Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Nature or nurture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nature or support - Essay Example In spite of the fact that at present, established researchers has steered the result towards ‘nature’, a continuous discussion contends that condition is the fundamental factor impacting sexual orientation personalities of individuals. This end is drawn from crafted by Michael Kimmel, a humanist who educates at the University of New York at Stony Brook. Aside from having composed on sexual orientation all in all and men specifically, in â€Å"‘Bros before Hos’: The Guy Code†, Kimmel manages issues of manliness. He accepts that youngsters are associated into their gatherings and addition thoughts of manliness from the environmental factors around them. Studies which have been directed by James O’Neill, formative therapist at the University of Connecticut and social analyst, Joseph Pleck have demonstrated how little the mingling impacts on young men have changed throughout the years. Kimmel calls attention to how men fit in with masculizing impac ts and saw manly conduct since they are on edge to make sure about the endorsement of other men. In the expressions of writer David Mamet, ladies are seen have such a â€Å"low place on the social stepping stool of this nation that its pointless to characterize yourself regarding a woman†. Young men will in general relate to their dads and more established male friends and receive standards of conduct viewed as â€Å"masculine† so as to win the endorsement of other men. Freud has advanced the view that a basic piece of the way toward characterizing male sex distinguish is the partition of a kid from his mom and close recognizable proof with his dad. Manliness is subsequently accomplished through â€Å"repudiation, disassociation and afterward identification.† To help this contention, therapists, for example, Michael Thompson, James Gabarrino and Dan Kindlon likewise repeat that a culture of mercilessness is made wherein little fellows are effectively disheartene d from crying or indicating their feelings. Applying Pollack’s sees, a little fellow would be pushed through the impacts from different guys in his general condition to effectively build up the â€Å"mask of manliness, which is basically an aloof, apathetic front wherein denying their own passionate needs shapes a basic piece of confining of sexual orientation personality of the young men. Interestingly with Kimmel, Hanna Rosin is less sure about the effect of mingling impacts and the earth on the advancement of sexual orientation personality. In the â€Å"A Boy’ Life†, Rosin focuses to the way that the troubles transgender kids understanding, seem to have been exacerbated by parental guilty pleasure. These kids take on pretending at an early age †ordinarily the job of the other gender †and persevere with it. The essayist likewise maps the ongoing distraction with science in the zone of human personality and the hypotheses of sexual orientation as a s ocial develop. Both Rosin and Kimmel offer an upsetting perspective on the inspiration of companions, guardians, networks and experts. These individuals engaged with the exchange of sex characters, in which a blend of dread of dismissal, a requirement for commonality and friend endorsement, and expert aspiration prompts a resolute thought. Guardians, driven by dread of their children’s dismissal by society and steady social assertion

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Controversy Analysis, fracking, air pollution, gasland, Essay

Contention Analysis, fracking, air contamination, gasland, - Essay Example Also, because of the mischief and harm to the condition that fracking infers, it will be the proposal of this creator that fracking ought to at last be suspended until a methods for asset extraction that isn't so horrendously harming to the earth is found. Fracking itself is a procedure whereby a liquid is infused underneath the surface layer of rock and silt to pressurize fundamental locales of rocks to make gaps inside these layers with the goal that the caught stores of oil or flammable gas may discover their way into pockets and in this manner be extricated through traditional methods (Rijke 14). As was examined in Gasland, because of the way that boring another well so as to tap pockets of assets is wasteful and unsafe to the earth, numerous asset extraction specialists have gone to fracking as a speedy method to help solidify a locales gas/oil assets and make these agreeable to quick and rather effortless extraction process. The procedure itself does anyway have its exceptional downsides (Clean Air and Natural Gas 1). These one of a kind disadvantages will obviously be connected in further detail the procedure areas of this examination. One of the primary disadvantages to fracking, that was referenced in Gasland is obviously the natural impacts that fracking involves. In spite of the fact that there is a significant level of contradiction on the real ecological harm that fracking causes, it tends to be comprehended that paying little mind to one’s specific perspective on the circumstance fracking can possibly release any of a large group of negative natural externalities (Adgate 81) Some of these include: ill-advised removal of waste water, generally trustworthiness of pipeline framework and danger of victories due to over weight, influences of having liquid water invade various layers of subsurface stone and dregs and subsequently diffuse through these polluting until now immaculate examples with key components and contaminants from the other subs urface sedimentary layers, and the drawn out impacts to wellbeing and security of the drinking water gracefully because of the procedure itself (Weinhold 278). Since this procedure itself is exceptionally harming to the neighborhood condition, various adversaries, this creator notwithstanding, have raised their voice with respect to looking to suspend the procedure uncertainly (The Case for a Ban on Fracking 1). This comprehension doesn't involve a helpful degree of concurrence with the narrative film Gasland; rather it is comprehended in this specific way because of the host of contrary ramifications that it involves for the earth just as the soundness of the individuals influenced by it. Because of the issues that have been recorded above in this investigation just as the way that so little is as yet known in regards to the drawn out outcomes that fracking essentially involves, it is to the greatest advantage of all required to try to carry such a training to an untimely end as a methods for rescuing what is left of our delicate condition and biological systems (Porter 1). All things considered, the peruser can rapidly deduce that the procedure of fracking likely involves

