Sexual Harassment Research Paper Essay Example

Sexual Harassment Research Paper Essay The sexual harassment refers to situations in which one or more persons are subject (usually repeatedly) to verbal or physical activity, aiming to reduce their sexual identity without considering such activity as a criminal offense. Victims are usually employees subject to the â€Å"whims† of their colleagues or superiors. It also means solicitations for sexual favors at work under penalty. On the other hand, theoretically casting couch, when a woman or a man, use their charms hoping to move up the hierarchy is not considered a sexual harassment situation, since in this case there is a mutual consent. In practice, the existence of sexual relationship is easy to prove, however, there is much less initiative to do so. In addition, the fact that a supervisor gives hierarchic promotions based on personal benefit he derives, either in cash or in sexual favors, is in itself at least gross negligence on his part and possibly a crime. We will write a custom essay sample on Sexual Harassment Research Paper specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Sexual Harassment Research Paper specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Sexual Harassment Research Paper specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The term sexual harassment in the workplace refers to a sexual discrimination based on gender, perceived as intrusive by the victims and as undermining their dignity. As part of sexual harassment activity we can consider derogatory and equivocal comments on the appearance of a woman or a man, sexist remarks about sexual characteristics, sexual behavior or sexual orientation, unwanted physical contact, presenting pornography and sexual abuse, sexual coercion and rape. A survey conducted in 2007 at the national level reveals that 28 percent of women and 10 percent of men interviewed have been victims of sexual harassment or the target of similar conduct in their professional life. Three quarters of these women, the perpetrators were men, who generally acted alone but sometimes in groups. They also frequently report having been the target of mixed groups (men and women), but rarely women. The men were in about half the cases harassed by men (individuals or groups) in about one quarter of women in the last quarter and by mixed groups. The most part of culprits is co-workers, and often customer. Line managers are the third most numerous group. Women report more frequently than men to have been bothered by superiors. If you are planning to write a successful researcher proposal on sexual harassment, you may be interested in using free example research papers on different topics. There free sample topics can be used as an example of research paper writing and are capable of showing the procedure of prepapering, outlining, structuring and composing of a proper scientific article. When properly written by experienced professional, they can be of a great assistance for the beginners having small or no experience in research paper writing. You will find free example research paper without any difficulty on the Internet, where they are in quantity. At EssayLib.com writing service you can order a custom research paper on Sexual Harassment topics. Your research paper will be written from scratch. We hire top-rated Ph.D. and Master’s writers only to provide students with professional research paper assistance at affordable rates. Each customer will get a non-plagiarized paper with timely delivery. Just visit our website and fill in the order form with all research paper details: Enjoy our professional research paper writing service!

Culturally Competent Assessments Of Children In Need Social Work Essay Essays

Culturally Competent Assessments Of Children In Need Social Work Essay Essays Culturally Competent Assessments Of Children In Need Social Work Essay Essay Culturally Competent Assessments Of Children In Need Social Work Essay Essay This article critically analyses cultural competency as a theoretical concept and explores the demand for a model that will help societal workers to transport out culturally competent appraisals of kids in demand and their households. It is argued that the necessary constituents of a model for pattern in this country are a holistic definition of civilization, an ethical attack to difference, self-awareness, an consciousness of power dealingss, the acceptance of a place of complete openness in working with difference and a doubting attack to a commodified construct of cultural cognition . The attack must avoid the totalisation of the other for personal or institutional intents. It is argued that the Furness/Gilligan Framework ( 2010 ) reflects these concerns and could be easy adapted to help with appraisals in this country. Cardinal words: appraisal ; kids in demand ; kids and households ; civilization ; cultural competency Introduction The intent of this paper is to critically analyze cultural competency as a theoretical concept and to research the demand for a model that will help societal workers to place when facets of civilization are important in the lives and kids in demand and their households. The 1989 Children Act places a legal demand to give due consideration to a kid s spiritual persuasion, racial beginning, and cultural and lingual background in their attention and in the proviso of services ( Section 22 ( 5 ) ) . This proviso established the rule that understanding a kid s cultural background must underline all work with kids. However, there has been a longstanding concern that services to kids are neglecting to be culturally sensitive. Concern over the disproportional figure of children in demand from cultural minorities led to their specific reference in The Government s Objective for Children s Social Services, which states that the demands of black and cultural minority kids and households must be identified and met through services which are culturally sensitive ( Department of Health, 1999a: parity 16 ) . Government policy paperss progressively recognise the multicultural world of Britain. Yet, authorities assessment counsel provides practicians with small aid in footings of set uping ways in which cultural beliefs and patterns influence household life. Social work has acknowledged the demand to react respectfully and efficaciously to people of all civilizations, cultural backgrounds, faiths, societal categories and other diverseness factors in a mode that values the worth of persons, households and communities and protects and preserves the self-respect of each ( BASW, 2009 ) . There are many indicants that civilization is important in finding the ways in which some people interpret events, resolve quandary, make determinations and position themselves, their ain and others actions and how they respond to these ( Gilligan, 2009 ; Hunt, 2005 ) . Practitioners may non, hence, be able to prosecute with service users or to ease appropriate intercessions if they take excessively small history of these facets of people s lives or see them on the footing of inaccurate, ill-informed or stereotyped knowledge ( Gilligan, 2009 ; Hodge et al. , 2006 ) . Culturally competent pattern is so cardinal to appraisals of kids in demand that one might anticipate a well developed literature on the topic. This would move as a robust cognition base to underpin excellence in service bringing. Thompson ( 2006, p. 82 ) admits, there is a danger that appraisal will be based on dominant white norms without equal attending being paid to cultural differences. Failure to take such differences into history will non merely distort, and thereby annul, the footing of the appraisal but will function to estrange clients by devaluating their civilization. However, the literature in this country is surprisingly thin. Almost two decennaries ago it was described as a nothingness of published information ( Lynch and Hanson, 1992, p. seventeen ) and Welbourne ( 2002 ) argues that advancement is still slow. Boushel ( 2000 ) argues that despite the authorities s declared concern to cognize more about the impact of race and ethnicity on kid public assistance, th e limited extent to which research reflects the experience and demands of culturally diverse kids fails to back up a true grounds base for policy or pattern. There is grounds that facets of civilization can all excessively easy be underestimated, overlooked or ignored, sometimes with highly serious effects ( Crippling, 2003 ; Gilligan, 2008 ; OHagan, 2001 ) . Many mainstream child care and kid protection texts make small mention to civilization ( OHagan, 2001 ) . Not one of the 20 pieces of research into differing facets of kid protection work considered in Messages From Research ( Dartington, 1995 ) explore the cultural facets of any of the instances dealt with. There is now a turning organic structure of literature written for wellness and societal attention professionals about the importance of developing and integrating cultural sensitiveness and consciousness in their work with others ( Campinha-Bacote, 1994 ; CHYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol: //bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/bcp159v2? maxtoshow= A ; hits=10 A ; RESULTFORMAT= A ; fulltext=social+work+religion+and+belief A ; searchid=1 A ; FIRSTINDEX=0 A ; resourcetype=HWCIT # BCP159C4 andHYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol: //bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/bcp159v2? maxtoshow= A ; hits=10 A ; RESULTFORMAT= A ; fulltext=social+work+religion+and+belief A ; searchid=1 A ; FIRSTINDEX=0 A ; resourcetype=HWCIT # BCP159C4 a HYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol: //bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/bcp159v2? maxtoshow= A ; hits=10 A ; RESULTFORMAT= A ; fulltext=social+work+religion+and+belief A ; searchid=1 A ; FIRSTINDEX=0 A ; resourcety pe=HWCIT # BCP159C4 andHYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol: //bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/bcp159v2? maxtoshow= A ; hits=10 A ; RESULTFORMAT= A ; fulltext=social+work+religion+and+belief A ; searchid=1 A ; FIRSTINDEX=0 A ; resourcetype=HWCIT # BCP159C4 Furman, 1999 ; Hodge, 2001, 2005 ; Moss, 2005 ; Gilligan and Furness, 2006 ; Sue, 2006 ; Laird, 2008 ) . However, despite the evident outgrowth of a more general acknowledgment and recognition of these issues amongst many professionals, relevant daily pattern remains mostly dependent on single positions and attitudes ( Gilligan, 2009 ) . A Department of Health ( 2002 ) survey of 40 deceases and serious hurts to kids found that, information on the cultural background of kids and carers was obscure and unworldly in that it failed to see characteristics of the kid s civilization, faith and race, as specified in the Children Act 1989 ( Department of Health, 2002, p. 26 ) . The failure to gestate accurately the cul tural and societal context within which minority cultural parents are runing impacts on intercessions offered, which served to reflect and reproduce bing impotence. . . ( Bernard, 2001, p. 3 ) . If, as this suggests, there is a shortage in societal workers ability to gestate minority cultural service users societal and cultural context in appraisals of kids, partially accounted for by a dearth of literature in this country, the deductions for pattern are potentially a failure to transport out culturally competent pattern for many vulnerable kids. In The Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report 2003, Lord Lamming commented that, The legislative model is sound, the spread is in the execution ( 2003, p. 13 ) . Report after study has expressed concern over the limited accomplishments of societal services staff when project appraisals and planing intercessions with cultural minority kids ( Batty, 2002 ) . While many professionals acknowledge that there is a demand to work in culturally sensitive ways, there is grounds that many professionals working with kids and households do non ever experience equipt to make so ( Gilligan, 2003 ) . Gilligan ( 2009 ) found that whilst professionals may recognize that service users beliefs are really of import, there is small consistence in how such acknowledgment impacts on pattern. Even within his little sample, there was considerable fluctuation in attitudes and much to propose that actions and determinations are the merchandise of single pick instead than professional opinion or bureau policies ( Gi lligan, 2009 ) . Practitioners are able to go on with culture-blind attacks without these being significantly challenged by bureau policies or by professional civilizations ( Gilligan, 2009 ) . There is a clear demand to look once more at what we mean by cultural competency and to develop a model that will help societal workers to place when facets of civilization are important in the lives and kids in demand and their households. Specifying civilization There is a clear acknowledgment that aspects of civilization are important in the lives of kids