Reflections for Sociology Research Paper Example

Reflections for Sociology Research Paper Example Reflections for Sociology Paper Reflections for Sociology Paper The reason I am taking Soc 101 is for that exact reason. It is one of the classes that I am missing to fulfill my general education requirements. When I went into this class I was not exactly sure what to expect. I was not sure what sociology meant or what the study of sociology meant, but after Professor Green described it, I am more interested in the subject now. I hope to learn maybe something about myself. Why I am the way I am, or behave the way I do. I hope to be able to analyze myself, from what I have learned from the class. By being a party of this class, I believe that I will bring a lot of discussion to the class. Want to know the price of your unique Paper? 126 writers online Deadline Paper topic Pages 550 words(double spaced) Get a price Subjects that I do not have a lot of knowledge on often cause curiously which leads me to asking questions. I think I will ask questions that will start section discussions each week. I look forward to learning more about sociology. ?CÃ' ,-. ?0 Today my outlook is different. Over the course I have learned a lot about what sociologist analyze in the world today, and over the course I have found myself tying things that I used to take for granted, back to what I have learned in this course. One topic that we discussed in class was about social norms. What was normal in society and what was not? In discussion I remember this topic vividly because I remember Professor Green giving the example of a male being able to scratch his private parts with no up roar reaction, but If a female did that, it would cause disgust. At that point It made me think about social norms. Why was It was k for males to do that and not females? In an assignment we had on social norms It was the perfect time to teach my friends a little bit about what I had learned in sociology and to see what they thought; I was going to break social norm. Their reaction was priceless. When given this assignment, I had no idea what I was going to do. As the weekend approached, I thought that would be the perfect time to do something that would throw my friends for a loop. On Saturday night, the plan was to all meet up at my house and we were going to go out to a party. It was not until everyone had arrived that I suddenly came up with an idea. I was almost ready, all I had left was to put on my shoes and that is where I decided to break a social norm. As I completed my outfit, I put on one tennis shoe and one flip flop and walked out into the living room where everyone sat waiting. When I first walked out It was hard to keep from smiling. One of my girl friends said, you trying to decide what shoe to wear? ? 1 said no, wearing these shoes. They all looked at me puzzled. They had that kind of look like, she It was not normal for them to see me or anyone In Tanat case wearing two Deterrent snows. You never see people doing that. As I continued walking around the house in these two different shoes, they all Just laughed at me, asking me if I was serious. It was hard to stay confident, and trying not to laugh with them was the hardest. After about 20 minutes of walking around the house we finally were ready to go. I went in my room and changed my shoes. I then came out and told my friends what I was doing, and explained to them how society has impacted us. I asked them, why is it not k for people to wear two different shoes? And I told them it is because it is not normal in our society. It was not normal because in society that is not what you see. It is not even an option to buy two different shoes as a pair. In stores you only see pairs of shoes that match. Although one fits a left foot and the other fits a right foot, they are identical in colors and style. In advertisements and in the media you always see people wearing matching shoes, and to be seen in mismatch shoes would be pretty embarrassing. Because of the media and advertisements, wearing the same shoes is the only thing we recognize as being normal, not wearing two different shoes. Many of my friends were very interested and I could tell they really thought about it. Although this assignment was somewhat embarrassing, I had fun doing it and I think I taught my friends a little bit about sociology. Another topic that we tended to focus a lot on that I found relations to in my life was the idea of sociological imagination. In the book, Big Picture?C,-1?0 sociological imagination is defined as the and ability to look at the connection between who we are as individuals and the larger social and historical forces that shape our lives. ?C,-1?0 In other words you do not know why a person may be the way he or she is unless you know what they have been through. You cannot relate on a personal level to that person until you have witnessed their experiences. I felt this was the overall concept of sociology. It is a way for a person to look at their life as a result of their interaction with society. The sociological imagination examines these and figure out why I am the way I am and also why I have chosen to do certain things For me I have faced many issues in my life that I consider personal, but one that I can tie back to imagination?C,-1?0 that may some what seem as a humorous story is one that actually happened to a friend of mine, but then later also effected me. My friend who had been dating her boyfriend for a couple years decided to break up. After her break up she was depressed and never wanted to do anything. She changed as a person, and became someone I no longer recognized. I ad no idea why she was acting the way she was. She acted as if someone had died. My friend and I exchanged many words, sometimes hurtful but it was not until a few months later that me and my boyfriend faced the same issue. My opinion immediately changed after that moment. I knew exactly what she was feeling when this happened to her. My attitude changed and I soon became a stranger to my friends. I relate this issue back to because when this happened to my friend my opinion on it was to Just get over it, but when it happened to me, I realized it was not that easy. In society it is so normal to have a boyfriend. It somewhat feels like something your expected to have, because eventually It wall lead to marriage Ana or naval a Tamely. It Is not Like we can Just go out right after a break up and be with any guy we see. It Just is