Team Work

HECS 1100 Learning Together, Working Together| Learning Set Assessment Task | By Jodie Brown, Carole Fawcett, Debbie Fairhurst, Helena Judge, Helena Bonallie and Hannah Crowther| [Pick the date] | Learning Set Poster Assessment Task Within the Learning Together Working Together tutorials we were assigned to a group and given the task of designing an A4 poster which communicated information to a specific target group. The project the group chose was an A4 poster on ‘Recognising stress in carers’ aimed at carers.The group interpreted the brief as non-paid carers having someone dependent upon them such as a mother caring for her baby or a young person caring for an elderly relative. The group originally chose the project on respect towards older people aimed at 15-19 year olds however, following a group discussion decided to change the project to recognising stress in carers. This was because the group felt that the carers topic was currently highlighted in the media and th ere was a large volume of literature available from a variety of sources.The group also felt that the respect towards elders project was quite a broad topic which could be interpreted in many different ways which may have been challenging to convey on a poster. The group preferred a poster over a leaflet as they felt it could reach a wider audience when placed anywhere rather than someone having to physically collect a leaflet. The group also thought a poster would be more eye catching, easier to read and concise for stressed busy carers who wouldn’t want to read large volumes of text. 152 wordsInitially the group did not assign specific roles to individual members as the group was only in the Forming stage (Tuckman1965), therefore, each member carried out their own individual research, gaining more knowledge on carers and the impact of stress. The team thought that different research approaches would cover all areas and allow equal input and workload from all members. The St orming stage (Tuckman1965) became evident as the resources individuals had gathered were discussed and the most relevant information was chosen.From this discussion the set decided upon the information, design and direction. This then lead into the Norming stage (Tuckman1965) where strengths and weaknesses became apparent which enabled task allocation to be easier. For example, one member having had experience in mental health initiated an idea taken from Bramham’s vulnerability bucket (date) and another member having good IT skills worked on putting the poster together based on other members inputs.These positive roles along with plant, shaper and other pos roles (138 words) Development of the group was very positive, the team progressed through Tuckman’s (1965) Stages without any conflict or problems which the learning set believed was an achievement as without this the poster would not have been produced as quickly and successfully. The main basis of the poster was decided early, giving the group plenty of time to improve and refine it with each meeting.Each member demonstrated an adult to adult relationship (Thompson 2006) with excellent communication skills throughout. As everyone became closer and felt more comfortable, it was easier to express views, portray opinions and be able to negotiate, ultimately meaning better ideas were created. Also the group was extremely open to various individual ideas which, as a result, allowed the discussions of advantages and disadvantages to reach an agreement. 131 words) The most challenging aspect of the project was that the initial idea didn’t work well on paper as it was too crowded so, it had to be adapted, without losing the concept. This took considerable time and effort however, spending this time meant that the final poster was of a higher quality. (52 words) Within the learning set respect was demonstrated throughout. This was initiated by a list of rules that were formulated at the origi nal meeting that set the basis of how each member should behave towards one another.These were adhered to during the entire project. (Appendix 1) Acknowledgment of each members strengths and weaknesses was demonstrated the ensure that others thoughts, ideas and actions were encouraged and not dismissed. Every individuals perspectives were considered when making a group decision for example, information was shared within the file exchange on the virtual leaning environment enabled the opportunity for viewpoints to be shared. 100 words) Upon reflection on Action (Schon 1983, 1987), the group would try assigning roles to each member to see whether it was more effective. The roles could be rotated around so that each member had a go at each role. Another idea upon reflection was to formulate an Action Plan with deadlines so each person could have a step by step approach to formulate. The learning set believe these ideas wouldn’t alter the final product but could possibly improve the working style. (81 words). TOTAL WORD COUNT: 802

