven by demand in export markets, a combination of foreign demand and domestic capacity development in response to stringent domestic environmental standards. Germany is currently the top exporter of green products with a 16 percent share of the international trade volume, followed by the US which is 15 percent and Japan which is 9 percent. Denmark is the largest exporter of clean energy technology, specifically wind turbines. (Globe Foundation, 2010) Malaysia Services Exhibition (MSE) 2010 recognized Malaysia has an excellence, reputation and capability in the rapidly growing green technology sector. In conjunction with this exhibition, Publication called Malaysia Excellence and Capabilities in Green Technology was also launched. Embarking on green renewable energy provides the opportunities to Malaysia export new market. (MEEC Unit, 2011) Perspective of others countries toward green economy In the first preparatory meeting for 2010 conference, there is the debate and interactive exchange between developed countries and developing countries on their perspective about green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication. In the views of Spain on behalf of the European Union, green economy is a relevant, timely and politically challenging theme. It emphasizes the private sector role, the right price setting and the right of social policies. It stresses on the cooperation between countries and the support to green economy strategies such as promotes the renewable energy, use and management of sustainable resource. In the perspective of Mexico, green economy is a new model. However, it should not cause the change in the agenda, approaches and options respond to the challenges that has not solved by community in terms of sustainable development. Mexico said that it is critical for developed countries transfer technology that can moderate the degradation of environment and support the implementation in developing countries. On the other hand, the United States recognize that transition to a green economy was the only way forward. It also recognizes that the means of green economy and the methods implemented will vary from different countries. According to United State, countries should embrace green economy as a new awakening instead of resist it and introduce various initiatives for green economy. Japan has touted its Hatoyama Initiative and outlines some of its action related to green economy. The Hatoyama Initiative is a national carbon-regulation scheme that announced at the Copenhagen Summit in December 2009 by Japans former Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama. This initiative targets a 25 percent cut in global warming emmisions below 1990 levels by 2020. Korean also shared its experiences with green strategies. It said it has invested 2 percent of its GDP on green development to move towards low carbon growth. It said that green growth is about solving climate change problem aggressively and making green technologies and industries to drive to national economic growth. In the perspective of Indonesia, green economy is a vehicle towards a sustainable development. According to Indonesia, the global economic crisis occurred recently has shown that some problems in the method their current and past economic development. This provides them an opportunity to redesign national and global economic policies and strategies toward the implementation of green economy. Besides, according to China, the green economy has recently become a critical trend. It stress that countries must conduct policy measurement for green development. The operational mechanisms are also needed to achieve development virtuously which characterized by economic and social development in harmony with resources and the environment. Then, the harmony interaction between man and nature, conservation and creation of ethical value for environment in social and economic value is also important to change the mode of production and life style. Furthermore, the international community also play role to create an enabling environment to achieve green development. (Ling Iyer, 2010) From the countries perspectives, it is obvious that majority agree with the transition to green economy. Malaysia perspective and policy toward green economy Ministry that has responsibility and concern about issues of green economy in Malaysia is under Ministry of energy, Green technology and water. Malaysia needs face these phenomena because of climate change has become one of the biggest international challenges in the 21st century. Malaysia also face increasing total of carbon dioxides emissions this will lead to increasing in temperature and Malaysia become hotter than before. Below showing total carbon dioxide emissions at Malaysia: Table 1: Total C0 2 emissions Malaysia at years 1971 until 2008 Year CO 2 emissions (million tonnes of CO 2) 1971 12.7 1975 16.1 1980 24.2 1985 33.4 1990 48.9 1995 78.5 2000 111.1 2005 152.8 2006 158.1 2007 169.9 2008 180.9 Source: International Energy Agency Table 1 showing the increasing total carbon dioxides gas emissions in Malaysia at years 1971 until 2008, this all because of Malaysia now day more focus on manufacturing sector. As we know manufacturing sector will contribute on increasing of carbon dioxides such as smoke from factories. An addition, overcrowded of transportation in urban area also will contribute to increasing of total carbon dioxides gas. That why interventions of government are important to protect our environment form damaged and conservation our environment. Figure 3: Total energy production in Malaysia at 1972 until 2008 Coal/peat oil Gas Hydro Comb.renew.wast Source: IEA Energy Statistics Figure 3 showing the total of energy production in Malaysia at year 1972 until 2008 which it increases usage of all energy resource. This all because of increasing of populations in Malaysia where demand for energy is increase and Malaysia now day focus on Manufacturing were it use more energy to support this sector to success. Useful of this all energy actually will give positive and negative impact, especially use of enough energy is good for our production sector and meet the demand of citizen, but the negative impact is toward our environment and will lead to scarcity of resources. That why, Malaysia government concern about this issues and try to find a way to minimize and resolve this problem. To overcome of these challenges government turns out with