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Residence Hall Life Versus Apartment Life

Residence Hall Life Versus Apartment Life When you are a Freshman in college, all you want is to live in an apartment. Once you live in an apartment, all you want are free meals and dorm necessities. There are definitely pros and cons to both dorm and apartment living. So, before you sign your lease for next Fall, lets talk about it. Meals in the Residence Halls Cooking your own dinner is the best way to feel like you are adulting. But believe me, paying for groceries, taking the time to prepare the meal, and having to do dishes after gets old. In the residence halls, your meals are paid for in advance, prepared for you, and your dishes magically do themselves. This is definitely one of the biggest pros to residence hall life. On the other hand, cooking your own meals allows for much healthier options. Amenities Residence halls have the best amenities: pool tables, dining halls, security, gyms, music rooms, etc. Many apartments do not. And if they do, you will certainly pay the price. Included amenities can tack on large sums to any rent payment. And on top of rent, you will likely have to pay for your water and electricity, too. Independence, or a lack thereof Granted, there is something to be said about apartment living. It really does force you to grow up and fend for yourself. Plus, you wont have an RA telling you to quiet down (though your neighbors might). Moving from a residence hall to an apartment taught me how to manage my time and money, which really pushed me toward adulthood. When push comes to shove, deciding whether to live in a residence hall or an apartment is a decision only you can make. Price wise, they come out to a close total. As you can see, there are pros and cons to both residence hall style and apartment living. So, which will you choose? Rachel Class of 2020 I am studying Middle Grades Education with concentrations in Social Sciences and Literacy in the College of Education. Although I now reside in Champaign, I am originally from Vernon Hills, a Northwest suburb of Chicago.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Business Value of Good Corporate Governance Essay Online For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 11 Words: 3210 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Recently, there are some studies about the influence of corporate governance mechanisms on bond rating and yield done by the investigators such likes the impact of default risk, risk between the management and providers of capital, misallocation of funds and so on. It is very important to view these valuable papers because it guides us in our study as well to do better and learn from previous error. In our study on the affects of bond yield, we compare the effectiveness of alternative methods done by the previously papers so that we can proceed our study appropriately and systematically. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Business Value of Good Corporate Governance Essay Online For Free" essay for you Create order Thus, we will find out some relevant research reports, journals, books, reading materials and so on from different ideals and expertise about the bond yields and it ratings. The following are divided into few sections. The first section discussed the general theories that related to corporate governance and yields and bond ratings. Next, empirical model used in previous studies are discussed. In the third section it discussed the empirical evidence on the effect of corporate governance on bond yields and bond ratings. These are several general ideas that were obtained from authors of prior studies about the corporate governance, yields, and bond ratings. All of the idea from prior study will lead in this study and result can be compared since this study is about Malaysian listed companies while some other studies are about other countries. Lastly, it concludes the literature reviews in overall. Each of the literature review are summarize into table form on the end of this chapter. 2.2 Theoretical Framework 2.2.1 Theory Corporate governance encompasses a broad spectrum of mechanisms intended to mitigate agency risk by increasing the monitoring of managements actions, limiting managers opportunistic behavior, and improving the quality of firms information flows (Zulkufly and Hafiz, 2010). Bhojraj and Sengupta (2003) states debt yield and ratings are essentially determined by the probability that the firm will not be able to meet its obligations and by the degree of protection afforded to the lenders in such an event. Norliza et al. (2009) study states that there are three type of relationship between yields and bond price which are (1) coupon yield which referred to interest paid to the bondholder as a percentage of bond par value, namely coupon rate of the bond; (2) current yield which being measured by the annual coupon income divided by bonds market price; and (3) yield to maturity (YTM) which provide more comprehensive measurement of the bond or return by estimating the total amount of in come for the entire period of bond holdings. 2.2.2 Models Bhojraj and Sengupta (2003) in their study calculated approximately the effect of corporate governance on yields and bond ratings over the period of 1991-1996 with 1005 samples of industrial bond which collected from Warga Fixed Income Database. There are two general model functions have been applied in his study which are: Bond Ratings = f (governance variables, control variables); (1) Bond Yields = f (governance variables, control variables). (2) Model one above is use for testing the effect of governance variables on bond ratings and model two is use to testing the effect of corporate governance variables on bond yields. The governance yields and bond ratings variables in Bhojraj and Sengupta (2003) study are as follow: INST the percentage of the companys common stock held by institutions. INST have positively related to bond ratings but negatively related to bond yields. Result is consistent with INST having a favorable impact on default risk. OUTDIR the perce ntage of the board of directors who are not also officer of the firm. Result is consistent with OUTDIR having a favorable impact on default risk. OUTDIR have positive relations with bond ratings and