not normal. Society has shaped us to think that we be single all our lives. Eventually we have to find someone or else be lonely forever. The only solution to this problem was to be in my shoes, and once I was I knew exactly how she felt. Any situation that people go through I think should be tied back to sociological imagination because it is the truth. No one knows what one is going wrought until you yourself experience it. On a more emotional note, in what was stated previously, the social imagination which explains why we live the life we do or do the things we do makes this concept very important to me. In my life there is a story, and not until I took this course did I learn why my life was the way it was or why I did things the way I do. I grew up without a mother, pretty much all my life. She died from breast cancer when I was only five and ever since I have learned to become a woman, basically on my own. Growing up with a family of boys, I never had the omen role model and till this day I still do not. Before this course in sociology, it would make me emotional when I question myself with why it had to happen to me, but now I know it was because it was to make me the person I am today. It has made me do things that I never in million years would have thought to do. I have been a participant in many breast cancer events and I even held a fundraiser where I raised 5300 dollars in order to donate to the American Cancer Society. For me, sociological imagination, although I found a story in it, it also opened a pathway for me to see life in a different perspective. Today, our society is what we would refer to as a capitalist society. Although Capitalism is huge among our society it was hard for me to relate it to my personal life. I had trouble comprehending exactly what the concept was unfolding. Capitalism, which is an economic system based on private property in which revenue seeking individuals, companies or businesses compete in the marketplace is exactly how we live today. We live in a society where there is room for competition. In a communist society, the system is based on everyone being given the same things and no one being able to compete to make money. Capitalism has impacted my life in many ways. Capitalism is everything. It is in school, my family, and even in the Jobs I work. My family consists of a family of four, not because my parents had to have a family of four but because they wanted to. In China, because they are a communist country, everyone is given the same amount of freedom. No one is better than the other, but everyone is equal. For example in the article around the you are only aloud to have one child. If you have more than one, they take your child away from you. Here, unlike China, looking for a Job goes pretty much as you please. You are able to choose where you want to work and which Job is going to pay more. As school goes, you are able to choose what classes you want, and sometimes if you are lucky, what teachers you want to have. Capitalism is almost like freedom. Without it everyone would be the same and there would be no room for competition or options. We need capitalism in order to have choices. If we were ruled by the government, who told us that we all had to be the same, the world would be a boring place to live. Every family would be the same, every working man and women would make the same amount of money ND it would be like looking at your-self in a mirror all over the world. If everyone was n Dealing ten same as everyone else In ten world, Ana 010 not want to compete with one another for more money, then capitalism would not be necessary. Economy has had a dramatic effect on me and many other people living in California. Today the economy has become almost unbelievable. With gas prices rising to almost 4 dollars a gallon is ridiculous. The price of living is almost unimaginable. For me the economy has made it almost impossible for me to live on my own, let alone survive. Any student living in our economy, going to school full time and working part time is barley getting by. Although the goal of capitalism is to give everyone their freedom and independence, the economy has made it very hard to live and be independent, and that is why I am where I am now. Living at home, working two part time Jobs and going to school full time. Although it is almost unimaginable it is due able. The fact of the matter is though; I am able to make a choice. I can either go to school or work full time, or do both. There is no one telling us what we have to do as an order. We are given options. If I wanted to move out I could, but I would have to work a lot more than I do now. Although it is hard to get by today, glad I have the choice to make my own independent decisions. For me I agree with what Karl Marx says about our society. In Big it states that Marx believes that economy determines society. ?C,-1?0 Max Weber believed that ideas were more important and thought that those and other contributions shaped our society. In world though, the economy does shape our society, or at least that is what I believe. The way we live, the clothes we where, the places we go, the families we have are all because of the economy. The society we live in today, no one cares about ideas anymore, it is all about how much money you have and where you stand in society. No one is going to listen to a homeless person on the streets who might have a good idea, but they are going to listen to someone with higher power, maybe someone with money who can actually buy himself to the top to prove a point. In politics, there is never a poor person running for president, it is always people with money, who have higher power than everyone else. Economy says everything about the society we live in today. One of my favorite themes in this course was gender. It was Just interesting to hear different opinions people had on this topic. For this topic, I lead the discussion in my section. I was glad to have picked that week to lead discussion because I have a lot of different thoughts on gender and recently I encountered a situation that made me think about this topic after the situation had occurred. While at a Padre Game with a group of friends, we were leaving walking towards the trolley when my male friend was approached by another person who started to bad mouth him. My friends first reaction was to stand up for himself, so him and this other errors started to get close to one another bumping each other with their chests. My