Dutchtown High School Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Dutchtown High School - Research Paper Example There are a number of classes that are offered at Dutchtown middle school even though all the students are encouraged to take the entire four major lessons, which are science social studies, math, and English. The school also provides an opportunity to get into an in-state university. The schools motto is to provide an environment of excellence where all students can become lifelong learners and productive citizens. In addition, the school also offers courses in United States history, studio art 2d-design, biology, computer science, art history, calculus Ab & Bc, chemistry, English language and composition , politics, studio art drawing, US government, English literature, world history, European history and physics. The state of Louisiana has an enrollment of 703,309 students while the attendance rate for the year 2010-2011 was 94.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). However, the in-school suspension rate for the year 2010-2011 was 9.6% while the percentage of classes taught by highly qual ified teachers for the same year was 88.8%. The expenditure per student was $10,622. The state ranked in a grade of 91.8 in 2010, which is a 2 star ranking and 93.3 in 2011, which is a grade C ranking (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). ... n.  However, the area where the school is located is vulnerable to hurricanes and the tropical systems since the area is lowly elevated, and has a close location to the coast of southeast Louisiana. The town lies 23 feet above the sea level, which is slightly lower than most areas of United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). Geismar in turn is located in Louisiana, a state found in the US, which is found in the southern region. The state of Louisiana is among the most extensive and populous states of the United States. This has contributed greatly in shaping the demographics patterns of Ducthtown High School in that the school boasts of a large population of students and teachers. The average ratio of students to teacher is 25:1, which is actually a moderate ratio. The capitals of Louisiana are found in Baton Rouge whereas the largest city in that state is New Orleans. One interesting political fact is that the state of New Orleans is the only state in the US whereby the three are political subdivisions known as parishes. Dutchtown High School is located in Ascension Parish. These parishes are the equivalents of counties in many other US states (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). Ethnically, the state of Louisiana’s urban environments is a multi-cultural environment and multi-lingual surroundings. The states heritage is by far shaped and influenced by the admixture of 18th century,  Native American, African,  and Spanish cultures. Cultures and ethnicity are considered exceptional in the US statistics, which have also played a major role in shaping the schools ethnicity and cultural heritage. This multi cultures were contributed largely by the colonial history of this state whereby the French and the Spanish colonized it way before the British took over colonizing America.

Sub-Saharan Africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sub-Saharan Africa - Essay Example The owners see wanting poverty level of the involved families as an easy way to even exploit them by giving meager earnings, which does not even commensurate with what they do. Hence, prompt them even using children in harvesting period who act as cheap labor for they given them much less compared to their adult counterparts (Freely Give Truth, 2013). Hence, prompting child labor statics augment instead of declining in these states. Many firms known to buy cocoa pressurize farmers into augmenting productivity without even minding their conditions for the crop’s demand globally is significantly high. The fact that they involve intermediaries who buy significant cocoa’s production from the farmers, make them have a huge influence on the farmers (Freely Give Truth, 2013). This way they create a monopoly and therefore they pay farmers as low as low as they want due to the great influence they have. This has prompted farmers yield to procuring children’s services for they are aware they will pay them meager wages, which translates to augmenting of child servitude statistics. There is no enough regulation to curb child labor since a child assisting in the farm is not legally wrong only if the child is involved in heavy work load. The government also has devised extremely low minimum pay, hence prompting the impoverished families to continuously wallow in poverty to the extent majority of them do not have any plan for future investments. Because many work to ensure they are capable of affording only day’s upkeep, which ought to be the case especially what they are producing fetches much global market. The CÃ ´te dIvoire regime together with cocoa buyers can effectively influence declining of this menace. In this case, the regime through devising adequate and effective policies barring farmers from employing children would be a good platform meant to start

English Language Varieties Essay Example for Free

English Language Varieties Essay English has spread rapidly, even since independence, either as a first language or as a medium of education for non-native speakers (Platt and Weber, 2002). The actual range of varieties of English is much greater than is found in the British Isles. On the one hand we can speak of an acrolect or high status variety, and on the other a basilect or low status variety, with the mesolect occupying the intermediate position. These terms are usually descriptive of what is known as a post-creole continuum—that is the range of non-discrete varieties in a post-colonial situation ranging from the acrolect, which is generally very close to the standard language of the colonial power, through to the basilect, which structurally resembles a creole. It is sufficient here to characterise a creole as a mixed language, resulting historically from contact between speakers of different and mutually unintelligible languages. Creoles are usually associated with colonial situations and are generally assigned a very low social status. Basilectal speakers, who occupy the lowest position in a post-creole continuum, are often quite unintelligible to speakers of the acrolect. All speakers occupy a range on this acrolect—basilect continuum, which correlates closely with their social status, shifting along it according to social context in much the same way as British speakers manipulate linguistic variables. Of course, the extent of linguistic difference is much greater. Such continua have been described in Jamaica by De Camp (2001) and in Guyana by Bickerton (1995), and it is likely, we should note, that these studies will be of increasing relevance to an understanding of the sociolinguistic structure of ethnic minority communities in Britain. A detailed account of the structure and function of pidgins and creoles is not directly relevant here, but interested readers are referred to Todd (2000) for an introductory account of the social, political and linguistic issues involved. Although respectable Victorians were already reacting strongly against the prescriptive attitudes of the eighteenth century, the most extreme anti-prescriptive statements, as far as we know, are those made by some members of the ‘American structuralist’ school of linguistics. Bloomfield (1993:22) felt that discovering why ain’t is considered bad and am not good is not a fundamental question in linguistics, and he thought it strange that ‘people without linguistic training’ should devote ‘a great deal of effort to futile discussions of this topic’. Bloomfield was certainly implying that the study of prescriptivism was not of central interest to linguistics; he was thereby limiting the field of linguistics to a descriptive study of form and system in language which takes relatively little account of language as a social phenomenon. Some of Bloomfield’s followers have gone further than this and have attacked ‘unscientific’ approaches to language with