negatively related to bond yields. INST5 the percentage of the companys common stock held by the five largest institutional owner of the firm. INST5 have negative relations with bond ratings and positively related to bond yields. BLOCK the total percentage of companys stock held by institutions owning 5% or more of the companys stock. BLOCK have negative relations with bond ratings and positively related to bond yields. The control variables are as follow: YIELD yield to maturity on bond issue minus yield to maturity on government Treasury bond of similar maturity. RATING ordinal variable taking on value from 1 to 6 representing Moodys bond rating B or below, Ba, Baa, A, Aa, and Aaa, respectively. LSIZE log of the size of issue. LSIZE have inversely related to bond yiel ds and positively associated with credit ratings. MATUR years to maturity. Bond with longer maturity is expected to have a higher yields and lower ratings because of their greater risk exposure. LSIZE have negatively related to bond ratings and positively related to bond yields. CALL the ratio of the days to first call dividend by the days to maturity. 1 represented no call while 0 represent callable from the date of issue. CALL will negatively associate with bond yields and positively associated with Moodys ratings. SENIOR 1 if the debt is senior and 0 otherwise. Senior debt is expected to be associated with lower yields and higher bond ratings. SENIOR have positively related to bond ratings and negatively related to bond yields. SINK 1 if the debt has sinking fund and 0 otherwise. Sinking fund provisions reduce default risk so that this should be negatively associated with bond yields and positively associated with bond ratings. DE book value of long term debt divid ed by the market value of common equity at the end of year t. firm with higher debt to equity ratio are expected to have a higher yields and lower ratings. DE have negatively related to bond ratings and positively related to bond yields. MARGIN income before extraordinary items divided by total assets of year t. firms with higher profit margin are expected to enjoy lower yields and higher ratings. MARGIN have positively related to bond ratings and negatively related to bond yields. ASSET total assets at the end of year t. Larger firms are expected to enjoy a lower YIELD and higher RATING because of their lower market risk. ASSET have positively related to bond ratings and negatively related to bond yields. MKBK market value of common equity divided by the book of common equity at the end of year t. firms with higher MKBK represented high growth firms that could be associated with greater risk. This suggests MKBK have a positively associated with bond yields and negatively a ssociated with credit ratings. CUMRET cumulative daily stock return over year t; CUMRET capture the stock price performance of the firm over a period. This would be positively associated with future expected cash flows of the firm, which suggest a lower default risk. BETA market beta calculated using daily stock returns over period t; BETA captures the systematic risk of the firm, which is expected to be positively associated with default risk. This suggest that BETA would positively associated with YIELD and negatively associated with RATING. Bhojraj and Sengupta (2003) study using few tests which are Ordered Probit Regression, where it used ratings as dependent variable; next, they used OLS regression to test the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on bond yields; 3SLS regression also been used and the result show that YIELD in the INST regression is negatively and statistically significant at 0.01 level. On the other hand, Norliza et al. (2009), also have study regarding yield spreads but macroeconomic variables such as Consumer Price Index (CPI), interest rate (IR), Industry Production Index (IPI) and Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) have been used. Their data consists of monthly observation since January 2001 to December 2008, with a total 149 Malaysian Government Securities data and 238 Corporate Bond (CB) data. All of the data are collected from Economics Report and the Bank Negara website. The model of their study is as follow: (3) Result from the long run equation show that there is negative relationship between Corporate Bond yield spread and KLCI, IPI and IR and positive relationship between Corporate Bond yield spread and CPI. On the other hand, result from granger causality show that the relationship suggests that the movement of KLCI, CPI and IPI can be used as a useful and reliable indicator to predict IR. The presence of unidirectional causality effect from IPI to corporate bond implies that the economic growth as mea sured by IPI Granger cause yield spread. Lastly, Ziebart and Reiter (1992) also study regarding bond yields and bond ratings. There study consists of 189 new industrial binds issued between February 1981 and February 1985. The result for their study show that the used of simultaneous equation modeling result in the ability to conclude that financial information affects bond ratings, and bond ratings directly affect the bond yields, that financial information indirectly affect bond yields through the link to bond ratings, and that financial information also directly affect bond yields. The model use in Ziebart and Reiter (1992) study are as follow: (4) (5) The variables used to proxy for issue characteristics, macroeconomic conditions and financial information with the explanation of their expected signs of the model are the following: (4.1) (5.1) OFYLD offering yield on the new issue RATE Moodys or Standard Poors bond rating Issue characteristics: S FMAT Years to maturity (adjusted for sinking fund provision). Have positive relations with OFYLD. SF Presence of a sinking fund agreement (0,1). Positively related to OFYLD. SUB Subordinate status (0,1). Positively related to OFYLD and negatively related to RATE. LPER Natural log of term of call or refunding protection. Negatively related to OFYLD DFYLD Difference between offering yield and the yield to first call or refunding date. Negatively related to OFYLD. DISC original issue discount (0,1). Positively related to OFYLD. ISSUE Natural log of issue size. Negative relationship with OFYLD. Macroeconomic conditions: MOOD Index of consumer sentiment. Have a negative relation with OFYLD. TYIELD Average level of U.S. Treasury issues with 10-year or longer maturity dates. Have a positive relationship with OFYLD Financial information: BETA Value Line beta. Positively related to OFYLD and negatively related to RATE. COV Interest coverage ratio: interest expense/ income before interest and taxes. Positively related to OFYLD but negatively related to RATE. TO Turnover ratio: net income/total asset. Negatively related to OFYLD but positively related to RATE. DE Debt to equity ratio: long term debt/market value of common equity. Positively related to OFYLD but negatively related to RATE. SIZE Natural log of total assets. Positively related to RATE. 2.3 Empirical Evidence Concept of corporate governance describe as referring to corporate decision making and control particularly the structure of the board and its working procedure since corporate governance describe as which the government of company; the director is responsible to its electorate; the shareholders (Kim and Rasiah, 2010). Corporate governance also stated as a set of rule and procedure by Kim and Rasiah (2010) where it is use to ensure the managers do their indeed employ by the principles of value based management. Result of Bhojraj and Sengupta (2003) study show that firm with larger institutional ownership enjoy higher bond ratings and lower bond yields after controlling for other potential determinants of ratings and yields. When institutional ownership gets concentrated, firm will face a lower ratings and higher bond yields while when firm have a greater percentage of outside directors on the board are found to have higher ratings and lower bond yields (Bhojraj and Sengupta, 200 3). Norliza et al (2009) find that investors with higher risk tolerance may consider increasing their investments in this investment during economic uncertainty such as indicated by increasing CPI and decrease in IPI while during economic turmoil, investor may benefit from higher yield spread due to the increase of risk premium. This study shows that interest rate is one of the major factors that determine bond yield spread. It does also conclude that the higher the yields given by the corporate bonds as a mean to compensate for the instruments risk exposure. According to Bhojraj Sengupta (2003), small changes in debt yields could lead to large shifts in capital allocation, therefore, this study explore the influence of corporate governance mechanism on bond ratings and yield. Governance mechanism can reduce default risk by migrating agency costs and monitoring managerial performance and by reducing information asymmetry between the firm and the leaders (Bhojraj Sengupta, 20 03). Klock et al. (2005) compute bond ratings using a conversion process in which AAA-rated bonds are assigned a value of 22 and D-rated bonds a value of 1. For example, a firm with an A+ rating from SP would receive a score of 18 (Liu and Jiraporn, 2010). SP credit ratings are following in Liu and Jiraporn (2010) study because prior research argues that the SP ratings reflect the overall credit worthiness of the firm. Bhojraj and Sengupta (2003) find that institutional ownership is an important determinant of credit ratings and yield spreads. According to Ziebart and Reiter (1992), yields model typically model the bond yields as a function of macroeconomic conditions, issues characteristics and default measurements; where this default risk usually represented by bond ratings. On the other hand, when governance mechanism reduces the agency risk, firm with stronger governance should be associated with the superior bond ratings and lower yields (Bhojraj and Sengupta, 2003). Besi des, their study also proves that governance mechanisms can help to reduce the information risk by inducing the firm to disclose information in a timely manner. Skaife et al. (2006) study proved that weak governance can result in firms incurring higher debt financing costs. While in Sengupta (1998) study find out that there is a negative relationship between firms disclosure quality ratings and the cost of debt financing as reflected in realized yields on new debt issues. This also proved by Ziebart and Reiter (1992) where price reactions to the changes of ratings may indicate the market inefficiency or may indicate that the bond rating agency have access to important nonpublic sources of information. Bhojraj and Sengupta (2003) study show that firms with a higher percentage of outside directors on the board and with greater institutional ownership enjoy lower bond yields and higher ratings on their new debt issues. On the other hand, Skaife et al. (2006) study show that firms wi th stronger shareholder rights have higher share values and enjoy a lower cost of equity capital. Beside, their study also posit that if governance is weak, the firms distribution of future cash flows will shift downward relative to what it would be with more effective governance. Ziebart and Reiter (1992) also prove that bond ratings and bond yields are negatively correlated where higher the yields are required by investors to compensate for the risk of investing in the lower rates bonds. Prior studies on corporate governance tend to focus on one attribute of governance, e.g., board independence, as opposed to studying a broad set of governance attributes intended to protect stakeholders claims to firms resources (Bhojraj and Sengupta, 2003). Germane to bondholder interests, Bhojraj and Sengupta study posit that firms with a greater proportion of outside directors on the board provide better monitoring of management actions. Thus, bondholders face less agency risks vis-a` -vis m anagement. They posit that this, in turn, will lead to higher bond ratings and lower debt yields. Consistent with this conjecture, they find that firms with a higher proportion of non-officer directors enjoy lower bond yields and higher ratings on new bond issues (Skaide et al., 2006). Sulong and Nor (2010) study is motivated to provide an evidence on the effectiveness of monitoring and control mechanisms through dividend, types of ownership structure, and board governance on firm value during post-reform period in Malaysia. Therefore, it can be said that corporate governance mechanisms exist to protect and enhance the interests of shareholders, as well as to protect the interests of minority shareholders against managers and controlling shareholders (Sulong and Nor, 2010). Ponnu (2008) affirmed that companies with better corporate governance have a better operating performance than those companies with poor corporate governance which was concurrent with the view that better gove rnance firms might have more efficient operations, resulting in higher expected returns and therefore, good corporate governance helps to generate investors goodwill