Flying the flags Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Flying the flags - Essay Example The airline industry is significant considering that it is one of the largest capital intensive industry segments and in addition to its contribution to the GDP it also provides employment options to a large number of individuals. The airline industry is prone to various external aspects like oil price, government regulations and market distortions. However the airline industry has shown signs of revival with all the major economies in Europe being put back on the path of economic growth. A report by Mott McDonald pegs the present value of the airline market in Europe would increase by approximately 2.3 percent by the year 2025 (Mott McDonald, 2011). Another significant aspect that has changed the shape of the aviation industry is the advent of Low Cost Carriers (LCC) following the de regulation of the aviation industry by the European and US governments. These players have grabbed a significant market share owning to their aspect of low cost which has provided them with a competitiv e advantage (European Commission & United States Department of Transportation, 2010, p.3). Mergers and acquisitions have become one of the most vital strategies that have been adopted by market players across the world including Europe to increase their market share as a means to improve the product mix (Siebert, 1989, p.10-11). Review of the EU Airline industry Europe constitutes one of the most important markets for the participants of the airline industry. The mammoth size of the European aviation market can be analysed from the fact that there are approximately 450airpots in the region which ferried approximately 751 million passengers in 2009 alone. The market has about 150 scheduled airline companies including full service and low cost carriers. In addition to this fact the aviation industry provided direct employment to about 500000 individuals and had an approximate turnover amounting 100 billion Euros as of the year 2009. The aviation industry apart from being a significant contributor towards the economy and growth of the region also serves as a means to bring together people from different regions and provides integration or all the member states of Europe as well as with the rest of the world (European Commission, 2011, p.5). Figure 1: 20 Year forecast for the Airline Industry (Source: Mott McDonald, 2011) The figure above shows the forecasted growth rates in both cargo as well as passenger segments of the European aviation market. It is clear from the figure that the airlines industry in Europe is expected to show growth rates of 5 percent and 6.1 percent in the passenger and cargo sections respectively by the year 2026 on a year on year basis. This is even more significant considering the fact that the European airline market was severely impacted by the terrorist attacks in US in 2001 as well as the financial meltdown in the recent years. The recovery of nations in the European Union has again created hopes for the resurgence of the European air line industry. Figure 2: Major Market Players in Europe and their levels of consolidations (Source: Buttner & Burger, 2008, p.8) The major market players in the European Union are shown in the figure above. The major airlines of the EU are trying to aggressively expand their business by undertaking consolidations by using strategies like mergers and

Heros Of Today And Heros Of Yesterday Essay Example for Free

Heros Of Today And Heros Of Yesterday Essay Heroes by todays standards can be many things, such as firefighters, teachers, or cops. This wasnt always what the word hero was once intended to mean. What a hero is in present day is surprisingly different than what a hero once was. In ancient times one was only called a hero if they were the strongest, bravest, smartest and the most warlike. During the course of time, the definition of what a genuine hero is has changed and the role and form of a hero has been altered, but yet some things remain the same between the two known meanings of the word. Although there has been drastic changes to the meaning of a hero, deep down some qualities remain unaffected. Heroes of yesteryears and heroes of today still manifest, while not in the same physical forms but the same spiritual forms. Beowulf, Hercules, Achilles, and other heroes of past ages all have the same motives, drives, and characteristics. A great example of how a hero acted in ancient times is in the story Beowulf. In the story Beowulf hears that a friend of his fathers is in need of help, so he bravely went to his aide, it took his courage to help out the way he did. He fought Grendle with his godlike strength and after a great battle, prevailed. Being brave, strong, alert, determined, honest, bold, are all the things that made them heroes. Today, if you look at the men and women that are known for being heroes you will see a great similarity in their bravery, courage, and intelligence. In these ways they are greatly the same. The image of a hero that ancient stories and books told were slightly different than the heroes in our modern tales. An example of an ancient heros behavior that is not inhabited by modern heroes is again in Beowulf. In the story, Beowulf goes into Herot Hall, sits down and begins to boast and brag about his previous battles, as if to say he is better than everyone else. Another example is later on in the story when Beowulf kills Grendel and hangs his bloody arm over the Hall for everyone to see. Seeing how they had perfect physiques and were loud, cocky, and selfish, those things are not needed by todays heroes and some of these more barbaric qualities are even discouraged by todays society. In current time heroes neednt be  physically strong, nor have muscles and if they are cocky and brag and claim to be better than everyone else, they will be looked down upon. A hero in the public eye differs from my personal definition of a hero. I along with many others have a personal hero. My hero is my father, now I really doubt that anyone else would choose him as his or her hero, but I do. He does have a few qualities of a hero such as being strong, brave, and courageous, but the reasons I believe him to be a hero are different. He isnt like any other person, when I talk to him about problems and ask him questions he listens and actually helps me out and gives me answers and solutions that are acceptable to me, he helps understand answers instead of just giving me right ones. He tries to be a perfect father, which is an unattainable goal but I value his efforts and respect him for trying.

Living a Pluralistic Way of Life Who Sees Diversities as a Connection t

"Culture", as a word, fits with a group of words that do not have just one definition or meaning, but multiple. With a diverse population prevailing in the United States today, our country is a melting pot of diverse cultures, every distinctive in its own respect. Culture is distinguishing one social group from another, including beliefs, language, traditions, art, food, religion and economic systems. Through lifelong and ever altering processes of learning, and sharing, culture shapes our patterns of behavior and thinking. A culture’s significance is so philosophical that it touches almost every aspect of who and what we are. As Henslin once said â€Å"Culture becomes the lens through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us.† It becomes who we are and how we see things differently from the people of a different nationality. In Warren St. John’s Outcasts United, culture is an important aspect that plays a significant role throughout the book and challenges the refugees in their daily lives. Having a pluralistic society can influence the behavioral and thinking styles of the people living around them. Some of these people may learn from the diverse range of cultures to find faults in their own living styles and try to better improve them. The Liberian’s, the Middle Easterner’s and the African’s are some of the examples of how one’s culture can impact lives of the people living around them. Starting a new life in a different culture is not easy, but instead, it is very hard to overcome some of the challenges that one may encounter. When visitors first arrive to a striving country, like America, they are excited to live the life they have been dreaming about for years. But after a certain amount of time, they start fee... ...ge that benefits every single individual. Clarkston, Georgia gave thousands of refugees a home to live in; they provided the immigrants with their basic necessities. Some of these new cultures that impacted the society to a certain limit were Middle Eastern, African, and the Liberians. The people in Clarkston got exposed to a lot of diversity around them which brought a lot of change into society caused by the various range of people living there. While some changes were beneficial, the others were not so good. However, in the end Clarkston symbolized a perfect model pluralistic society for others to look at and be appreciative. People should be acceptable to change; you never know, it could change your life forever in a moral way. A good way to look at culture through your eyes is to â€Å"see the world’s variety as a blessing rather than a burden† (The Aga Khan).

Recommend and Justify a Marketing Strategy That Andy Might Use to Increase Sales at Ahc Essay

Recommend and justify a marketing strategy that Andy might use to increase sales at AHC AHC is a health club known for its excellent health facilities which benefit their members with a wide range of exercises as well as facilities such as their cafe and beauty salon. However, the owner, Andy has come to realise that if his business ever were to expand, it couldn’t satisfy everyone and cater to each individual’s needs. AHC has many opportunities for further development and becoming an even more established health club with a wider target market but its competitors (other health clubs) pose as a threat towards them in pricing and facilities. AHC’s main objective is to increase their sales and to do that, they will need to consider each of the four functional areas within the marketing mix, and along with that, they may also need to conduct extensive market research to ensure that their aim to gain revenue is met. First of all, AHC will have to look at the services they provide to members of the health club as well as potential new consumers, to see how well the business is performing and whether the services the business offers satisfy consumers. Also by doing this, AHC will be able to use market segmentation, which will divide consumers into groups so that a better customer base is established and more customers can be gained. Also , when looking at the services they provide, AHC may need to think about their products and how they differentiate from their competitors, for example, AHC may want to consider their option C which involved building more squash courts or a larger fitness studio. By increasing their services, AHC will attract more members of the public and gain more sales from members who will want to use the additional services provided. AHC could also look into the pricing of their products. Andy is currently considering other pricing approaches such as price discrimination which can enable higher prices at more demanding times of the day, depending on consumer demand. This could also attract more consumers who will want to use the services at the health club more at off-peak times due to cheaper prices. This can ensure that at ‘peak’ times of the day, AHC will be making more revenue, but there may also be an increase during ‘off peak’ times. AHC must also make sure that because of the higher prices, they don’t face a loss of consumers if they do decide to use price discrimination. Option A displays such pricing in which additional charges may be given, however if AHC wishes to maintain its customer base, as well as attract more while prices are being raised, they may need to offer consumers extra services, discounts or deals such as ‘ 3 Pilates classes for the price of 2’ for women which will help maintain good relationships and loyalty with members in the long term. AHC have limited amounts of promotion for its business and currently only rely on its website as well as word of mouth which could realistically only attract a certain number of consumers however if Andy wishes to expand or even increase the number of sales, alternative methods of advertising should be taken into account, for example, below the line promotion such as posters, local radio advertisements, local newspapers and magazines to make people aware of the business, and this way, AHC can widen their market. Andy knows that some facilities offered only target specific people, e.g. the beauty salon is aimed at mostly female members so instead of advertising within the mass market, he could implement personal selling to allow customers to receive personal and individual attention from the business. Also, as Andy sees increased competition as a threat, advertising on a larger scale within the local area can help to increase the number of consumers which can help the increase in sale s because even though it is a competitive market, promoting the business can impact a lot and possibly attract consumers from similar businesses due to prices and services offered. In AHC’s current business position, they do not have the necessary capital to expand as it can only just about afford one of the facilities in option C, but if in the long term, the business will be able to build extra facilities for the health club or maybe open up another health club in a neighbouring area. Andy should continue to run his business and put into practice ways to help the business grow. AHC can definitely do this by differentiating the services they provide because it will maintain customer loyalty and help gain more consumers because of the new services which make them different to every other health club in the Midlands. Also, they could adapt new pricing strategies to see what kind of price consumers are willing to pay, whether high or low depending on how many sales are made. An increase in promotion could also benefit the business very well as it can help aid consumers through awareness of the health club, adding to a more well- rounded reputation. It would be ideal to carry out further research on the aspects of the marketing mix, and produce short term tactical objectives in which they can achieve and in the long run, can end with the business being able to achieve an increase in sales.