three Policies on Environmental Protection and Conservation introduced over the years such as below: On 2002, government approved National Policy on Environment which integrates the three elements of sustainable development they are economic, social and cultural development and environmental conservation. The Policy aims at continued economic, social and cultural progress and enhancement of the quality of life of Malaysians through environmentally sound and sustainable development. Then on July 24, 2009 government has launched the National Green Technology Policy with objective: I. To minimize growth of energy consumption while enhancing economic development. II. To facilitate the growth of the Green Technology industry and enhance its contribution to the national economy. III. To increase national capability and capacity for innovation in Green Technology development and enhance Malaysias competitiveness in Green Technology in the global arena. IV. To ensure sustainable development and conserve the environment for future generations. V. To enhance public education and awareness on Green Technology and encourage its widespread use. Four Pillars of Green Technology Policy: I. Energy Seek to attain energy independence and promote efficient utilization. II. Environment Conserve and minimize the impact on the environment. III Economy Enhance the national economic development through the use of technology. IV. Social Improve the quality of life for all. (Malaysian Country Water Partnership, 2011) Lastly is on 2009 government also launched National Climate Change Policy. The aim of this policy is to ensure climate resilient development to fulfill national aspirations for sustainability. Rational of these policies such as below: I. Changes of climate overtime directly will affect human activity as well as natural systems and processes. II. To give people information, education and awareness about green economy, changes of climate and its effect. III. Initiative of government interventions and government effort to take care of people within country. Several initiative undertaken Ministry of energy, Green technology and water to address the challenges of climate change and to pushing for a low-carbon: Energy efficiency The Malaysian Industrial Energy Efficiency Improvement Programme represents one of the main efforts undertaken to improve energy efficiency in the industrial sector. This programme showsthat ministry concern about useful of energy especially on productions and environment. This programme focuses on reducing impacts of the energy sector on the environment and also to improve competitiveness of products and services in the global market. Renewable energy April 2010, renewable energy policy and action plan was given appoved by government. This policy is aimed at promoting long-term sustainability by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels for electricity generation and at the same time stimulates a new growth industry for the country. An additions this policy also important to conserve the environment for future generation and to enhance awareness of role and important of renewable energy, example renewable energy is such as biomass, biogas, mini-hydro and system solar. Green buildings Ministry was carried out with the Green Building Index (GBI). GBI is assessment or rating tool to grade environment-friendly buildings and the Government is providing fiscal incentives to buildings which are GBI-certified. Owners of GBI-certified buildings are entitled to income tax exemptions, equivalent to the additional capital expenditure, to green their building. Buyers of green buildings from developers will also be exempted from stamp duty equivalent to the additional cost incurred to green their building. (Ministry of energy, Green technology and water, 2010) Environmental Performance Index (EPI) Score in 2008 Rank Source: 2008 EPI report Figure 4: The top ten greenest countries ranks and rating in EPI The figure above shows the environmental performance index in 2008. This index takes not only the pollution index of the country, but it also considered the industry, populations, size as well as the demographic of the country. It considered the issues of environment health such as the burden of disease, air and water pollution and ecosystem vitality such as the climate change, water and air pollution effect from ecosystem. Figure four shows that nine out of top ten countries is developed countries and only Columbia is the only developing country. The other developed countries such as Japan and U.S have respectively ranked in 21th and 39th. The relatively wealthy countries have high score in the Environment Health result. In contrast, the developing countries include Malaysia that ranked at 27th score lower than the developed countries. The success of the wealthy country is due to the policy effort and deep commitment to environmental values through their public and business communities. The developing countries are less in pollution stress and less in access to financial resources when they need it such as nutrition and disease, this lead to the air pollution, climate and change and biodiversity. Recently, the score of EPI in 2010 has also released. But owing to changes in methodologies and underlying data, the EPI score in 2010 and rank cannot be directly compared to 2008 scores and ranks. Environmental Performance Index (EPI)score in 2010 Source: 2010 EPI report Figure 5: The top ten greenest countries ranks and rating in EPI The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2010 report is the result from a research done by Environment Law and Policy at University and The Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) of Colombia University in collaboration with World Economic Forum. It is rating ranks 163 different countries according to ecosystem vitality and environment health. The ecosystem vitality include issues such as the climate change, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, biodiversity and habitat, water and air pollution while the environment health take account the environment burden of disease, air pollution and water. Overall, there are six over ten of the top greenest countries are developed countries. They are Iceland, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, France and Austria. The developing countries ranks in the top ten are Costa Rica, Mauritius, Cuba, and Colombia. Other developed countries like