and confidence. Our direct measure of the cost of bond financing is Yield Spread, defined as the difference between the at-issue yield spread of the bond and a U.S. Treasury bond with comparable maturity, measured in basis points. This measure has been widely used in the literature to capture the ex-ante cost of debt (Liu and Jiraporn, 2010; Bhojraj and Sengupta, 2003). In this paper, they attempt to investigate how bondholders assess the quality of the bond issues given that they can observe the power structure of the issuing firms. The separation of roles between CEO and board Chairman also has been recommended by the MCCG 2001. In contrast to the majority of prior studies that mostly focus on developed markets such as US and UK, but Sulong and Nor (2010) study are utilizes the non-financial Malaysian listed fir ms panel dataset for a large firms sample during the post-reform period taken by Malaysian capital market regulators. Furthermore, the firms listed on Bursa Malaysia are relatively smaller and more growth oriented compared to those in the developed market. Koehn and Ueng (2005) study find out that companies that have a weaker boards will performed poorly and this will due to less profitable and reported earning with a higher volatility than firm that characterized as having a stronger corporate governance. They also stated out that institutional investors believed that best practice of corporate governance will benefits shareholders over a long haul. This also proves by Bushman study who stated that governance is posited to get weaker as the proposition of inside directors increases. The weaker position of governance will give a greater managerial power over the boards which lead to a higher incidence of backdating executive stock options. On the other hand, in Liu and Jirapor n (2010) study, they show that by controlling CEO characteristic, CEO pay slice have a negative effect on credit ratings and positive effect on yield spreads. They find out that institutional ownership is the most important tools to determine the credit ratings and yield spreads. Hence, they conclude that the stronger CEO power is associated with a higher cost of bond financing and lower credit ratings. Overall, CEO power will has a significant yield increasing effect on the cost of bond financing (Liu and Jiraporn, 2010). 2.4 Concluding Remarks Based on overall review that been done, many author are using panel data since few country or company and few years been study together to find out the effect of corporate governance on bond yields and bond ratings; relationship between bond yields and bond ratings; institutional relationship with bond yields and bond ratings. The tests that have been use in almost all of the study are Correlations, OLS regression, descriptive statistic and causalities tests. Finding from most of the researchers are almost the same since most of the variables are being use in few study are the same. Mostly of the review findings show that bond ratings and bond yields have an inverse relationship where when bond ratings are high, bond yields will be lower. Since corporate governance become more popular in today business world, therefore, there are many researcher studies about corporate governance in Malaysia which started after the Asian Financial Crisis in 2007 due to weak corporate governan ce in the corporations. Although this is the case, but half of the literature review in this study are based on other countries study like United States to have a similar view on corporate governance between Malaysia and other countries.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The process of preparing and delivering our team’s presentation Free Essays

string(81) " This section addresses the approaches that were used to motivate group members\." Abstract In any organizational or institutional setting, teamwork is usually instrumental in meeting departmental or organizational objectives. Even with the benefits that are associated with groups or teamwork, there are several challenges that may hinder attainment of the set objectives. This paper presents the process that was involved in the preparation and delivery of our group presentation. We will write a custom essay sample on The process of preparing and delivering our team’s presentation or any similar topic only for you Order Now It discusses the stages of development that the group went through, highlighting the exercises that were undertaken at each stage. With reference to group motivation theory, it addresses the approaches that were used during the group exercise to motivate members to contribute towards the exercise. It has also presented the competencies that group members developed in the course of the group exercise. Introduction This paper provides an overview of the processes involved in the preparation and delivery of our team presentation. It relates the group work process to theories and literature on organizational behavioural theory that can be used to explain dynamics in group and teamwork. The main concepts to be covered in this paper include group and team development, motivation and learning at work. Group development is defined as the stages that groups undergo, from creation of the group to accomplishment of the assigned task (Bonebright, 2010). Motivation, which is a vital determinant of productivity, refers to the approaches used to trigger a desire in an individual to be more dedicated to the accomplishment of their tasks (Sachau, 2007). Learning at work, or team learning, is the attainment of skills by individuals in the course of the group task (Zellmer-Bruhn Gibson, 2006). Group and Team Development This are the stages through which undergo from assembling team members to attainment of the set objective. There are different models that can be used to describe the process or group development. One of the widely used models is Bruce Tuckman’s four-stage model formulated in 1965, which divides the development process into four stages. These are forming, storming, norming and performing (Egolf Chester, 2013). Whereas some teams undergo all these stages in group development, some end at the norming stage, which was also the case with our team. This section relates the development of our group with reference to Tuckman’s four-stage model. According to Bonebright (2010), the forming stage involves creating an understanding of one’s team members. It is also characterized by the desire of individual team members to be accepted as part of the larger group (Hill Parsons, 2014). In our team, this stage of group