friend, who was male, was with a group of girls, one of us being his girlfriend. She was the first one to notice that the person her boyfriend was about to get in a fight with was not who he thought it was. He was about to fight a female, who could barely be identified as a female because of her short hair and her boyish clothing. Once we all realized her name was Heather and her friends were telling her to stop, we shouted for him to stop because he was about to fight a female, which was something he would never do. When we got on the trolley we were laughing about it, out teen I tongue auto It I leaned to my Eternal slating next to me Ana toll near now I had Just been discussing gender in my sociology class. I wondered why it made a difference that she was a girl. Why did my friend automatically back off when he figured it out that she was a girl? I never witnessed something like that. I have seen girls that dress like guys and sometimes you have to really analyze the person, but this was the first time I really started to think about it. It made me think about the reading it Means to be Gendered Me?C,-1?0 by Betsy Local from the kook Mapping the Social Landscape by Susan J. Ferguson. The reading described the life of a woman who was similar to what I witnessed at the baseball game. In the book the women describes her life as sometimes hard but because society only has two gender structures, she has to deal with the consequences. Recently an event occurred at San Diego State that has everyone talking, including people around the world. It struck a discussion among the campus that I related back to sociology. Of the 96 students who were arrested, 75 of them were students at SUDS. It made me wonder why those students did what they did. Was it because of their family, gender or socioeconomic class that caused these students to take action in this illegal action? Was it because of society and the influence that drugs and weapons have on us or was it Just because they wanted to experiment with new things, and maybe needed some extra money? It is something that still makes me wonder even now. Behind each situation in life there is a theory. At least that is how it is analyzed in a sociological outlook. Are systematic and ever-evolving expressions that, in sociology, seek to explain why we act and think as we do?C,-1?0 (Witt 2007: 5). In every condition I encountered, It made me think why I acted and thought as I did. From putting on different shoes to not being able to identify a girl who was dressed like a boy. Over the time being in Sociology 101, I feel that I have learned a lot. Some things that we went over in class got to me on and emotional level and some discussions in class were very intense. The week we discussed Capitalism, the topic got to me in an emotional way. We had the guest speaker who was the actor in Marx in Soho (which I watched) and also a few who Joined our discussion that day. One T. A ho I can not seem to remember his name broke down our system a little bit better. The way he spoke and the way he delivered his message had some kind of effect on me. It really made me question why I was going to school and getting an education and what will happen if I am not successful in life. What would I tell my family or how would I survive. It was a matter of what I could do to make the world different, and some ways a better place. Sociology has now become one of my favorite subjects. Although sometimes some subjects are boring, many of them make you really think about life. Why everything happens and why people act the way they do. I find myself relating a lot of things I hear or see back to sociology. I think about things before I react and try to pass the word on to friends. They sometimes look at me weird but when they think about it, it catches them by surprise, Just as it did to me when I was taught it. It is hard to imagine how I was so oblivious too subject that is all around us. It is what we see, do, and hear about every day. It is our society that we live in that makes I t ten way It Is ay when I enrolled In sociology 101 at ten Degrading AT ten ear, I never would have thought it would become a subject of interest, one that I am almost tempted to change my major to. But I love to look beyond the box and I love to help others and I think that is what sociology is all about. At the beginning of the year when I had written about what I hoped to accomplish out of this course, I think I have. I now have learned something new about myself, why I am the way I am and why I react and behave the way I do. I am glad that I took this course and if it was not a GE course, I would recommend it to all students. I would call it a class that will leave a lasting impression on many.

HIPPA Compliance Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

HIPPA Compliance - Research Paper Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that HIPAA Security Rule assigns the control and monitoring over Administrative Safeguards to a security officer, who responsibility is to develop and implement the policies and procedures (gap analysis, logs audit, etc). In addition, this measure is partially governed by  § 164.312 (a) of Security Rule, Technical Safeguards, that obligates entities to establish technical policies that grant access to electronic data only to authorized people and software. The second corrective action offered by Providence Health and Services which is to be implemented to improve off-site transport and storage of electronic data falls under  § 164.310 of Security Rule, Physical Safeguards, particularly  § 164.310 (d) containing procedures on media and hardware removal and transportation, and  § 164.310 (b and c), specifying workstations use and security, including physical safeguards for all workstations. Workstation access to information is to be lim ited strictly to the job description. Moreover, the use and disposal of various storage devices, such as disks, tapes, text messaging and camera cell devices must be documented. The third corrective step by Providence Health and Services, involving workforce training of the safeguards, falls under  § 164.308 (5), Administrative safeguards, which cover an implementation of a security awareness and training programs, including security reminders and updates, methods of protection from malicious software, login monitoring and password management. The training programs aim to stimulate awareness about the vulnerability of data within the electronic system.

Biology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Biology - Essay Example A fine example of natural selection is provided by the finches that were observed by Darwin during his expedition to the Galapagos’ islands. He found 13 species of finches and each species exhibited variation is beak size and shape. While explaining the concept of natural selection in these finches Darwin rightly observed that all the variations already existed among the finches and that each type of variation was selected on the basis of their adaptability to a particular type of environment. Birds with beaks suited to eat cactus survived better in arid climates and reproduced to produce offspring’s with similar beaks. Birds with different beak sizes and shapes that were suited to eat nectar and hard seeds were naturally adapted to that particular environment and reproduced. Thus the process of natural selection chose organisms that were better suited to survive in a particular environment due to the inherent anatomical variations and allowed them to reproduce and cont ribute to the process of evolution (O’Neil). 2. Explain energy flow in an ecosystem. Include examples An ecosystem comprises the living and non-living components within a given environment such as a pond, grassland or forest. The flow of energy is an integral part of the ecosystem which is necessary in order to facilitate the normal functioning of the ecosystem. The energy that enters the ecosystem undergoes transformation at different stages based on the processes involved in the system. Energy enters an ecosystem from the sun as light energy which is trapped by plants which are referred to as the primary producers. The energy then flows through the various trophic levels as primary producers are consumed by herbivores which are in turn consumed by carnivores and in each level it transformed in to chemical energy through various cellular processes such as photosynthesis and respiration. Waste products are produced at each level and organisms such as the scavengers, detritivo res and decomposers feed on these waste products and microbes are the ultimate decomposers. The energy is liberated as heat energy during every process which is lost to the ecosystem and this energy cannot be recycled. The flow of energy through the food chain decreases at every stage beginning with the primary producers. The herbivores will have less energy available compared to the primary producers and so on. This gives rise to the energy pyramid (The concept of the Ecosystem). 3. How can different species arise in a population Speciation or the process by which new species arise from a single species is a natural phenomenon that occurs during the process of evolution. The new species arise from an already existing species when a population of the species undergoes geographical isolation. As a result of this separation changes occur in allele frequency due to reduced gene flow between the two populations. Speciation of the formation of a new species will occur if these changes re sult in physical or behavioral changes that prevent the interbreeding between the parent and newly formed population. Thus for the formation of a new species both geographical and reproductive isolation should occur which result in changes in gene flow and prevent the interbreeding between two closely related populations. As the new species evolves the physical and behavioral changes will enable it to differentiate itself from the parent population and develop a sense of incompatibility for co-existence as well as

Learning Organizations Essay Example for Free

Learning Organizations Essay 1. 1 Executive summary/ L. O! In times of uncertainty and change, organizations need new and effective managerial tools in order to cope with the rising competitiveness of markets. In this context, the concept of organizational learning is receiving growing attention among both managerial and academic surroundings in the last two decades. Among many possible definitions of a Learning Organization, David A. Garvin, a leading scholar in this field, suggests the following: â€Å"an organization made up of employees skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge. These people could help their firms cultivate tolerance, foster open discussion, and think holistically and systemically. Such learning organizations would be able to adapt to the unpredictable more quickly than their competitors could. †. A learning organization is aimed at increasing the flexibility and effectiveness of a company, making it react faster to changes in a competitive environment. This is achieved in cultures who constantly foster knowledge inside their organizations. Although this general idea of organizational learning may appear rather simplistic at first glance, its practical integration into day-to-day operations proves to require a more refined, systematic approach: â€Å"Generative learning cannot be sustained in an organization where event thinking predominates. It requires a conceptual framework of â€Å"structural† or systematical thinking, the ability to discover structural causes of behaviorâ€Å". This paper provides a deeper insight into the implementation and performance assessment of learning organizations (L. O. ’s), mainly using the Three Building Blocks Model outlined by Garvin, Edmondson Gino. To better understand this concept, the work will rely on Xerox as an example to highlight how L. O. ’s can provide competitive advantages to corporations. In the last section, the paper will also breakdown the effect that learning organizations have on major stakeholders (leaders, employees and organization itself). 1. 2. Introduction: Background to Xerox Xerox is a US-based multinational, founded in 1906, which produces and sales printers and photocopiers and provides related services. Throughout it’s history, Xerox has faced several crisis periods which ended up pushing the company to become a Learning Organization. Around 1980, the company was hit hard by the emergence of new japanese players on the market and lost its almost 100% market share. As a response Xerox introduced the â€Å"leadership through quality initiative† with the objective of training every employee in tools for generating ideas and collecting information, solving problems in a systematical way, reaching consensus etc. â€Å"Xerox became a case study — the first American group to win back market share from the Japanese†. More recently, in the year of 2000, with the announcement of Anne M. Mulcahy as CEO of the company, XEROX’s was able to overcome another serious crisis. Mulcahy’s leadership style, which mirrors many of the strategies suggested by the LO literature, managed to turn around this †sinking ship†, which had 19 billion in debt, a falling stock and double-digit negative growth. In 5 years time, Xerox would be profitable again. Ursula Burns has continued Mulcahy’s work, since becoming the new CEO in 2009, even acquiring new companies such as the 2010 $6. 4 bln. takeover of ACS. Xerox continues to stay on the list of companies frequently cited as learning organizations. The 3 Building Blocks of a Learning Organization The concept of the three building blocks of a learning organizations is introduced by David A. Garvin, Amy C. Edmondson, and Francesca Gino as an assessment tool to determine areas where organizations need to improve their learning methodologies. Below we provide a deeper explanation of each of the three building blocks and how Xerox fits each one of them. Building Block 1: XEROX, a supportive learning organization? There are four distinct characteristics of an organization that determine whether it is or not a Supportive Learning Organization. Firstly, how psychologically safe its employees feel. This is common in organizations where employees don’t feel pressured or marginalized when presenting their own ideas even if these go against what the majority of the organization thinks. Similarly, subordinates at this organization are encouraged to disagree with their coworkers and superiors and present new and bold opinions, meaning that this organization is opened to new ideas. In a supportive learning organization, employees also become aware of the different inputs and opinions each member of a team brings to the table and learns how to accommodate and value those differences. Lastly, a supportive learning organization needs to provide its employees with some time for reflexion, when they will to go over the company’s procedures and analyse past performances in order to assess what can be changed and/or improved. Tolerance and diversity at Xerox Xerox’s openness to new ideas can be partly linked to its high diversity of employee backgrounds, which ultimately reinforces the acceptance and inclusion of different solutions, making employees feel more comfortable in taking risks. This diversity has also enabled Ursula Burns, the current CEO, to climb up the ranks of Xerox and become the first female black CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Besides being â€Å"a proof† to other employees that effort at Xerox pays back, Burns herself stresses this idea of a supportive learning organization when she mentions that she â€Å"wants [XEROX’s] 130,000 employees to get over the past, take more initiative, become more fearless and be more frank and impatient with one another to ratchet up performance†. Burns refers to the all Xerox community as the â€Å"XEROX family†- â€Å"When we’re in the family, you don’t have to be as nice as when you’re outside of the family,( ) I want us to stay civil and kind, but we have to be frank — and the reason we can be frank is because we are all in the same family. † Building Block 2: Does Xerox implement concrete learning processes and practices? Because â€Å"a learning organization is not cultivated effortlessly†, organizational entities must put explicit processes in place to ensure that knowledge is constantly generated and collected inside the organization. The information must then be interpreted and infused into the organization to be always accessible in a way that will support problem-solving tasks and benefit its constant transformational processes. Moreover, this will also help to develop new products or services, as well as closely monitor competitors, clients and technological developments, using benchmarking techniques. Lastly, the company has to invest in training measures for its employees. MAIN Education and problem-solving at Xerox: The Six Sigma Method In the case of Xerox, measures to implement LO practices started as early as 1983 when executive management inaugurated Xerox’s â€Å" leadership through quality initiative†. The initiatives goal was â€Å"improving business processes to create higher levels of customer satisfaction, quality and productivity† by providing workshops to Xerox employees. These workshops were refined in the late 90’s, reorienting around the Six Sigma method, which had previously been successfully applied in other companies. Although these efforts proved successful in improving productivity, they were only limited to a local supply chain level and were not conducted regularly. In 2002 the management of Xerox then decided to implement the Six Sigma strategy across the whole organization, an effort which Xerox is continuing today. This is shown by the fact that the method has become part of the everyday communication process inside the company. The Six Sigma strategy is a tool, which empowers employees to become more efficient and proactive in daily problem-solving situations, for example by using the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) approach. Six Sigma also requires the employees to closely monitor market trends and to apply benchmarking appropriately. Xerox particularly emphasizes the fact that they see the efforts to implement the Six Sigma method (see attachment 1) as a long-term project. This idea is aligned with the academic literature on LO’s stating that â€Å"becoming a LO is a long process and small setbacks should be expected†. This is because employees and the management have to â€Å"unlearn† old modes of thinking. Information distribution at Xerox Xerox provides employees with access to a large intranet consisting of e. g. reference knowledge, material on best practices, and answers to frequently asked questions. This helps the stakeholders inside the company to share information. It also supports the efforts to keep employees informed on what the priorities are for the overall company. Building Block 3: Are Xerox leaders reinforcing learning? Leaders in a L. O. promote constant learning by raising difficult questions and listening to the answers and concerns of their employees. While doing so, leaders also communicate openness to these new ideas and take them into consideration in their actions. Additionally, leaders have to encourage employees to invest their time in reflecting on both how to solve current problems and what can be learned from past performance. The ultimate goal is for leaders to motivate employees to question the underlying assumptions of current modes of thinking, and therefore initiate efficiency and innovation inside company processes. Promoting Initiative at Xerox For the past two decades, Xerox has engaged their employees to participate in the Earth Awards Program. The goal of this yearly event is to come up with solutions for saving company resources by increasing its efficiency, therefore making it a â€Å"greener† company. With this challenging program, Xerox motivates their employees to generate new ideas that, for instance, in 2010, resulted in company savings of $10. 2 Million. In that year, thirteen winners were announced, corporate wide and among different teams. This is an example of how leaders take their employees’ input seriously and how the generation of new initiatives at Xerox arises from both top and bottom levels of hierarchies. Encouraging employees to invest their time in reflecting by example Senior management at Xerox demonstrates the behaviors, which they in turn expect from employees. A clear example of this â€Å"policy† was when, in 1993, the executive management put together the Presidential Review process. The objective of this process was to review the overall progress of the company collectively through Presidential Review process in 1993. Interviews were organized with more than 30 senior managers answering questions like â€Å"What has changed? Where are the largest gaps between what was intended and what is currently true? If you were to outline barriers that need to be dealt with, what comes to mind? What would you have done differently? †. After the interviews, 45 seniors got together for one day meeting to identify trouble spots and develop recommendations. Action plan was the result . 3. The Effect on Leaders, â€Å"Followers† and Organizations Becoming a successful learning organization can provide a company with significant competitive advantages in the long-run, as it also can largely benefit its major stakeholders (employees and leaders). However, it also requires some behavioral changes from them. In order to achieve the goal of a L. O. (foster knowledge creation and sharing to gain competitive advantage), it is important that leaders infuse a common goal inside the organization. This implies, that leaders should have an effective communication in delivering the company ethos to their subordinates. Once employees identify with the company and its goal, people on all levels of the company would naturally start thinking and discussing promising new ways to achieve these goals. On the other hand, learning processes require time among other resources, and eventually leaders will have to find efficient ways to maximize the time of their employees. It is crucial to determine a balance between time spent going over problem-solvings tasks and past performance analysis (required for learning processes) with regular work. Additionally, leaders will have to define the line between â€Å"acceptable mistakes†- those that arrive from risk taking attitudes, and â€Å"unacceptable mistakes† those originated by irresponsibility and lack of accountability. This is not always clear and, therefore, leaders might face some obstacles in implementing a learning culture as their workers’ â€Å"fear of punishment† can result in the limitation of creativity. Probably the most effective tool to boost innovation is to empower workers. But if the empowerment process provides employees the feeling that they are contributing and helping to define the company processes, then a new attitude is also required from them. Employees will have to remember that they are expected to show initiative, propose new ideas and act. And they should not always expect directions to do so. This can be particularly hard for workers who are risk-averse and who need clear instructions about their work role. Learning organizations can bring significant benefits to employees. Being part of the company processes transformation and being aligned with its goals are expected to make employees more motivated and dynamic. In this way, many of the aspects of the L. O. raise the levels of enjoying the work process. The job satisfaction in turn is expected to raise productivity levels. Also, because employees are more exposed to those in higher positions in the company, new career opportunities might arise together with monetary rewards. RISKS FOR COMPANY â€Å"No learning organization is built overnight. Success comes from carefully cultivated attitudes, commitments, and management processes that accrue slowly and steadily. The first step is to foster an environment conducive to learning. Analog Devices, Chaparral Steel, Xerox, GE, and other companies provide enlightened examples. † (http://w3. ualg. pt/~mzacaria/gic/HBR-Building-a-Leaning-Organization. pdf) 2. Organizations should be careful in applying new principles ensuring buy-in from most influential employees and checking progress not to fall into the trap of unfeasable change which could seriously hurt current business (see http://knowledge. wharton. upenn. edu/article. cfm? articleid=268) 4. Final considerations: As illustrated by the above analysis, as well by its overall economic performance in the last 11 years, it has become clear that XEROX has largely succeeded in becoming a LO. Arguably, Xerox has become so successful in it’s LO efforts that this has resulted in providing learning services to other companies through subsidiary spin offs, such as Xerox Learning Services. Concerning the evaluation of the theory proposed by Garvin, Gino and Edmondson, it has to be noted that the building blocks have to be seen as interdependent. Without effective leadership and learning environment, the learning process implementation will likely fail. Therefore, each of the above building blocks needs to be tackled by taylormade strategies, not least because companies do not perform consistently in each department. Similarly, organizations have to pay especial attention to comparing the extent of the learning process with other organizations, since only then you will have a solid benchmarking (in contrast to looking only at individual company performance over time). Attachment 1 [ 1 ]. O’Keeffe, T. 2002. Organizational Learning: a new perspective. Journal of European Industrial Training, 26 (2), pp. 130-141. [ 2 ]. Peter Senge (1990), â€Å"The Fifth Discipline† [ 3 ]. â€Å"Is yours a learning organization? † [ 4 ]. One good source on Xerox crisis times http://knowledge. wharton. upenn. edu/article. cfm? articleid=268 [ 5 ]. Building a L. O. [ 6 ]. http://www. economist. com/node/387740 [ 7 ]. http://www. economist. com/node/387740 [ 8 ]. http://mitleadership. mit. edu/r-mulcahy. php [ 9 ]. The following work will assume that the stance of the management towards encouraging the LO inside Xerox has remained constant. Since Mulcahy had been working with Burns for more than 9 years, Burns is expected to put her own stamp on the company in a way that was deferential to the work of Ms. Mulcahy, who remains chairwoman. See: http://www. nytimes. com/2010/02/21/business/21xerox. html? pagewanted=all_r=1 [ 10 ]. http://www. freepatentsonline. com/article/SAM-Advanced-Management-Journal/20982068. html [ 11 ]. http://www. businesswire. com/news/home/20041027005036/en/Diversity-Practices-Organization-Recognizes-Xerox-Diversity-Leadership [ 12 ]. Farmer, Paula (August). The First African American To Head A Fortune 500 Company, Franklin D. Raines Takes Over Fannie Mae. The Black Collegian. Retrieved November 7, 2008. [ 13 ]. Bryant, A. (February 20, 2010) Xerox’s New Chief Tries to Redefine Its Culture, The New York Times [ 14 ]. Bryant, A. (February 20, 2010) Xerox’s New Chief Tries to Redefine Its Culture, The New York Times [ 15 ]. Garvin, Edmondson Gino (2008), p. 4 [ 16 ]. Page 11: http://www. xerox. com/downloads/usa/en/n/nr_SixSigmaForumMag_2004_Aug. pdf It could be argued that these efforts were a spillover-effect from Xerox ground-breaking benchmarking efforts in its production process areas in billing, warehousing, and automated manufacturing. [ 17 ]. Page 13: http://www. xerox. com/downloads/usa/en/n/nr_SixSigmaForumMag_2004_Aug. pdf [ 18 ]. Slide 68:http://www. moyak. com/papers/learning-organization-presentation. pdf [ 19 ]. Easterby-Smith, M. , Crossan, M. , and Nicolini, D. 2000. Organizational learning: debates past, present and future. Journal of Management Studies. 37 (6) pp 783-796. See also Senges definition of mental models, which refer to how workers need to time to overcome old modes of thinking: Senge, P. M. 1990. The Fifth Discipline. London: Century Business. [ 20 ]. http://www. xerox. com/downloads/usa/en/n/nr_SixSigmaForumMag_2004_Aug. pdf [ 21 ]. Kaye, L. (November 15, 2010) Xerox’s Green Ideas Save Company $10. 2 Million, http://www. triplepundit. com/ [ 22 ]. Garvin, D. A. (2000), Learning in Action: a guide to putting the learning organization to work, Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data p. 105 [ 23 ]. Garvin, D. A. (2000), Learning in Action: a guide to putting the learning organization to work, Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data p. 105 [ 24 ]. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. : ImageXerox lean six sigma framework. Figure 3Xerox lean six sigma framework. emeraldinsight. com http://www. emeraldinsight. com/journals. htm? articleid=1628232show=html.

Personal Narrative: Almost Drowning :: essays research papers

Have you ever had a moment in time that seems like minutes or hours even though it was only a few seconds? Have you ever seen everything before you play out in slow motion, where you are aware of everything around you, yet not knowing what was going on? I have, and as I look back on it, I feel very blessed and protected. On December 22, 01, I decided to take a little swim in our swimming pool and almost drowned. I still can remember it like yesterday. This incident almost cost me my life, I was disobedient and it still has a big effect on me now. It all started when it was my seventh birthday party. There was a certain girl I liked. So I decided to show-off and do crazy stuff to impress her. First I tried drinking soda off the bottle but I spilled it on the rug. Everyone laughed so hard that their heads fell off! The girl I liked just sat there, not smiling. For my next attempt, I tried to wrestle my friends but I ended up breaking a lamp. Everyone laughed again. I thought about what I could do to impress the girl I liked. It was finally time to swim. I finally came up with a plan and decided to swim in the deep side of the pool even though I didn’t know how to swim. I knew it would work but I was also scared. As I walked to the swimming pool, everyone laughed at me again for wearing a speedo. I dived into the deep side of the pool and noticed everyone was staring at me in amazement. Then I swam up and hung onto the side of the pool. Everyone was shocked and puzzled. Even the girl I liked looked surprised. When everybody left to get cake, I had to clean up the swimming toys. Because one toy was in the middle of the deep end of the pool, I dived into the water. I picked it up and tried to swim up. My hair was stuck to the ladder! I didn’t know what to do! Running out of oxygen, I tried to yell for help.