Media Representatin of Women in Sport

Major Essay Current society is built upon stereotypes and constructions that are predetermined by previous generations’ views. One of the most recognised historical constructions is the patriarchal theory, that the female is subservient to the male. However, this construction of gender power is slowly equalising, with the rise of feminist groups in the latter part of the 20th century giving reason for this occurring. Nevertheless, gender battles are still occurring, particularly in the sporting industry, which remains male dominated. Female sport has been given much notoriety over their uproar in the past decade, but is finding in a male controlled industry it is difficult for women to receive help from governing bodies. Female sport is marginalised compared to male sport, largely due to the sexualisation of the athletes themselves. Professionally they are receiving very little media coverage in comparison to males and in an amateur sense; females are being stereotyped as a result of the images of ‘athletic’ sexualised women displayed in magazines such as Zoo, Sports Illustrated and Alpha. The media has evolved female sport into sexually appealing entertainment and doesn’t give the sports that have not been sexualised, enough coverage. (Maria Sharapova Bikini) The media have constructed their own image of what a female athlete ultimately looks like by posting images in their magazines, â€Å"characteristics favoured in visual media are those commonly associated with feminine beauty, such as smiling, unblemished skin, slender and toned physique, and long blonde hair† (Schell n. d. ). Maria Sharapova pictured below is the perfect example, and even though she isn’t the number one female tennis player and hasn’t been for some time, she is still one of the most popular and most followed players in the women’s circuit, she was the highest paid female athlete in the world come 2006, earning more from endorsements than prize money (Carr 2006). We see in Australia the sexualisation of sports like Netball, where women in the ANZ Championship wear skin tight, short dresses to play, making it appealing to male audiences. We often see at the Australian Open, similar length dresses or skirts that leave little to the imagination. Venus Williams sent the media into frenzy in 2010 with her skin colour underwear visible as soon as she moved around the court, to which she designed herself (Eurosport 2010). Tennis uniforms are becoming a fashion statement more and more every year, which is always judged by the media when someone wears something even slightly risky or sexy. Anna Kournikova was the pioneer in making tennis ‘sexy’ with her risque photographs in the magazine Sports Illustrated (Cover pictured below). Former tennis player and feminist rights activist Billie Jean King gave a response to the Anna Kournikova Sport illustrated photographs with this, â€Å"It doesn't bother me at all if some of the guys come out to watch women's tennis because they want to see a beautiful woman. Who could hold that against Anna? Still, it's unfortunate when others with a high skill factor don't win the endorsements. Sure, the good-looking guys get more endorsements, but the difference in men's sports is that the ugly ones get their share, too. †(Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles 2000) In America, ‘sexploitation’ is taken to another level at a professional level, particularly in the sports of wrestling and in the gridiron league Lingerie Football League. In these competitions, females wear very little, going down to the bare minimum. Pictured below is an image of the Lingerie Football League, clearly the uniforms (Lingerie Football League 2009)(Anna Kournikova 2000) leave little to be desired, but are used to entertain to a male dominated audience. These sports are both considered to be female sports in their own right, but we also see the sexualisation of women in male sports, particularly in professional sides in the form of cheerleaders. Cheerleaders provide entertainment during the sporting breaks, which we often see during breaks in male sports, providing a view of females in general as sexual objects and inferior to the male ‘athletes’. So from our perspective it is clear that the media has constructed a view that the amateur female athlete must be ‘sexy’ in order to be able to succeed, we don’t read in magazines or see photographs of less attractive female athletes, they have excluded them for what in their mind is good reason, sex sells. However it is creating an unrealistic image of the perfect female athlete, they are not judged by how good they are at hitting, catching, shooting, running or jumping, but by how much they can get paid for taking their clothes off. (Caple, Greenwood Lumby 2010) Another cause for concern over female sport is that professionally they are not getting anywhere near enough media coverage and money as their male counterparts. The media cover male sport in far more depth; in fact a study in 2006 by South Australian Premier’s Council for Women found just 4. per cent of coverage was about female sport () and on Foxtel approximately 10 per cent was about female sport (Senate Standing Committees on Environment, Communications and the Arts 2006). The chart below shows the volume of news coverage that all the different sports receive, which not surprisingly shows Tennis as being pretty much the main female sport that is being covered, with very little else in comparison to male sport, even horses gain more exposure than females. So while females are being splayed all over the magazines in compromising poses and clothing, they receive very little coverage of them competing within their sports. So even though the â€Å"Australian women’s swimming team at the 2004 Olympic games secured more medals than their male counterparts. The women’s hockey team, the Hockeyroos have frequently dominated international competition, winning Olympic gold and international championships on many occasions. The Australian women’s netball team has won eight of eleven world championships†(Senate Standing Committees on Environment, Communications and the Arts 2006), we still don’t see these teams play, other than at major sporting competitions like the Olympic and Commonwealth games. The lack of exposure can be hurtful to professional female athletes, in an interview with former Australian netball player explains her pain, â€Å"’I went very close to an emotional breakdown’ Ellis said, describing a time when she was struggling to combine her work as a solicitor, a marriage and the daily demands of club training and competing for Australia. (Magnay 2006) So while professional male sportsman have sport as their only profession earning a large salary in doing so, most women who compete at the top levels of their sports don’t actually receive any payment for their services, or if they do, they definitely couldn’t live of it, so majority of them have normal day jobs, which in itself would be stressful, but in conjunction with family, training and games, they must lead extremely demanding lives, which hardly seems reasonable. The inability of female sport to be fully professional and given similar or equal coverage in the media leaves the representation of women very much being subservient in a male dominated industry. The representation of the ultimate female ‘athlete’ projected as a result of the sexualisation that has occurred in higher level sport today has created a flow on effect into the amateur level of sport. Solmon et al. (2003) found that college-aged women who perceive a sport as gender-neutral are more confident about participating than are women who identify a sport as masculine. †(Hardin and Greer 2009, 207) Which is a direct result from media exposure, they see sports on television almost every day; recognize that it is a male sport as the athletes are male and then deem it too masculine to try. There is also the issue of sexuality discrimination when a female becomes involved with sport; because we see the masculine sports on television, any participation in such by a female has become deemed as homosexual, constructed by our culture and media, â€Å"so when a female is called a ‘dyke’ or ‘lesbian’ in a derogatory manner, she may alter her actions and dress to be ‘more feminine,’ downplay her athletic talents, or avoid sport altogether†(Schell n. d. ). This has become a common problem with women’s amateur sport, particularly sports that are deemed to be too masculine for women to try such as cricket (Burroughs, Seebohm and Ashburn 1995, 29) and Australian Rules football (Hillier 2006, 18) that there is an automatic stereotype of being homosexual. The social construction that female participants are labelled as homosexual in male dominated sports is a media formed fallacy. The reason why this has occurred is that in past societies, homosexuality was frowned upon and when a female athlete is found to be a lesbian, then the media reveals it to the world, the stereotype builds. This happened to the Australian women’s cricket team in the opposite fashion when â€Å"it was reported that female cricketer, Denise Annetts, had been dropped from the Australian team and had alleged that her sacking was due to her heterosexual preference and marital status. †( Burroughs, Seebohm and Ashburn 1995, 29) This built the reputation than women’s cricket still holds to this day. Nowadays there has been a movement towards helping women’s sport grow more. There have been the new Australian digital television channels which allowed channel Ten to show Netball during the day on their channel ‘One’. ABC still broadcast lawn bowls and women’s Basketball fairly often, and just this year, channel Nine started broadcasting female Twenty20 cricket that was played before the men’s game. So there has been improvement in the coverage regard, however women across the globe are still victims of sexploitation, which is undermining the coverage solution because we are still able to receive the media’s representation of females in sport as marginalised and subservient to a male industry. Until this is solved and females stand up against this, then there is little chance they have in improving their image in the sporting industry. Reference List Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles. 2000. Sportsletter. 12 (1,2): 2009. Quoted in Messner 2002, 100. Anna Kournikova. Image. 2000. http://sportsillustrated. cnn. com/vault/cover/toc/9744/index. htm (accessed May 20, 2011). Australia. Senate Standing Committees on Environment, Communications and the Arts. 2006. About time! Women in sport and recreation in Australia. Volume 1. Canberra: Senate Printing Unit. Burroughs, A. , L. Seebohm, and L. Ashburn. 1995. Sporting Traditions. The Journal of the Australian Society for Sports History 12 (1): 29. Google. www. google. om. au (accessed 21 May 2011). Caple, H. , K, Greenwood and C, Lumby. Image. 2010. http://www. ausport. gov. au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/356209/Towards_a_Level_Playing_Field_LR. pdf (accessed May 20, 2011) Carr, J. 2006. Maria Sharapova has become the sport’s most marketable icon. http://mariasharapova. wetpaint. com/page/Endorsements (accessed May 20, 2011). Eurosport. 2010. Australian Open – Cheeky Venus outfit shocks crowd. http://uk. eurosport. yahoo. com/24012010/58/australian-open-cheeky-venus-outfit-shocks-crowd. html (accessed May 23, 2011). Hardin, M. , J. D. Greer. 2009. The Influence of Gender-Role Socialization, Media Use and Sports Participation on Perceptions of Gender-Appropriate Sports. Journal of Sport Behavior 32 (2): 207. Questia. www. questia. com (accessed 19 May 2011). Hillier, L. 2006. Safe Spaces: The upside of the image problem for same sex attracted young women playing Australian Rules football. International Journal of Football Studies 8 (2): 18. Google. www. google. com. au (accessed 21 May 2011). Lingerie Football League. Image. 2009. http://www. stuff. co. nz/sport/2834471/New-Lingerie-Football-League-under-debate (accessed May 20, 2011). Magnay, J. 2006. Women deserve sporting chance: Ellis. http://www. smh. com. au/news/sport/women-deserve-sporting-chance-ellis/2006/08/02/1154198205721. html (accessed 20 May 2011). Maria Sharapova Bikini. Image. n. d. http://www. dailybum. com/ (accessed May 20, 2011). Messner, M. 2002. Taking the Field: Women, Men and Sports. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Schell, B. n. d. (Dis)Empowering Images? Media Representations of Women in Sport. http://www. womenssportsfoundation. org/Content/Articles/Issues/Media-and-Publicity/D/DisEmpowering-Images–Media-Representations-of-Women-in-Sport. aspx (accessed May 20, 2011). Short Research Essay Reflection What strengths and weaknesses did you identify in your Short Research Essay? My short research essay was not quite as good as what I had hoped, the topic Sexual Abuse in Sport: With a focus on the AFL was too narrow, it was not a smart decision to give myself such a small focus, which basically narrowed myself down to Australian texts only, which wasn’t easy. I did find a fair arrange of resources, but perhaps didn’t utilise them as much, and just relied on my own theory. The need to rely on stereotypes and overuse of emotive language also hampered my essay. How did you use the tutor’s feedback to improve your work for the Major Essay? I firstly acknowledged the fact that my essay used too much emotive language and made it a conscious focus to not try and use it so much, to what effect I am not sure, it is a habit in my writing that needs fixing for the future. I also rewrote my whole essay, broadening the topic to women in sport, which meant I could find an array of sources. I also have cleared up my analysis and hopefully the referencing has improved. All in all I believe that this essay is a far improvement on the short research essay.

Critical thinking R Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Discussion Board Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 12

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RHETORICAL ANALYSIS (VISUAL DISCOURSE) FOR DARYL CARGLE CARTOON FOR Essay

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS (VISUAL DISCOURSE) FOR DARYL CARGLE CARTOON FOR THE HALLOWEEN IN 2007 - Essay Example Today, mankind behaves in an utterly foolish way-blinded by its own sinful ego and willing ignorance. No wonder history always repeats itself. It is startling to see as we study history, to realize that the same type of Nazi-fascism at work in our government today, is clearly evident in past tyrant dictatorships. It was none other than the tyrant Adolph Hitler who stated... "What luck for the rulers that men do not think" !! Literally, today's world is filled with a bunch of people who believe everything they here on FOX NEWS. Here's a good quote..."A man's judgment cannot be better than the information on which he has based it... Give him no news or present him only with distorted and incomplete data, with ignorant, sloppy or biased reporting, with propaganda and deliberate falsehoods, and you destroy his whole reasoning process and make him something less than a man." (Sulzberger 1948). The cartoon although portrayed in a funny way (and it should be) make the viewer think of the painful plight of fellow human beings around him. For example take the case of Iraqi war. Life is meaningless to the rich selfish monsters that inflict terror upon innocent civilians through military force.

