Group work in Primary Schools

Group work, known to others as collaborative or concerted acquisition, is defined as a â€Å" state of affairs in which, two or more people learn or attempt to larn something together † [ Wikipedia Contributors, 2010 ] . This paper focuses on how on the job collaboratively impacts both instruction and acquisition in primary schools. It describes the background to the development of collaborative acquisition and high spots the techniques frequently employed. The rules to effectual group work are explained, with both advantages and disadvantages noted. Collaborative acquisition is a pedagogical scheme which utilizes a assortment of larning activities to heighten a pupil ‘s apprehension of a peculiar subject. This is an betterment to traditional acquisition theoretical accounts besides defined as non-interactive talks, where cognition is gained from direct talks or the reading of books and articles. Traditional larning bids really small interaction or engagement from the pupils, hence a batch or really small may be learnt depending on the person. Collaborative larning accordingly stands as a constructivist attack to acquisition, and is identified as arising from a constructivist epistemology, as pupils are asked to take part and lend to their ain acquisition and development. The thoughts of bookmans such as Burner, Kohlberg, Piaget and Vygotsky are used in the development of collaborative acquisition, which basically implies that both the pupil and the environment are actively dynamic entities in the acquisition procedure as the pupil tries to portray the lessons. This procedure requires that cognition be discovered and translated utilizing linguistic communication and other larning Plutos to which the pupils can actively associate. Lawrence Kohlberg researched the moral determinations made by kids. His probe is such that â€Å" he developed an interview procedure offering a figure of scenarios, each with a moral quandary † for which he had pre-determined replies. He realized that six phases of moral development existed and that some people are unable to make most advanced degrees of ethical reading. He thereby concluded that ; â€Å" the development of moral concluding happens in a peculiar sequence, and that each measure of the manner is a precursor to the following † [ KidsDevelopment.co.uk, 2010 ] . Jean Piaget ‘s theory of Cognitive Development suggests that persons go through a series of phases on their manner to independent thought. Piaget provinces that â€Å" all cognition refering world consequences from actions or operations upon it, which makes it alter, uncovering its stable and variational belongingss † ( Piaget, 1980 p222 ) . Lev Vygotsky believed that socialisation increases cognition and frequently clip changes a kid ‘s ideas and behaviors. Vygotsky suggests that larning is achieved in three ways ; imitative, instructed and collaborative. Imitative larning involves the pupil merely copying what was taught and instructed acquisition involves the pupil following waies antecedently given. Vygotsky ‘s work was focussed on two of import thoughts. First being the Zone of Proximal Development ( ZPD ) ; this describes the degree of distinction between a job that a pupil can work out independently and a job in which a pupil will necessitate the aid of others. ZPD is frequently identified as an person ‘s degree of existent competence relation to their degree for possible development. The 2nd thought is known as staging and describes the facet of support given to pupils when it is desired. Group work allows pupils to work together in little squads, uniting people with changing backgrounds, experiences, proficient and rational competences, towards the attainment of a specific aim. Each member of the squad has the duty of larning the stuff for himself, while besides assisting other members to clearly understand the lesson therefore making an â€Å" ambiance of accomplishment † ( Palmer, Peters and Streetman. 2008 ) . Students thereby derive both cognition and societal accomplishments. The usage of group treatments helps pupils to explicate constructs and thoughts by supplying immediate feedbacks. Students learn how to trouble-shoot hand in glove in order to happen the best solution to a job. â€Å" When pupils formulate their ain solutions in this mode, they are genuinely believing critically ( Davis, Mahler & A ; Noddings, 1990 ) . Swortzel expresses that there are two major theoretical attacks to group work â€Å" Motivational and Cognitive † ( Swortzel, 1997 ) . Group work is seen as motivational because pupils recognize that their success or failure in the attainment of the specified end is dependent on them being able to work together as a squad. They thereby encourage each other to acquire the assigned undertakings done decently and on clip, in so making â€Å" concerted acquisition additions pupils ‘ motive to make academic work † ( Johnson, Johnson & A ; Holubec, 1986 ) . The cognitive attack suggests that through group work pupils go more critical with their thought. Students are stimulated to believe ‘outside the box ‘ , therefore geting increased degrees of perceptual experience, consciousness, and concluding and judgment abilities. Group treatments are really synergistic with each person showing their point of view. Within a diverse group, there will be doubtless changing sentiments accordingly foregrounding attacks to the same subject. A collaborative model must foremost be established before the execution of collaborative larning techniques. The instructor should research collaborative acquisition and observer other instructors who have already implement the usage of group work. The instructor should hold on a good apprehension of the advantages and disadvantages to group work and must develop a acute grasp for the technique of scaffolding. The instructor so needs to make up one's mind if collaborative acquisition is ideal for the topic being taught, the type of pupils and take into history schoolroom limitations, if any. Teachers implementing collaborative acquisition are expected to be competent in the undermentioned countries: Stipulating instructional aims Determining group size and assign pupils to groups Determining Group Size and Assign Students to Group Classroom agreement Planing instructional stuffs to advance Interdependence Delegating group functions Delegating undertakings Structuring positive mutuality and answerability Explaining the standards for success Stipulating desired behaviors Before implementing collaborative larning the instructor should explicate to the pupils their determination for the usage of group work and explicate the advantages and disadvantages. The finding of group sizes may change depending on the nature of the undertaking and the work load. Groups can be homogenous or heterogenous, grouping pupils with similar involvements and strengths or they may be wholly indiscriminately selected. Once groups are established they normally do non alter really frequently, so as to let pupils to develop a constructive working relationship with each other. It is of import that the furniture in the schoolroom be organized in a manner which allows the pupils to work as a unit, sooner confronting each other, whilst leting for their flexible motions. Teachers should take into history the bing resources needed for successful undertaking completion and guarantee that they are readily accessible by the groups. The instructions and stuffs a instructor chooses for a group should guarantee that each member of the group makes a meaningful part and that single assignments within the group will be equally distributed. Teachers should construction positive mutuality and answerability by regularly proving both the groups and the members of the group for apprehension of the capable affair. Members should be encouraged to be able to actively support the stance of the group and their ain. The standards for success of the group should be clearly communicated and measures put into topographic point to measure the group ‘s public presentation as a unit every bit good as the single public presentations of the members. Once the groups have been established, instructors need to supervise the behavior of the pupils and aid with demands while monitoring. In so making, instructors may help with the answering of inquiries and supply and jump point of position or sentiment. Teachers may besides supply feedback on the work completed or the advancement made. Should struggles originate within the groups, instructors should step in to guarantee that such struggles are rapidly resolved and explicate the deductions of unwanted behaviors. It is besides really of import that instructors provide approbation and, or motive where it is deserved. Students play the most of import function in the art of collaborative acquisition. Their functions include and are non limited to, working together, actively listening to each other, maintaining records of work and advancement, oppugning each other, presuming personal duty and finishing the assigned undertaking. An article written by Dillenbourg and Schneider provinces that there are a few mechanisms to collaborative acquisition: Conflict or Disagreement, proposing that when equal to peer struggles originate, societal factors cause scholars to disregard the dissension and to some extent forces them to happen a executable solution to the job. One facet of this theory states that diverging point of views normally lead to academic additions, while the other provinces that â€Å" when struggles are non verbalized they do non foretell positive results † ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) . This article draws two decisions relative to this mechanism one being that â€Å" little misinterpretations can be every bit efficient as a clear struggle between two agents who severally believe P and non P † and the 2nd being that â€Å" verbal interactions generated to work out struggle are related to larning results † ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) . Alternate Proposal besides referred to as the â€Å" verification prejudices † by Dillenbourg and Schneider ( 1995 ) . In so making pupils actively develop thoughts that support their suggestions and wholly disregard thoughts that do non. They frequently times can non abandon their thought or suggestion because another suggestion may non be forthcoming ; nevertheless other group members make alternate suggestions. ( Self- ) account ; the Self-Explanation consequence, as it is in known in many cognitive scientific discipline literature, describes that in a state of affairs where one pupil is more cognition that the other, the latter will automatically larn from the signifier, and besides that the former will hold on a better apprehension of the subject being explained as he endeavours to interpret into to footings to with the latter pupil can actively associate. Having successfully explained the more knowing pupil would hold improved upon his accomplishments to interrelate and gained improved assurance. Had there been any uncertainnesss in the account, person even more knowing might be able to clear up. Internalization ; the article explains this mechanism as one in which pupils explain or justify their suggestions to each other, the verbalisation of such impacts all involved and that the constructs communicated are integrated into the hearers concluding. â€Å" Thinking is viewed a treatment that 1 has with oneself and which develops on the footing of treatments we had with others † ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) . The article besides states that for this mechanism to be effectual a few conditions must be met, â€Å" One status is that topics can merely absorb constructs which are within their ‘zone of proximal development ‘ , i.e. within the vicinity of the current cognitive degree. Another status is that the less able equal is non left as a inactive hearer, but participates into the joint job work outing scheme † ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) Appropriation, this is explained as one pupil detecting the thoughts or accounts of another and taking those thoughts or accounts and edifice on it to do their ain. Learning is double as the first pupil reinterprets his actions relative to that of the 2nd, and the 2nd pupil got a sound foundation on which to construct. Shared Cognitive Load, this involves the distribution of undertakings which will come together to accomplish the overall aim of the group. When the work load is even shared between pupils, each pupil can work meticulously on the assigned undertaking, thereby extinguishing redundancies and bettering the efficiency of the group. Common Regulation, by using any of or a combination of the mechanisms antecedently described, pupils frequently have to modulate the actions of each other to guarantee that the stipulated guidelines are adhered to for the attainment of their ends. Social Grounding, described limpidly by Dillenbourg and Schneider as â€Å" the mechanism by which an person efforts to keep the belief that his spouse has understood what he meant, at least to an extent which is sufficient to transport out the undertaking at manus † ( Dillenbourg and Schneider, 1995 ) . This mechanism requires the talker to look into for apprehension, and where misunderstand is seeable to clear up, thereby constructing a portion apprehension of the job. George W. Gagnon. Jr. , and Michelle Collay developed another design for collaborative acquisition and in this theoretical account teachers develop a series of stairss that their instruction construction follows every bit listed below: â€Å" They develop a state of affairs for the pupils to explicate † ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) â€Å" They select a procedure for groupings of stuffs and pupils † ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) â€Å" They build a span between what pupils already cognize and what the instructors want them to larn † ( Gagnon and Collay,2004 ) â€Å" They anticipate inquiries to inquire and reply without giving away an account † ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) â€Å" They encourage pupils to exhibit a record of their thought by sharing it with others † ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) , and â€Å" They solicit pupils ‘ contemplations about their acquisition † ( Gagnon and Collay, 2004 ) . A comparing of there collaborative techniques, is illustrated in Appendix 1. Johnson, Johnson, and Smith ( 1991 ) high spots three cardinal undertakings instructors should follow for the rating of the efficiency and effectivity after there group work is completed. First, instructors should supply a closing through summarisation. That is, to sum up the lessons of import points or to hold each group explain their work and the points they found of most significance. Second is to measure the pupils larning, by measuring how they have attained or failed to achieve the coveted result and supplying the feedback required, leting pupils to better on their ability to work as a group and therefore personal development. Third, instructors should do note of the techniques that worked and why they worked and if necessary adjust their lessons. A popular definition of constructivism is that â€Å" Constructivism is a theory of cognition which claims that cognition is non passively received but actively constructed by the scholar, and that the map of knowledge is adaptative, functioning to organize experience, instead than detect world † ( online, 2010 ) Group work has academic, societal and physiological benefits to both pupils and instructors. Academic benefits include: the development of critical thought and the active engagement of pupils in the acquisition procedure. The societal benefits include: the development of societal larning systems for pupils and physiques diverseness apprehension among pupils and instructors. The physiological benefits include: increased self-esteem through peer-to-peer instructions and it reduces the anxiousness of pupils. Although collaborative larning seems to be dependent on the actions and willingness to larn, which should for many be a natural procedure, there are many disadvantages as there are advantages to is execution. A few of the obstructions faced are ; some pupils prefer to work competitively instead that collaboratively, instructors lack the ability to readily measure the work produced, instructors sometimes do non cognize how to mensurate the effectivity of their instructions in a collaborative scene, sometimes the assigned undertakings are non applicable to a pupils ends or abilities, and sometimes the undertakings are non â€Å" hard plenty to dispute but non so hard as to stonewall a conversation. † Some groups may be comprised of ‘slow scholars ‘ who may be viewed as others as priceless, thereby advancing ‘superior ‘ behaviour by the ‘fast scholars ‘ . Table 1, Appendix 2, illustrated assorted group constructions and the advantages and disad vantages to these groups. Nigel Hastings and Karen Chantrey-Wood from Nottingham Trent University explores the many schemes instructors utilize in group work activities, many of which are strongly endorsed by a commission known as the ‘Plowden Committee ‘ . â€Å" By disbursement clip with groups of kids, instructors could set their instruction to the demands of the persons of that group to a greater extent than when working with an full category of pupils as a whole. This besides ensures that all kids have a sensible sum of direct contact with their instructor regardless of the fact that they are working in groups † [ Hastings & A ; Wood, 2002 ] . This suggests that collaborative acquisition enhances the happening of individualised attending given to pupils, by presenting â€Å" one-on-one † interactions between pupils and equals and pupils and instructors. The article besides illustrates that schoolroom agreement is really of import in guaranting that collaborative acquisition is efficient and effectual. It shows that collaborative acquisition in widely accepted and really normally practiced across the Earth ; â€Å" In primary schoolrooms throughout the UK, it is standard pattern for kids to sit around sorted tabular arraies – normally with four to six kids in each group. Such agreements are besides common in primary schools in other English-speaking states, Australia and USA for illustration. Precisely because this constellation is so normal and so good established in our schools, it is unusual to inquire about its principle or to oppugn its rightness † [ Hastings & A ; Wood, 2002 ] . An abstract written from an experiment conducted by Gillies and Ashman, â€Å" One hundred and 92 Grade 6 kids participated in a survey which compared the effects on behavioral interactions and accomplishment of ( a ) co-op acquisition in which group members were trained to join forces to ease each other ‘s acquisition, and ( B ) co-op acquisition in which members were non trained but were simply told to assist each other. Graded random assignment of participants occurred so that each gender-balanced group consisted of one high- , two medium- , and one low-ability studentaˆÂ ¦ † ( Gillies & A ; Ashman, 1999 ) . The observations showed that the pupils who worked in the ‘Trained ‘ groups where more antiphonal and helpful to each other, giving accounts where necessary to help as they worked together. It showed that pupils in the ‘untrained ‘ groups were a batch less helpful towards or concerted with each other. From the consequences it was besid es concluded that â€Å" the kids in the ‘trained ‘ groups exercised more autonomy with their acquisition and obtained higher acquisition results than ‘untrained ‘ equals † ( Gillies & A ; Ashman, 1999 ) . This survey is one of the many to certify to the success of group work. Despite some drawbacks Collaborative acquisition has legion benefits, as is explained, runing from academic to physiological and it execution in primary schools is rather a positive move. Students at the primary school degree are rather waxy and there is no better clip for them to develop the really valuable competencies that working in a group has to offer. At the primary school degree they are mature plenty to hold an apprehension of what group work requires. Many of the surveies conducted were centralized around childhood developments. Students who can successfully work in groups from the primary school degree are normally better equipped for when come ining higher degree larning establishments. They would hold learnt to comfortably associate with equals and grownups, such as instructors or other authorization figures, they would hold learnt the value of self-expression and self-explanation, actively listen and esteem the positions of others. These pupils realize that as persons w e have different backgrounds, experiences and traditions and as such may hold diverging attacks to the same job. These pupils will besides be better able to distinguish between the demand to work collaborative and the demand to work competitively and in so making will cognize when best to use the several attacks. This research has revealed that both the instructors and the pupils play a polar function in the success of collaborative acquisition. Teachers are non expected to merely delegate undertakings and sit back while the pupils work on their ain. Teachers must play an active function throughout the procedure. They must be after for the assignment with clearly structured undertakings that will advance collaborative interactions, promote mutuality and excite cognitive thought among pupils. Teacher must supervise the procedure supplying ongoing feedback and be readily able to decide struggles should they originate. Teachers should be able to actively scaffold their pupils, cognizing when their support is needed and that it should bit by bit be withdraw. Students in order to successfully accomplish their aims in groups must appreciate the benefits of group work. They must hold a clear apprehension of the coveted aim and the sub-task demand to successfully accomplish the aim. They must be able to actively and reflectively listen to each other and utilize creativeness and objectiveness to work positively together. In so making they will larn to further positive work attitudes with others, thereby bettering on their interpersonal accomplishments as they prepare for the work universe. Appendix 1 Three Constructivist Design Models [ 1 ]1. The Learning Cycle2. The Learning Step developed by George W. Gagnon. Jr. and Michelle Collay 3. The Information Construction ( ICON ) theoretical account created by Robert O. McClintock and John B. Black, and is really similar to Dillenbourg and Schneider. Appendix 2 Table 1: Forms of Cooperative Groups [ 2 ]Name OF GROUPWHAT IS THIS?WORKS BEST FORBenefitsDrawbackPair-share 2 pupils with one job portion their thoughts or inquiries. Each individual speaks, listens, & A ; gives feedback. Content that requires treatment, contemplation, or account. Increased engagement clip, Helps those who are diffident Fewer positions and solutions Saber saw Each member of the little group researches one portion of the inquiry /content for a certain sum of clip. The members of the group come back together. Each member teaches his/her portion to the remainder of the group. Content with four or five parts to research. Students gain learning and research accomplishments Some pupils feel pressured by a clip bound Split-class treatment The category is split into half. Each side discusses /debates their cognition /beliefs, etc. Arguments or treatments Students may alter their sentiment or develop a different position Some pupils may talk less with such a big group. Random groups of 3 Class is split into groups of 3. The groups discuss the subject. Predicting what will go on, reacting to a state of affairs. Receive a assortment of feedback, group members are accountable Easy to go forth out or team up against a diffident pupil or one who has a different sentiment Ability/Interest/Friendship Group Students are divided into groups based on some quality that they all have in common. Making plays/skits or an activity in which pupils must work together outside of category. Students can work at a gait that best suits them, pupils are seldom world-weary and frequently motivated It is unrealistic to happen a wholly homogenous group, weaker or unpopular pupils may be excluded. Diverseness Groups Students are formed into groups where they come from a broad assortment of backgrounds, involvements, etc. Researching geographics, history, and diverse life styles. There are many chances to derive different positions Minorities may go anomic Multi-aged groups Students are divided into groups in which there are a mixture of ages Older pupils learning younger pupils ( i.e. scientific discipline experiments ) . Older students- there is less force per unit area to vie with equals, Younger pupils fell of import that an older individual is passing clip with them Older pupils may be a bad influence ; Older pupils may non cognize how to work with a younger kid or an â€Å" at hazard † pupil Peer-led Conferences Students prepare and take a treatment of stuff with parents, teachers, pupils, etc. A major undertaking in which pupils set up Stationss for several intelligences. Students get the chance to genuinely learn, pupils learn self assurance. Students whose parents are inactive in the school may be alienated from those whose parents participate ; some pupils may non be involved in interactions. Notes: These diagrams were obtained from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/implementation_sub1.html This tabular array was obtained from: hypertext transfer protocol: //projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php? title=Cooperative_Learning # Frequently_Asked_Questions_about_Cooperative_Learning

The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Thirty-One

Why do they always want to be on top of buildings? Bonnie thought irritably. Inside. Inside is nice. No one falls to their death if they're inside a building. But here we are. Stargazing from the top of the science building while on a date with Zander was romantic. Bonnie would be al for another little nighttime picnic, just the two of them. But partying on a different roof with a bunch of Zander's friends was not romantic, not even slightly. She took a sip of her drink and moved out of the way without even looking as she heard the smack of bodies hitting the ground and the grunts of guys wrestling. After two days of living with Zander, she was beginning to get the names of his friends straight: Tristan and Marcus were the ones rol ing around on the floor with Zander. Jonah, Camden, and Spencer were doing something they cal ed parkour, which mostly seemed to involve running around like idiots and almost fal ing off the roof. Enrique, Jared, Daniel, and Chad were al playing an elaborate drinking game in the corner. There were a few more guys who hung around sometimes, but this was the core group. She liked them, she real y did. Most of the time. They were boisterous, sure, but they were always very nice to her: getting her drinks, immediately handing her their jackets if she was cold, tel ing her that they had no idea what she saw in a loser like Zander, which was clearly their guy way of declaring how much they loved him and that they were happy he had a girlfriend. She looked over at Zander, who was laughing as he held Tristan in a headlock and rubbed his knuckles over the top of Tristan's head. â€Å"Do you give in?† he said, and grunted in surprise as Marcus, whooping joyful y, tackled them both. It would have been easier if there were other girls around that she could get to know. If Marcus (who was very cute in a giant shaggy-haired Sasquatch kind of way) or Spencer (who had the kind of preppy rich-boy elegance that some girls found extremely attractive) had a regular girlfriend, Bonnie would have someone to exchange wry glances with as the guys acted like doofuses. But, even though a girl would occasional y appear clinging to the arm of one of the guys, Bonnie would never see her again after that night. Except for Bonnie, Zander seemed to travel in an almost exclusively masculine world. And, after two days of fol owing the macho parade around town, Bonnie was starting to get sick of it. She missed having girls to talk to. She missed Elena and Meredith, specifical y, even though she was stil mad at them. â€Å"Hey,† she said, making her way over to Zander. â€Å"Want to get out of here for a while?† Zander wrapped his arm around her shoulders. â€Å"Um. Why?† he asked, leaning down to kiss her neck. Bonnie rol ed her eyes. â€Å"It's kind of loud, don't you think? We could go for a nice quiet walk or something.† Zander looked surprised but nodded. â€Å"Sure, whatever you want.† They made their way down the fire escape, fol owed by a few shouts from Zander's friends, who seemed to think he was going on a food run and would shortly return with hot wings and tacos. Once they were a block away from the rooftop party, the noise faded and it was peaceful, except for the distant sound of an occasional car on the roads nearby. Bonnie knew she ought to feel creeped out, walking around at night on campus, but she didn't. Not with Zander's hand in hers. â€Å"This is nice, isn't it?† Bonnie said happily, gazing up at the half moon overhead. â€Å"Yeah,† Zander said, swinging her hand between them. â€Å"You know, I used to go on long walks – runs, real y – with my dad at night. Way out in the country, in the moonlight. I love being outside at night.† â€Å"Aw, that's sweet,† Bonnie said. â€Å"Do you guys stil do that when you're home?† â€Å"No.† Zander hesitated and hunched his shoulders, his hair hanging in his face. Bonnie couldn't read his expression. â€Å"My dad †¦ he died. A while ago.† â€Å"I'm so sorry,† Bonnie said sincerely, squeezing his hand. â€Å"I'm okay,† Zander said, stil staring at his shoes. â€Å"But, y'know, I don't have any brothers or sisters, and the guys have sort of become like a family to me. I know they can be a pain sometimes, but they're real y good guys. And they're important to me.† He glanced at Bonnie out of the corner of his eyes. He looked so apprehensive, Bonnie felt a sharp pang of affection for him. It was sweet that Zander and his friends were so close – that must have been the family stuff he had to deal with the other night. He was loyal, that much she knew. â€Å"Zander,† she said. â€Å"I know they're important to you. I don't want to take you away from your friends, you goof.† She reached up to wrap her arms around his neck and kissed him gently on the mouth. â€Å"Maybe just for an hour or two sometimes, but not for long, I promise.† Zander returned the kiss with enthusiasm, and Bonnie tingled al the way down to her toes. Clinging to each other, they made their way to a bench by the side of the path and sat down to kiss some more. Zander just felt so good under her hands, al sleek muscles and smooth skin, and Bonnie ran her hands across his shoulders, along his arms, down his sides. At her touch, Zander suddenly winced. â€Å"What's the matter?† she said, lifting her head away from his. â€Å"Nothing,† said Zander, reaching for her. â€Å"I was just messing around with the guys, you know. They play rough.† â€Å"Let me see,† Bonnie said, grabbing at the hem of his shirt, half concerned and half wanting to just check out Zander's abs. He had turned out to be surprisingly modest, considering they were sharing a room. Wincing again, he sucked his breath in through his teeth as Bonnie lifted his shirt. She gasped. Zander's whole side was covered with ugly black-and-purple bruises. â€Å"Zander,† Bonnie said horrified, â€Å"these look real y bad. You don't get bruises like that just messing around.† They look like you were fighting for your life – or someone else was, she thought, and pushed away the words. â€Å"They're nothing. Don't worry,† Zander said, tugging his shirt back down. He started to wrap his arms around her again, but Bonnie moved away, feeling vaguely sickened. â€Å"I wish you'd tel me what happened,† she said. â€Å"I did,† Zander said comfortingly. â€Å"You know how crazy those guys get.† It was true, she'd never known guys so rowdy. Zander reached for her again, and this time Bonnie moved closer to him, turning her face up for his kiss. As their lips met, she remembered Zander's saying to her, â€Å"You know me. You see me.† She did know him, Bonnie told herself. She could trust Zander. Across the street, Damon stood in the shadow of a tree, watching Bonnie kiss Zander. He had to admit he felt a little pang, seeing her in the arms of someone else. There was something so sweet about Bonnie, and she was brave and intel igent under that cotton-candy exterior. The witchy angle added a little touch of spice to her, too. He'd always thought of her as his. Then again, didn't the little redbird deserve someone of her own? As much as Damon liked her, he didn't love her, he knew that. Seeing the lanky boy's face light up in response to her smile, he thought maybe this one would. After making out for a few more minutes, Bonnie and Zander stood up and wandered, hand in hand, toward what Damon knew was Zander's dorm. Damon trailed them, keeping to the shadows. He huffed out a breath of self-mocking laughter. I'm getting soft in my old age, he thought. Back in the old days he would have eaten Bonnie without a second thought, and here he was worrying about her love life. Stil , it would be nice if the little redhead could be happy. If her boyfriend wasn't a threat. Damon ful y expected the happy couple to disappear into the dorm together. Instead, Zander kissed Bonnie good-bye and watched as she went inside, then headed back out. Damon fol owed him, keeping hidden, as he went back to the party where they'd been before. A few minutes later, Zander came down again, trailed by his pack of noisy boys. Damon twitched in irritation. God save me from college boys, he thought. They were probably going to gorge themselves on greasy bar food. After a couple of days of watching Zander, he was ready to go back to Elena and report that the boy was guilty of nothing more than being uncouth. Instead of heading toward the nearest bar, though, the boys jogged across campus, quick and determined, as if they had an important destination in mind. Reaching the edge of campus, they headed into the woods. Damon gave them a few seconds and then fol owed. He was good at this, he was a predator, a natural hunter, and so it took him a few minutes of listening, of sending his Power out, of final y just racing through the woods, black branches snapping before him, to realize that Zander and his boys were gone. Final y, Damon stopped and leaned against a tree to catch his breath. The woods were silent except for the innocent sound of various woodland creatures going about their business and his own ragged panting. That pack of noisy, obnoxious children had escaped him, disappearing without the slightest trace. He gritted his teeth and tamped down his anger at being evaded, until it was mostly curiosity about how they'd done it. Poor Bonnie, Damon thought as he fastidiously smoothed and adjusted his clothing. One thing was abundantly clear: Zander and his friends weren't entirely human. Stefan twitched. This was al just kind of strange. He was sitting in a velvet-backed chair in a huge underground room, as col ege students roamed around arranging flowers and candles. The room was impressive, Stefan would give them that: cavernous yet elegant. But the little arrangements of flowers seemed chintzy and false somehow, like a stage set in the Vatican. And the black-masked figures lurking in the back of the room, watching, were giving him the jitters. Matt had cal ed him to tel him about some kind of col ege secret society that he'd joined, and that the leader wanted Stefan to join, too. Stefan agreed to meet him and talk about it. He never was much of a joiner, but he liked Matt, and it was something to do. It would take his mind off Elena, he'd thought. Lurking around campus – and it felt like lurking, when he saw Elena, with the way his eyes were irresistibly drawn to her even as he hurried out of sight – he'd watched her. Sometimes she was with Damon. Stefan's fingernails bit into his palms. Consciously relaxing, he turned his attention back to Ethan, who was sitting across a smal table from him. â€Å"The members of the Vitale Society hold a very special place in the world,† he was saying, leaning forward, smiling. â€Å"Only the best of the best can hope to be tapped, and the qualities we look for I think are very Wellexemplified in you, Stefan.† Stefan nodded politely and let his mind drift again. Secret societies were something he actual y knew a little about. Sir Walter Raleigh's School of Night in Elizabethan England wrestled with what was then forbidden knowledge: science and philosophy the church declared out of bounds. Il Carbonari back home in Italy worked to encourage revolt against the government of the various city-states, aiming for a unification of al of Italy. Damon, Stefan knew, toyed with the members of the Hel fire Club in London for a few months in the 1700s, until he got bored with their posturing and childish blasphemy. Al those secret societies, though, had some kind of purpose. Rebel ing against conventional morality, pursuing truth, revolution. Stefan leaned forward. â€Å"Pardon me,† he said politely, â€Å"but what is the point of the Vitale Society?† Ethan paused midspeech to stare at him, then wet his lips. â€Å"Well,† he said slowly, â€Å"the real secrets and rituals of the Society can't be unveiled to outsiders. None of the pledges know our true practices and purposes, not yet. But I can tel you that there are innumerable benefits to being one of us. Travel, adventure, power.† â€Å"None of the pledges know your real purpose?† Stefan asked. His natural inclination to stay away was becoming more resolute. â€Å"Why don't you wear a mask like the others?† Ethan looked surprised. â€Å"I'm the face of the Vitale for the pledges,† he said simply. â€Å"They'l need someone they know to guide them.† Stefan made up his mind. He didn't want to be guided. â€Å"I apologize, Ethan,† he said formal y, â€Å"but I don't think I would be an appropriate candidate for your organization. I appreciate the invitation.† He started to rise. â€Å"Wait,† said Ethan. His eyes were wide and golden and had a hungry, eager expression in them. â€Å"Wait,† he said, licking his lips again. â€Å"We †¦ we have a copy of Pico del a Mirandola's De hominis dignitate.† He stumbled over the words as if he didn't quite know what they were. â€Å"An old one, from Florence, a first edition. You'd get to read it. You could have it if you wanted.† Stefan stiffened. He had studied Mirandola's work on reason and philosophy with enthusiasm back when he was stil alive, when he was a young man preparing for the university. He had a sudden visceral longing to feel the old leather and parchment, see the blocky type from the first days of the printing press, so much more right somehow than the modern computer-set books. There was no way Ethan should have known to offer him that specific book. His eyes narrowed. â€Å"What makes you think I'd want that?† he hissed, leaning across the table toward Ethan. He could feel Power surging through him, fueled by his rage, but Ethan wouldn't meet his eyes. â€Å"I †¦ you told me you like old books, Stefan,† he said, and gave a little false laugh, gazing down at the tabletop. â€Å"I thought you would be interested.† â€Å"No, thank you,† Stefan said, low and angry. He couldn't force Ethan to look him in the eye, not with al these people around, so after a moment, he stood. â€Å"I refuse your offer,† he told Ethan shortly. â€Å"Good-bye.† He walked to the door without looking back, holding himself straight and tal . He glanced at Matt, who was talking to another student, as he reached the door and, when Matt met his eyes, gave him a shrug and a shake of the head, trying to telegraph an apology. Matt nodded, disappointed but not arguing. No one tried to stop Stefan as he left the room. But he had a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. There was something wrong here. He didn't know enough to dissuade Matt from joining, but he decided to keep tabs on the Vitale Society. As he shut the door behind him, he could sense Ethan watching him.

A Study On Triumph Of Will Media Essay

A Study On Triumph Of Will Media Essay The best purpose of documentary would be to discover of addressing the actual is what Stella Bruzzi thinks may be the purpose of the documentary the ideal method. The ‘aim would be to ‘find an ideal method of ‘representing truth as she says it himself. The three underlined phrases are themselves theoretical conditions that are uncertain, thus this is actually the first indicator that documentary mightn't always accomplish its goal. Documentary-style of movies continue to be under discussion may they be regarding how ‘real, this Stella Bruzzi employs the word ‘find' in the place of a far more powerful and term that is particular. Consequently, what's a really documentary based on advocates that are various? The very first author to make use of documentary like a phrase in his overview of Robert Flahertyis Moana, John Grierson, created his dictum that documentary is meaning of fact'. Griersonis essayFirst Concepts of Documentary contended that documentary was theatreis possibility of watching existence might be used in a brand new talent; the "original" actor and "original" picture are greater instructions than their hype alternatives to interpreting today's modern world; which supplies "hence obtained from the natural" could be more actual compared to served post. Unlike Bruzzi's concept of ‘representing' truth, Grierson thinks in ‘interpreting' it. Meaning could be inform of re enactment. Therefore the issue that occurs is - how practical is just a documentary that's moments and stars â€Å"guiding† the film's circulation? Any re enactment or circumstances that were borrowed could be altered to replicate the concept, which leaves almost no room for truth of the repr esentative. The word ‘documentary' comes from the doc' - to share info on the foundation of proof and evidence to aid it, based on the Merriam Webster dictionary. Within the world of movies and theatre, a documentary is just a movie that's an effort, in another or one single style, toshowreality as itreallyis. Another method of determining documentary may be the requirement because it is to fully capture existence - because it normally seems. It requires to become shot surreptitiously, as the objective would be to seize the unawareness has extended to include several extra elements than its unique description of life. ‘Documentaries' was a phrase used to explain films shot on film-stock, which is really a phrase used to explain celluloid's breakthrough - an item much-less delicate compared to document movie used. It's today arrived at include electronic and movie shows, whether for private-use, created-for-Television or for the silver screen. Documentaries' ongoing objective would be to continuously function to recognize a film-making exercise that catches existence because it certainly is, produce a cinematic convention that stays vibrant and fascinating, and lastly, to achieve and continue maintaining an association using the market. There are many kinds of documentary, however for this composition, I'll pit two different ‘documentaries' and evaluation which of those two, allow it to be nearest towards the above meanings that are various. Success of the Will a propaganda movie produced by Leni Riefenstahl and Super-Size Me is just a documentary by Morgan Spurlock would be the two documentaries I'll consider since their styles are different from one another, which can lead to a fascinating evaluation of the documentaries' objective and the things they achieve ultimately. Success of the May/ Success des Willens In 1934 Hitler recommended that Leni Riefenstahl movie this year's celebration move. Hitler needed an initial-price filmmaker to direct the celebration rally's movie, having insisted earlier that he desired to "manipulate the movie in this method that the market is likely to be obviously conscious that being an instrument of propaganda... They're likely to visit a political movie. After I discover governmental propaganda underneath the cloak of artwork it nauseates me. Allow it to possibly be politics or artwork." Riefenstahl required that her very own organization in the place of from the Ministry For Individualsis Enlightenment makes the movie. Hitler guaranteed to not hinder the recording and decided to this need; he granted her total independence to help make the movie she preferred. Though basically her organization funded and dispersed Success of the Will, there's small question the party really supplied the environment in addition to the resources and every service feasible fo r unimpeded movie saving of the function. This displays significantly about the biasness that's contained in the movie. Hitler's SA were recognized for generating concern, as well as if guaranteed to possess disturbance in her documentary, if Riefenstahl did display anything damaging concerning the Party, it might just imply possibly concentration camp or her disappearance. Furthermore, the film's name was recommended by Hitler himself, meaning that in the end it had been dependent of any force. So they wouldn't be apparent within the group the camera team utilized thirty cameras and were fitted as SA males. Though you will find atleast twelve sequences within the movie where cameras can be detected by the cautious viewer at the office, generally the team operating the movie is extremely well-disguised. Success of The Will (1935) "isn't merely a masterpiece completely by itself, separated from governmental or propagandist factors, however in its psychological adjustment of the market presents the center of what propaganda is all about". (Barsam, 1992, 130) Riefenstahl has the capacity to produce a glorified illustration of the NSDAP, or Nazi party, using the utilization of a music rating that invents Hitler as brave. Her capability to represent a party thus triumphantly is mentioned within the relaxing and shifting bits of cinematography when Hitler analyzes his party to some sacred order and provides his ultimate talk. She catches a substance significantly purer compared to the NSDAP, as well as towards the party's efforts of propaganda does significantly more than justice in a means. About the hand, in representing the NSDAP attractive her accomplishments is visible as misrepresenting along with a point could be attracted between reality and hype regarding, whether her glorificati ons are unjust. With correct movie appearance, the excitement of the ideal Indonesia based on them could be pictured for that Nazis but without immediately talking about the modern culture of the 1930s. The 'what it'd end up like if Nazis dominated' plan could be pictured using subjective visuals' utilization along with methods that are other so long as the 'actual' isn't known, in Germany as communities weren't of competition that is genuine. The thought of representing this in a movie and developing a real competition is nearly mythic, however alone ridiculous. To be able to depict an Aryan planet inventive discussion and obvious lies could be required. The moral ramifications behind this, is to be able to produce this perfect culture the fact that the folks themselves should adjust. The Flag-Bearer picture that is excessively recurring represents meaning attached to Nazism; the banner showing the Swastika symbol's addition shows the party's militarized energy. Like a pattern in propaganda, there's huge focus of the will on military icons in Success, triggered seriously experienced feelings related to the former army might of Germany. The editing of Leni Riefenstahl has an understanding in to Success of the Will as propaganda's standing. For instance, one series during the appearance in Nuremberg of Hitler consists of four pictures; the two shots display the old structures of then a German banner and the town consequently addressing the aged, conventional Indonesia. The next two-shots illustrate a Swastika after which Hitler. This series typifies by connecting the beliefs of the standard dogma having a visionary potential Riefenstahl has displayed the Nazi philosophy of the go back to a legendary epoch. Likewise, prior to the town awakening's picture Riefenstahl links a go of a classic chapel to represent Volakis believed, using the move campsite to indicate the Germany. Furthermore Hinton shows that as consequence of these sequences, Success of the Will is greater than a record of the 1934 Nazi Party Move; it's a record of the town of Nuremberg' where the audience increases a feeling of the wonder and background of the ancient center. Moreover, the usage of Nazi and German banners fits in using the utilization of military icons natural within the 3Rd Reich's propaganda. That is also stated by her; ‘In my cutting-room, it had been probably the most challenging function of my entire life' explaining the job that required atleast five weeks to satisfy. She described that she didn't care much about precision about the display which she naturally attempted to locate an unifying method to modify the movie in ways which may steadily consider the audience from work to do something and to impact from impression. When it comes to the pictures utilized, affection for Adolf Hitler, and obviously a propaganda movie, Success of the will does depict truth with force, they're not all lifeless and never reenacted by Riefenstahl. Nevertheless, it's a partial paperwork of the truth. In my opinion if perhaps there is less of allure proven concerning the rallies it'd have now been a genuine documentary, and also the deeper aspect like ghettos and the Holocaust were protected. The latter might have managed to get a far more objective good article, which makes it of the documentary in the place of a propaganda device. Very Size Me Morgan Spurlock chose to get this to documentary to research the ramifications of particular junk food stores items, and also the junk food businesses, especially McDonalds, about the health of culture. This Documentary examines America developing crisis of obesity aswell. Morgan chooses to consume only the food for four weeks of McDonald. He must-eat among everything about the selection at least one time, and he should do when requested to super-size his dinner. Another agreement of Morganis test is the fact that he is able to just consider 000 measures each day, 5 to reproduce that many typical Americans access it a regular schedule to the workout. He should also consume no conditions, three dinners each day of course if it does n't be served by McDonalds Morgan cannot consume it.Morgan enlists three physicians to help him. A cardiologist along with a doctor all examine him out at the start of the experiment that makes it legitimate since there is technology getting and encouragin g reasoning towards the outcomes of the test. Experts including McDonaldis, of the movie, claim that the outcomes might have been exactly the same whatever the supply of overeating and didn't exercise, and the writer deliberately eaten on average 5,000 calories daily. He ate exclusively McDonald's food consistent with the conditions of the possible ruling against McDonaldis in court papers outlined at the start of the movie. The movie handles such arguments by featuring that the area of the reason behind Spurlockis difficult health wasn't simply the high-calorie consumption but additionally the high-quantity of fat in accordance with minerals and vitamins within the McDonald's selection, that will be comparable for the reason that respect towards the dietary information of the selections on most different U.S. fast food stores. About 1/3 of the calories of Spurlock originated from glucose. Bridget Bennett ROAD, their nutritionist, reported him from " milkshakes " about his extra consumption of glucose. It's exposed toward the movie's finish that more than 12 pounds, and more than 30 pounds of glucose, he used " within the span of the dietary plan. of fat from their food". The diet's dietary aspect wasn't completely investigated within the video due to the clinic's closing which supervised this element throughout the recording of the film. Spurlock stated he tried to copy what a typical diet to get a normal eater at McDonaldis--an individual who might get small to no-exercise--might do for them. Spurlock's consumption of 5,000 calories daily was more than twice the proposed daily consumption to get a sedentary person man, which may add up to no more than 2,300 calories. An average guy eating as numerous calories as Spurlock did might acquire almost a pound each day (that will be approximately just how much Spurlock acquired), an interest rate of fat gain that may not be suffered for extended periods. Furthermore, Spurlock declare or didn't show that anybody, not to mention a considerable number of individuals, takes at McDonaldis 3 times daily. Actually McDonald's is described throughout the film to possess two courses of consumers of the restaurants: you will find the "Heavy Users," (about 72% of the customers, who consume at their restaurants a couple of times a week), and also the "SUPERHeavy Users" (about 22% of th e customers, who consume McDonaldis 3 or even more occasions a week). But no body was discovered who consumed at McDonaldis 3 times each day. Spurlock stated that he ate in four weeks the quantity of junk food many nutritionists recommend somebody must consume in ten years. Although anxiety about junk food provokes, he does not recognize that bad diet isn't the only real reason for obesity, which the he explains is cause enough to think about the obligation must actually maintain the organizationis fingers. What Spurlock does precisely is the fact that their own philosophy is reflected by him. Prior to going for that test and recording it he was obvious in regards to what he desired to display from the end-of it and labored towards it, thus it could be discussed he created the documentary together with his biasness to his concept, and providing more protection towards the latter in the place of causing more stability representation like the impact and stress on Americans from the continuous ads about junk food. Assessment of both documentaries In the data provided above concerning the documentaries under consideration the very first thing that's very important to notice may be the proven fact that Success of the Will was a concept while, super-size Me was the thought of a regular filmmaker Morgan Spurlock recommended by Adolf Hitler. This really is an essential reality to become taken into account since fundamentally goal and the philosophy meant by Adolf Hitler and Morgan Spurlock is what'll ‘direct' the suggestions shown within the documentary, thus, detachment could be sacrificed. For truth in order to truly have a genuine documentary there must be preferably to become totally present, no draw-backs on detachment within the manifestation of suggestions. Adolf Hitler was a dictator ruling over a strong nation like Indonesia, capacity and his impact to pressurise Leni Riefenstahl was undeniable. On the other hand, Morgan Spurlock was simply a completely independent representative. What type of detachment and impartiality (two extremely important topics to replicate truth) may one assume from the representative operating under a master who managed the populace through concern? Each documentaries' reasons are opposites. Success of the Will was meant to be considered a propaganda movie that was political. Propaganda is in the end; a kind of conversation targeted at affecting the perspective of the neighborhood toward placement or some trigger. Propaganda in its simplest feeling, provides information mainly to affect an audience compared toimpartially supplying info. Propaganda frequently provides details uniquely (hence possiblylying by omission) to motivate a specific activity, or employs packed communications to create an emotional in the place of logical reaction to the info offered. The specified outcome is just a change of the perspective toward the topic within the audience to help agenda that is apolitical. Compared to this, super-size Me was not less with making awareness to do. Making consciousness may be capability or the condition to understand, even to beconsciousof occasions, or to experience. Within this degree of awareness, an observer can co nfirms feeling information without fundamentally implyingunderstanding. This implies that Spurlock not aimed at affecting individuals to conscious although totally revolt against junk food but atleast beware of the dangerous ramifications of it. It is left by him upon the market without brainwashing them to create their option. Success of the Will's demonstration is what John Grierson, forefather might categorise under Graceful style. Documentary flourish on the visual of a filmmaker and subjective aesthetic meaning of the various audio that is topic, along with it is chosen within the Success of Will, the same as for various moments. By comparison, Super-Size me is what Grierson might classify under participatory style, by which filmmakers transfer from behind the camera and seem as his test is carried out by topics within their own work-like Spurlock herself and becomes the primary topic of the documentary. The timeframe by which both documentaries are occur will also be essential factors to become mentioned. Success of the Will was set in Philippines, wherever everyone was in the centre of Nazi innovation and political mayhem in 1935. In unlike 2004 America wherever Super-Size Me is shot, the audience's flavor has improved significantly. Viewers of Very Size Me aren't just in the USA but planet around, that wasnot Success of the Will's goal market, the latter was intended for just the Germans. To increase this, Italians in 1934 were equally less informed compared to market of 2004, since among the main problems in those days of Germany was low-education. Thus, propaganda films worked to its total potential as people sort or wouldn't question their very own views; nevertheless, exactly the same CAn't be anticipated from generous thinking people in 2004. Of what market all over the world need now the flavor is from that which was anticipated in 1930's different. Today, reality and truth within controversy's type is what truly gets people's interest. You can surprise if the market of 1930 might have preferred to look at documentary that is actual, imagine if Success of the Will was to incorporate moments in the focus camps might have the market replied towards the documentary? Finally, editing and a large part play in addressing truth. The camera may seize all of the reality there's to become taken, however the market ultimately notice after cutting completed within the editing space what's presented. Representative's selection of pictures, moments and audio is what's fundamentally shown within the documentary. Quite simply, perhaps a few people's option or just one or philosophy is chosen and offered towards the market. The choice of the representative doesn't always need to replicate the truth. Therefore is truth actually displayed in documentaries? Summary Bibiolography:  · Stella Bruzzi, New Documentary: a vital Launch, Routledge, 2000  · Paul Ward, Documentary: The prices of truth, Wallflower Press, 2005  · Bill Nichols, Launch to Documentary, Indiana University media, 2001  · Michael Renov, Theorizing Documentary, Routledge, 1993 * Lee, J., 2008 08-may"Propaganda Methods in Early Documentary Videos: An in depth Evaluation with Eight Products"Document presented in the yearly assembly of the Organization for Training in Writing and Mass-Communication, Marriott Downtown, Dallas, ILOnline.2009-05-23fromhttp://www.allacademic.com/meta/p272071_index.html * Henrik Juel, Determining Documentary Movie, http://pov.imv.au.dk/Issue_22/section_1/artc1A.html * Malene Jorgensen, What's a Documentary? Determining the Faculties of the Documentary Movie, http://documentaryfilms.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_is_a_documentary, Sep 11, 2009 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leni_Riefenstahl * Jill Godmilow, in discussion with Ann Louise Shapiro, How actual is actual may be the truth in documentary film? http://www.nd.edu/~jgodmilo/reality.html * http://classes.design.ucla.edu/Spring04/161A/projects/Wes/Exercise_B/mainpage.html * Sue Abbott, Video analysis: Nazi philosophy in Leni Riefenstahlis 'Success of the Will', http://www.helium.com/items/468495-movie-analysis-nazi-ideology-in-leni-riefenstahls-triumph-of-the-will * Caoimhe Crinigan, Video analysis: Nazi philosophy in Leni Riefenstahlis 'Success of the Will', http://www.helium.com/items/1463308-the-nazi-filmmaking-of-leni-riefenstahl-to-be-deplored-and-respected * http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Supersize-Me-Conceptual-Analysis/141479 * http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/28660.html * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awareness * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_mode * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me

Appropriate Ways That Leader Should Use In School To Be Loved By Research Paper

Appropriate Ways That Leader Should Use In School To Be Loved By Subordinates - Research Paper Example Some people can use ideas to inspire others and this can be a good way for making people respect and love one as a leader. Therefore, the success of any leader is the establishment of good relationship with the subordinate. This is especially important when dealing with an education system where the leader is mainly the principle and the subordinates are the teachers. In many cases, leadership is a tool that is used in an institution to modify behaviour. This is because it helps to determine the goals of the organization as well as objectives expected. This means that the willingness of individuals to follow a person is what makes them a leader. Therefore in any leaning institution, success will mainly depend on the leadership style to be used by the head teacher. Therefore, the main focus of this paper is to find out the most appropriate ways the school leaders can use in order to gain favour from the subordinates. Research Objectives To review leadership styles successful in schools To examine the most effective leadership styles and how they affect the relationship among subordinates in the school. To review and interpret various leadership models adequate enough to run a school Leadership in schools in relation to Social Intelligence It is important to understand the meaning of the different terms used. Leadership is a complex term to explain. This is because in the traditional setup, leadership is used to bring about respect, teamwork and obedience. Leadership can also be defined as an influence that makes people act in a particular manner. On the other hand social intelligence is basically the ability to understand as well as manage people to act wisely in human relations (Goleman, 2006). This is because this is a factor that mainly affects people’s behaviours and interaction. Therefore, in the case of a school administrator and the subordinates, there is a huge relationship between the applicable leadership styles to social intelligence. This is because for a leader to be loved and respected by the subordinate, then one must also be able to understand the people and also interact with them without any difficulties. Results of the research Social intelligence principles There are numerous social intelligence and leadership principals that are applicable in the case of school leaders and their subordinates. Social intelligence is the ability to get along with others and also get them to cooperate with you. These principals are discussed herein. Humanization Social intelligence needs people to recognize humanity in others. This is a crucial aspect in leadership because people are supposed to be aware of what other people are capable. Therefore for a school administrator who needs to be loved by his subordinate, it is important to make sure that he considered other people’s feelings and also shun away from manipulating the subordinates.

Music, Movement or Creative Art Lesson Plan Assignment

Music, Movement or Creative Art Lesson Plan - Assignment Example e motor skills (Art), gross motor skills (Movement), social skills when they sing, dance and work together with other children, cognitive skills when they identify and talk about the animals and what they look/sound like as well as what they do. I can even make them sort the pictures of animals in various ways such as grouping them according to covering, to habitat or to the number of body parts. Finally, the song teaches about values because it focuses on praise and thanksgiving. I considered that all my students have different needs. For those who can join the main activity, I have prepared the song and dance and the art activities. However for my students who may not be capable of the activities due to some disability, age or lack of skill, I have also devised some ways for them to also participate such as improvising on the materials they can use (ex. Glue sticks instead of liquid glue; thick paint brushes instead of thin ones; easels instead of tables, with corresponding thicker paints). I have also considered those who may be unable to join the group movement activity to just watch the video in another room so that they can also enjoy the song while doing the small movements on their own without inhibitions. The children welcomed these differentiated strategies. Those who were sent to the video room initially just wanted to stay, and they were allowed to be with the group, but later on, they asked to see the video separately. The younger ones were able to do the Butterfly Blotto, but needed more assistance so that they control their impulse to paint the whole page instead of just the folded part. In any case, the lesson was a success! This lesson was the initial one and I did not expect mastery at once. I planned that the activities were motivators and reminders for the coming days of the lesson and activities we did. The following days also dealt with the same topic, but we focused on other areas such as what the animals ate, how they lived and which ones

The Boer War Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Boer War - Term Paper Example The Boer War was the first major military conflict of the 20th Century. The strategies employed by both sides set precedences for wars throughout the new century. The Boers used guerilla warfare tactics against the heavily favored British who herded many thousands of men, women and children into detention camps, both precursors of wars to come. Although the Boers eventually won their independence it came at a heavy cost to both sides. The Boers were the descendents of Dutch farmers of the Cape Colony in the nation of South Africa. Beginning in 1835, they began moving outside the region to establish the Transvaal and Orange Free State due to the constant border conflicts with the British overlords on one side of their territory and native tribes constantly encroaching on the other. Together these newly formed regions were known as the Boar Republic which included the town of Johannesburg. While the Boers considered themselves a sovereign, autonomous society, the British claimed all of South Africa as its own. The two factions held to a relative yet uneasy peace until gold was discovered in 1886 on Transvaal land. A gold rush ensued flooding the Boer’s lands with miners, speculators and adventurers, â€Å"outlanders† as they were called by the Boers. â€Å"The discovery of gold at Witwatersrand in the Transvaal ended Boer seclusion and brought a mortal threat to the young nation’s dream of freedom from alien rule. By 1896 the population of Johannesburg had grown to more than a hundred thousand.† (Weber, 2012). The Boers of the Transvaal were poor farmers. The discovery of gold was a great revenue producer but the newcomers producing this wealth were denied citizenship from the government. By 1896, the population of Johannesburg was about 100,000, half of which were white but only 6,200 were citizens, all Boers. Neither the British nor Boers allowed citizenship to the indigenous black population. Government officials received petitions, one with 18,000 and another with 35,000 signatures demanding it allow non-Boer whites citizenship. Neither was given serious consideration. The Transvaal and Orange Free State Boers formed an alliance as tensions between the groups worsened. British forces were dispatched to the Boer regions to help calm the situation but this move only made the situation worse. On October 10, 1899 the Boer government gave the British an ultimatum demanding that British forces be removed within 48 hours or war would be declared. (Chamberlain, Droogleever, 2003) Britain did not comply with the ultimatum to withdraw its troops. On October 11 the war began when the Boers attacked and took control of the towns of Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking. While the British were struggling to relieve their besieged forces in these towns, the Boers achieved inspiring victories in other major British strongholds such as Colenso, Stormberg and Magersfontein in December 1899. The fortunes of war soon changed howeve r. By February of the next year Kimberley and Ladysmith had been retaken by the British. The somewhat disorganized Boer troops were being scattered throughout the countryside. Soon the Boer front line, such as it was, collapsed. The next several months were a time of great uncertainty

How People Make Economic Decisions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How People Make Economic Decisions - Essay Example This decision involved comparison of marginal benefits and marginal costs associated with it. Establishing the auditing firm would offer me a better chance to exploit and realize my potential in the real world as I won't be tied to very stringent policies as those of my firm can oftenly be amended at will and hence more flexible. In case the auditing firm became a success, it would generate profits that would surpass my previous income by far. This will create more time me to pursue my own ambitions including working extra hours. Being my own boss is more satisfying and assuring in terms of mutual growth as the firm grows. It was easier for me to grow up the rank in my own establishment to the post of a CEO as opposed to my previous employment. Large capital and other resource requirement required to kick-start the auditing firm. Conforming to the legal requirement s (rules and regulations) of the state and regulatory authorities required for the auditing firm to be operational. Losing the job security that was attached to my previous employment and starting an auditing firm whose success was not certain.

The effectiveness of Polymer reinforced Concrete Masonry (CMU) Walls Essay

The effectiveness of Polymer reinforced Concrete Masonry (CMU) Walls as Compared to unreinforced CMU Walls - Essay Example Using of FRP composites have been viewed as a suitable and cost-effective way for strengthening URM. Seismic design in the USA is nearly completely grounded on the consideration that the structural system gives a flexible failure mode. Masonry walls strengthened by FRP actually have fragile failure modes as a result of the nature of the strengthening system itself. The idea explored in our research paper is the introduction of flexibility using some kind of hybrid strengthening system. We based our investigation on the experiments held by J.J. Myers and P. Carney (cited in Tumialan, 2005). The research study investigated the practicability of developing continuity between the FRP and the surrounding reinforced concrete frame system. In the paper, we evaluated strengthened URM wall's functioning using static tests as tools for our investigation. The authors whose works we used for the examination utilized 2 strengthening methods including the application of glass FRP (GFRP) laminates to the wall's surface and the installation of near surface mounted (NSM) GFRP rods. In both methods, the strengthening material was anchored to boundary members above and below the wall on some of the specimens in the research program. A shear retrofit, the effects of bond pattern, and the effects of FRP laminate strip width were also investigated in our paper. The development of continuity between the FRP materials and the surrounding framing system is important to improving the blast resistance of URM infill walls. Keywords: FRP strengthening; blast resistance; masonry wall retrofits; masonry wall connections. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. BACKGROUND Recent events in the world have attracted attention to the vulnerability and sustainability of buildings and infrastructure to acts of terrorism. Our infrastructure is vital to this nation's economy and way of life. Any damage to it would and has had drastic effects on our culture. Attacks may cause a variety of results ranging from minor building damage to complete structural failure and considerable loss of life. Some examples within the United States include the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City (1995) and the bombing and attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City (1993, 2001). Abroad, numerous attacks have been directed toward embassies, and suicide car bombers have been used to targetpopulated areas. In the cases where complete structural failure is not an issue, the dangers of flying debris have resulted in loss of life or injury to numerous civilians. Of particular concern are unreinforced masonry (URM) infill walls. Structural sys tems composed of a reinforced concrete (RC) framing system with URM infill walls makes up a significant portion of the building inventory in the United States and around the world. Since there is no reinforcement within these walls, they have little resistance to out-of-plane loads such as a blast load. As a result, an effort has been undertaken to examine retrofit methods that are feasible to enhance their out-of-plane resistance. One method of strengthening URM walls is the application of fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) to the surface of the wall to improve their performance. Today, FRP is considered an emerging technology. Its use began becoming

The Culture and History of the Shawnee Indians Research Paper

The Culture and History of the Shawnee Indians - Research Paper Example Although, by 1730s, the Shawnee had returned to their homeland, they faced relocation by American settlers whereby they moved first to Missouri and then to Kansas. Most of members of the Shawnee tribe finally settled in Oklahoma after the end of the Civil War. In 1793, some of the Shawnee tribe received a Spanish land grant at Missouri (Clark 5). Nevertheless, in 1803, the land was came under American control and the Shawnees had to settle in Southern Oklahoma, becoming the Absentee Shawnee. The Shawnee people view themselves as the descendants of the Delaware, considered to be their grandfathers. They also possess strong links with the Kickapoo, who manifest linguistic ties. Original estimates of Shawnee population in the pre European era ranged around 10,000. The first official accurate count occurred in 1825, which placed the count at 1,400 in Missouri, 110 in Louisiana, and 800 in Ohio. The decrease in the population arose from conflicts and diseases such as the flu and scarlet f ever. Some of diseases that decimated the population emanated from the settlers from Europe. The Shawnee demonstrated a strong tribal identity. The largest group comprised of loyal Shawnee, who numbered about 8,000 individuals recognized by the United States Government as the Cherokee nation. The Eastern Shawnee tribe of Oklahoma comprised of about 1,600 members while there were about 2,000 Absentee Shawnee. The Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band numbered about 600 (Clark 8). Prior to contact with Europeans, the Shawnee tribe comprised of coalition of five divisions, which boasted of a shared language and culture. The divisions encompassed Chillicothe, Hathawekela, Kispokotha, Mequachake, and Pekuwe (Warren 14). Each of the five groups operated individually, and membership in each division was inherited from the father. The villages were usually named after the division. The central chief presiding over the divisions could ever come from one division or what is referred to as Chilli cothe. Headship of the different divisions hinged on hereditary (Murphree 410). How they got their name The word Shawnee stems from the Algonquin word â€Å"shawun† (shawunogi), which means Southerner (Pritzker 4). The Shawnee was the southernmost group, as the name implies. The original Homeland of the entire Algonquian population was centered in the eastern subarctic region of Canada. The meaning of â€Å"shawun† points that they originally lived to the south of Kickapoo, of the Ohio valley. The name â€Å"Savanoos† was applied by the early Dutch writers referring to the Indians who occupied the north bank of Delaware River within New Jersey. The name mainly applies to their initial locality within the Ohio Valley comparative to other Great Lakes like Algonquin. Shawnee habitually prefers to refer to themselves the Shawano or Shawanoe or Shawanese. The Shawanee dialect encompasses Southern Great Lakes (Wakashan) closely related to Fox, Sauk, Mascouten, and Kic kapoo. Language Linguistically, the Shawnee tribe is identified with the group of Central Algonquian dialects, inclusive of the Miami, Kickapoo, Illiniwek, and Sauk and Fox. The Shawnee Indian language is credited for being the most expressive and eloquent of all the other Indian languages. The Shawnee managed to retain their folklore despite the dispersion and loss of contacts with other languages and cultures.

Technical Skills Essential to the Role of Secretarial Administration Essay

Technical Skills Essential to the Role of Secretarial Administration - Essay Example The researcher will begin with the statement that his experience in administration began when he was appointed as personal secretary to the Director-General of the Department of Arts and Culture. The researcher’s duties included the giving of administrative support to the Director-General. His main focus was administrative leadership, security and control functions which facilitated internal and external communication of the Head of Department with Top Management, Board Members and Agencies receiving state funding for arts and culture. The author got familiar with the Department’s policy regarding its system of correspondence, which included the drafting of internal memoranda, letters, and submissions for approval of funding proposals according to the system of delegation. In the researcher’s 10 years of employment with the Department, he prepared agendas for board and in-house meetings, took notes and set-up minutes of the meetings. The author had to organize in ternal staff meetings and provide all related documentation to the program managers (heads of the department’s divisions) like the financial executive director. Of his functions were to build a complete and efficient filing system in the form of paper files for back-up as well as an electronic filing system which kept track of each matter under discussion. Each unresolved matter was given a deadline date and the computer programme gave a daily print-out of outstanding matters with regard to urgent bookmarks for immediate attention that day.

Cause and Spread of Infection Essay Example for Free

Cause and Spread of Infection Essay 1.1. Identify the differences between bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites All 4 are different types of pathogens Bacteria is a single celled organism that multiply by themselves. They lives within and on most living and nonliving things. The majority of bacteria’s are harmless and beneficial to the human body but some can cause infectious diseases. A bacterium usually affects one part of the body and doesn’t spread across or through the body. Bacterial infections are normally treated with a cause of antibiotics. Viruses: are made up of genes and proteins that spread throughout the body by invading the body’s own cells so they can reproduce and multiply in the body. They use the body’s cells as a host because they are unable to multiply on their own. They are normally spread directly from human to human. Viruses can be very tough and there are not many effective medicines available for viral diseases. There are currently 21 families of viruses known to cause disease in humans. Fungi: like to grow in warm, moist places. Some fungi can be beneficial to us such as penicillin, but certain types of fungi can be harmful to our health. Like bacteria and viruses, some fungi can act as pathogens. Human fungal diseases can occur due to infection or fungal toxins. Symptoms for fungal diseases can be as common as itching, coughing, fever, wheezing, but they can also be as serious as meningitis or even death Parasites are organisms that use other organism for its survival. They draw nourishment and other needs from its host organism. Parasites that cause infection and disease are known as Pathogenic parasites 1.2. Identify common illnesses and infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites Bacteria: Ecoli/food poisoning, MRSA, CDIF, Sickness and diarrhea Viruses: Common cold, Influenza, Chicken pox, Cold sores, HIV Fungi: Athletes foot, Thrush, yeast infections, Ring Worm Parasites: Tape worms, Scabies, Malaria 1.3 Describe what is meant by â€Å"infection† and â€Å"colonisation† An infection is an invasion of the body by pathogens i.e. Bacteria and viruses which can cause disease and infections Colonisation is when microorganisms live on or in a host organism but do not invade tissues or cause damage 1.4 Explain what is meant by â€Å"systemic infection† and â€Å"localised infection† A â€Å"localised infection† is an infection that is limited to a specific body part or region of the body A systemic infection is when the infection is spread throughout body and affects a number of different organs and tissues 1.5 Identify poor practices that may lead to the spread of infection †¢Not wearing provided personal protective clothing when dealing with personal care and bodily fluids †¢Not changing PPE clothing in-between dealing with service user’s personal care. †¢By walking out in to corridors in PPE clothing whilst in the middle of deal with personal care. †¢Not washing hands correctly †¢Not disposing of solid and wet pads in the correct manner. .2.1 conditions needed for growth of microorganisms Temperature this will be between 8-63 degrees cc this is also called the danger area as bacteria multiply very fast. You will also need food for the bacteria or parasites for feed on. Moisture is another key important fact that will make growth easier Time is another important areas as more time made available as other conditions remain constant makes it easy. 2.2 and 2.4 Infective agents enter the body through open skin, wounds, saliva, blood exchange, oral areas such as mouth, anus. the person infected gets in contact with an infected person and through the media listed and appropriate condition then multiplication will take place and that will lead to infection. 2.3 common sources of infection †¢ Patient as a source for a) Air borne †¢ Patient as a source b) Blood borne †¢ Sexually transmitted †¢ Direct contact †¢ Fecal /oral tansmission †¢ Employees eg MRSA transmission †¢ Animals as source of infection. 2.5 Poor hygiene is most important factor that will always make it likely for any infection to take place. Lack of hand washing, ensuring that we get appropriate treatment and to be contained in one area until we heal or doctor gives us clean bill of health.

Can Go Issues And Solutions

Can Go Issues And Solutions One of CanGo division is an online book store. Best sellers are kept in the warehouse grouped by subject, while other titles are ordered from publishers or other sources. The current process involves pickers getting lists with titles that have been ordered and then picking them from inventory. The issues with this system are that the lists are random and congestion. This is because a picker may have to go from one end of the warehouse to the other and back again when fulfilling an order. In addition, multiple pickers often end up in the same place at the same time causing congestion. If the picking process is improved, it would mean CanGo can carry more inventory and decrease the amount of time it takes to get books to customers. Solution 1 CanGo has presented a proposal to purchase an automatic storage and retrieval system (ASRS) to streamline the picking process. An ASRS is a system that uses technology for depositing and retrieving inventory from a defined storage location. There are several benefits to an ASRS including better use of both space and labor, and it improves the company control of the materials CanGo needs to consider several things when designing a system. These include the material to be moved, numbers of load to be stored, material flow description, description of operations, and architectural consideration for future expansion (ASRS, 1999). It is obvious that CanGo deals with books but it is important to know the weight and the dimensions of the books. Material flow description or flow charts illustrate how the books get from the starting point to the outbound truck, including a description of what the operator does and shows places where a logjam may occur. Architectural consideration means that the size of the building may place limits on what system CanGo uses. There are several manufactures of ASRS systems. One is Cisco Eagle and its mini storage system (Cisco eagle mini load). Material is placed in a tote, a tray or a carton. Storage can be single, double or triple deep. In conclusion a good ASRS system will lower storage costs and enable the work force to be more productive. Problem 2 CanGo continues to strive to increase their sales and to work through their growing pains that are often experienced by new companies. Like many startup companies, CanGo is faced with the prospect of large investments back into the company in order to increase production and streamline the delivery system. One issue that CanGo needs to rectify is the number of abandoned shopping carts that the company is experiencing. According to a recent survey conducted by Comscore, 76% of orders are abandoned. This is because the educated consumer of today continues to comparison shop throughout the checkout process. While CanGo has experienced a smaller percentage of abandoned orders, the problem is still prevalent. Solution 2 East Coast Consulting simulated the purchasing process on CanGos website and offers the following recommendations. Review the pricing of items that are offered. If an item is the same or similar as to what is offered on other sites, the consumer will shop by price alone. Offer a clearance or sale area in order to entice shoppers. Offer free shipping. 76% of consumers rate free shipping as a must for online orders. According to David Bell of Wharton, For whatever reason, a free shipping offer that saves customers 6.99 in shipping is more appealing to many than a discount that cuts the purchase price by $10 Eliminate the need to register in order to check out. This requires too much information from the customer and takes too much time. Provide the option of Guest check out. Remember that in order to follow up on abandoned orders, an email address must be obtained. This should be the first field presented to the customer upon checkout. Build trust and eliminate doubt with customers. This can be accomplished by addressing frequently asked questions, clearly stating the return and privacy policy and a security guarantee. Also, CanGo needs to prominently show the company information including an email and phone number. Implement Live Chat. In a recent survey, 77% of retailers listed Live Chat as critical to converting the shopping cart into sales. Offer more payment options including PayPal and Amazon Checkout. Also provide clear instructions on providing credit card information. Simplify this process as much as possible and make the checkout button a clear call to action. We feel these recommendations will greatly improve the conversion rate at CanGo. Problem 3 One of the main problem that Can Go is facing is making their website user friendly and more appealing, At this point, nearly every company has a website, and for good reason. Potential customers and clients use sites to learn about the company, but also to get a general feeling about service and culture. If Can Go makes their website user friendly and attractive then customer would definitely come back and buy the service. Solution 3 Although a fantastic-looking website can be powerful, design isnt the first place to start when it comes to user experience. Because businesses need to understand their consumers in order to develop products and marketing campaigns that appeal to their target audience, consumer psychologists often spend a great deal of time learning more about what makes shoppers tick. This often involves first figuring out the target audience for a particular product including the gender, age and socioeconomic status of the typical shopper. Next, the consumer psychologist might begin researching the types of products and marketing messages that appeal to these types of buyers. Other consumer psychologists might focus on social marketing, or how ideas and messages spread among groups. Researchers might be interested in getting out information about a product or an important public health message. Learning how beliefs andÂÂ  attitude spread among groups can help organizations learns how to better get their message out and encourage word-of-mouth marketing. Consumer psychologists often conduct research to learn more about buyer behavior. Common research methods used by these professionals include experiments, phone surveys, focus groups, direct observation and questionnaires. Chances are good that you have participated in at least one market research survey in your life. These are often conducted by phone, but may also be done online or through direct mail. In a survey, consumers are often asked to describe their past shopping behavior, factors that influenced their decision-making and their future buying plans. Researchers also typically gather details about each respondents sex, age, race, educational history and current financial situation. This type of information can be very useful, since it allows researchers to look for patterns and learn more about who buys certain products. For example, using a survey might allow researchers to discover that women between the ages of 30 and 45 who have a household income between $50,000 to $100,000 are most likely to buy a particular product or service. By knowing this, they can then begin designing marketing campaigns aimed at this target audience. Learning these aspects will definitely help Can Go to help better their business. Problem 4 CanGo has spent a lot of time trying to meet the needs of their current customers and have done very well at that. Recently, CanGo began research to understand their current customers purchasing habits and the changing and evolving ecommerce market. For CanGo to remain successful, they must understand the new target market. It is very well known that customer retention is imperative to be successful and without doing the proper research, CanGo will not be effective at holding on to their current customers or gaining new ones. This will ultimately make them a failure with the new product and it could cause them to go under for a lack of being able to gain new customers for the current market. Solution 4 CanGo needs to take a look at it current customers first. Then they need to understand what the age group of its current shoppers is and what they are purchasing. Then CanGo can identify any buying habits. This will help CanGo with their advertising and marketing. This can also help with planning so that their customers will not be impacted by a lack of product. CanGo will also need to identify the target market for online gaming. Doing market research will help CanGo by answering certain questions. What age group of people likes to play games online? What time of day do they like to play these games and how often. How much do online gamers pay for this service? What does the current competition offer? This way they can better understand the new target market as well as the old one. Problem 5 CanGo recently experienced an increase in orders from Japan. When the company received the occasional order from Japan, it was economical to send via UPS. Now, with the increase in sales to Japan, it makes sense to look into companies that specialize in business shipments to Japan. CanGo also should learn all it can about Japanese shipping regulations. Solution 5 CanGo should seek to partner with several companies that specialize in business shipments to Japan. One company is Best Shipping (Best shipping). According to their website, Best Shipping not only accepts imports, but they are licensed customer brokers. They are able to navigate the Japanese shipping rules and regulations and have its own fleet of trucks. This means that one company will have control of the shipment from the time merchandise leaves CanGo until it arrives at the customers door. Another company that specializes in shipping to Japan is Yamato Transport Inc. There office is located in Secaucus, New Jersey and specialize in air and ocean freight, international moving and import and export custom clearing services in the US. The company has several businesses that specialize in door to door shipments in a particular region of Japan. Large American based shipping companies like UPS and Fed Ex have experience serving the Japanese market and should be part of CanGos rotation of Japanese shippers. Although the shipping companies are experts in Japanese shipping rules and will handle most of the details, it is helpful to know the basics. Jetro.org, Japans external trade organization, offers useful information for US companies doing business in Japan. Problem 6 CanGo is spending time to fix all of the things that are not currently working. In doing so there has not been any update on what they are going to do to get the new product line off the ground. Has research been done to see if there is a competitor out in the online gaming market? What type of computer system is needed to handle online gamers? Is CanGos security tight enough to handle the hackers? What is needed to get the online gaming up and running? Does CanGo have enough capital to make this happen? These are all questions that have not been answered. CanGo has not assigned any specific people to the new project. This is going to be a lot of work and take a lot of time. The marketing department also needs to focus on who they are marketing to and how they are going to market to them. Solution 6 So that the team stays focused at a time like this there should be weekly meeting on what is going on with the new project what needs to be done. Deadlines need to be set. This way it is clear that CanGo has not decided not to do the project and that this needs to be done in addition to the corrections to the current process. This way it is clear to all what the goal is. This will help the workers not lose sight of what is important and what needs to be done. CanGo need to make a Gantt chart so the time line of what needs to be done. This will also help assign people to specific task. When CanGo does this it will make it clear to all what needs to be done and who is going to do it. Once it is clear to everyone who is doing what, CanGo needs to look at what they are looking to sell. A Gantt chart would be beneficial to help assign people to specific task and provide clear goals and time frame for completion. In Closing it is important for CanGo to focus on now and the future. That means looking at what is happening to maintain the current customers and drive new ones. East Coast Consulting has provided 6 problems and 6 solutions that will allow CanGo to get once set closer to getting where they want to be. References ASRS. (1999, May 27). Consideration for planning an automated storage retrieval system. Retrieved Feburary 1, 2013, from https://www.cirrelt.ca/mhmultimediabank/ApplicationGuide%5CMHIA%20-%20ASRS%20considerations.pdf Best shipping. (n.d.). Best shipping/ services. Retrieved January 30, 2013, from Best shipping: http://www.bestshipping.co.jp/english/service/index.html Cisco eagle mini load. (n.d.). Retrieved Feburary 1, 2013, from Cisco eagle: http://www.cisco-eagle.com/material-handling-systems/asrs-systems/mini_load Japanese external trade organization. (n.d.). Jetro.go.jp. Retrieved January 31, 2013, from http://www.jetro.go.jp/ Yamato transport inc. (n.d.). about us Yamato transport inc. Retrieved January 31, 2013, from Yamato transport inc: http://www.kuronekoyamato.co.jp/en/corporate/

A Case Study In IBM Services Information Technology Essay

A Case Study In IBM Services Information Technology Essay Improving customer relationships is the deployment and management of the customers CRM application. Outsourced call centre services are delivered by an IBM business partner. Customers choose the CRM application components that fit their needs: Marketing, Sales and Customer Service. Balancing cost, the customer experience and revenue enhancement are truly differentiate the contact centre (Pritchard, 2004). The contact centre environment has changed dramatically in recent years. Early call centres were cost centres, built to take advantage of the telephony technology of the time. Typically confined to one physical location, they relied on interaction-based, frontline support and had little financial justification of costs. Frequent handoffs among agents created inconsistencies, as did paper-intensive processes and product-based structures. Today, contact centres are becoming increasingly customer-focused and are gearing up to solve problems and generate revenue. A proliferation of channels is giving companies a variety of opportunities to communicate with their customers. And with more opportunities for up-selling and new ways to cut costs, the contact centre is transforming into a profit centre. As organizations make this transformation, they are faced with identifying areas for change, reducing service costs, providing a differentiated service, increasing sales, supporting a multichannel customer experience and leveraging technological advances. The challenges, coupled with increasing customer expectations, have created a renewed focus on transforming the contact centre (Pritchard, 2004). IBM Regional Contact Centre (RCC) exemplified what an ideal contact centre should be; a single contact point which provides effective, efficient and improved service to partners and clients through the consolidation of resources and services. The centre serves as a strategic component of IBMs own on-demand initiatives. Organizations are taking a new look at governance of contact center functions and the way calls are handled. Traditionally, contact centers have been organized by geography and business unit. Advance in telephony technology presents new opportunities for streamlining call handling and routing. Virtual contact center queues route calls to the appropriate agent, regardless of geography or department, allowing calls to be handled based on factors such as customer need, the type of transaction or function, the value of the customer or the particular customer segment. This can help boost cost-effectiveness and bring more value to callers, since theyll deal with the best-qualified agent for their particular issue. Leading companies are also adopting a cross-functional approach to the organizational structure of contact center operations. In addition to geography-based service delivery functions, companies are developing global Centers of Excellence for self-serve programs, customer data management, workforce forecasting and scheduling, metrics and reporting, and global queuing and call routing. These Centers of Excellence manage key processes globally, identify opportunities for improvement and work with the operational service delivery functions to implement transformation-related change programs (IBM Business Consulting Services, 2004). IBM Values Dedication to every clients success: IBM employees are passionate about building strong, long-lasting client relationships. This dedication spurs IBM to go above and beyond on its clients behalf. IBM sells products, services and solutions, but all with the goal of helping its clients succeed, however they measure success. Innovation that matters for our company and for the world: IBM employees are forward thinkers. IBM believes in progress, believes that the application of intelligence, reason and science can improve business, society and the human condition. IBM loves grand challenges, as well as everyday improvements. Whatever the problem or the context, every IBM employee seeks ways to tackle it creatively to be an innovator. Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships: IBM employees actively build relationships with all the constituencies of its business including clients, partners, communities, investors and fellow IBM employees. IBM builds trust by listening, following through and keeping its word. IBM Mission To Drive Client Loyalty and Profitable Growth through Service Delivery Excellence IBM Vision To be the IT Service Provider of Choice in Asia Pacific IBM Commitments Growth Client Referenceability Drive client satisfaction by aligning IBMs efforts to its clients business imperatives, priorities and challenges Delivery Service Excellence Protect its clients business through a strong controls posture and operational discipline Provide competitive high quality service through standardization and automation Enable IBM Team for Growth Develop and nurture IBM people to play an active role in the globally integrated enterprise IBM Goals Excel in delivering competitive, high quality and efficient IT services to its clients Meet and exceed all IBM financial objectives Achieve and exceed IBM Quality targets Protect the IBM brand by maintaining Satisfactory control posture and delivering with integrity Promote a culture where IBM work as One Team and promulgate best practice Equip IBMs employees with skills and knowledge to deliver quality services to its clients and make the right investment in training and certification Accelerate the development and growth of IBM leadership talent Foster communications to IBM staff and ensure key messages are delivered in a timely and consistent manner Literature Review Today, IT departments are pressured into doing more with less, and that this will require innovative approaches to management and operating staff. Innovations in technology are also supporting this, as silos within operations, and between operations and the service desk and application development, are slowly being bridged by innovative management and monitoring software solutions designed for modularity, cohesiveness and automation. Currently, IT services are delivered through a mix of structured and unstructured work activities. Structured activities rely primarily on standardized processes, procedures, and tools. In IT service support and delivery, an increasingly popular standardization effort is embodied by Information Technology Infrastructure Libraries (ITIL) which prescribes processes for capacity management, availability management, service-level management, financial management to achieve high quality IT service (Bailey, Kandogan, Haber, Maglio, 2007). As IT departments pl an to bridge this divide, it is important to keep in mind that the automation can empower us to become more efficient, but we will be sacrificing some of the gains if we are not willing to leverage the advantages of automation as a transformative, cultural and process catalyst because they are interdependent. Definition of Terms There are many terms involve in implementing Call Centre as an outsource business to the company and for IT outsource, it has its own standard to follow. For example, IBM conducts IT service delivery (ITSD) based on Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) standards. IT service management (ITSM or IT services) is a discipline for managing Information Technology (IT) systems, philosophically centered on the customers perspective of ITs contribution to the business. ITSM stands in deliberate contrast to technology-centered approaches to IT management and business interaction. Feldman (2007) mentioned that Providers of IT services can no longer afford to focus on technology and their internal organization, they now have to consider the quality of the services they provide and focus on the relationship with customers. The Service Delivery Structure describes accumulations of the customers accumulated in the system. The derivative between flow-in, customer flow rate, and flow-out, service completed rate, determine stock level. The dynamics of service delivery management will be comprised of four feedback structures: labor structure, capacity structure, cost structure, and service delivery structure. Service backlog or work in process, the stock of the service delivery structure, depending on customer flow or order rate and service completed rate or order fulfillment rate. Accumulations of stock stem from derivative of flow-in and flow-out at the points of time (Phoomphuang S., 2004). Service Desk is the place where exist the receipt and resolution of service requests, technical guidance, communication, etc. The central contact point between users and IT staff (Steel, 2008). Also it is the first place that the customer contacts when they have a problem or any request. Service Level Management (SLM) ensures that the agreed services are delivered when and where they are supposed to be delivered. SLM is a very important concept concentrating on value which is an intangible concept. If this value is destroyed by breaching any part of the Service Level Agreements (SLAs), it can have some negative consequences for the service provider as the customer will be dissatisfied. Information Technologies Infrastructure Library (ITIL): ITIL best practices were first developed in the 1980s by the British governments Office of Government Commerce (OGC) formerly called the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency. ITIL is a collection of best practices that have become widely observed in the IT service industry and a detailed framework of a number of significant IT practices, with comprehensive checklists, tasks, procedures, and responsibilities that are designed to be tailored to any IT organization. ITIL suggests that any IT operation should have some form of help desk where users of IT can ask questions or resolve problems. ITIL describes recommended best practices such as how to investigate and solve reported problems called into the operations help desk. These are the best practices and processes that are necessary for IT to process its applications in an efficient, controlled environment (Moeller, 2008). ITIL and IBM Service Delivery Process IBM has its own implementation of ITIL for IT service management. The service starts as soon as the contract is signed between the customer and IBM. Service delivery and service support team take control after contract is signed. IBM uses its own processes in order to deliver the services agreed contractually. IBM staff has to be familiar with these processes in order to deliver the services without any problem. These processes are standard and consistent across the globe for IBM and they are collected under different folders at IBM. These can be thought as related processes defined in ITIL collected under different titles. IBM procedures are confidential and cannot be described (Nazimoglu Ozsen, 2010). In business, the fit between the business strategy with respect to products and services provided to external customers and the internal structure of the enterprise is critical for economic performance and efficiency. Henderson and Venkatraman (1993) had concluded that the strategic alignment fits between external and internal business and IT strategies. Business strategy can drive IT strategy as well as the organizational and IT infrastructure, but IT strategy can also enable new and enhanced business strategies. Functional integration of business and IT makes IT a source of Competitive advantage. Environment The IBM Regional Contact Centre (RCC) has empowered IBM Malaysia to be more responsive, variable, focused and resilient by enabling the company to respond with flexibility and speed to any customer demand, market opportunity or external threat. The RCC is the sixth regional centre that IBM has established in Malaysia, after the Asia Pacific South Regional Administrative Support Centre, the Asean/ South Asia Regional Technical Sales Support Centre, the Asean Regional Support Centre for Integrated Technology Services, the Asia Pacific South Accounting Centre, and the IBM Global Financing Regional Centre for Asean/ South Asia, Greater China and Korea. The RCC supports four prime business functions: Teleweb marketing suport services, backoffice customer support services, and integrated technology support services, which cover the Asean region. The fourth business function is the strategic outsourcing helpdesk which supports the Asia Pacific region. The RCC is the latest of the companys 11 regional shared-services centres and is equipped with a multilingual workforce that caters for nine languages, including Tagalog, Japanese, Korean and Thai. Organization IBM has eleven regional centres located in Malaysia to support the IBM Corporation globally. Six of these centres are Operational Headquarters (OHQs), a status awarded by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) to companies serving their offices regionally and globally. Located in Plaza IBM, headquarters in Bandar Utama, these centres are: IBM Asia Pacific Accounting centre: Provides accounting services for IBM in Asia Pacific, such as costs and revenues, Inventory/PIMS, DSW Software Accounting, monthly financial closing and reporting, expense accounting, APSC, WTAC, IGF accounting, services accounting, business control, SOX, statutory accounts and country accounting operations. IBM Asia Pacific Competency centre: Provides end-to-end administrative services, such as customer records, loading of customer orders, contract preparation, scheduling (negotiating with various plants in the world for supply to meet customer requirements), inventory management, billing, accounts receivable collection, systems controls and testing. Asia Pacific IBM Global Financing centre of Excellence: Manages most of the administrative and back-office tasks for the whole of the Asia Pacific region, such as contract creation, lease inception and booking of contracts into a lease portfolio system. Supports contract management, fulfillment, pricing, financial planning and internal controls. It also centralized financial management information and planning support to IBMs country leaders and management teams across the Asia Pacific region. Other areas of support include administration, forecasting, budgeting and financial analysis. IBM World Wide Competency centre: Delivers efficient, global common processes, tools, and applications with standardization, simplification, and automation, in order to accelerate IBMs positioning as a global integrated company. ASEAN Regional Technical Sales Support centre: Provides pre-sales technical support and technical enablement to ASEAN, Asia Pacific and other parts of the world which cover IBM hardware and software offerings. IBM Regional Contact centre (RCC): Provides integrated technology support services, pre-sales technical support and strategic outsourcing help-desk for the ASEAN region. Offers technical assistance in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korea, Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnam and Thai. IBM is a company that strives to lead in the creation, development and manufacture of the industrys most advanced information technologies (IT), including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices and microelectronics. The companys business in ASEAN/SA is primarily comprised of sales and distribution of services, hardware, and software. These offerings are bolstered by IBMs research and development capabilities. IBM can also provide financing depending on its customers needs. The fundamental strength of this model is IBMs ability to assemble the optimal mix of these offerings to design