Essay --

Film Critic Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Just like most well received novels Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has its own film adaptation by Stephen Daldry. It is just as impressive as the book itself, keeping the main storyline which is the best a film adaptation should do but in the other hand it has some changes that are very hard to go unnoticed. The cast is probably the main reason for the great result of the film. For the main roles Daldry went for award-winning actors such as Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks and Max von Sydow who couldn’t have done a greater job at playing their characters. Sandra as Linda Schell played very well the distance Oskar feels she has to him, as well as the difficulty we can see in the book that she’s going through. Also Tom Hanks, who perfectly fit the image of an intelligent man who chose his family and family business over a more appropriate education for his level. However the big star is of course Thomas Horn who played the part of Oskar Schell. The talented young actor’s performance simply unbelievable, it is hard to believe how easily he played such a dramatic story. The screenwriters did a good choice maintaining the storyline: Oskar finds the key in his father’s closet in an envelope which has â€Å"Black† written on it, inside a blue vase and desperately starts an expedition in NYC to find the lock that fits the key. So far so good, however the three-narrators perspective we have in the book that’s gives the story an exciting dynamic, is completely ignored and we have Oskar as the only narrator of the story. The movie is told from Oskar’s point of view but it still is very poor in what refers to his longs internal monologues that are seen in the book. Another point that has been igno... ... on his emotional response, combined with the same melancholic music every time. However, the melancholy of the song would always change into violent, loud, confusing notes whenever Oskar was outside on the streets facing his fears. Here the use of various points of views from Oskar’s perspective was explored. Extreme close ups on objects like screws were often used to demonstrate Oskar’s panic. Although all the changes which are necessary but still bothers the readers of the original work, the film contained the same melancholy and excitement in the story. We learn in both works that the number of people who leave is high, but the one who stay is even higher and everyone has their own story and sadness to share. The filmic adaptation intensifies the literary work, and both of them can be studied and compared side by side and still have their own particular charm.

Stress Essay -- essays research papers

How to Deal With StressMany students go to school full time, and hold a part time job to earn money for school. Most students have about four classes, and each of the teacher’s of these classes gives an average of about an hour of homework each night; that averages out to four hours per night of homework, plus a part time job. School causes a lot of students stress because there are so many things to do, and so little time to do it. Stress is a normal part of everyone’s life; and is not a disease. It is not necessarily good or bad; however, reactions to stress can be harmful. Lack of time puts the stress on many students, and causes students to often procrastinate because they are constantly trying to meet deadlines and they don’t have the time to work on their assignments. Many students feel their grades are important; they need plenty of time to work on their work so they can do good. I can relate to them because if I get a low grade I get disgusted because I p ut a lot of time and effort in doing that assignment. But I think that a lot of the stress from school is caused, not only by the teachers, but also from the students to do well. Students put too much stress on themselves. A student just has to learn to manage their time well and just do as good as possible. Stress management involves the effort of that student to make emotional and physical changes. The degree of stress and the desire to make the changes will determine the level of change that will take place. If a student wants to change the amount of stress in their life, they have to be willing to work and manage their time properly, even if it means sacrificing hours from a job or a night out with friends to study for a test or write a paper. Many students feel an increase in stress and anxiety when writing a paper, meeting a deadline, or studying for an exam. This can cause twitching, trembling, muscle tension, headaches, sweating, irritability, fatigue, and even dry mouth (An xiety, Stress, and Tension). When talking about stress, there are many things that can influence a student. The five main topics that influence a student’s well being are attitude, physical well being, physical activity, support systems, and relaxation (World Book on Health, 235). Attitude: The attitude of a student can influence whether a situation or emotion is stressful or not. A student with a negative attitude will ... ...oolwork and go out with their friends. It is important that a student interacts with others because it boosts self-confidence and helps maintain social stability in their lives. Lastly, rule number five when dealing with stress is using relaxation techniques. There are many relaxation techniques such as: listening to music, daydreaming, sleeping, writing poetry and many others. Also a student dealing with stress should take time out of their schedule for personal interests and hobbies. Students need to take time from stressful situations and do what makes them happy and have fun. It is also good to take a mini vacation from time to time. This helps keep the stressful student’s mind off of things and allow them to retreat somewhere to think and relax. In conclusion, stress can be very harmful and have a lot of effects on a student’s body. Some stress is good, but a lot of it can be bad. The five ways a student can prevent and deal with stress can be very useful. The student dealing with stress just needs to relax and deal with their problems with ease, instead of making things hard on themselves. Things will fall into place; just have patients and life will be a lot less stressful.