Deaf Community Church Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Deaf Community Church - Essay Example What had been learnt in class is only theoretical language that needed to be practiced practically in the real life situation by meeting the deaf and talking to them in order to gauge my knowledge of understanding the language. The purpose of the visit was also to have an understanding of what this community feels like. One can only understand if you have an experience with them to see how they are friendly, how they joke, and how much they enjoy the service? As I was going to this event, I had one question to answer during this course, what exactly make this community bond so strong? It became so had at first to figure out this bond but as I observe them communicating through signs with each other, I realized that these people understood one another because of their common experience that resulted from their state. The fact that they were using the American Sign Language (ASL) was the most important thing that kept them bonded so strongly. Some body watching from far distance would not expect this event to be fan especially a church service that I attended, and as a matter of fact, I belonged to that category. I expected a boring event full of only deaf and feeling nervous without knowing where to start from. An event full of only deaf people came into my mind that it could only be a very quiet place with people only in sign language. Actually after the event, I realized that it was actually not boring or even silent as I had thought. Before that, as I entered the church compound, I thought of finding a place to sit as I meditate. I was feeling nervous. Besides the church under a tree, there was a bench with two ladies sited on it and signing. My challenge was, they just sat with little space left even though the seat looked spacious, so I had to open a conversation to request for a place to sit. Little did I know that it was an opportunity for me to start a conversation that took long to reach its end

Enterprise Technologies and the Value Chain Research Paper

Enterprise Technologies and the Value Chain - Research Paper Example As the paper stresses mobile business refers to electronic business transactions enabled, in part, by mobile technology targeting both consumers and businesses. Mobile business includes mobile commerce activities that represent mobile technology enabled transactions. Mobile technologies that support mobile businesses are grouped as networks and devices. Mobile devices can range from GPS and RFID chips to tablets and barcode scanners. Mobile networks include RFID, Bluetooth, GPS and mobile telecommunication networks. These are utilized, by organizations, to offer customization and flexibility. Unlike e-commerce, M-business offers value via enabling users to be reachable anytime and be mobile. According to the discussion findings value creation can occur via support to mobile users (employees) or mobile activities such as tracking supplies and raw materials. An industry trend that is growing is Fixed Mobile Convergence where centralized infrastructure and management support a mobile workforce that provides access to business applications from all locations and network connections. The greater the mobile workforce size in an organization, the higher the value proposition for mobile business in the organization. Three components are vital in the value proposition of mobile business for an organization; relevant actors, mobile technology’s unique attributes, and activities supported.

Learning machine Essay Example for Free

Learning machine Essay The author believes that like a learning machine the human brain is capable of adapting anything new regardless of the age of the person. This she deduces this from a number of arguments in the form of research done from different points of view but all leading to her conclusion. The author is not describing other peoples’ opinions. Rather she uses their arguments as the premises to end at the conclusion that she states at the beginning of her excerpt. The author uses information on neural plasticity from presentation done by Gregg Recanzone using animals, Merzenich Michaels’ research on â€Å"shaping the machinery of our brains† using the elderly and   Alison Gopniks’ research on plasticity of the brain using children and the connection to the logic of imagination all from the University of California. Columbia University’s Walter Mischels’ discussion on the ability to control our desires based on the imaginations we put on them and Sir Michael Rutter of King’s college made a presentation of the effects of early institutional deprivation[1]. To arrive at the conclusion, the author used the data from done research as the premises to support her conclusion. Though the author does not use the solid research data to support her argument, she uses the findings of the research as her arguments. The research was done correctly. There are various experiments done where there was need for comparison. There was physical experimenting in the case of study. The author shows only one side of the issue. The author relies on isolated researches, which makes the findings reliable. The author makes a valid conclusion form the data that was well intended for showing that indeed the plasticity and changes in the brain is a life long process. At any time, the conclusions made should be based on concrete and sound arguments. Arguments based on facts or pre-proven researches are valid arguments. To make a conclusion, one needs to provide valid arguments that are in line with the conclusion to be made. The conclusion made should therefore be in tandem with the arguments presented to make a valid conclusion. This is because there can be a situation where there are valid arguments but an invalid conclusion. In the excerpt, the author has used valid arguments in the form done researches to arrive at the conclusion made. The conclusion is also valid. In making a good argument, there should be no assumptions made. In the excerpt, the argument that uses the animal species of a monkey to relate to the human situation is challengeable. Real research in the human context would have been the best line of action in the case study. The education sector in the United States today is a very good example. In the New York Times on 6th July 2010. The unions are accusing the government for â€Å"undermining public education†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Is the conclusion right? What is the basis of their conclusion? In the National Education Association’s convention that began on Saturday, there is no one from the Obama administration is set to speak in the convection. This is despite the previous two-year addresses that the president had made to them. They claim that they have not seen the change they hoped for from the government. â€Å"Today our members face the most anti-educator, anti-union, anti-student environment I have ever experienced,† Dennis Van Roekel, president of the union, the National Education Association, told thousands of members gathered at the convention center.[2] The angered teachers are being blamed for the prevailing situations in the public schools. There is a connection in the article and except, the teachers unions are deriving a conclusion from the arguments that I have briefly summarized among the many more in the article. The concept of using valid arguments to arrive at a conclusion is utilized here. Like any other animal man is no exception to nature. Nature requires that the species adapt to survive. The human brain is the control system of the human body, this makes it the first to respond to the changes and hence give directive to the whole body in order to survive. As we grow, the rate of responsiveness to changes will decrease. The brain is an organ in the human body, all the body tissues are subjected to wear and tear and old age makes the body not able to replace the worn out tissues as fast as before. Therefore, the brain will have worn out tissues that will make it unable to adapt as first as before. BIBLIOGRAPHY Dillon, Sam.2010. Teachers’ Union Shuns Obama Aides at Convention. The New York Times July 6th, 2010. Retrieved on 6th July 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/05/education/05teachers.html?_r=1hpw Nelson, Leah.2006. A learning machine: Plasticity and change throughout life. Retrieved on July 6th, 2006 http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=2029 [1] Leah Nelson. 2006.   A learning machine: Plasticity and change throughout life. Retrieved on 6th July 2006   http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=2029   [2] Sam Dillon. 2010. Teachers’ Union Shuns Obama Aides at Convention. The New York Times 6th, July 2010. Retrieved on 6th July 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/05/education/05teachers.html?_r=1hpw