missionary zeal. C. C. Fries (1997) seems to have equated traditional school grammar with prescription (which was by definition ‘bad’ and ‘unscientific’ in the view of structural linguists of the time), and in his book on English syntax he went so far as to even reject traditional linguistic terms such as ‘noun’, ‘verb’ and ‘adjective’. Fries’s work was directed towards the educational system at the ordinary consumer. Anxious to assure all his readers that their use of language was just as good as that of anyone else, he proclaimed that there is no such thing as good or bad, correct or incorrect, grammatical or ungrammatical, in language. English in Western Europe and America Although linguistic scholars would certainly dispute the details of this pronouncement, they have continued (for the most part) to assert or assume that their discipline is descriptive and theoretical and that they do not deal in prescription. In Western Europe and America most theoretical linguists would still affirm that all forms of language are in principle equal. As Hudson (2002:191) has put it: Linguists would claim that if they were simply shown the grammars of two different varieties, one with high and the other with low prestige, they could not tell which was which, any more than they could predict the skin colour of those who speak the two varieties. Although some evidence from work by social psychologists (Giles et al. , 2000) lends some support to Hudson’s point, we do not, in fact, know whether standard languages can be conclusively shown to have no purely linguistic characteristics that differentiate them from non-standard forms of language (the matter has not really been investigated). It appears to be an article of faith at the moment that judgments evaluating differences between standard and non-standard varieties are always socially conditioned and never purely linguistic. However, we shall later suggest that the process of language standardisation involves the suppression of optional variability in language and that, as a consequence, non-standard varieties can be observed to permit more variability than standard ones (e. g. in pronunciations of particular words). Thus, there may be one sense at least in which the linguistic characteristics of non-standard varieties differ from those of ‘standards’. Standard English: UK Variety In the UK, one vehement critic of the supposed malign influence of linguistics on English language teaching is John Honey (1997-2003). He has named an array of linguistic scholars (including—astonishingly—Noam Chomsky, who has never been concerned with educational or social issues), as encouraging a neglect of Standard English teaching in schools. This is an entirely false claim. It is true that there has been some opposition to the teaching of English grammar, but in our experience this has arisen mainly from the preference of lecturers for literature teaching. Far from discouraging ‘grammar’, university linguists have been closely involved in maintaining and encouraging its teaching. No one has ever opposed the teaching of standard English, and many of those named by Honey as ‘enemies’ of standard English have devoted much of their careers to teaching it—training students to write clear and correct standard English. Experienced teachers will not take kindly to an attack that simply appears to them as ignorant, presumptuous and pointlessly offensive. The linguist’s academic interest in the human capacity to learn and use language is not a threat to the teaching of Standard English, and it can be a great benefit. It does not follow from the educational necessity to focus on the standard that we should neglect to examine and explain the different norms and conventions of speech and writing, or that we should fail to acknowledge that standardised usage is most fully achieved in writing. Nor does it follow that we should neglect the fact that non-standard spoken vernaculars have grammars of their own. To investigate the structure of language varieties is an intellectual requirement that cannot be compromised, and which in no way contradicts the importance of the teaching of literacy in a standard language. Amongst other things, research on real language in use can help us to clarify and understand what standard English actually is and appreciate more exactly what its roles and functions are. We will not improve practical language teaching by ignoring such matters or by maligning those who study conversational speech and non-standard vernaculars as ‘enemies of standard English’. The authors of elementary books on linguistics, however, have usually been anxious to dissociate their account of the subject from that of traditional handbooks of correctness. As we have seen they usually dismiss prescription routinely, and assert that linguistics is descriptive. Their general point—that, if one is to study the nature of language objectively, one cannot make prior value-judgments—is frequently misunderstood, and it has sometimes called forth splenetic and misinformed denunciations of linguistics as a whole. One example amongst many is Simon (2002). In an essay entitled ‘The Corruption of English’ (2002), Simon blames structural linguistics and literary structuralists for an alleged decline in language use and for permissive attitudes to language: ‘What this is, masquerading under the euphemism â€Å"descriptive linguistics†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦is a benighted and despicable catering to mass ignorance under the supposed aegis of democracy. ’ His essay is outspoken and full of emotive language (‘pseudoscientific mumbo jumbo’, ‘rock-bottom illiteracy’, ‘barbarians’, ‘vandalism’, etc. ), and it betrays ignorance of what linguistics is about. To Simon, linguists are almost equated with some menace that is threatening Western (i. e. American) civilisation from outside. It is unfortunate that misunderstandings and misapplications of the American structural linguists’ teaching should have made it seem reasonable for anyone to write in this ignorant way. As many people still interpret descriptive linguistics as inimical to standards of usage, there has clearly been some failure of communication between linguistic scholars and the general public. One reason for this is that ‘mainstream’ linguistics has concentrated more on the abstract and formal properties of language than on language in its social context. Bloomfield (1993), as we saw above, considered that prescription was irrelevant to linguistics as a ‘science’. Yet some linguists have been directly interested in prescription. Haas (2002), for example, has pointed out that prescription ‘is an integral part of the life of language’. By refusing to be interested in prescription, he adds: ‘linguists only ensure that every enterprise of linguistic planning will be dominated by ignorant enthusiasts and incompetent pedants’ (Haas, 2002:3). Since Haas made these comments, some social and educational linguists have been very active in commenting on public attitudes and educational policies, and some have represented the subject on advisory committees. A general linguist, R. A. Hudson, is responsible for the Language Workbooks series, published by Routledge. Several relevant books on language variation have appeared, and linguistic correctness was the topic of the 1996 BBC Reith Lectures, delivered by Jean Aitchison (1998). In the USA much of the interest in language differences has been driven by public concern about the language of ethnic minorities. In 1997, the Linguistic Society of America published a document inspired by a controversy about ‘Ebonics’ (African American Vernacular English), which was recognised by the Oakland (California) School Board as a legitimate form of language. It ended with the following comments: There is evidence from Sweden, the US, and other countries that speakers of other varieties can be aided in their learning of the standard variety by pedagogical approaches which recognize the legitimacy of other varieties of a language. From this perspective, the Oakland School Board’s decision to recognize the vernacular of African American students in teaching them Standard English is linguistically and pedagogically sound.

