The Ideal Leading me to Study Law Essay -- Law College Admissions Essa

The Ideal Leading me to Study Law The war in the former Yugoslavia is an intensely personal matter for me. I had, for some time, been more aware of the strife in Croatia than many of my peers. My family is originally from Zagreb. As the war progressed, my parents worried about relatives and friends whom they could no longer reach. My father gave up his medical practice in the summer of 1991 to volunteer his medical skills in Zagreb. Throughout this time, I struggled between my sense of responsibility to my relatives and "homeland" and my comfortable life as an American college student. Concentrating on classes and career plans became less important as the war progressed. As I read my father's letters during my senior year detailing the horrible conditions in Croatia, my grades went into a shameful decline. But my heart was nowhere near a textbook; it was at my father's side helping the victims of this international travesty. I didn't even look for a "career option" in the United States. Instead, I sought a volunteer job, sponsored by the University of Zagreb, rebuilding homes destroyed in the conflict and teaching English. Croatia provided a hot blast of reality. During my first week in Krasic, the village where I was assigned, I watched Croatian teens yelling "Cetnik!" (Serbian nationalists during WWII) pelt an elderly woman, who lived in the village for over fifty years, with rocks. Until then, I had never seen such overt and utter hatred, but I learned that such events occurred frequently in the village. Sadly, in a few months all the non-Croatian villagers were forced to leave for Serbia or Bosnia, countries that they did not consider home yet knew were safer for them. I remain... ...equired that, raised one way, I learn another. The lessons I learned, however, go beyond personal growth. I now know that justice is not a passive condition. It is not an intellectual concept. Rather, it is an active and practical application of values by people dealing with real problems affecting individuals at the most essential level. That is the ideal leading me to law school. I learned in Croatia that our current social and political problems run deep, and addressing them requires sophisticated legal skills as well as zeal and compassion. I think my father was right in saying that one can accomplish more with greater education, and that I was right in going to help when I needed to. But now I need to return to the classroom, knowing that I can accomplish more if I return in three years with the skills needed to achieve even more than I already have.

Essay --

The smell of thanksgiving dinner piques your interest long before you see it. Visions of roasted meats, potatoes dripping with gravy, butter soaked rolls and steaming pumpkin pies dance through your mind. However, when you run downstairs and observe the feast, you can hardly believe your eyes, plates overflow with foods you’ve never seen before: Yellowstone carrots, Royal Burgundy beans, Golden beets, and a Bourbon Red turkey. The color wheel cooked and set on your table sparking images of a completely different time, when the producer of our food was the farmer down the road; when our freshly prepared meals were packed with nutrients and the words affordable and healthy went hand-in-hand. In today’s American life, this vision of our food system is nowhere near our dinner plates. We were once confined to eating what was within sight and within season, but no longer do climates or distances constrain our menus. Our pantries are full year round -- all foods and all seasons. Plus, its cheap; so cheap that of each dollar we spend only nine cents will be on the life sustaining nutrients our bodies demand according to Annette Clauson in 2010 on behalf of the United State Department of Agriculture. However, two side effects of this system are becoming ever more obvious. First, we face a major food-related health care crisis and second, our farmers continue to experience economic insecurity. Fortunately, a forward-thinking group of people works to solve these problems by turning back the clock and taking a lesson from better times. They ask, â€Å"What if instead of being shipped from unknown locations, our food came from closer to home, from our friends and neighbors whose practices we know and whose livelihood we can support?† They seek t... ...he country which is documented by Martinez for the Department of Agriculture where he also discusses how community supported agriculture programs sustain nearly 1,500 farms. Chico has our very own farmers markets and they vary throughout the year of what day. They sell flowers, food, fresh crops, plus other locally produced items. The potential for these numbers to grow is enormous; especially if people want this food. With such powerful information streaming on a daily basis, think of what the future could hold: a food system where the agrarian heritage of our nation refocuses on a nutritionally sustainable, economically healthy future. Where consumers know the producers of their quality food and where agriculture is a financially robust enterprise. Making this vision a reality doesn’t require anything radical; we must simply try to buy local as often as we can.

