Cults and the impact on Family in an Social Psychology approach Research Paper

Cults and the impact on Family in an Social Psychology approach - Research Paper Example New religious movements may also have a basis in ethics, theology, philosophy, or religion to some extent. Usually, but not always, new religious movements are part and parcel of Christianity. Groups such as the Branch Davidian cult is one example. Cults need not be destructive in nature, however. Many people who study social psychology have adopted the term â€Å"new religious movement† as a way of describing cults in neutral language. New religious movements may be communitarian, or they may be specifically spiritual or religious in nature. Usually what separates cults from other religious movements in society is their unique ability to isolate people from other social networks. This is where social psychology plays a crucial role. Since the family is deeply intertwined with society, the psychology of such groups affects one’s psyche. New religious movements are part of the dominant culture. Usually, however, new religious movements are on the fringe of society. There is much controversy over what constitutes a â€Å"new† religious movement. Some people use certain dates as benchmarks for saying a religion is new—for example, a religious movement that has occurred within the last 20 years or so. People generally also have come to realize that what constitutes the stipulation of being distinct from other religions as difficult to empirically analyze. Generally, however, the distinction between new religious movements and established religions is that although the religious movement may be seen as part of an existing faith tradition, it meets with some type of clash within the religion for its varying belief systems—and thus is not an accepted branch of that religion. This research question is important because the family structure as it relates to social psychology, is very fragile in this day and age. The way children are raised today relates much to the way the community is structured, who is involved

Depreciation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Depreciation - Essay Example The management of a business usually selects an appropriate method of depreciation depending on the kinds of assets employed in the business, the nature and purposes for which the assets are put to use in the business and the general conditions prevailing in the business environment. Sometimes the business may use a combination of one or more methods of charging depreciation. With this background, this paper analyses the calculation and accounting of depreciation for various kinds of assets in the light of the statement that "Accountants generally prefer to show fixed assets on the balance sheets of limited companies at their original cost, less an estimated amount of depreciation." "The assets of a business arephysical resources owned and used by the business and arelisted on the balance sheet to reflect the value." The assets are classified into two major classifications: current assts and non-current assets. Current assets are those which can be or expected to be converted into cash within a short trading cycle usually a year or so. The current assets are usually short term assets and are meant to be for the short term use of the business. Examples of current assets are cash, inventory and receivables. The non-current assets representing fixed assets that are of long term or more permanent in nature employed in the business. The non-current assets include assets like land, buildings, plant and machinery, equipments and vehicles. The non-current assets have some characteristic features that are common to this class of assets. The purpose of acquiring these assets is to use in the business as against converting into cash on a business venture. Except for the investments in land, the cost of other non-current assets is gradually written off over the period of useful life. This amount that is being written off is being treated as an expense for doing the business and is reflected as depreciation in the profit and loss statement of the business. The depreciation is a periodic charge over the respective assets. The dollar value of non-current assets is shown on the balance sheet as the original cost of the item at the time of purchase (the net asset value is calculated by deducting the accumulated depreciation from the marginal cost)(Business Victoria) 3.0 Definition of Depreciation: A precise definition of depreciation may take the following form: "Depreciation is a measure of the wearing out, consumption or other loss of value of a depreciable asset arising from use, effluxion of time or obsolescence through technology and market changes. Depreciation is allocated so as to charge a fair proportion of the depreciable amount in each accounting period during the expected useful life of the asset. Depreciation includes amortisation of assets whose useful life is predetermined. Depreciable assets are assets which (i) are expected to be used during more than one accounting period; and (ii) have a limited useful life; and (iii) are held by an enterprise for use

What it means to be a poor Filipino Essay Example for Free

What it means to be a poor Filipino Essay In every country of the world, the poor people are never absent. They occupy the lowest strata of social stratification. Due to differences in geographical location, economic standing, technological advancement and other social factors, the poor in every country however does not look or live the same way. In the Philippines, a country in the South East Asia, it is easy to identify   the poor people through   the places where they live, the kind of houses they occupy,  Ã‚   the food they eat, the job they are engaged in, their physical appearance, and how and where they spend their free time. In Philippine urban cities, the poorest of the poor are found in congested slum areas. In Manila, its capital, the biggest slum is in Tondo. Here, all sorts of people take residence; the ex-convicts, robbers, drug addicts and prostitutes  Ã‚   mixed with decent poor people.   Some of the poor people in the slums came from other provinces looking for a job in Manila. They spoke different dialects but they understand each other when they use their national language, Tagalog. As one enters the slums, children playing in the narrow alleys usually greet him. He may also found himself in places littered with garbage. What is repulsive at times is that some undisciplined children disposed of their waste on the streets. As one looks around, he will observe that the houses   Ã‚  are closely built   Ã‚  Ã‚  together. Inside these cramped spaces lived a family or two. Most of the owners of the house used one of the rooms for renting. In fact, the slums are the best place for a cheap rent in Manila. What makes life hard in Tondo is that the water are rationed, residents had to wait for a schedule usually late at night to early morning for the water in the faucet to flow. Nights in the slums are noisy due to karaoke bars (bars for singing). Men (and sometimes women) drinking along the alleys contributed to the noise. Nights are also the time for some people to throw their garbage in a nearby river. In the daytime, a mini-market stand sells vegetable, fish, meat, eggs and other food. Often, the vegetables, fish and meat are no longer fresh. The other slums in other cities were much better in Manila although they also have their own sanitary problems to solve. Those who were not able to live in the slums lived under the city bridges or near the train railways. When the train passed by, their houses shook. Many people died as they were run over by a passing train. The poor who did not live in urban cities are much luckier.   In the provinces, not only is it safe, they have a small space of their own, away from the crowds and noise. The houses in the slums are either made of wood or     cement.   The design of the house is very simple, just a door, a room and few windows. They are often very small for there is not enough space. In fact, others do not have rooms at all.   They eat, sleep and entertain in only one place. The dilapidated houses may have streamer cloth, sackcloth or cardboard as covers for the walls. Thankfully, there is no winter in the Philippines or else people living inside will freeze with cold.   In addition, some houses may not have access to windows especially if they were squeezed between other houses so that they have to turn on the light and electric fan most of the time. Inside these houses are a few furnitures: a table, a stool, maybe a sofa, a wooden bed and a cabinet.   The usual appliances are TV, electric fan (for it is hot there especially in the summer), some pots and pans and a burner stove. The poor in the provinces fared much better for even though their houses may be small or they had no electricity, the houses   are usually constructed far apart and equipped with windows and stairs.   The roofs of their houses may be made of nipa, a kind of palm tree that grows in swamps (Peplow, 1991). The Filipinos eat three times a day with rice and a dish that goes with it. The poor however, can only afford to eat twice or once a day. Along with rice, they eat with dried salted fish sold plenty in the market. The other viand is what they call â€Å"bago-ong†, small salted fishes that were left to ferment in a few days inside closed containers. The bago-ong is much cheaper than the dried salted fish( Shead, 2006). For a foreigner, the former may look like fishes left to rot. Other poor popular dishes are vegetables. Cabbage, string beans, cucumber, carrots, and other green and leafy vegetables native in the Philippines can be easily bought in Filipino markets.   The snack of the poor, on the other hand, is usually banana cue sold in nearby food stalls.   They also love to eat fish balls sold by vendors on the street. Fish balls are mostly made of flour mixed with a little fish meat. They are then cooked in a pan full of oil. In cooking, the balls should float in the oil. A matching sauce is served with the fish balls. The poor in the provinces are mostly farmers. On the other hand, the poor in the urban areas engaged in various low-income jobs like working as a laborer, waiter or store attendant. Some work in numerous beauty parlors to cut or trim hairs, paint nails, or do body massage. The poorest of them collects empty bottles, metals, etc from the garbage, and sell their find in the junkshop. In the government, the poor work as Metro Aides (people who sweep the streets) or as garbage collectors. The others work in various offices as clerks, computer encoders and call center agents. Many of these poor people now have parents working as skilled workers all over the world. In a way, their way of living had improved. Many children of the poor now study as caregivers, nursing aides or nurses in the hope that someday they will be able to work in other countries. Those who do not have any relatives abroad to support their studies financed their studies as working students. The interest for medical courses is prompted by the fact that Filipino medical professionals are now in demand all over the world. They endured the loneliness of being away from home as long as they are able to support their families financially. There are some sad stories, however, for some married couples who went away or were left behind find other partners so that there are many broken families in the Philippines right now. It is easy to distinguish the poor in terms of their physical appearance. They usually dressed simply. The teenagers wear jeans and T-shirts. Older women sometimes wear a blouse and a skirt, but most of the time they also wear jeans and shirts. When they have errands or have to go to the city, they usually wear a fake  Ã‚   jewelry.   In spite of their simplicity, they often looked and smell clean for the Filipinos love to take a bath, sometimes twice a day. The only exceptions of course are the beggars and street children in the streets. They really do dress the part; unclean tattered clothes, unkempt hair and they looked as if they had no taken a bath in months! One thing noticeable about the poor Filipinos, especially the teenagers, is that most of them have cell phones. They love to text their friends.   But they have to be careful because there are many snatchers in the street. Only the rich can afford new models, though. Filipino men love to play basketball. In the slum areas, they may not have formal basketball courts but they hang a ring anywhere; in walls of houses, buildings or posts, just to play the game. The space is limited so they contended themselves with only one ring. Sometimes this can cause contention with the neighbors, for a bouncing ball may hit the windows or furniture inside the houses.   Some neighbors also complained of noise. The teenagers on the other hand love to hang out just anywhere, in the plaza or sometimes ,if they have the money, in   internet cafes. The Filipinos love to socialize, even if they have little money, they still find a way to connect to their friends through rented computers. Meanwhile, older men entertain themselves not in fancy restaurants but in karaoke bars. The Filipinos love to sing and there are many karaoke bars to choose from. On Sundays, they love to go to cockpits to watch or bet on cockfights. The government discouraged the poor from taking part in cockfight betting because most of their meager incomes were lost this way (Peplow, 1991). The greatest setback in being a poor Filipino is the little access to medical care. They just cannot afford to pay hospital bills. The medicines were also costly. Some of them just died in their respective homes even though their illnesses were curable. Many of the poor suffered from tuberculosis. This is curable but since it took six months of medication, it became a burden to the poor. For most, without medicine, they just grew worse and eventually died.   The government is now making an effort to lower down the cost of medicines (Peplow, 1991). Being a poor Filipino is not easy for he is deprived of the many comforts of life. Most poor Filipinos live in uncomfortable dwelling houses or places. They do not eat nutritious foods nor own many material things and had to satisfy themselves with cheap entertainments. References: Peplow, Evelyn. (1991). Introduction to the Philippines. Hong Kong: The Guidebook Company Limited. Shead, Michael P. (2006) â€Å"Filipinos poor; Happy†. Living the Philippines Incorporated. Retrieved February 12, 2008 from http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/art_why_filipinos_are_happy2.html

Frankenstein: The Relationship between God and Man

Frankenstein: The Relationship between God and Man In Mary Shelleys novel, Frankenstein, the book examines a variety of aspects of ambition. For instance, with Victor, ambition proves to be his undoing, and, in turn, Victors example becomes a forewarning for Robert Walton; meanwhile, the Creature is, in a sense, Victors child and thus inherits facets of Victors ambitionbut because the Creature is also a conglomerate of all the humans who embody him, he is thereby also symbolic of Mankinds ambitions that do not fully come to realization nor fulfillment, which is why readers can identify with the Creatures tragic elements. Frankenstein explores the repercussion of man and monster chasing ambition blindly. Victor Frankenstein discovered the obscure secret that allowed him to create life. And after Frankenstein discovered the source of human life, he became utterly absorbed in his experimental creation of a human being and it consumed his life completely. Victors boundless ambition and his yearning to succeed in his efforts to create lif e, and to have his creation praise him as his creator for the life he gave it led him to find ruin and anguish at the end of his ambition. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardor that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. (P. 42) Walton wanted to sail to the arctic because no other sailor had ever reached it or discovered its secrets. The monster was created against his will; his ambition was to requite his creation as an appalling outcast and to attain some satisfaction for crumbling the world around Victor. These three characters all acted upon the same blind ambition. The novel asks enduring questions about human nature and the relationship between God and man. The monster displays a similar kind of duality, inciting sympathy as well as dread in all who hear his tale. He requisitions our compassion to the extent that we recognize ourselves in his exceeding loneliness and compare our own life with the Creature. Despised by his creator and wholly alone and hated, he learns what he can of human nature as he eavesdroppes on a family of cottage dwellers, and he educates himself by reading three books that had fortunately fallen across his path, among them Paradise Lost. Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? (P. 93), the Creature asks himself after reading them. Even though the Creature commits criminal acts, the fact that he has a self-consciousness and his ability to educate himself as a person raises the question of what it really means to be human, what thoughts and emotions it takes to be considered a human-being. It is difficult to think of th e monster as anything less than just that in his entreaty for understanding from Frankenstein when the creature wishes to speak to him: Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow-creatures, who owe me nothing? They spurn and hate me. (p. 71). When the Creatures unknown, but helpful acts of kindness toward the De Laceys are returned with baseless animosity, we come to wonder whether it is the world that the creature inhabits, as opposed to something intrinsic that caused him to commit enormity. Nonetheless, he clings on to a conscience and a zealous longing for another kind of existence as well as acceptance and love from another, which Victor cruelly denies him. Modern man is an example of the monster, estranged from his creator-who believes his own origins to be meaningless and accidental,non important and full of rage at the conditions of his existence as well as at his creator. Since the monster has no name of his own, hes not quite an autonomous fellow. Instead, he is bound to his creator. He is naught without