tailored solutions for customers. IBMs operations in ASEAN/SA cover countries including Singapore, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. IBM in Malaysia is a wholly-owned onshore subsidiary of IBM World Trade Corporation. In IBM Malaysia, there are a few thousand employees of diverse backgrounds and talents serving in professional and support function roles, including regional positions. IBM Malaysia is committed to playing a major role in cultivating the use and development of IT in Malaysia, a mission that mirrors the Governments objective of making the country a regional and global hub of knowledge-based industries. IBM Malaysia is to be completely local organization in terms of expertise, 52% of our employees are women. The company is also heavily involved in developing local capability through a string of alliances (Are you an IBMer, 2010). Moreover, IBMers collaborate every day with their over 390,000 colleagues with growing networks of clients, advocates, experts and peers and with our neighbors, local organizations and millions of people they have never met and never will meet. This is simply how business is done in a globally integrating economy (About IBM, n.d) to support the integration of processes and operations; IBM has Globally Integrated Enterprise (GIE) governance. It puts the focus of decision makers on end users, productivity, standards, and integration to achieve maximum value from business transformation investments (BT/IT Governance, n.d). Furthermore, the GIE governance system emphasizes cross-functional and cross-unit team. Leadership and management roles are designed to pro vide clear ownership of the end-to-end business model and create a means to coordinate processes and transformation initiatives across organizations (BT/IT Governance, n.d). IBM has chosen Malaysia for its regional contact centre to serve the Asean region amid keen interest shown by other nations to have one here. The IBM Asean Regional Contact Centre (RCC) is due to start operation in Cyberjaya in the middle of the year 2003. The RCC, to be managed by some 60 staff, would provide support services to IBM business units, business partners and customers in five Asean countries namely Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. Currently, the numbers of IBM clients have increased and the support countries among Asia Pacific have also been added China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, India and Australia. Thus, the numbers of IBM RCC staff now have been increased to more than 100 including both local and international staff to support clients based on native languages offer. The support services include tele-sales and tele-marketing, customer support operations, and so on. Locale IBM Malaysia Sdn Bhd is investing RM 8 million to set up its Customer Support Operation (CSO) center in Malaysia that would operate as a hub for end-to-end order procurement covering 17 countries in Asean and South Asia. The CSO allows electronic ordering from IBMS manufacturing plants, receiving orders from its customers and business partners, collaboration among co-workers through e-mail and supporting of IBM Asean and South Asia business units and partners (IBM Malaysia to Spend RM8 MLN on Customer Centre, 2000). The location of IBMs CSO is in Cyberjaya. This department provides integrated technology support services, pre-sales technical support technical enablement, strategic outsourcing help-desk for the ASEAN region which cover IBM hardware and software. This department also provides post sales technical support and services and also remote technical support for all IBM hardware and software. A customer support representative also will assist the clients about their contract enquires, invoice enquires. IBM CSO Offers technical assistance in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia, Korea, and Thai. The case study was conducted at IBM Regional Contact Centre (RCC), Cyberjaya. The company is focusing on IT outsourcing which offering IT support; service desk or helpdesk to IBMs clients. There are only three main departments at RCC; Human Resource Recruitment, Financial and IT department. There are many sub departments under IT department, each department has its own name based on the client or project that their handle such as IGA (IBM Global Assistance), Merk, Maxis, Michelin, DBSchenker, Singapore Airline, BMW, Lenovo, JLL, DOW, Celestica, Philips, Affin Bank, and etc. Each department or team may have some different application based on clients application, but there are some applications and software that most of the team have such as Windows XP, Microsoft Office, Lotus notes, Sametime, Citrix (Mainframe), AS400 and others. The team will have their own Knowledge Management and Knowledge Based which provided by IBM databases, so they can find their source of knowledge, better understanding and solve the problem within short period of time. IBM provides IT outsources to the clients based on Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Service Level Objectives (SLO). In IBM RCC, one manager and one agent can handle more than one projects, at least one person should support two projects based on Global Delivery Framework (GDF) standards. Both teams that an agent or manager handle may have some different and similar applications to support. Protagonists The case was conducting at IBM, Cyber Jaya. We made an appointment with one of Transition managers to be our interviewee. His name is Trevor Thum and his position is under Integrated Technology Delivery (ITD), End User Support. Trevor is a young manager who handles many projects. He started working at IBM RCC as first level support; service desk. After few months, he had become Windows support for Affin Bank project. Two years later, he has been promoted to be a manager. During the interview session, there was a weakness; most of IBM information are confidential and cannot be disclosed. However, he provided us some guidance for our reference. Referring to the organizational chart of a team, it will consist of manager, focal manager, team leader, and agents. The agents will be more than five depends on customers request and how large the project is. Moreover, if there is any issue from customers such as complaint, an agent will raise it to Team lead, then team leader will discuss with focal manager. Later on, both of them will have a meeting with Trevor and he will decide what should the team handle this complaint and prevent it in the future. If he cannot find the solution, he will propose it to his manager or upper level for finalize and explain to the customers for the mistaken or any other reasons. Furthermore, when there is an additional application requested by clients, manager will have a meeting for more information and explain to team leader to train all agents to ensure that everyone is educated and ready to support users before it launches. In addition, if there is a new client registered to IBM RCC, the top manager will assign the project to one of team manager who deserves for the project, then the team manager will have meeting with client for SLA, SLO, and other requirements based on customers request. After that the team manager will start to hire new agents to support customers and handle the call. For recruitments, the team manager will cooperate with Manpower on staff hiring. Once Manpower got a new candidate with qualification, they will make an appointment with team manager for interview session. Then the team manager will decide whether hire this candidate or not. If IBM team manager decide to hire that agent, the agent will be first trained by Manpower staff and proceed with the training of particular project mentors by team leader and other experience agent. After one month of training, the team leader will do test call with the agent to make sure that the agent is expert enough to handle users calls and re ady to Go Live (the date of project begins with IBM starting from the day that has been signed on SLA contract. The team performance will be depended on SLA and Key Performance Indicator (KPI). However, IBM will decide either to increase agents salary or monthly incentive amount based on agents daily performance, compliment from customers, and team contribution. Figure 1. Team Organization Structure Situation Nowadays, nobody disputes the IT importance as the backbone for commerce. IT implementation helps company to reduce operational cost and increase revenue and profit significantly, although some of company not so well in utilizing IT resources. Beside many good stories from some of company, others also have the failure story in adopting IT capabilities caused by collaboration or implication on high investment, structure complexity, dependencies, changes of trends, dynamic environment, etc. Arguably, it affected the strategy direction of some company with IT and business alignment concept was proposed to improve marketplace competitiveness and increase financial performance. The concept comes at the picture to bridge the gaps of the difference between IT capabilities and business value whereby some organization fail to exploit the full potential of IT investment, adaptable infrastructure and service integration into their environment. Most company stayed still to look which product cou ld be accepted by customer significantly and then come up with clone product with achievable or imitable capabilities like the first one. It happened because the high competition in the market place to locate, not only what product customers want tremendously but also satisfaction and prestige point as well as the consideration. It involves high risky IT investment that might lead the financial become unbalanced so some organization became really careful to make decision, better wait rather than as the pioneer. The trend of IT and business alignment such as virtual office, electronic transaction, off shoring, utilizing private cloud, clone product, high tech consumption, etc. IBM, HP and Dell see other opportunities in renting their knowledge in technical solution as the service to other companies. For IBM, the service delivery optimization is not only about cost savings. IBM views optimization as the process of producing the highly efficient and dynamic infrastructure in exploiting full potential business value from IT investments, and of course emphasizing the responsive improvement and return on investment. IBM approached with holistic and client centre by the reduction of architectural complexity, integration and automation of IT process, business innovation support, customer expectation satisfaction and scale more effectively. IBM has gone through hundred processes engaged various customers across industries in the two decades, these experience and knowledge should be treated as the cr itical asset of the organization or as the intellectual capital consists of solution templates and reference architectures. In short, IBM didnt learn service delivery optimization from a book; IBM is writing the book. By establishing a clear understanding of an organizations optimization objectives and goals, IBM can help to ensure that IT investments are in alignment with the overall business strategy so that subsequent projects can provide real value. The evolution of IT from a technology to a business focus consider various factor drivers those are the compliance, complexity, speed of change and cost. The need to evolve IT should involve the three key ingredients at the heart of service delivery optimization as well, which are IT governance, operating model and funding management while a deficiency in any of these areas will alter and disrupt the outcome significantly. Before the evolution takes the step closer, the identification of IT environment also necessary for opportunities and optimization those are application and data, network, computing and storage, finance and process. For example, the business strategy of one company need to integrate the decentralize data store into centralize data warehouse that need, its the chance to be utilized to remain competitive. Meanwhile, the different culture in organization might be consideration too, that make the difference in priorities, assets and process. IBM will elaborate the stan dard approach with the end-to-end solution that applies the industrys best practice in the reference architecture concepts. Figure 2: IBM Strategic IT Model The strength of the relationship between customers (business side) and service providers (IT organization) decide the direction of success in service management. Beginning in 1997 and 2007 (IT optimization as a source, 2007), IBM started optimizing its own complex, far-flung environment, reaping substantial benefits in operational cost savings as the figure 1 depicted. Its important for the IT organization to provide the lowest-cost operation, but its not sufficient to support business strategies and planning. IT needs to develop other strengths out of efficiency in costs, such as supporting business customers have optimistic view to compete in the markets as well as faster the operation scalability. In this case, figure 2 shows the significant changes happened in IBM company that chose to have a proven, pragmatic and holistic view that even reduce the number of manager inside the organization with the most experience person as well as single source funding by consolidating infrastru cture and application at competitive rates. The level performance is also a point of developing the maturity of the service management capabilities, which drive the operation model of the technology organization. The organizations faces the dreadful challenge of increasing the quality and quantity of services provided to the business such as cloud computing and clone products, while addressing rising technical complexity, cost pressures and tension, faster trend changes and compliance issues at the same time. However, with traditional resources and system management approaches, its clearly impossible to provide effective support for the business and efficient use of technology resources. In the end, IT service management has evolved as the standard for managing effective service delivery optimization that requires: Enable comprehensive business capabilities to support the complete service life cycle from service design to service optimization. Differentiates the value of what you offer, on what terms and in what form, so that it surpasses what customers consider as alternatives. Building a clear understanding of the uncertainty, risks, change and trends. Gather both business and technology stakeholders to define the common goals and future goals. Decide the important priorities and sequence opportunities to improve the financial performance. Competitive payment terms and single-contract simplicity to increase the flexibility. Identifying, articulating and gaining executive management support. End-to-end solutions supported by a worldwide knowledge network as the minimum standardization for supporting business plan. Reduce complexity and cost as well as improve value-added service to meet service levels. Promote customer satisfaction and internal efficiencies to obtain innovativeness and creativeness. In the easiest way, IBM tries to do approach by translating into four elements IT value in meeting with business planning which consist of enablers, improvement, reduction and promoter. The main issues in this case regard the service delivery is how to maintain the service delivery as the competitive advantages in relation with other similar offered-service company that could accommodate right solution matching with latest situation in the environment. The approach to service delivery optimization