Preventing Childhood Obesity as a Parent

In today's society, childhood obesity is considered a serious public health issue and can be classified as an epidemic. In the United States alone, one in seven children ages 6-17 are considered to be obese. In the last 40 years in the United States the rate of childhood obesity has tripled. The main reason why childhood obesity has become such a serious issue is because children now days live more sedentary lifestyles. Children now days are bombarded with television advertisements urging them to eat foods high in fat and calories while staying inside and playing video games or watching television. Childhood obesity does not only affect children in childhood but can cause a list of health issues in their adult lives also. When it comes to education regarding childhood obesity, the responsibility needs to be addressed by the parents, schools and the media. In the following paper, I am going to explain how childhood obesity can be controlled at home by the parents. Everything can be learned at home and applied to everyday life. I am going to give a brief overview of what the problems associated with childhood obesity are and what are the main contributing factors. I will show also show the long term effects of the issue and how it can also be addressed by the parents. Childhood obesity is costing the United States millions of dollars I health care expenses. In my opinion, I feel that this can be diverted by simple education from the parents. According to the article Facts about Childhood Obesity and Over-weightiness, obese children are statistically not active and consume diets that are high in fat. Most physicians use what they call a Body Mass Index Scale (BMI) to calculate how overweight a child is. Children who are over a 30 when it omes to BMI are considered obese. In order to calculate a person including a child’s BMI, you would have to divide their weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters (Mokdad,). When it comes to weight gain among children, you have to factor in many things such poor dietary habits, genetic makeup, family lifestyle, socioeconomic status and a child's ethnicity. Obesity is more prevalent amon g Hispanic, African-American and American Indian children, particularly girls (Mayohealth. org). When it comes to children who suffer from obesity most are not overeaters. The main cause of their weight gain is that the majority of the foods they consume contain high amounts of calories. When it comes to consuming excess calories, just an additional 200 calories a day can cause excess weight gain in children and add up to half a pound of fat a week. Although foods high in calories are partially to blame, soft drinks and fruit flavored beverages with high levels of sugar content also are a main cause of weight gain in children. In a recent study, it shows the average teenager in the United States today consumes an average of 65 gallons of sugary soft drinks annually. The number is doubled in elementary school age children and the number in general has tripled in the past two decades. When it comes to the issue of childhood obesity, diet is not the only factor contributing to the problem. Many physicians and child psychologist also blame the increase television viewing and a child’s more sedentary lifestyle. When it comes to watching television it does not require a large expenditure of energy and is usually accompanied by high-calorie foods. The American Heart Association reports that on average, a child watches a total of 17 hours of television a week. This report does not include the time spent playing both video and computer games. In one study performed by the American Heart Association, they found that a child who watches more than five hours of television a day have a greater risk of weight gain than children who watched less than two. (Mayohealth. org) Along with sedentary lifestyles, the addition of fast food can lead to obesity in children. As you drive in any town and city located in the United States, the one thing you will notice is that there is a fast food chain on almost every corner. Along with a fast food chain on every street corner, children watch television that are filled with commercial and advertisement showing their newest food selections. Many of these commercials have been geared toward children and can be associated with the rise of childhood obesity. In a recent study, researchers have found out that families that choose fast food as a meal three or more times a week do run a higher risk of obesity and larger BMI’s. When it comes to all fast food chains, the one thing they all have in common is that every kid’s meal comes with a choice of a boys or girls toy. The other thing they have in common is the absence of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grain. The absence of these healthy choices can make the effects of the burgers and fries that much more severe. In order to solve the problem of fast food, parents can balance a burger with regular exercise. With this combination, you can balance fast food with healthy choices. In a 1996 U. S. Surgeon General’s Report regarding fitness, nearly half of young people ages 12 to 21 years of age are not psychically active. The American College of Sports Medicine reports that, due to financial constraints, only one-third of schools now offer physical education classes and many children today finds team sports too competitive or costly to join. (Mayohealth. org) Physical education and organized sports not only provide children with an active lifestyle, but it also teaches them discipline. Although it is important for schools to provide young children with sports and physical education, the main responsibility lies at home with the parents. The effects of childhood obesity does not just end when the child grows into an adult but can cause further health issues in the future. Childhood obesity has been linked to hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Being extremely overweight and not active as child causes the buildup of excess fat which circulates the blood and eventually turns into plaque. The plaque caused by this excess fat begins to slowly accumulate in arteries which causes a strain on the veins. The accumulation of this plaque can occur early in childhood and could lead to heart disease or a eart attack as an adult. The distribution of fat in the body has an important effect on one's blood pressure. Hypertension is a chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. Young overweight adults between the ages 20-45; are six times more likely to have hypertension then normal weight peers the same age. This number is increased if an adult grew up as an obese child. An accumulation of fat results in the release of fatty acids into veins which causes an excess of hepatic synthesis of triglycerides, insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia. The Journal of the American Medical Association Volume. #282) Along with heart disease, diabetes is another health issue associated with early childhood obesity. Obesity increases the risk of non-insulin dependent diabetes and causes two different forms of the disease. One form of diabetes is the increased demand for insulin the other form is the resistance of insulin in an obese individual. Obesity causes a resistance to insulin that increases the insulin production to compensate the excess of glucose circulating in the blood. This excess causes damage to beta cells in the pancreas, producing insulin. (The Journal of the American Medical Association Volume. #282) Along with physical and health issues, psychological issues are also associated with childhood obesity. In today’s society a lot of emphasis has been placed on physical appearance. This is made evident in the media which portrays what they consider the ideal image of a person. These images make overweight people feel unattractive and unwanted. Many people in today’s society assume that obese people are lazy, fat, gluttonous and unattractive. It is because of these prejudices that cause children to feel rejected, shame and depression. Like health issues, psychological issues can also be carried over from childhood to adulthood. When it came to the treatment of childhood obesity, many thought it could be achieved through strict dieting and exercise. This was found to be unsuccessful in most cases due to the fact children did not have the support in order to accomplish this goal. A new treatment involving a family-based approach is now being introduced as possible treatment for childhood obesity. These programs are more successful because they maintain or slowly help a child lose weight as he/she grows (Mellin). These programs focus on the entire family, promoting physical and emotional well being and not diet. In order to perform this type of treatment, medical professionals have to first do a bio-psychosocial assessment to see if there are any medical or psychosocial problems. (Mellin) Once this is established, they can then address the symptoms of obesity and the causes of the weight gain. When it comes to the issue of childhood obesity, it is important to involve the entire family in treating this problem. Children need motivation and support from their family prior to the involvement of dieting or exercise. With a strong support structure, it allows children to feel they can accomplish anything. In my opinion childhood obesity is a serious problem because it affects all areas of today’s society. Childhood obesity affects a person’s health, psychological well-being, the medical field and the family. I feel that in today’s society they many consider exercise, dieting and medication a quick fix in solving the problem. I feel that the problem of childhood obesity can be resolved at home with proper education and support. All health problems in children that can be prevented starts with the parents prior to the involvement of anyone else. As a parent of an overweight child, the first thing you must do is set attainable goals. The most important thing is you have to learn how to walk before you can run. The benefits of setting attainable goals are that when an overweight child accomplishes the goals you have set it provides them with the motivation to accomplish more. If you set the goal to high and the child does not accomplish them, it makes them discouraged and will make it harder for them to achieve more. I feel along with support and motivation, an overweight child needs proper education regarding proper diet. I feel that many parents today feed their children what they want because they feel it is making them happy. What parents have to understand is just because it makes them happy doesn’t mean it is good for them. When feeding children full meals, a healthy diet containing less than 30% fat calories is considered sufficient in raising healthy child. Moran) Parents should also only offer snacks when the child is hungry. The most important rule when offering a child a snack is to make the snack healthy. Parents should offer their children fresh fruit, raw vegetables and water rather than sugary soft drinks. I feel that now days many parents use food as a reward rather than for nutritional purposes. In my opinion children should be pra ised verbally and not given snacks like dogs when they do something well. Verbal praise I feel works well especially when a child makes a healthy choice options. Another way a parent could help children maintain a healthy body weight is to encourage the child to participate in sports for at least a half an hour a day (Levine). Parents should encourage children to be active and go outside to play. Parents should also participate and encourage their children to play organized sports. When parents are involved in their child’s active lifestyle, children tend to see it all the way through. Parents should also limit children watching television and playing video games. Television and video should be used as a reward rather than a parenting tool. When it comes to childhood obesity and many other childhood diseases, parents now days are more anxious to throw medication at it or go for the quick fix. In my opinion, before a child can even talk they learn from everything you teach them as a parent. The issue of childhood obesity is never going to go away but it can be curved with a simple lifestyle change. All the learning starts at home and all habits whether good or bad starts at home too. When it comes to the issue of childhood obesity, parents have to learn that they are the key to their child living a healthy lifestyle and growing into healthy adults.