change management: Resistance

change management: Resistance Chapter 2 A Review of the Literature 2.1. Introduction This part will focus on how to overcome resistance to change. We will discuss theories on resistance to change and any other theory related to change management. The notion of change is something that we are facing everyday in our life; it is therefore the only constant. Change process can take gradual, rapid or radical form. Society is made up of human beings as well as inanimate organisms are subject to change over time. Environment is the only factor that is subject to and the only thing that does not change is the change itself. Change always affects employees in the organisation, therefore it is important to manage it successfully in order to avoid a failure of change or resistance to change. The change concept was studied by Authors like: Lewin, Trist, Hardy, Nieto and more. Nieto (2006) highlighted that a good definition of change is where the refreezing stage of Lewins model is no longer an option because nowadays change is faster in the twenty first century, there is no need to refreeze or you will be left behind by the competition. 2.2. A Review of the Literature If we conduct a survey we will find out that many employees have a negative attitude, behaviour and perceptions towards change. Employees feel more insecure about their jobs, status and also the fear of doing more work. Very often, the impacts of change on employees in the organisation are negative. There are fears, stress, frustration and resistance of change. Therefore most employees tend to resist to the change and change is always first resisted than accepted or seeing as an opportunity for improvement. Change, as death and taxes cannot be avoid, is it necessary bad? Even though uncomfortable and embarrassing, change can also be positive. The marriage, the birth of a child and a promotion are examples of change, very often we are happy and therefore it can be easily accepted rather than the negatives one like the divorce and the death. Good or bad, any change that happens whether to a person or inside an organisation requires adaptation and management. Nothing is unchangeable, even organizations are required to change. It is important to know understand why people resist change, to support those who cannot cope with change by motivating and coaching them and also handling the problems that change brings. Organisations are dynamic entities. They are changing all the time as they develop their operations and outputs in the pursuit of efficiency and effectiveness. The management of change is concerned with how change is effected in organizations and the principles and processes are essentially the same whether applied to the resign of the working practices of one section or the re-specification of the whole organisation and management structure According to Balogun et al (1999) change management is fast becoming one of the most talked about topics in management circles. Discussions about organizational change often focus on how important it is for organizations or individual managers to possess a capacity in this area. Likewise, business school courses on strategic change stress that change competence is fast becoming a key promotion differentiator within a managers toolbox. 2.3. Change management According to Ventris (2004), change management is all about inspirational leadership, detailed planning and rigorous, comprehensive implementation. A successful change management programme can be helpful to establish a continuous change in the organisation. But the most important thing is to make people realizing the value of change. Once people and have good experience about change management, and recognize the need for almost continuous change. As William Shakespeare said Things must change or cease. This sentence illustrates what has been said before about the Constance of change. Organisational change is a modification to employee attitudes, expectations, and skills (Robertson, Roberts, and Porras, 1993), it can also be a deliberate introduction of new ways of thinking, acting and operating ( Shalk, Campbell and Freese, 1998). The general aim of organizational change is an adaptation to the environment ( Barr, Stimpert and Huff, 1992; Leava and Barry, 2000) or an improvement in performance (Boeker, 1997; Keck and Tushman, 1993) This definition shows the importance of culture on change management, for the management to be able to implement these changes successfully, they will require changing the organizational culture which is not something easy to accomplish. Therefore by change employees attitudes, expectation and kills as suggested by many authors it will be necessary to make sure they adapt to the new environment and improve their performance which will also improve the organisational performance. Organisational change involves moving from the known to the unknown. Because the future is not certain and may affect employees performance, worth, and coping abilities, people inside the organisation do not want change unless they are forced to do so. It will be therefore important to create readiness for change. Implementing change in an organisation involves moving from the existing organisation state to the desired future state. (Cummings and Worley 2005) Change is omnipresent in society, and can occur in many forms. It is not a new phenomenon. Many Authors have developed a model of change process as it was argued by Moorhead and Griffin (2004) cited by McKenna (2006), that an alternative model of lewins process model will be the continuous change process model, which incorporates facets of the Lewin model. It is considered more realistic because it studies the change in an organisation from the top and recognizes that change is continuous. It is not good enough for an organisation to change; it must try to anticipate it as well by being proactive. This would require the planning of organisational change as part of the organisational strategy. According to McLagan ( 2003), managing changes as they emerge is not enough nowadays. As the number and complexity of changes increasing, it is time to plan and rethink about the structure of the organisation. It is time to accept the change in our life and move along with it, avoid doing business as usual or staying in the status quo. It is time to look at how the organisation is running its daily activities so that it is not a case of constantly trying to override the usual organisational processes. Such approach requires a structural and mental regesign of the organisation. The author emphasizes that change should not be managed during a period of crises or when strategies shift. It is a continuous challenge and condition in organisational life. A successful change management depends on how ready is the organisation to change its culture that is the attitude and the behaviour of members of the organisation. It is pointless to have only a part the employees who agree to the proposed changes. The aim of the executives is to ensure that all employees in the organisation are accepting the desired changes. The biggest motivator is to see other people embrace change management and witness the successful implementation of the companys vision. 