and their households and that this needs to be considered in assessment pattern. In order to turn to the deficiency of apprehension and uneffective pattern among practicians in this country it is necessary to supply clear definitions of culture and cultural competency . Measuring kids in demand and their households is a complex undertaking. There is grounds of considerable fluctuation between societal workers definitions of the indispensable constituents of good plenty rearing , reflecting the fluctuation between professionals in definition of need ( Daniel, 2000 ) . When reexamining instances of serious hurt or decease, the Department of Health concluded that: . . .areas suggested by this research as ripe for development [ include ] making common definitions of being in demand or at hazard of important injury ( Department of Health, 2002 ) . It is in this context of ambiguity tha t culture must be defined. The 1989 Children Act uses the wording culture as a statutory demand in turn toing the demands of black kids, but does non offer counsel about its definition. Culture is a extremely dianoetic term and the object of an intensive theoretical and political difference ( Benhabib, 1999, 2002 ) . The building of civilization as a theoretical construct has ever been affected by embroiled positions, peculiarly in societal work ( Boggs, 2004 ) . Harrison and Turner ( 2010 ) found that participants in their survey spent considerable clip discoursing the complex nature of civilization and the troubles in specifying it. This means that when looking at the pattern of cultural competency as portion of measuring demand and put on the line the range for conceptual ambiguity is huge ( Welbourne, 2002 ) . Eagleton ( 2000, p. 1 ) provinces that, civilization is said to be one of the two or three most complex words in the English linguistic communication . OHagan ( 2001 ) argues that civilization is a complex construct, with virtually illimitable parametric quantities, which can non be defined or explained in the two or three sentences normally allocated to them in much wellness and societal attention literature. For illustration, Payne ( 1997, p. 244 ) provides a instead equivocal definition of civilization: a hard construct. It implies a comparatively unchanging, ruling aggregation of societal values, and assumes that members of an identified group will ever accept these . It is possible to analyze definitions of civilization that root from anthropology, sociology, psychological science and cultural geographics ( OHagan, 2001 ) . The anthropologist Edward Tylor ( 1871 ) formulated the most abiding definition of civilization: civilization is that complex whole which includes cogni tion, beliefs, art, ethical motives, jurisprudence, usage and any other capablenesss and wonts acquired by adult male as a member of society . The sociologist Giddens ( 1993: 31 ) says that civilization refers to the ways of life of the members of a society, or of groups, or within a society. It includes how they dress, their matrimony imposts and household life, their forms of work, spiritual ceremonials and leisure chases . OHagan ( 2001 ) defines civilization as the distinguishable manner of life of the group, race, category, community or state to which the person belongs. It is the first and most of import frame of mention from which one s sense of individuality evolves . OHagan s definition draws on anthropology and is broad plenty to dispute essentialist impressions of civilization, yet defined sufficiency to be meaningful. It besides balances the community and single facets of civilization. When we consider this definition of civilization it can be seen that all appraisa l of kids in demand occurs within a cultural context. In fact it is possibly better understood as taking topographic point within a figure of interacting cultural contexts, with the civilization of the kid at the bosom of the procedure. The usage of the construct of culture in developing cultural competency and non race has been a calculated displacement in nomenclature from anti-racist theorising. Anti-racist theory, with its accent on race, has been criticised for dichotomizing blackness and whiteness which does non allow any distinction in the experience of racism between different cultural groups ( Laird, 2008 ) . The thought of racial homogeneousness has been digesting but this thought must be challenged. White people and black people are non homogenous groups ( Laird, 2008 ) . Culture is a broader term than race or ethnicity and can include facets of age, gender, societal position, faith, linguistic communication, sexual orientation and disablement ( Connolly, Crichton-Hill and Ward, 2005 ) . Using the term culture allows for difference of attitude and experience between persons who are portion of the same cultural or racial grouping. If one considers that civilization is learned from coevals to coeval s, it is necessarily individual specific and shaped by one s personal and social context. The Challenge of Cultural Competence There are a assortment of paradigms in the survey of race, ethnicity and civilization which are located in peculiar socio-historical and political contexts. Cultural competency is merely one of these and has non escaped unfavorable judgment in the professional literature. Writers in societal work have argued that cultural competency depoliticises race dealingss and promotes othering ( Pon, 2009 ) , assumes workers themselves are from a dominant civilization ( Sakamoto, 2007 ) and is based on the flawed premise that geting cultural cognition will ensue in competent pattern ( Dean, 2001 ; Ben-Ari and Strier, 2010 ) . Despite its broad credence, the construct remains capable to multiple, frequently conflicting, positions. There is a demand to critically analyse cultural competency as a theoretical concept in order to do it meaningful to practicians and to supply a footing for best pattern. Concern with racism emerged in the societal work profession in the 1970s and during the 1980s major texts appeared to steer pattern ( Payne, 2005 ) . The construct of anti-racist pattern emerged built on the rules that race is a societal concept that has been used to warrant subjugation and that it is necessary to critically analyze the kineticss of power relationships that produce subjugation. Anti-racist theoreticians have criticised advocators of cultural competency for making an exotic apprehension of people from cultural minorities and for non recognizing pattern issues of societal inequality or racial favoritism ( OHagan, 2001 ) . Cultural competency has been presented as unpolitical and has been criticised for neglecting to turn to the power battles of history ( Barn, 2007 ) . Key issues of power are absent from much of the analytical thought around the paradigm of cultural competency ( Barn, 2007 ) . Given that the political, cultural and professional positions on race and ethnicity have of import effects for minority cultural kids and households, societal workers need to integrate an apprehension of power dealingss as a cardinal tool for overthrowing racism. A more sophisticated and nuanced attack is necessary, which will affect a paradigm displacement from essentialist impressions of race which view civilization in stiff and inflexible ways to one in which cultural sensitiveness is understood within the context of power dealingss ( Barn, 2007 ) . It is of import to widen the argument beyond black and white , to recognize that racial, cultural and cultural groups are non homogeneous, but to non abandon the challenging of racism and other signifiers of subjugation. Culturally competent pattern needs to take history of the tensenesss between different cultural norms and values within the UK, non merely between ethnically and culturally distinguishable groups of people. Social work norms and values may non be those of the bulk of Europeans, or even of the mainstream white UK population, as the instance of A V UK demonstrates. Writers such as Olsen ( 1981 ) , Korbin ( 1981, 1991 ) and Thorpe ( 1994 ) have problematised the impression of a cosmopolitan criterion of child care, indicating to important cross-cultural variableness. The kernel of this challenge is that standardised definitions of kid maltreatment must be contested as they needfully relate to culturally defined norms. Korbin HYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol: //bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/35/6/901? maxtoshow= A ; hits=10 A ; RESULTFORMAT= A ; fulltext=how+and+when+does+athnicity+matter A ; searchid=1 A ; FIRSTINDEX=0 A ; resourcetype=HWCIT # KORBIN-1991 ( 1991 ) , in what is now a authoritative essay, warns against the dangers of both Eurocentric pattern and excessively culturally relativist pattern. On the one manus, Eurocentric pattern serves merely to enforce one set of cultural beliefs and patterns as preferred and hence reproduce forms of domination and subjugation. In the British literature, concern has been expressed that minority households are excessively often pathologised and stereotyped, with workers over-relying on cultural accounts for their jobs and using a theoretical account of cultural shortage ( Williams and Soyden, 2005 ; Chand, 2000 ; Ahmed, 1994 ) . It is argued that they receive more and speedier punitory services than preventative/care services ( Williams and Soyden, 2005 ) . Lees ( 2002 ) argues from her research that there is a inclination to pathologise behavior that is non culturally normative , an illustration being negatively measuring the act of running off from an opprobrious place among immature black adult females instead than following inactive header schemes. At the other extreme, Korbin notes utmost cultural relativism, in which all opinions of humane intervention of kids are suspended in the name of cultural rights, may be used to warrant a lesser criterion of attention for some kids ( 1991, p. 68 ) . It has been suggested that cultural relativism freezes the position quo by doing standard-setting harmonizing to universal norms impossible ( Laird, 2008 ) . Barn et Al ( 1997 ) found that acceptance of a place of cultural relativity through fright of being labelled as racialist affected statutory proviso to kids and households. They found that some societal workers were loath to step in to protect kids because they believed that opprobrious behavior was sanctioned by their civilization ( Barn et al, 1997 ) . The kid abuse inquiry studies of Jasmine Beckford ( Blom-Cooper, 1985 ) and Tyra Henry ( Lambeth, 1987 ) concluded that culture had impinged upon events taking to the deceases of these kids. It was suggested that workers were ex cessively optimistic in their appraisals of carers and that opprobrious behaviors were interpreted as facets of civilization. Whilst these concerns turn on the acknowledgment of facets of cultural difference as important in the procedure of appraisal, it has long been noted in the societal work literature that practicians fail at the first hurdle, in every bit much as they do non recognize at all the importance of civilization: a culture-blind attack ( Dominelli, 1998 ; Boushol, 2000 ; Graham, 2002 ) . The culture-blind attack eschews difference in its hunt for a cosmopolitan expression. It suggests that a criterion of good pattern can be established which fits all. For illustration, Payne ( 1997 ) rejects the statement that western societal work theory may be incompatible with some of the nucleus constituents of other civilizations and ignores the fact that it was used extensively in the procedures of obliteration of assorted autochthonal civilizations ( OHagan, 2001 ) . Despite being systematically criticised as naif and oppressive, this attack represents a powerful paradigm within societal work ( William s and Soyden, 2005 ; Dominelli, 1998 ) . Finding the balance between these concerns poses considerable troubles for those charged with appraisals of kids in demand ( Dominelli, HYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol: //bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/35/6/901? maxtoshow= A ; hits=10 A ; RESULTFORMAT= A ; fulltext=how+and+when+does+athnicity+matter A ; searchid=1 A ; FIRSTINDEX=0 A ; resourcetype=HWCIT # DOMINELLI-1998A HYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol: //bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/35/6/901? maxtoshow= A ; hits=10 A ; RESULTFORMAT= A ; fulltext=how+and+when+does+athnicity+matter A ; searchid=1 A ; FIRSTINDEX=0 A ; resourcetype=HWCIT # DOMINELLI-1998A 1998 ) . What is needed is an attack to pattern that can dispute normative stereotypes of appropriate behavior by parents or kids while advancing the rights of kids to safety and good plenty rearing. Brophy ( 2003, p. 674 ) states Balancing a regard for differing manners of parenting and guarding against inappropriate inroads into li fe styles and belief systems, while besides protecting kids from ill-treatment, remains an demanding undertaking. Professionals can be castigated for step ining excessively