huckleberry finn and pleasentville essays

huckleberry finn and pleasentville essays Have you ever heard of the great Mark Twain? Many people have and recognize his novels by name; especially his most famous book called Huckleberry Finn. The great thing about Huck is that it was meant to be a simple book, but ended up deemed a classic. The reason for this is that it contains many great american themes and motifs. Many American novels, books and movies also contain these themes and motifs, making it very easy to compare Huckleberry Finn to Pleasantville. Although very different stories, in comparison Huck and Pleasantville have the same motifs. Both the movie and the book have the motifs of going west, rebel vs. the establishment and Jim Crow/Shaman. This essay will compare these common American motifs. The go west motif is about the characters running away or escaping from where they previously were (this doesnt necessarily have to include a trip west). In Huck Finn the river is the tool used to help Huck and Jim escape from their life. The river helps to take Huck and Jim away from civilization and reunite them with nature. The river also helps to free them from slavery, Huck being a slave to the Widow Douglas and Jim actually being Miss Watsons slave. In Pleasantville a life in colour is how the townspeople are allowed to go west. When they are in black and white they have the perfect life, meaning that nothing can ever go wrong, therefore they can never learn from their mistakes. When David introduces the thought of thinking for themselves to the teenagers of Pleasantville they begin to notice that there are other places in the world, this begins to change things from black and white to colour. Both stories contain the motif of going west. Another motif in these two works is the Rebel vs. the Establishment motif. In Huck the rebel would be Huck and one of the establishments would be the civil ...

Seasonable vs. Seasonal

Seasonable vs. Seasonal The words seasonable and seasonal both relate to the seasons of the year, but their meanings arent quite the same. The adjective seasonable means usual or suitable for a particular season of the year; taking place at an appropriate time. The adjective seasonal means relating to, dependent on, or characteristic of a particular season of the year. See Usage Notes, below. Examples After enduring two years of severe drought, we are finally enjoying some seasonable weather this summer.The old English song â€Å"John Barleycorn Must Die† describes the seasonal ritual of rendering grain into ale. Usage Notes Heat and humidity are seasonable here in summer means theyre normal for this season of the year. Sentimentality is seasonal at Christmas means its typical or characteristic of Christmas seasons. Seasonable can also mean opportune or in time, as in Their arrival was seasonable, just when we hoped for it. If people arrive seasonably, they are on time or even a bit early; if they arrive seasonally, they visit annually at about the same season of the year. Never use seasonable for seasonal (the other possible confusion almost never occurs.) Unseasonable, unseasonal, unseasonably, and unseasonally are precise antonyms of seasonable, seasonal, seasonably, and seasonally respectively.(Kenneth G. Wilson, The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Columbia University Press, 1993)Seasonal is used much more frequently than seasonable. A seasonal job is one that is available only at a particular time of the year: seasonal employment such as selling ice-creams in the summer. A seasonal chan ge is one that takes place at a particular time of the year: Allowing for seasonal factors, unemployment dropped slightly last month.(Martin H. Manser, Dictionary of English Spelling. Wordsworth, 1999) If youre talkin winter, spring, summer or fall, youre talkin seasonal; only if youre talkin about whats right and proper for those times are you correct to use seasonable.(William Safire, The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time. Simon Schuster, 2004) Practice (a) The lack of _____ clothing was one of the greatest hardships experienced by the children of the frontier.(b) In the early nineteenth century, there was a significant increase in the scale of _____ migration from Ireland to Britain during the harvest season. Answers (a) The lack of  seasonable  clothing was one of the greatest hardships experienced by the children of the frontier.(b) In the early nineteenth century, there was a significant increase in the scale of  seasonal  migration from Ireland to Britain during the harvest season.

What Is a Reach School Which Reach Schools Should I Choose

What Is a Reach School Which Reach Schools Should I Choose SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips For those of you who have started researching college admissions, you may have heard the term â€Å"reach school.† What is a reach school? Simply, a reach school is one that you shouldn't expect to be admitted to. It would be a reach to get in. In this article, I will define and explain the concept of a reach school. Furthermore, I will discuss how to identify your reach schools and determine the number of reach schools you should apply to. What Is a Reach School? A reach school is a college that is unlikely to offer you admission. A particular college qualifies as a reach school for you if your high school GPA and standardized test scores are significantly below those of the college's average student. Also, you should consider a college a reach school if it is one of the most selective colleges. For example, MIT, Stanford, and Ivy League colleges are reach schools for everyone due to their extremely low acceptance rates. In general, you should consider a college a reach school if you have less than a 30% chance of gaining admission. Here are some hypothetical examples to give you a better understanding of a reach school. Example #1 Joe has a 3.6 weighted GPA, a 1700 SAT score, and wants to go to UCLA. Joe's GPA is well below UCLA's average GPA of 4.29 and average SAT score of 1941. Furthermore, UCLA only admits 20% of its applicants. Therefore, Joe shouldn't expect to get into UCLA; he should consider UCLA a reach school. Typically, the only students who are offered admission with well below average numbers are highly recruited athletes in major sports, legacy students with donor parents, students from extraordinary backgrounds or circumstances, and students with amazing accomplishments. Even though colleges review your recommendations, personal essays, and extracurricular activities, gaining admission to a college is difficult with subpar grades and standardized test scores. Example #2 Regardless of your GPA and standardized test scores, for any student who wants to apply to Harvard, Harvard is a reach school. Harvard's admissions rate is only 6%. Obviously, that's an amazingly low percentage. Among Harvard students, the average high school GPA is 4.04 and the average SAT score is 2260. The 75th percentile SAT score is a perfect 2400. Even if you have a perfect GPA and perfect SAT score, Harvard is so selective that it's still a reach school. Harvard is a reach school for everyone. How to Identify Your Reach Schools Let's go through how to curate your list of schools to apply to, step-by-step. Step #1: Create Your List of Dream Schools Initially, don't consider your odds of getting in when creating your list of dream schools.Learn how to choose a collegeand use as many sources as possible to identify the colleges you want to go to. The most prestigious schools are likely to be reach schools. Use the best college search websites to help create your list. If necessary, you can also use guide books like Fiske Guide to Colleges and The Best 379 Colleges for in-depth college profiles and comparisons. Seek advice from others. Talk to your teachers, counselors, friends, and parents about colleges. Don't just blindly accept their college recommendations, but research the schools they recommend, and then determine whether or not those schools would be a good fit for you. After doing your research and consulting these various sources, you should be able to compile your list of dream schools. I recommend having about 8-15 schools on this list. If you have fewer schools, you may not be giving yourself enough options. If you have more, you probably haven't done enough to narrow down your college search and the application and selection process may end up being too costly and tedious. Step #2: Determine Which of the Schools From Your List Are Reach Schools The next step in identifying your reach schools is to determine which schools on your list of dream schools qualify as reach schools for you. How do you do this? I recommend using the PrepScholar school database. You can google â€Å"(name of school) prepscholar admissions requirements† to find a school profile for each college on your list. On the school profile, use the admissions calculator to get a rough idea of your chances of admission. The admissions calculator combines your GPA and standardized test scores with the admissions rate to approximate your chances of getting into the school. If, according to the admissions calculator, you have less than a 30% of gaining admission or the school has an admissions rate of less than 15%, then you should categorize the college as a reach school for you. Keep in mind that your GPA and SAT scores are only two components that determine whether you’re accepted to a school. Your extracurricular activities, recommendations, essays, and background play a role, too. However, GPA and SAT scores are the most important factors and they’re the most objective available statistics. How Many Reach Schools Should You Apply to? You may be wondering how many reach schools you should apply to. The number you should apply to depends on a few of different factors. Keep in mind that the college application process can be costly, if you don't qualify for application fee waivers. Also, it can be very time-consuming, especially if you apply to schools that don't use the Common Application. A general rule is to apply to 1/3 reach schools out of all the schools you apply to. If you follow this formula, then if you apply to 10 schools, no more than 3 should be considered reaches. Also, 1/3 of the schools you apply to should be safety schools, schools that typically admit students with your qualifications. The remaining 1/3 should be schools that are in the middle, colleges that give you about a 30%-80% chance of admission based on your qualifications. If the cost and time you spend on your applications doesn't matter as much to you, you can apply to more reach schools. However, you do want to make sure that you apply to enough other schools to ensure that you give yourself choices. If you're likely to get rejected by most of the schools you apply to, your options may be limited when you're selecting a college to attend. If you're not even close to the average GPA or 25th percentile SAT score at a selective college, you may be wasting your time applying. Your chances of getting in are probably close to zero unless there's something else truly extraordinary in your application or there's a building on campus named after one of your immediate family members. Quick Review A reach school is a college that is not likely to admit you, generally offering you less than a 30% chance of admission. Use the admissions rate of a college and its average GPA and standardized test scores to determine if its a reach school for you. The most selective colleges are reach schools for everyone. Apply to roughly 1/3 reach schools to ensure that you have options during the college selection process. Give yourself college options. What's Next? If you want to make yourself competitive for college admission, learn how to build the most versatile college application. For those of you who need to improve your standardized test scores, find out how to get a 2400 on the SAT or a 36 on the ACT. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Labor Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Labor Relations - Essay Example Acknowledgements I would like to thank my professors and all my seniors who have continuously assisted me with the project providing with suggestions and advices as well as sources from where I could take help from. I would also like to thank my peers who assisted me with the drafting and presentation of the report. Contents 1. Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.5 2. Abu Dhabi Media Company: An Overview†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦5 3. Human Resource Management at Abu Dhabi Media Company†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.7 3.1. Company’s Employment Contracts and Relations†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.7 3.2. UAE Labor Law and Abu Dhabi Media Company†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦8 4. Trade Unio n and Abu Dhabi Media Company†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..9 4.1. Trade Unions†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..9 5. Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.11 6. ... Human resource management is the department of an organization that deals with humans or the employees of the organization. The managers of the human resources department are involved with the employment contracts and relations with the employees of the organization. They deal with the hiring of new employees depending on the labor law of the nation in which the company exists. Also, a study on the human resources activities of a company provides with the knowledge of any form of trade union that is followed by the company’s members. The current study focuses on a local company in Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi Media Company, and studies the human resources management of the company focusing on the company’s background, vision and mission, its employment relations and contracts, the implications of UAE Labor Law for hiring new expatriates employees for the company, as well as the nature of the role of trade union in the company if it exists, and unde rstanding the role and benefits of a trade union. 2. Abu Dhabi Media Company: An Overview: Abu Dhabi Media is one of the media companies in the Middle East located in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Its activities involve multiple functions performing in different platforms of the media. More than 20 brands of the media are managed by the company and these include television, radio, publishing, games, digital media, printing, as well as other broadcasting media. There are a number of subsidiaries working for the organization that include leading companies in the field of media like Imagenation Abu Dhabi, LIVE, United Printing Press (UPP) and others. The three main divisions performing the functions for the company are the Broadcast, Publishing, and the Digital Media.