Japan and U.S. rank in 20th and 61th respectively while Malaysia rank in 54th. Iceland is the top greenest country where it is the only countries that score more than 90 points which is 93.5 points. Although it is a developed country, it has high score on environmental public health, controlling greenhouse gas emissions, and reforestation as well as plentiful hydropower and geothermal energy. This shows that it is effective in the pollution control and natural resources management. According to the Kyoto Protocol, Icelands has obligations concerning greenhouse emission. It must not increase their greenhouse gas emissions by more than 10 percent and above 1990 levels during the period 2008 to 2012 (European Environment Agency , 2010). Costa Rica is the developing countries that ranked in the third place of Environmental Performance Index with 86.4 points. According to some author who surprise with its rank, Costa Rica is a very rough and vastly unsafe country and has a few tourist trap. However, actually Costa Rica has some efforts in green. It is one of the first countries in the world that recognize the economic and social benefits from the environmentally sensitive forestry. There are 26 percent of the Costa Ricas land area are protected forests and more than 50 percent out of bounds for human living settlement. (United Nations Environment Programme, 2010) The United States has very low score at 63.5 points with 61th rank. Increase of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution are vastly contributed to its low ranks. But U.S maintains the nations forest sustainability and provision of safe drinking water, this assist it from fall to more low rank. The Japan ranked 20th and score 72.5 points. This is due to Japan put many efforts in the renewable energy because they aware that their big city, Tokyo, emit carbon dioxide has causes the global warming especially. Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) has set a goal which is to increase the proportion of renewable energy used from the total energy used in Tokyo around 20 percent by the year of 2020. (Tokyo Metropolitan Government, 2006) Besides that, Japan is a world leader in PV manufacturing. Malaysia is ranked 54th and scores 65 points in EPI. It placed behind Japan but in front of the U.S. Malaysias environmental health is 81.31 points over 100 points while the ecosystem vitality is 48.7 point over 100 points. Thus the average is 65 points. The Greenhouse gas emissions, CO2 Emissions per electricity generation, and industrial greenhouse gas emission intensity are the major contribution to the low score in ecosystem vitality and so EPI score. Since Malaysia has ranked 54th over 163 countries. This is a good starting point for Malaysia. By this EPI, Malaysia will aware of its position and encourage more

The Issues of Neglected Children Essay -- Child Abuse Neglect Childhoo

The Issues of Neglected Children â€Å" â€Å"Child†: means a boy or a girl apparently or effectively aged less than eighteen years† (Van Stolk 146). â€Å"Rich kids, middle-class kids, poor kids - all deal with risk and neglect on a scale unimagined in previous generations† (Hewitt 11). There are problems of poverty, absentee parents, divorce, violence and drugs, plus much more that is simply out of hand. Deprivation and rejection dominate the lives of many children, among both poor and middle-class. We cannot ensure the safety of children on the streets or in our homes. On the educational front the news is even more disturbing, since underachievement and failure are now very popular. Something else that contributes to child neglect is a fast rate of family breakdown. This is an effect of divorce and rapid increase in single parent pregnancies. Couples marrying today face an even higher chance of divorcing at some point during their lives together. â€Å"A family’s deterioration can come about in ways other than separation† (Wilson 50). Staying together, in certain conditions and situations may increase further economical or psychological problems that may affect the child. Social attitudes today are scarcely more tolerant. â€Å"With the ratio of one divorce in four marriages moving towards one in three, we have been forced to look beyond those unexamined assumptions to asses realistically the changing role and changing needs of the family in Canadian society† ( Canadian Council 28). For women, and their children, divorce can often put severe economic hardships on them. Another part of family breakdown can occur when the absence of a male presence or male support to single mother families. â€Å"In the years following divorce living standards for ex-wives drop by an average of 30 percent while those for men rise an 8 percent† (Hewitt 41). Although babies from teenage girls have declined, the unmarried single parent teenagers who have children has risen rapidly. â€Å"There are now close to half a million live births to unwed teenagers every year† (Hewitt 41). The children in our society are defined by their dependent status. â€Å"From birth, to early adulthood, children must look to others to provide the adequate and dependable economic support required to meet their needs† (Canadian Council 21). Even in early childhood, they cannot support themselves and even if th... ...ore worth doing than easing the pain and improving the life chances of vulnerable, blameless children† (Hewitt 283). We need to invest in our children to save ourselves from further disaster. An additional distinctive character, is if we revise our civil policies so that children may prosper, it will greatly improve the economic status of women. â€Å"Enhancing and enforcing child support awards eases the lives of the children of divorce but also bolsters the standard living of ex-wives; mandating parental leave improves life circumstances of infants but also protects the earning power of women and reduces wage gap..† (Hewitt 282). â€Å"If we fail to look after our children they will drag this nation down† (Hewitt 10). Bibliography: 1. Canadian Council on Children and Youth. Admittance restricted: The child as citizen in Canada. Ottawa, Ont. , c1978. 2. Hewitt, Sylvia Ann. When the bough breaks: the cost of neglecting our children. New York, New York. 1987. 3. Van Stolk, Mary. The battered child in Canada. Rev. ed.Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, c1978. 4. Wilson, Jeffrey. Up against it : Children and the law in Canada. Toronto, Anasi. c1980.