The Motivation Towards Learning English

The Motivation Towards Learning English English language is a required school subject in the Malaysian schools. Students experience 11 years of schooling prior to entering the upper educational institutions. Students in secondary schools spend five 40 minutes English periods per week. Regardless of the shift from the conventional teaching methods to communicative language teaching, most English language classrooms continue to be places to commit textbooks to memory rather than practice communication and English is still to be treated as a school subject that needs to be mastered and tested rather than a tool for communication. Students in Malaysia cannot get a degree from the institutions of higher education without passing the Malaysian University English Test (MUET). So, triumph in learning English might determine ones growing mobility and prospect. It is significant in mentioning that regardless of the great labors and pains being put forth in Malaysian secondary schools to educate English, one can barely encounter fluent and confident school graduates. Disadvantage in listening and speaking skills are obviously noticed since teachers are required to teach students in an approach which is directed to achieve the requirements of the exams (extensive vocabulary and grammatical rules). For the reason that the General Secondary Exam is not directed in the direction of the speaking and listening skills of students, the teachers of English discover themselves dispassionate in preparing their students for things which will never be tested in exams. Regrettably, loads of students in Malaysian secondary schools have an aversion to learning English and therefore they be present at the English training to pass the compulsory exams. Consequently, from my concise experience in the teaching turf, I found out that the majority of students hav e passive and inert attitudes in the direction of learning English because of the prior experiences, that English is tough to become skilled at and it is observed that students in the present school systems are feeling hopeless and vulnerable because they lack the skills needed to facilitate them build up motivation. The word motivation appears to be simple, straightforward and easy but its so complicated to describe. It seems to have been impracticable for theorists to reach agreement on a particular definition. Martin Covington (1998:1) states that motivation, like the notion of gravity, is easier to express in terms of its superficial, observable effects than it is to define. Certainly, this has not stopped people from trying it. A a small number of definitions were found for the duration of the research process. According to the Macmillans dictionary (1979), to motivate means to provide with a motive; move to effort or action. Gardner (1985) said that motivation is related to four aspects, which are the goal, effort, desire to attain the goal, and a favorable attitude toward the activity. Motivation is defined as the momentum and force to generate and maintain intentions and objective seeking acts (Ames Ames, 1989). Oxford and Shearin (1994) defined motivation as a craving to achieve a goal combined with the energy to work toward that goal. Keller (1983) states that motivation is the degree of the choices people make and the degree of effort they will put forth. Moreover, when we comprehend or take notice of the word motivation, many words and expressions are triggered in our minds, words like aim, aspiration, motivation, effort, purpose, vigor, perseverance, accomplish, encourage, and reward. Indeed, motivational issues consume a great part of our daily life. When we have a discussion about likes and dislikes, interests, or wishes we are in fact concerning ourselves with the most important motivational determinants of human. When we grumble and whine about stretched working hours, deprived salaries, rough colleagues, or instead when we are pleased by the acknowledgment of our achievements, promotions and munificent incentives, we are addressing issues at the core of the motivational psychology. 1.1 Background of the Problem Kanfer (1998:12) explains that motivation is psychological mechanisms governing the direction, intensity, and persistence of actions not due solely to individual differences in ability or to overwhelming environmental demands that coerce or force action. In short, the concept of motivation is very much part of our everyday personal and professional life and few would ignore its importance in human affairs in general. Dornyei (2001:1). In fact learning and teaching English as a second/foreign language is no exemption or exclusion in this aspect. When we think of how to persuade and give confidence to slow learners to work harder, how to produce an attractive and eye-catching learning ambiance or how to recompense the hard-working students we deal with motivation without a doubt. Since motivation is one of the most noteworthy factors in language learning, it is not easy for the low motivated students to learn English as a foreign language. Dornyei (1994) obviously explains that motivation is one of the main determinants of second/foreign language learning. Amusingly, motivation is perceived by Dornyei (2001) as recurring, going up and down, affecting language accomplishment and being affected by it. He also claimed that a demotivated person is someone who initially has had motivation to accomplish an objective or to involve in an activity and has lost the motivation to do so because of unenthusiastic external factors which related to the surroundings in which learning takes place for instance the classroom and school. Nikolov (1999, in Dornyei, 2001) found that the most essential demotivating factors for all the age groups were related to the learning situations such as materials, the teacher or teaching techniques and he added further that these factors had great consequence on language acquisition and accomplishment. Therefore, understanding the students aspiration and motivation for learning English in addition to the demotivating factors assist the teachers, educational policy makers and curriculum planners to develop the students proficiency. 1.2 Problem Statement Motivational factors have an effect on students proficiency and advancement in learning English. Many studies (Krusdenier, 1985, Dornyei, 1994) have established that measures of proficiency in the second/foreign language are related to motivational distinctiveness of students. In this respect, Corria (1999) claims that a full understanding of students motivation is necessary to make the most of the English language results and positive outcomes. To put emphasis on the significance of discovering the students needs, he cites an example of students at the school of nursing in Holguin who rejected learning English because they did not find any relation between English and their own livelihood and learning some unrelated, irrelevant and distasteful material that wouldnt satisfy their needs. Purpose of the Study The research is designed based on one purpose which is: to investigate the motivational factors in learning English among lower secondary school students 1.4 Research Questions The following research question is considered in the study: Are the students motivated integratively or instrumentally in learning English? 1.5 Significance of the Study Realizing and comprehending the essential responsibility of motivation in learning English, in addition to the aspiration of school administrations and teachers to discern what affects the students motivation towards learning English and the lack of studies about motivation in Malaysian secondary schools forced me to bear this survey. Consequently, the main objective of this study is to distinguish the factors affecting Malaysian students motivation in the direction of learning English as a foreign language. It also focuses at exploring the students integrative and instrumental motivation for learning English. The study will first and foremost give information on motivation toward learning Second Language through literature review in two significant and pertinent areas: integrative (positive attitudes toward the target language group and a enthusiasm to assimilate into the target language community) and instrumental (practical reasons for learning a language, such as to achieve social recognition or to get a better job) motivation and factors influencing the motivation of L2 learners. 1.6 Limitations of the Study The study is being conducted at one school, which may limit the generalizability of the findings. The results of the study may again be limited in generalizability to a larger population because a convenience sample was being used, and because random assignment is not employed in the research design. Chapter 2 Literature Review To improve the understanding of students motivation in learning English as a foreign language; it is useful to analyze and focus the literature in two relevant areas: Integrative and Instrumental motivation, and also the factors affecting the students motivation as they are major determinants for language acquisition and achievement. 2.1 Sources of Motivation Without knowing where the roots of motivation lie, how can teachers water those roots? Oxford Shearin (1994: 15). Fisher, (1990) points to three major sources of motivation in learning, which is the learners natural interest (intrinsic satisfaction), the teacher/employment and etcetera (extrinsic reward), and success in the task (combining satisfaction and reward). Intrinsic motivation is mainly about acts or behavior performed to experience enjoyment or fulfilling ones inquisitiveness, while, extrinsic motivation relates to the behavior and actions to obtain a little extrinsic reward (e.g. -good grades, employment) or to avoid punishment and it can function as a temporary source of motivation for a demotivated learner. Ryan Dec (2000) reveals that intrinsic motivation is the most vital kind and it is defined as the yearning to engage in an activity for its innate satisfaction rather than for some divisible consequences. To encourage intrinsic motivation, many characteristics as challenge, control, inquisitiveness and desire should be vacant to reflect the learners enthusiasm to learn (Lepper Hodell, 1989). Small (1997) stated that intrinsically motivated learners habitually demonstrate intellectual curiosity, regard learning as enjoyable and keep on in quest of knowledge even after the formal classes and this is the major goal of education. The lack of intrinsic motivation among the learners not only discourages them, but it also upsets the teachers who are the keystone of the educational practice. Luce (2002:1) explained that over the years I have watched them (teachers) collapse, falling hard into vinyl seats of the faculty bun, heard them grunt the oh. hell and damn that come from the experience of working with students who wouldnt learn. I have listened to the sighs of frustration and then the discussion of the fact that students are largely unmotivated, unwilling slugs taking up my time and best performances. Littlejohn (2001) think that not many students have a sense of intrinsic satisfaction. Some teachers strive to affect positively the pupils sense of intrinsic satisfaction by means of games or puzzles. This has momentary impact. So, natural interest of the learners is undependable to produce constant motivation in language learning. Vroom (1995) originated the Expectancy theory in which motivation is almost certainly to take place when learning is significant to the learner (valence), the endeavor to learn will be practical and useful to the learner (instrumentality) and the learners effort and hard work will be rewarded by the learners expected result (expectancy). Realizing these facts, many teachers choose to prefer the extrinsic reward and the extrinsic punishment. In the classrooms, teachers may reward good students with good marks or flattering words or penalize other students with low marks. Therefore, the reward system itself can be exasperating and demotivating for the weaker students. The third source of motivation is the most important and crucial one. For the weak and failing students, we, as teachers have to develop their sense of success and a feeling that they can do something, rather than a feeling that they cant. (Littlejohn, 2001:4) 2.1 Motivation and Attitudes in Second Language learning Numerous theorists and researchers have discovered that it is vital to take a look at the construct of motivation not as a single entity but as a multi-factorial one. In relation to the learner attitudes toward the target language, it was indicated by Gardners results (1959, 1983, 1985) that Second Language learners with positive attitudes towards the speakers and culture were more thriving in learning the language than those who had negative attitudes. Gardner (1983) argued that, because language is the fundamental part of culture, the learning of a second language is dependent upon the learners eagerness to recognize with the culture of the target language and to fit in aspects of the target- language culture, including linguistic repertoire into his or her own behavior. In addition, Fasold (1984) stressed the function of learners attitudes in language growth or perish and he stated that the notion of language attitudes not only includes attitudes towards speakers of a particular language, but it as well includes all kinds of behavior relating to language to be treated. Captivatingly, achievement in learning Second Language for the most part depends on the social relation among the First and Second Language communities. Wong-Fillmore (1991) suggested that accomplishment in learning a second language is dependent on the presence of the following conditions: (a) motivated students who realize they need to learn the target language, (b) target-language speakers who support the second- language learners, and (c) frequent social contad between target-language speakers and learners. Regarding the outcome of learning a foreign language ones own culture, Kramsch (1995) writes about how language plays an imperative function not only in the building of culture but also in the surfacing and emergence of cultural change. Kramsch (1995: 85) also claimed that social change occurs slowly, but inevitably at the edges of dominant cultures. This is true also of the change that we might want to bring about by teaching people how to use somebody elses linguistic code in somebody elses cultural context. Educating members of one society how to talk and how to behave in the context of another community potentially changes the social and cultural equation of both communities, by ingeniously diversifying mainstream cultures. The intensity of the relationship between students own cultural background and the background anticipated by the target community culture usually affects their attitudes and motivation toward learning Second Language. Lambert (1990) differentiated between two types of bilingualism: additive and subtractive. In additive bilingualism, the Second Language learners believe that by learning a new language, something new to their knowledge and experience is added without taking anything away from what they already know. But, in subtractive case, the learners feel that learning Second Language threatens what they already achieve for themselves. So, it can be said that additive circumstances lead to successful Second Language learning and integrativeness. Obeidat (2005) conducted a study to inspect Malaysian students attitudes who were studying in Jordan Universities, toward learning Arabic as a foreign language. He concluded that the students were integratively motivated and their integrative orientations could be credited to the shared belief in Islam which made them prone to expand their scope and construct up their character in the course of learning Arabic. Besides, attitudes of the foreign language learners may be affected by the apprehension that participation with the target language group may effect in estrangement from ones own group. For example, opinions that English is in rivalry with Arabic, may have a negative affect on attainment of English in the Arab World. Pennycook (1994:204-10) stated that that whether or not tension exists between Western and Islamic knowledge , there is a strong feeling that English is linked to forms of culture that threaten an Islamic way of life. Consequently, an analysis into learners attitudes is a technique by which language teachers, education planners, syllabus designers and researchers can boost better insight into the language teaching and learning process. 