GLOBAL BUSINESS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

GLOBAL BUSINESS - Essay Example This business report further illustrates the idea that studying the business environment can help in the actual planning and decision-making activity. This is evident in the case of SWOT analysis and Force Field analyses, both are important for actual decision-making technique. Furthermore, highlighting the case of ‘The Guardian’ and the actual scenario in the newspaper industry in the developed economies will help us understand more about the potential impact of the mentioned analyses. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction 4 Findings 4 SWOT Analysis of ‘The Guardian’ 5 Description of Lewin’s Force Field Analysis 7 Force Field Analysis of the newspaper industry in the developed economies 7 Description of the Indian newspaper industry 7 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction The newspaper industry especially in the developed countries is going through a remarkable change. There are factors that can help explain this change. Although the pe riod of change has taken its place in the developed economies, the story is quite different in India. To deal more of this, the following points are included in this business report. Description of a PEST analysis, its purpose and the business benefit. A PEST analysis for the newspaper industry in the developed economies. ... Description of PEST Analysis. PEST analysis is essentially part of every planning activity, as its sheer purpose is to consider Political, Economic, Socio-cultural and Technological changes in the business environment. This even leads to a high level of decision-making capability or reasonable decisions of the manager, as there will be exposure to probable changes prevailing in the business environment. These changes will therefore help the business world to find ways and means in order to create the remarkable opportunities linked to them. This leads the business world to consider PEST analysis as a management tool that is capable to give smart management and advanced warning of threats, pushing the yellow button to consider finding the right alternative courses of actions to take and outlining the best moves to do to change path if it is necessary. With this, the employment of PEST analysis will be able to guarantee at some certain level the ability of the business not to fall into serious mishaps, but rather a more meaningful view or approach of the new business environment. With the serious challenge linked to the prevailing changes that the newspaper industry in the developed countries is facing today, a PEST analysis is necessary to plan for the necessary courses of actions before things might be too late. PEST analysis for the newspaper industry in the developed countries. The online article, ‘Who killed the newspaper’ reveals some insightful information concerning the probable reasons why the newspaper industry in the developed countries is facing a significant challenge at the moment despite its success in the past years. a. Political. It is revealed that

Research paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Research Paper Example In all difficulties nourishment of childlike he/she didn’t feel any kind of loneliness. There is a lack of support from a partner and have to make all the decisions and all the responsibilities are overwhelmed on single parent and their household is totally disturb that’s why research proofs that double parents household is very satisfactory. Research supports that children who grow up in households with two continuously married parents are less likely to experience a wide range of problems because psychologically both have mental satisfaction that’s why they don’t screamed, shout or irritate on children as well as they don’t get panic because they have mutual responsibilities and the atmosphere of their homes are calm and peaceful as well as society never asked them about their personal issues so they don’t experienced any behavioral problems in spite of this children from single parent families have more behavioral problems, more emotional problems and single parent is always disturb about this mental stress of child so the environment of their homes are sad and this household have only one responsible who have to care about kids schools, homework, lunch, uniform etc. Burden of responsibilities under single parent disturb whole family. Other research has shown that when parents have conflicts it becomes the worst situation for raising children. Living with one parent reduces anxiety and stress for the children. When parent is not giving much time and effortto conflicts then they have more emotional resources to give a child and children nourishment under this household becomes satisfactory. According to research overwhelmingly support of parents and the best environment for child nourishment is a two parent family, where parents are married and live happily and give best time to their children but Of course not every two-parent family is ideal because of their home atmosphere although overwhelming is an advantage but conflicts between parents disturb child’s mind and continuous stress make them upset that’s why sometimes children raised better in a single parent home, but research shows that this is the exception not the rule. And the researchers shocked to see that divorce is now common and 50% of marriages will end in divorce and their rate is increases day by day and there is no foible of kids but they suffer a lot and having lower average levels of cognitive, social and emotional well beings although their households considered best but everything kids happiness, best education will be finish when child have no mental satisfaction and when they grow up under mother and father’s shadow and suddenly this situation occurs so obviously it have social impacts their must ask them about the reason of their parents’ divorce these small things disturb the whole life of child and the effect of divorce continue into adulthood as well as children experience â€Å"lower psych ological well-being, Poor marital quality and an elevated risk of seeing their own marriage end in divorce; this divorce case is exceptional and rare because sometime child get more mature by passing difficult situations and get lesson by their parents behavior and live happily with their partner. That’s why children whose parents do not have stable marriages are better off in a single parent family. Supervision of child under two parent house hold is best and in a better way so that child not feels that parents always supervise them. But as a single parent he/she does

Learning Disabilities and its Causes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

Learning Disabilities and its Causes - Essay Example If a child is diagnosed, it is necessary to trace back his history of activities to uncover the risk factors. Genetics is the most suspected cause of learning disabilities, while some cite a relationship to IQ. Surprisingly, there are those who believe that it is the result of too much television. Poor diet and lack of early childhood intervention are also attributable cases. Most people cite early intervention as the remedy, while half of the respondent erroneously believe that medication and mental health treatment is a solution. Common characteristics are classified under academic problems, attention disorders, poor motor abilities, psychological challenges, poor cognition, reading challenges, oral language problems, social skill dysfunction, and mathematical disorders. Even so, some students may only exhibit one of these characteristics, while some will still be successful in class even with some disabilities. Problems arise based on the duration, intensity, and quantity of the characteristics. Boys are more prone to girls to have a learning disability. To maintain attention, assignments should be in smaller segments, the time for each class should be increased gradually, prompts and verbal and written cues are essential. Finally, it is essential to teach students to identify and highlight information. Predictions, in form of pictures, graphs, headings, and subtitles can help a student activate prior knowledge before reading and increase attention. In addition, questions are necessary before reading to increase attention to important information. An advanced organizer can help focus on key material while self-monitoring and self-evaluation techniques are applicable for longer passages. Direct instruction helps to identify and instruct specific academic skills and the use of proven teaching techniques. This teacher-directed method ensures information is organized  and presented in an organized manner.  