GM Financial :: essays research papers

Financial Information GM dealers sold 558,092 cars and trucks in June of 2005 up 41% compared to June of 2004. Gm had the best monthly sales since September 1986. The calendar year to date sales are up 2.5% for the 2005 year. Sales were spiked by GMs â€Å"Employee discount for everyone.† â€Å"We are confident that are employee discount program would hit a responsive cord, but we were a little surprised by just how strong the results were, including bringing over one hundred and fifty thousand new customers into the GM family in June. This definitely moves us in the right direction as we gear to introduce our 2006 models,† says Mark LaNeve, GM vice president of sales and marketing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  GM of North America in June of 2005 produced 416,000 vehicles compared to 482,000 vehicles in June of 2004. GM had too much inventory and had to run an incentive program that worked. Globally GM has been an industry leader since 1931 and was founded in 1908. GM employs 321,000 individuals world wide. GM has Manufacturing operations in 32 countries and sells vehicles in 200 countries. In 2004 GM sold nearly 9 million vehicles globally. GM was up nearly 4% and posted its second highest total in company history.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Incentives are ran by a company to try and entice a customer to purchase a vehicle. It is a temporary jump start for sales. The last couple years consumers have expect low rates but now GM throws out the employee pricing. Consumer would let the incentives break the tie on which vehicle to purchase. This day in age everyone has low rates ,cash rebates but now employee discount, good thing GM was the leader of the pack.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The financial outlook for present GM is superb and the employee discount drastically sparked sales for a temporary time period. The reason GM had to run an incentive program was the cause of abundance of Inventory and employees are too expensive to maintain. (Pension, benefits†¦..) Gm had an increase in finished product, service parts, etc†¦ between 2003 and 2004 in other words, total inventories increased by nearly one million dollars, as sales decreased during that time period. GM has also seen a rise in healthcare and other benefits in the United States. In 2004 GM had an obligation expense 89,384 million which GM had to pay for its current employees and past employees for the year in benefits.

O.B Case Studies

|VALUES, ATTITUDES, AND JOB SATISFACTION | LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, students should be able to: 1. Contrast terminal and instrumental values 2. List the dominant values in today’s workforce 3. Identify the five value dimensions of national culture 4. Contrast the three components of an attitude 5. Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior 6. Identify the role that consistency plays in attitudes 7. State the relationship between job satisfaction and behavior 8.Identify four employee responses to dissatisfaction CHAPTER OVERVIEW Why is it important to know an individual’s values? Although they do not have a direct impact on behavior, values strongly influence a person’s attitudes. Knowledge of an individual’s value system can provide insight into his/her attitudes. Given that people’s values differ, managers can use the Rokeach Value Survey to assess potential employees and determine if their values align with the dominant values of the organization. An employee’s performance and satisfaction are likely to be higher if his/her values fit well with the organization.For instance, the person who places high importance on imagination, independence, and freedom is likely to be poorly matched with an organization that seeks conformity from its employees. Managers are more likely to appreciate, evaluate positively, and allocate rewards to employees who â€Å"fit in,† and employees are more likely to be satisfied if they perceive that they do fit. This argues for management to strive during the selection of new employees to find job candidates who not only have the ability, experience, and motivation to perform, but also a value system that is ompatible with the organization’s. Managers should be interested in their employees’ attitudes because attitudes give warnings of potential problems and because they influence behavior. Satisfied and committed employees, for inst ance, have lower rates of turnover and absenteeism. Given that managers want to keep resignations and absences down—especially among their more productive employees—they will want to do those things that will generate positive job attitudes.Managers should also be aware that employees will try to reduce cognitive dissonance. More importantly, dissonance can be managed. If employees are required to engage in activities that appear inconsistent to them or are at odds with their attitudes, the pressures to reduce the resulting dissonance are lessened when the employee perceives that the dissonance is externally imposed and is beyond his/her control or if the rewards are significant enough to offset the dissonance. WEB EXERCISESAt the end of each chapter of this instructor’s manual, you will find suggested exercises and ideas for researching the WWW on OB topics. The exercises â€Å"Exploring OB Topics on the Web† are set up so that you can simply photocopy t he pages, distribute them to your class, make assignments accordingly. You may want to assign the exercises as an out-of-class activity or as lab activities with your class. Within the lecture notes the graphic will note that there is a WWW activity to support this material.The chapter opens introducing Marge Savage, a Microsoft marketing analyst who is gathering information about the â€Å"Nexters† generation—people born after 1977. They are the first group of people to never know a world without computers and the Internet. She found that this group values integrity, teamwork, moral support, responsibility, and freedom to pursue their dreams. They want to work for a company that supports their needs, and where they can have significant influence in shaping society.They see technology and the Internet as a major force for changing the world—good news for Microsoft. CHAPTER OUTLINE |Values |Notes: | |Values represent basic convictions that â€Å"a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or | | |socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence. | | | | | |There is a judgmental element of what is right, good, or desirable. | | | | | |Values have both content and intensity attributes. | | | | |The content attribute says that a mode of conduct or end-state of existence is important. | | |The intensity attribute specifies how important