development involved activities that could enable us to work together and be more productive. Team members spent time interacting and knowing about each other so as to eliminate the tension that could prevent them from effectively working together. This stage also involved the appointment of the group leader, setting of ground rules and agreeing upon the meeting schedules. Conflicts were minimal at this stage, which can be attributed to the fact that challenges associated with teamwork had not yet arisen. The second stage in group development is storming. This is the stage where different ideas or opinions are presented by group members for consideration (Garfield Dennis, 2012). It is highly likely for group members to present conflicting opinions, which also triggers rivalry and tension within the group. Whereas conflicts might be considered as being adverse towards attainment of the team’s objectives, constructive conflicts provide a chance for group members to select the appropriate options to pursue in addressing the task at hand (Fleishman et al., 2008; De Wit et al., 2012). This is the most critical stage in group development, and issues have to be resolved before moving to the next stage (Egolf Chester, 2013). Referring to the process of delivering our team’s presentation, some of the conflicts that arose included the theories to incorporate in the presentation or the sources to be used. For instance, I questioned why the group leader insisted on using books as our main sources, yet peer reviewed journals that were readily available in the college library database could also be used to compliment books. Other group members also questioned why they could not use any source they come across on the internet. However, these conflicts were minor and short lived. The third stage is of group developing is referred to as norming (Egolf Chester, 2013). After the conflicts have been resolved in the storming stage, the effectiveness of the team begins to increase, trust among team members grows and the individual differences are appreciated (Garfield Dennis, 2012). This was the final stage of development for our group. For the functionality of the team, some group members stopped persisting with their ideas for the sake of avoiding conflict. There was also an increased cohesion among members, and as opposed to conflicting opinions that characterized the storming stage, team members showed support for each other, and provided constructive feedback for each others’ contribution to the team. The fourth stage of group development is referred to as productivity. According to Egolf and Chester (2013), not all groups progress to this stage. Our group did not get to this stage based on the fact that the task that was to be accomplished was short- term. In summary, the developments that took place in our group, as well as the issues that characterized them, closely relate to Tuckman’s four stage model (forming, storming norming and performance). The fact that the group exercise was short-term meant that the group development did not progress to the performance stage, but the objective of the team was met. Group Motivation Motivation in teamwork incorporates all the efforts that are made by team members to increase the cohesion and levels of productivity of the entire team (Wright et al., 2012). With reference to Hertzberg’s dual factor theory of motivation, there is a set of factors that increases the productivity of individuals in accomplishing their tasks. There is also another separate set of factors that cause dissatisfaction and thus, limit individual productivity (Sachau, 2007). This section addresses the approaches that were used to motivate group members. You read "The process of preparing and delivering our team’s presentation" in category "Essay examples" In group work, one of the motivation approaches is through ensuring effective communication among all people within the group (Dunin-Keplicz Verbrugge, 2011). In group work, responsibilities are divided into smaller tasks and assigned to members depending on their competence. Given that all these sub-tasks contribute towards the attainment of the overall team objective, it is necessary for all team members to communicate about the progress of their respective tasks. This will avoid situations where some members unknowingly derail, or fail to complete their tasks within the agreed upon time limits (Lencioni, 2012). During the preparation and delivery of our group presentation, we ensured that communication between us was effective. This was done by requesting all group members to provide their phone numbers and email addresses. We also followed each other on social media platforms. This ensured that if there was a breakdown in one communication channel, there was always another viabl e objective. When handling group tasks, it is vital to schedule regular meetings in consideration of the responsibilities of all group members. This ensures that every group member is available during the meeting (Dunin-Keplicz Verbrugge, 2011). Regular meetings also allow for close consultations between group members in case some group members hit a snag in completing the tasks that they have been assigned (Lencioni, 2012). Most of the members in our team were dedicated and never skipped meetings. Whereas there were team members who easily handled the tasks that they had been allocated, there are some who found it quite challenging to accomplish their tasks. We understood the fact that there are some people who are quicker than others in accomplishing their assigned tasks than others is common. Thus, instead of reprimanding them, we took to the initiative to ensure that group members who had a challenge in completing their tasks were assisted to complete them. Motivation in teamwork also entails making everybody feel like they valuable members (Hill Parsons, 2014). For instance, if a decision is to be made about a project, the opinions of all group members have to be considered. This encourages constructive debates, which are vital for rational decision making. The group members’ motivation to deliver may be adversely affected if major decisions are only made by a section of the team, which may also lead to groupthink. Groupthink is a common phenomenon in teamwork where the fear of conflicts, or desire for group conformity and harmony, causes other group members to agree with decisions made by others. This is regardless of whether they are suitable or not (De Wit et al., 2012). During our group work, all members were allowed to actively engage in discussions and every