Inccident Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Inccident - Essay Example My mind had drifted off to recall the conversation at the kitchen table in the morning where I heard momma telling my dad of the intended visit of our grand parents for the summer. Having my grand parents for holidays made my days shine. Grand pa with his erect frame and ruddy sun tanned skin from countless hours in the outdoors brought me memories of great cowboys. Grand ma always reminded of softness with her twinkling blue eyes and beautiful soft skin. Her voice was so gentle and soothing that I loved to fall a sleep in her lap, listening to the stories and songs she read or sang to me at bedtime. I came out of the reverie of my grandma’s soft cocoon of love when I heard Tim, our implicitly appointed group leader chanted in a high pitch tone â€Å" Here comes a Wadley Sack..he he he he† and I looked up to see the woman of an extra bulky frame walking pass the lot. Tim was right in one sense in that she was hardly walking but waddling along with a difficult gait. She looked in our direction as the chanting got more boisterous with the rest of the boys, Sean, Steave, Mat and Harry joining in the ridiculing of the plus sized lady. I watched her, expecting to see anger and distaste in her expressions but was surprised at the kind and conciliatory look in her eyes. â€Å" Wow†¦ she must be eating like a giant!† said Tim, and everyone laughed aloud. I looked at her once again and thought that though she was rather big, she looked kind and pleasant with her redeeming smile. In the silence that followed, my â€Å"tag & hoop† buddies turned questioning ly at me. I have not uttered a single word up to now, nor had I joined in the laughter, which rankled the humid summer air. â€Å"Alan? You don’t think she looks like a big sack of potatoes?† Questioned Tim and I waited as if the cat got my tongue. â€Å"Oooohh†¦ Alan likes her! He doesn’t think she looks that bad!† Exclaimed Tim, the gang master in mock exaggeration and the others

Learning Disabilities and its Causes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

Learning Disabilities and its Causes - Essay Example If a child is diagnosed, it is necessary to trace back his history of activities to uncover the risk factors. Genetics is the most suspected cause of learning disabilities, while some cite a relationship to IQ. Surprisingly, there are those who believe that it is the result of too much television. Poor diet and lack of early childhood intervention are also attributable cases. Most people cite early intervention as the remedy, while half of the respondent erroneously believe that medication and mental health treatment is a solution. Common characteristics are classified under academic problems, attention disorders, poor motor abilities, psychological challenges, poor cognition, reading challenges, oral language problems, social skill dysfunction, and mathematical disorders. Even so, some students may only exhibit one of these characteristics, while some will still be successful in class even with some disabilities. Problems arise based on the duration, intensity, and quantity of the characteristics. Boys are more prone to girls to have a learning disability. To maintain attention, assignments should be in smaller segments, the time for each class should be increased gradually, prompts and verbal and written cues are essential. Finally, it is essential to teach students to identify and highlight information. Predictions, in form of pictures, graphs, headings, and subtitles can help a student activate prior knowledge before reading and increase attention. In addition, questions are necessary before reading to increase attention to important information. An advanced organizer can help focus on key material while self-monitoring and self-evaluation techniques are applicable for longer passages. Direct instruction helps to identify and instruct specific academic skills and the use of proven teaching techniques. This teacher-directed method ensures information is organized  and presented in an organized manner.  

Struggles for Freedom and Equality Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Struggles for Freedom and Equality - Assignment Example Martin Luther King took more of a collaborative approach. In essence, he felt that this battle was for whole America, not just the African Americans themselves. King felt that it was the duty of the humanity to act on the behalf of equality, and that a non-violent approach would go long ways to ensure that equality will be achieved for African Americans. Malcolm X was a Muslim, and believed in Muslim principles. His most famous line was â€Å"By any Means Necessary†. Malcolm X understood that to simple play â€Å"fire with fire.† This was a complete different approach to his colleague - Martin Luther King. Malcolm X understood that freedom must be achieved by any means. However later in his life, he changed his views and become more susceptible to nonviolence. Even during the famous March to Washing, Malcolm X felt that this would destroy the focal point of black freedom. In essence, he was a segregationist and was confined to the equality of African Americans within

Chronic disease managment Essay Example for Free

Chronic disease managment Essay What is self-management? Self-care management is defined as the behaviour employed by an individual in managing and implementing the treatment regimen within the individuals lifestyle routine and it recognizes an individuals central role in managing chronic diseases (Costantini et al. , 2008). In sum, self-management is to help individuals collaborate with health care professionals to help themselves, by using strategies and proper interventions, to bring self-care into daily routine to help managing chronic diseases and to promote quality of life. How will you promote self-efficacy and autonomy for your clients in your practice? Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects almost every aspect of patients life, both physical and emotional. According to Mok (2011, p12), several strategies identified in helping patients with CKD to improve nutritional adherence. These strategies fall into three categories: patient education, behaviour modification and organizational changes. These strategies also applicable in other treatment in CKD. According to Barbra (2011,p183), when patients disease deteriorate or towards terminal states, strategies of ending self-management and back to medical or comfort care were also mentioned. Nurses can apply these strategies by nursing interventions to help promote patients self-efficacy and autonomy. First, patient education strategies. Nurses should assess patients need and their knowledge and literacy level before providing education. These assessment should make sure patients are ready to accept the changes and the education received can be fully understood. Usually when patients are knowledgeable in their own condition, their self-efficacy and autonomy will be greatly improved. In addition, education should also be provided to caregivers because a lot of patients with CKD depend on caregivers in ADLs. During assessment and education process, nurses should be aware of using good communication skills, interviewing skills and make sure accurate information and related resources are provided to patients and caregivers. Second, behaviour modification strategies. According to Mok (2011, p12), several techniques can be used in behaviour modification such as reminders, self-monitoring, and positive reinforcement. Nurses can combine effective behavioral, psychosocial strategies such as periodical reminder by using telephone, email, regular appointment or face to face interaction. Nurses should advocate patients for regular follow up to make sure patients adherence to treatment. No patient is alone in chronic disease treatment, nurses should collaborate with patients family members and caregivers to help maintain compliance. In addition, nurses can assist patients in using self-monitoring techniques such as blood pressure monitoring, diaries, logs, personal health records to help track their health condition. Third, organizational changes. According to Mok (2011, p13), nurses can collaborate with other health care professionals such as dietitians and physicians to enhance compliance. Nurses can directly help patients in developing dietary plan and improve patients satisfactory, in turn, promote treatment adherence. Lastly, according to Barbra (2011, p183), when patient unable to perform self-care, giving up self-management and return to professional medical care should be acknowledged. Nurses should educate and assess patients and caregivers capability of performing self-management, making sure they are knowledgeable of serious symptoms and capable of seeking help when needed. What are indicators of successful self-management in patients with CKD? According to Mok (2011, p12), several factors may affect successful treatment such as lack of knowledge, hectic lifestyle, lack of decision making in own dietary outcomes and dissatisfactory of dietary prescription. First, knowledge deficit will make patients unable to choose proper food or make necessary adjustments, in turn, leads to failure in self-care management. Therefore, patients education, knowledge and ample resources provision are indicators of successful self-management. Second, hectic lifestyle such as fast-paced lifestyle or elderly depend on others are often unable to adherence to the prescribed regimen. Therefore, lifestyle modification, caregivers capability and support are also indicators of successful self-management. Third, lack of decision making of own dietary outcome due to depend on caregivers instead of patients might influence successful self-management. Fourth, dissatisfaction of prescribed renal diet will affect patients adherence. Therefore, patient readiness to change, communication skills, assessment tools and psychosocial support are also indicators of successful self-management. In sum, indicators of successful self-management involves every aspect of disease process and treatment. In nurses and patients perspective, nurses communication skills, interviewing skills, collaboration capability, staff training, patients readiness, patients emotional support, patients knowledge, problem solving techniques, etc are all indicators of successful self-management.