it is. | | |Ranking an individual’s values in terms of their intensity equals that person’s value system. | | | | |Values are not generally fluid and flexible. They tend to be relatively stable and enduring. | | | | | |A significant portion of the values we hold is established in our early years—from parents, teachers, friends, | | |and others. | |The process of questioning our values, of course, may result in a change, but more often, our questioning acts | | |to reinforce the values we hold. | | |A. Importance of Values | | |1.Values lay the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation because they influence our | | |perceptions. | | | | | |2. Individuals enter organizations with notions of what is right and wrong with which they interpret behaviors| | |or outcomes—at times this can cloud objectivity and rationality. | | | | |3. Values generally influence attitudes and behavior. | | |B. Types of Values | | |1.Rokeach Value Survey (Exhibit 3-1) | | | | | |It consists of two sets of values, with each set containing 18 individual value items. | | |One set—terminal values—refers to desirable end-states of existence, the goals that a person would like to | | |achieve during his/her lifetime. | |The other—instrumental values—refers to preferable modes of behavior, or means of achieving the terminal values. | | | | | | | | |2. Several studies confirm that the RVS values vary among groups. | | | | |People in the same occupations or categories t end to hold similar values. | | |Contemporary Work Cohorts | | |1.The unique value of different cohorts is that the U. S. workforce can be segmented by the era they entered | | |the workforce. (Exhibit 3-3) | | |Contemporary Work Cohorts (cont. ) |Notes: | |2.Veterans—Workers who entered the workforce from the early 1940s through the early 1960s | | |Influenced by the Great Depression and World War II | | |Believe in hard work | | |Tend to be loyal to their employer | | |Terminal values: Comfortable life and family security | | | | | |3. Boomers—Employees who entered the workforce during the 1960s through the mid-1980s | | | | | |Influenced heavily by John F.Kennedy, the civil rights and feminist movements, the Beatles, the Vietnam War, | | |and baby-boom competition | | |Distrust authority, but have a high emphasis on achievement and material success | | |Organizations who employ them are vehicles for their careers | | |Terminal values: sense of accomplishment and social recognition | | | | | |4.Xers—began to enter the workforce from the mid-1980s | | | | | |Shaped by globalization, two-career parents, MTV, AIDS, and computers | | |Value flexibility, life options, and achievement of job satisfaction | | |Family and relationships are important and enjoy team-oriented work | | |Money is important, but will trade off for increased leisure time | | |Less willing to make personal sacrifices for employers than previous generations | | |Terminal values: true friendship, happiness, and pleasure | | | | | |5. Nexters—most recent entrants into the workforce. | | | | |Grew up in prosperous times, have high expectation, believe in themselves, and confident in their ability to | | |succeed | | |Never-ending search for ideal job; see nothing wrong with job-hopping | | |Seek financial success | | |Enjoy team work, but are highly self-reliant | | |Terminal values: freedom and comfortable life | | | | | |Individuals’ values dif fer, but tend to reflect the societal values of the period in which they grew up. This | | |can be a valuable aid in explaining and predicting behavior. Employees in their 60s, for instance, are more | | |likely to accept authority than coworkers 15 years younger. | | | | | |7. Workers under 35 are more likely than the other groups to balk at having to work overtime or weekends, | | |and are more prone to leave a job in mid-career to pursue another that provides more leisure time. | | | | OB IN THE NEWS – American Workers Rethink Priorities Values are relatively permanent, but dramatic shocks can realign them. For example, the terrorists’ attacks on September 11 may have significantly reprioritized many Americans’ values. The initial response to the terrorist attacks for many people was a reevaluation of choices related to jobs, family, and career success. In some cases, this led to a rethinking of career paths, cutting back on grueling schedules, and deciding to pursue work that might pay less but seem more meaningful.For instance, in California, young workers who once talked of dot-com millions are now asking: â€Å"Is it worth it? † Some employees appear less concerned about putting in face time, making deadlines, and getting on the fast track. They seem more concerned about family and worry less about time at the office. CEOs say some of their employees are talking more earnestly about work/life balance, mortality, and other questions once considered taboo in the office. Said one consultant, â€Å"The event de-emphasized what most people value—the money and the luxuries. People are questioning what’s really important; they’re questioning work. It’s happening across the board. † It has now been more than a year since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D. C.That provides a more meaningful perspective on whether this event has had long-term implications on workplace values, or whet her any reprioritizing was merely a knee-jerk reaction to a traumatic event, followed by a return to â€Å"business as usual. † Do you think a significant portion of Americans have permanently reprioritized their values as a result of 9-11? Class Exercise: 1. Have students break into small groups to discuss the question: â€Å"Do you think a significant portion of Americans have permanently reprioritized their values as a result of 9-11? † Ask them to list examples of why or why not they think the way they do. 2. As a class, share what was discussed in the small groups. 3. Ask if they think America’s values have changed, or were they just reawakened? 4.Ask if they think organizations’ values have changed or reprioritized as a result of the events. 