2.2 Integrative and Instrumental Motivation Motivation and needs are strongly related. On one hand, motivation is perceived as the realization of needs, and on the other, human needs function as drives or incentives which shift one to a particular action. The best well-known theory of human needs is Maslows (1970) hierarchy of need. Maslow put together a fivefold hierarchy of human needs which begins with biological needs and advance upward to psychological ones: physiological needs, as well as the need for food and water; the need for safety; social needs, as well as belongingness and love; esteem needs, e.g. the feelings of self-respect and positive acknowledgment from others; and self-actualization, which means the need for a sense of self-fulfillment. In relation to the foreign or second language learning, the need for safety indicates that the Second Language learner needs to be protected that learning the target language and culture doesnt affect negatively his/her own culture or language. Furthermore, openness in general and learning languages in particular needs a secure and an unstressful atmosphere to facilitate language acquisition. Admiration and social needs also indicate that the learner needs to be a educated person who is capable to communicate and assimilate with others by learning their language. Failure to suit students needs is prone to hamper their risk-taking and motivation. Psychologically self-doubting Second Language learners can be awfully anxious (Macintyre Gardner, 1991) and if this happens, Second Language learners relapse in their needs, motivation, and achievement in the classroom. Motivation for learning a second/foreign language is defined as the learners point of reference with regard to the objective of learning a second language. (Crookes Schmidt 1991). To investigate and realize the effect of motivation on second language acquisition, the two basic types of motivation (integrative and instrumental) should be identified. Integrative motivation is characterized by the learners optimistic and positive attitudes towards the target language society and the aspiration to join together into the target language society. Instrumental motivation contains the purpose of gaining some social or economic incentive through Second Language achievement, consequently, referring to a more functional reason for language learning (Gardner Lambert, 1972). To evaluate a variety of individual differences variables based on socio-educational model, Gardner developed the Attitude and Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) which consists of these five categories: integrativeness, instrumental motivation, motivation, anxiety and attitudes toward learning situations. Gardners model has been used in many motivational studies (e.g. Tremblay Gardner, 1995, Masgoret, 2001). It is acceptable to say that Gardners model place too much stress on the integrativeness and the responsibility of learners attitudes towards L2 group in learning the second language. Regardless of the fact that both kinds of motivation are crucial fundamentals of success in learning the second/foreign language, much debate and disagreement among researchers and educators have been happening about which kind of motivation is more important for the second language learners. Lambert (1974) perceived integrative motivation as being of more importance in formal leaning environment than the instrumental one and it was a more influential forecaster of linguistic accomplishment. Falk (1978) agreed with Lamberts allegation by pointing out that students who are most thriving when learning a target language are those who fond of the people that speak the language, have a high regard for their culture and have a longing to become familiar with the society in which the language is used. On the other hand, Lukmani (1972) found that an instrumental motivation was further significant than an integrative one among the non-Westernized Students of Second Language (English) in Bombay, India. Dornyei (1990) opposed Gardner by claiming that instrumental motivation and the learners need for accomplishment are more essential than the integrative motivation. Brown (2000) stated that second language learners hardly ever select one form of motivation when learning a second language, but rather a mixture of them and he cites the example of the international students in the United States. However, in response to calls for the implementation of a wider image of motivation, Tremblay Gardner (1995) included other motivational variables into the socio- educational model and they acknowledged that other factors as instrumental orientation, attitudes toward the teacher and the course, learning strategies and self confidence might contribute to motivation. In relation to the Malaysian circumstances, second language learners might conserve their identity by instinctively selecting to be motivated instrumentally. Desire related to integrative motivation might affect their Malaysian identity and the dread of identifying with English (Western) culture and values may be related to the colony or to the latest American campaign against some countries in the area. In sense of review of the literature available in the area of students motivation for learning foreign languages, loads of studies try hard to investigate the learners integrative and instrumental motivation. Oller et al (1997) studied educated Chinese speaking ESL students and he realizes that those who perceive Americans as helpful, sincere and friendly perform better in a cloze test of English as a second language. Man-Fat (2004) have the same opinion with Oller when he explored the motivation of English language learners in Hong Kong (grade10) and his study reported the noteworth y association between integrative motivation and language proficiency. Conversely, instrumental motivation was found more important in some situations particularly where there appears to be modest amount of desire to assimilate. Fu Lee (1980) found out that Chinese students in Hong Kong were instrumentally motivated and Second Language linguistic achievements correlated more with instrumental motivation. Dornyeis study (1996) of Hungarian secondary school learners of English exposed that instrumental motivation is a innermost element of motivation where comparatively down-to-earth benefits are actually reachable for the learners. He also claimed that foreign language learning in a classroom doesnt involve attitudes towards the Second Language community because learners have little or no contact with members of Second Language group. In brief, as it is understood from the above discussion, the researchers and educators havent resolute on what the most important kind of motivation a second/foreign language learner should have. The 1970s studies (Gardner, 1972, 1979, Lambert, 1974) have shown that integrative motivation is more important for success in Second Language acquisition and instrumental motivation did not seem to relate to successful language learning. However, the following studies (Gardner McIntyre, 1991, Dornyei 1994, Oxford, 1994) discovered that integrative motivation may not be the strongest forecaster for language learning and the issue of motivation may not be as straightforward as integrative-instrumental dichotomy. They recommended that other mechanism such as aspiration for knowledge need for accomplishment, intellectual inspiration and personal challenge can also play important roles n second language learning. 2.3 Factors Demotivating Foreign Language Learning The similarities of concern between most foreign language classrooms where the language in question is a compulsory school subject, is the problem of demotivation. Nevertheless, the disadvantage of English language learners in general has been attributed to an assortment of factors such as teaching methodology, lack of the target language environment and the learners demotivation (Mukkatash, 1983, Zughoti,1987). For that reason, it is vital for the teachers at least to be conscious of the possible factors that may be disturbing their students motivation. With those factors in mind, they may be able to build up strategies to help unravel the problems that take place relating to students motivation and aspiration to learn English as a foreign language. A great deal of research has been conducted on language learning motivation but a lesser amount of research is being done on the demotivating factors in learning the second language and a few studies have addressed them. Dornyei Otto (1998) dont distinguish motivation or demotivation as a stationary occurrence. In contrast, they are considered as dynamic, increasing and declining, affecting language accomplishment and being affected by the neighboring learning environment. The demotivated learner is defined by Dornyei as the one who is originally motivated and lost his/her motivation because of negative outer factors. Some studies have shown relatedness between demotivation and the learning environment such as classroom environment, teaching methods and curriculum (Gardner, 1985, Skehan, 1991, Sivan, 1986). Gorham Christophel (1992) examined the factors that students identify as motivators/demotivators in college classes in West Virginia University. The study compared students perception of the demotivating and motivating factors. As to demotivating factors, the factors related to teachers behavior were the most common, 43%, those under limited control of the teacher were second in occurrence (e.g. assessment and choice of text books), 36%, and only 21% related to contextual factors over which the teacher has little control. In terms of the data as a whole, the teacher behavior contributed in the same way to both motivation and demotivation. However, the researchers concluded that motivation is seeming as a student-owned state, while lack of motivation is perceived as a teacher-owned problem. Chambers (1993) (in Dornyei, 2001) explored demotivation in language learning in four schools n the UK. The study was done on the school students and their teachers. Students placed most responsibility on teachers and learning materials. The teachers claimed that the students motivation caused by psychological, social and attitudinal reasons. Generally, most studies conducted in the ground of motivation and demotivation as its backside found out that the personality of the teacher, teaching methods, learning context in addition to the learners attitude toward Second Language could play a fundamental role in the students motivation or demotivation on the road to learning languages. Chapter 3 Research Design Introduction This survey is a quantitative type of research which involves the use of questionnaire. Quantitative studies emphasize the measurement and analysis of causal relationships between variables, not processes. In a quantitative research, questionnaires, and computers are used as data collection methods. The data collected is numerical and statistical. The general objective of the researcher is to observe but does not actively participate. Research design is also structured and well-tested. 3.1 Participants Participants consisted of 30 Form 2 students in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pekula Jaya located in Tikam Batu, Kedah. The socioeconomic status of the school and the area that the school served was largely middle class, and students were primarily Malays. The instruments were administered in the classroom during two periods of English lesson. During the session, students were asked to complete the questionnaire. Directions and individual items were read aloud by the administrator. 3.2 Instruments For the purpose of obtaining data on what negatively affects their English learning motivation, I conducted this study by using a questionnaire (see appendix). The questionnaire was adapted from Gardners (1985) AMTB to measure the students integrative/instrumental motivation in learning English. This part of the questionnaire contains 8 items reflecting the integrative/instrumental motivation and a five- point Likert Scale which ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agrees was being used in this survey. The integrative motivation scale includes four types of items to investigate how well the learners learn English with an authentic enthusiasm to absorb with the target language, culture, community, their manner of life and literature; this would show their Integrativeness in the direction of the target language. However the instrumental motivation scale includes four items aiming at measuring the respondents functional reasons for studying English. 3.3 Procedures At the very beginning of the study, permission was gained from the principal of the targeted schools who showed a willingness to collaborate in this study. To guarantee a positive participation, the subjects were informed that their answers would be confidential and they were not required to write or give their names at any stage of the study. The questionnaire was administered by the researcher and 40 students participated in completing the questionnaire during their English class. The students were assured that the main objective of the researcher was to find out why they like to study English and what makes them sometimes dislike the English classes. Moreover, the students were told that their answers and opinions would not affect their grades or their teachers impression and their participation in the survey would help teachers to understand their desires and problems. Students were encouraged to ask questions at any time during the process. The survey was administered to the students in a classroom environment. Prior to the survey, the participants were assured of anonymity and confidentiality. Then, they were a brief explanation to facilitate the administration, and were asked to respond to the questionnaire items as spontaneously as possible. The students were asked to tick the answer wherever seemed necessary. The participants took approximately 30 to 40 minutes to complete the questionnaire, although there was no time limit. Upon completion of the administration, the participants were offered some refreshments for their participation