2.3.1 The importance of change Change will always be there and will not disappear. Technology, civilizations and creative thought will keep their ever- accelerating drive onwards. It could be argued that change has almost become a continuous routine. (Luecke, 2003) Change management plays a significant role in any organisation since the task of handling change is not an easy one. Managing change in this case, mean making change in a planned way. Changes involve more challenge and life without challenge can become boring, therefore it is important to notice any small change because it will create an impact inside the organisation. The speed of change has increased significantly. Managers and the organisations they work for will be judged by their ability to manage change successfully. Unfortunately, for the managers of the early twenty-first century their ability to cope with complex change situations will be judged over ever decreasing time scales. Change is important because it enables to business managers to be more effective as a leader and sponsor of change. Knowing the importance of change will also enable you to prevent and manage resistance to change, decrease the cost, avoid unnecessary turnover and increase the probability that your business changes produce the desired results.( Hiatt, J and Creasey, 2003) As change is essential in an organisation, it is crucial to continue to improve and sustaining the change. The results about the organisational leaderships ability to continue and sustain performance improvement will be observed after a long period of time. Schein (2004 and Kotler (1995, 1996) have suggested that change is only Sustainable, when the organisational culture will match the new ways of thinking. These new ways of thinking must reflect the new behaviors and approaches that Become institutionalized. Change is important in any organisation and it contributes to its success, but the people perceive it in a different way, some employees might resist the change in a passive way or in the opposite way. 2.4. Types of change Change is inevitable in an organisation. Different types of change require different strategy strategies to implement the change successfully. According to Dessler(2004) there are four types of change which are: strategic change, technological change, structural change and people/Behavioural/Cultural change. Strategic change could be one option. For example, a company can face declining profits and decide to adopt this kind of change. This type of changes are usually triggered outside the company. External threats or challenges, such as deregulation, intensified global competition, and dramatic technological innovation like the internet generally make organisation to embark on companywide, strategic change. Strategic changes are often required for survival. For example researchers discovered that implementing strategic change did not necessary lead to success, but companies which did not change failed to survive. Another types of strategic changes will the one implemented during a crisis period, these types of change are highly risky. Technological change is the second basic approach of Desslers type of change. It means bringing change in the way the company is creating and marketing its products or services. Here, for example, the owner of a small farm might want to improve the productivity by buying new machines, training employees to use the new machines and also modifying the relationship between employees and their physical environment. Structural change is all about modifying the organisational structure or it is about how to reorganize. Structural change means changing one or several aspects of the companys organisation structures.( Here, for example, GEs new CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, recently reorganized his firms huge GE Capital division. He broke it into four divisions, with their four managers reporting directly to him rather than to the former GE Capital head) Structural change can also be applied by downsizing, recruiting or replacing. Or managers can change the firms infrastructure by changing its policies, procedures, and rules. People/Behavioural/Cultural change This is the last approach; strategic, technical and structural changes invariably trigger various changes in the behavioural side of the firm, including the employees attitudes, values, and skills to the job. This type of change is very difficult to manage because it is related to people and people always resist change, culture is hard to change. Some Authors have also discussed about other types of change. According to the punctuated equilibrium paradigm, incremental change is associated with those periods when the industry is in equilibrium, and the focus is doing things better through a process of continuous tinkering, adaptation and modification. Nadler and Tushman (1995) argue that incremental changes are not always about small changes. They can be large in terms of both the resources needed and the impact on people. A key point of this type of change is that is builds on what has already been accomplished and focuses on the continuous improvement. According to the gradualist paradigm incremental change can be cumulative and, over time, can lead to an organisation transforming its deep structures and reinventing itself. Transformational change is another type of change and it occurs during periods of instability. This kind of change can be referred to be revolutionary, but most writers- for example Tichy and Devenna (1986), Kotter (1999) and Burke and Litwin (1992) use the term transformational change. It involves a break with the past, a step function change rather than an extrapolation of past patterns of change and development. It is applied on new relationships and dynamics within the industry that may undermine core competencies, and try to know the very purpose of the organisation. This king of change involves doing things in a different way or doing different things. Transformational change is change which cannot be handled within the existing paradigm and the organisational routines; it entails a change in the taken-for-granted assumptions and the way of doing things around here. Nadler and Tushman have summarized the work of Tushman and colleagues, and the studies suggest that continuous incremental and discontinuous transformational change are faced by most companies but that: ââ€" ª This pattern of change keep on coming with some degree of regularity ââ€" ª Patterns change across sectors (e.g. periods of discontinuity may follow a thirty-year cycle in mini computers) ââ€" ª in almost all industries the rate of change is increasing and the time between periods of discontinuity is decreasing. The Authors also suggest that this holds true whether the focus is episodic or continuous change, and they propose that the ideal company in both cases would look like the successful self-organising firms that have been studied by Brown and Eisenhardt in the computer industry. There are three main categories of organisations that may not experience periods of discontinuous change; the self-organising and