5. Ask them to relate this question to themselves. Have they reprioritized their lives as a result of the 9-11 events? (They may not want to share this information with the entire class—its purpose is jus t to get them thinking. ) |A. Values, Loyalty, and Ethical Behavior |Notes: | |Many people think there has been a decline in business ethics since the late 1970s. The four-stage model of | | |work cohort values might explain this perception. Exhibit 3-2) | | | | | |Managers consistently report the action of bosses as the most important factor influencing ethical and unethical| | |behavior in the organization. | | | | | |Through the mid-1970s, the managerial ranks were dominated by Veterans whose loyalty was to their employer; | | |their decisions were made in terms of what was best for the employer. | | | | |Boomers entered the workforce at this time and by the 1990’s had risen into the majority of management | | |positions. Loyalty was to their careers. Self-centered values would be consistent with a decline in ethical | | |values. Did this really happen? | | | | | |Recent entrants to the workforce—Xers—are now moving into middle management. Loyalty is to relationships, | | |therefore they may be more likely to consider the ethical implications of their actions on others around them. | |Instructor Note: At this point in the lecture you may want to introduce the Ethical Dilemma: Is it a Bribe or a Gift? Exercise found in the text. The purpose of the exercise is to provide the opportunity for students to understand that ethical situations are not always black or white and must be given consideration as business decisions are made. |B. Values Across Cultures |Notes: | |Values differ across cultures, therefore, understanding these differences helps to explain and to predict | | |behavior of employees from different countries.One of the most widely referenced approaches for analyzing | | |variations among cultures has been done by Geert Hofstede. | | | | | |Hofstede’s A framework for assessing cultures; five value dimensions of national culture (Exhibit 3-4): | | | | | |a.Power distance: | | | | | |The degree to which people i n a country accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed | | |unequally. | | | | | |Individualism versus collectivism: | | | | |Individualism is the degree to which people in a country prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of | | |groups. | | |Collectivism equals low individualism. | | | | | |Quantity of life versus quality of life: | | | | | |Quantity of life is the degree to which values such as assertiveness, the acquisition of money and material | | |goods, and competition prevail. | |Quality of life is the degree to which people value relationships and show sensitivity and concern for the | | |welfare of others. | | | | | |Uncertainty avoidance: | | | | | |The degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations. | | | | |Long-term versus short-term orientation: | | | | | |Long-term orientations look to the future and value thrift and persistence. | | |Short-term orientation values the past and present and emphasizes respect for tradition and fulfilling social | | |obligations. | | | | |Conclusions: | | | | | |Asian countries were more collectivist than individualistic. US ranked highest on individualism. German and | | |Hong Kong ranked highest on quality of life; Russia and The Netherlands were low. China and Hong Kong had a | | |long-term orientation; France and US were low. | | | | |3. Hofstede’s work is the basic framework for assessing cultures. However, it is nearly 30 years old. In | | |1993, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) has begun updating this research | | |with date from 825 organizations and 62 countries. | | | | | |a.GLOBE Framework for Assessing Cultures: | | | | | |Assertiveness: The extent to which a society encourages people to be tough, confrontational, assertive, and | | |competitive versus modest and tender | | | | |Future Orientation: The extent to which a society encourages and rewards future-oriented b ehaviors such as | | |planning, investing in the future and delaying gratification | | | | | |Gender differentiation: The extent to which a society maximized gender role differences | | |Values Across Cultures (cont. |Notes: | | | | |Uncertainly avoidance: Society’s reliance on social norms and procedures to alleviate the unpredictability of | | |future events | | | | | |Power distance: The degree to which members of a society expect power to be unequally shared | | | | | |Individualism/Collectivism: The degree to which individuals are encouraged by societal institutions to be | | |integrated into groups within organizations and society | | | | | |In-group collectivism: The extent to which society’s members take pride in membership in small groups such as | | |their families and circles of close friends, and the organizations where they are employed | | | | | Performance orientation: The degree to which society encourages and rewards group members for performance | | |improvement and excellence | | | | | |Humane orientation: The degree to which a society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, | | |altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others | | | | | |b. Conclusion: The GLOBE study had extended Hofstede’s work rather than replaced it. It confirms Hofstede’s | | |five dimensions are still valid and provides updated measures of where countries are on each dimension. For | | |example, the U. S. in the 70s led the world in individualism—today, it is in the mid-ranks of countries. | |Instructor Note: At this point in the lecture you may want to introduce the Team Exercise: Challenges in Negotiating with Chinese Executives found in the text. The purpose of this exercise is to give the students an opportunity to develop awareness of how to effectively work with another culture when doing business. |C. Implications for OB | | |Americans have developed organizational behavior within domestic contexts—mor e than 80 percent of the articles | | |published in journals were by Americans. | | | | |Follow-up studies continue to confirm the lack of cross-cultural considerations in management and OB research. | | |From a cultural perspective this means: | | | | | |Not all OB theories and concepts are universally applicable. | |You should take into consideration cultural values when trying to understand the behavior of people in different| | |countries. | | |Attitudes | | |Attitudes are evaluative statements that are either favorable or unfavorable concerning objects, people, or | | |events. | | | | | |Attitudes are not the same as values, but the two are interrelated. | | | | |Three components of an attitude: | | | | | |Cognition | | |Affect | | |Behavior | | | | |The belief that â€Å"discrimination is wrong† is a value statement and an example of the cognitive component of an | | |attitude. | | |Attitudes (cont. ) |Notes: | |Value statements set the stage for the more critical part of an attitude—its affective component. Affect is the | | |emotional or feeling segment of an attitude. Example: â€Å"I don’t like Jon because he discriminates again | | |minorities. | | | | | |The behavioral component of an attitude refers to an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or | | |something. Example: â€Å"I chose to avoid Jon because he discriminates. † | | | | | |Viewing attitudes as made up of three components helps with understanding of the potential relationship between | | |attitudes and behavior, however, when we refer to attitude essentially we mean the affect part of the three | | |components. | | | | |In contrast to values, your attitudes are less stable. Advertisements are directed at changing your attitudes | | |and are often successful. | | | | | |In organizations, attitudes are important because they affect job behavior. | | |A. Types of Attitudes | | |OB focuses our attention on a very limited number o f job-related attitudes.Most of the research in OB has been |Notes: | |concerned with three attitudes: job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment. | | | | | |Job satisfaction | | | | | |Definition: It is an individual’s general attitude toward his/her job. | | | | |A high level of job satisfaction equals positive attitudes toward the job and vice versa. | | | | | |Employee attitudes and job satisfaction are frequently used interchangeably. | | | | | |Often when people speak of â€Å"employee attitudes† they mean â€Å"employee job satisfaction. | | | | | |Job involvement | | | | | |A workable definition: the measure of the degree to which a person identifies psychologically with his/her job | | |and considers his/her perceived performance level important to self-worth. | | | | | |High levels of job involvement is thought to result in fewer absences and lower resignation rates. | | | | | |Job involvement more consistently predicts turnover than absenteeism. | | | | |Organizational commitment | | | | | |Definition: A state in which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to| | |maintain membership in the organization. | | | | |Research evidence demonstrates negative relationships between organizational commitment and both absenteeism and| | |turnover. | | | | | |An individual’s level of organizational commitment is a better indicator of turnover than the far more | | |frequently used job satisfaction predictor because it is a more global and enduring response to the organization| | |as a whole than is job satisfaction. | | | | |This evidence, most of which is more than two decades old, needs to be qualified to reflect the changing | | |employee-employer relationship. | | |A. Types of Attitudes (cont. ) |Notes: | |Organizational commitment is probably less important as a job-related attitude than it once was because the | | |unwritten â€Å"loyalty† contract i n place when this research was conducted is no longer in place. | | | | |In its place, we might expect â€Å"occupational commitment† to become a more relevant variable because it better | | |reflects today’s fluid workforce. | | Instructor Note: At this point in the lecture you may want to introduce the exercise Point-Counter Point: Mangers Can Create Satisfied Employees exercise found in the text. The purpose of the exercise is to replace popularly held notions with research-based conclusions. |B. Attitudes and Consistency |Notes: | |People sometimes change what they say so it does not contradict what they do. | | | | |Research has generally concluded that people seek consistency among their attitudes and between their attitudes | | |and their behavior. | | | | | |Individuals seek to reconcile divergent attitudes and align their attitudes and behavior so they appear rational| | |and consistent. | | | | |When there is an inconsistency, forces are initiated to return the individual to an equilibrium state where | | |attitudes and behavior are again consistent, by altering either the attitudes or the behavior, or by developing | | |a rationalization for the discrepancy. | | |C. Cognitive Dissonance Theory | | |Leon Festinger, in the late 1950s, proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance, seeking to explain the linkage | | |between attitudes and behavior. He argued that any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that individuals | | |will attempt to reduce the dissonance. | | | | |Dissonance means â€Å"an inconsistency. † | | | | | |Cognitive dissonance refers to â€Å"any incompatibility that an individual might perceive between two or more of | | |his/her attitudes, or between his/her behavior and attitudes. | | | | | |No individual can completely avoid dissonance. | | | | | |The desire to reduce dissonance would be determined by: | | | | | |The importance of the elements creating the dissonance. | | |The degree of infl uence the individual believes he/she has over the elements. | | |The rewards that may be involved in dissonance. | | | | |Importance: If the elements creating the dissonance are relatively unimportant, the pressure to correct this | | |imbalance will be low. | | | | | |Influence: If the dissonance is perceived as an uncontrollable result, they are less likely to be receptive to | | |attitude change. While dissonance exists, it can be rationalized and justified. | | | | |Rewards: The inherent tension in high dissonance tends to be reduced with high rewards. | | | | | |Moderating factors suggest that individuals will not necessarily move to reduce dissonance—or consistency. | | |C. Cognitive Dissonance Theory (cont. ) |Notes: | |Organizational implications | | | | |Greater predictability of the propensity to engage in attitude and behavioral change | | |The greater the dissonance—after it has been moderated by importance, choice, and rewards factors—the gr eater | | |the pressures to reduce it. | | |D. Measuring the A-B Relationship | | |Early research on attitudes and common sense assumed a causal relationship to behavior. In the late 1960s, this| | |assumed relationship between attitudes and behavior (A-B) was challenged. Recent research has demonstrated that| | |attitudes significantly predict future behavior. | | | | |The most powerful moderators: | | | | | |Importance | | |Specificity | | |Accessibility | | |Social pressures | | |Direct experience | | | | | |Importance: Reflects fundamental values, self-interest, or identification with individuals or groups that a | | |person values. | | | | | |Specificity: The more specific the attitude and the more specific the behavior, the stronger the link between | | |the two. | | | | |Accessibility: Attitudes that are easily remembered are more likely to predict behavior than attitudes that are | | |not accessible in memory. | | | | | |Social pressures: Discrepancies between att itudes and behavior are more likely to occur where social pressures | | |to behave in certain ways hold exceptional power. | | | | |Direct experience: The attitude-behavior relationship is likely to be much stronger if an attitude refers to an | | |individual’s direct personal experience. | | |E. Self-perception theory | | |Researchers have achieved still higher correlations by pursuing whether or not behavior influences attitudes. | | | | |Self-perception theory argues that attitudes are used to make sense out of