Victor. He is as much a part of Frankenstein as he is his own self. The monster comes into the world by a pretty horrendous set of circumstances. He has the physique of a giant, yet a puerile mind. He has an amiable nature, yet his physical deformity hides his benevolence and makes everyone fear and abuse him. His own creator even rejected him because of his hideous looks. His feelings are the most deep and poignant of any characters in this novel, as well as the most conflicted. When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, the, a monster, a blot upon the earth from which all men fled and whom all men disowned? (P. 105) To make matters more complicated, the monster is correlated to both Adam and Satan in Paradise Lost. This may seem slightly nebulous. The thing to keep in mind is that the idea at the heart of the monster is his duality. He has a very abstruse duality. He is at once man in his immaculate state before the Fall (the Fall = evil), and yet the manifestation of evil itself. This is starting to sound like Victor Frankenstein. Abstruse dualityconflicting characterizationcould it be that the monster mirrors his maker in his duality? Of course, the other reason the monster turns on humans is because Victor was his last tie to humanity. The monster is one of many people in this text that is affected by loneliness, isolation, and an all around desire for companionship. Victor may have scorned him, resented him, and tried repeatedly to eradicate him, but at least he talked to the monster. At least he recognized the monsters existence. And for a creature that spent most of his wretched life in hiding and exile, alone without anyone there for him, this can be pretty good reason to pursue Victor. Good or bad, Victor is the only relation hes ever had and he tries desperately to cling to this relationship. Do we accuse him? Do we spite him? Do we adore him? Hes tenderhearted. He articulates well with others and he even rescues a little girl from a river. He just gets the cruelty and hatred because hes ugly. Can we blame him if he lashes out in abrupt and absurdly violent ways? From that moment he declared everlasting war against the species, and more than all, against Frankenstein who had formed him and sent him forth to this insupportable misery. (P. 99) This sounds like more clashing emotions. Could it be that we, the reader, feel the equivalent duality of emotions that the monster and Victor feel for each other? One more thing, what does it mean that the fmonster is made out of dead-person pieces? If hes made up out of people, then hes essentially a person himself. But if theyre inert, then hes never really extant in the first place. You could also say that, since hes an aggregate of human parts, hes also a conglomerate of human traits. This might show us the nature of his complex duality. Modern man is also Frankenstein, breaking ties and becoming further away from his creatorusurping the powers of God and irresponsibly tinkering with nature, even if they are full of benign purpose, it ends with malignant results. Although Frankenstein as well as the monster begin with good intentions and become murderers in the end, the monster seem way more softhearted than Victor because he is by nature the outsider of society, whereas Frankenstein purposely removes himself from human society. When Frankenstein first becomes enthralled in his endeavours to create life, as he collects materials from a slaughterhouse and disecting room. Frankenstein also breaks his ties with friends and family during his hindering work, and he becomes increasingly confined. His father reproaches him for this; eliciting Frankenstein to think to himself what his single-minded quest for knowledge has cost him, and whether or not it is morally acceptable. After he looks back on his mistakes, he concludes that, contrary to his credence at the time it was not worth it, If no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquility of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved; Caesar would have spared his country; America would have been discovered more gradually; and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed. (p. 35). Natural world is like Eden and will be corrupted through too much knowledge (science). [ProofBiblical Conception of Knowledge; man evicted from paradise for knowing too much; Prometheus reined in by Gods; novel written in Romantic era which upholds the values that Progress is Dangerous and that there must be a return to Idealized Past]. Through Victor and Walton, Frankenstein represents human beings as deeply ambitious, and yet also deeply erroneous. The labors of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind. (P. 29) Both Victor and Walton fantasize of transforming society and bringing prestige to themselves through their scientific conquests. Yet their ambitions also make them ignorant. Blinded by dreams of glory, they fail to consider the repercussions of their actions. So while Victor turns himself into a god, a creator, by bringing his monster to life, this only highlights his fallibility when he is ultima tely inept of fulfilling the obligation that a creator has to its creation. Victor thinks he will be like a god, but ends up the progenitor of a devil. Walton, at least, turns back from his quest to the North Pole before getting himself and his crew annihilated, after hearing Victors tale about the devastating aftermath of pushing the boundaries of exploration. I will not lead you on, unguarded and ardent as I then was, to your destruction and infallible misery. Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow. (P. 33) He learns from Victors tragedy. After Victor dies, he turns the ship back to England, trying not to make the same mistakes that Victor made in the obsessive compulsion that destroyed his life, but he does so with the resentful conclusion that he has been deprived of t he glory he originally sought. Frankenstein is an expostulation of humanity, specifically of the human concept of science, enlightenment, technical progress, and a deeply humanistic effort full of empathy for the human state of our own condition. Victor is a brilliant, sentimental, visionary, and accomplished young man whose studies in natural philosophy (p. 31) and chemistry evolve from A fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature. (p. 22). As the novel develops and the plot thickens, Frankenstein and his monster oppose each other and fight one another for the portrayal of the main protagonist of the story. We are inclined to identify with Frankenstein, who is admired by his immaculate friends and family alike and even by the ship captain Robert, who saves him, berserk by his pursuit for vengeance, from the piece of ice he had been stranded on. He still is a human being, nevertheless. Notwithstanding, regardless of his humanitarian aspiration to Banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnera ble to any but a violent death! (p. 43), Frankenstein becomes tangled in a hostile pursuit that is the single and main cause that lead him to destroy his own well-being and to remove himself from his fellow-creatures as ifguilty of a crime (p. 35). His irresponsibility is the stimulant, the foundation of what causes the death of those around him, his family, his friends and his love and he falls under the ascendancy of his own creation and fails to break free from the chains that bind him. Neither Victor nor Walton could liberate themselves from their blinding ambitions, they made it seem that all men, and notably those who pursue to raise themselves up in renown above the rest of society and even god, are in fact impetuous and imperfect creatures with feeble and defective natures. We can all learn from Victors last words to Walton, Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. (P. 162)

To Live Without Fear in the Age of Terrorism Essay -- September 11 Ter

To Live Without Fear in the Age of Terrorism      Ã‚  Ã‚   We can rebuild the New York City skyline, but the question for a nation that has for two centuries felt safe at home is how we rebuild our sense of security. We are painfully realizing that the fears and anxieties terrorism is designed to arouse may be not of a moment but the harbinger of a whole new era. We can fight the Taliban, but how to fight a ghost army that went to war with us before we were at war with it, an army that has injected its menace even into the everyday routine of opening a letter?    It has not helped that the government has been unable to answer basic questions. Is it safe to open mail? Is the anthrax of domestic or foreign origin? How many letters were contaminated? Who sent them?    Immediate answers to all these questions are hard. But that's precisely why the first lesson for the new era is to trust the people with the truth as far as it is known. Anthrax may not be contagious, but fear is, and the key to avoiding panic is to shun spin control. If fear of alarming people was the reason we were misled about the lethal nature of the powder in the envelope to Sen. Tom Daschle(CNN), it was a blunder. National morale will depend on clear and effective public communication along the lines set by New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani(Phoenix) and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Both met the challenge, because both have a command presence and speak the language of common sense as they level with the American public. They are not afraid to say, "I don't know." This is what will enable American citizens, like the citizens of Israel, not just to live with terrorism and fear but to channel their fears productively and, finally, to transcend them. ... ...nstitutions that fight for us and defend us: the military, the FBI, the CIA, the uniformed services in each of our communities. We support whatever they may have to do in order to win this war, including taking on morally ambiguous and hazardous actions against a ruthless enemy who seeks to destroy our values and our civil order.    We do all this because we all feel we are a part of a country unique for its qualities of freedom and liberty. And we draw from the power of a free society to commit ourselves to this mission of prevailing against evil. Our goal is humane and simple: to return to a normal life-to live without fear.    WORKS CITED:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cnn.com http://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/conditions/10/15/anthrax/    Phoenix.com http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/this_just_in/documents/01823818.htm      

Leadership Styles Essay

MOTIVATION Giving the input on leadership styles and influence process, we should presume the aim is to understand and improve the style of functioning as a leader. To start with, there must have clear idea as to what is meant by leadership. Leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives. This process is a function of the leader, the followers and the situation. In any situation trying to influence the behaviour of another individual or group, leadership is operating. Thus one tries leadership at one time or the other, whether activities are centred around a business, educational institution, hospital, political organization, Government organization or a family. As part of this process, one who attempts to influence the behaviour of others becomes a potential leader and the persons he is attempting to influence are the potential followers. This may happen irrespective of the fact that the leader may be their boss or a colleague (associate) or a subordinate or a friend or a relative. In other words through a style of. functioning he influences attitudes and expectations, which in turn encourage or discourage the follower’s activity or achievement, enhance or diminish the follower’s commitment to the work, etc. In our day-to-day life, we come across instances of how people are influenced by the activities or word of a person who is trying to lead them. We always make judgments about the leaders of our own office. In our mind, we make a difference between a good leader and a bad one, by judging his style or way of functioning and his influence on others. Hence, in understanding the phenomenon of leadership, priority must first understand the various styles of the leaders. [4] LEADERSHIP STYLES The word style is the way in which the leader influences followers. Person and environment function in conjunction with the behaviour itself and reciprocally interact to determine behaviour. A person, through his actions, produces the environmental conditions that affect his behaviour in a reciprocal fashion. The experience generated by behaviour also partly determines what a person becomes and can do. This in turn affects his subsequent behaviour. The theory is called social learning theory because, individuals learn in an environment in the process of interacting with each other which is a social process. The application of this theory in understanding the behaviour of a leader and the continuous reciprocal interaction between the   person (leader’s cognitions) and environment (including subordinates and their needs, experiences, objectives in the organization. abilities, skills, energy performance, etc. known as contingencies that regulate their behaviour).The three aspects of this theory of leadership assume that the leader knows how his behaviour is controlled by various needs, situations and experiences that he undergoes. The leader works with the subordinates to discover what those needs situations and experience. The leader and the subordinates jointly attempt to discover ways in which they can manage their individual behaviour to produce mutually satisfying as well as organisationally productive outcomes. In this approach, the leader and the subordinates have a negotiable and interactive relationship. They are continuously aware of how they can modify or influence each other’s behaviour by giving the rewards or holding back the performance respectively. [4,5,6] TYPES OF LEADER AND POWER CONCEPT Formal Leader A formal leader is selected by the organization. For example, a manager is a formal leader by virtue of the authority coming from the organization. He influences others to help accomplish the goals of the organization or unit. Such a leadership lasts over a long period of time Informal Leader An informal leader is chosen by the group. Thus, all managers are leaders if their authority is accepted, but not all leaders are managers. Informal leadership is leadership without position and may shift from one person to another. It may last for a brief time. Most people are leaders at one time or the other and they can have influence on others as defined by the concept of leadership. The ideal leader is the one who can combine the formals and informal leadership simultaneously within himself. SUCCESSFUL VERSUS EFFECTIVE LEADER As we have seen in the preceding discussions, leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives; it is the ability to persuade others to get something done. So the leader attempts to have some effect on the behaviour of another, which we call attempted leadership. The response to this attempt may or may not be successful. A basic responsibility of managers in any work organization is to get the work done with and through people. The success of managers is measured by the output or productivity of the group they lead. [8,10] LEADER BEHAVIOUR IN GROUPS The main aim apparently is to understand why individuals form groups. The solution lies in tracking the solution ideas: How old were you when you first joined a group? How many different groups do you belong to? How would you identify a group leader? Does your behaviour change when you are with different groups? Have you ever led a group? In what sense were you the leader? What were the results? If our own the questions should be answered, which leads to the understanding of group. Behaviour and the properties of groups are essential to being both a good manager and an effective member of groups. A manager spends half of his time in some formal or informal meetings, where a group of people get together to solve problems or make plans. So the manager himself acts as a member of a group with other managers or colleagues. Groups have a powerful effect on human behaviour. Any increase in output of those workers was because of the importance and attention given to the group of workers by their colleagues as well as their own interactions with each other about the quality and quantity of output they were supposed to produce. People are motivated to act in a certain way in a given situation and one should change the situation in order to make the people act the way one wants them to. There are also many examples where the manager decides to take a decision on his own or to rely on groups by holding meetings or making committees. In Management, small groups with which he interacts are very important for a manager. It may consist of his peers or colleagues, other managers, specialists or others who really help the manager to take an effective decision. There are instances of well knit and cohesive groups, which really make a superior performance under a good leader. For all these purposes gaining understanding of how to manage a group and how to become a more effective group member. In order to develop the above two objectives, point noted is that a group is part of a larger organization with which it interacts. [1,4] LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE PROCESS Authority is the right to command and extract obedience from others. It comes from organization and it allows the leader to use power. Power is the ability to exercise influence or control over others. In the functioning of a leader the ability to guide the action of others is achieved through his authority. Carrying out of these decisions is accomplished because of the power of the leader. The relationship between the authority and power of a leader as we go further to understand various types of power GROUP DYNAMICS Group Dynamics is concerned with the interactions and forces among group members in a social situation. In the path on management functions, it is important to understand dynamics of members of formal or informal groups in the organization. Group Dynamics is the interaction of forces among group members in a social situation. Authoritarian, Democratic and Laissez-faire, is having three different social situations for the three styles of leadership. In course of time various meanings were attached to the term ‘group dynamics’ One of the meanings suggest how a group should be organized and conducted. In democratic leadership, member participation and overall cooperation are emphasized. Another meaning of Group Dynamics is that it is set of techniques. In various group exercises it tries to make the leader as well as the member effective. An attempt made to make the above members play their roles in a management situation of group discussions, team building, finding out various solutions to problems by brainstorming and understanding ourselves in relation to others while we transact or interact with others. Such exercises are also provided in situations where only members are present and no leader exists to direct or control the group. All these exercises are techniques to develop both the individual as well as the organization in which he or she works. The meaning of the term Group Dynamic suggest internal nature of the groups as to how they are formed, what their structures and processes are and how they function. [7,8] COMPOSITION OF A GROUP In most organizations getting the work done requires group efforts. Thus, a manager must know how to manage individual by knowing the individual dynamics, such as his values. Personality, perceptions and attitudes. A manager must know how to manage a group by understanding Group Dynamics Each group has a common objective, but the members who belong to it may have other personal objectives. For example, a life insurance agent may like to become a member of a parent-teacher association of a school to help promote the development process of its students. But belonging to that association will also help him to increase his or her contact to ensure more and more people, so he gets more commission for as many members as he can sell the insurance to. What is most important in the content of the definition of a group is to be aware of each other in a group. This awareness is seldom there, when we look at an aggregation of people. They are mere collections, different from what we call a group, where members see themselves as belonging to a group in order to interact and achieve the common objectives of the group. Moreover, such kind of interaction may be over a long or a short period of time. [9,10] TYPES OF POWER Legitimate Power This power comes to the leader when the organisation’s authority is accepted. It comes from the rules of the organization. For example, parents, teachers, managers. police, etc. have legitimate power only when their authority is accepted in the positions they hold. Expert Power This is the power of knowledge and skill of special kind that are important in getting the job done. A person’s professional competence or knowledge gives him the expert power. His credibility increases. He can lead other persons to trust his judgments and decisions, as an expert like a physicist or a lawyer or a chemist or a computer programmer or a purchasing agent or a financial analyst. A leader himself may not be an expert in all fields, but he can certainly take the help of experts in particular fields. Charismatic Power This is the power of attraction or devotion, the desire of one person to admire another. A subordinate feels a positive attraction towards a leader by identifying himself with the leader, or gets influenced by the leader’s attractive power. This power helps the subordinate to understand and value the leader so much that he understands and acts according to the expectations of the boss or the leader. It helps him to act as his own boss, and behave in ways he thinks the boss will want. [15] Reward Power This power is the present or potential ability to reward for worthy behaviour. The superior or the leader has the power to give tangible rewards such as promotion, office space, time off from work, attractive work assignments and help to the subordinate. Also psychological rewards like praise, appreciation, approval and recognition can be given by the leader or the superior to the subordinate. The subordinate has to believe that he has access to higher authorities, therefore he can give rewards. This reward power of the leader can also increase the leader’s charismatic and legitimate power. Coercive Power This is the ability to threaten or punish. The leader can give tangible punishments like dismissal, demotion, low rating. less satisfying work assignments, etc. Psychological punishments include criticism, avoidance, disapproval, satirical remarks on the subordinate. The reward power helps to avoid something undesirable. Self-esteem of the subordinate increases because of reward power and decreases because of punishment or coercive power. Even a subordinate may withdraw or break the rules or become hostile. He may not feel attracted towards the charismatic power of the leader and at times may ignore the leader’s legitimate power. Having seen the reasons for differences between the authority and power of the leader, you should know the type of leaders as understood on the basis of their authority and power. [11,12] COLLECTIVE ACTION Interpersonal competence refers to the degree to which we are accurately aware of our impact on others and of the impact of others on us. It is the ability to engage in an mutually helpful relationships. It enables us to achieve your personal goals as well as task goals in the organizations where you we are a member. What are the effects of our interpersonal competence on our managerial behaviour? Interpersonally incompetent managers create an organizational environment in which members act very defensively to protect their own interests. Since everybody acts defensively in the organization. where roles and relationships are basically interdependent, neither the personal goals of the members, nor the task goals can be fully realized. Problems are not confronted and are kept hidden from each other for fear that exploring the problems will only aggravate the situation. In course of time, issues which were avoided and swept under the rug assume