American Financial Crisis Essay -- Economics Economy

The US Financial System: A Crumbling Empire The financial system has been crucial to the role of free enterprise. â€Å"Financial markets have come to supply non-financial corporations with mechanisms for managing their risks and for comparing and evaluating diverse investment opportunities in a highly complex global economy† (Cindin, 2008). â€Å"However, despite the lifetimes it took to build our financial institutions, bad luck and careless risk management have jeopardized careers and mortgaged these institutions’ futures†(Wallace, 2008). The nation is currently attempting to deal with the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. It is now imperative that a way be found which will re-regulate finance without undermining finance’s needed innovative capacity. The origin of the financial crisis can be dated back to 2006. During that period in time, companies began buying trillions of dollars of complex financial products called ‘structured credit derivatives’. The value of these derivatives quickly escalated to over one-hundred trillion dollars due to the high demand from banks around the world. â€Å"These paper investments were supposedly backed by loans on houses, cars, businesses, and credit cards† (Francis, 2008). Nevertheless, several issues have erupted from the sale of these paper investments. The production and trading method for derivatives is unclear, and no one really knows what credit risk is transferred to whom. Basically, banks were fighting over assets with questionable values. Even though the sale of derivatives has disrupted our economy, it is not the primary reason for which the financial system is now in distress. The reckless selling of mortgage loans has lead to the eventual breakdown of our financial... ..., Jane & Francis, Theo. The Financial System Bailout: Deal or No Deal? (2008). Business Week. Retrieved November 2, 2008, from http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/sep2008/db20080925_596844.htm Solomon, Deborah & Crittenden, Michael & Paletta, Damian. US Bailout Plan Calms Markets, But Struggle Looms Over Details (2008). Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 2, 2008, from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122191819568460053.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Stewart, Heather. IMF Says US Crisis is Largest Financial Shock Since Great Depression (2008). Guardian News. Retrieved November 2, 2008, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/09/useconomy.subprimecrisis Wallace, Michael. Wall Street Talks: What the Bailout Means (2008). BusinessWeek. Retrieved November 2, 2008, from http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/sep2008/pi20080922_128934.htm

Groups and Teams Essay

Many organizations require their employees to work in teams but offer them no specific training. Research who offers such training in South Africa and what it aims to achieve. Use at least 3 sources and explain what they offer.[15] Planning and competency is deciding the tasks that need to be done, determining how to do them, allocating resources to those tasks, and then monitoring progress to ensure that they are done. The three sources which offer team building in South Africa are High Africa, Dream Team Catalyst and Movers and Shakers. These three sources aim to improve communication, co-operation, leadership skills and motivation. High Africa which is situated in Worcester, Cape Town. They offer corporate team building activities, packed with activities to increase confidence and trust within a group as well as a venue for conferences to be held. Participants learn to work in a group and improve communication and co-operation. These can be improved through a variety of stimulating activities that participants are involved in. All the activities that are done at High Africa ensure that participants have to communicate and depend on each other in order to succeed in the activity. As companies started demanding more value and measureable results the team building organisation, Dream Team Catalyst saw an opportunity to meet these companies demands and partnered up with Catalyst Global and Hercules Trophy to ensure that they are able to offer their clients the best team building solutions available worldwide. The approach of Dream Team is to offer structured interventions that address specific needs and achieve measurable outcomes as well as high energy events that will simply delight and astound even the most jaded participants. DreamTeam believes it is all about the people, the facilitators and participants. Their events have a unique style. Teambuilding Events, Conferences, Training Programmes, Incentives, Celebrations & Fun Days all take on a fresh look and feel when we are involved. Movers and Shakers have more than 15 years experience in organizational development teambuilding interventions and the training arena. Their motivational activities & exercises and team building programs & events make an unbelievable difference to your company or organization. Movers and Shakers are the international non-stop shop based in South Africa for motivation and team building. They are passionate about raising people to new heights in performance and motivation through our team building events, motivational activities and corporate team building exercises. A company relies immensely on people, they should be focused on continuously grown and empowered, and have the appropriate team building strategies in order for them to excel. The key function of any leader is to rise up other leaders. Any teambuilding ideas have to be effective, different and stimulating. 2) There is a trend to introduce teams into the workplace. Explain why this is the case. Describe the skills required in individuals to be effective in teams. Do you think all jobs should be designed around teams? [10] Strategic action competency is, understanding the overall mission and values of the company and ensuring that your actions and those of the people you manage are aligned with the company’s mission and values. It is a key managerial skill for top level and middle level management. A managerial competency in general is a set of knowledge, skills and behaviors that allows a manager to perform his duties effectively and at low costs. Strategic action competency is one of six core competencies necessary to be a good manager. The other five are communication competency, planning and administration competency, teamwork competency, multicultural competency and self-management competency. Teams have become increasingly popular in the workplace. A team-oriented organisational structure means companies rely on small work groups or teams to manage various products or tasks. Work teams offer some benefits because of the cooperation of several employees, but challenges also exist when work teams replace more individualized work. Some of the few things which team work encourage are better solutions and betterproduction. Better solutions are the main reason why companies opt for team work. Team work also results in better quality work and a more thorough and more creative solutions to problems or situations. People in a group that are from different backgrounds and perspectives working together, they tend to derive the best solution possible. Team members working together enhance benefits of the best solution by continuing to work together to enact it. Better production – along with better quality, well-managed workplace teams often produce more results as well. Members in a team can hold each other accountable and drive each other to more efficient work. By setting individual goals to go along with team goals, the employees within work teams can create some friendly competition and use the peer-pressure influence to keep each other motivated to reach goals. Effective team members need the following basic skills: * Communication and Negotiation – Team members need the ability to state ideas or questions clearly, listen to others attentively, and to resolve disagreements in a non-confrontational manner. * Analytic and Creative Skills – Team members need to evaluate information and propose creative solutions. * Organisation – The team needs to be able to track and complete all its tasks on time. Tensions