Describe Two Opposite People

Describe two opposite people In the small community of Culmersville there are only two adults that I could spend time with and never be bored. One of which was a kind lady by the name of Ms. Kelly and the other was the funniest man in the world by the name of Mr. King. Ms. Kelly is a kind person. She always teaches me to help those people who are in need and she also never got tired of helping others. For example, one of my friend’s family financial situation wasn’t so good and therefore Ms. Kelly buys him breakfast almost every morning. She hopes that he will not feel hungry during the school time and knows it can help him to concentrate in his studies. Ms. Kelly is also a sympathetic lady. Although she was not high-educated, she always teaches her kids and me to help other people. During weekends she would visit the Children’s Hostel and help the workers to teach and feed the children. She also always invites me and my family to be a volunteer and join her to do social works. On the other hand Mr. King was the complete opposite. He was an electrician and one of the most selfish people I knew. Mr. King would have two bottles of water and would rather throw a bottle of water in the garbage or put it in his car before he would give it to you. But yet I found Mr. King to be a funny man and spent lots of time with him playing dominoes. I had the best relationship with Mr. King in Culmersville. This probably was because I never asked him for anything. But Ms. Kelly and Mr. King was the worst of friends. I would call them enemies. All of this started when Ms. Kelly asked Mr. King to donate some of his funds to the Children’s Hostel. Mr. King could have told her a simple ‘no’ but he loudly told Ms. King, ‘if you don’t get off my property talking foolishness about donating money I would throw you off myself’. This was where the commotion started. Ms. Kelly then asked, ‘Do you call homeless children foolishness? ’ Mr. King then said, ‘The children aren’t the foolishness. You are. ‘Mr. King then slammed the door in Ms. Kelly’s face like she was coming to rob his house. Ever since this day every time Ms. Kelly sees Mr. King she would start pointing fingers at him telling people he hate homeless children and unfortunate people. These are the two people that thought me that people with opposite personalities would never be able to be together. But, although Ms. Kelly and Mr. King are two completely opposite people I enjoy being with either of them.

Opening the Books for change at Norwest Labs Essay

Change at Norwest Labs In 1991, Jean Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin, the CEO of Norwest Labs initiated a series of events which would significantly alter the face of his company. Norwest had reached a point where it could no longer grow without becoming prohibitively inefficient. The decision-making responsibilities, which up to now had been centralized in the hands of its CEO, would now have to be delegated to subordinates in order for Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin to address issues of a more strategic nature. With the help of external consultants, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin went on to modify his organisation with the hope of creating a decentralised, business-oriented company of empowered individuals. Unfortunately, by 1994, it was becoming quite clear that the transformation had not been entirely successful. The Symptoms Via the change process, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin had hoped to redirect certain behaviours to bring them more in line with his new company objectives. While the process did modify behaviour, it did not, unfortunately, lead to the desired ones. Worse, it even brought about undesired behaviours that had previously been absent. The clearest sign of the unsuccessfulness of the change process expressed itself in employee disorientation. Several behaviours attested this state including, confusion about the bonus system, new job descriptions, and Norwest’s relationship with a former partner turned competitor. There seems to also have been clear apprehension as to the future of the company and confusion as to interdepartmental as well as hierarchical relationships. Perhaps the most disturbing sign that things were not going according to plan was the appearance of animosity at Norwest. Following the company’s restructure, conflicts began erupting between the CEO and general managers who were clearly angry about losing some of their independence. Conflicts also appeared between the more business-oriented staff hired after the reorganization and the more technically oriented staff hired previously. At a broader level, the company even began to experience tensions across departments. The change process also seemed to have brought about increased employee apathy, as can be seen from declining morale, the indifference displayed towards any goals that gain sharing might serve beyond handing out pecuniary rewards, and the continued apathetic tolerance of an opaque bonus system, whose favouritism and unfairness had been widely criticized and yet accepted. Perhaps the most striking evidence that the change process had not reached its goals can be seen in the poor performance displayed by the employees who were promoted as a result of it. There seemed to have been a collective inertia among them as they refused to be empowered and continued to rely on Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin for decision-making. They even went as far as being cynical of the new employees who were more in line with company objectives. The Causes In order to correct the behavioural challenges identified in the previous section it is imperative that we determine what caused them. To that effect, we will analyse the situation at Norwest using the tools provided by the organizational behaviour theories of change, culture, leadership, motivation and empowerment. The Change Process As mentioned previously, Norwest underwent important changes in 1992. These changes, unfortunately, did not bring Norwest to the point where its CEO had planned that they would. We will examine the change process in two parts. First, we will try to get an understanding of why the change process failed. Later, we will try to see how the changes could have caused the undesirable behaviours currently taking place at Norwest. By understanding the direct causes of the undesirable behaviours we hope to be able to stop them. By understanding how the change process failed we hope to be able to devise a new course of action for Norwest that will allow it to become the kind of company its CEO had hoped it would become. Lewin’s Change Model Lewin provides us with a concise model for managing change. It consists of three steps: unfreezing, moving and refreezing that must be consecutively followed in order to maximize the chances for success. It is this model that we will use to understand what went wrong at Norwest during the months in which the changes were implemented. The unfreezing phase, according to Lewin, is the stage where the organisation is readied for the upcoming changes. In the case of Norwest, it appears that this stage was, at the very least, hurried through. It is unclear whether Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin even conducted a readiness assessment. While he clearly, had a good idea of what the driving forces of the changes were (increasing competition, desired growth and regulation changes), he neglected to consider what restraining forces might be working against him. Many of these resistance factors might have successfully been predicted, like the fact that some employees would reject empowerment and attempts to change the existing bonus program. Finally, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin clearly failed to arouse dissatisfaction with the status quo and to involve employees in the decision-making process. The