gigantic proportions and overwhelm the members. On the other hand, interpersonally competent managers allow their subordinates to challenge their views and to question the organisation’s norms, policies, rules and objectives. When these kinds of behaviour are tolerated, people are likely to discover problems and commit themselves to their solutions. Organizational effectiveness increases. Besides these three types of roles, that may have to interact with a lot of other people from different positions: consumers, suppliers, people from regulatory agencies, general public. etc. Interactions with different interest-groups demand different types of specific skills and competencies. Possession and understanding of these skills may not guarantee successful human relations, but it can increase your interpersonal sensitivity and help you take appropriate action to improve relationships. [13,14]             References Rao, T.V., â€Å"HRD in the New Economic Environment,† Tata McGraw-Hill Book Company, New Delhi,1994 Drucker, P.F. (1974). â€Å"Management Task Responsibilities and Practices†, Harper & Row, New York. Murtin, CC., 2004., Project Management — How to Make It Work, AmaCom, N.Y. Neale RH, 1984., Managing Projects , Geneva Nicholas, J.M., 1990., Managing Business and Engineering Projects Concepts & Implementation, Prentice Hall. N.J. Kharbanda. & Staliworking, EA, 1996.,Successful Projects With a Moral For Managemetn, Gower, England. Hitt, Michael A, (2001), Strategic Management: Competitiveness and globalization, 4th, Thomson Learning. Srivastava, R.M. (1999). Strategic Planning: Formulation Of Corporate Strategy (Texts and Cases) 1st ed., Macmillan Limited. Hamel,G, Collaborate with your Competitors and Win, Harvard Business review,67,1,1989,133-9. Laxmi Narian, Managerial Competition and Motivation in Public Enterprises, Oxford and IBH Publishing Co., New Delhi,1997 Ulrich, D. â€Å"Human Resource Champions†, Harvard Business School Press,2001 Kaplan, R., â€Å"Balance Score Card†, Harvard Business review,2003 Pareek, V., Designing and Managing Human Resource Systems, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co., New Delhi. Pereira D.F., Recent Experiences in Human Resource Development, Oxford& IBH Publishing Co., New Delhi Goldstein, I.L, Training in Organizations: Needs Assessment Development and Evaluation, Wordsworth,2002   

Should Backpacks be Allowed in School Essays

Should Backpacks be Allowed in School Essays Should Backpacks be Allowed in School Paper Should Backpacks be Allowed in School Paper Also, backpacks are an excellent place for students to hide objects that are prohibited. Firstly, backpacks are very bulky and awkward. In a classroom, there is no designated space for backpacks to be kept so students might put It on the back of their chair, put It on their desk, or even leave them on the floor. This then causes many accidents because people are not always looking at the ground as they walk so many students and teachers could trip. If the school allows backpacks In class and tells you that they must not be kept on the ground, this presents another problem for students because the only available place left would be on their desk, thus impairing on their workspace and learning. There Is also the issue of backpacks in hallways. As everyone knows, the time to travel between classes is not very long and the hallways can get very congested, especially the staircases. Now imagine everyone carrying a backpack; the result would be a much uncoordinated mass of people. Hallways would not only be even more congested, students will now have to be extra careful in order not to trip and get swallowed into the never-ending swarm of students. Just the reason about backpacks being big and inconvenient alone should be enough to convince everyone that backpacks in class re a huge mistake. Subsequently, allowing backpacks means that students will have to bring it to every class which could lead to major health concerns for students. As a result of allowing backpacks, students will now most likely go directly to class which means they will have to carry the necessary materials and textbooks for half the day. This is extremely bad for the back because studies have shown that if the weight of a backpack is more than 20% of the carriers body weight, people are more prone to muscle and Joint injury and severe back, neck and shoulder pain. Although earning a backpack correctly will heavily reduce the chance of injury, many teens are not aware of the correct way to carry backpacks. Shoulder straps should help balance the weight; the backpack should fit snugly against the body and legs should be used to lift the backpack, not the back. Furthermore, research has shown that adults with severe back problems say that they often had back pain as a child. This reason should make you realize that not allowing students to bring their backpacks to class Is more advantageous than permitting them to lug their bags to each class. The resent of illegal items like weapons and drugs has always been a concern for school authorities but students tend to keep those things In their lockers. However, If backpacks were allowed In class, students would now have the opportunity to conceal a gun or a knife In their backpack and bring It Into class. Students can also hide Items to help them cheat on a test or exam Like cheat sheets or electronic devices. Another Issue Is theft because If something Is stolen during class, the thief doesnt have many options as to where he/she could hide it but having a backpack will certainly change Nat I en last AT things Tanat can De anneal In a Ticktack goes on. Backpacks In class will allow restricted items including electronics devices, weapons and drugs to be smuggled easily into class. In summary, backpacks in class provide more trouble than advantages. They are unnecessarily large and space consuming which leads to jam-packed classrooms and hallways, they cause health concerns that can be quite serious, and they can be used to harbor items that are restricted from school. Some things are meant to be left in the locker, and backpacks are definitely one of them.