can often arise if deadlines are missed * Listening – Employees need to listen to each other’s ideas. * Questioning – Employees need to ask each other questions, to ensure clear lines of communication. * Persuading – Employees will try convincing each other which alternative to choose. * Respecting – Employees will respect each other’s opinions. * Helping – The employees will help each other n work as a team. * Sharing – Employees need to share their ideas with each other, in order to choose the best idea. * Participating – Employees need to participate in activities and discussions. Jobs should be designed around teams because groups are the ideal building blocking for an organisation. There are at least six reasons for designing all jobs around groups. First, small groups are good for people. They can satisfy social needs and they can provide support for employees in times of stress and crisis. Second, groups are good problem solving tools. They are better than individuals at creativity and innovation. Third, in a wide variety of decision situations, groups make better decisions than individuals do. Fourth, groups are very effective tools for implementation Groups gain commitment from their members so that group decisions are likely to be successfully carried out. Fifth, groups can control and discipline individual members in ways that are often extremely difficult. Group norms are powerful control devices. Sixth, groups are a means by which large organisations can fend off many of the negative effects of increased size. Groups help to prevent communication lines from growing too long, the hierarchy from growing too steep, and the individual from getting lost in the crowd. 3) Think about whether you prefer to work on a problem or task individually or as part of a team. Motivate your preferences by appealing to your personality and character. Describe the experience (if any) you should now obtain to develop your teamwork competency and have evidence to convince potential employees that you have developed this competency. [10] I would say I do prefer to work in a team, as the team can always solve problems more efficiently and effectively than working individually. My personality is suitable to be part of a team, as my leadership qualities can be enforced and I can also take part in discussions and feel free to give my opinion when it is needed. A team needed committed team members who are able to work through any challenge and is still able to think logically. It important to not give up even if the group might be struggling or not communicating and it is important to be committed to every task that the team has to execute. My ability to work well with people will give me edge when working in a group, I will be able to listen to their opinions and also give my opinion. A high tolerance level will be of a benefit to the group as there are many group members from different backgrounds and personalities working together, personality clashes happen often in teams and members need to tolerate each other’s personalities and work with people from different backgrounds. I have had many opportunities to work in a team, which all were not pleasant. When working with team members you not familiar with it could be more difficult to get to know them and find common ground. Starting on the project and discussing ideas could be difficult because personalities would start to show and team members have to learn to tolerate each other’spersonalities. Team work can also be very pleasant, working with team members you familiar with can make an immense difference to the outcome of the project. As team members have previously worked together it would be easier for everyone to work together and execute the project. Team members gain team work competency if they worked in a number of teams. Team work competency would be creativity, communication, negotiating skills, helping each other, sharing and listening. Working in a number of teams I would say I have acquired those skills, and I would be able to work in most teams. I also believe that every project needs to be consulted with another person in order to achieve the best results. The team leader needs to consult with his team and gather information, their ideas and point of view of the project. I would have to say that team work is more efficiently and effectively than individual work. Team work allows you to be more creative and it can achieve better results than working on your own. 4) Explain how your teamwork competency is likely to effect employee’s evaluations of your candidacy for a job irrespective of where you work. Visit http://www.pmforum.org. Using the site as a starting point, explore the resources available to project managers. If you were to become a professional project manager, how could you use the resource available to improve your ability to manage a global virtual project management team? List the steps that you could take to prepare for serving as a leader of a virtual global project. [15] Global Awareness Competency is when an organisation carries out its managerial work by drawing on humans, financial, information and material resources from multiple countries. My teamwork competency will affect the employer’s evaluation by looking at he wants from the employee. If he wants someone that will be able to work in a group and is able to work with others then a teamwork competency will be in my favour. Your team competency will greatly affect the type of job you will have to do, if you work well in teams you will be working in teams a lot. If the organisation only works in teams, it makes you a good candidate. Your team competency can also lead to many other positions. Employers value an employee that is motivated, innovative and creative, they must also be able to lead and work well with others. Good communication skills are also a very important skill to have when your employer evaluates you as a candid, it will allow work to run smoothly and the lines of communication will always be open. The ability to listen to others and take instruction is key factors to working in a team, you have to listen to everyone’s ideas and be able to understand what they want you to do when you given a task. Guidelines which apply to virtual work teams: * Whenever possible, use a variety of communication technologies * Pay attention to the quality of the communication transmission keep the team as small as possible – preferably no more than seven to eight people * To the extent possible, take similarities and differences in time zones into account when assembling the team * Encourage the team members to discuss cultural differences * Be sure that someone is responsible for facilitating the communication process * Encourage team members to interact one on one, without feeling obligated to copy every email message to the entire team * Train team members to match their choice of technology to their task * Hold an initial face to face meeting to discuss the team’s purpose and clarify the roles and responsibilities of each team member * Whenever possible, individual team members should visit each other * Schedule periodic face to face meetings Managing Global Virtual Teams is a one of a kind, action-based programme that will show you how to manage geographically scattered and culturally diverse teams and achieve maximum results. Through the use of simulations, frameworks, video-taped exercises, and group coaching you will develop the ability to design and manage a global team in a way that encourages collaboration, improves intra- team communication, builds cohesion and leverages your team’s cultural diversity. Every employee must have work team competency, it will give them that edge when employers evaluate them. It also makes working in a group so much easier and great communication skills are an important aspect. 