second phase of Lewin’s model, the moving phase, is the stage where the actual changes are implemented. While Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin clearly had his own mental blue print for the upcoming changes, he failed to establish specific goals for the initial changes and, as a result, created, in his employees, unnecessary confusion about the company’s future direction. Most importantly, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin did not institute small, incremental changes. Instead, he created, all at once, a corporate services division where accounting, marketing, information systems and quality assurance were rounded up. This department was staffed by the promotion of employees and by externally hiring. Unfortunately, it soon became evident that many of the promoted employees were out of their element. Outside of corporate services, lack of openness and two-way communication led to significant conflicts between Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin and the general managers of the labs. The final stage of Lewin’s model, the refreezing stage, is the stage where changes are stabilized. In Norwest’s case, this stage was entirely skipped. Targets for change and company focus to meet them were not established and, as a result, no successful experiences were built. No system was put in place to reward behaviours that reinforce the changes, instead the old bonus system, which was seen as arbitrary at best and biased at worst, was kept. Finally, no structures, such as regular and objective performance reviews, were developed to institutionalize the changes. Overall, it seems clear that the change process at Norwest gave unsatisfactory results because it failed to address several significant steps of Lewin’s model for change. As a result, the changes Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin had hoped would occur never did and employees continued to come to him for decision-making. The Human Side of Change We saw in the previous section how the change process at Norwest was fundamentally flawed. We also quickly examined how its inherent weaknesses could have caused the undesirable behaviours we now see. We will now explore this link in more details. In this context, Kanter’s framework for managing the human side of change provides us with a powerful tool for understanding the mechanisms that triggered the employees’ reactions to the change process. In 1992, the creation of centralized corporate services at Norwest was a major source of conflict between Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin and the general managers. Research indicates that change is exciting when it is done by someone but threatening when it is done to someone. In the case of Norwest, while some general managers may have been involved the consultant’s review process of the organization, they were never involved in the recommendation process. As a the implementation of the consultants’ recommendations got under way, the general managers naturally started to feel that they were losing control over their position and responsibilities. This feeling of powerlessness leads people to try to reassert their control by rejecting other people’s ideas and even sometimes by behaving in â€Å"petty, territorial ways†, something that undoubtedly would fuel tensions with Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin. Another interesting dimension of Kanter’s model that may shed some light into this conflict is the idea of loss of face. The notion that the organization has to change and that general managers will lose authority can be inferred to mean that general managers were not up to the job. Resistance therefore becomes a way for them to oppose this conclusion and to save face. One of the major reasons why Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin’s culture change seems to have failed is because individuals who were promoted to corporate services did not want to be empowered. Kanter tells us that very often people tend to â€Å"resist change because of personal concerns about †¦ future ability to be effective after the change.† This seems particularly relevant in the context of Norwest whose scientists, according to Maurice, were â€Å"strong technical people, not strong business people† and who ‘did not consider â€Å"business empowerment† as being part of their job.’ Scientists may understandably have felt inadequate when entrusted with responsibilities for which they had no background or training. To a more limited extent, the more work factor is also interesting in explaining the outcome. Promoted employees may have resisted the change in their work description simply because it increased their workload beyond what they were willin g or capable to achieve. Unfortunately for Norwest, after gain sharing was introduced, the situation reached such a point that some employees began worrying that â€Å"Jean was taking the company down a path that would lead to its end.† This mistrust in Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin may have been the end result of too long a period of what Kanter calls excess uncertainty. Employees in companies undergoing changes need to be kept up-to-date at every step of the change process. They need to clearly know where they are heading. Although Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin may have clearly known where he wanted to lead his employees he may not have communicated that plan well enough. As a result, employees came to the conclusion that the continuous surprise changes were a symptom of improvised management and lost faith in their president. There seems to be a clear dichotomy at Norwest between the few employees embracing the changes (most of whom were hired after 1992) and those who do not (hired before 1992). Worrisomely, this dichotomy has led to tensions between the two groups. Tensions can, of course, be caused by the conflicting goals of both groups. It is also, however, an inevitable by-product of the differences brought about by change that has been studied and identified as the difference effect. When â€Å"different† individuals are introduced in a rather homogenous group, they make the group feel self-conscious and cause it to question its habits. This effort is burdensome and leads to irritability, which in turns leads to tensions. It is tempting to jump to the conclusion that employees are not interested in gain sharing from the reaction they displayed when first confronted with the possibility. However, a better understanding of the reaction can be achieved when studied in the light of Kanter’s past resentment factor. According to Kirk, there was clearly â€Å"a great deal of negativism surrounding [past] bonuses.† We know from research that people are more likely to resist change when they harbour unresolved past grievances. Culture and leadership In addition to the change process, it appears quite clear that culture and leadership played a significant role in the how the situation at Norwest unfolded. In a large sense, culture and leadership are bonded together by corporate blood. On the one hand, the leader impacts the company and its culture with his/her unique personality and leadership style; on the other hand, different forms of organizational culture demand and breed relevant and compatible leadership as well as resist and expel the outdated or incompatible ones. In Norwest’s case, the lack of supportive culture and appropriate leadership certainly share part of the responsibility for the failure of its first reform in 1992 and, could lead to the failure of the coming one in 1994. Looking at Norwest from a cultural perspective, we can see that it has deeply-rooted technical norms, values and beliefs. This culture was implanted and encouraged by Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin over the years and adhered to by Norwesters, most of whom were scientists. Because of the early success Norwest gained, we may