an action that has already occurred | | |rather than devices that precede and guide action. Example: I’ve had this job for 10 years, no one has forced | | |me to stay, so I must like it! | | | | | |Contrary to cognitive dissonance theory, attitudes are just casual verbal statements; they tend to create | | |plausible answers for what has already occurred. | | | | |While the traditional attitude-behavior relationship is generally positive, the behavior- attitude relationship | | |is stronger particularly when attitudes are vague and ambiguous or little thought has been given to it | | |previously. | | |An Application: Attitude Surveys | | |The most popular method for getting information about employee attitudes is through attitude surveys. See | | |Exhibit 3-5) | | | | | |Using attitude surveys on a regular basis provides managers with valuable feedback on how employees perceive | | |their working conditions. Managers present the employee with set statements or questions to obtain specific | | |information. | | | | |Policies and practices that management views as objective and fair may be seen as inequitable by employees in | | |general or by certain groups of employees and can lead to negative attitudes about the job and the organization. | | | | | |Employee behaviors are often based on perceptions, not reality. Often employees do not have objective data from | | |which to base their perceptions. | | | | |The use of regular attitude surveys can alert management to potential problems and employees’ intentions early | | |so that action can be taken to prevent repercussions. | | |G. Attitudes and Workforce Diversity | | |A survey of U. S. organizations with 100 or more employees found that 47 percent or so of them sponsored some | | |sort of diversity training. | | | | |These diversity programs include a self-evaluation phase where people are pressed to examine themselves and to | | |confront ethnic and cultural stereotypes they might hold. This is followed by discussion with people from | | |diverse groups. | | | | | |Additional activities designed to change attitudes nclude arranging for people to do volunteer work in | | |community or social service centers in order to meet face to face with individuals and groups from diverse | | |backgrounds, and using exercises that let participants feel what it is like to be different. | | |Job Satisfaction | | |Measuring Job Satisfaction | | |Job satisfa ction is â€Å"an individual’s general attitude toward his/her job. | | | | | |Jobs require interaction with co-workers and bosses, following organizational rules and policies, meeting | | |performance standards, living with working conditions that are often less than ideal, and the like. This means | | |that an employee’s assessment of how satisfied or dissatisfied he or she is with his/her job is a complex | | |summation of a number of discrete job elements. | | | | |The two most widely used approaches are a single global rating and a summation score made up of a number of job | | |facets. | | | | | |a. The single global rating method is nothing more than asking individuals to respond to one question, such as| | |â€Å"All things considered, how satisfied are you with your job? | | |Measuring Job Satisfaction (cont. ) |Notes: | | A summation of job facets is more sophisticated: | | | | | |It identifies key elements in a job and asks for the employee’s feelings about each one ranked on a standardized| | |scale. | | | | |Typical factors that would be included are the nature of the work, supervision, present pay, promotion | | |opportunities, and relations with co-workers. | | | | | |Comparing these approaches, simplicity seems to work as well as complexity. Comparisons of one-question global | | |ratings with the summation-of-job-factors method indicate both are valid. | |How Satisfied Are People in Their Jobs? | | |Most people are satisfied with their jobs in the developed countries surveyed. | | | | | |However, there has been a decline in job satisfaction since the early 1990s. In the US nearly an eight percent | | |drop in the 90s. Surprisingly those last years were one’s of growth and economic expansion. | | | | |What factors might explain the decline despite growth: | | | | | |Increased productivity through heavier employee workloads and tighter deadlines | | |Employees feeling they have less control over thei r work | | | | | |While some segments of the market are more satisfied than others, they tend to be higher paid, higher skilled | | |jobs which gives workers more control and challenges. | | Instructor Note: At this point in the lecture you may want to introduce the exercise found in the MYTH OR SCIENCE: How Satisfied Are People in Their Jobs? box found in the text.The purpose of the exercise is to replace popularly held notions with research-based conclusions. MYTH OR SCIENCE? – â€Å"Happy Workers Are Productive Workers† This statement is generally false. The myth that â€Å"happy workers are productive workers† developed in the 1930s and 1940s, due to the Hawthorne studies at Western Electric. A careful review of the research indicates that, if there is a positive relationship between happiness (i. e. , satisfaction) and productivity, the correlations are low; no more than two percent of the variance in output can be accounted for by employee satisfaction. The evidence, however, is for the reverse—productive workers are likely to be happy workers.That is, productivity leads to satisfaction rather than the other way around. If the organization rewards productivity, these rewards, in turn, increase your level of satisfaction with the job. Class Exercise 1. Brainstorm with students about situations where they knew workers/employees were unhappy with the company or their jobs, but still did a reasonably good job. Perhaps have them share insights into their own feelings about their school, or a particular class they disliked but still tried very hard. 2. Discuss why someone who is unhappy with his/her job might work hard at it and do good work. 3. Why would someone who is happy with his/her job not perform at a higher level than the disgruntled worker? 4.Students should come to realize that most effort comes from internal drive, not external motivation. As a result, a highly internally motivated individual might perform well in any circumstance whereas his/her organizational environment would not positively affect a non-internally motivated individual. |C. The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee Performance |Notes: | |Managers’ interest in job satisfaction tends to center on its effect on employee performance. Much research has| | |been done on the impact of job satisfaction on employee productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. | | | | |Satisfaction and productivity: