Monday, September 30, 2019

Themes in Frankenstein

Shelley uses multiple narrators, nested and frame narratives and an epistolary style to tell the story of Frankenstein. Comment on the effect of these and why she may have done this.Mary Shelly’s novel â€Å"Frankenstein† was written in 1818. The author uses different types of techniques to create a variety of different narrators and points of views by using a form of epistolary. Frame narration is also another great part of the novel that supports the complexity of layers in the book. These help present the suspicion element, characters point of view, the similarity between the main characters, and allow the reader to develop a personal opinion without the author resorting to the device of an omniscient narrator.The book starts with the letters from Robert Walton describing his voyage to the North Pole and his sighting of an ill man, who Walton later nurses back to health â€Å"A man in wretched condition† pg.11. After a recovery, the stranger, Victor Frankenste in, tells him the story of his life. The letters set up the novel and create suspicion due to the reader not knowing what the significance of these letters is. However, Walton is the first of the characters that tells his story, which gives the reader an advantage to conclude for himself about his opinion towards the different characters. This device, frame narrative, establishes a complex layer of stories, hence, the reader listens to Victors story, so does Walton, and Walton’s sister to him.Throughout the story, Victor occasionally interrupts and addresses Walton directly, or when Walton signs the letters he is sending off to his sister. These are the first encounters with the different language devices that Mary Shelly uses to create more depth in addition to a different structure to other books. Moreover, the reader is compelled to give more attention to the book, in order to understand the plot, and have an own opinion about the different situations in the book.Furthermo re, the letters also display the similarity between Walton and Victor, since they both seek to discover and complete objectives for the world. For example Walton describes how it will benefit the entire human race â€Å"Inestimable benefit on all mankind to the last generation† (pg.16 Walton) and Victor states that it will reveal the greatest power in the world â€Å"pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation† (pg.49 Victor). The ambition to figure out the answer drives them both to their death and that of other innocent lives, demonstrating how the pursuit to solve such mysteries, with desire and determination, can result differently than one’s expectations.On the other hand the letters also surface the resemblance between other characters. Walton and the creation, Frankenstein, both present their loneliness and their wish to find a friend to share their stories. The isolation and loneliness in the novel is one of the most significant themes, which are presented throughout the form of epistolary. In the opening of the letters Walton expresses his lonesomeness â€Å"I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor medium for the communication of feeling.I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine. You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend† (Shelley 10). This is one of the first encounters with the theme, but later on this suffering repeats itself with the creation, Frankenstein, ‘When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, the, a monster, a blot upon the earth from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?'†Chap. 13 pg. 105 The most appropriate reason why Mary Shelly would come to such a structure, would be to show the similarity between a normal human and a creature, also known as a monster, and matching hopes of not resulting abandoned. Mary Shelly questions here if humans and monster share a similarity, and if the humans can also posses these qualities of monsters. This insight to the emotions and perspectives of the characters, establishes an insight for the reader to their feelings and deeper thoughts, as well as a bond between the reader and character. Mary shelly motivates the reader to develop a personal opinion about these characters and the entire story and to judge whether or no the creature is a monster or simply misunderstood.Frankenstein has a very creative structure that helps create a meaningful effect on the reader, and compelling story. This form of frame narration, multiple different perspectives, provides us with the opportunity to develop our own opinion towards the characters and their actions. Not only opinions  are formed, but we also come to realize that creatures and humans, in this novel, share certain similarities. These can be interpreted that us humans have traits, similar to monsters , or the other way around. Overall, the novel has effects that cannot be established if the form of epistolary would have not been applied. This shows the complexity of layers in this novel and how the variety stimulates the story and provokes the reader.

Case Assignment Benzene exposure

Introduction Benzene which is also known as benzol is an organic compound that is colorless, highly flammable and with a sweet odor. It tends to evaporate quickly when left exposed. It is a chemical compound that is normally formed by a natural process such as volcanic formation or forest fires. It is also formed from hydrocarbons. It was said to be present as a â€Å"component of the cigarette smoke† (ACS, 2008). Some of it physical properties are a relatively high melting point and high solubility in water.It is mostly use as a solvent in most chemical industries. It functions ranges from the production of drugs, plastics, synthetic rubber to dyes production where it mostly serves as the precursors of such industrial products. Route of exposure Benzene exposure has a lot of health impact and there are mostly three ways in which an individual can be exposed to benzene toxicity, these are inhalational route, ingestion and transdermal absorption (Media Fact, 2008). Inhalation o f benzene is usually as a result of the breathing of the benzene fumes.Benzene fumes are inhaled easily because benzene is an extremely volatile organic compound and this kind of exposure is one of the deadliest because of it immediate contact with the lung parenchyma. This then elicit a lot neurological symptoms such as headache, dizziness, tachycardia (increase in heart rate), tremors and subsequent death if untreated on time. Benzene ingestion result from eating of benzene laden foods or beverages and its noticeable symtoms are neurological while those of transdermal route usually result from contact with the benzene or benzene laden materials (Media Fact, 2008).The health problems cause by this route of benzene exposure â€Å"are erythema (reddening of the skin), scaling dermatitis, suppression of the hematopoietic system and pancytopenia† (Media Fact, 2008) Sources of Benzene Exposure The major sources of human exposure to benzene are environmental, occupational and cons umer products. Benzene is usually released into air from sources like gasoline filling stations, underground leakage of petroleum, vehicular exhaust, cigarette smoke, waste products or sewage and some food products.Most of the occupational related benzene exposure are seen mainly in industries like those involve in rubber production, chemical plants, refineries and shipments and retail shops. Other sources include consumer products that are made of benzene such as glues, adhesives, cigarettes, paint and varnishes e. t. c Short and long term effects The short term effects of benzene exposure are â€Å"drowsiness, dizziness, headaches, tremors, confusion and unconsciousness† (ACS, 2008).The previous symptoms are as a result of exposure of about 700-300ppm while acute exposure of high dose results in vomiting, irritation of the gastrointestinal tract, narcolepsy, convulsion and tachycardia. In extreme cases of high dose ingestion death usually results. The long term effect of be nzene toxicity has been attributed to the interference with the normal blood cell production i. e. the hematopoietic cells. The sequeale of this is anemia and leucopenia. An individual with this will be immunocompromised hence such individual will be prone to opportunistic diseases.The long term effect can also be seen to result in reproductive organ dysfunction. Precautionary measures 1. The use of personal protective equipment such as gloves, apron and some other clothing materials. 2. Special training on equipments handling and usage 3. If there is accidental release of the benzene quick evacuation of such laboratory must be done urgently 4. Proper ventilation of the laboratory References ACS, (2008). Benzene. Prevention and early detection Retrieved Sept 4, 2008 From www. cancer. org/docroot/PED/content/PED_1_3X_Benzene. asp

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Organization behavior Essay

1.) Critically review learning theory. Learning theory is a routine that is carried out on a daily basis in order to have an experience in various fields of work. There are several theories that explain learning theory. One of the theories is Maslow’ Hierarchy of needs which explains that, when the need level is satisfied, it ceased to become a motivator and fulfillment of higher level is the next goal. (Francesco and Gold, 2005).The second theory is Hertzberg’s motivation hygiene theory which states that, employees’ growth and esteem needs are driven by the motivation factors, responsibility and achievement. This wills results into a job satisfaction at work place. (Francesco and Gold, 2005). The third theory is McClelland’s learned needs theory which explains that needs is learned through Childhood environment, social norms and assists in the understanding of individual motivation (Francesco and Gold, 2005). The last theory is ERG theory which contributes on Maslow theory. It has three categories of needs. Existence which is the physical and psychological need, relatedness which is the need to share ideas with others and feel secure and growth is the need to achieve to fulfill of self esteemed needs. The learning theories have assisted very many people at work place especially the people who are working in the organizations. (Francesco and Gold, 2005). There have been several philosophers who have tried to explain what is learning. Various theories of learning have been therefore have been discussed. Learning theories are the ideas about why or how changes occur. There has been a theory on the behaviorist orientation to learning .This theory is from theorist such as Thorndike, Pavlov and skinner. (Smith, 1999).This theory argues that people change their behavior from the kind of learning they get. People according to the theory are stimulated by the environment they live in. When people live in a good environment they learn to be good and vise versa. Behaviorists argue that people can be taught to produce behavior change in the desired direction. An educator trying to teach people to change should arrange environment of the person to get the desired response. People can learn through skill development and training as well as behavior according to behaviorists. (Smith, 1999). There is another theory on cognitive orientation to learning. Cognitivist such as Piaget, Bruner and Gagne believe that learning process is an internal mental process. Internal mental process includes receiving insight about information, processing the information, memorizing it and finally making a perception. (Smith, 1999).That is how the learning process is according to Cognitivist. People according to the cognitivist learn through the internal cognitive structuring. This structure helps people develop skills and capacity to learn better. Cognitive structure if followed can help a person develop intelligence learning and memory as function of age as well as learning how to learn. Whichever the theory that is followed learning is an important aspect of human being and people should strive to learn more to improve themselves. (Saljo,1979) 2. Positive and negative reinforcements, punishment and extinction in shaping behavior There are many types of positive reinforcements that Godot can use. First Godot can reward excellent behavior. This is normally a very effective method of reinforcing good behavior. (Verddelho, 1999)The implication here is that when an employee is rewarded for good performance, the employee feels motivated to do even better the next time. In the end this will lead to an improved performance which is good not just for the individual but also for the organization. The second positive reinforcement is recognition. Recognition here implies acknowledging excellent behavior of good work. In this case the meaning for this is that supervisors like Godot can simply acknowledge and commend a well performing employee like Diane. Recognition of good work has the implication of having positive congratulatory words for a job that has been well accomplished. This can simply be achieved by a simple word of mouth like ‘well done.’ Unknown to many supervisors, this simple act of recognition normally has a very positive effects on the motivation of an employee of an individual and can result in positive work behavior. (Francesca & Gold, 2008) The use of incentives is another positive reinforcement that can result in improved positive behavior. In this case incentives can be in form of extra or bonus pay for exemplary performance. Incentives can go along way in improving an individual’s performance on the job. (Francesca & Gold, 2008)This is more so if an individual is capable of making more money by displaying good performance method. In this case the issue of a tip was a good gesture to the employees since those with exemplary performance would feel encouraged to do more. One negative way of reinforcing behavior is through harshness. In this case, the employees will only perform well because of fear of reprimand by Godot and not because they feel a compelling need to work hard. This is a negative reinforcement because positive organization behavior should be forced but should come spontaneously. The implication here is that employees should not be coerced into behaving well but rather positive behavior should just come naturally. This therefore means that these employees should not work hard because of fear of being reprimanded by the supervisor but instead should do so because of a need to do so. (Dwyer, 2005) 3. Discuss the impact of these reinforcements and punishment has on behavior and on Diane’s behavior specifically Reinforcement theory suggests that a reinforcement/reward and punishment of certain behavior will most likely result in a repeat of that particular behavior. That is to say that if behavior is not recognized or appreciated chances of it being repeated will be low. . (Francesco & Gold, 2005)   However, the consequence of reinforcement is determined by whether it is negative or positive. Positive reinforcement will motivate employees and result in behavior that will increase an organization’s output and the opposite is true. . (Francesco & Gold, 2005) Diane works hard and her output is great. However, when she breaks a plate one day, Godot yells at her and even makes her pay for the broken plate and the cost of cleaning up the messed caused. Diane has been waiting all along for recognition but she only gets a negative reinforcement for her good output. As it is, it is better to motivate people for the right reasons rather than to punish them for the wrong reasons. (Skinner, 1957). Diane is punished for the wrong reason and fails to get reinforced for the right reasons. Negative reinforcement is not likely to motivate individuals and therefore this will in turn lead to them slacking in their work and thus the overall out put will be low. (Skinner, 1957).   It is because of this that she relaxes when carrying out her duties. Reinforcement suggests that behavior determines outcome and a person will be motivated to seek reinforcement and avoid punishment. When she got a chance to work at a fancy French restaurant at Sydney known La Maison, Diana a University Student could not spend her vacation at her parents home Queabeyan, since she needed money to change on her diet during her next semester . (Skinner, 1957). Ready to prove how good she was, she would balance several plates on her arm and the customers would compliment her on her efficient service, but one day she dropped a bowl of bouillabaisse appetizer on the carpet and hurriedly went for sponge while apologizing but   Godot shouted at her that he would deduct $24.95, $20 from her pay to compensate for appetizer and cost of cleaning rugs respectively, out of anger and confusion, next day Diana slowed down to avoid recurrence of same incident thus she carried   no more than two dishes at a time thus slugging her tips down (Skinner, 1957). Q4 .Effectiveness of hourly pay rates and tips as a method for reinforcing desired behaviors. Tips and hourly rates have been used as a mode of payment against other methods of payment like piece rate and monthly payments. There is a big variation in the effectiveness of the methods. When hourly rate is used as the mode of payment, it has been found to have an effect on quality and speed. These two factors are the one that determine the output of any activity (Encina, 2000). Payment in work acts as an incentive to the worker. Whenever the worker is paid well he will work well and poor pay means poor jobs. It is noted that the worker will always optimize what he has at hand. When he is paid hourly he will do he/her work according to the hour he is being paid. This will spoil the consistency (Encina , 2000). When tips are added to the hourly rate, the worker will optimize on the tips and he/she will improve on his hourly work to get more tips. Things are different when hourly pay is made without the tips as there will be no motivation. Paying on an hourly rate together with the tips may improve on speed but destroy the quality. The use of tips and hourly rate need a balance as what motivate the worker are the conditions of work. Diane on his part was being motivated tips (Encina , 2000). Apart from the pay, there are other factors that motivate worker during their work. Recognition during work is another factor that lender the effectiveness of work. A worker may improve his effectiveness due to tips. This will improve his/her efficiency. When a worker feels that his efficiency has improved, he will look for recognition.   Payment on hourly rates can improve the behaviors of the worker but additional inputs like recognition should be added. Diane opted to work in the right he will perfect the work and in return he will be recognized to get a better pay. For the behavior of an hourly paid worker to improve, incentives have to be added. This will help in improving the efficiency of work and altitude towards work will improve (Schildkraut 2003). The behavior of workers depends very much on the pay and recognition. As much as workers are paid hourly tends to improve the output, their behavior depends much on the supervision. Workers will always maximize on their man hours instead of employers manpower (Schildkraut 2003). Therefore to ensure that the behavior of the worker is good requires supervision. The supervision should not oppress the worker but instead it will help improve his behavior. The role of the supervisor for hourly paid worker is to help the worker to improve in his productivity. Though the supervisor will optimize on production, it should not destroy the quality of the work (Schildkraut 2003). In conclusion hourly rates can improve on the worker behavior but proper measures should be put in place to ensure that the objectives of the company or organization are met. The measure can include recognition after improvement, controlled supervision, and improvement after achievement. There should be no mistake of paying hourly for organization benefit but it should be to the worker (Schildkraut 2003).

Friday, September 27, 2019

Trends and Marketing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Trends and Marketing - Assignment Example From this paper it is clear that Deluxe Financial Service is part of a two billion-dollar firm that serves over 8000 banks and financial institutions. Founded in 1915, it became a global phenomenon and its growth is considered an inspiration by many organizations. As it started, many people relied on some of its products to conduct business. However, as technology grew, it was considered old to use some of their products, and services. To prevent their organization from falling, the managing heads decided to rid themselves of everything that was old, and tried to focus on the future. Their paper checks were facing the challenge of the use of credit and debit cards. Deluxe decided to offer their consumers what they truly desired. They decided to be the financial institutions robust competitors, while promising their consumers to be their most valued, trusted business partner. Learning about consumer wants and needs became their marketing strategy. As that knowledge was put to the test , Deluxe was at an advantage over their competitors, and at par with their consumers.The retail experience financial institutions offered their clients were not appealing. Deluxe decided to take this up a notch. This changed the manner in which Deluxe conducted its business. Customer relations were increased because most of the customers claimed that, in their financial institutions, customer relations was a problem. Deluxe could assist financial institutions with customer relations, and at the same time, provide them with retail experience they so desperately needed.  

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Why are passwords and other good information security technologies Essay

Why are passwords and other good information security technologies compromised by the people who use them What can we do to improve their contribution to information security - Essay Example Password attacks can be implemented by means of numerous diverse techniques, involving Trojan horse programs, brute-force attacks, packet sniffers and IP spoofing. While IP spoofing and packet sniffers are able to produce user accounts and passwords, password harasses usually refer to frequent efforts to recognize an user account and password; these repeated cracks are called brute-force attacks (Johnson, 2007). By means of the term information security we recognize an intellect of possible risks implicated in the sensitivity of the information. With information technologies coming into the view the image broadens its limits. At this instant it turns out to be essential to recognize the nature of hazard involved and next there should be a well-formulated description of the term safety itself (Rantasaari et al, 2003). In broad sense, there are necessarily three sides of the term security. Primarily, it shows the accessibility of assets, though material or virtual, that is beneath possession of an entity or grouping. Secondly, there is a sense of privacy involved in this practice in view to these assets, in this case data, dealings and communication. Third and as a final point, there should be an awareness of truthfulness which allows the user or users to consider in the context of security (Goldwasser et al, 2007). Here I will explain how passwords and other good information security technologies compromised by the people who use them. The first factor that usually causes the security leak is the sharing of the password by the people with anyone for any purpose. Passwords should not be shared with anyone because it can be casuse of information and data theaft and there is danger of accessing another individual’s protected resources, accounts and personal records. Anothre reason is not changing the passwords periodically. If we do not

Report based on the Aye Choonz music service Essay

Report based on the Aye Choonz music service - Essay Example The Palz Choonz service epitomizes what is known as the â€Å"peer-to-peer† file sharing. Users can upload music files from their devices and by connecting to the Aye Choonz system, allow other users to retrieve the file on demand. Users can choose the music to make available and can also obtain electronic copies of music that any other person may have chosen to upload to the system. Using the â€Å"MP3† technology, music files are duplicated, transferred and stored for efficient reproduction and sound recording in a computer-readable format. The copyright and patent concepts were both included in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (CDPA) 1988 (s. 4(1) and.5 A (1)). Under Article 1, (s. 4(a), of the constitution, the DPA secures for a limited time period to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writing and Discoveries In the case of Napster the Ninth Circuit also held that Napster was not protected under Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studio, Inc., â€Å"the Betamax case†, because of Napster’s â€Å"actual, specific knowledge of direct infringement.† Napster argued that the existing Audio Home Recording Act 9(17 U.S.C.  §Ã‚ §1001-10) protected them under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbor clause (17U.S.C  § 512). ... (25 marks) Customer database brings about the issue of privacy, which is a complex legal issue. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act is tasked with protecting users. Websites such as Aye Choonz collect significant amounts of personal and identifiable data that can trigger liability risk (s.3 (1, b, i)). Users5 consent to the collections of names, physical or email addresses and credit card information through forms are archived on the site. By Aye Choonz allowing third-party advertiser’s6 access to the database, it means that these organisations can track users’ browsing habits. Using cookies information is collected as a user surfs the web and feeds the information to a web server. The Aye Choonz vendor site will send cookies which are basically an identification number to the client’s computer, where it is stored in a file on the client’s hard drive and serves as a digital identifier tag that notifies Aye Choonz whenever the client re-enters the Buy Choonz site (s.3 (1,c).. According to The Electronic Communication Privacy Act7 sites like Aye Choonz can be liable for allowing commercial organisations to place cookies on users’ hard drives. Aye Choonz can also face the Common-law Privacy tort8 which is a common law doctrine of personal privacy and includes four grounds of tort (s.3 (5, 6)). Mc Veigh V. Cohen, the U.S. Navy obtained personal information from America Online regarding an anonymous user who described himself in his AOL user profile as a gay military officer (McVeigh, 1998) Proponents of online profiling contend that collecting user data allows sites to improve services. Aye Choonz should disclose data sharing with a third party to users even if the data is

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Oppression Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Oppression - Term Paper Example In case oppression consequences accumulate to institutional customs, practices or law, the institution becomes oppressive whether the people running those institutions have or do not have intentions to oppress (Angelo, pp.8) Law and police themselves are example of this type oppression. In such situations the use of word oppression refers relegation of a social category or a certain group by using societal norms, authority and force unjustly with the aim of achieving indoctrination. Through informal or formal institutionalization it attains systematic oppression dimensions. Oppression is basically experienced in form of aftermath of, and shoed in, prevailing form of, if unconscious, In psychology, prejudices, sexism and racism are always studied as peoples’ beliefs which, though not that oppressive, may cause oppression if they are within law or conform to some culture.   From association, in sociology, these biases are always learnt as being systems that have been institutionalized by oppression in societies.in this field, the oppression tools are inclusive of demonization, dehumanization and denigration which at times always generate accusation that is used to defend aggression in contrary to targeted individuals and groups. The human rights concept and U.D.H.R in general were made with the aim of limiting oppression through clarifying what basic freedoms of any state should all individual it If oppression is practiced through force, violence threats or by government agencies violence of NGO with a political intent, is always known as repression. More delicate political forms of oppression or repression can be got by individual investigation or blacklisting. International governance systems that may at times be oppressive are inclusive of absolute monarchy, imperialism, totalitarianism, dictatorship; colonialism and can produce a revolt to the

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Modernity and Spaces of Femininity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Modernity and Spaces of Femininity - Essay Example The paper "Modernity and Spaces of Femininity" focuses on the article of Griselda Pollock. The article clearly represents Pollock’s feminist views. She is a credible author being a leading cultural theorist. She has done vast research on feminist issues such as those that women encounter while living and working in societies as objects of male satisfaction rather than as important subjects that gives credit to their own abilities as women. Pollock has recommended ways to change future representations of women. She has likewise provided significant insights on voyeuristic art and ties between art and human nature. She has become an activist using a â€Å"Marxist-socialist approach to reveal the key sexual and political biases involved in the formation of the modernist movement". Currently, she is the Director for the Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and History at the University of Leeds with a Masters Degree in History of European Art and a PhD degree in the study of appr oaches to modernism. She is considered an academic jewel, having taught History of Art and Film in the Universities of Manchester and Leeds and an author of several books on her expertise on Art, History, Feminism and Modernism. In the article, Pollock refers mostly to paintings of renowned artists in the nineteenth century and how their work affected its viewers. She analyzed T.J. Clark’s accounts of Edoard Manet’s controversial painting, â€Å"Olympia† which shows a nude woman reclined on a bed with her hand covering her crotch., with a black lady, presumably her maid, standing beside the bed and a black cat seated at the foot of her bed. This painting was widely criticized when it was exposed to the public, and its analysis runs from shallow comments about its physical appearance to deeper critiques about societal representations during its time. Clark claims that Manet’s Olympia has been the founding monument of modern art3, embodying a shift in what spectators are accustomed to viewing and was subjected to a wide variety of interpretations. Pollock contends that Clark leans on the class system in analyzing modernist paintings. For him, Olympia’s nakedness in Manet’s ‘modernist’ painting depicted her as a lowly prostitute as opposed to heavily dressed, sophisticated and fashionable women in other paintings ascribed as coming from upper classes of society. Pollock also agrees with Clark that such artwork of women catered to a masculine audience since it provokes sexual titillation which is not expected of decent women viewers. This is what she meant by ‘masculinist myth of modernism’. Male artists reigned over modernism because they are able to express their sexuality through their art, which was not a luxury granted to women artists. Pollock confirms that there was a historical asymmetry in art in the nineteenth century due to social structuration of sexual differences which determined wha t men and women painted4. Clark indexes impressionist paintings to class formations and class identities that emerged in society, giving ‘modernity’ a wider meaning than just being up-to-date. â€Å"Modernity is a matter of representations and major myths- of a new Paris for recreation, leisure and pleasure; of nature to be enjoyed at weekends in suburbia; of the prostitute taking over and of fluidity of class in the popular spaces of entertainment†5 References were pointed to Charles Baudelaire’s essay about the modern artist being a flaneur or â€Å"

Monday, September 23, 2019

Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Annotated Bibliography Example To this end, the author contends that legal sanctions that have been described have not been deterent enough to wage offenders from it. Unlike Rooy (2004) who sees civil liability as the best offence to dishonor of checks, Muntingh prefers a criminal liability. Rooy (2004) has been a practicing international banker for several years. He also doubles as a criminologist. In writing this article therefore, he reviewed some of the international approaches that have been put in place to reduce various crimes associated with financial fraud. In the opinion of the author, a major breakthrough came for international trade when documentary credits were introduced. Unlike Muntingh (2007), Rooy sees the civil liability that has been associated with various forms of trade frauds including the dishonor of checks as highly suitable for the prescribed offences. The author has been a practicing security expert for several years and have had several approved articles published in international journals including the present one. In the current article, the author embraces the documentary credit as a breakthrough for ensuring security with international payment. The reason is that it limits the rate at which traders would have to carry physical cash in the transaction of trade. But in order that the advantages of documentary credit be enjoyed to the maximum, the author, unlike Rooy (2004) assets that there should be the introduction of criminal liabilities all across regions that see checks as Bills of Exchange. Muntingh, J. A. (2007). The Fraud Exception in the Context of Documentary Credits: A Comparative Study of the Remedies in Various Jurisdictions. LL.M dissertation, Journal de Stellenbosch University, ProQuest, 4 (3), 43 -

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Portlend Cancer Center Case Essay Example for Free

Portlend Cancer Center Case Essay The model calculates the NAL (or NPV) and IRR of the lease for both parties on the basis of relevant input data. The invoice price and lease rental payments must be the same for both parties, but the other input variables may be different for each party. The model also examines the differential profitability to the lessee between conventional and per procedure leases. The model consists of a complete base case analysisno changes need to be made to the existing MODEL-GENERATED DATA section. However, all values in the student version INPUT DATA section have been replaced with zeros. Thus, students must determine the appropriate input values and enter them into the model. These cells are colored red. When this is done, any error cells will be corrected and the base case solution will appear. Note that the model does not contain any risk analyses, so students will have to create their own if required by the case. Furthermore, students must create their own graphics (charts) as needed to present their results. Both instructor and student versions contains a sheet (Figure 1) that plots lessees NAL, lessors NPV, and total contract value versus the size of the lease payment.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Beliefs of Calvin and Augustine

Beliefs of Calvin and Augustine The Traditional Calvinist view to the doctrine of Perseverance of the saints finds its origin in the philosophy of the sixteenth-century Swiss Reformer John Calvin (1509-1564). He wrote and published the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion. This is the most about writing on systematic theology which the world had ever known at that time. To this present day his belief have pervade spread through the Protestant world. Because God is sovereign over all His creation, Calvin argued, He must be the sole actor in the salvation of His human creatures. He believed that any response, prior to regeneration, from a depraved human being would make God less than sovereign in human redemption. John Calvin drifted from his Roman Catholic faith while studying the vast writings of Augustine, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hippo (354-430). He constantly praised Augustines work with frequent quotes and references from his writings. Many prominent Calvinists acknowledge that Calvins fundamental beliefs were through the writings of Augustine and were already formed while he was still a faithful Roman Catholic. He systemized Augustines doctrines, which have been developed, for the most part, the Five Points of Calvinism presented today. Augustines influence remained with him throughout his life. The beliefs of Calvin and Augustine embody the Five Points of Calvinism presented today. Just as the Synod of Dort, (the synod which first formally presented these points as the Five Points of Calvinism-TULIP),[1] was a Calvinistic Synod, so John Calvin was an Augustinian. These Augustinian teachings that he presented in his Institutes of the Christian Religion included the sovereignty of God, which made Him the cause of everything, including sin, election, and the predestination of the elect to salvation and of the non-elect to damnation. Professor Herman Hanko, co-authored one of several books called TheFivePointsofCalvinism,written to explain and defend Calvinism, says that: Boettner agrees. He says: Calvinist theologian R. Laird Harris states that: We see that John Calvin took what Augustine had written and refined it. Many of our doctrines that we understand and recognize today have developed from earlier stages of belief. This is the case with the doctrines of Augustine. An example of this is the doctrine of Eternal Security. He did not teach this, but he was a crucial figure in establishing the root source that is the basis in which this doctrine could develop in to how we understand it today. With a little research, one can understand how his influence on theology as a whole goes without question. The foundational beliefs, biases, and doctrines that many believers have today, Protestants and Catholics, are to be discovered in the beliefs of Augustine. While most Calvinist and Catholic theologians agree with Augustine, some Protestants do not. However, most of them, if not all, will acknowledge his huge influence on Christian beliefs and doctrines. Augustine was born November 13, 354 in Tagaste Numidia. He was brought up in a divided household: Augustines father was not a Christian and directed his son towards secular knowledge which could bring him an income. When he became an adult, Augustine moved to Carthage and he took an interest in debating. Around the year 375, Augustine became a Manichaean Gnostic. Augustine was a Manichaean for nine years and was greatly influenced by them, whose doctrines were heretical. The Gnostics believed in two gods, one evil and one good. Some Gnostic groups renounced marriage and procreation. Many believed that the dualism of flesh and spirit-the flesh being evil and the spirit being good. Many historians have noted that Augustine has brought this Manichaean influences into the Church. The Manichaean teachings are believed to have influenced Augustines doctrine of the total depravity of mankind, the elect and predestination. These are the foundations and essential elements of the doctrine of Eternal Security that was to follow after Calvin got a hold of them. Because of Augustines sinful lifestyle, he could not advance in the Manichaean religion. He had a reputation of being a fornicator and a womanizer. Historian James ODonnell, is a University Professor at Georgetown University. He says: Later Augustine became a skeptic and turned to the philosophy of Neo-Platonism (a form of thought rooted in the philosophy of Plato). He began to merger these beliefs with his Gnostic and Christian beliefs. Augustines writings were strongly influenced by his studies in Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, and the Christian Scriptures. Much like Calvinists today, he used Scripture out of context to match his theology. In 384, Augustine went to Milan as a incredulous professor of rhetoric. Before he left Milan in 388, he had been baptized by Ambrose and was indebted to Ambroses Catholic Neo-Platonism, which provided a philosophical base that eventually transformed Christian theology.[2] Augustine was not only influenced by the Manichaean Gnostics, but he was also being influenced by his mentor Ambrose. Ambrose had absorbed the most up-to-date Greek learning, Christian and pagan alike-notably the works of Philo, Origen, and Basil of Caesarea and of the pagan Neo-Platonist Plotinus.[3] With his philosopher ideas mixing Scriptures with Platonism with its elements of mysticism and some Judaic and Greco-Roman reading, he influenced Augustine in his theology. Maybe this is why, that no one that has ever lived has influenced Christian theology as Augustine has. He is responsible for much of what we consider to be Catholic doctrine today. Not surprisingly, he is also credited with being a major participant in Protestant beliefs as well. The historian Jaroslav Pelikan remarked: Commenting on Augustines book entitled, The City of God, the historian Edward Gibbon wrote: [1] A century after the Reformation a reaction against this extreme Genevan Calvinism developed around Amsterdam pastor and theologian, Jacob Arminius. After his untimely death in 1609, some of his followers, the Remonstrants, pressed his denial of Calvinism in five points. At the Synod of Dort (1618-19) they were banished from the Netherlands Reformed churches by the Calvinists, who set out their doctrine in five opposing points, the famous acronym, TULIP. [2] Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, Inc., Saint Ambrose, (Last accessed 7/31/15): http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/19014/Saint-Ambrose [3] Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, Inc., Saint Ambrose, (Last accessed 7/31/15): http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/19014/Saint-Ambrose

Friday, September 20, 2019

Identity Regulation as a Form of Organizational Control

Identity Regulation as a Form of Organizational Control Introduction I have decided to opted â€Å"Identity regulation in organisations is a form of control that needs to be acknowledged in order to encourage the emancipation of workers†. But before starting my assignment i would like to go through that what Organization is and what’s the real truth behind Organizational Behaviour. Organizations are inescapable features of modern social experience for all human beings. From the remotest village high in the Himalayan foothills to life in a lager metropolis, organizations impact on all aspect of human experience. Now we come to that what organizational behaviour actually is:- Organizational behaviour provides one of the mainstream approaches to the study of management and organizations. Its main sphere of interest is anything relevant to the design, management and effectiveness of an organization, together with the dynamic and interactive relationships that exist within them. Hawthorne studies This theory was directed by Elton Mayo during the late 1920s and early 1930s. These studies first highlighted the complexity of human behaviour in an organizational setting. This on turn led to recognition of the importance of the social context within which work occurred and of the ways in which groups become a significant influence on individual behaviour. Ref: organizational behaviour and management john martin third edition The Meaning of Organizational Behaviour Organizational behaviour is one of the most complex and perhaps least understood academic elements of modern general management, but since it concerns the behaviour of people within organizations it is also one of the most central, its concern with invidual and group patterns of behaviour makes it an essential element in dealing with the complex behaviour issues thrown up in the modern business world. Ref: (Financial times Mastering management series) First we are going to start with the Management as an integrating activity;- Management as an integrating activity Management is the cornerstone of organizational effectiveness, and is concerned with arrangement for the carrying out of organizational processes and the execution of work. According to Drucker, it is the management that enables the organization to contribute a needed result to society, the economy and the invidual. Ref:-management and organizational behaviour 5th edition â€Å"The fact is that management ultimately depend on an understanding of human nature.I suggets it goes much further than that. In the first place, good management depends upon the acceptance of certain basic values. It cannot be achieved without honesty and integrity, or without consideration for the interests of others. Secondly, it is the understanding of human foibles that we all share, such as jealousy, envy, status, prejudice, perception, temperament, motivation and talent which provides the greatest challenge to managers. Ref: HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Institute of Management Patron. The psychological contract One significant aspects of the relationship between the invidual and the organization is the concept of the psychological contract. This is not a written document, but implies a series of mutual expectations and satisfaction of needs arising from the people-organization relationship. It involves a process of giving and receiving by the invidual and by the organization. The psychological contract covers a range of expectations of rights and privileges, duties and obligations, which donot form part of a formal agreement but still have an important influence on people behaviour. Invidual`s Expectations Provide safe and hygienic working conditions Make every reasonable effort to provide job security Attempt to provide challenging and satisfying jobs and reduce alienating aspects of work. Adopt equitable personnel policies and procedures. Treat member staff with respect. These expectations are notwithstanding any statutory requirement placed upon the organization. Instead they relate more to the idea of social responsibilities of management. The organization will also have implicit expectations of its member, for example:- To accept the ideology of the organization To work diligently in pursuit of organizational objectives Not to abuse goodwill shown by the management To uphold the image of the organization To show loyalty. The organization side of the psychological contract places emphasis on expectations, requirement and constraints which often differ from, and may be in conflict with ,an Invidual`s expectations. Ref:-Laurie j Mullins management and behaviour The case study below shows the true picture of the psychological contract and it s nature:- Case study: Disgruntled mice turn on fat cats Rhetoric about employee being vital corporate assets is sounding increasingly hollow writes John Plender. After years of downsizing, delaying and re-engineering, a punch-drunk British workforce hardly looks ready for a return to confrontational industrial relation. Yet the strike at British Airways, complete with management pressure and inter-union rivalry, raises question. Is this the first sign of a shift in power back to the workers as labour market condition tightens? And have managers become complacement in their attitudes to the workforce? The British Airways saga admittedly looks more of a throwback than a forward indicator. Most occupants of British boardrooms would vehemently reject charges of complacency or macho management. Yet there is evidence that business leaders are failing to carry employee with them as they continue to restructure. The standard rhetoric about `empowered` employee being vital corporate assets rings increasingly hollow. Consider recent data from International Survey Research (ISR), a leading consultant whose employee opinion survey covers 450 companies in 18 countries. Some finding in its survey, such as the free –fall in feelings of employment security throughout Europe, are predictable enough. Nor is it surprising that stakeholders-type economics like Switzerland, Norway and the Netherlands tend to have the the most contented workforces. The UK`S ignominious position- second only to Hungary at the bottom of the league for employee satisfaction- will no doubt be dismissed as British workers enjoying a moan. And the fact that UK management is judged less favourably by employee than managers are rated elsewhere will prompt a similar response. Yet when ISR`s work is looked at over a period of years, it is easily brushed aside. Take the progressive year-on-year collapse in the morale of the UK workforce since 1990. The trend is odd because it defies the logic of the economic cycle. Recovery has brought deterioration, not improvement. Also odd is the workforce’s view of management, at the depths of the recession earlier in the decade, UK employee, though generally dissatisfied, were still taking quite a favourable view of the managers compared with the rest of the Europe. Today, despite a marked increased in the rate of UK earning growth, disillusionment appears total. The clue with the ISR survey published at the end of 1995.This revealed that workers attitudes had suffered `the most prepitate decline` of any European country over the previous 10 years. Motivation and commitment to the company were lower than in the strife-torn days of the mid-1970s. The timing is significant because this was the first survey after the notorious British Gas Annual General Meeting at which the investment institute sanctioned a much increased pay-package for Mr.Cedric Brown-this when profits were substantially below their five years earlier, customer service was deteriorating and employee were being shed in larger numbers. The message is clear enough. Far from being a little local difficulty in the privatised utilities, the `fat cat` pay saga had a much wider demoralising impact which is still being felt. It does not follow that British workers are about to the picket lines en masse. As long as insecurity is endemic, and the main legislative reforms of the past 18 years remain intact, the union will not resume their former mantle. Nor does the government of Mr Tony Blair, a personal friend of BA chief Executive , Mr Bob Ayling, appear keen to take an active role in the dispute at BA. There is also a wide spread view that employee satisfactions a key performance indicator. Yet survey feels dimishing loyalty. In effect a contract which views the employee as assets and a cost has an innate tension. If it operate operates against the back ground of ever widening pay differentials between shop floor and board, or runs into the BA style of management, it may become untenable. There is a growing recognition among economist that trust is a valuable commodity. At national level- as in the stakeholder’s economics metioned earlier- it can enhance growth. When it exists between the various stakeholders in a business it reduces transaction costs and enhances competitive advantage. If British business wants to achieve the highest standards of quality in internationally tradable products and services on a sustainable basis, it badly needs to absorb this lesson. Source-Financial times, 12 July 1997. Critically Analysing the meaning of Work, Motivation and Commitment Work organizations can be understood not only as environments in which people produce work, but also â€Å"places where work produces people†. Hence, any discussion of what people want or need out of work (particularly paid employment) cannot be isolated from the context of that work environment. The experience of working in a particular organization can itself produce wants and needs in the worker. Unfortunately, the personality and the motivation theories described everywhere are based on much simpler models of human behaviour. These tend to view the person as possessing a certain set of psychological characteristics which are brought into work each day. The idea that these change through interaction with others in the organization is rarely touched on. Another aspect of the two-pronged approach to the analysis of Invidual`s behaviour by organizational psychological is a tendency to restrict the subject matter to more less quantifiable elements of behaviour and to those aspects of behaviour which are predictable and controllable from a managerial point of view. Ref: J martin Corbett Baritz,1960 and Hollway , 1991 and indeed, Thompson and McHugh (1990) argue that â€Å"the true paradigm of the organizational psychologist is that of ensuring `effective resource use`: supplying advice, recourses and training which are aimed at assisting organization in efficiency managing the conflict and resistance which is a predictable consequence of hierarchically organised production.† Ref: Baritz, L (1960) Servants of power, Middletown: Wesleyan University Press Hollway, W (1991) Work Psychology and Organizational Behaviour, London: sage Thompson, P. and McHugh, D. (1990) Work organizations: A Critical Introduction. London: Macmillan Employee Commitment: on becoming a torturer What kind of person becomes a torturer? For many people it would seem obvious that only psychopaths and cranks would wish to pursue such a career. Yet, torture is currently practised by one government in three and these governments experience little or difficulty in recruting torturers. Are there really sufficient numbers of sadist ready, able and willing to take on such a job, or are there other factors which contribute to the creation of a torturer? There is no hard evidence that torturers are psychopaths or sadist. On the contrary, there is evidence that such people are usually screened out during the selection and recruitment process. Thus, to some extent at least, torturers are selected and recruited from ordinary people: â€Å"A deranged person who receives gratification primilary from feeling of power or from personally inflicting pain on other is usually too unreliable to be counted on by authorities to follow orders†. Ref: J. Martin Corbett Based on the studies of torturers employed by the State during 1967-74 military dictatorship of Greece, the psychologist Haritos-Fatoutos argues that three situational factor foster the creation of a torturer, namely: training, incremental participation and socialisation, and economic and symbolic reward. Training The first phase of training involves group bonding and isolation from the outside world. In case of the torture, this is achieved by placing recruits in remote training camps and putting them through numerous initiation rites. Haritos- Fatoutos describe how the use of euphemism by the trainers helped Greek recruits reinterpret their behaviour. For example, â€Å"tea party† referred to a â€Å"beating with fists and â€Å"tea party with toast† described a â€Å"beating with heavy wooden clubs†. The use of such euphemistic language is , of course, common practice in organizations to put a gloss on unpleasant reality- from the Nazi Party’s â€Å"Final Solution† , through the CIA’s `executive action`, to the `downsizing ` and ` rationalisation` of contemporary business organizations. Training also requires the recruit to develop a world view that divides people into torturable and non-torturable. Through a programme of seminars the recruits comes to believe that the act of tortures is a defence of â€Å"good â€Å"values against the â€Å"bad† values. Recruits are trained to be loyal not only to the state but to the organization, which is semi-secret and will protect them. Ref: Haritos- Fatoutos, M. (1988) The official tortures: A learning model of obedience to authority of violence. Journal of applied social psychology, 18, 1107-1120. Incremental Socialisation Such a moral shift, or disengagement, is made easier by the gradual introduction of the recruits to the brutal act of torture. A typical process of incremental socialisation and desensitisation goes through the following chronological sequences: Recruits act as guards while other carry out torture. Recruits carry food to the prisoners in there cells Recruits fully participate fully in torture. Hence the recruits are pulled inexorably into the torturing process. Having gone through the first two steps in the socialisation process recruits find it very difficult to protest about the use of full torture as there have been corrupted by tacit acceptance of earlier (less extreme) examples of torture. Rewards Once fully socialised, obedient torturers benefit in both symbolic and economic ways. Training fosters in-group bias. The finding of numerous social psychological studies suggested that participation in strenuous initiation rites makes group membership more desirable. Ref: Haritos- Fatoutos, M. (1988) The official tortures: A learning model of obedience to authority of violence. Journal of applied social psychology, 18, 1107-1120. There are some more aspects which really effect of employee performance. Inter-group relations Individual’s allegiances to, and identification with, various social groups can have an important influences on their attitudes and behaviour. The notion of employee commitment can over-generalise the nature of such allegiances and hence overlook the fact that you can be committed to your work, to your collegues, to your department, to your occupation or to the company you work for. But these commitments will vary and will often conflict with each other. There are many groups within even the smallest of organizations. It is not only the varying degrees of commitment each group commands amongst its members that can have a significant impact on organizational functioning. The relations between these groups and the relative power each commands can be more curial in shaping organizational behaviour. Hence, a psychological analysis alone is insufficient to understand fully the complexities of inter-group relations. Organizational design and design The variety of ways in which organizational are structured and managed and how they change over time, provides the basis of much organizational behaviour research. Also it is the domain of almost all so-called â€Å"Management Gurus†. For instance, Salaman (1983) observes that â€Å"organizations are structure of control†. Given that organizational structures include management and worker organization, control and reward systems, and job design, they clearly involve political issues, as well as decisions and strategic choices. Despite this, much of the conventional organizational behaviour literature on organizational structure and design concentrates, somewhat uncritically, on information flows, work structure, job design and cultures as entities designed and controlled by a management elite. Ref:-Salaman, G (1983) Class and the Corporation. London: Fontana. Technology and organization Scarborough and Corbett (1992) describes technology and organization as â€Å"far from containing or controlling the technology process, the formal boundaries and managerial hierarchies of organization may themselves restructure by it†. Similarly, sole resources to a unilateral deskilling process (at a societal level), in which technology developed under capitalism inevitably leads to the deskilling and control of labour, does little to convey the uncertainties and interaction of the technology process, nor account for the key role played by Invidual`s and groups: Indeed, on occasion the transformational power of technological knowledge may escape the intentions of the powerful and undermines, and not simply reproduce, existing social and economic structures. To better understand technology and organization I think its good to go through this case study. Ref: Scarborough, H. and Corbett, J.M. (1992) Technology and Organization: Power, Meaning and Design. London: Routledge. Case study: New technology and the Skolt Lapplanders Introduced in the early 1960s, the snowmobile was adopted by the Skolt Lapp people to replace reindeer sleds as a means of transportation. This technology brought easier access to trading posts, more sophisticated health care and a more varied diet and recreation. Yet, within a few years the introduction of this technology had made a profound impact on the Skolt Lapp community. The Skolt Lapp community, like many traditional communities, was organised around a patriarchal power structure, so that the old man held all the positions of status and authority. However, unlike the younger members of the community, these man lacked the muscular strength and dexterity to ride and maintain the heavy snowmobiles. Given that the new technology symbolised progress and the promise of economic prosperity to many Lapps, this result in a decline in the status of the elders relative to the younger, stronger men. Of even greater significance, and as the snowmobiles replaced the reindeer sled as the dominant means of transportation, this status shift was accompanied by the decline in the importance of the `elders` knowledge and wisdom concerning the care and use of reindeer herds. Such a shift was encouraged all the more by the rapid drops in calf births that resulted from the effects of the frightening noise of the snowmobiles` engines on pregnant reindeers. Indeed, within 3 years, a majority of the domesticated reindeers herd had returned to the wild. The impact of this should not be under-estimated as for generations; the reindeers had been of great symbolic and cultural significance of the Skolt Lapps. Most important of all, the Skolt Lapplanders quickly found themselves dependent on outside suppliers of imported petroleum and spare parts for the snowmobiles. Also, many of the physically ill Lapps became psychologically (and sometimes physically) dependent on the constant supply of non-introduction of the snowmobiles. Thus, an apparently neutral technology brought about significant (and largely irreversible) cultural changes to a community. Ref: Scarborough, H. and Corbett, J.M. (1992) Technology and Organization: Power, Meaning and Design. London: Routledge. Egan, G. (1993) Quarantine. London: Legend Books Organizational Culture Culture as a concept has had a long and checked history. It has been used by the lay person as a word to indicate sophistication, as when we say that someone is very â€Å"Cultured†. It has been used by anthropologists to refer to the customs and rituals that societies develop over the course of their history. In the last decade or so it has been used by some organizational researchers and managers to indicate the climate and practices that organizations develop around their handling of people or to refer to the espoused values and credo of an organization. A deeper understanding of cultural issues in groups and organizations is necessary to decipher what goes on in them but, even more important, to identify what may be the priority issues for leaders and leadership. Organizational cultures are created in part by leaders, and one of the most decisive functions of leadership is the creation, the management, and sometimes evens the destruction of culture. Ref:-Edgar H. Schein (1997) Organizational Culture and Leadership. John Wiley sons, Inc. A cross- cultural comparison of work values Numerous motivation theorist outline the importance of certain characteristics of work and the work environment in promoting job satisfication. But to what extend do the motivation theories of Maslow, Herzbed, Mc Clelland, Hackman and Oldham, etc. reflect what motivates a particular, possibly unique, sample of the working population, namely the average â€Å"American employee†. Can we really generalise such theories to the global working population? Mainstream organisational behaviour textbooks certainly imply as much. But if we cannot generalise from the US experience there are obvious implications for the human resources management policies of multi- national corporations and for international post-merger management. Ref: Maslow, A. (1971) The further reaches of human Nature. New York: Viking Press. Herzbed, P.G. (1976) Non- hierarchical organization vol-2. Harmondsworth: Penguin. In 1989, Don Elizur and colleagues was to collect data by questionnaire from samples of managers and employee from a variety of countries. The average sample size was 285. The author owns UK sample comprised 148 respondents. The age range and gender mix of the samples were similar. The questionnaire was designed to represent the major perspectives outlined by basic theories of motivation. 24 items were selected and respondents were asked to indicate for each item the extent to which it is important. (using response categories ranging from â€Å"very unimportant† to â€Å"very important†). The items included the following. Job interest, to do work which is interesting to you. Achievements in work. Advancement, opportunities for promotion Self-esteem, that you are valued as a person Use of ability and knowledge in your work Job security, permanent job Autonomy, independence in work. Supervisor, a fair and considerate boss. Pay, the amount of money you receive Co-workers, fellow workers who are pleasant and agreeable. This selection of items is listed in tables. They also indicate the survey results from the US, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Korea, Hungary and China. The major similarities and difference between these work population samples can be more clearly comprehended by considering the rank order of the item based on the managerial distributions as represented in table. So we see, for example, that interesting work was considered to be the most important work values by respondents from the US, Germany, and the Netherlands. Yet the same items were considered to be much less important from the point of the Hungarian and Chinese respondents. Also, interesting cross-cultural disparities are in evidence for the last three items; good boss, good pay and friendly co-workers. Table: Rank ordering of work values for a sample of eight countries USA UK Germany Netherland Taiwan Korea Hungary China Interesting work 1 2 1 1 2 3 6 5 Achievements 2 6 7 2 1 1 2 1 Advancements 3 7 10 5 4 7 10 6 Self-esteem 4 5 9 9 3 9 7 3 Use abilities 5 4 6 6 8 4 5 2 Autonomy 6 9 5 4 7 10 9 4 Job security 7 8 4 8 5 2 8 10 Good boss 8 10 3 7 6 6 1 7 Good pay 9 3 8 10 10 8 4 9 Co-workers 10 1 2 3 9 5 3 8 Ref:- Elizur , D.,Borg, I., Hunt, R. and Beck, I. K. (1989) The structure of work values: A cross-cultural comparasion.`journal of Organizational Behaviour, 12,21-30 Conclusion It is a truism to claim that people are an organisational resource -indeed, for some organisations, they are the key resource, without which the organisation would be unable to deliver any meaningful product or service to its customers. Like any resource, however, people may be used wastefully: they may be employed at well below their potential, performing tasks which do not stretch their capabilities and which are ultimately alienating in their psychological impact on the employees involved. Alternatively, people may be managed and led in ways which inspire them to be highly motivated and to demonstrate long-term commitment to both their roles and the organisation which employs them. When this is achieved, the performance of its people becomes a major differentiator for the organisation and a source of long-term competitive strength. Identity Regulation as a Form of Organizational Control Identity Regulation as a Form of Organizational Control Introduction I have decided to opted â€Å"Identity regulation in organisations is a form of control that needs to be acknowledged in order to encourage the emancipation of workers†. But before starting my assignment i would like to go through that what Organization is and what’s the real truth behind Organizational Behaviour. Organizations are inescapable features of modern social experience for all human beings. From the remotest village high in the Himalayan foothills to life in a lager metropolis, organizations impact on all aspect of human experience. Now we come to that what organizational behaviour actually is:- Organizational behaviour provides one of the mainstream approaches to the study of management and organizations. Its main sphere of interest is anything relevant to the design, management and effectiveness of an organization, together with the dynamic and interactive relationships that exist within them. Hawthorne studies This theory was directed by Elton Mayo during the late 1920s and early 1930s. These studies first highlighted the complexity of human behaviour in an organizational setting. This on turn led to recognition of the importance of the social context within which work occurred and of the ways in which groups become a significant influence on individual behaviour. Ref: organizational behaviour and management john martin third edition The Meaning of Organizational Behaviour Organizational behaviour is one of the most complex and perhaps least understood academic elements of modern general management, but since it concerns the behaviour of people within organizations it is also one of the most central, its concern with invidual and group patterns of behaviour makes it an essential element in dealing with the complex behaviour issues thrown up in the modern business world. Ref: (Financial times Mastering management series) First we are going to start with the Management as an integrating activity;- Management as an integrating activity Management is the cornerstone of organizational effectiveness, and is concerned with arrangement for the carrying out of organizational processes and the execution of work. According to Drucker, it is the management that enables the organization to contribute a needed result to society, the economy and the invidual. Ref:-management and organizational behaviour 5th edition â€Å"The fact is that management ultimately depend on an understanding of human nature.I suggets it goes much further than that. In the first place, good management depends upon the acceptance of certain basic values. It cannot be achieved without honesty and integrity, or without consideration for the interests of others. Secondly, it is the understanding of human foibles that we all share, such as jealousy, envy, status, prejudice, perception, temperament, motivation and talent which provides the greatest challenge to managers. Ref: HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Institute of Management Patron. The psychological contract One significant aspects of the relationship between the invidual and the organization is the concept of the psychological contract. This is not a written document, but implies a series of mutual expectations and satisfaction of needs arising from the people-organization relationship. It involves a process of giving and receiving by the invidual and by the organization. The psychological contract covers a range of expectations of rights and privileges, duties and obligations, which donot form part of a formal agreement but still have an important influence on people behaviour. Invidual`s Expectations Provide safe and hygienic working conditions Make every reasonable effort to provide job security Attempt to provide challenging and satisfying jobs and reduce alienating aspects of work. Adopt equitable personnel policies and procedures. Treat member staff with respect. These expectations are notwithstanding any statutory requirement placed upon the organization. Instead they relate more to the idea of social responsibilities of management. The organization will also have implicit expectations of its member, for example:- To accept the ideology of the organization To work diligently in pursuit of organizational objectives Not to abuse goodwill shown by the management To uphold the image of the organization To show loyalty. The organization side of the psychological contract places emphasis on expectations, requirement and constraints which often differ from, and may be in conflict with ,an Invidual`s expectations. Ref:-Laurie j Mullins management and behaviour The case study below shows the true picture of the psychological contract and it s nature:- Case study: Disgruntled mice turn on fat cats Rhetoric about employee being vital corporate assets is sounding increasingly hollow writes John Plender. After years of downsizing, delaying and re-engineering, a punch-drunk British workforce hardly looks ready for a return to confrontational industrial relation. Yet the strike at British Airways, complete with management pressure and inter-union rivalry, raises question. Is this the first sign of a shift in power back to the workers as labour market condition tightens? And have managers become complacement in their attitudes to the workforce? The British Airways saga admittedly looks more of a throwback than a forward indicator. Most occupants of British boardrooms would vehemently reject charges of complacency or macho management. Yet there is evidence that business leaders are failing to carry employee with them as they continue to restructure. The standard rhetoric about `empowered` employee being vital corporate assets rings increasingly hollow. Consider recent data from International Survey Research (ISR), a leading consultant whose employee opinion survey covers 450 companies in 18 countries. Some finding in its survey, such as the free –fall in feelings of employment security throughout Europe, are predictable enough. Nor is it surprising that stakeholders-type economics like Switzerland, Norway and the Netherlands tend to have the the most contented workforces. The UK`S ignominious position- second only to Hungary at the bottom of the league for employee satisfaction- will no doubt be dismissed as British workers enjoying a moan. And the fact that UK management is judged less favourably by employee than managers are rated elsewhere will prompt a similar response. Yet when ISR`s work is looked at over a period of years, it is easily brushed aside. Take the progressive year-on-year collapse in the morale of the UK workforce since 1990. The trend is odd because it defies the logic of the economic cycle. Recovery has brought deterioration, not improvement. Also odd is the workforce’s view of management, at the depths of the recession earlier in the decade, UK employee, though generally dissatisfied, were still taking quite a favourable view of the managers compared with the rest of the Europe. Today, despite a marked increased in the rate of UK earning growth, disillusionment appears total. The clue with the ISR survey published at the end of 1995.This revealed that workers attitudes had suffered `the most prepitate decline` of any European country over the previous 10 years. Motivation and commitment to the company were lower than in the strife-torn days of the mid-1970s. The timing is significant because this was the first survey after the notorious British Gas Annual General Meeting at which the investment institute sanctioned a much increased pay-package for Mr.Cedric Brown-this when profits were substantially below their five years earlier, customer service was deteriorating and employee were being shed in larger numbers. The message is clear enough. Far from being a little local difficulty in the privatised utilities, the `fat cat` pay saga had a much wider demoralising impact which is still being felt. It does not follow that British workers are about to the picket lines en masse. As long as insecurity is endemic, and the main legislative reforms of the past 18 years remain intact, the union will not resume their former mantle. Nor does the government of Mr Tony Blair, a personal friend of BA chief Executive , Mr Bob Ayling, appear keen to take an active role in the dispute at BA. There is also a wide spread view that employee satisfactions a key performance indicator. Yet survey feels dimishing loyalty. In effect a contract which views the employee as assets and a cost has an innate tension. If it operate operates against the back ground of ever widening pay differentials between shop floor and board, or runs into the BA style of management, it may become untenable. There is a growing recognition among economist that trust is a valuable commodity. At national level- as in the stakeholder’s economics metioned earlier- it can enhance growth. When it exists between the various stakeholders in a business it reduces transaction costs and enhances competitive advantage. If British business wants to achieve the highest standards of quality in internationally tradable products and services on a sustainable basis, it badly needs to absorb this lesson. Source-Financial times, 12 July 1997. Critically Analysing the meaning of Work, Motivation and Commitment Work organizations can be understood not only as environments in which people produce work, but also â€Å"places where work produces people†. Hence, any discussion of what people want or need out of work (particularly paid employment) cannot be isolated from the context of that work environment. The experience of working in a particular organization can itself produce wants and needs in the worker. Unfortunately, the personality and the motivation theories described everywhere are based on much simpler models of human behaviour. These tend to view the person as possessing a certain set of psychological characteristics which are brought into work each day. The idea that these change through interaction with others in the organization is rarely touched on. Another aspect of the two-pronged approach to the analysis of Invidual`s behaviour by organizational psychological is a tendency to restrict the subject matter to more less quantifiable elements of behaviour and to those aspects of behaviour which are predictable and controllable from a managerial point of view. Ref: J martin Corbett Baritz,1960 and Hollway , 1991 and indeed, Thompson and McHugh (1990) argue that â€Å"the true paradigm of the organizational psychologist is that of ensuring `effective resource use`: supplying advice, recourses and training which are aimed at assisting organization in efficiency managing the conflict and resistance which is a predictable consequence of hierarchically organised production.† Ref: Baritz, L (1960) Servants of power, Middletown: Wesleyan University Press Hollway, W (1991) Work Psychology and Organizational Behaviour, London: sage Thompson, P. and McHugh, D. (1990) Work organizations: A Critical Introduction. London: Macmillan Employee Commitment: on becoming a torturer What kind of person becomes a torturer? For many people it would seem obvious that only psychopaths and cranks would wish to pursue such a career. Yet, torture is currently practised by one government in three and these governments experience little or difficulty in recruting torturers. Are there really sufficient numbers of sadist ready, able and willing to take on such a job, or are there other factors which contribute to the creation of a torturer? There is no hard evidence that torturers are psychopaths or sadist. On the contrary, there is evidence that such people are usually screened out during the selection and recruitment process. Thus, to some extent at least, torturers are selected and recruited from ordinary people: â€Å"A deranged person who receives gratification primilary from feeling of power or from personally inflicting pain on other is usually too unreliable to be counted on by authorities to follow orders†. Ref: J. Martin Corbett Based on the studies of torturers employed by the State during 1967-74 military dictatorship of Greece, the psychologist Haritos-Fatoutos argues that three situational factor foster the creation of a torturer, namely: training, incremental participation and socialisation, and economic and symbolic reward. Training The first phase of training involves group bonding and isolation from the outside world. In case of the torture, this is achieved by placing recruits in remote training camps and putting them through numerous initiation rites. Haritos- Fatoutos describe how the use of euphemism by the trainers helped Greek recruits reinterpret their behaviour. For example, â€Å"tea party† referred to a â€Å"beating with fists and â€Å"tea party with toast† described a â€Å"beating with heavy wooden clubs†. The use of such euphemistic language is , of course, common practice in organizations to put a gloss on unpleasant reality- from the Nazi Party’s â€Å"Final Solution† , through the CIA’s `executive action`, to the `downsizing ` and ` rationalisation` of contemporary business organizations. Training also requires the recruit to develop a world view that divides people into torturable and non-torturable. Through a programme of seminars the recruits comes to believe that the act of tortures is a defence of â€Å"good â€Å"values against the â€Å"bad† values. Recruits are trained to be loyal not only to the state but to the organization, which is semi-secret and will protect them. Ref: Haritos- Fatoutos, M. (1988) The official tortures: A learning model of obedience to authority of violence. Journal of applied social psychology, 18, 1107-1120. Incremental Socialisation Such a moral shift, or disengagement, is made easier by the gradual introduction of the recruits to the brutal act of torture. A typical process of incremental socialisation and desensitisation goes through the following chronological sequences: Recruits act as guards while other carry out torture. Recruits carry food to the prisoners in there cells Recruits fully participate fully in torture. Hence the recruits are pulled inexorably into the torturing process. Having gone through the first two steps in the socialisation process recruits find it very difficult to protest about the use of full torture as there have been corrupted by tacit acceptance of earlier (less extreme) examples of torture. Rewards Once fully socialised, obedient torturers benefit in both symbolic and economic ways. Training fosters in-group bias. The finding of numerous social psychological studies suggested that participation in strenuous initiation rites makes group membership more desirable. Ref: Haritos- Fatoutos, M. (1988) The official tortures: A learning model of obedience to authority of violence. Journal of applied social psychology, 18, 1107-1120. There are some more aspects which really effect of employee performance. Inter-group relations Individual’s allegiances to, and identification with, various social groups can have an important influences on their attitudes and behaviour. The notion of employee commitment can over-generalise the nature of such allegiances and hence overlook the fact that you can be committed to your work, to your collegues, to your department, to your occupation or to the company you work for. But these commitments will vary and will often conflict with each other. There are many groups within even the smallest of organizations. It is not only the varying degrees of commitment each group commands amongst its members that can have a significant impact on organizational functioning. The relations between these groups and the relative power each commands can be more curial in shaping organizational behaviour. Hence, a psychological analysis alone is insufficient to understand fully the complexities of inter-group relations. Organizational design and design The variety of ways in which organizational are structured and managed and how they change over time, provides the basis of much organizational behaviour research. Also it is the domain of almost all so-called â€Å"Management Gurus†. For instance, Salaman (1983) observes that â€Å"organizations are structure of control†. Given that organizational structures include management and worker organization, control and reward systems, and job design, they clearly involve political issues, as well as decisions and strategic choices. Despite this, much of the conventional organizational behaviour literature on organizational structure and design concentrates, somewhat uncritically, on information flows, work structure, job design and cultures as entities designed and controlled by a management elite. Ref:-Salaman, G (1983) Class and the Corporation. London: Fontana. Technology and organization Scarborough and Corbett (1992) describes technology and organization as â€Å"far from containing or controlling the technology process, the formal boundaries and managerial hierarchies of organization may themselves restructure by it†. Similarly, sole resources to a unilateral deskilling process (at a societal level), in which technology developed under capitalism inevitably leads to the deskilling and control of labour, does little to convey the uncertainties and interaction of the technology process, nor account for the key role played by Invidual`s and groups: Indeed, on occasion the transformational power of technological knowledge may escape the intentions of the powerful and undermines, and not simply reproduce, existing social and economic structures. To better understand technology and organization I think its good to go through this case study. Ref: Scarborough, H. and Corbett, J.M. (1992) Technology and Organization: Power, Meaning and Design. London: Routledge. Case study: New technology and the Skolt Lapplanders Introduced in the early 1960s, the snowmobile was adopted by the Skolt Lapp people to replace reindeer sleds as a means of transportation. This technology brought easier access to trading posts, more sophisticated health care and a more varied diet and recreation. Yet, within a few years the introduction of this technology had made a profound impact on the Skolt Lapp community. The Skolt Lapp community, like many traditional communities, was organised around a patriarchal power structure, so that the old man held all the positions of status and authority. However, unlike the younger members of the community, these man lacked the muscular strength and dexterity to ride and maintain the heavy snowmobiles. Given that the new technology symbolised progress and the promise of economic prosperity to many Lapps, this result in a decline in the status of the elders relative to the younger, stronger men. Of even greater significance, and as the snowmobiles replaced the reindeer sled as the dominant means of transportation, this status shift was accompanied by the decline in the importance of the `elders` knowledge and wisdom concerning the care and use of reindeer herds. Such a shift was encouraged all the more by the rapid drops in calf births that resulted from the effects of the frightening noise of the snowmobiles` engines on pregnant reindeers. Indeed, within 3 years, a majority of the domesticated reindeers herd had returned to the wild. The impact of this should not be under-estimated as for generations; the reindeers had been of great symbolic and cultural significance of the Skolt Lapps. Most important of all, the Skolt Lapplanders quickly found themselves dependent on outside suppliers of imported petroleum and spare parts for the snowmobiles. Also, many of the physically ill Lapps became psychologically (and sometimes physically) dependent on the constant supply of non-introduction of the snowmobiles. Thus, an apparently neutral technology brought about significant (and largely irreversible) cultural changes to a community. Ref: Scarborough, H. and Corbett, J.M. (1992) Technology and Organization: Power, Meaning and Design. London: Routledge. Egan, G. (1993) Quarantine. London: Legend Books Organizational Culture Culture as a concept has had a long and checked history. It has been used by the lay person as a word to indicate sophistication, as when we say that someone is very â€Å"Cultured†. It has been used by anthropologists to refer to the customs and rituals that societies develop over the course of their history. In the last decade or so it has been used by some organizational researchers and managers to indicate the climate and practices that organizations develop around their handling of people or to refer to the espoused values and credo of an organization. A deeper understanding of cultural issues in groups and organizations is necessary to decipher what goes on in them but, even more important, to identify what may be the priority issues for leaders and leadership. Organizational cultures are created in part by leaders, and one of the most decisive functions of leadership is the creation, the management, and sometimes evens the destruction of culture. Ref:-Edgar H. Schein (1997) Organizational Culture and Leadership. John Wiley sons, Inc. A cross- cultural comparison of work values Numerous motivation theorist outline the importance of certain characteristics of work and the work environment in promoting job satisfication. But to what extend do the motivation theories of Maslow, Herzbed, Mc Clelland, Hackman and Oldham, etc. reflect what motivates a particular, possibly unique, sample of the working population, namely the average â€Å"American employee†. Can we really generalise such theories to the global working population? Mainstream organisational behaviour textbooks certainly imply as much. But if we cannot generalise from the US experience there are obvious implications for the human resources management policies of multi- national corporations and for international post-merger management. Ref: Maslow, A. (1971) The further reaches of human Nature. New York: Viking Press. Herzbed, P.G. (1976) Non- hierarchical organization vol-2. Harmondsworth: Penguin. In 1989, Don Elizur and colleagues was to collect data by questionnaire from samples of managers and employee from a variety of countries. The average sample size was 285. The author owns UK sample comprised 148 respondents. The age range and gender mix of the samples were similar. The questionnaire was designed to represent the major perspectives outlined by basic theories of motivation. 24 items were selected and respondents were asked to indicate for each item the extent to which it is important. (using response categories ranging from â€Å"very unimportant† to â€Å"very important†). The items included the following. Job interest, to do work which is interesting to you. Achievements in work. Advancement, opportunities for promotion Self-esteem, that you are valued as a person Use of ability and knowledge in your work Job security, permanent job Autonomy, independence in work. Supervisor, a fair and considerate boss. Pay, the amount of money you receive Co-workers, fellow workers who are pleasant and agreeable. This selection of items is listed in tables. They also indicate the survey results from the US, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Korea, Hungary and China. The major similarities and difference between these work population samples can be more clearly comprehended by considering the rank order of the item based on the managerial distributions as represented in table. So we see, for example, that interesting work was considered to be the most important work values by respondents from the US, Germany, and the Netherlands. Yet the same items were considered to be much less important from the point of the Hungarian and Chinese respondents. Also, interesting cross-cultural disparities are in evidence for the last three items; good boss, good pay and friendly co-workers. Table: Rank ordering of work values for a sample of eight countries USA UK Germany Netherland Taiwan Korea Hungary China Interesting work 1 2 1 1 2 3 6 5 Achievements 2 6 7 2 1 1 2 1 Advancements 3 7 10 5 4 7 10 6 Self-esteem 4 5 9 9 3 9 7 3 Use abilities 5 4 6 6 8 4 5 2 Autonomy 6 9 5 4 7 10 9 4 Job security 7 8 4 8 5 2 8 10 Good boss 8 10 3 7 6 6 1 7 Good pay 9 3 8 10 10 8 4 9 Co-workers 10 1 2 3 9 5 3 8 Ref:- Elizur , D.,Borg, I., Hunt, R. and Beck, I. K. (1989) The structure of work values: A cross-cultural comparasion.`journal of Organizational Behaviour, 12,21-30 Conclusion It is a truism to claim that people are an organisational resource -indeed, for some organisations, they are the key resource, without which the organisation would be unable to deliver any meaningful product or service to its customers. Like any resource, however, people may be used wastefully: they may be employed at well below their potential, performing tasks which do not stretch their capabilities and which are ultimately alienating in their psychological impact on the employees involved. Alternatively, people may be managed and led in ways which inspire them to be highly motivated and to demonstrate long-term commitment to both their roles and the organisation which employs them. When this is achieved, the performance of its people becomes a major differentiator for the organisation and a source of long-term competitive strength.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Kitchen Conversations in Russia :: Russia Soviet Union Politics Essays

Kitchen Conversations in Russia Russians say, â€Å"Russia is a country of kitchen conversations.† From time to time people get together in the kitchen and hold long conversations. Using very ordinary attributes, Russian people created a unique custom that can tell a lot about Russian character, perhaps more than volumes of history books. Over the course of last century, â€Å"kitchen conversations† affected Russian society at all levels and became a symbol of freedom from communist thought control and Russian people’s dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in their country. A Russian proverb says: â€Å"we don’t value what we have and cry when we lose it.† Russian people recklessly lost their freedom when they gave the power to communists in 1917. Among the great many consequences of this upheaval was a major economic crisis, part of which was a massive housing shortage. As a result, millions of people were cramped into what was called â€Å"communal apartments.† Generally, those were large apartments with a long corridor that led to a kitchen, a bathroom and several bedrooms where different families used to live. Since they had to share a kitchen and a bathroom, they basically had to share their lives. Everything that happened in society and neighbors’ lives was discussed in the kitchen. Moreover, neighbors actively meddled in other neighbors’ lives, often without any permission. Malicious tricks and helping hands, peaceful coexistence and furious quarrels, ridiculous misunderstandings and deep compassion transformed the kitchen in a theater-like place where tragedy and comedy intertwined into farce and the audience shared heroes’ drama. Most people used to live like this for more than thirty years (some still live like this today) when the government decided to build more housing in the 1950s and families in communal apartments were gradually resettled into single-family apartments. New apartments had a small kitchen and no dining room, but people gathered in the kitchen anyway. First of all, people thought about the kitchen as a common area where it was convenient to spend their free time. Secondly, people got used to talking about important events in their life in the kitchen. Lastly, small kitchen space made people physically closer to each other, which created informal and sincere atmosphere and gave them freedom to speak openly without regard to communist authority. Kitchen Conversations in Russia :: Russia Soviet Union Politics Essays Kitchen Conversations in Russia Russians say, â€Å"Russia is a country of kitchen conversations.† From time to time people get together in the kitchen and hold long conversations. Using very ordinary attributes, Russian people created a unique custom that can tell a lot about Russian character, perhaps more than volumes of history books. Over the course of last century, â€Å"kitchen conversations† affected Russian society at all levels and became a symbol of freedom from communist thought control and Russian people’s dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in their country. A Russian proverb says: â€Å"we don’t value what we have and cry when we lose it.† Russian people recklessly lost their freedom when they gave the power to communists in 1917. Among the great many consequences of this upheaval was a major economic crisis, part of which was a massive housing shortage. As a result, millions of people were cramped into what was called â€Å"communal apartments.† Generally, those were large apartments with a long corridor that led to a kitchen, a bathroom and several bedrooms where different families used to live. Since they had to share a kitchen and a bathroom, they basically had to share their lives. Everything that happened in society and neighbors’ lives was discussed in the kitchen. Moreover, neighbors actively meddled in other neighbors’ lives, often without any permission. Malicious tricks and helping hands, peaceful coexistence and furious quarrels, ridiculous misunderstandings and deep compassion transformed the kitchen in a theater-like place where tragedy and comedy intertwined into farce and the audience shared heroes’ drama. Most people used to live like this for more than thirty years (some still live like this today) when the government decided to build more housing in the 1950s and families in communal apartments were gradually resettled into single-family apartments. New apartments had a small kitchen and no dining room, but people gathered in the kitchen anyway. First of all, people thought about the kitchen as a common area where it was convenient to spend their free time. Secondly, people got used to talking about important events in their life in the kitchen. Lastly, small kitchen space made people physically closer to each other, which created informal and sincere atmosphere and gave them freedom to speak openly without regard to communist authority.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Dissociative Identity Disorder Essays -- Biology Essays Research Paper

Dissociative Identity Disorder, commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is estimated to afflict at least a tenth of the American population. Patients with this disorder suffer from constant memory loss due to the presence of two or more other personalities that "take over" the patient's consciousness at random times of the day. This switching of personalities may last for a couple minutes, a couple hours, to up to several weeks at a time (1). In the past 30 years, the prevalence of Dissociative Identity Disorder has sky rocketed. The term dissociation refers to the disruption of one or more agents that constitutes "consciousness", such the formation of memories, making sense of them and maintaining a sense of identity (1). Dissociation results from forces beyond the patient's control. Proponents of Dissociative Identity Disorder believe memory loss occurs because the patient's consciousness is taken over by alter personalities believed to be formed during childhood (2). Personalities are usually found to be extremely different from the personality of the patient. The patient is usually shy, introverted and insecure, whereas some of her personalities may be flirtatious, outgoing, confident; and yet others may have issues surrounding anger management. Personalities may be older than the age of the patient, younger, or may have lived over a hundred years ago (1). Patients who suffer from DID are usually women who have had a history of sexual or extreme physical abuse, or who have experienced repeated trauma beyond her control (3). Because the child cannot physically escape the pain, her only option is to escape mentally: by dissociating. Dissociation is said to defend against pain by allowing the maltreatment to be ex... ...ts who come into therapy may have problems dealing with their emotions and self validation, and at the end of therapy, with the help and validation of therapists, discover multiple alter personalities. Does Dissociative Identity Disorder exist? Maybe. Yet, one who is unable to integrate various emotions and memories should have less than one personality, not multiple. References 1)Dissociative Identity Disorder: The Relevance of Behavior Analysis by Brady J. Phelps http://web3.infotrac.galegroup.com/ 2)Multiplying the Multiplicity in the British Journal of Psychology http://web3.infotrac.galegroup.com/ 3)The Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder With Neurotherapy and Group Self Exploration http://www.isnr.org/index.html 4)An Analytical Review of Dissociative Identity Disorder http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web1/www.ycp.edu