A Sense Of Urgency And John P Kotter Philosophy Essay

A Sense Of Urgency And John P Kotter Philosophy Essay John  P.  Kotter  is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School. Kotter is an eminent and renowned author in the field of writing books regarding change in the organizations. John Kotter is internationally and extremely regarded as the speaker and a critical thinker on the topic of change and leadership. Kotter is also famous for his authentic opinions for bringing about change and has a distinguished place as an international business consultant. His latest book A Sense of Urgency in which he talked about eight steps to overcome and embrace change is a sequel of his previous work, Leading Change and Our Iceberg Is Melting The first step of the eight is a sense of urgency which is poorly handled by the most organization and consequently becomes the reason of organizational decline, so Kotter presents and suggests the gruesome guidelines to the organizations that how they would actually transform successfully. Kotters wide experience an d knowledge on affluent change have been proven time and again. The title of the book A Sense of Urgency is very appropriate with its subject matter. He discusses in his book the first step in bringing change in the organizations in detail. He identifies the single and enormous factor to a successful change, which also is regarded his number-one principle: creating a true sense of urgency. SUMMARY John Kotter in his book A Sense of Urgency tries to answer the most frequently asked question, What is the single biggest error people make when they try to change? In the course of his research and asking different managers about their experience, he landed on the finale, that at the groundwork of any effort to change you have to start with a sense of urgency. This can sometimes be mistaken for a false sense of urgency. Everyone looks like they are actively achieving the companys goal but really they are aggravated and forced. This can make it hard to keep your focus on the companys main objective. In this book, A Sense of Urgency the distinction between true urgency and false urgency will be discussed. To maintain urgency up, over a large period of time, urgency has to be re-created over and over again. Urgency basically always leads to triumph, which then leads to satisfaction. This satisfaction is for the most part obvious, after a company encounters a large grow and the captivating frame of mind is conspicuous. A triumph allows people to feel that the urgency is over and they become complacent with their work. But when a triumph has been made rejoice, it is hard to be provoked daily without ever feeling like you accomplished anything. Kotter stresses upon the fact of complacency in the organizations. In the beginning he somewhat accepts the reality that this complacency is actually a root cause of the downfall of any organization. As per his point of view, in this fast moving world everything is changing quickly and the people who do not want to cope with it, would soon tumble down. They have no perspectives of their own. Their sluggish behavior will soon hazardous for not only to them but their surroundings too. They always think that they are perfect and challenges are only being faced by others. It does not prove that the writer wants to implement a sudden change which would only occur in such a way that people make presentation on power point and lot of meetings being arranged and in the end no solution would be made. Kotter is not in the favor of false urgency. It usually brings frantic results which destructs the action of true urgency. The writer believes in a positive approach in life. He approves the time of all is well or everything is a mess has gone and the behavior to move forward and win is required. Political and social environment keeps on changing and what a single person can do is, to move ahead without having any repercussion of his past failures. Kotter presents different tactics by narrating anecdotal stories and detailed tool to make the book more pragmatic and useful. His tactics are: 1. Identification of the lack of right urgency. 2. Face the reality of change. 3. Patience in the crises. 4. being steadfast to overcome the ordeals in the way of change. Kotter deals with many problems and misunderstandings surrounding to the concept of urgency. In his opinion urgency itself is very necessary part to all businesses, not just who initiates to bring about change. Employees become oblivious to change possibilities, whether good or bad. He describes that every move towards urgency is not usually beneficial but only true urgency is productive in such cases. He uses times and again, a word right sense of urgency in his book. To maintain the right sense of urgency is a real job, not only to apply it and leave it without any endorsement. He promotes to work smartly not hastily; and the sense of profit and loss at the right time, because if the right decision is not taken at the right time, there is no use of such right decision. A real sense of urgency should amazingly be encouraging and spongy and does not mean to close the eyes when the trouble comes. It should be a stimulant which makes you ready to confront the projects and predicaments that would normally consume their work schedule. Only try to get away with complacency by saying, what we are doing is not longer what we will need in the future. Kotter refused to adopt the habit of complacency because in doing so organization becomes self centered and do not allow outer components of the business and this results in the downfall of the organization. Instead of suppressing the complacency, often a rapid and quick sense of urgency is seen which is also not in favor of organizational health. He further explains that whenever change occurs in any organization there is always a first group who do not accept crises pleasantly rather they are much concerned about the consequences of the change. On the other hand there is a second group whose attitude is rather supportive and encouraging to the management. They seem to avail every opportunity from the crises and try to reinvent the organization by making necessary changes in it. The idea of working well in the past hinders to bring about change. Urgency in this situation should be recreated over and over again. So to speak the truth, not only the employees of the organization but owners themselves are subject to the destruction of their businesses. The owners are sometimes obsessed with their continuous success and forget to see the new prospects. Consequently, it brings about catastrophic deterioration in the business from inside in the end. At this point Kotter seems confident enough to plead his case when he asserts on the managers and the employees to foresee the outcome beforehand. External aspects in the process of change are as important as internal issues, because management usually ignores the role of external pressure upon the internal environment of the organization. It is observed that whenever these external intrusions are not handled correctly the budget schedule of the organization get affected badly. So the act of complacency and false urgency are contradiction in terms of true urgency ANALYSIS Like any other book this book has both its strengths and weaknesses and each are intertwined with the other. In other words some of the books greatest strength can also be considered its greatest weakness. STRENGTHS The great organization of the book is flawless. The writing style is easy. He uses a very simple language which can be understood easily. He presents very significant issues to bring about change in an organization. The title page is extremely meaningful and appropriate to the subject matter. He spots the light over three main key issues to consider during organizational change initiatives i.e. urgency, complacency and false sense of urgency and describes them in detail. Kotter is a strong advocate of bringing change in an organizational culture because without being change, progress in this world is not feasible. He suggests that leaders should win the hearts and minds of their staff. To employ the right amount of urgency, one must presents a rational case for change as part of an overall approach to engage the hearts and emotions of the people within the organizations. Kotter seems to play with the words, for instance, the use of false urgency in the contrast of right urgency has made his work comprehensible, that even an ordinary reader can differentiate the distinction between the two. This book has made different managers able to know that urgency is that big of a problem in business who always thought of urgency in the sense of an emergency, not anything to do with business. This book really opened their eyes up to the notion of urgency in many ways. The people who strive to be the manager, that not only listens to their employees when they have suggestions, but actually takes them into consideration for further growth. All while paying close attention to the real anxieties and frustrations they have when rules and system just do not work for every position. Also, they will try to be that person that evokes a true sense of urgency everyday so that everyone around them feels that they have to spend their day getting as much productive work done as they possibly can. Each sub tactic contains a focused page and a half discussion of what they are and how leaders can implement the idea. This detail and its presentation is what really distinguishes the book and brings something new to discuss. Complacency is the crucial word he has used through and through in his book which means, A feeling of contentment and satisfaction, especially when coupled with an awareness of danger and trouble. It is not just a thought but a feeling. This feeling can bring catastrophic downfall in ones constant successful future. This feeling makes them lazy and lethargic and when they come to know about their decline, they hastily adopt the behavior of false urgency which is directly opposite to complacency, it turns over into arrogance. Consequently some radical steps should be taken. Kotter here tries to persuade his readers the significance of good communicative relationship between employer and employee. He thinks that a leader should play a role of a bridge between him and his workers. Meaningful communication with the employees and a critical feedback from the customers and their personal opinions should be welcomed WEAKNESSES The books main weak point is that it is not detailed in their examples. There are discussions of nondescript companies that reduce rather than support the messages. Most of the case stories do not have a conclusion the results companies were able to achieve. This makes the examples more fables that case studies. Initially the book does not distinguish that there are other approaches to change management and urgency. This discourages the reader the ability to place A Sense of Urgency in the background of the broader literature. This book does not recommend or provide any idea to its reader to enhance his knowledge regarding change. Secondly, there are less pragmatic solutions to be implemented in the organization for the desired change. Another aspect of the book that may fall prey to criticism in the area of tangible examples is once again modified to be used by the community of corporate organization and for businesses and not by other groups. Kotter provides various relevant tactics that can be broadly applied in the business organizations not in other educational institutes. Finally, there are some unexpected gaps in the book that by themselves do not weaken the book, but in total they certainly take away from its power. First the book does not recognize that there are other approaches to change management and urgency. This denies the reader the ability to put A Sense of Urgency in the context of the broader literature. This is really unfortunate as this book should replace some ideas and enhance others Kotter leaves that up to the reader rather than providing a recommendation. Second, the book has no index, which not only makes it tougher to use after the fact, but also is a silly omission. CONCLUSION This book is well worth reading if one has an interest in organizational change. This book would definitely motivate the team members of any organization and will instill a sense of urgency into their work to a certain degree. It is an easy read and full of helpful information. It is an excellent primer for anyone interested in learning how to encourage the proper sense of urgency by winning over the hearts and minds of their organization. With several tactical leadership approaches existing, leaders can properly create change and help their group feel at ease throughout their transform. By creating and maintaining a sense of urgency, communicating a clear path toward success, and integrating new patterns into the workers daily lives, leaders can efficiently bring about positive change. With the current economical crisis forcing firms and companies to either go down or up, the only way for these organizations to succeed is for leaders to hold change and become accustomed accordingly. People need to see leaders dealing with change so they can have someone to identify with. The book is especially relevant in the current recession. Now is the time to read the book and take action immediately while people still have a crisis that is disrupting the status quo. As an information-development organization, you may feel true urgency to improve the usability of you information or you may want to increase the efficiency of your operation to make you companys products more competitive. Be careful of complacently looking inward. The task is not to produce works of art but to support the companys products. Too often, writer become more interested in the technicalities of writing rather than focusing on customer needs so these are tools, not vain rights. More than ever, one must improve their good organization. Improvements that will be arranged now will be invaluable when the company is back to full steam ahead after the recession ends.

Irony in Edwin Arlington Robinson’s Poem, Richard Cory :: Richard Cory Analysis

In Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poem â€Å"Richard Cory,† things are not what they seem. People saw that Richard Cory had wealth, power, education, fame and good looks. They thought that all this brought Richard happiness. They all wanted to be like him . No one got to know who he was but only knew him for what he had. It seemed that he had everything yet it was not enough to make him happy. His wealth did not give him happiness nor did it bring him friends. Richards’s loneliness is what makes him kill himself. What seems to be true is not actually true underneath it all. In the beginning of the poem, Richard Cory is described as a person who seems to have everything: â€Å"And he was rich†¦/ And admirably schooled in every grace:†(9-10) so he was wealthy, powerful and good-looking. These are things that everyone wants to be. It is thought that money can buy happiness but it can not. It seems as if Richard would be happy with the things that he has but it was not as it appeared. The people and Richard Cory have their differences. While Richard was â€Å"richer than a king-†(9) the people â€Å"went without meat, and cursed the bread:†(14). The people were too poor to afford meat and despised their lives. They wanted to be like him and wished that they â€Å"were in his place.†(12) They thought they would be happy if they were rich like Richard. The â€Å"people on the pavement looked at him:†(2) as if he was above them. The pavement showed that they were below him and it emphasized the next line that he was like a king. The people seemed to keep their distance from Richard because of their differences. This makes him lonely, which leads him to his death. At the end of the poem, it is bluntly stated that Richard Cory kills himself because he was unhappy with his life. â€Å"And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, / Went home and put a bullet through his head.†(15-16) He shot himself because he was lonely having