5) In your small group of two members that did this assignment, what were your experiences? Using the model of teamwork functioning, analyze what helped you and what hindered you in doing this assignment. Identify what you need to do differently next time. [15] We expected this assignment to go smoothly, and we would be working well together. This assignment would be very lengthy and we had to meet a lot. We expected each other to do what we were supposed to do and meet the due date. We both worked well together and executed the assignment as planned. The model of work team functioning is a general model of team functioning. The four key components are the external support system, team design, internal team processes and criteria for assessing team’s effectiveness. These four components work interrelated, and considered they provide a full understanding of how well a particular work team functions. The model helps identify work team problems, key contingency factors and provides guidance to managers interested in assessing whether a work team is achieving all of the various outcomes that are possible. 6) External context 7) Societal culture Organisational culture Organisation design Human resources management system 8) Effectiveness criteria * Team * Individual Internal process * Stages of team development * Feelings * Norms Team design * Team size * Team proximity 9) 10) External system The external system comprises outside organisational conditions and an influence exists before and after the team is formed. These influences may consist of societal and organisational culture, organisational design, and the human resources management system. Culture The societal culture in which the work team operates is one of the major external factors. All team members have different cultures and the team needs to be able to work with all the team members and they need to work well together. In collective cultures people are very comfortable working in teams. Organisational design Organisational design also directly influences the formation and functioning of the work team. A lot of the work our group did was from own, on our own time, which could either be a good or bad thing, as there was no one to watch over them. The work also had to be done at different locations where the group was able to meet up for a meeting or to discuss the progress of the assignment. The amount of work the each of us had to do was more than a bigger group, because of this we had to allow for extra time and had to do majority of the work on our own time. Human resources management system Organisations have quickly recognised that practices designed to enhance individual performance can be detrimental to teamwork and have established that new performance management systems are needed. Team based organisations may also change their basic procedures used to assign people to jobs. Some self management work teams have to make their own decisions, in this case employees must be trained to make valid human resources decisions and adhere to legal constraints. In our group there were no major decisions that had to be made, as group worked very well together and there was no member that we needed to take action against. Team design The design choices involved in creating a team are numerous. Factors that need to be taken into consideration are team duration, team goals, and team membership. Two additional design choices are time size and team location. Team size As the number of team members increases, the internal decision making process changes. We are only two in a group so the workload would be more and we would have to make decisions that would the suite a group with two members. If we had another group member our workload would be less and our decisions would have been different. The size of a also affect the quality of work a team produces, the optimal amount of members per group is 12 depending on the task at hand. It is known that smaller groups always seem to outdo the bigger groups. Members in larger groups have difficulty communicating directly to each other, as in a smaller group there is more face to face interaction. As a result of this smaller groups have less trouble with getting their message across and there are less communication barriers or miscommunication. If the task at hand is one that needs creativity and innovation it is best that the team is smaller, this allows for not too many opinions getting in the way and clear thinking can take place. Team location (team proximity) Team proximity refers to the location of a team’s members. Two aspects of proximity are relevant when designing a team are the team’s proximity to other work teams and the members of the organisation, and team members proximity to each other. When many teams are working on a single project, team members benefit from being near to each other. This helps team members if they need advice on a specific area and it allows for the competition to be tighter among the members. Members from different teams can meet and discuss their developments with each other. Problem solving occurs when it is readily needed; members can ask each other for ideas, tips, or hints on a specific problem. We worked very closely with the other groups and consulted with them regularly, this allowed us to ensure that we on the right track with the project. Is also helped to clear any, misunderstandings were dealt with immediately and we also got to hear how other groups went about doing their project. Virtual work teams A virtual work team is simply one that meets and does its tasks without everyone being physically present in the same place or at the same time. Virtual work teams can be functional, problem solving, multidisciplinary or self managing. New communications are allowing virtual workplaces to extend the reach of organisations fare beyond their traditional physical and cultural barriers. Our team has become a virtual work team at times where we cannot physically be at the same place at the same time. Technology helped us to finish our project when we acted at a virtual work team. We could learn a lot from this project and how to deal with a team, the project did however meet our expectations but the leadership could have been better. On our next project we will have to make a few changes in the way we went about doing the assignments. We would have to assign work to the team members more effectively, have regular meetings and, motivate each other to meet deadlines. 6) How was the level of communication of your group members? Were instructions clearly given and understood? Was there any form of miscommunication between you and your group members and your lecturer? Were individual tasks given and completed on time? [10] Communication is a very important aspect of a team, good communication is the key to your team members working well together and projects getting the results your hopes you would achieve. Our level of communication in the group was very good, we understood what we had to do and all work was executed as per planned. If there were any problems that needed to be handled they were dealt with, without delay, team members gave their opinion on certain issues and everyone had a fair chance to say what they wanted to, if something was not understood it was brought to the team members attention and questions were asked if team members were not clear about instructions. Each team member was given work that needed to be completed and when the work was assigned to them, they were given clear instruction on what needs to be done. Team members made sure that there was no miscommunication amongst each other. The lecturer thoroughly explained the assignment which was easy enough for all team members to understand. Work was assigned to each team member and they were given a deadline, not all deadlines were met as we still had to do last minute finalising. The project was done at a later date than expected and it put back the whole schedule. Team members who did not meet the deadline, were given a final deadline that had to be met, which was the final cut off date. In the end the project met the overall due date and the team worked well together. Our team worked very well together there were no communication problems and everyone completed their tasks. The lines of communication were always open which made it a very pleasant team to work with and the assignment was executed successful. * SECTION B 1) What are the advantages and disadvantages of organizing employees into work teams? Explain these advantages and disadvantages. [9] It is proven that performing a task in teams can achieve outcomes that could not be achieved by the same number of individuals working in isolation. There is that sense of support