continuous changing learning organisation, companies that operate in the niche markets and last organisations that are able to continue functioning without transformating themselves. Weick and Quinn (1999) and Gersick (1991) Combining the incremental change and the transformational change which have been discussed so far- the extent to which change involves incremental adjustment or transformational change- provides a useful typology of organisational change (see Figure xxx). Nadler et al. (1995) also identify four types of change: Tuning is a type of change that occurs when there is no rush to change. It involves looking for better alternatives of achieving and defending the strategic vision. Here, for example, improving policies, methods, procedures; introducing new technologies; redesigning processes cost or developing people with required competencies. Adaptation is an incremental and adaptive response to a pressing external demand for change. It might involve responding to a successful new marketing strategy adopted by a competitor or to a change depending on the availability of the resource. Re-orientation involves a re-definition of the enterprise. It is introduced in anticipation of future opportunities or issues. The aim is to ensure that the firm will be aligned and successful in the future. Re-creation is a reactive change that leads to the transformation of the organisation or the restructuring through the fast and simultaneous change of all its basic elements. The Authors state that it inevitably involves a break down and destruction of some elements of the system. 2.5. Change process theory This theory as formulated by Lewin (1948) called force field analysis states that change can be divided into three stages namely; unfreezing phase when people realize that the old ways of doing things is no longer an option due to crisis, threats or opportunities; changing phase when people look for new way of doing things and select a promising approach; refreezing phase when people implement new approach as it becomes established. The problem for many organisations is not that they need to change, but that they do not see the need for change. This is especially true for organisations which have been successful in the past and cannot see why they should change what they see as a winning formula that everyone has become safe and comfortable with. By looking at the position of leadership towards change, the theorist states that leader can achieve change by either of the following two actions: to approach it by increasing the driving forces towards change through increase in incentives, use of position power to force change or to approach a change by reducing the restraining forces that create resistance to change, e.g. reducing fear of failure or economic loss, co-opt or remove opponents. Or using dual approach, which is a combination of the two approaches. Considerable research in the process of change management has been conducted in the work of Lewin, his model focused on changing the behaviour of groups, involves actions beginning in phases over time. The unfreezing stage according to Schein (2004) is about improving motivation and getting ready for the change, the changing stage is when the change is implemented, and the refreezing stage involves reinforcing and integrating the change. One of a popular model in the business literature about the change process has been developed by Kotters (1995, 1996) into an eight-step process for leading change management: (1) the first step is about establishing a sense of urgency, (2) forming a guiding coalition, (3) creating a vision, (4) communicating that vision, (5) empowering individuals to act and removing obstacles, (6) creating short-term wins, (7) consolidating improvements and creating more change, and lastly (8) institutionalizing new approaches. 2.6. The impact of change on organisational members The theory of reaction to change process describes how people in organisations react to an imposed change, is founded upon the typical sequence of peoples reaction to sudden traumatic events like death of loved ones, marriage collapse or natural disaster. The four stages of reaction pattern, which also happen during organisational change are: denial- deny the change is necessary; anger- get angry and look for someone to blame; mourning- stop denying that change is inevitable, acknowledge the loss and mourn it; adaptation- accept the need to change and go on with ones life. There is a related opinion regarding the effect of experiencing a repeated traumatic change has on different people. One effect of such repeated change is to leave people less resilient and more vulnerable to adverse effect from subsequent change. Another effect of repeated traumatic event can inoculate and leave them better prepared to change again without such an intense or prolonged period or adjustment. Repeated change can make some people more resilient and others less resilient. It is over thirty-five years since Toffer has published his book on Future Shock in which he discussed three aspects of change and assumed about the impact it will have on people. Toffer (1970) suggests that future shock is similar to culture shock, but with a crucial difference- there is no going back. If people find it hard to adapt to a new culture there is often an alternative to go back to the old culture, however this option is not possible with future shock. For example, if emigrants fail to settle in a new country it may be possible for them to return home. The management of change poses many challenges for managers. Burnes (2005) observes that: Managing and changing organisations appears to be getting more rather less difficult, and more rather than less important. Given the quickly changing environment in which firms operate, there is a small doubt that the capacity to manage change successfully needs to be a core competence for organisations. 2.7. The benefits for change According to Bradley (2006), changes must be well designed and managed in order to generate benefits which the author refers to benefits not generated, but removed from budgets. One realization can be made by a team effort; achieving benefits and agreed targets needs team effort. The author defines benefit as something that can be related to a cost reduction or increase revenue. A better definition of a benefit is an outcome of change which is perceived as positive by stakeholder. Changes consume resources, cost money, and need managing. Benefits are the outcomes, which cannot be directly made to happen and have no direct cost. The benefits of change can be also well explained by elaborating the following characteristics of an effective change management team which has been developed by Kotter(1996) as follows: The team member must share a keen sense of discomfort with the inertia They should be in substantial agreement on a vision for the future The team should include people who represent diverse points of view They must have a good reputation in the firm They must be willing to demonstrate public support for the change The team must commit to being involved for the long-haul Enough of the key players in the organisation must