Medieval Castle Research Paper

As time went on castles became more and more advanced. Castles were first created in the 10th century in Normandy. The first types we re emote and bailey castles; these castles were surrounded by ditches often filled with water, moats, to defend the mounds. There often was a drawbridge to go over the moat and w alls around the castle itself. These walls were thick; some of them were up to 2030 feet thick, which helped defend the castle.The reason castles were built was that the people needed more space for the court of justice, the storehouse refuge, entertainment held there, their king a ND of course, a home. War was a big part of life in the Medieval Era, so castles were built in a ay to be hard to attack; however, most castles had the same tactic so they knew how to attack one another. There were three main ways to attack: starvation tactic, mining, and treachery.The s titration tactic was surround the castle they were attacking so that the people inside would e eventually have to 2 come out and fight or starve to death because there was no way out since the y were surrounded; the mining tactic was when the attacker would tunnel under the walls and set the ground on fire making the ground unstable and allowing the walls to fall, this was prevented by the moats most f the time; the last tactic, treachery, was basically a surprise attack on a bull arable area, a place that was not guarded so they had an easy attack.There were many ways to d fend a castle however, and the architecture was a huge way. The location was on a hill with wet ground caused from the moat, which also gave them easy escape; another architecture oral defense mechanism was the shape of the castle, they were mainly circular to avoid core nurse for the miners and they had many thick walls that were difficult to get through. Also they were e on a slope so if boulders were dropped they would fall down the hill. Sometimes they would I re attackers to a restricted area where they then controlled and killed them.Richard the Lionhearted had started one of the most formidable castles for his b rather Chateau Gaillardia, who did not even get to enjoy the castle due to death. It was then given to their other brother John who lost it in a siege. Richard the Lionhearted did not build al I of the popular castles though. Some of the most popular castles in this time were Babylon, Mycenae, and Troy. Babylon was believed to have 23 feet thick walls according to the writing on s mom of the fallen walls, Mycenae was a strong massive masonry which was prompted on a big hill, and Troy was lilt on top of nine cities making this castle one of the most historical ones.Life inside of a castle was very different than life is now; everything in the me devil era was different, however, the way they lived their lives compared to how people live their life now is very different It has definitely changed for the better. Children were treat d as useless until they were an adult. Normally, they were not even raised by their parents, they got shipped off to 3 somebody else to get raised.If a child was born into a poor family, they were often sold for one of two reasons: either the family needed money so they sold their child or the did not have enough money to afford their child's living expenses so they sold their kid. No matter if a child lived inside or outside of a castle, they were treated poorly and had little to no rights. Another similarity all children shared was getting baptized; in the medieval era, all chill drew got baptized because baptism apparently got rid of sin and evil from the child. Everybody g to baptized as a baby because they had to before death since this era was very catholic.Food and drink were two very important essentials in this time, as they are no w. Wine was the most valued drink. Back in the 1 10th 1 lath century people did not belie eve in aging the wine so the taste varied much from today's wine. Ale was probably the next p popular drink with Made following close behind. Made was made by fermenting honey and WA term which gave it a very sweet taste. Cider was made from apples and sometimes it was blended with pears, it has not changed very much, meaning it is similar to the cider many people drink n owe in 2014.There were different types bowfin and Claret was one of them; it was sweetened WI the honey and spices and when it was sweetened further it was called â€Å"Manley. † Punches, the last of the popular rinks, was rumored to help tooth decay, but has never been proved a valid p mint. Food was also very important, not only for surviving but also impressing. Inter jestingly, the most common food among everybody was bread. Of course the more MO nee one has the better his/ her product is. The best bread was made out of properly ground whole wheat and was served to the lord of the castle, it was so different it got its own special name † Munched. The most common bread, served to commoners, was made from rye; the poor pee pole or people who lived outside of the castle go bread that was made from peas or beans. Bread was so important to people that they also used it as a plate and called it a â€Å"trencher. † The normal meat they had was either cattle or sheep which were both â€Å"hunted† from their livestock. Along WI the the lack of real plates they also did not have forks; they had knives and spoons and used thee r hands for the rest. This meant that they not only had to wash their hands before their meal but a Iso after because they would be filthy from eating with them.Many people had their own gardens in which they grew fruits, vegetables, fool were, and herbs for two reasons: medical needs and food. They grew parsley, sage, chip SE, dill, marjoram, ND cumin all to cook with. Many of these herbs are still used to cook. They al so grew betony and chamomile and anise and chamomile to help or prevent medical issues. Be Tony and chamomile helped get rid of headaches and anise and chamomile helped flat lance. They grew leeks, cabbages, carrots, peas, turnips, onions, and parsnips which are all Vega eatables in their gardens.Some fruit trees and bushes that they grew included apple trees, plug m trees, pear trees, cherry trees, mulberry bushes, gooseberry bushes, strawberry bushes, and gar ape vines. Flowers were also used for cooking and medical purposes. Violets, primrose, and NASA radium were all used for cooking; whereas, honeysuckle, used as an nondiscriminatory, and chi restatement, used for colds and fevers, were used for medical purpose. In the 1 1 the century the castles were simple with the emote and bailey. They h ad timber frames and palisades evolved into substantial concentric castles by the 14th c entry.Major changes occurred with developing completely new castle designs. Locations, Concentric Castles Abroad, Access, and Defensive Architecture was the key points in the medieval I castles during the 14th century. A big component when d esigning the castle was the location of it within itself. In many 5 instances the site itself would determine and even limit the castle plans. The c castle called Bamberger Castle on the Northumberland coast was built on a very high group ND overlooking dunes and the North Sea. Due to the design and fortifications were built roar ND the pros and cons of the location.With the pros and cons of building on a very high hill is that the eye are usually not evenly topped off so sometimes they would be built very high up on one end with Others just reinforced. An example of how castles were denied building construction was if they were rocky topped or any chance of any sliding. The castle in North Wales where the plan s were restricted by the rocky outcrop it was built on and led to a design which has been com eared to an hour class where if would eventually just drop and run out of support. With that bee Eng said the castle buildings were very difficult to construct.The concentric castles were a type of defense which was seen during the crud dads in Spain and of course Cornerstone in France. The earliest Of this type was said t o probably be the Land Wall in Constantinople which was built around the 5th century. The con enteric castle had three distinct walls each one becoming progressively larger. The biggest door on the castle was the entrances usually a drawbridge for MO SST. Even though it was the biggest it had its cons. They go back to the very early age buy t recognized as their weakest spot.With that being said they had to encompass surrounding buildings and allow for space to accept refugees from neigh pouring towns that created the need f or concentric castles with walls getting progressively smaller. One thing that you would expect from Castles would be the size and with size comes defense. A big building usually has a lot of options of weapons for attacking a ND playing the offensive part in a battle. Well the defensive architecture covers drawbridges, s piral staircases, 6 killing grounds, machinations and loopholes or nurseries to name but a fee w.The defensive objects were enabling people to work with them and advance them in many ways into the 1 5th century and were largely common wherever the castle was built. In the medieval times people made their own entertainment. They had to beck cause back then they didn't have anything like we do today. The entertainment we use to daddy take for granted and simply had not been invented back then. † In medieval times that is the four entities from William the Conqueror through to the age of the printing pres s entertainment was a very popular and necessary part of people's lives.We take a look at me devil entertainment in the 14th century the era most commonly associated in Poe plea's minds with the word ‘medieval' as it was the time of knights, jousts, chivalry and the crusades ( Medieval Entertainment Medieval Games, Gambling, Recreation†¦ ) In total there are eight mai n Crusades and a number of smaller ones. By the e ND of the 1 lath century political conditions were stable across Europe. Pilgrimages to Jeer Salem were fairly moon and the Catholic Church had responsibility for maintaining the holy places.At the end of the 1 lath century, Alexis Comments instigated the first Crusade in response e to local chieftains with in the middle east fighting amongst themselves and endangering the pill rims in the process. Crusades rarely ever achieved their military objectives but the impact that the y had on medieval society was profound. 350 years they stimulated trade. With all the Crusades that had happened out of the 5 not including the later o ones the third crusade was probably the most efficient. After the fall Of Acre the crusaders marched along the coast to Gaff the coast Richard still fail to capture Jerusalem.The Crusade end De with a threaten truce with Salad's. The first significant military success was when they took the town 7 of Acre. This military action was driven by Richard the lion heart. One of his gar tastes success was that Philip Augustus sailed back to France where he plotted with John, Rice hardy's brother. The direct outcome was the building of Chateau Gaillardia. Response to Salad's ‘s capture of Jerusalem the two other notable leaders were Philip Augustus of France and redbrick Barbarous who enjoy the title of King of Germany as well as that of the holy Roman Emperor.Medieval history including medieval life and medieval castles can sometimes be better understood if we know the rulers in power at the time. The Norman ruled of r almost 1 00 years but the Pleasantness that followed were in power for almost 250 years. With everything about Medieval Castles there is so much more that couldn't b e talked about but with a little research you can find out just as much. The crusaders g o into depth within after the 1 lath century along with the 14th century. The advancement of weep ions during the time would be unthinkable during that era and goes along to say with the defensive tactic.The construction of the buildings are still used today in some cases of houses. If y oh take the era of the medieval castle and compare to modern day some things we adopted fro m the centuries or those. The weapons they used along with the building techniques are very ad Vance for their time period. The history goes way back even before they had the thought of build Eng up castles for a way of life to contain their people it's amazing from before that time when so none owned property how easy it was to overpower them and take their village as to be in the 1 lath century having a army to protect your goods.The legendary heroes are something the medieval times took very serious including Robin Hood who was a character but before that was al so a very popular name during the 13th century. It was said to be Robin Hood was portrayed as living during the time when King Richard I was away on 3rd Crusade. The Ro bin Hood was some none like modern 8 day super heroes the people depended on Robin Hood when the King was go en because there was no one in rule to stop some of the crime going on during the time. People were getting away with stealing and the higher power were involved with it. The education of Or bin Hood has it's own background.