rapidly or excessively easy. Social workers must run with cultural sensitiveness within the assessment procedure but at the same clip acknowledge that at the bosom of anti-oppressive pattern is a committedness to the non-relative nucleus value of human equality. A Knowledge Based Competency? Cultural competency as a pattern response to these issues has been conceptualised in several ways. There are non one, but multiple definitions of cultural competency and it appears to be a mutable, germinating construct ( Harrison and Turner, 2010 ) . The models available to help practicians in measuring facets of civilization are preponderantly of two types: appraisal theoretical accounts that try to help in the aggregation of information and the apprehension of specific service users strengths, demands and fortunes ( Carballeira, 1996 ; Hodge, 2001, 2005 ; Hogan-Garcia, 2003 ; Sue, 2006 ) and brooding theoretical accounts that aim to assist the practician to develop relevant accomplishments and consciousness in general footings ( Green, 1999 ; Connolly, Crichton-Hill and Ward, 2005 ; Papadopoulos, 2006 ) . Assessment theoretical accounts of cultural competency often refer to the integrating and transmutation of cognition about persons and groups of people into specific criterions, patterns and attitudes used in appropriate cultural scenes to increase the quality of services, thereby bring forthing better results ( Davis and Donald, 1997 ) . To work efficaciously with diverseness, practicians are expected to derive cognition of different cultural patterns and worldviews, to hold a positive attitude towards cultural differences and develop crosss of assessment theoretical accounts include the LIVE and LEARN Model developed by Carballeira ( 1996 ) which identifies a series of activities which practicians need to prosecute in to be culturally competent: Like ; Inquire ; Visit ; Experience ; Listen ; Evaluate ; Acknowledge ; Recommend and Negotiate. Another illustration is Campinha-Bacote s ( 2002, pp. 182-3 ) ASKED theoretical account which identifies five dimensions of cultural competency : cultural Awareness ; cultural Skill ; cultural Knowledge ; cultural Encounter ; and cultural Desire. In line with this attack Sue ( 2006 ) argues that culturally competent societal work pattern is defined as the service supplier s acquisition of consciousness, cognition, and accomplishments needed to work efficaciously in a pluralistic democratic society ( 2006: 29 ) . However, there is disparity in the literature as to the knowledge that is necessary for effectual culturally antiphonal pattern. The above theoretical accounts adopt a cultural literacy attack in which civilization specific information and pattern is categorised under wide cultural group classs ( Connolly, Crichton-Hill and Ward, 2005 ) . For illustration, Laird s ( 2008 ) book Anti-Oppressive Social Work contains chapters entitled communities with roots in India , communities with roots in the Caribbean and communities with roots in China . Similarly, OHagan ( 2001 ) includes chapters about Islam , American Indians and Australian Aborigines in his book about cultural competency. Laird ( 2008, p. 156 ) states It is merely by deriving cultural cognition, that is, larning to appreciate the assortment of ways in which people with different heritages organise their lives, that practicians from the white-majority community can derive cultural consciousness. This is because cultural cognition offers practicians a comparative analytical tool with which to analyze cultural influences upon their ain lives . From this attack knowledge is seen as cardinal to the development of cultural competency accomplishments, which are basically knowledge-based erudite capacities ( Ben-Ari and Strier, 2010 ) . It is widely believed that cultural cognition is the key to construing the codification of cultural diverseness ( Ben-Ari and Strier, 2010 ) . It is argued that without cognition, one can non be cognizant of the presence of prejudices in professional patterns and pattern could stay ethnocentric ( Adams et al. , 2001 ) . There is a inclination to believe that if a worker learns about a civilization, what Spradley ( 1994 ) calls explicit cultural cognition , so they will hold a model for working with that civilization. Widely bing constructs of cultural competency assume that the other is cognizable and that this cognition is a requirement for being culturally competent ( Ben-Ari and Strier, 2010 ) . A radically different stance has been suggested by Ben-Ari and Strier ( 2010 ) who examine cultural competency through the lens of Levinas ( 1969 ) theory of other . Levinas ( 1969 ) proposes that moralss precedes cognition. He argues that our humanity is realised through the wisdom of love and non through the love of wisdom ( the actual Greek significance of the word philosophy ) . In other words, moralss precedes any nonsubjective searching after truth ( Beals, 2007 ) . Levinas thesis ethics as first doctrine agencies that the chase of cognition is but a secondary characteristic of a more basic ethical responsibility to the other . Within this model, the chief inquiry becomes what relation to the other is necessary in order for cognition to be possible? He argues that the other is non cognizable and can non be made into an object of the self , as is done by traditional doctrine. By underscoring the primacy of moralss to knowledge, Levinas creates a new model for working a cross differences. This raises cardinal inquiries with respect to the nature of societal cognition. Laird ( 2008 ) argues that the most critical demand of culturally sensitive societal work is to maintain open the duologue between people from different cultural backgrounds and to guarantee that each single emerges as a alone complex of values, beliefs and aspirations. It is necessary to see how accrued cognition about other civilizations has the possible to restrict our openness in our brushs with people who are other to us. Knowledge about other civilizations can take to the experience of entirety: something is nil more than what I make out of it ( Ben-Ari and Strier, 2010 ) . When we totalise the other we cut down our apprehension of it. Levinas ( 1987 ) proposes that we should take for the experience of eternity, that is, the acknowledgment that something is more than what we could do of it. Berlin ( 2002, p. 144 ) notes the danger of totalizing people from other civilizations, saying sorting pe ople on the footing of group rank merely gives us the semblances that we are being culturally sensitive, when, in fact, we are neglecting to look beyond easy word pictures for the peculiar and specific ways this individual is understanding, feeling and moving . A cognition based attack to cultural competence has a inclination to make overgeneralisations of cultural groups and can take to the worker comprehending themselves as an expert despite the likeliness of them being in a place of cultural naivete ( Connolly, Crichton-Hill and Ward, 2005 ) . The deduction of this is that culturally competent appraisals must come from an ethical point of view of openness on the portion of the practician. OHagan ( 2001 ) provinces, The workers need non be extremely knowing about the civilizations of the people they serve, but they must near culturally different people with openness and regard . It must be recognised that ideas, feelings and actions are influenced by external and internal variables that are cultural in beginning and, as a effect, that each person who enters the kid public assistance system is alone ( Connolly, Crichton-Hill and Ward, 2005 ) . A effect of this is that perceptual experiences of the kid public assistance job will be alone to each client or household. Understanding how the household perceives the job enables child protection workers to work in a more culturally antiphonal manner in developing solutions. Cooper ( 2001, p. 732 ) states the significances in context of a kid s hurt are non revealed through nons ubjective facts or through expert nonsubjective appraisal or diagnosing. An in agreement significance, understanding and possible for alteration can merely be co-constructed, with the service user and their societal relationships and webs, within a located administration and multi-agency context . Aligning solutions with the cultural individuality of the household provides the possible for family-centred responses. Cultural competency must travel off from an accent on cultural cognition if it is to supply an ethical model for working with difference. A Matter of Reflection? The 2nd chief type of cultural competency theoretical account is a brooding theoretical account. Reflection has been portion of pattern discourse for a figure of decennaries ( Schon, 1983 ; 1987 ) . More late the construct of critical contemplation has taken clasp ( Fook, 2002 ) . A critically brooding response challenges the values and attitudes associated with professional behavior ( Connolly, Crichton-Hill and Ward, 2005 ) . An illustration of a brooding theoretical account of cultural competency is the cultural-reflective theoretical account developed by Connolly, Crichton-Hill and Ward ( 2005 ) . This theoretical account includes the procedures of cultural thought ; critical contemplation and brooding pattern results. A strength of the theoretical account is that is recognises the interaction between the self and the other within interactions between people of different civilizations. Ben-Ari and Strier ( 2010 ) argue that the development of the construct of cultural competency could profit from sing the significance of self and other mutuality in modern-day arguments on cultural diverseness. They analyse dealingss between self and other utilizing Levinas theory of other and research the ways in which these dealingss play a polar function in working with differences. A individual s definition of the other is portion of what defines the self ( Levinas, 1969 ) . The thought that the self requires the other to specify itself has been expressed by many authors ( Brown, 1995 ; Riggins, 1997 ; Gillespie, 2007 ) . It has been recognised that the construct of otherness is built-in to the apprehension of individualities as people construct functions for themselves in relation to an other . The deduction of this is that that all cross-cultural brushs between societal workers and service users bring into drama non merely the heritage of the service user, but besides that of the practician ( Laird, 2008 ) . Connolly, Crichton-Hill and Ward ( 2005, p. 59 ) note that appraisals of the societal universe are likely to state more about the percipient than the individuals under survey . Social workers need to detect and reflect upon their ain value system and traditions in order to be culturally competent. Brooding theoretical accounts, such as Connolly, Crichton-Hill and Ward s ( 2005 ) , recognise that our cultural thought responses are frequently automatic and outside of our control. It is necessary to inquire where our responses and linguistic communication come from ( Connolly, Crichton-Hill and Ward s, 2005 ) . The brooding procedure encourages an scrutiny of values and beliefs underpinning reactions. It involves disputing our premises, recognizing stereotypes and recog nizing power and its effects. Without this it is easy to believe that it is our manner of being is the norm and other people who are cultural, idiosyncratic, culturally curious ( Eagleton, 2000, p. 26 ) . Connolly, Crichton-Hill and Ward ( 2005, p. 29 ) note that being so familiar, our ain manner of thought and our ain manner of life can so easy seem simply human to us . OHagan ( 2001: 262 ) states cultural competency emerges from strict self-exploration ; it expands the professional s empathetic repertory, guaranting there is no culturally biased instant response . It is self-awareness and an ethical stance of openness that are the most of import constituents of cultural competency, non accumulated cognition of the other . Developing a Model for Practice Having re-conceptualised the indispensable constituents cultural competency it is necessary to see what deductions this has for pattern in the country of appraisals of kids in demand and their households. Any deductions have to see the policy and organizational context that appraisals of kids take topographic point within. The policy that underpins appraisal in this country is The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families ( The Assessment Framework ) ( Department of Health, 2000b ) . The Assessment Framework was issued as counsel under the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970, which means that it must be followed by local governments unless there are exceeding fortunes that justify a fluctuation. The Assessment Framework represents a manner of capturing the complexness of a kid s universe and an effort to build a coherent attack to roll uping and analyzing information about a kid ( Rose, 2001 ) . The model is underpinned by an ecological attack, intendi ng