actively support the change to legitimize the process 2.8. Theories of change 2.8.1 Lewins three step model of change Lewin ( has worked on assessing the extent to which organisational change might be resisted by members of the organisation as we saw earlier when considering force field analysis in the change process. In addition, his work on group dynamics has resulted in what is known as Lewins three step model, which is usually used in change programmes. Introducing a programme of change into an organisation tends to arouse expectations in those involved; thus a subsequent failure to come up with the goods can lead to a state worse than it was before the innovation, because of these hopes and expectations not being realized. Thus Lewin considered that attention should not simply be made on the change itself, but should address what happens both before and after. The process of change should be implemented into three steps according to Lewin (1951) which are: Unfreezinf, changing and refreezing. The first step is unfreezing, where the motivation for change in the workforce is created. It is important to move the organisation away from its current position. This step is often not taking into consideration and is related with dividing old patterns of behaviour. People must be given reasons about the change and a good communication should be created before the implementation of change. To unfreeze the resistance to change, managers must increase the tension and dissatisfaction with the present, and improve the desirability and feasibility of the alternative. This stage takes more time because people have to change attitudes and behaviour. People do not like change because they are comfortable with old habits and it is important to consult them, let them know adopt the project as their own. To avoid resistance to change, we must encourage the staff, discuss and explain them the reasons for change. Once employees are aware, and have accepted the need for change, we can now move to the second stage. Changing is the second step where we have to identify the new behaviour, process or procedure and also encouraging individuals to adopt the new behaviour. It involves the development of new responses by the personel, based on the new information being made available to them and moving towards the new culture as necessary to fit strategic requirements of the organisation. At this stage it is important to make sure that there is a successful implementation of change, we also monitor the change and find out how people are feeling about their team. Refreezing is the final stage and we need to reinforce the changes made and stabilize the new culture in order to avoid people to go back to their old habits. At this stage, motivating employees by incentives will occur in the form of praise or reward for adapting to the new culture. The process as a whole is achieved through leadership, communication, education and training. In the twenty-first century it will be difficult to implement the refreezing stage, the term refreezing need a critical evaluation. The slush model was introduced by Nieto (2006), where he stated that changes in technology, employees, tasks and structure are more frequent. Organisations should have a flexible structure as having employee who is always been learning. The motivation of employees by using incentives will be a good idea. Refreezing is no longer an option because in this century, the change is moving faster than before, there is no need to refreeze otherwise you will be left behind by your competitors. Lewins model has been developed by edgar Schein through the integration of the latters perception of the response to change involving seven stages. This is known as the three conditions change model. See figurexxxx!!!!!!!! 2.8.2 Interrelationship of change The interrelationship of change or Trist model was developed by Trist (1981), this model helps to understand the interconnection of activities that influence change in organisations. It is important for the HR to understand because the model can be applies to our attention on the influence that changes in a firms activities can have on employees. For example a change of technology would lead to training people, changing task and the structure of the organisation, all elements are interconnected that means one element affects the others. Reid and Barrington (2000), argues the sociotechnical model suggests that management should learn how to understand and cope to changing relationships between people, tasks, technology and structure. It is therefore helpful to review the kinds of internal changes which have occurred in the organisation and to what extent to appropriate HR initiatives have been put in place to prepare employees to cope with the new technology but neglected to invest sufficiently in staff training, it is likely to be as effective as planned. Deciding what to change is very important for the organisation, it means any change should be planned effectively. The managers change programme can aim to alter one of the four basic things: the firms strategy, technology, structure and people/behaviour/culture. For example an organisation can change its strategy when the profit is declining. Technological change is a second basic approach and it means changing the way the firm innovates and markets its products or services. Structural change means changing one or more aspects of the companys organisation structure. Reorganizing is a familiar organisational change technique in todays fast-changing times. Dessler (2004) 2.9. Resistance to change Change can create uncertainty and therefore lead to personal insecurity. Therefore, we are not surprised to notice resistance to change within organisations. An organizational change, such as being promoted, is mostly accepted, simply because it is perceived to have obvious advantages. But not all changes fit into this category. Where changes create confusion and uncertainty, then resistance is likely to take place; the resistance is not to change as such- rather it is to the personal loss (or possibility of personal loss) that people believe will accompany the change (Burke, 1982). 