Racial, Gender, And Sexual Oriention Micro Aggressions Essay

The three types of micro aggression are racial micro aggression, gender micro aggression, and sexual orientation micro aggression. Racial micro aggression consists of subtle insults which can be verbal, nonverbal, or visual directed towards people of color, often automatically or unconsciously. It is a subtle form of racism. Racial micro aggression can take a number of different forms including: nullifying racial-cultural issues, making stereo-typical assumptions, and cultural insensitivity. They also play a role in unfairness in the legal system as they can influence the decisions of juries. Gender micro aggression is related to acts that perpetuate stereotypical gender roles. An example of this could be a male faculty member asking his male colleagues to help him work out a glitch in a piece of equipment in his laboratory but not asking his female colleagues making the notion that a woman’s mechanical aptitude is inferior to that of a man’s. These gender micro aggressions include devaluing, minimizing, belittling, and demeaning comments about women and women associated activities. Sexual orientation micro aggression is associated with actions that maintain stereotypes about homosexuals. An example of this would be assuming that all homosexual males personify women with high-pitched voices and manicured nails and that all lesbians have manly characteristics that signify that they are gay. The dynamics of micro aggression are the forces that tend to produce activity and change in racial, gender, and sexuality incidents. The dynamics behind micro aggression also tend to send messages towards people. An example of this could be when an white person asks an Asian American or Latino American to teach them words in their native language. This sends the message that they aren’t American and a foreigner. Another example would be a white person stating that an African American is very articulate. The actual message it sends is that it is unusual for someone of color to be intelligent. There are four dilemmas that we face during micro aggression. The first is the clash of racial realities where white Americans tend to think that racism is on the decline and that African Americans are doing better in life than 30 or 40 years ago. On the reverse side, blacks view whites as racially insensitive. The second dilemma is the invisibility of unintentional expressions of bias. This refers to the issue that in most cases racial biases are invisible and the wrongdoer is unaware of any injustice. The third is the perceived minimal harm of racial micro aggressions. This conveys the fact that when an individual is confronted with their micro aggressive acts the perpetrator usually believes that the victim has overreacted or is being overly sensitive. The last dilemma is the Catch 22 of responding to micro aggressions. The victim is usually perplexed about how to react whether it be deciding to do nothing or confronting the perpetrator. Sometimes, micro aggression can manifest in counseling. Under Denial of Individual Racism, a common response by Whites to people of color is that they can understand and relate to experiences of racism. Under Color Blindness, for example, a client of color stresses the importance of racial experiences only to have the therapist reply, â€Å"We are all unique. We are all individuals. † or â€Å"We are all human beings or the same under the skin. † These colorblind statements, which were intended to be supportive, to be sympathetic, and to convey an ability to understand, may leave the client feeling misunderstood, negated, invalidated, and unimportant. In clinical practice, micro aggressions are likely to go unrecognized by White clinicians who are unintentionally and unconsciously expressing bias. As a result, therapists must make a concerted effort to identify and monitor micro aggressions within the therapeutic context. CHAPTER 7 – CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE INTERVENTION STRATEGIES The communication styles identified in this chapter were verbal and non-verbal. Most communication specialists believe that only 30 to 40 percent of what is communicated conversationally is verbal. There are a number of non-verbal communication styles. These are proxemics, kinesics, paralanguage, and high-low context communication. The two concepts presented in sociopolitical facets of nonverbal communication were 1. Nonverbals as reflections of bias – this is represented in the example of the white women walking down the street past the white, black, and latino teenager. When passing the black and latino teenager she automatically clutched her purse and switched it to the other side. The women who switched their purse were operating from stereotype, biases, and preconceived notions about what minority youngsters are like. 2. Nonverbals as triggers to biases and fear – this is represented in the differences in that which cultures communicate. Whites often perceive black persons as a â€Å"threat† because of the way in which they communicate. Blacks are often high-key, animated, heated, and confrontational. They also believe the black male to be hostile, angry and prone to violence. Implications for Clinical Practice 1. Recognize that no one style of counseling or therapy will be appropriate for all populations and situations. 2. Become knowledgeable about how race, culture and gender affect communication styles. 3. Become aware of your own communication and helping styles. 4. Try to obtain additional training and education on a variety theoretical orientations and approaches 5. Know that each school of counseling and therapy has strengths but they might be one dimensional 6. Use an approach in training programs that call for openness and flexibility in conceptualizing the issues and actual skill building. It is important to know this because communication styles are strongly influenced by race, culture, ethnicity, and gender. These implications lend support to the notion that various racial groups exhibit differences in communication style. CHAPTER 8 – MULTICULTURAL FAMILY COUNSELING AND THERAPY There were five components of the multicultural family counseling and therapy: a conceptual model. 1. People Nature Relationships 2. Time Dimension 3. Relational Dimension 4. Activity Dimension 5. Nature of People Dimension Activity Dimension The primary characteristic of White U. S. cultural values and beliefs is the action orientation. They believe that we must master and control nature, we must always do something about a situation, and that we should always take a pragmatic and utilitarian view of life. Counselors expect clients to master and control their own life and environment and to take action to resolve their problems. It is evident everywhere and is reflected in how White Americans identify themselves by occupation. American Indians and Latinos/Hispanics prefer a being or being-in-becoming mode of activity. The American Indian concepts of self determination and noninterference are examples. The Latinos/Hispanics believe that people are born with dignity and deserve to be treated with respect. They are born with innate worth and importance. The inner soul and spirit are more important than the body. Both the Asian and African Americans operate from the doing orientation. However, the â€Å"doing† manifests differently than in White American lifestyle. The active dimension in Asians is related not to individual achievement, but to achievement via conformity to family values and demands. African Americans exercise considerable control in the face of adversity to minimize discrimination and to maximize success. Nature of People Dimension Middle class White Americans generally perceive the nature of people to be neutral. Environmental issues such as conditioning, family upbringing, and socialization are believed to be the dominant forces in determining the nature of the person. People are neither good nor bad but are a product of their environment. African Americans tend to have a mixed concept of people, but like their White counterparts, they believe people are generally neutral. Asian Americans and American Indians tend to emphasize the inherent goodness of people. Latinos may be described as holding the view that human nature is both good and bad. The Key Points for Clinical Practice 1. Know that our increasing diversity presents us with different cultural concepts of the family. 2. Realize that families cannot be understood apart from the cultural, social, and political dimensions of their functioning. 3. When working with a racial/ethnic group different from you, make a concerted and conscientious effort learn as much as possible about their definition of family and the values along with it. 4. Be attentive to cultural family structure and extended family ties. 5. Don’t prejudge based on your own ethnocentric perspective. 6. Realize that most minority groups view the wifely role as less important than the motherly role. 7. Utilize the natural help giving networks and structures that already exist in the minority culture in community. 8. Recognize that helping can take many forms. These forms often appear quite different than our own, but they are no less effective or legitimate. Multicultural counseling calls for the counselor to modify our goals and techniques to fit the needs of minority populations. 9. Assess the importance of ethnicity to clients and families. 10. Realize that the role of family counselor cannot be confined to culture bound rules. Effective multicultural counseling may include validating and strengthening ethnic identity increasing ones own awareness and use of the client support system, serving as a culture broker, and becoming aware of the advantages and disadvantages of being from the same or different ethnic background as your client. You shouldn’t feel you need to know everything about the ethnic group, you should avoid polarization of cultural issues. 11. Accept the notion that the family therapist will need to be creative in intervention techniques when working with minorities. Bold = most important points in clinical practice CHAPTER 9 – NON-WESTERN INDIGENOUS METHODS OF HEALING Culture bound syndromes are disorders specific to a cultural group or society but not easily given a DSM diagnosis. These illnesses or afflictions have local names with distinct culturally sanctioned beliefs surrounding causation and treatment. They include amok, ataque de nervios, brain fag, ghost sickness, koro, mal de ojo, nervios, and rootwork. It is very important for mental health professionals to become familiar not only with the cultural background of their clients, but to be knowledgeable about specific culture bound syndromes. A primary danger from lack of cultural understanding is the tendency to overpathologize or overestimate the degree of pathology. The principles of indigenous healing 1. The healing begins with an opening prayer and ends with a closing prayer. The pule creates an atmosphere for healing and involves asking the family gods for guidance. The gods aren’t asked to intervene but grant wisdom, understanding and honesty. 2. The ritual elicits a truth telling sanctioned by the gods and makes compliance among participants a serious matter. The leader states the problem, prays for a spiritual fusion, reaches out to resistant family members, and attempts to unify the group 3. Muhiki occurs which is a process of getting to the problems. The foregiving, releasing of wrongs, the hurts, and the conflicts produces a deep sense of resolution. 4. After the closing prayer the family participates in pant, the ritual in which food is offered to the gods and the participants. Implications for Clinical Practice 1. Do not invalidate the indigenous practices of your culturally diverse client. 2. Become knowledgeable about indigenous beliefs and healing practices. 3. Realize that learning about indigenous healing and beliefs entails experimental or lived realities. 4. Avoid overpathologizing and underpathologizing a culturally diverse clients problems. 5. Be willing to consult with traditional healers or make use of their services. 6. Recognize the spirituality is an intimate aspect of the human condition and a legitimate aspect of mental health work. 7. Be willing to expand your definition of the helping role to the community work and involvement.