Limited Government :: Persuasive, The Constitution

In the previous week I agreed with the philosophy of originalism and felt that the Founding Fathers had created a timeless framework for our government in the Constitution. They certainly did not expect the â€Å"modern government† we have now to get past their carefully worded Constitution. I do believe they thought they had protected us and were right in their mistrust of the government and the loss of individual freedom which comes with its growth. The Founders aim in the Constitution was to declare their reasons for independence and show the choice of government they chose over the large unresponsive English Government (Pilon, Page 259). Pilon further explains the only reason to have government is to keep the rights it is bound to protect. Our right to individual â€Å"pursuit of happiness† is perhaps our own idea of utopia. Kristol (Page 299) suggests this crisis of modernity â€Å"will require new ideas – or new versions of old ideas†, We are guaranteed this right of individual pursuit in the Declaration of Independence - as long as our pursuit does not harm or obstruct another’s pursuit. David Boaz (American Vision and Values, Page 86) expressed clearly, â€Å"the Americans sought to devise a constitution that would limit the government†¦..to make it clear that the Constitution was not a general grant of power to the government†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . I believe Ronald Reagan spoke for us all in his Message to Washington, February 20, 2009 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAwAY0LH9hg&feature=related) â€Å"Our Constitution is a document in which we the people tell the government what it is allowed to do. We the people are free.† Government seemed to maintain a path consistent with the Constitution until the period 1890s to 1920s – known as the Progressive Era. This era happened to be about the same time as Roosevelt’s New Deal, but it is not directly related. The creation of a â€Å"fourth branch† of government seemed to appear with the Administrative Branch. The bureaucracy did not really create another branch of government, but did implement agencies which were to oversee legislation and â€Å"empowered it with broad governing authority† (Pestritto, Page 203). Machiavelli (The Prince, Page 229) speaks at length using the term â€Å"Prince† to explain how to acquire and maintain political power, â€Å"Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them.

Hollywood - Lies and Misrepresentations :: Film Movies

Hollywood - Lies and Misrepresentations In Hollywood, many filmmakers portray a distorted view of the Internet. Filmmakers do this by giving out misinformation on topics (i.e. Sharks-Jaws, Internet-The Net) that the public knows little about. When people know little about a specific topic, they begin to fear that issue. People fear the movie because they shut down their brain and tune into their senses, completely letting go of common knowledge. The public does not like to think about the movie. Not only does the filmmaker present the public with deceitful lies but they also capitalize on the net as a central problem, which is another regard to the misrepresentation of the Internet. The Internet is fraudulently represented in movies, such as The Net. Movie producers tap into the emotional fears of the public and stretch the fears of the viewers as far as they will go, stopping just before they access the peoples more rational train of thought. The Net, a popular movie in 1995, compels people to think that what is happening in this movie, could just as well happen to them. When the movie The Net came out in 1995, the public was just receiving the basic e-mail accounts. The common person had little to no knowledge of the Internet. As soon as filmmakers found this piece of information, they seized the idea of the Internet, a dangerous place for all. The producers gave the idea that if people type out where they live, what their telephone number is, etc., just to get their e-mail account, the government will track them and quite possibly, be running for their life. The public felt this way because of the misconceptions of where their info is going. They thought that while they were typing it out, it would be presented for many other people to see. Another example of this would be the movie Jaws. Before the movie came out most of the population had little facts about sharks. So naturally, when people do not know much about a certain object, movie producers have plenty of room to play with peoples emotions. Filmmakers love to capitalize upon the Net, however the Internet is not the central problem. The Net is not one thing. Its like asking: Are women comfortable in bars? Thats a silly question. Which women? Which bar? (Bruckman-171) I believe in Bruckmans statement about how that is a silly question.

Comparing Women in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman and The Chr

Comparing Women in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman and The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck Talents and dreams, hopes and desires, shunned by the husbands and times of the women in The Chrysanthemums and The Yellow Wallpaper. The wife, Elisa, in the Chrysanthemums, reflects an internal struggle to find her place in a world of definite gender roles. The Yellow Wallpaper traces the treatment of a woman who descends from depression to madness in the male-imposed psychiatric confinement of her room. The mirror-like situations that hinder the protagonists in both stories call the women to conduct themselves in demeanors drastically different from one another. Elisa Allen of the Chrysanthemums and the narrator of the Yellow Wallpaper both have husbands who fancy the idea of knowing what their wives want and need. On the way to dinner, Elisa asks her husband about the fights and his immediate reply is, ?We can go if you want, but I dont think you would like them much.? He cannot fathom the idea that she may actually enjoy this non-feminie event. The narrators husband also assumes that he kno... ...Their husbands, the fence, and the wallpaper, are all constraints that must be depleted. Their strive for happiness and zest for a life far more exciting than the present is what gives the narrator and Ellisa Allen an AWAKENING to which they must react. Works Cited: Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. New York: Feminist Press, 1973. Steinbeck, John. ?The Chrysanthemums.? Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 2nd Compact ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003. 359-366.