deduce that this culture, if not supportive, was at least not obstructive to Norwest’s objectives. However, after the organizational changes were brought about, we can see that the old culture was now more or less obsolete. First, apart from Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin, few focused on the external environment and what it meant for Norwest. Second, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin’s long-term plans alienated the employees’ whose focus was on the short-term. Third, morale was low. Fourth, cynicism was growing. Fifth, group relations deteriorated as animosity and conflict among departments appeared and finally, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin, as the leader and the founder for Norwest and its culture, failed to play his role of being the hero of Norwest culture and, therefore, was objected and isolated by his subordinates with their negative reaction. Simply put, Norwest’s culture was, considering the degree of resistance, disadvantageously strong. It failed to support the mission, goals and strategy of the organization and, thus, became a liability. In order to successfully bring about changes in an organisation, effective leadership is absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, in the case of Norwest, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin failed to achieve this. Not only did his leadership fail to mitigate the resistance to change, it may even have to some extent led to the undesirable behaviours currently displayed at Norwest. What Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin possessed was good business sense and charm derived from his personality and experience; what he lacked was the ability to selectively and discriminatively project his objectives/goals onto Norwest and its employees. To be fair, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin’s leadership was not always inadequate for Norwest. Considering that most Norwesters were scientists with little business sense and skills, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin tended to be more task-oriented and to tell them what to do instead of promoting self-leadership through empowerment and training. This pragmatic leadership style worked well until Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin himself realized its limit, as Norwest grew larger and larger. Unfortunately, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin could not adapt his leadership style to effectively implement his changes. Sadly, he failed in four major aspects of successful leadership. He could not inspire employees by creating a clear and understandable vision. He could not communicate effectively, especially in crucial moments. He could not empower his employees and finally, he turned a blind eye to his own personal weaknesses and, when others pointed them out, refused to acknowledge them and change. Unfortunately for Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin, despite somewhat practicing a higher, more advanced form of leadership, he failed because he was not aware of the vulnerability of such leadership. Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin unintentionally differentiated Norwesters by their business skills. He told most old Norwesters what to do, while he allowed more business-oriented people, such as Maurice and Kirk, to participate in policymaking and even delegated to them some decision-making power. This form of situational leadership, which balances between a task and relationship orientation, could have been beneficial to Norwest had Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin realized what he was doing and communicated it clearly to his employees. However, his inability to do so isolated the employees with whom he shared values and attitudes through spontaneous leader-member-exchange from the rest of the company who simply took Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin’s attitude towards these employees as â€Å"obvious favouritism†. Another element of Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin’s style that produced negative results was his quiet leadership. Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin never seemed to bother to explain the reasoning behind some of his decisions, such as how he handed out bonuses, his corporate empowerment or gain sharing attempts. Although Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin was evidently being nobly selfless and, with hindsight, was leading Norwest the right way, his opaque style couldn’t help but spawn scepticism about his impartiality and professional capability. Needless to say, such doubts were devastating for morale at Norwest. Interestingly, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin was quite aware of the close relationship between culture and leadership. In fact, one of his main goal was what is called leader substitution, an attempt to have a new culture, as defined by rules, policy and values take over some of the work that was accomplished by his leadership. In that way, Norwest would stand more chance to survive were something to happen to him. Unfortunately, the culture change was not a complete success and ironically Norwest now finds itself in a situation where more than ever it needs strong leadership. Motivation By all accounts, the change process at Norwest exacerbated the decreasing employee motivation. Poor performances, general disinterest and, most of all, declining morale are all symptoms of this. Because motivation is so complex and because it is so crucial for the health of a company, it will be studied independently here. Employee motivation can be clearly explained by the individual process designed by Handy (Understanding Organizations, 1993, p.38). The process is based on the idea that we are self-activating organisms and can, to some degree, control our own destiny and our response to pressure, that we can set our goals and choose the path toward them. Each of us has some needs and some desired results (our own personal objectives). The decision to do or not to do something, and the energy we put into it (the ‘E’ factor), derives from a calculus we interiorise. Each calculus, however, depends on our personality and is operated within the limits of a psychological contract (coercitive, calculative or co-operative) – between the company and the individual. What exactly is missing then at Norwest Lab that prevents the motivation calculus from operating? If we apply Hertzberg’s two-factor theory prior to the first change in 1992, we see that hygiene factors were already not completely satisfied because of problems with bonuses that people felt were arbitrarily handed out. However, satisfaction from motivating factors compensated this shortfall. After the change, however, the motivating factors once satisfied no longer were, thereby deteriorating an already fragile situation. Not only did the change impact the employees’ satisfaction, but by changing the actual scope of the job, it also somehow modified what the desired or obtainable results were. It is even possible to go further in the analysis and see how the change impacted the contract itself, passing from a calculative to a slightly more co-operative one where the calculative contract is a voluntary one, with an explicit exchange of goods and money for services rendered, while the co-operative contract requires a major identification of the employee with the organization. In addition, while Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin changed the company’s people orientation (as defined by Holland) from realistic (practical jobs) to enterprising (business-oriented jobs), employees maintained a realistic people orientation. It is not surprising then that employees, finding themselves structured in an unknown contract, with different goals and low motivation, responded by reducing the ‘E’ factor in th eir job. A second element further complicates the situation. While it wouldn’t be fair to say that Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin did not truly do his best for both his company and its employees, he clearly failed in his application of theory Y. He presumed that his employees possessed those traits that make theory Y applicable: that they want job satisfaction, that they would seek responsibility and be self-starters. Unfortunately, he simply required them to be business-oriented and self-sufficient without providing them with adequate coaching and training. In order to increase performance and morale and to reinstate a sense of team-identity, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin must figure out a way to instil new confidence and motivation in his employees. There are two major activities to which Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin should devote his energies: 1) modify the employees’ motivation calculus variables to increase their resulting ‘E’ factor and 2) smooth his Theory Y approach to be more supportive. Though not an easy goal, this is certainly achievable if well planned and given the required efforts and resources available. Recommendations We have seen how the change process at Norwest was fundamentally flawed and how it triggered undesirable behaviours. We also saw how Norwest’s leader and culture not only failed to support the change process, but further aggravated the situation. Finally, we saw how motivation, as a result, was deeply affected. Fortunately, the situation is far from hopeless. Below are detailed a series of steps that will both reduce the actual conflicts and redefine a successful path for the company. Become a Transformational Leader Obviously, Norwest is not on course to reach the objectives set out by Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin. Therefore, any recommendation we will bring will involve further changes at Norwest. Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin must learn from past mistakes. He must adapt his leadership style to facilitate the transformation. Not surprisingly, being a transformational leader involves the application of Lewin’s change model and therefore every recommendation that follows is done in this spirit. Improve Communication with Employees The first stage of Lewin’s model involves arousing dissatisfaction with the current state. Things cannot go on the way they are and Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin must communicate this to his employees. Given the current state of things at Norwest, it should not be too difficult. As a transformational leader, Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin needs to form a vision and a plan for his company and he needs to explain them to his employees. As Lewin’s moving phase suggests, his plan must be made up of small incremental steps so that the change is less disturbing. It is important to underline how the implementation of the plan requires extra efforts from everybody and how, at the same time, it offers new excitement and opportunities for those willing to take them. A two-way communication channel should be defined during the change period, maintained and improved afterwards as an efficiency and transparency tool. This is absolutely necessary to counter the uncertainty created by change. Involve Employees in the Change Process Employees need to be aware of the change, of its reasons and of its goals. They must also see themselves as active agents in the change process. This is necessary to counter the loss of control that employees feel in times of change. It is also an integral part of Lewin’s unfreezing phase. For those employees willing to, a chance should be given to take part in change teams. The empowered teams, and the individuals that make them up, must be given well-defined goals and coached in how to accomplish these tasks. Doing this would increase motivation by matching results, needs, contract and orientation in each employee’s motivation calculus. A one-to-one communication will make the change process more effective and smooth and as a result establish more trust across the whole company. Enhancing the participation and cooperation will also boost the moving phase of the change process. Finally, the leadership role would be reinforced, implanting the idea of the leader as a chief advisor, chief guardian of principle, chief accountability officer and chief encourager of Norwest. Give Employees Greater Control over their Careers Employees should be given greater freedom in defining their role within the company. Forcing R&D guys to be business-oriented will help neither business development nor R&D. A driving message should be the empowerment of those wishing it, underlining that all the others will be able to continue their job as they did before. In such way Norwest would enhance motivation, allowing employees to retain their desired position inside the company. Following this approach and, again, communicating it to the employees will pinpoint the source of resistance and minimize it prior to change Provide Training to Employees In the change process, employees will be required to face new responsibilities and new challenges. It is absolutely necessary for them to be trained and coached; otherwise, as we saw earlier, employees will resist the change because of concerns about their ability to perform new duties. A good way to do this is through team building is to train the whole change-process team together. Training would enhance motivation, help employees understand gain-sharing more and generally smooth the overall change process. Rely on internal hiring External hiring should be limited to some few individuals recognized as bringing outstanding expertise in a field until such a time that unity and culture have been recreated. The few new-hires should be given a clear message about the culture of the company and should be trained on the internal policies and rules. Relying on internal hiring has the advantage of retaining top performers by giving them the chance for promotions. Internal hiring will also reduce the difference effect felt by employees. Define goals and performance evaluations Lewin’s third phase, the refreezing phase, involves building success experiences by setting change targets and having everyone work towards them. Consequently, each change-process team or any empowered individual should be given clear and objective goals. Goals should be set slightly over the reachable level and bonuses should be proportionate to the effort. Most important is that whatever bonus is defined for teams and/or individuals; strict rules must be set to let everybody know when and how they are evaluated. To implement such a change, coaching and evaluating processes that reinforce desirable behaviours with clear verbal and material messages must be defined. In such processes Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin could even credit the work that has been accomplished during the first change in 1992. Setting an appraisal and coaching process enhances corporate culture and cohesion; it helps to stabilize changes and to keep everyone on the right track in the new system. Define a Reward System Lewin’s refreezing phase also encourages the rewarding of the desired behaviour. In the case of Norwest, an inadequate bonus program is presently in effect. Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½pin should first address the issue of the old bonus plan and recognize its major flaws. Doing so will address the past resentment of employees. Discussions concerning the timing and approach to a new reward system could be handed over to the change-process team. Gain sharing could certainly be an option. The important idea is that the choice of the reward system should involve the employees. In the end, the bonus plan could even be inserted in a cafeteria-style benefit plan, where employees can choose to opt-out or not in exchange for higher salaries.

The Uk Diabetes Problem Health And Social Care Essay

I have done the nursing occupation in my back place state Nepal and now I am making the attention helper for aged people in attention place. Most of the occupants are enduring from different diseases, such as diabetes, dementedness.In my unit most of occupant are suffered from diabetes. In my state Nepal I have seen many patients of diabetes, from where I got the more cognition about the diabetes. Not merely UK people but besides whole universe people is enduring from the diabetes. Many research are conducted on this instance, diabetes affects six per centum of the universe ‘s population and its prevalence is duplicating every coevals.There are presently over two and half million people diabetes in UK and there are more than half a million people with diabetes who have the status and do n't cognize it. Harmonizing to diabetes UK statistics show that over 80 % of people diagnosed with type2 diabetes and corpulence. Diabetes patient spend an norm of & A ; lb ; 4500 yearly on costs for handling their diseases in the universe. The cost of diabetes to the national wellness service stands at about & amp ; lb ; 1 million per hr and is increasing quickly a new study indicates ( www.diabetes.co.uk ) .Diabetes 29/04/2011 ) histories for about a ten percent of NHS budget each twelvemonth a entire exceeding & A ; lb ; 9 billion. The complications of diabetes are legion and deathly and include amputation, bosom disease kidney failure and sightlessness, the study highlights the facts that eight out of 10 people with diabetes dices of bosom disease and stroke.Goverment is passing tonss of money and has committed to guaranting there is greater focal point on speed uping the gait of betterment in diabetes attention. Increasing the diabetes patients evidently affect the system and economic system position of the state because alternatively of utilizing money in productive work, concern and building authorities is paying for diabetes which is straight influences the state. HEALTH Wellbeing AND QUALITY OF LIFE It is really complicated and difficult to specify wellness, there are 100s of positions from different writer and different organisations.As we know all of the accept the definition of universe wellness organisation, wellness is a complete, physical mental and societal well- being and non simply the absence of disease and frailty which means wellness is in relationship with different factors like single, physical, societal physiological, emotional, environmental and cultural it means wellness is non merely absence of disease. Person may go ailment with his mental and societal position and his milieus. Health is really of import factor in human life as we know the stating wellness is wealth. Same like wellness wellbeing is besides the of import factor of healthy and affluent life. Actually well-being is being healthy felicity, free from emphasis, mentally, physically, socially and emotionally. Health and wellbeing are the most of import constituents of healthy life. These are the constituent which determines the quality of life. Along with wellness and well-being quality of life is really of import which play large function in life of single. Quality of life denotes how the person is? His day-to-day life activities, his or her wellbeing. This is the term which determines populating status, installations, possibilities, security, satisfaction, income, employment, nutrient, instruction, quality wellness services, hygiene, public assistance and support. It is different from everyone. The chief thing determine quality of life is our ability to bask all that life has to offer for cases, the ability to walk, talk and experience all contributes to our all quality of life. ( journal.diabetes.org volume 30/04/2011 ) Diabetess During our life clip we know is likely to diabetes mellitus, better known as diabetes.Diabetes is found when the sugar in our blood is excessively high. It happens when something goes incorrect with the manner our organic structure uses the nutrient we eat. Our organic structure breaks down nutrient into sugar, fat, and protein. Our organic structure uses sugar for energy. A endocrine called insulin helps our organic structure turn sugar into energy. Insulin is made in the pancreas, which is located near our tummy. When we eat, our pancreas supposed to do the right sum of insulin to travel the sugar from our blood into our organic structure ‘s cells. When we have diabetes, we have no insulin or non adequate insulin, or our organic structure does non react to the insulin it makes. The sugar stays in our blood. When excessively much sugar builds up in our blood and reaches a certain degree we have DIABETES. Diabetes is serious, womb-to-tomb unwellness. It can do bosom and blood v as diseases, sightlessness, kidney failure, nervus harm, dentition and gum jobs, and toe, pes or leg amputations. ( www.handsonhealth-sc.org Idaho 1119 ) . If we can non command diabetes can perplex gestation, and birth defects are more common in babes born to adult females who have it. Understanding digestion and insulin Most of the nutrient we eat is broke down into glucose, it is the signifier of the sugar in the blood.it is the chief fuel for the organic structure. After digestion procedure, glucose base on ballss into the blood stream, where it is used by cells for growing and energy. For glucose to acquire into the cells insulin must be present. Insulin is a endocrine produced by the pancreas, pancreas is the big secretory organ behind tummy, people with diabetes do non do insulin, or they can non utilize insulin decently, or both. This causes glucose to construct up in the blood alternatively of traveling into the cells. As a consequence people with the status frequently feel ; thirsty, hungry tired.

Writing and Comprehensive Form

Description of Reading and Writing Measures Standardized Test Description KTEA II Reading comprehension and Written Expression The Reading comprehension and written expression subtests were given and scored. The Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Second Edition is an individually administered measure of academic achievement for ages 4 and a half through 25. The test is available in two versions: the Brief form which assesses the achievement of reading , mathematics, written expression; and the Comprehensive Form which covers a wide range of achievement domains and an analysis of students’ errors.The Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Comprehensive Form, Second Edition represents a revision of the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement Comprehensive Form. The KTEA –II Comprehensive Form has an expanded age range and has retained the five subtests from the original KTEA and has modified to allow for testing of children and adults from preschool-age through co llege-age. Nine new subtests have been added to allow for assessment of a broad range of achievement domains and skills. KTEA-II Comprehensive Form age norms are provided for ages 4 and a half through 25, and grade norms are provided for Kindergarten through Grade 12.KTEA III Comprehensive Form is curriculum-based it provides norm-referenced and error analysis systems, criterion-referenced assessment in reading, mathematics, written language, and oral language. The KTEA-II Comprehensive Form has two independent , parallel forms (A and B) and the KTEA-II Brief Form norms at ages 4 and a half through 90. These three non-overlapping batteries make the KTEA II useful for measuring student progress. The KTEA II Comprehensive Form make it an important tool for assessing academic achievement.The KTEA II measures achievement in reading, mathematics, written language, and oral language and allows the examiner to administer a single subtest or a combination of subtests to assess achievement i n one or more domains. All seven specific learning disability areas identified in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendment of 1997 (IDEA,1997)are measured: basic reading skills, reading comprehension, mathematics calculation, mathematics, reasoning, oral expression, listening comprehension, and written expression.The KTEA Comprehensive Form like the KTEA was developed from a clinical model of assessment. Curriculum experts defined specific sub skills measured by each subtest and the different types of errors students are likely to make on each subtest. Standardization data guided the final error analysis System. KTEA-II Comprehensive Form content has undergone bias reviews to ensure that students of either sex and ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds can be assessed. The KTEA II Comprehensive Form was normed using two separate representative, nationwide standardizations, one in the fall and one in the spring.The procedure accurately measures students’ perform ance both at the beginning and end of he year. The KTEA-II Comprehensive Form is conformed with the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition. The KTEA II Comprehensive Form is a reliable, valid measure of academic achievement. The KTEA II allows the examiner to observe the student’s test taking behavior, motivation, and visual-motor coordination. The two parallel forms make it an ideal instrument for longitudinal studies. KTEA II Written Expression subtestDescription of writing task Students are administered an item set based on their grade. (3rd Grade) Following assessment directions from the KTEA II manual and easel, I provided the Level 3 booklet and a pencil to my student. The written expression booklet is titled Kyra’s Dragon. I explain to my student following the provided directions from the easel that this story is about a girl named Kyra and the dragon she has to find. As we go through the story, you’ll write some of the words and sentence s. This is similar to the â€Å"cloze† technique that was used in the informal assessment, The McLeod Assessment of Reading Comprehensions. ) I tell my student to write the best words and sentences he can and not to worry if he doesn’t know how to spell a word – spelling won’t count. The first item we starts with is #31 I say â€Å" Let’s start by writing your full name here† and I point to the to of the booklet. The next item #32, my student writes the sentence â€Å"The dragon carries people away. † That I dictate. Tets: Writing SkillsOn item #3 my student has to write one word to complete the sentence â€Å" The king says to Kyra, â€Å"Finding the dragon_____________ save us all. † For item #34, my student has to write one good sentence to complete a part of the story, â€Å" Kyra’s Dragon. This fill in the blank interactive story goes on with similar tasks inserting words, sentences, combining sentences, proper word usage of specific words and punctuation into the story booklet until my student gets item # 49. Item #49 is where my student must complete a timed retell of the entire story, pretending my student is the king’s scribe.My student must retell the story of Kyra’s dragon so that his grandchildren will know how people came to live in their new town. He is given 10 minutes to complete his retell. My task as administrator of this test is to follow the script on the easel, read the prompts, and point to the correct place for the student to write his answers. This took about 25 minutes to administer. I am allowed to repeat story segments and item instructions if necessary. I may also tell a student how to spell a word if they ask, since spelling is not scored in this subtest, but only if examinee asks for assistance.

Assessment Type

[pic] Westminster International College Module Title: Research Methodologies Programme: MBA Part Time Groups: 9,10,11,12 & 13 Module Period: 22 February 2013 – 23 March 2013 Lecturer: Dr. Lester Massingham Tutor: Dr. Kui Juan Tiang Date of Completion and Submission: 23 March 2013 Submission Method: Online via turnitin Assessment Type: A type-written assignment Assignment Question: The aim of the module is to equip students to plan and conduct a research project leading to the production of a Masters level dissertation. The general goal is to introduce and develop the skills needed to conceptualise a problem and a viable research topic.Students will make use of available literature, design a research strategy, evaluate, organise, and integrate relevant data (both existing and new), derive useful solutions, and communicate those solutions in an appropriate form to clients and colleagues. The module will prepare students to continue their own professional education and contribute to the development of the profession as a whole, at a standard commensurate with the current level of knowledge. The module surveys the basic processes of research methodology as practised in the social sciences.Underlying principles of science and logic are emphasised and special attention is directed toward the recognition of common sources of error and bias in the implementation and interpretation of research studies as it affects the outcomes of research utilisation. You are required to submit a research proposal. The content of the document produced by each student is required to cover the specific areas and to be within specific maximum word lengths (marks allocation and word