2.9.1 Reasons for resistance (1) Perceived negative outcomes Employees are resisting to the change most of time because they perceive it as a negative outcome. According to Manfred (1995) change is creating a multitude of fears, of the unknown, of loss of freedom, of loss of status or position, of loss of authority and responsibility, and loss of good working conditions and money. This can be summarised as being in the comfort zone. People do not like change; they like staying in the same position and keep on doing the same old things. Once any change is introduced it will automatically create a resistance because it does not allow them to be in a comfort zone. Before undertaking any change management exercise, managers must identify where the changes will occur in the organisation and also anticipate how the change will affect employees in their job. After an economic assessment of the proposed change, managers will highlight the nature of the changes that need to be made for the benefits to be realized. (Berry 2002) (2) Fear of more work By introducing new changes it creates the fear of more work and less performance by employees, there is fear that additional work will be required at the same level of compensation. Change mostly involves additional work, change of culture and responsibility. We can also face some changes on the working hours, possible relocation, working condition, technology and more. As people fear of additional work, we will notice that people always resist change; Strebel (1996) argues that resistance to change is based on the disturbance of an employers implied pact with the company. This pack is formed of cultural values, job description and social dimensions. (3) Misunderstanding and lack of trust This is a situation when the people affected do not understand the real reasons and benefits of the change and mistrust the management who are introducing the change. They often do not believe what the management says and believe that they have secret ulterior motives. This may be because the management can access too many information than the people affected. This situation is commun in any organisation which have been organised traditionally on antagonistic industrial relations lines and have developed an us and them culture. Nowadays, most organisations try to engender a harmonious spirit which sees everyone as having a common interest, but for organisations which have a long history of conflict this is not something which is easily changed. The lack of trust is due to imaginary hidden implications; we can also list other elements that caused the resistance of change like: belief that change is not necessary or feasible, economic threat, relative high cost, fear of personal failure, loss of status and power and lastly threat to values and ideals. Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) (4) Lack of communication Communication is the exchange of information in an organisation. For organisations to work effectively, it is vital that information be communicated to those who need

VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System :: essays research papers

VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System Human Resources (05A) 400 Veterans Avenue Biloxi, MS 39531 Applicants must submit the following: 1a. On-station (VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System) employees must submit an Application for Promotion or Reassignment, VA Form 5-4078, to Human Resources (05), Bldg 53, Room 2A-108. You must indicate the lowest grade you are willing to accept or we will only consider you at the Full Performance Level of the position. Application material can be delivered in person, sent via inter-office mail, or submitted electronically via VA intranet (VHABILHRM in outlook). Application material, to include VA Form 5-4078, must be received in Human Resources by the closing date of the announcement. Supplemental qualification form (i.e., VA Form 5-4676a) must be returned within 7 (seven) calendar days of the closing date of the announcement. No credit will be given for education unless substantiated by an official college transcript. OR 1b. Off-station applicants, to include on-station employees desiring consideration for a new appointment under non-competitive appointment authorities (e.g., VRA), must submit a written or electronic application for employment. You may use the OF-612 form (Optional Application for Federal Employment), a resume, or alternative format. You must indicate the lowest grade you are willing to accept or we will only consider you at the Full Performance Level of the position. You should also complete an OF-306 (Declaration for Federal Employment). You MUST include all of the information specified in the vacancy announcement and all information listed in the Office of Personnel Management’s brochure â€Å"Applying for a Federal Job (OF-510)†. Applications must be typed or printed clearly in dark ink. If application is submitted by mail, it must be postmarked by the closing date of the announcement and received within five (5) working days. If application is delivered in person ( VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System, Human Resources (05A), Building 53, Room 2A-108, 400 Veterans Avenue, Biloxi, MS), it must be received by close of business (4:30pm) on the closing date of the announcement. If the application is submitted electronically, it must be received by the closing date of the announcement (i.e., by midnight Central Standard Time). Current permanent VA employees may electronically submit application material via the VA intranet (VHABILJOBS in outlook). NOTE: When submitting electronic application material, it MUST be in the body of the message. ATTACHMENTS TO EMAIL MESSAGES WILL NOT BE OPENED, NOR CONSIDERED. Submission of electronic application material WILL NOT BE a complete application package.

The Taming of the Shrew Katherine :: Taming Shrew Essays

The Taming of the Shrew Katherine In William Shakespeare's play, The Taming of the Shrew, the shrew played by Katherine, had a terrible outlook on life and just about everything else. Her negativity was caused by her younger, more beautiful sister Bianca. Bianca wanted to get married. She had all of the men's hearts, Katherine had none. If Katherine got married then Bianca could get married. She truly was a shrew who needed to be tamed. Petruchio came to Padua. Petruchio could tame Katherine for the right amount of money. Before Petruchio's arrival, Katherine, the terriable, untamed shrew, caused problems with everyone. All that knew her hated her. She felt very jealous of her beautiful sister Bianca, because of her suitors and her beauty. Katherine tries to start fights with Bianca all of the time. She even hit Bianca. No one wanted to marry Katherine until Petruchio arrives in Padua to find a wife. "I come to wives it wealthy in Padua; If wealthy, then happily in Padua" (ShakespeareIii76-77). He and one of Bianca's suitors, Luciento had a conversation. As a joke, Luciento mentioned to Petruchio marry Katherine. Petruchio though of the profit and thought it could be great. "Petruchio can have no illusions about the fabled shrew, Katherine, for others are quick to tell him quite frankly what to expect"(Vaughn27). Petruchio and Katherine's father meet and decide that Petruchio will get twenty-thousand crowns if he weds Katherine. Petruchio and Katherine meet and they do not start off on the best of terms. But Petruchio decides they should get married anyway and he sets a date. Petruchio then leaves to get ready for the wedding . The wedding day arrives and Petruchio arrives at the wedding in ridiculous clothing and drunk. During the ceremony he hits the priest. During their own reception Petruchio demands that they shall leave, now the taming begins. Now the taming begins. Once they leave the wedding and are en route to Petruchio's home in Verona, Kate has to ride a burrow through the rain while Petruchio rides a horse. During their trip back many bad things happen to Kate. When they arrive at Petruchio's home Katherine could not fufill her needs of sleep and food with Petruchio's excuses of the food not being good enough and the bed not being good enough for her.