Psychoanalytical Approach Essay

?1. Psychoanalytical Criticism ?2. Psychoanalytical criticism is a type ofcriticism that uses theories of psychology to analyze literature. It focuses on theauthor’s state of mind or the state of the mind of fictional characters. ?3. Sigmund FreudPsychoanalytical criticism originated in the workof Sigmund Freud. Freud’s theories areconcerned with the nature of the unconsciousmind. According to Freud, the human mindconsists of three parts: the id, the ego andsuperego. ? The id is source of our instinctual and physical desires. ? The superego is the part of the psyche that has internalized the norms and mores of society. ? The ego is keeps mediating between the demands of the id and the superego. It is rational, logical, and conscious. ?4. Repression? We often repress what the id encourages us to think and do because the ego and superego tell us not to think and do, therefore forcing these unacceptable wishes into the unconscious. All of us have repressed wishes and fears.? Repressed desires emerge in disguised forms: dreams and language (slips). They emerge in symbolic form that require  analysis to reveal their meaning.? Many elements of psychology that Freud described appear in literary works. ?5. Freudian Literary Criticism? Freudian critics try to understand how the operations of repression structure or inform the work They pay close attention to unconscious motives and feelings, whether these be those of the author, or of the characters depicted in the work.? They demonstrate the presence in the literary work of classic psychoanalytic symptoms or conditions. ?6. Carl Gustav Jung and Jungian literary Criticism? Jung developed the theory of the collective unconscious, a collection of shared unconscious memories dating back to the origins of human experience and manifested in dreams, myths, and literature.? A great work of literature is not a disguised expression of repressed wishes, but a manifestation of the desires one held by the whole human race, and now repressed because of the advent of civilization.? Jungian analysis of literature tries to discover the images in a work of literature that a permanent and universal significance. ?7. Harold Bloom and the anxiety of InfluenceThe most important contemporary psychological criticis Harold Bloom. Bloom uses the Freudian concept ofrepression to apply it to literary history in general. Nopoet creates in isolation from his predecessors. In TheAnxiety of Influence, he argues that poetsunconsciously misread the poems of their greatpredecessors. The new poems are essentiallyrewritings of poems by a father-figure predecessor. Poets keep struggling to free themselves from thisinfluence of father-figure poets.

Essay on The ReMotion Prosthetic Knee - 1708 Words

The ReMotion Prosthetic Knee ReMotion is a project created by D-Rev (Design Revolution), a not for profit organization working in third world countries, which creates and supplies prosthetic knees to amputees living on under $4 a day (Krista Donaldson, 2013). One of the company’s major constraints when designing the knee revolved around creating a product that performed at a standard equivalent to the high end prosthetic knees, but at a cost that was affordable and allowed for mass production. The project has been running since 2009 (Krista Donaldson, 2013) and over five and a half thousand amputees have since been fitted with the ReMotion knee, with the third version being made publicly available mid 2014 (‘A Cheap Prosthetic Knee For†¦show more content†¦It can also involve making sketches of a product, recording data, computing that data to ensure it matches with specifications, analyzing results and writing reports. Designing products is additional part of the specific engineering disci pline. This however is likely to a small component compared to the testing and eliminating of production problems aspect. Major decisions would have to be decided on and resolved throughout the process of designing and implementing the knee. Part of D-Rev’s design ideal revolved around creating a high-end prosthetic knee that could be produced at a lower cost. Previous cheap alternatives for prosthetic joints and limbs greatly traded efficiency for a lower cost. While D-Rev would have aimed to avoid this trade-off between quality and cost, it is likely to remain imbalanced. Of course, the quality could have been lifted to a higher standard, but the cost would have been raised too, thus defeating their purpose of making a quality and cheap product. Another major decision revolved around maintaining quality with a simplistic design. By keeping everything straightforward, it allows for easy fitting and repairing of the joints without extensive training. While this may decrease the quality, it increases the practically as it takes lower qualifications to fit the product to the amputee and can easily occur in their home country. The