lengths in brackets) as follows: 1. Title and Introduction. Form a clear title of a proposed research.Elaborate on the background of the industry and/or company to be researched as well as the problem or issue identified. Also explain the significance and rationale of the proposed research. (15 marks / 8 00 words maximum) 2. Research Questions. Construct the questions to be answered in the proposed research. (5 marks / 100 words maximum) 3. Research Objectives and Framework. State the research objectives in terms of the factors or causes identified (independent variables) and their relationships with the identified problem or issue (dependent variable).Following the stated objectives, construct a proposed research model or conceptual framework. (5 marks / 100 words maximum) 4. Literature Review. With reference to various relevant literatures, write a critical review and analysis of both the conceptual/theoretical and practical aspects of the identified problem/issue and factors/causes. (40 marks / 2,000 words maximum) 5. Research Methodology and Design. Elaborate the concept, types and approaches in research.Propose a research design for the research topic selected with detailed explanation on elements such as the sample, sample size, types and sources of information, collection met hods and operationalisation or measurement of variables. (15 marks / 800 words maximum) 6. Ethical Considerations. Identify ethical issues involved and steps taken to prevent breach of research ethics. (5 marks / 100 words maximum) 7. Timescale or Gantt Chart. Construct a Gantt Chart in weeks that includes the stages and milestones of the research tasks and their respective time allocations. 5 marks / 100 words maximum) 8. References. Using the Harvard referencing system, provide a comprehensive list of references. (10 marks) Assessment Requirements: †¢ The submission of your work for assessment should be organised and clearly structured in a report format as outlined in 1. 0 to 8. 0 above. †¢ Maximum word length allowed is 4000 words, which includes sections 1. 0 to 7. 0 in the report. The word count excludes section 8. 0. †¢ This assignment is worth 100% of the final assessment of the module. Student is required to submit a type-written document in Microsoft Word fo rmat with Times New Roman font type, size 12 and line spacing of 1. 5. †¢ The Harvard Style of Referencing system is COMPULSORY. †¢ Indicate the sources of information and literature review by including all the necessary citations and references adopting the Harvard Referencing System. †¢ Students who have been found to have committed acts of Plagiarism are automatically considered to have failed the entire semester. If found to have breached the regulation for the second time, you will be asked to leave the course.Plagiarism involves taking someone else’s words, thoughts, ideas or essays from online essay banks and trying to pass them off as your own. It is a form of cheating which is taken very seriously. Take care of your work and keep it safe. Don’t leave it lying around where your classmates can find it. Malaysian Qualifications Agency Learning Outcomes Module Learning Outcomes: †¢ Demonstrate the skills necessary to assess and interpret existi ng research as a prelude to carrying out further investigation and the knowledge and understanding of range of research designs and their appropriate utilization. Conceptualise a problem; formulate hypotheses and objectives; design a research strategy, collecting, analyzing, and interpreting both quantitative and qualitative data, including commonly encountered statistical procedures. †¢ Understand the theoretical principles underlying inferential and descriptive statistics. †¢ Integrate the findings of existing research to ask a new research question. †¢ Engage in critical thinking when reading and comprehending research articles. Choose the most appropriate statistical analyses, interpret results, and write up the results accurately and completely. Notes on Plagiarism & Harvard Referencing Plagiarism Plagiarism is passing off the work of others as your own. This constitutes academic theft and is a serious matter which is penalised in assignment marking. Plagiarism i s the submission of an item of assessment containing elements of work produced by another person(s) in such a way that it could be assumed to be the student’s own work. Examples of plagiarism are: the verbatim copying of another person’s work without acknowledgement †¢ the close paraphrasing of another person’s work by simply changing a few words or altering the order of presentation without acknowledgement †¢ the unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another person’s work and/or the presentation of another person’s idea(s) as one’s own. Copying or close paraphrasing with occasional acknowledgement of the source may also be deemed to be plagiarism if the absence of quotation marks implies that the phraseology is the student’s own.Plagiarised work may belong to another student or be from a published source such as a book, report, journal or material available on the internet. Harvard Referencing The structure of a citation under the Harvard referencing system is the author's surname, year of publication, and page number or range, in parentheses, as illustrated in the Smith example near the top of this article. †¢ The page number or page range is omitted if the entire work is cited. The author's surname is omitted if it appears in the text. Thus we may say: â€Å"Jones (2001) revolutionized the field of trauma surgery. †¢ Two or three authors are cited using â€Å"and† or â€Å"&†: (Deane, Smith, and Jones, 1991) or (Deane, Smith & Jones, 1991). More than three authors are cited using et al. (Deane et al. 1992). †¢ An unknown date is cited as no date (Deane n. d. ). A reference to a reprint is cited with the original publication date in square brackets (Marx [1867] 1967, p. 90). †¢ If an author published two books in 2005, the year of the first (in the alphabetic order of the references) is cited and referenced as 2005a, the second as 2005b. †¢ A citation is pla ced wherever appropriate in or after the sentence.If it is at the end of a sentence, it is placed before the period, but a citation for an entire block quote immediately follows the period at the end of the block since the citation is not an actual part of the quotation itself. †¢ Complete citations are provided in alphabetical order in a section following the text, usually designated as â€Å"Works cited† or â€Å"References. † The difference between a â€Å"works cited† or â€Å"references† list and a bibliography is that a bibliography may include works not directly cited in the text. †¢ All citations are in the same font as the main text. Examples Examples of book references are: †¢ Smith, J. (2005a).Dutch Citing Practices. The Hague: Holland Research Foundation. †¢ Smith, J. (2005b). Harvard Referencing. London: Jolly Good Publishing. In giving the city of publication, an internationally well-known city (such as London, The Hague, or New York) is referenced as the city alone. If the city is not internationally well known, the country (or state and country if in the U. S. ) are given. An example of a journal reference: †¢ Smith, John Maynard. â€Å"The origin of altruism,† Nature 393, 1998, pp. 639–40. An example of a newspaper reference: †¢ Bowcott, Owen. â€Å"Street Protest†, The Guardian, October 18, 2005, accessed February 7, 2006.