opinion presented was listened to. Even though it was not possible to implement incorporate all members’ opinions in decision making, reasons why some opinions were considered over others was also clearly explained to all group members. Our team was culturally diverse, and included people from both genders. Therefore, tasks were distributed in consideration of this diversity. Different approaches were used to motivate group members. However, even with the efforts that were made to optimize the productivity of every group member, there were some individuals who failed to attend group meetings without good reasons. Regardless of these drawbacks, the rest of the team worked diligently to the completion of the project. Learning at Work Learning at work refers to the skills and competencies that members of a team learn as they collectively accomplish a task (Zellmer-Bruhn Gibson, 2006). Typically, the abilities of each individual in the team will vary, with each being more competent in some areas, less competent in others In this regard team members learn from each other through sharing knowledge so as to compliment one another’s skills (Dunin-Keplicz Verbrugge, 2011). This section discusses the process of team learning within the group during the exercise. Team members have to ensure that they have created strong relationships and trust amongst themselves to facilitate team learning. Failure to create a team environment that allows members to learn from one another may undermine the attainment of the overall team objective (Lencioni, 2012). Learning at work or team leaning can be made possible through observations, dialogue and reflection (Hill Parsons, 2014). Team members should be willing to enable those who are not as competent as they are in certain aspects that are vital to the accomplishment of the team’s objective to improve. Likewise, team members who lack some competencies ought to take the initiative to learn through observation or asking for assistance (Zellmer-Bruhn Gibson, 2006). One of the models that can be used to understand team leaning is the action-learning cycle (Coghlan Rigg, 2012). Action learning is a continuous learning process, where individuals from their own experiences and actions, as well as those of other members of their team. Through their own experience, people learn to avoid repeating mistakes they did and continue to improve their competencies in certain disciplines. The action-learning cycle was designed to enable individuals to draw lessons from their experiences by making analytical reflections of their actions (Pedler ?Abbott, 2013). This means that lessons from past experiences can guide present actions, while lessons learnt from the current experience can be used to guide future actions. In the course of the preparation and delivery of our group presentation, team members learnt from each other in different ways. Based on the relationship that had been developed between team members, dialogue was one of the most used approaches for team learning. Group members were willing to share information with others to improve each other’s levels of competence. For instance, one two of our team members were competent in using different data analysis approaches so as to come up with relevant conclusions on the research topic. In addition to this, while most of us were comfortable with the basic function of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, one of the team members and I, were more competent with the more advanced options. Therefore, we spent some time during meetings learning from and teaching each other. Learning took different approaches, which included reflections and observations. Even though some of the competencies that were learnt were not improved to the extent that perfection was attained, most of the group members had improved their skills in one aspect or other. I improved my confidence and public speaking skills through the mock presentations that were held by the group in preparation for the final presentation to a larger audience.. All team members also learnt several concepts that could enable them to be more productive members of teams in future. In summary, the group exercise was instrumental in developing some competencies that every group member lacked. As mentioned, different approaches were used in learning or teaching each other about different concepts that were challenging for different group members. Conclusion The capability of an individual to be a productive member of a team is one of the vital competencies that are required for success in any aspect of life. In the preparation and delivery of our group presentation, several characteristics of groups, which relate to organizational behavioural theory, were identified. This paper has presented an overview of the factors that characterized the team working process. One of these is the process through which the ram developed through the formation, storming and norming stages. Based on the fact that the group assignment was short-term, we did not get into the performance stage. The motivation factors that contributed towards the achievement of the overall team goal have also been presented in this paper. Ways in which different group members leant from each other to improve their competencies in several areas have also been addressed in this paper. Whereas the group task was successfully accomplished, some of the few drawbacks that affected the research have also been presented. References Bonebright, D.A., 2010. 40 years of storming: a historical review of Tuckman’s model of small group development. Human Resource Development International, 13(1), pp.111-20. Coghlan, D. Rigg, C., 2012. Action learning as praxis in learning and changing. Research in Organizational Change and Development, 20, pp.59-89. De Wit, F.R.C., Greer, L.L. Jehn, K.A., 2012. The Paradox of Intragroup Conflict. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97, pp.360-90. Dunin-Keplicz, B. Verbrugge, R?., 2011. Teamwork in Multi-Agent Systems: A Formal Approach. New Jersey: John Wiley Sons. Egolf, D. Chester, S., 2013. Forming Storming Norming Performing. Bloomington: IUniverse. Fleishman, R., O’Leary, R?. Gerard, ?C., 2008. Recent Developments in Conflict Resolution and Collaboration. London: Emerald Group Publishing. Garfield, M.J. Dennis, A.R., 2012. Toward an Integrated Model of Group Development: Disruption of Routines by Technology-Induced Change. Journal of Management Information Systems, 29(3), pp.43-86. Hill, F. Parsons, L?., 2014. Teamwork in the Management of Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. New Jersey: Routledge. Lencioni, P., 2012. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: Intact Teams Participant Workbook. San Francisco: Pfeiffer. Miner, J.B., 2005. Organizational Behavior: Essential theories of motivation and leadership. New York: M.E. Sharpe. Pedler, M. ?Abbott, C., 2013. Facilitating Action Learning: A Practitioner’S Guide. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill International. Sachau, D.A., 2007. Resurrecting the motivation-hygiene theory: Herzberg and the positive psychology movement. Human Resource Development Review, 6(4), pp.377-93. Wright, B.E., Moynihan, D.P. Pandey, S.K., 2012. Pulling the Levers: Transformational Leadership, Public Service, Motivation, and Mission Valence. Public Administration Review, 72(2), p.206–215. Zellmer-Bruhn, M. Gibson, C., 2006. Multinational organization context: Implications for team learning and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 49(3), pp.501-18. How to cite The process of preparing and delivering our team’s presentation, Essay examples

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Art Of War free essay sample

The long-awaited new release from Bone Thugs-n-Harmony has come. Their fourth album, a double CD, shows once again Bones excellent ability to produce music. Despite the recent loss of Eazy-E (the men who gave the four thugs their first chance at rappin), the thugs have managed to produce, with the help of D.J. U-Neek, a new smash album. The four thugs second album Creepin on a Come up, was a hit, and then the third album, E.1999 Eternal, went triple platinum, proving this new album is sure to be a hit. It shows a lot of different styles of rap, one song featuring 2-Pac, and in most songs, Flesh-N-Bone, the fifth thug who left the group, returned to sing with them. Director of the group D.J. U-Neek, also shows his rapping talent. Of course there is still that fast lyrical action with serious bass. As usual with Bone, the more you listen, the more you love it. We will write a custom essay sample on Art Of War or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This double CD is a great buy and is worth adding to your collection. It features everything from slow rap to that fast, knock-your-socks-off music that Bone is so well known for. Expect to see this release a chart-topping smash hit, once again for Bone Thugs-n-Harmony

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Six Elements of Theatre Essays - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Six Elements of Theatre Two different roles I play in my day-to-day life include loving mother and dedicated hard working employee. These two are the most prominent roles that influence and impact my actions and reactions to situations and conversations. The following are six elements of the theatre and how my roles are incorporated: Actor~ Any mother will tell you that it is a full-time job to be a mother. That is most certainly true under normal circumstances, but even more in my life situation. I am a single parent of a child with Autism/Asperger Syndrome, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) named Lance, so not only am I his full-time mother but I am my child advocate for his unique and individual needs in all aspects of his life. Parenting a child with disabilities presents challenges that can be difficult and straining even on a strong family, but when you are presented these challenges by yourself if when you realize what you are made of and how strong one can really be. My life goal is helping my child have a fulfilling and meaningful life and with that my day-to-day activities reflect that. Our lives are extremely structured to help with stability and transitioning. Same with a job, my weeks are planed out with schedules, instructions and of course I allow time for the unexpected. In this role of my life, my act is to direct the course of my son and I lead. Having a lifestyle that is so organized and structured had definitely played a part in my work ethic as well. I would consider myself to be a truly dedicated and hard working employee and often going above and beyond. Currently I am the Accounts Payable Clerk at the hospital in my home town. Since I have been there I have streamlined many aspects for the accounts payable system and revamped forms and procedures to make them more user-friendly and relevant. I really take the process as a whole into prospective and also take the time to understand other departments that are directly affected by accounts payable so that I can positively update processes and procedures. In this role of my life, my act is to perform at the high standard I can in my work environment so that it will only positively impact my future. Audience~ As a mother my audience ends to primarily be my son and immediate family. How I communicate with my son tends to be simple, positive and easy non-verbal communication, where as with the rest of my family I can use more complex communication. My audience at work includes, but not limited to co-workers, vendors and customers/patients. My communication with my work audience is more formal and professional then in my everyday personal life. It is important for me to speak clearly and distinctly while maintaining a positive attitude and non-verbal communication in my work environment because it helps with effectiveness and reciprocation. Stage~ Home is my primary stage when it comes to being a loving mother. My stage can change at any point throughout the day depending on where we are such as doctor appointments, friends/family homes, etc. My stage tends to be more informal and comfortable in nature. The hospital is my stage at work. It is professional in nature and doesn?t vary much from day-to-day. Script~ You would think that with me trying to be so organized and structured in my home life as a single mother that my life script would be pretty predictable, it is anything but. I am very organized and structured so that it can help me with the unpredictable. Having a special child like Lance it is more like the unpredictable is about the only thing to predict. Considering my work environment, my script is fairly routine. The first thing I look at when I get to work is the new invoices I have received in my in-box. I then code the invoices by department and expense type. While doing this I make sure there are no discrepancies or anything out of the ordinary before they get sent to department supervisors for approval. Invoices I have received back from departmental approval I then enter into the accounts