from your team members which encourage others to work more effectively and efficiently. The reason for organizations’ having employees work in teams are as follows: * To improve on-time delivery of results * To improve customer-employee relations * To assist improvement on products and services * Essential for career and management-employee growth * Improve understanding of the organization * Reduce costs and improve efficiency * Improve quality * Increase the commitment, ownership and motivation of employee The advantages of working in teams are as follows: * Creativity increases – Each individual has their own knowledge, personal attributes and skill. By using these different traits of each individual team member, more ideas for a task can be generated; making more solutions available for better results. * Speed – Team work allows a task to be completed quicker and more effectively as well as efficiently; work can move forward in parallel with the ultimate goal being achieved much faster than the task being done by one individual. As the saying goes â€Å"many hands, make light work†. * Effect on worker morale – Being able to work in a team allows for a close relationship between individuals, increasing good relationships in the working environment. It also helps people’s self-esteem, having the knowledge that they contributed towards the task and achieving self-satisfaction. * Effect on individual and shared responsibility – All team members should always feel obliged to deliver to their best ability. Each member knows that they have a responsibility for a specific task and that the team depends on them to deliver work of good quality. * Self-awareness to reach full potential – Your profile is developed and gives you a better understanding of the strengths you can contribute to a team. * Balance – Each member may have a specific area in which they excel and by utilizing these strengths, the team will be able to cover the key team role functions, the team will remain effective and there will be no friction of role duplication. * Increased productivity * Improved service * Shared vision – There is a common goal, so team members will thrive in achieving it. It keeps everyone moving forward. The disadvantages thereof are: * Struggling with teams – Some people prefer working in teams while others loathe even the thought of it. If your team members rebel in respecting your authority or any effort to form cooperative working units, team work will not be an effective solution for your organization. Therefore, it is important to assess your employees’ feelings towards teamwork before dividing them into teams. * Decrease in creativity – The â€Å"Group Think† tendency may occur. If one team member voices their opinion, while the other has another opinion in mind but opts to go with the majority of the other members to avoid conflict or tension. Novel ideas could be missed out on. * Free-riding – This is a very frequent term not only used in primary or tertiary education but it occurs in organizations as well. Team member refuse to be productive, flying under the radar to avoid work. This also leads to a decrease in productivity within the entire team. * Conflict may develop – In most teams, there are likely to be dominating overbearing or reluctant participants, resulting in disagreements between members therefore it is vital to monitor the performance of teams. * Present evaluation and reward challenges – It is rather difficult to assess the team effort of each individual group member therefore workers are usually asked to complete group member evaluations which assesses each member’s helpfulness and productivity in the task being completed. Though this method is not as reliable, as some members may demote others for reasons which are not related to the task. 2) Describe the stages of group development. Which stage is the most crucial? [15] The development of work teams is illustrated below: This development of work teams model shows the maturity on the vertical axis ranging from low to high, also known as ineffective and inefficient, versus the continuum of time together on the horizontal axis ranging from start (first encounter) to end (adjournment). There is no specific time period in which a team progresses from stage one to the following. The team can be discontinued at any time by the authority that created it, however the speed of team development reflects the team’s deadlines. If there is a deadline for a task, the team will feel more pressure to perform, setting aside their personal differences and working together in order to complete that task. This model also shows how a team can move back to a previous stage if the possibility of the team’s end arises – this is called recycling. This may result from a loss in members, rotations, promotions or retirements, thus the repetition of the previous stage to be surpassed once again. There are 5 stages, namely: * The Forming Stage: This stage focuses on orientation of the team’s goals and procedures as each team member is anxious about what each member is supposed to do while others may be excited. During this stage team members are usually positive and polite, some concerned about who will dominate team discussions; others may feel intimidated and not participate as freely as the others. This stage is fairly short and may only last until after the first meeting or discussion. Leadership roles need to be discussed and getting acquainted with fellow member will facilitate team development. If team members still feel uncomfortable within the group, team-building exercises would be recommended to ease the tension and establish a comfort zone, allowing the team to progress to the next stage. * The Storming Stage: Competitiveness and strained behaviours begin to emerge during this phase. This stage may involve resistance and impatience if progress is not made with a task; the authority of one team member may be challenged as others jockey for their position. As a leader, they have to take the pressure that their team members are under into consideration; they may even be uncomfortable with the approach being used for the task. A few members will even begin to force an agenda without regard for the needs of other members, or isolate themselves from group discussions. During this stage, conflict may arise but it is the group’s duty to resolve it through conflict resolutions. This is the stage where many teams fail. * The Norming Stage: Team members become positive about the team as well as the position of the team leader during this stage – where a hierarchy is established. Others may show leadership in other areas while respecting the leader’s authority. The mindset during this stage is â€Å"We are in this together, like it or not. Let’s make the most of it.† A sense of belonging and commitment starts to develop within the group; members communicating freely, cooperating, and accepting mutual respect. Rules of behaviour are enforced by team members and one will notice how towards the end of this stage, there is a sense of enjoyment about being involved. At the end of this stage the oneness syndrome may emerge, which results in needed task-related conflict not being optimally resolved, in turn causing the quality or quantity of performance to slip. * The Performing Stage: Hard work leads directly to progress towards the shared vision of the team’s goal but some teams never reach their full potential, regardless of how long they have been together. By this stage, team members have usually come to trust and accept one another, where diversity, opinions and viewpoints are encouraged and supported; making room for â€Å"wild† ideas without the feeling of being inferior to others. Feedback and listening adds to the team members being focused on and reinforce a sense of clear and shared goals. Leadership can also be shifted from member to member depending on the problem which needs to be resolved. The team now accepts each other’s differences and disagreements and works on them cooperatively and willingly, where internal politics is avoided when trying to solve an important issue. The following characteristics will lead to a high level of team performance: * Energy is spent on completing tasks and building interpersonal ties * Developing procedures for making decisions (including leadership) * Trust and openness among one another * Ask and offer help from one another * Sense of belonging and freedom within the team * Accept and deal with conflict * Members know how to assess and deal with their own functioning If one or more of these characteristics are absent, the team will be likely to prevail ineffective. The forming stage of any team is important as the team members get to acquaint them therein, exchange personal information with others and it is also an opportunity to observe how each member works individually and how they respond to pressure. The most crucial stage of Tuckman’s stages of development however, is the storming stage as it is necessary for the growth of the team. For team members who are averse to conflict may find this stage unpleasant, contentious and painful. Tolerance is a must and should be emphasized, because without it the team will fail. This phase can be destructive to the team and lower motivation if things get out of control and some teams do not even pass this stage. * The Adjournment Stage: Teams usually assembled for a long period of time, go through the adjournment stage. This stage involves the termination of task behaviours and disengaging from work relationships. A planned conclusion usually includes recognition for participation, achievement and an opportunity for team members to say their farewells. This can also create some apprehension. The termination of a team is a regressive movement from giving up control to the team to giving up inclusion in the team. It focuses on wrapping up activities and can happen at any time as it is not planned and could even be abrupt. However, change in members could result in recycling instead of adjournment. The most crucial stage of group development is the storming stage. Most people understand this stage as thestage where conflict arises and how to avoid it. Conflict is impossible to avoid but team members should handle and channel that conflict into effective individual and team development. The approach to conflict is crucial in successful team building and it would be advisable to enlighten the team about everyone not always going to agree all the time – it is normal, necessary and part of team development. During this stage, most members will rebel and even leave the team due to these misunderstandings and this is the mostly likely stage that most teams to do not progress through. 3) Raj Kashdish describes his workplace as â€Å"friendly, just great. All the people get along together, and we play bowls and action cricket after work†. Quality records show that Kashdish’s team produces high-quality results but the team’s cost are high and the output of work is low. Is this an effective work team? Explain your response. [10] There are specific criteria called effectiveness criteria which measures the outcomes achieved by team members and the team as a whole. Some teams may be effective in some aspects but ineffective in others. If a team takes longer than expected to make a decision, on speed and cost criteria, they may seem ineffective but if the decision is creative and achieves customer satisfaction the team will regarded as effective. This can be an effective work team with regard to individual effectiveness as relationships between individuals are heightened due to Kashdish’s team doing other activities other than work together; but it could also be regarded as team building. Their decisions and work are costly in terms of speed but effective in terms of customer satisfaction. Even though this team produces high-quality results, their costs and outputs are still low. They are not effective in terms of team effectiveness but more so individual effectiveness. 4) What are the primary differences between functional work teams and multi-disciplinary jn work teams? Outline these differences. [8] * Functional Work Teams – This type of team includes members from a single department, such as marketing, finance or human resources, who in cooperation solve issues pertaining to their area of expertise and responsibility. Their goals could be to minimize costs or to ensure continuous supplies. For goals to be achieved, team members need to constantly coordinate activities, sharing information on price changes and products. * Multi-disciplinary Work Teams – Depending on its goals or tasks, this type of work team can be temporary or permanent and consists of 5 to 30 employees from various functional areas and organizational levels with the same goal-oriented tasks, such as designing and introducing process reforms and technology. For example, your team consists of a civil engineer, an architect, a mechanical engineer and a quantity surveyor for the planning of the construction of a pump house on a major irrigation scheme. A caesarean section to deliver a baby also requires a multi-disciplinary team. A product development team will exist for the period of time which is required for the product to be brought to the market, varying from months to years. For example, Microsoft brings together multi-disciplinary teams consisting of experts with a variety of knowledge and backgrounds to generate ideas, which may include representatives from marketing and eventual end-users in order for the products to appeal to the customers. This type of work team provides competitive advantages such as speed aand creativity, if properly formed and managed. 5) What are the differences between problem-solving work teams and self-managing work teams? Describe these differences. [10] * Problem-solving Work Teams – This type of work team is usually made up of 5 to 20 employees, all from different areas of a department who consider how something would or can be done better. A meeting would take place for one or two hours every week on a continuous basis for discussion of ways which can improve quality, safety, productivity, morale – or they might meet intensively for the first week or so and disband thereafter. There are two forms of problem-solving work teams, namely: Task forces and quality circles. Task forces are the most common type of this work team. For example, a marketing group conducting a feasibility study of a product. A quality circle is a team which meets regularly to identify and analyze the different types of workplace problems and propose solutions. * Self-managing Work Teams – It consists of 5-15 employees who work together on a daily basis to make an entire product or render an entire service. They may all be from a single functional area, but more so they are multi-disciplinary. Various managerial tasks are performed by these teams such as rotating job tasks and assignments, ordering materials or deciding on team leadership. To sum things up, what needs to be done and how to do it are decided by them. They are sometimes called high performance teams as they are composed of highly skilled individuals fully capable of accomplishing major tasks, such as an emergency trauma unit. These individuals submerge their egos and fully commit to the team and its goals. 6) You have an opportunity to take a job as new team leader in an organization. Before you accept the offer, you want to assess whether the organization is likely to provide a supportive environment for the team. What are the questions you would ask about the organization to determine whether the environment is supportive? [15] * Can you tell me about the executive’s management style? * Can you describe the work environment in the workplace? * What do you consider to be your organization’s strengths and weaknesses? * What is the state of the equipment being used within the workplace? * What is the particular ambience the employees exude when at work? * Is there any prejudice, stereotyping or discrimination in the workplace? * If any, what are your conflict resolutions which are used when there is conflict between employees? * Are the organization’s supervisors and managers equipped with leadership and diversity training? * Is the working environment safe? * What are the incentives being offered to the employees, if there are any? * Are there processes and procedures used for violations of the employment acts? * Do employees have access to rich information and resources? * Are there appropriate procedures for safety, operation and security?