practicians finishing an appraisal consider three domains : the developmental demands of single kids ; rearing capacity ; and household and environmental factors. Each domain is further divided into dimensions that indicate cardinal countries that should be considered for that peculiar sphere. The Assessment Framework provinces, differences in conveying up kids due to household constructions, faith, civilization and cultural beginnings should be respected and understood. . .every attempt should be made to guarantee that bureaus responses do non reflect or reenforce that experience [ day-to-day experience of favoritism ] and so, should antagonize it Guaranting equality of chance does non intend that all kids are treated the same. It does intend apprehension and working sensitively and knowledgeably with diverseness to place the peculiar issues for a kid and his/her household, taking history of experiences and household context ( Department of Health, 2000b, p.12 ) . However, the attending given to facets of a kid s civilization within the Assessment Framework is really limited. If a practician uses the Assessment Framework without doing mention to the attach toing counsel, as appears to often be the instance ( Horwath, 2002 ) , it would be easy to construe the influence of civilization on household life in a really narrow manner. The Practice Guidance attach toing the Assessment Framework notes that . . .although many professionals are cognizant that it is indispensable to take history of race and civilization, and in peculiar to be culturally sensitive in their pattern, they are frequently at a loss to interpret this into practical footings ( Department of Health, 2000a, p. 38 ) . Whilst acknowledgment of issues of civilization in appraisals of kids has had a turning organic structure of literature, the limited extent of empirical research in this country fails to bolster evidence-based policy devising and potentially signals a failure to transport out culturally competent appraisal for cultural minority kids ( Boushol, 2000 ; Welbourne, 2002 ) . There is small empirical grounds to show that the rule of cultural sensitiveness and consciousness ushers practitioner determination devising, or to verify the claim that it benefits cultural minority clients ( Williams and Soyden, 2005 ) . Williams and Soyden ( 2005 ) carried out a cross-national survey that examined these concerns within the context of kid protection. Their survey demonstrates that despite fluctuations in national policies the kid s cultural association evokes small important response by societal workers irrespective of the state, corroborating a mostly universalist attack ( Williams and Soyden, 200 5 ) . Overall, their findings suggest that the logic of universalism continues to extenuate against the important recognition of difference in appraisals of kids ( Williams and Soyden, 2005 ) . This highlights a clear demand to develop a model to help practicians in measuring facets of civilization when transporting out appraisals of kids in demand and their households. It is unrealistic to anticipate practicians to carry on separate appraisals of issues originating from civilization ( Furness and Gilligan, 2010 ) . Any extra appraisals are likely to be unwelcome to service users, many of whom tell research workers that they undergo excessively many already ( Furness and Gilligan, 2010 ; Dartington Social Research Unit, 2004 ) . Harrison and Turner ( 2010 ) found that deadlines and clip restraints were considered to be hindrances to culturally competent pattern and pattern responses have to be cognizant of these issues. There is tenseness between trying to supply culturally competent practicians within nerve-racking, under resourced public systems ( Connolly, Crichton-Hill and Ward, 2005 ) . Therefore, any suggested model for cultural competency in measuring kids in demand and their households has to be compatible with the Assessment Framework s ( Department of Health, 2000a ) recording signifiers and timescales. It has been established that the necessary constituents of a model for pattern in this country are a holistic definition of civilization, an ethical attack to difference, self-awareness, an consciousness of power dealingss, the acceptance of a place of complete openness in working with difference and a doubting attack to a commodified construct of cultural cognition . To accomplish this it seems indispensable that practicians are non limited by a procedural theoretical account of appraisal, but are free to inquire appropriate open-ended inquiries, in order to let people to show themselves in ways that they choose, are familiar to them and esteem their expertness. It is besides of import to recognize that beliefs and patterns will change even amongst those within the same cultural grouping. A assortment of day-to-day life activities may be deeply influenced by a individual s civilization and may, hence, necessitate geographic expedition with them: race and ethnicity ; linguistic comm unication ; faith and spiritualty ; modesty and privateness ; vesture, jewelry and makeup ; rinsing and hygiene ; hair attention ; supplication ; holy yearss and festivals ; physical scrutiny ; birth ; contraceptive method ; abortion ; attitudes to decease, deceasing and mourning ; medicine ; mending patterns ; transfusions, organ contribution and graft ; last offices ; postmortem and funeral services ( HusbHYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol: //bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/bcp159v2? maxtoshow= A ; hits=10 A ; RESULTFORMAT= A ; fulltext=social+work+religion+and+belief A ; searchid=1 A ; FIRSTINDEX=0 A ; resourcetype=HWCIT # BCP159C36 andHYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol: //bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/bcp159v2? maxtoshow= A ; hits=10 A ; RESULTFORMAT= A ; fulltext=social+work+religion+and+belief A ; searchid=1 A ; FIRSTINDEX=0 A ; resourcetype=HWCIT # BCP159C36 HYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol: //bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content /full/bcp159v2? maxtoshow= A ; hits=10 A ; RESULTFORMAT= A ; fulltext=social+work+religion+and+belief A ; searchid=1 A ; FIRSTINDEX=0 A ; resourcetype=HWCIT # BCP159C36 andHYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol: //bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/bcp159v2? maxtoshow= A ; hits=10 A ; RESULTFORMAT= A ; fulltext=social+work+religion+and+belief A ; searchid=1 A ; FIRSTINDEX=0 A ; resourcetype=HWCIT # BCP159C36 Torry, 2004 ) . Discussion of these issues may inform the appraisal in important ways. Gilligan and Furness ( 2010 ) have developed a model with the purpose of helping practicians to reflect on and measure the relevancy of their ain spiritual beliefs and those of service users in appraisals. The model consists of eight cardinal inquiries to assistance practicians ( Gilligan and Furness, 2010 ) ( see Figure 1 ) . This model, which follows loosely person-centred and strengths-based attacks ( Rogers, 2003 ; Saleeby, 2008 ) , has been piloted with societal work pupils and refined through feedback and application. The model was developed to be integrated into the most often used bing models for appraisal, including the Framework for Assessment of Children in Need and their Families ( Department of Health, 2000b ) . Questions one to seven of the model ( Gilligan and Furness, 2010 ) represent an attack that incorporates the indispensable facets of an ethical attack to cultural competency outlined above and could easy be adapted in order to help with culturally competent appraisals more widely ( See Figure 2 ) . If the 8th cardinal inquiry is removed, this model besides avoids the totalisation of the other through an inappropriate usage of cultural cognition . The practician needs to get down with a holistic definition of civilization as discussed above and follow a critically brooding attack, sing power dealingss and their deductions. This attack to working with cultural diverseness implies, foremost and first, an ethical relation to difference. The brooding attack of the theoretical account avoids the totalisation of the other for personal or institutional intents. The acknowledgment that differences can non be to the full known means that we are cognizant that they are ever more than what we grasp. Ben-Ari and Strier ( 2010 ) believe that spread outing our apprehension of Levinas ethical stance, which absolutely advocates the replacing of cognition with duty, is a promising lead in this way. It is non merely that cognition is non adequate, but that under certain conditions, it can even be harmful. Finally, this theoretical account does non detach working with differences from an anti-oppressive position presuming societal duty towards the excluded and oppressed ( Dominelli, 2002 ; Danso, 2009 ) . Clearly there would be a demand to through empirical observation research the utility and effectivity of such a model for sing facets of civilization in appraisals of kids in demand and their households, which would necessitate to see the organizational context within which such appraisals take topographic point. 87.5 per cent of participants in Gilligan and Furness ( 2010 ) pilot of their model said that it had been and would be helpful in their appraisals. However, the fact remains that such a model adopts an ethical stance towards difference in civilization. Decision To to the full appreciate and prosecute with affairs associating to civilization when measuring kids in demand and their households is non easy and a balance needs to be struck between places of Eurocentric pattern and excessively relativistic pattern. It has been argued that the necessary constituents of a model for pattern in this country are a holistic definition of civilization, an ethical attack to difference, self-awareness, an consciousness of power dealingss, the acceptance of a place of complete openness in working with difference and a doubting attack to a commodified construct of cultural cognition . The attack must avoid the totalisation of the other for personal or institutional intents. It has been argued that the Furness/Gilligan Framework ( 2010 ) reflects these concerns and could be easy adapted to help with appraisals in this country. Underestimating or disregarding the topographic point of civilization can ensue in the loss of chances to do existent differences a nd betterments in the lives of service users, while inactivity could, on juncture, lead to serious injury. Competent practicians need to set aside their ain biass and to stay unfastened and receptive to the demands of all service users. In the present clime, it can be hard for busy practicians to happen clip for contemplation and personal development. However, this is critical if societal workers are to work efficaciously within a culturally diverse society. Figure 1: Furness/Gilligan Model: Principles for Reflection on Religion and Belief 1.A Are you sufficiently self-conscious and automatic about your ain spiritual and religious beliefs or the absence of them and your responses to others? 2.A Are you giving the individuals/groups involved sufficient chances to discourse their spiritual and religious beliefs and the strengths, troubles and demands which arise from them? 3.A Are you listening to what they say about their beliefs and the strengths and demands which arise from them? 4.A Do you recognize persons expertness about their ain beliefs and the strengths and demands which arise from them? 5.A Are you nearing this piece of pattern with sufficient openness and willingness to reexamine and revise your programs and premises? 6.A Are you constructing a relationship which is characterised by trust, regard and a willingness to ease? 7.A Are you being originative in your responses to persons beliefs and the strengths and demands which arise from them? 8.A Have you sought out relevant information and advice sing any spiritual and religious beliefs and patterns which were antecedently unfamiliar to you? Figure 2: Adapted Furness/Gilligan Framework: Principles for Reflection on Aspects of Culture 1.A Are you sufficiently self-conscious and automatic about your ain cultural individuality and your responses to others? 2.A Are you giving the individuals/groups involved sufficient chances to discourse their cultural attitudes and beliefs and the strengths, troubles and demands which arise from them? 3.A Are you listening to what they say about their civilization and the strengths and demands which arise from it? 4.A Do you recognize persons expertness about their ain civilization and the strengths and demands which arise from them? 5.A Are you nearing this piece of pattern with sufficient openness and willingness to reexamine and revise your programs and premises? 6.A Are you constructing a relationship which is characterised by trust, regard and a willingness to ease? 7.A Are you being originative in your responses to persons civilizations and the strengths and demands which arise from them?

Why did the Renaissance occur Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Why did the Renaissance occur - Essay Example About this era, historians hold two different opinions like it was either extension of Middle Ages or dawn of a new era. The Renaissance age is known for new thinking and creativity. Between 1350 and 1550, the classical period of Europe was revived to a large extent. The cultural activities that occurred during Renaissance were mostly motivated by the Greco-Roman civilization. The Italian Renaissance was not just limited to the accomplishment of Italians artists and intellectuals but rather was reflection of the upper classes that comprised only small proportion of the European population. However, the impact was equally strong on the common people especially in the cities where the cultural movement was most prominent (Spielvogel, 340-341). Birth of Renaissance As already mentioned, Renaissance is essentially a literary movement of the upper classes. Writers from that era especially Petrarch, had held an indomitable passion for ancient Rome including classical architecture, art and especially the Latin language. He attempted to emulate ancient Rome’s literary men like Cicero who was highly fluent in the language. His passion for the classical era was so engrossing that he even tried to dismiss the span of hundred years between the Ancient age and Renaissance era. According to Petrarch, that era that he belonged was more an awakening of new age than Renaissance which means rebirth. In order to study ancient Rome, Petrarch introduced curriculum termed as studia humanitates which included humanism as philosophy. Humanism is not just a philosophical or religious concept, but basically â€Å"an attitude toward learning and toward life† (Wiesner et al., 248). This new approach slowly spread from Italy to other parts of Europe like France, Germany and Spain, and this was the birth of the Renaissance era. Renaissance was not a singular event like the French revolution and occurred over a period of two centuries in various parts of Europe (Wiesner et al., 248-249). The impact of Renaissance is not only restricted to literature and art, but also equally on language with humanist schools adopting Classical languages like Latin, Greek and Hebrew in their curricula. In northern Europe, humanists focused on bringing back the faith and morality in the values of the Church which got lost mainly after the Black Death tragedy. For many historians, Renaissance era was continuation of the Middle Ages like family remained the most important social recognition of an individual. Moreover, in spite of people becoming more materialistic, religion remained an important aspect of lives of both elite class and the common people. For instance, although artists began to get their true recognition worthy of their skills, they were still expected to pay taxes like other common people of the community (Wiesner et al., 269-270). Slavery which was a common practice in the Early Middle Ages but ceased in the eleventh century was revived during the Renaissance era more because of lack of workers after Black Death. The import of foreign slaves was legalized in the Italian city Florence (Spielvogel, 345). Renaissance happened as a result of reverence for the classical era mainly ancient Rome, and in the fifteenth century the humanists began to focus on Greek philosophy, art, architecture and literature. Renaissance culture was essentially a result of product of emulation of the classical philosophy and literature (Wiesner et al., 249). The birth of Renaissance era also happened from a shift of social perspective. In the medieval age, family was considered the smallest unit of society, and it was the group efforts and accomplishments that emerged as popular rather than individual successes. Even objects of art were attributed to group

Take a position by answering-is it possible to define and measure Essay

Take a position by answering-is it possible to define and measure happiness - Essay Example The desire to understand and seek happiness has been profound among individuals and scholars like Plato, Aristotle and Mills. To prove the complexity of happiness, all the scholars had different views which make happiness a mystery. In his article Critchley (449) asserts that there is no clear definition that fits the imaginable aspect of happiness. He asserts that happiness can only be measured when certain conditions are met. The conditions, described by Rousseau state that a happy person should not be bound by anything including time, no consideration of the present nor the future, and no pain or pleasure. This implies that with absence of any of the imperatives, then a person cannot be described as happy. Consequently, happiness cannot be explained by science theories that may attempt to lay measurement criteria (Critchley 450). In the real world, the requirements of happiness as described by Rousseau cannot be achieved, this is because the world is fast changing and the people a re often time conscious. A person minds more of the present and the future by carefully managing his or her time. Death is unforeseen and thus there cannot be a guarantee of continuity of existence. As such, measuring happiness proves to be a difficult task. In the subsequent arguments, Critchley asserts that human beings can be considered happy if they attained the status of a super being like God, where all the factors that define happiness are present. However, this status cannot be achieved in a contemporary world. Trying to understand happiness reigns in day to day activities of people. People try to lay their own definitions of what happiness might be and try to work towards the objective. These arguments can be in form of gaining property and wealth, positions in the social and political quarters and also fame. However, all this pursues do not guarantee happiness. One would argue that a wealthy person is happy! The answer would definitely be no. This is because happiness cann ot be created out of wealth rather it can be created from the satisfaction that one gets from wealth. In addition, Mill explained that the more a person tries to gauge how happy he or she is, the more he or she becomes confused. This leads to enlightenment that happiness cannot be measured by material well-being of a person. As such, probing the definition of happiness will always make people unhappy due to extreme requirements of happiness. In the current world, happiness cannot be measured due to the ever changing economic and social conditions, that is, what seems to be a happiness parameter is quickly eroded by the dynamic world. This is because the current justification of happiness has been inclined on material welfare of people that than satisfaction of the soul. Doctors have claimed that the genetic composition of a person can show the level of happiness (Kingwell 414). This has been brought about by scientists who believe that genes can bring a smile on a person. Maybe this is true; however, smiling may not be regarded as happiness. In one way, smiling can be used as an indicator of happiness, in the other way; smiling does not always imply that a person is happy. This is because it can be faked to fit an occasion. According to Aristotle, happiness can result from living an honorable life. Mill also asserts that a dissatisfied human is better than a satisfied pig. This follows a series of

Developing service Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Developing service - Assignment Example Focusing on this aspect, the report describes about how the various features of services can have an impact on the design and delivery of the proposed services. Besides, the report also analyses the proposed services on the basis of different service models and extended marketing mix strategies. The objective is thereby to understand that various aspects which needs to be considered in designing and developing the services at Derby Museum. How Would the Features of Services Affect the Design and Delivery of the Service and What Could Managers Do to Limit the Effects of These? The services provided by organisations are diverse in nature. They can determine the performance of organisations. However, designing and delivering of services relies on the features of services provided by an organisation (Pride & Ferrell, 2012). Since services are not physical, they are termed as intangible. Services cannot be touched and hence evaluating the quality of services becomes quite challenging to b e measured. The other feature of services is its perishable nature. It denotes that unlike goods, services cannot be warehoused for future purposes. Therefore, this feature of services can also be observed to have a deep impact on the overall performance of organisation. To be precise, as services are not perishable, it is hard for organisations to balance its supply and demand. Variability is the other vital feature of services (Wild, 2007). It is also known by heterogeneity which denotes that services provided by organisations are dependent on great variability being delivered by individual entities. The behaviour of people is quite challenging to control as it has been observed to fluctuate on a regular basis. Aspects such as work pressure, experience, knowledge and skills among other factors can further lead to variability of the services. Inseparability is the fourth feature of services. The creation of services is often observed as related with the consumption, unlike products and goods where production and consumptions occur at separate instances (Wild, 2007). As a result, in order to make intangible services more tangible for the customers, managers need to determine the way for effective service deliveries which can help to create a high degree of confidence among customers about the value of services. The tangibility of services arrives from profound personal interactions, clear communications and physical atmospheres where the business operates. Hence, maintaining a positive customer relationship, setting proper potentials and representing the organisation in acceptable manner by appropriate advent, approach and facilities can enhance the service quality for the proposed services of Derby museum (Fisk et al., 2008). Besides, managers of Derby museum can enhance customer satisfaction facilitating the involvement of consumers in the service delivery procedure. Regular communication with customers and frequent meetings can further help to establish ass urance towards providing quality assured and customer convenient services. In order to enhance customer satisfaction towards the offered services, the managers of Derby museum can focus on recognising the degree of personalisation required

Small And Medium Enterprises And Their Characteristics Management Essay

Small And Medium Enterprises And Their Characteristics Management Essay In the modern world economy, business transactions can be conducted within the same city, the same country, or even between two countries. The term of internationalization has been adopted by many researchers, for instance Bell (1995): A firms engagement in a specific foreign market develops according to an establishment chain, i.e. at the start no export activities are performed in the market, then export takes place via independent representatives, later through a sales subsidiary, and, eventually manufacturing may follow. Internationalization has become a significant research topic for business academics in the past forty years. A substantial amount of research has focused on multinational enterprises (Dunning, 1973; Markusen, 1995; Kogut and Zander, 2003), with a growing interest in the internationalization of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) (Oviatt and McDougall, 1994). Meanwhile small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs) have been believed to be significant in supporting economics improvement within a country (Mazzarol, Volery, Doss, and Thein, 1999). For example, in the Netherlands, SMEs account 98.8% of all private-sector companies, contribute 31.6% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and employ 55% of the total workforce (EIM Business Policy Research, 1999). Furthermore, obtaining sales outside their own domestic market is a goal of many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their governments (Economic Development Board, 1993). This thesis will be concentrated on the process of internationalization of SMEs, and especially the barriers of internationalization and motivations for export activities. In fact, SMEs are able to develop abroad since nowadays countries all around the world have become almost indistinguishable in terms of cultures and institutional settings (Johanson and Vahlne, 2003). 1.2 Problem statement According to problem indication, this there for leads to the following problem statement; What are the barriers and motivations of internationalization with regard to small and medium sized enterprises? 1.3 Research Questions The following questions will be posed in order to draw conclusions with respect to the problem statement: What are the characteristics of small and medium enterprises? How do the enterprises internationalize? What are the challenges and drivers of internationalization? 1.4 Research Method and Data Collection 1.4.1 Research Method This thesis will use a literature study as the method of research. To be able to answer the research questions, the research method that shall be used is the literature study. To develop a theoretical framework, exploratory studies are used in this research. It is the most ideal type of research for obtaining a clear understanding of the phenomena of interest (Sekarana, 2003). 1.4.2 Data Colletion Most of the resources used are secondary data which is data that have already been gathered by other researchers in the past (Sekarana, 2010). So far the author has found several journals and articles discussing internationalization of small and medium enterprises as the main source of this thesis. Firstly, literature based on drivers and motivations of internationalization of small and medium enterprises were sought using several search engines such as Google Scholar, and also database such as JSTOR. The following keywords were used: Internationalization, SMEs, Drivers and Motivations. These keywords were used separately and in combinations with each other. Secondly, more literature, articles and statistical data were found from the internet. Google is used as the search engine. Finally, to determine the quality of the literature, it is important to look at the number of citations from other high quality journal included in this literature. Another way to determine if literature is trustworthy is by looking at the references. 1.5 Structure of the Thesis In the remaining chapters the structure will be as follows: Chapter 2 shall review and analyze some of the definitions of small and medium enterprises and their characteristics, referring research question Q1. Chapter 3 will examine the theories and the process of internationalization. In chapter 4, I will investigate the opportunities and barriers to internationalization. In the final chapter, conclusions will be drawn and the problem statement will be answered. 2. SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 2.1. Definition of SMEs There is no single, uniformly acceptable definition of a small firm (Storey, 1994). However, some definitions are very depending on criteria such as number of employees and turn over. In 1971 Bolton Report (Dawes Haydock in Frank, 1999) attempted to overcome the problem of small firm definition by formulating what it called an economic definition and a statistical definition. Under the economic definition, a firm is regarded as small if it satisfied the following three criteria: they had a relatively small share of their market place; they were managed by owners or part owners in a personalized way, and not through the medium of a formalized management structure; they were independent, in the sense of not forming part of a large enterprise. The Committee also formulated a statistical definition which was designed to address three main issues. The first was to quantify the size for the small-firm sector and its contribution to economic aggregates such as gross domestic product (GDP), employment, exports and innovation. The second purpose was to compare the extent to which the small enterprise sectors economic contribution has changed over time. Thirdly, applying the statistical definition, this allows a comparison to be made among the contributions of small firms in one country with that of other nations. Furthermore, there is a lack of consensus on how to define SME (Gibb, 1993; Curran and Blackburn, 2001) as each country defines SME differently. For example, in the US and Canada, SMEs are generally defined as firms with fewer than 500 employees. In Japan, different headcount ceilings are used for manufacturing (up to 300 employees), wholesale (up to 150) and retail (up to 50). In this thesis we use the classification given by the Commission of the European Communities (2003/361/EC 2003). According to the European Union (2003), an SME is an enterprise with fewer than 250 employees and a turnover no more than 50 million Euros or a balance sheet total of no more than 43 million Euros. Small enterprises employ less than 50 and micro enterprises less than 10 employees. 2.2. Characteristics of SMEs SMEs are always one of the remarkable subjects for the researchers. It may be distinguished from larger firms by a number of key characteristics. Researchers have drawn some characteristic for the SMEs. Characteristics often discussed as typical of SMEs are as followed: Limited resources (Welsh and White, 1981). A small and medium enterprise generally has limited resources, which means they did not have money to purchase the required machinery and to hire many workers. This is extremely true for new starts-up due to an absence or lack of track record on the firm to entice potential investors and bankers. Hence, it is highly dependent on the capability of the owner to generate resources. Informal management style (Kotey, 1999 and Slade, 2005). For small and medium enterprises, the management is usually informal. The owner has to do almost everything and employees are normally expected to be able to duty as generalists as there is no clear division of tasks. Flexibility (Aragon-Sanchez and Sanchez-Marin, 2005). The enterprise has more flexibility to adapt to changes in the environment due to its size and informal structure. It is also vulnerable to grow in the enterprise environment. For example, any changes in government policy or technology might have a strong influence on the firms since instant changes require additional resources or capital. This might become a constraint to the firms to compete and sustain  itself in the market. Dependence on individual decision makers (Feltham and Barnett, 2005). The firms are managed and operated by the owner. The entrepreneurs of the business lead the company and play a role as both employee and employer. The growth of the firms is determined by the owner. Decision making is commonly done by the owner. 3. INTERNATIONALIZATION Different approaches and perspectives have been contributed to the literature firms internationalization (Morgan and Katsikeas, 1997), and these issues have been researched over three decades (Etermad, 2004). For instance, a gradual perspective of SME internationalization is explained in the Uppsala Model, and the Finnish-POM Models (Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul, 1975; Johanson and Vahlne, 1977). The other perspective is that SME internationalization is explained by an economic view (Dunning, 1977), and another view is described by a network approach (Kenny and Fahy, 2004; Majkgard and Sharma, 1998; Welch and Welch, 1998). The last view is described as the International New Venture perspective (Oviatt and McDougall, 1994; Zahra, Ireland, and Hitt, 2000). All these models are briefly discussed below. Of the gradual approaches, the Uppsala Model initiated by Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul (1975) and further developed by Johanson and Vahlne (1990 and 1977) is widely used to describe pattern of small firms internationalization (Andersson, 2004). In Uppsala Model, they make the distinction between state and change aspect of internationalization variables. They argue that the present state of the firm is the important factor in explaining future changes and subsequent stages. The state aspects are represented by the firms market commitment to the foreign market and the market knowledge about foreign market and operations. The change aspect is seen as commitment decision and the performance of current business activities. The concept of market commitment is assumed to be composed of two factors: Firstly, the amount of resources committed, for example, the size of investment in the market (marketing, personnel, organization etc.); Secondly, the degree of commitment, for instance, the difficulty of finding an alternative use for the resources and transforming them to practice. Market knowledge is seen as information about markets and operations which is somehow stored reasonable retrieval in the minds of individuals inside the firm, in computer memories or in written reports. International activities require both general knowledge about market operations and market specific knowledge. Current business activities are the prime source of experimental knowledge for the firm. It could be argued that experience could be gained alternatively through the hiring of the personnel with experience or through advice from persons with experience. Commitment decisions depend very much on experience since they are a response to perceived uncertainty and opportunities on the market. Decisions to commit further resources to specific foreign operations will more often be taken if experimental knowledge increases. This implies that additional market commitment as a rule will be made in small incremental steps because its takes time to gain experimental knowledge about foreign markets. The Uppsala model concentrates on the gradual acquisition, integration and use of knowledge about foreign market. According to this model, lack of knowledge is an important obstacle in the development of international operations and such knowledge can be acquired mainly through operations abroad. The gradual acquisition of knowledge increase foreign commitments. The second gradual model distinguishes three dimensions of internationalization (Luostarinen, 1979). First is Product (P), which describes what in terms of the firms goods, services, know-how and systems. Second is the Operation mode (O) which relates to how firms operate such as through agents, subsidiaries, licensing and management contracts. Third is Market (M), which describes where in relation to the selection of markets and takes into account political, cultural and physical differences. The organizational capacity dimension was a later addition to describe organizational structure, resources, finance and personnel (Welch and Luostarinen, 1988). Nonetheless, neither gradual model addresses the issues of networking. The networking view concentrates on non-hierarchical systems where enterprises invest to support and monitor their role in international networks. Referred to as the network perspective, this research draws on the theories of social exchange and resource dependence, and emphases on firm performance in the context of a network of interorganisational and interpersonal relationships (Axelsson and Easton 1992). Such relationships can include customers, competitors, suppliers, private and public support agencies, and friends, family and so on. Organizational boundaries therefore incorporate both business and social relationships. The theory suggests three methods of internationalization: International extension, explains how a company initially establishes connections with networks in other countries; Penetration, the firms develops the relationships that arise from those networks, which is described as the penetration method; International integration, the time when the company integrates the networks in different countries. Based to this research, internationalization determined by on an organizations set of network relationships rather than a firm-specific advantage. Therefore, externalization (rather than internalization) occurs. The network approach offers a complementary perspective to FDI theory given the latter does not account for the role and impact of social relationships in business transactions (Granvetter 1985). Also, internationalization decisions and activities in the network approach appear as patterns of behavior influenced by various network members, while FDI theory assumes coherent strategic decision-making. The network perspective introduces a more multilateral element to internationalization (Johanson and Vahlne 1992, p.12). Interestingly, this perspective has evolved from Johanson and Vahlnes early work, and reflects their ongoing research exploring the management of foreign market entry. For example, their (1992) study of internationalization in the situation of exchange networks found that even if foreign market entry is the gradual process (supporting the Uppsala model), it follow from interaction, and the development and maintenance of relationships over time. These findings support Sharma and Johanson (1987), who found that technical consulting firms operate in a network of connected relationships between organizations, where relationships become bridges to foreign markets and offer firms with the prospect and incentive to internationalize. The International New Venture theory emerged in the mid-nineties in response to the recognition that many firms do not go along with the gradual models in their internationalization process (Etemad, 2004a; Kenny et al., 2004). These firms are called Born Global (Knight and Cavusgil, 1996; Rennie, 1993), whilst Oviatt et al., (1994) identify them as Global Start-ups or International New Ventures (INV) firms. This model focuses on the age and not on the size of the firms and suggests that the INVs retain unique assets and capabilities that enable firms with limited resources to venture faster into foreign markets. Furthermore, Coviello and McAuley (1999) argue the internationalization happens gradually. With his extensive study of internationalization, Gripsurd (1990) points out that there is a three-stage model describing how an organization develops its international business study. First, the organization starts as a potential exporter, where they do not yet have the opportunity to export any of their goods or services. During this stage, the organization is still producing and distributing its products in the domestic market. Moreover, in the second stage, the firm is known as a passive exporter, where it has the opportunity to export its goods or services. However, they only represent upon request; therefore, there is no self-initiative. To continue, in the third stage, the firm is known as an active exporter, when it is increasing export activities abroad. With respect to the explanations, it is clear that Bell (1995) and Gripsrud (1990) mainly focus on the idea that internationalization develops in a number of stages. It happens gradually, not just with a single movement. 3.1 Process of Internationalization There are six steps that have been used for understanding about the internationalization of the small and medium enterprises. This process is not mattered only for the small and medium firms but applied in larger firms as well (Moberg and Palm, 1995 in Jennie and Zetterwall). These steps involved respectively, why internationalization (motives), company situation (SWOT), what (product and service), where (market selection), how (entry modes), and when (point of entrance). 3.1.1. Find out motives for internationalization. When a company goes internationalization it is often driven by certain stimuli or stimulus. Sometimes external and internal pressure such as competition, excess capacity of resources and a small and decline home markets put pressure on the company for becoming international. Other time firms go international because they want to. They have a unique product that is not widely available from international competitors or a technological advance in a special field (Czincota Ronkainen, 1995). 3.1.2. Clearly define the current situation of the enterprise (through conducting a SWOT analysis). To enter a foreign market does not mean new opportunities, but also a totally new situation with new environment and cultures. To find out whether a firm is ready to meet and handle this new situation or not, a complete analysis of the company situation has to be done by using SWOT analysis (Thompson Strickland, 1995, in Jennie Zetterwall). Companys economy, production, personnel, marketing, international experience and language capabilities are some factors those must be analyzed into SWOT analysis (Moberg Palm, 1995 in Jennie Zetterwall). Potential markets and marketing environment have to be analyzed to find attractive opportunities and avoid environmental threats. 3.1.3. Decide on the product or service enterprise wish to integrate in this process. The success of the firm depends on its products offered and on how well the firm is able to differentiate the product or service from what the competitors offer. When a company enters in a new market it should start with a small share of the assortment, mainly quality products or already established products. 3.1.4. Select the right market to penetrate. When firm decides to enter foreign markets, the customers and market conditions are quite different from their home market. That stage firms need to enhance international marketing strategies considering different aspect of the marketing such as product, price, promotion, place, logistics, competition, and so on. The firms strategies decided, whether use to the existing product or develop a new product to serve the foreign market. A firm operating the international marketing should not only identify the product for different markets but should also develop suitable strategies for growth such products. Whether a single standardized can be offered worldwide or a customize product need to be develop for each market is the most significant product decision that firms has to do while operating in international markets. In the international market, decision related to quality, packaging and labeling of product require specific attention and consideration. Product strategy of the firm in in ternational markets is often influenced by cultural context (Joshi, 2005). Therefore, it is a responsibility of the manager/owner to know the taste and preferences of the customer in a target market, and formulate the product strategy according to the marketing conditions. Sometime color, size, and packaging of the product play vital role in the success of the firm (Joshi, 2005). 3.1.5. Decide on mode of entry. After the selection of the market has been done, the company has to decide how to approach the foreign market. A firm can, for example choose to sell directly to the final consumer, to sell indirectly through distributors and/ or agents, or to produce locally in foreign countries. The choice depend on factors such as, resource of the exporting company, the characteristics of the product, the goal of the internationalization, the distribution culture in foreign markets, and the number and demand of the customer (Czinkota Ronkainen, 1995). 3.1.6. Find the right moment to do it. Furthermore, a company has to determine when to enter the foreign market. The company must be sure that market is ready, that the company has enough resources and the right market channel and product for specific market (Moberg Palm, 1995 in Jennie Zetterwall). Meanwhile, Masurel and Montfort (2006) explored the changes between stages in the life cycle of small and medium-sized enterprises in the professional services sector. They distinguish four different, subsequent stages in the life cycle. 1. Starting; 2. Growth; 3. Maturity; 4. Decline. They found that the first three stages represent an increase in diversification in sales, increase in differentiation of labor force, and increase in labor productivity. In the last stage, the diversification in sales, differentiations in labor force, and labor productivity all drop. As growth as one crucial key in this life cycle, SMEs starts internationalization which has become more and more relevant to the competitiveness of enterprises of all sizes. Recently, SMEs that start with a global strategy can change swiftly to take advantage of cross-border activities, which offers chances not only for revenue growth but also the exchange of knowledge and the development of capabilities, thereby strengthe ning the long-term competitiveness of the firm. 3.2. The Models of Internationalization Tookey (1969) developed an early example of modeling progression through various steps, pre-dating the Uppssalla model; this involved the advancement of the firm from exporting, to international marketing and finally international business The behavioural approach of the Uppsala views internationalization as having four stages (Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul 1975, Johanson and Vahlne 1977) while Bilkey and Tesar (1977) identify six steps, Aijo (1977), Cavusgil (1980) and Reid (1981) identify five, while Czinkota (1982) identifies six. Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul (1975), Johanson and Vahlne (1977) Stage 1: No regular export activities; Stage 2: Export via agents; Stage 3: Establishment of a sales subsidiary; Stage 4: Production or manufacturing in a foreign market. Bilkey and Tesar (1977) Stage 1: Management not interested in exporting; Stage 2: Management willing to fill unsolicited orders but not effort made to explore feasibility of actively exporting; Stage 3: Management actively explores feasibility of active exporting; Stage 4: Firm exports experimentally to psychologically close county; Stage 5: Firm is now an experienced exporter; Stage 6: Management explore feasibility of exporting to psychologically distant countries. Cavusgil (1980) Stage 1: Firm sells only in domestic market; Stage 2: Pre-export phase, the firm searches for information and evaluates feasibility of starting to export; Stage: Experimental involvement, firm begins exporting to psychologically close country; Stage 4: Active involvement, exporting to more new countries, direct exporting and increase in sales volume. Czinkota (1982) Stage 1: The completely uninterested firm; Stage 2: The partially interested firm; Stage 3: The exploring firm; Stage 4: The experimental firm; Stage 5: The experienced small exporter; Stage 6: The experienced large exporter. Reid (1981) Stage 1: Export awareness, problem of opportunity recognition and arousal of need; Stage 2: Export intention, motivation, attitude, beliefs and exporting about exporting; Stage 3: Export trial, personal experience from limited exporting; Stage 4: Export evaluation, results from engaging in exporting; Stage 5: Export acceptance, adoption of exporting or rejection of exporting. 4. DRIVERS AND BARRIERS TO INTERNATIONALIZATION Drivers of Internationalization There must be some motivations behind the decision to go international. Leonidou, Katsikeas and Percy (1998) determine that organizations are typically willing to market themselves for four reasons. First, it may be due to slow growth in the domestic economy as evidenced by a reduction in the number of the home market opportunities. Consequently, an organization will look for other opportunities by entering new international markets (Chandra, Styles and Wilkinson, 2009). Second, there may be a trade deficit followed by currency devaluation and a number of export restrictions. Third, the world trading system may become more liberalized leading to a minimization of international market entry barriers. Forth, it might be more intensive global competition in the global business environment. All these trends have developed the dynamic of exports. The creation of exports is not only due to the self-initiative of a company, but also by the government. This is also confirmed by Gripsrud (1990) who suggests that the government of a country may believe their firms to think globally by expanding their service areas to foreign markets, due to the expectation of an increasing volume of exports from the country. Thus, it will help the economy of that country. Furthermore, OECD (2009) also analyzed motivations for small and medium-sized internationalization including growth motives, knowledge-related motives, network or stoical ties and domestic or regional market factors. 4.1.1 Growth Motives Growth opportunities associated with international markets were identified as a key driver of firm internationalization in several recent studies (Orser et al., 2008), (Rundh, 2007), (Barnes et al., 2006), (Reynolds, 2007). The possibility of growth in other markets and increased profit opportunities from international expansion were highlighted as key stimuli for exporting. Firms overseas venturing decision also seems to be motivated by a need for business growth, profits, an increased market size, a stronger market position, and to reduce dependence on a single or small number of markets. The growth motives is very closely linked to maximizing returns and minimizing costs in purchasing, production and sales. 