History of Special Education Essay

The history of Special Education just as any history; is a long battle that has been fought by many who cared in order to bring us to where we are today. Its Journey has and will be never ending; since society is forever evolving. We will be fighting for equal rights in education and in life for many years to come since the definition of Special Education is not a precise one. In this paper you will learn the basics of what injustices we have risen above, to the current state we are in, and even what possibilities the future may hold for the Special Education Teacher and the system you will come to either love or despise. Written documentation of the treatment and education of people with Special needs dates back to the beginning of time; although most were killed before the 17th century and looked at as an abomination. It was not until the 17th Century that these children and adults were alive in institutions where people like Phillipe Pinel, â€Å"one of the founding fathers of modern psychiatry and distinguished teacher of internal medicine, began treatment of persons with mental illness using kindness, respect, and the expectation of appropriate behavior† (Curtis, 1993 as cited in GCU, (n.d. ), para. 10). Pinel set the stage for more courageous individuals to rise above the norm of society and treat people with Special needs as human beings; deserving of kindness and respects as others have been treated for years. Many more doctors, psychologists, and later teachers stood up to take the role as advocate for a person or group of people who were considered Special needs. It was not until the 1800’s when we as a society took notice to this lifetime of injustice that these people with Special needs had endured. In the 1820’s a teacher and later doctor; Samuel Gridley Howe taught a woman named Laura Bridgman, who was both deaf and blind, the alphabet in a Massachusetts school (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012). It was not until these remarkable acts that people started to believe that those with special needs were not worthless and were capable of being taught the life skills society requires of us. Society took notice but by no means were individuals with Special needs considered equal and deserving of the same education as those of the Caucasian race in the United States at this time. Those with Special needs were still segregated in institutions and schools for people with the same needs; just as people were segregated by the color of their skin. It was not until 1954, and the help of the Supreme Court case Brown v. the Board of Education, Topeka, KS. That it became the responsibility of the United States Government and their Public Education System to teach every child even those with Special needs. This case made it so that NO CHILD could be discriminated against in the education system because of differences. In 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was enacted to mandate the educational system and provide guidelines for the type of education students should receive; but loop holes were found and people were left out. It was in 1972, that ALL children in the United States were mandated to have a free, appropriate education; and yes it was because of more court cases! This new law’s services were still legally provided in separate classrooms, but at least those classrooms were now mandated to follow the same educational goals as the General Education classrooms were providing their students; just at the level deemed appropriate by the teacher (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012). After that in 1973, the government passed the Rehabilitation Act, which was the first Civil Rights Educational reform which declared Segregation as an injustice in any case of race, creed, or difference besides age; and therefore illegal. Section 504 of this act requires the documentation and a description of any and all services needed for each student to receive an appropriate education (GCU, 2008). In 1975, Congress enacted the first piece of Legislation that fully described and labeled what was the United States Special Education System and what it consisted of. It was called the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (GCU, 2008). The Final piece of Legislation was the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This act is the second piece of Civil Rights legislation in the history of the United States; it mandates that any physically or mentally handicapped person receive equal opportunity in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012). The Education for All Handicapped Children Act legislation, although it has undergone many amendments’ is still used today. The newest amendment of the act is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); the name was changed in 1990 and has under gone two re-authorizations since. This Law is there to balance other educational laws such as NCLB 2001 (the amendment to the ESEA for all students in the United States) and the two Civil Right Acts in order to ensure that any student with a disability receives a free and appropriate education. Since NCLB and IDEA provide federal funding to the state and public schools they are extremely detailed and regulated to insure that they are followed. These details’ include, but are not limited to; all disabled students must receive a free and appropriate education as any non disabled student in the in the least restive environment (LRE), nondiscriminatory identification (disability labeling), individualized education program (IEP), zero reject, due process safeguards, and parent and student rights rules and regulations (GCU, (n. d. ), para. 14). There are MANY things I would like to purpose as changes for the upcoming re-authorization of IDEA, but these are the most important ones! The first Thing I would do is have a specific set of criteria that would determine and define Special Education because there is not one definition of what our government considers Special Education. It needs to not be a blanket that can be interpreted in so many ways; this is why we have so many legal cases. Second if the government would like â€Å"Highly Qualified Teachers† then why is it that General Education teachers only have to take 2 classes about the Special Education System yet every classroom in the U. S. is guaranteed to have at least one student with an IEP! Heward cited that â€Å"more than 6 million children and youth with disabilities, ages 3-21, received Special Education Services during the 2005-2006 school year† and that number has only continued to increase in grades 1st -7th due to early detection (U. S. Department of Education, as cited in Heward, 2009, p. 10-11). Last, we consider Children with Behavior problems to be Special Education students, but they have to go through a huge system before we can get them help. Referral, FBA, BIP, BSP, IEP, and then they may be considered a Special Education Student. The law has it mandated that only a Behavior Specialist can do the evaluations; but by law they only require 1 Behavioral Specialist PER DISTRICT (Wheeler, J. , Richey, D. , 2010). It is up to the district to afford or higher more at their discursion. The problem is that running these evaluations and filling out this paper work are not the only responsibilities in their job descriptions. So half (if not more in some districts) of the cases referred are not being diagnosed each year because there are not enough people on the job and hours in a school day (Wheeler, J. , Richey, D. , 2010). The only way any teacher can truly help all of the students they teach; is by knowing the histories and laws of the Education System and the Special Education Services that are available to help them. These services and instructional methods are useful to any student who does not understand a topic at hand; not just the ones labeled Special Education. We need to not wait for a diagnosis to help our students; but start interventions immediately at the first sign of struggle. If the intervention does not help then refer the student for a Special Education Evaluation; but never wait for a child to completely fail in order to seek help. In this paper you learned the basics of what injustices we have raised above throughout history, the current state which we are in, and what possibilities the future may hold for the Special Education Teacher and the system you have come to either love or despise. The future is in your hands; so go out and change the world one student at a time. References Curtis, R. H. (1993). Great lives: medicine. New York: Maxwell Macmillan International. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2012). Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved on April 2, 2012, from www. britannica. com Grand Canyon University. (2008). Resource 2: Special Education Supplment. Retrieved on March 30, 2012, from Angel’s Canyon Connect, Additional Readings at www. my. gcu. edu Grand Canyon University. (n. d. ). SPE 526 Module 1 Readings. Retrieved on March 30, 2012, from Angel’s Canyon Connect, Module 1 Readings at www. my. gcu. edu Heward, William L. (2009). Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education (9th ed. ). Columbus, OH: Published by Merrill. Wheeler, J. , Richey, D. (2010). Behavior Management: Principles and Practices of Positive Behavior Supports (2nd ed. ). Columbus, OH: Merrill.