Evaluating Eighteenth Century Poetry Essay

Evaluating eighteenth century poetry is not an easy task. After all, the use of language, the cultural references, and the metaphors used then might be a little too different from what are being used now. As such, it would be necessary to take into account the usage of the language—the construction, the idioms being used then, as well as the different expressions being used then. The following points outline several points in reading, enjoying, and evaluating poetry in the eighteenth century. I. Introduction: The authors who wrote poetry in the eighteenth century should be reviewed briefly so that a student may gain some familiarity to 18th century poetry. II. Historical Context and State of the Art. A brief description of the social situation in the period will also be in order as these would lend color and appearance to the poetic inspirations and situations depicted in the poetry then. III. Literary Devices. In evaluating poetry, the reader should be on the lookout for several literary devices such as metaphors, similes, and personification among others. These would also point to the topics and themes explored then. These literary devices can then be analyzed internally as to their effectiveness in conveying the poem’s message during the period. IV. Â  Language. The language of the eighteenth century is far different from today. As such, it would be necessary to look into the language used, the manner of sentence construction as well as the overall usage and popularity of the language then. Finally, there could also be a way to trace the legacy of these poetry to poetry today.

Expressionism in Early 20th Century Art

Aspects of all the avian-garden movements contributed to the emergence of expressionism. Expressionism refers to art that is the result of the artist's unique inner or personal vision that often has an emotional dimension. This contrasts with art focused on the visual description of the empirical world. This was a rejection of Renaissance sensibilities that had governed the western art world for the previous 500 years. The term expressionism was popularized in the avian-garden Journal Deer Strum.The editor Hearth Walden proclaimed: â€Å"We call art of this century Expressionism in order to distinguish it from what is not art. We are thoroughly aware that artists of previous centuries also sought expression. Only they did not know how to formulate it. † There are several movements of the 20th century that are classified as expressionist. Some of this expressionist art evokes visceral emotional responses from the viewer, whereas other such artworks rely on the artist introspect ive revelations.Often the expressionists offended viewers and even critics, but the sought empathy – connection between the internal states of artists and viewers – not sympathy. Dada With war as a backdrop, many artists contributed to an artistic and literary movement hat became known as Dada. This movement emerged, in large part, in reaction to an insane spectacle of collective homicide. They were â€Å"utterly revolted by the butchery of the World War. Dada was international in scope beginning in New York and Switzerland and spreading to other areas.Dada was more off mindset or attitude than a singular identifiable style. The Dadaists believed reason and logic had been responsible for the unmitigated disaster of world war, and they concluded that the only route to salvation was through political anarchy, the irrational, and the intuitive. Thus, an element of absurdity is a cornerstone of Dada. Dada is a term unrelated to the movement, choosing the word randomly fro m the dictionary. The word is French for â€Å"hobby horse. It satisfied the Dadaists desire for something irrational and nonsensical The pessimism and disgust of these artists surfaced in their disdain for convention and tradition, characterized by a concerted and sustained attempt to undermine cherished notions and assumptions about art. Although the artist's cynicism and pessimism inspired Dada, what developed was phenomenally influential and powerful. By attacking convention and logic, the Dada artist's unlocked new avenues for creative invention, allowing artists to push boundaries farther than previous movements.Dada was in its submissiveness, extraordinarily avian-garden and very liberating. In addition to disdain, a current of humor and the whimsical, along with irreverence flows through much of the art. This can be seen in Duchess's Mona Lisa, and Francis Pica's, Portrait of Cezanne. The views of the Dadaists mirrored those of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and others. In its e mphasis on the spontaneous and the intuitive, Dada had interest in the exploration of the subconscious that Freud promoted. Images rising out of the subconscious mind had a truth of their own, they believed, independent of conventional vision.Jean Arp (1887-1966) pioneered the use of chance in composing his images. Tiring of the Cubist look in his collages, Arp took sheets of paper, tore them roughly into squares, haphazardly dropped them to a sheet of paper on the floor, and glued them into the resulting arrangement. The rectangular shapes unified the design, which Arp no doubt enhanced by adjusting the random arrangement to a quasi-grid. Even with some altering, chance had introduced an imbalance that seemed to Arp to store to his work a certain mysterious vitality he wanted.Collage Arranged According to the Laws of Chance is a work done using this method. The operations of chance were for Dadaists a crucial part of this kind of improvisation. Chance could restore to a work of art its primeval magic power and find a way back to the immediacy it had lost through contact with Classicism. Rap's reliance on chance when creating his compositions reinforced the anarchy