Deception Point Page 74

â€Å"Smart people like yourself don't have the luxury of playing stupid, Dr. Harper. You're in trouble, and the senator sent me up here to offer you a deal. The senator's campaign took a huge hit tonight. He's got nothing left to lose, and he's ready to take you down with him if he needs to.† â€Å"What the devil are you talking about?† Gabrielle took a deep breath and made her play. â€Å"You lied in your press conference about the PODS anomaly-detection software. We know that. A lot of people know that. That's not the issue.† Before Harper could open his mouth to argue, Gabrielle steamed onward. â€Å"The senator could blow the whistle on your lies right now, but he's not interested. He's interested in the bigger story. I think you know what I'm talking about.† â€Å"No, I-â€Å" â€Å"Here's the senator's offer. He'll keep his mouth shut about your software lies if you give him the name of the top NASA executive with whom you're embezzling funds.† Chris Harper's eyes seemed to cross for a moment. â€Å"What? I'm not embezzling!† â€Å"I suggest you watch what you say, sir. The senatorial committee has been collecting documentation for months now. Did you really think you two would slip by undetected? Doctoring PODS paperwork and redirecting allocated NASA funds to private accounts? Lying and embezzling can put you in jail, Dr. Harper.† â€Å"I did no such thing!† â€Å"You're saying you didn't lie about PODS?† â€Å"No, I'm saying I bloody well didn't embezzle money!† â€Å"So, you're saying you did lie about PODS.† Harper stared, clearly at a loss for words. â€Å"Forget about the lying,† Gabrielle said, waving it off. â€Å"Senator Sexton is not interested in the issue of your lying in a press conference. We're used to that. You guys found a meteorite, nobody cares how you did it. The issue for him is the embezzlement. He needs to take down someone high in NASA. Just tell him who you're working with, and he'll steer the investigation clear of you entirely. You can make it easy and tell us who the other person is, or the senator will make it ugly and start talking about anomaly-detection software and phony work-arounds.† â€Å"You're bluffing. There are no embezzled funds.† â€Å"You're an awful liar, Dr. Harper. I've seen the documentation. Your name is on all the incriminating paperwork. Over and over.† â€Å"I swear I know nothing about any embezzlement!† Gabrielle let out a disappointed sigh. â€Å"Put yourself in my position, Dr. Harper. I can only draw two conclusions here. Either you're lying to me, the same way you lied in that press conference. Or you're telling the truth, and someone powerful in the agency is setting you up as a fall guy for his own misdealings.† The proposition seemed to give Harper pause. Gabrielle checked her watch. â€Å"The senator's deal is on the table for an hour. You can save yourself by giving him the name of the NASA exec with whom you're embezzling taxpayers' money. He doesn't care about you. He wants the big fish. Obviously the individual in question has some power here at NASA; he or she has managed to keep his or her identity off the paper trail, allowing you to be the fall guy.† Harper shook his head. â€Å"You're lying.† â€Å"Would you like to tell that to a court?† â€Å"Sure. I'll deny the whole thing.† â€Å"Under oath?† Gabrielle grunted in disgust. â€Å"Suppose you'll also deny you lied about fixing the PODS software?† Gabrielle's heart was pounding as she stared straight into the man's eyes. â€Å"Think carefully about your options here, Dr. Harper. American prisons can be most unpleasant.† Harper glared back, and Gabrielle willed him to fold. For a moment she thought she saw a glimmer of surrender, but when Harper spoke, his voice was like steel. â€Å"Ms. Ashe,† he declared, anger simmering in his eyes, â€Å"you are clutching at thin air. You and I both know there is no embezzlement going on at NASA. The only liar in this room is you.† Gabrielle felt her muscles go rigid. The man's gaze was angry and sharp. She wanted to turn and run. You tried to bluff a rocket scientist. What the hell did you expect? She forced herself to hold her head high. â€Å"All I know,† she said, feigning utter confidence and indifference to his position, â€Å"is the incriminating documents I've seen-conclusive evidence that you and another are embezzling NASA funds. The senator simply asked me to come here tonight and offer you the option of giving up your partner instead of facing the inquiry alone. I will tell the senator you prefer to take your chances with a judge. You can tell the court what you told me-you're not embezzling funds and you didn't lie about the PODS software.† She gave a grim smile. â€Å"But after that lame press conference you gave two weeks ago, somehow I doubt it.† Gabrielle spun on her heel and strode across the darkened PODS laboratory. She wondered if maybe she'd be seeing the inside of a p rison instead of Harper. Gabrielle held her head high as she walked off, waiting for Harper to call her back. Silence. She pushed her way through the metal doors and strode out into the hallway, hoping the elevators up here were not key-card operated like the lobby. She'd lost. Despite her best efforts, Harper wasn't biting. Maybe he was telling the truth in his PODS press conference, Gabrielle thought. A crash resounded down the hall as the metal doors behind her burst open. â€Å"Ms. Ashe,† Harper's voice called out. â€Å"I swear I know nothing about any embezzlement. I'm an honest man!† Gabrielle felt her heart skip a beat. She forced herself to keep walking. She gave a casual shrug and called out over her shoulder. â€Å"And yet you lied in your press conference.† Silence. Gabrielle kept moving down the hallway. â€Å"Hold on!† Harper yelled. He came jogging up beside her, his face pale. â€Å"This embezzlement thing,† he said, lowering his voice. â€Å"I think I know who set me up.† Gabrielle stopped dead in her tracks, wondering if she had heard him correctly. She turned as slowly and casually as she could. â€Å"You expect me to believe someone is setting you up?† Harper sighed. â€Å"I swear I know nothing about embezzlement. But if there's evidence against me†¦ â€Å" â€Å"Mounds of it.† Harper sighed. â€Å"Then it's all been planted. To discredit me if need be. And there's only one person who would have done that.† â€Å"Who?† Harper looked her in the eye. â€Å"Lawrence Ekstrom hates me.† Gabrielle was stunned. â€Å"The administrator of NASA?† Harper gave a grim nod. â€Å"He's the one who forced me to lie in that press conference.† 88 Even with the Aurora aircraft's misted-methane propulsion system at half power, the Delta Force was hurtling through the night at three times the speed of sound-over two thousand miles an hour. The repetitive throb of the Pulse Detonation Wave Engines behind them gave the ride a hypnotic rhythm. A hundred feet below, the ocean churned wildly, whipped up by the Aurora's vacuum wake, which sucked fifty-foot rooster tails skyward in long parallel sheets behind the plane. This is the reason the SR-71 Blackbird was retired, Delta-One thought. The Aurora was one of those secret aircraft that nobody was supposed to know existed, but everyone did. Even the Discovery channel had covered Aurora and its testing out at Groom Lake in Nevada. Whether the security leaks had come from the repeated â€Å"skyquakes† heard as far away as Los Angeles, or the unfortunate eyewitness sighting by a North Sea oil-rig driller, or the administrative gaffe that left a description of Aurora in a public copy of the Pentagon budget, nobody would ever know. It hardly mattered. The word was out: The U.S. military had a plane capable of Mach 6 flight, and it was no longer on the drawing board. It was in the skies overhead.

Describing the Social and Cultural Dimensions in My Organization Essay

Social and cultural theories strive to explain how people relate to each other and/or the surrounding environment. Organizational culture represents a common perception held by the organization’s member. This was made explicit when we defined culture as a system of shared meaning. Therefore, those individuals with different backgrounds or at different levels in the organization will tend to describe the organization’s culture in similar terms. Most large organizations have a dominant culture and numerous sets of subcultures. A dominant culture expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of the organization’s members. When we talk about an organization’s culture, we are referring to its dominant culture. It is this macro view of culture that gives an organization its distinct personality. Subcultures tend to develop in large organizations to reflect common problems, situations, or experiences that members face. These subcultures are likely to be defined by department designations and geographical separation. The purchasing department, for example, can have a subculture that is uniquely shared by members of that department. It will include the core values of the dominant culture plus additional values unique to members of the purchasing department. Similarly, an office or unit of the organization that is physically separated from the organization’s main operations may take on a different personality. Again, the core values are essentially retained but modified to reflect the separated unit’s distinct situation. If organizations had no dominant culture and were composed only of numerous subcultures, the value of organizational culture as an independent variable would be significantly lessened because there would be no uniformity in the interpretation of the values that represented appropriate and inappropriate behavior. It is the â€Å"shared meaning† aspect of culture that makes it such a potent device for guiding and shaping values in the cultural behavior. But it is not to be ignored that the reality which many organizations contained also has subcultures that can influence the behavior of their members. The field of sociology focuses on cultures that are ethnically or geographically defined. However, the study of any culture is referred to as â€Å"a group of people who work (or play) together and journey towards a shared meaning and assumption†(Griswold, p.133). Griswold (1994) also shared that â€Å"culture† is one of those words that people use all the time but have trouble defining. Peterson (1979) states that when sociologists talk about culture, they usually mean one of four things: norms, values, beliefs, or expressive symbols. Norms are the way people behave in a given society; values are what people hold dear; beliefs are how people think the universe operates and expressive symbols are representations of the culture. Moreover, Lincoln and Kalleberg (1990) hold that â€Å"the quality of relationships between workers and their co-workers is positively associated with commitment and satisfaction.† If the people within a school do not connect and work together toward a common goal or passion, the culture is said to be stagnant or unproductive. Lincoln and Kalleberg provide three models of organizations. The consensus model holds shared goals and values within an organization that are the norm and dissidence is a problem requiring correction. The cleavage model has distinct groups within an organization that have different interests, especially fault lines that exist between job levels. The fragmentation model shows that are riddled with ambiguity where people hold multiple perspectives. It is plausible that most working environment can fall under all three models or have factions of each model within one department. I am now attached with SMK (P) Methodist, Pulau Pinang as an operational clerk. My services here include the basic operation of the school administration and also involved accounting for the staff and stock inventories in the school. I am under the Ministry of Education and the Jabatan Pelajaran Pulau Pinang. My school consists of 42 academic staff, 8 non-academic staff and 640 students. We have a unique ethnic diversity whereby most of the teachers are Chinese, four Indians and ten Malays. The students are also diversified into the three main ethnicity in Malaysia with minimal number of mixed ethnic students. My Principal is a Chinese lady. Her name is Wong Soon Kee. She is a very fierce and strict head of department. I do not have a very close rapport with her. She does not have very much concern for the teachers as well. It has been a very stressful environment for me and most of the staff here. But, the teachers have been very helpful and understanding to me. They are very friendly and accommodative towards me. At the office, there is a typist and a general worker to assist with my work here. This really helps ease my work and release my pressure of working here. My works is about service conformation of the teachers and support workers, prepare salary and pension worksheets and do the necessaries if there is any changes. My work also involved accounting such as preparing the accounts, paying bills, and bookkeeping. Every month, I have to settle the bill and make orders for items needed by the school. Any bills that I received will have to be settled in 2 weeks time which is a very short dateline for me. However, it is the ethics of the Jabatan Pelajaran Pulau Pinang. We have to abide by the rules set by the upper hands. If I have any meeting by the JPN, I will meet up with my friends from other schools. During this time, we will exchange our experiences about work and how to handle certain situations that arise. It is very useful and helped me a lot to improve my performance to do better than before. Every year, auditors from Jabatan Audit Sekolah will come to school to do auditing on the school accounts. They will take a week to check the accounts and identify whether all the transactions are according to the rules or not. Nevertheless, there will never be a session where they had never found any errors. If we had done a lot of errors, our school will be categorized under â€Å"Audit Bersyarat† and the JPN will send us for a course on how to improve our accounting skills to upgrade our performance. With the teachers’ high spirit and determination to guide the students, the PMR (Penilaian Menengah Rendah/Lower Secondary Assessment) and the SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia/Malaysian Certificate of Education) results are very encouraging. Most of the students show fortitude and willpower be it in their academic or co-curricular activities. All these achievements had helped them to be successful and quite a number of them had furthered their studies abroad. As a conclusion, a social and cultural dimension in an organization is important. It is because, it portrays the relationship between employees in completing their daily tasks and ensuring that the tasks are done well with high quality. Culture Beginnings and the Impact of Founders as Leaders spring from three sources: 1. beliefs, values, and assumptions of founders