4.1.2 Knowledge-related Motives Garvey and Brennan (2006) suggest that knowledge assets both push and pull SMEs into international markets. The push dimension pertains to the importance of managers previous international experience and related management capacity factors. There are also related findings on the internationalization triggering effects of knowledge aspects, including RD investment, innovation capabilities, unique product or technology, and language skills; and firm resource base, as indicated by such proxies as size, age, and experience. 4.1.3 Network or Social Ties and Supply Chain Links Camara and Simoes (2008) have highlighted the importance of network/social ties and supply chain links in triggering SMEs first internationalization step and extending internationalization processes. The research studies particularly reported the stimulating effect on export activity of firms soft assets, including social and network capital, some of which may have accrued through managers immigrant background and associated links. 4.1.4 Domestic or Regional Market Drivers There is also support from recent relevant research (Lopez, 2007), (Staoian, 2006) on the push effects of firms limited or stagnating domestic market on internationalization behavior. The enterprise differed significantly in their export tendency, with export propensity increasing in regions with less favorable domestic conditions, local incentives to export and good export infrastructure. Recent evidence from Chile and Indonesia further suggest a greater tendency to export among firms from sectors characterized by high levels of export intensity and presence of foreign buyers. The Indonesian finding on the importance of foreign buyers presence is significant as it reinforces the earlier observed need to boost SMEs role in global value chains through facilitating their integration into production or supply systems of foreign affiliates of larger firms (OECD, 2008). 4.2. Barriers to Internationalization In order to identify the term internationalization with the main focus of the thesis, Coviello and McAuley (1999) stated that not only large organizations, but also small and medium sized organizations, can become global. In addition, they also state that the international expansion of an SME is certainly useful when it comes to contributing to the economic growth and prosperity of a country. However, one thing that should be remembered is that not every SME is ready to expand into international markets. Despite the fact that they have small or medium sized organizations, there must be some factors and limitations in terms of finding global market opportunities. There have been a number of studies which have focused on the barriers to internationalization (Leonidou, 1995; Campbell 1994; Katsikeas and Morgan, 1994, Morgan 1997). The barriers to internationalization can be categorized into five broad areas: financial, managerial, market based (including both the domestic and international markets), industry specific and firm specific. It is widely acknowledged that barriers to internationalization can exist at any stage in the internationalization process (Morgan, 1997). Furthermore, the perception of the barriers can vary in intensity depending on the degree of internationalization of the individual firm (Burton and Schlegeliclch, 1987; Cavusgil, 1984; Kedia and Chhokar, 1986; Katsikeas and Morgan, 1994). 4.2.1 Financial Barriers Limitations in finance and related physical resources have continued to be highlighted as a leading barrier to the internationalization of SMEs. It including financial barriers in general (Campbell, 1994; Burpitt Rondinelli, 2000), resource availability ( Karagozoglu Lindell, 1998), cost of operating overseas (Bilkey, 1978), and limited access to capital and credit ( Buckley, 1989; Coviello McAuley, 1999). The pertinent evidence include the observed disadvantages faced by enterprises international new ventures or early-stage SME exporters, relative to their more established counterparts, in regard to accessing operating and term loans and the terms thereof. Lack of capital requirements and other firm resources and limited access to key infrastructure were also reported by SMEs. 4.2.2. Managerial Barriers Difficulties arising from limited managerial knowledge base emerge as a top barrier to SME internationalization in several recent surveys. Managerial barriers are including managerial attitudes (Andersson, 2000; Burpitt Rondinelli, 2000), lack of international experience and skills (Karagozoglu Lindell), limited management time (Coviello McAuley, 1999; Buckley, 1989), commitment, and partnership difficulties. Managerial risk perceptions and lac

Essay on Hotspur as Tragic Hero of Henry IV -- Henry IV Henry V Essays

Hotspur as Tragic Hero of Henry IV       In Shakespeare's Henry IV Part One, the characters' many different conceptions of honor govern how they respond to situations.   Each character's conception of honor has a great impact on the character's standing after the play.   For instance, Falstaff survived because he dishonorably faked his own death, and his untrue claim that he was the one who killed Hotspur may get him a title and land.   On the other hand, Hotspur lies dead after losing a duel for honor.   Hotspur, who is in many ways the ideal man by the standards of his time, is killed by his lust for honor.   In creating Hotspur, Shakespeare has created a variation on the tragic hero of other works: the stubborn tragic hero, who, dying for his fault of honor, does not at last understand his weakness.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The fault of the classic tragic hero, hubris, is very similar to Hotspur's need for honor.   While hubris is excessive pride, the quest for honor can be viewed as the quest ( of the proud ) to get more titles and accolades, more things to be proud of.   In addition, Hubris and honor drive their victims to ultimate failure in a similar manner: Oedipus is driven to find out the truth about his origins by his own pride just as Hotspur is driven by his need for honor to fight against the odds.   Each fault is as inevitably dooming as the other: the quest for honor leads to greater and greater risks taken for greater and greater honors, and hubris leads to the acceptance of greater and greater risks as the proud hero cannot back down.   Thus Hotspur's need for honor is similar failing to hubris, giving him that characteristic of the tragic hero.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hotspur's standing in his society is very high: he is ... ...peare from other writers of the Elizabethan period and made his writings exceptional.    Works Cited and Consulted:    Bloom, Harold. Henry IV, Part One: Bloom's Notes. New York: Chelsea House, 1996.    Cruttwell,Patrick. Hernry IV. Shakespeare For Students, Vol. II. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1999.    Kantor, Andrea. Henry IV, Part One. London: Baron's Education Series, Inc, 1984.    Princiss, G.M. Henry IV Criticism. Shakespeare For Students, Vol.II. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1999.    Prior, Moody E. The Drama of Power: Study in Shakespeare's History Plays. Shakespeare For Students, Vol. II. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1999.    Shakespeare, William. Henry IV, Part One, Penguin Books, Lim, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England. 1987.    Wells, Stanley. Shakespeare: Life in Drama. New York: Norton & Company, 1995.   

A Language Older Than Words

A Language Older Than Words Response Paper In the novel A Language Older Than Words, Derrick Jensen covers many different themes in the many chapters that he has divided his book into. The two chapters that really interested me were Breaking Out and Economics. The two themes that Jensen discusses is the relationship with the self and other as well as the monetary symbol in our society respectively. I was able to relate to both of these topics in different ways. In the chapter Breaking Out Jensen focuses on the image of the self and the relationship we have with each other.Jensen writes about how we are constricted to our own concentration camp in our society. It is not an actual concentration camp yet it is a concentration camp in our way of thinking and constructing the image of ourselves and our relationship as human beings. â€Å"In a concentration camp, it is better (in terms of maintaining physical life; spiritual life is an entirely different question) to be the killer than th e killed, better to be a collaborator than a resister, a guard than a collaborator, a supervisor than a guard, and better still to be the boss (125). He states that having everyone act in his or her own best interest may not be the best interest for society in general. â€Å"Part of the reason we’ve been able to convince ourselves that by exploiting others we’re acting in our own best interest is that we’ve accepted a severely constricted definition of self (125). † Jensen speaks about how the image of our self is not the image that we should accept. We must break out of that concentration camp that society has constructed and create our own view of what type of individual we want to be without the help of society or the fear of society judging ones self.The quote that Jensen wrote about the concentration camp really strokes a chord in my head. My own analysis of this is that we are stuck as a society by always wanting to be the best and not looking out f or others. The mentality of all men for themselves has spread in our society. I was thinking we are always competing in life. Whether it is for a job or a spot in a class, we are always competing. This competition creates this mentality that it is better to be the killer than the killed.The constricted definition of the self that Jensen speaks about relates to the workbook from class. When it speaks about sexuality and how there isn’t just male or female when there are many different colors of the rainbow. As a society we shouldn’t have to be constricted to what they want us to identify with. We need to break out of our ‘concentration camp’ and create our own identity without the help of society judging us. In the chapter Economics, Jensen writes about the fact that money rules all.He speaks about how everything in life turns into a money exchange. â€Å"I’d like three books, two packages of chicken McNuggets, and a blow to go, please. That which i t is possible to reduce to a commodity and sell, is. That which can’t, is either (by definition) devalued, ignored, or simply destroyed (139)†. Jensen is trying to show the reader that everything has a relation to money. We need money in order to do the many things in life such as travel yet there are things that we don’t need money for. Here’s the problem: in this tidy world of economic categories, there’s no room for love, joy, mystery, for the sometimes confused and confusing, sometimes clear and clarifying, sometimes beautiful, sometimes magical suction of body on body, skin on skin soul on soul (139). †How I see this quote is that Jensen is saying we are so consumed in getting more money that we don’t have time for the things that really matter in our life like love and happiness. I can see where Jensen is coming from. I think our society is stuck into thinking that money is a priority.I think it is important because we do need mon ey to survive yet we shouldn’t let money run our lives. The first quote shows how we see money as a constraint to happiness, love, and mystery. This reminds me of the discussion that we had in class on how we would like to travel the world when we graduate yet we are not able to because of the constraint of money and getting left behind in this ‘rat race’. We have all these obligations one after another that we are not able to pursue the things we really want to.Jensen brings a lot of good questions to mind while reading his novel. He is not afraid to say what he believes is happening to our society even though it seems like our society is corrupt. His thought on relationships opens up my window to knowing how easily people can ‘stab’ each other in the back in order to be the killer not the killed. His topic of money in our society shows how we are truly materialistic. We must give everything a dollar value and if it doesn’t have a dollar valu e then it is not valued. How much is happiness?