Ethical Issues Created by Technology Essay

It is my belief that a crucial part of the ethics of business is computer ethics or information ethics. Most corporations today are teetering on whether computer improprieties are a violation of â€Å"professional ethic† rather than a legal ethics issue. The purpose of this paper will be to examine some of the ethical issues of the Internet as it relates to the theft of private or personal information from the material sent over the Internet. Professional ethics can best be defined as learning what is right or wrong as it relates to the workplace and then doing the right thing. This Code of Professional Ethics lays down the standards of integrity, professionalism and confidentiality which all members of that particular profession shall be bound to respect in their work. Where as legal ethics is best defined as principles of conduct that members of the profession are expected to observe in the constraints of the governing laws. These ethics are usually the outgrowth or the development of both case or Tort court findings and verdicts. To better explain this issue. The Internet is a global Web of linked networks and computers, whose nature is such that it is very difficult if not impossible, to determine its size at a given moment. It is indisputable, however, that the Internet recently has experienced a tremendous growth, with the ranks of new users swelling at ever-increasing rates. This expansion has catapulted it from the realm of academic research towards newfound mainstream acceptance and increased social relevance for the average individual. This increased reliance on the Internet has the potential to erode the personal privacy that an individual once took for granted. New users of the Internet generally do not realize that every post they make to a newsgroup, every piece of email they send, every World Wide Web page they access, and every item they purchase online is monitored or logged by some unseen third party. The impact on personal privacy is enormous. Databases of many different kinds, selling or giving away collections of personal data, already exist, and this practice will only become more common as the demand for this information grows. One of the most interesting examples is that of advertisers and marketers who, by using sophisticated new research, have begun to target the rapidly growing numbers of users online. World Wide Web sites and other interactive online services are being designed to capture the loyalty and spending power of â€Å"the lucrative cyber tot category.† A variety of new interactive advertising and marketing techniques have been developed specifically for this new medium. The right to privacy in Internet activity, especially in creating databases out of personal information, is a serious issue facing society. As such it raises serious ethical issues. An additional example is of the people on the Internet who use anonymous servers as a way to avoid responsibility for controversial and inappropriate behavior. Cases of harassment and abuse have become increasingly frequent, aided by a cloak of anonymity. There are also problems with fraud and scam artists who elude law enforcement authorities through anonymous mailings and postings. These types of examples describe the ethical issues created by technology and the people or corporations that control them. In conclusion I believe that the global nature of the Internet makes addressing the ethical issues associated with Internet or information privacy daunting and complex. It is an arena without walls or physical boundaries, where the ethical values vary from country to country. Even within the United States there is dissent and disagreement about the definitions of â€Å"Internet Privacy,† who owns that information, and what constitutes appropriate or inappropriate use of that information. Perhaps the issues that have been unsuccessfully resolved through the law (or because of a lack of relevant laws) can be resolved through the creation of moral and ethical guidelines that will frame the issues, at which point legal protections can be put in place.

Discrimination And Prejudice

Prejudice is a term which is used in most of our daily conversations and means unconfirmed or untested formed belief, attitude, opinion or knowledge held about an entity or a group and it is taken as truth by the person or groups who holds such opinion, belief, attitude or knowledge, (Honey, 1999). A typical example is the belief of the western countries that Africans are primitive and nothing good comes from them. This statement qualifies as prejudice since no test has since been carried out to confirm this claim even though most western community widely accepts it.Another example to elaborate further prejudice is an opinion by Christian community that both Muslims and Hindus are sinners, not worthy of heavenly inheritance. The same is also the typical opinion held against Christians by adherents to other religious groups. This statement propagates prejudice since it is not true that following a different religious belief makes people bad. Final example in this category is the belie f by a group of people that Muslims are terrorists. Is it confirmed?Discrimination on the other hand is a term widely used to mean a process of according unequal treatment or chance to different individuals, group of people, objects or events based on the views held on them. In this case therefore, the factors about which positive view(s) is/are held have higher probability of being given favorable treatment as opposed to those factors about which negative attitudes are held. By the same token, to discriminate refers to an act of giving unequal treatment to an entity or group with presume similar characteristics, (Cochran, 1999).For instance, the belief that Africans are primitive may influence someone from western countries to prefer an American as his/her personal doctor over an African medical specialist. A faithful Christian is most is likely to appreciate neither Hindu nor Islamic faith and vise versa. Finally, most Muslims may not be given visa to most countries as other natio nals have access to this document with ease. It therefore follows that discrimination and prejudice are two interrelated words with prejudice possibly resulting to discrimination Discrimination and Prejudice Discrimination is easiest explained through prejudice. Prejudice is when a social subject holds a preconceived notion about another person or a group of people, without judging from experience. Discrimination is when a social subject acts upon such preconceived notions. A common mistake is the concept that both prejudice and discrimination are only negative, as in a derogative notion of someone (such as the treatment many minorities were subjected to), but, in truth, positive discrimination and prejudice are both possible, if there is a preconceived notion in favor of someone.Both of these notions are those of inequality, the difference between them being in thought as opposed to action of any kind. In fact, it's possible to be prejudiced and not discriminate, out of such things as fear or profit, and it is possible to discriminate for the same reasons and not be prejudiced. Though, most commonly, it is those who are biased who discriminate, and those who are-non biased give equal tr eatment to their peers from different groups.There are three types of discrimination, based mostly on the level of social deepness. There is personal discrimination, which consists of any personal attack on a minority member, from slurs to murder. This is any attack on the personal level, any interaction of particular human beings. An instance of such an attack would be calling a transgendered human spawn of Satan. There is legal discrimination, which is when a minority group is denied any kind of rights – public institutions, jobs, housing and anything social, basically.Any person who has ever been denied a job because â€Å"blacks do not work as well as whites do† (without looking at the prior credentials) knows what legal discrimination is like. And, finally, the most deeply entrenched in society is institutional discrimination. This is when there is a tradition of discrimination so deep that it is no longer viewed as discrimination, where a discriminatory idea is s o old and seemingly natural, that even members of the minority group themselves sometimes believe it.A great example is that â€Å"Romani are thieves†. Despite all cultural tradition, if this stereotype weren't upheld by society, building walls on their side of the Romani self-chose seclusion, their way of life might have changed over the centuries, like it did with many other peoples. There are four basic approaches to the matters of aging within society. The first is the functionalist approach, otherwise known as social disengagement theory.It looks upon the withdrawal of elders from society as natural, since they gradually lose social power, and thus remove themselves from social responsibilities as to make room for youth in functional aspects, while retaining the ability to engage in activities of their choosing, such as hobbies, should they so desire. However, the activity (or interactionist) theory disputes the functionalist approach, by claiming that the more active an elderly person remains, the better their quality of life. They may disengage from responsibilities, but remaining active is necessary for a full life even in this age.Research supports this, despite criticisms that this may set unrealistic goals for the elderly. Their capacity for activity does lessen, but activity remains a basic need for happiness, and needs to be fulfilled, even in this reduced amount. But if the elderly are happier if engaged in activities, why do they disengage? Conflict theory states that, since profit is the driving force behind society, there is much pressure on the elderly to leave their positions, so that younger, less expensive and more competent specialists may be hired, the elderly losing social value as time goes on.This seems more correct than the subculture approach, which states that the elderly, while disengaging with those younger, form subcultures among themselves to compensate. While subcultures may be formed, they are not the defining factor f or the disengagement, but rather, one of its consequences. And last, the exchange theory on aging combines all of these perspectives, by stating that the elderly remain active socially (and thus, happy) as long as their activity is beneficial to all involved.By â€Å"beneficial† they do not mean only economic benefits, but also the exchange of simple human feelings such as love, friendship and compassion, though some elderly people remain engaged economically (for instance, by renting rooms in their homes), and thus allow themselves the possibility of social interaction. This also includes the functionalist perspective, for it shows how rewards are given in return for past productivity. This is the most comprehensive approach.