and submissiveness inherent in Dada. The most influential of the Dadaists was Frenchman Marcel Decamp (1887-1968), he central artist in the New York Dada and active in Paris at the end of Dada.In 1913 he exhibited his first â€Å"ready-made† sculptures, which were mass produced common, found objects the artist selected and sometimes â€Å"rectified† by modifying their substance or combining them with another object. Such works, he insisted, were created free from any consideration of either good or bad taste, qualities shaped by a society he and other Dada artists found bankrupt. Perhaps his most outrageous work was Fountain, a porcelain urinal presented on its back and signed â€Å"R. Mute† and dated.The artist's signature was in fact a witty pseudonym derived from the Moot plu mbing company's name and that of the Mute and Jeff comic strip. Decamp did not select the object for exhibition for its aesthetic qualities. The â€Å"artiness† of this work lies in the artist's choice of his object, which has the effect of conferring the status of art on it and forces the viewer to see the object in a new light. Decamp wrote, after Fountain was rejected from an injured show, â€Å"Whether Mr.. Mute with his own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He chose it.He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance separated under a new title and point of view – created a new thought for that object. Decamp (and the generations of artists after him profoundly influenced by his art and especially his attitude) considered life and art matters of chance and choice freed from the conventions of society and tradition. Within his approach to art and life, each act was individual and unique. Every person's choice of found objects would be different. This philosophy of utter freedom for artists was fundamental to the history of art in the 20th century.Decamp spent much of World War I in New York, inspiring a group of American artists and collectors with his radical rethinking of the role of artists and of the nature of art. Dada spread throughout much of Western Europe, arriving as early as 1917 in Berlin, where it soon took on an activist political edge, particularly in response to the economic, social, and political chaos in the city after World War l. The Berlin artists developed a new intensity for a technique called photometer (pasting parts of many images together into one image).This technique had been in popular and private culture and was used on postcards long before the 20th century. A few years earlier, the Cubists had named the process collage. Unlike Cubist collage, the parts of Dada collage were made almost entirely of â€Å"found† details, such as pieces of magazine photographs, usually combined into deliberately ontological compositions. Collage lent itself well to the Dada desire to use chance when creating art and anti- art. One of the Berlin Dadaists who perfected the photometer technique was Hannah Hoc (1889-1978).Her works not only advanced the absurd illogic of Dada by presenting the viewer with chaotic, contradictory, and satiric compositions, but they also provided scathing and insightful commentary on two of the most dramatic developments during the Whimper Republic (1918-1933) in Germany – the redefinition of women's social roles and the explosive growth of mass print media. In, Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last Whimper Beer Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany, Hoc arranged an eclectic mixture of cutout photos in seemingly haphazard fashion.On closer inspection, we see that Hoc carefully placed photographs of some of her fellow Dadaists among images of Marx, Lenin and other revolutionary figures in the lower right. She also pla ced cutout lettering saying â€Å"Die grosser Welt dada† (the great Dada world). She also Juxtaposed the heads of German military leaders on the bodies of exotic dancers, providing a wicked critique of German leaders. A photograph of Hooch's head appears in the lower right hand corner, Juxtaposed with a map of Europe showing the progress of women's enfranchisement.Kurt Schweitzer (1887-1948) worked non-objectively, finding visual poetry in the cast off Junk of modern society and scavenged in trash bins for materials, which he pasted and nailed together into designs such as our example Mere 19. Mere is a word that Schweitzer nonsensically derived from the word Zimmermann (commerce bank), and used as a generic title for a whole series of works. The recycled elements acquire new meanings through their new uses and locations. Elevating objects that are essentially trash to the status of high art fits well with Dada philosophy.The European Effect on American Art: Transatlantic Art istic Dialogue John Singer Sergeant, James McNeil Whistler, and Mary Cast were American arts that spent much of their productive careers in Europe, while many European artists ended their careers in the United States in anticipation and because of World War l. Visionary patrons supported the efforts of American and other artists to pursue modernist ideas. Some of the patrons were matrons or women as opposed to men. Thus there support might be labeled metronome.The art scene in America before significant European Modernist influence was quite varied yet profoundly realist. Many American artists were committed to presenting a realistic, unvarnished look at life, much like the mid-19th century French Realists. One such group has been called The Eight. They were a group of American artists who gravitated to the circle of influential and evangelical artist and teacher Robert Henry (1865-1929). Henry encouraged these artists to make â€Å"pictures from life. † These images depicted the rapidly changing urban landscape of New York City.Because these paintings captured the bleak and seedy aspects of city life, The Eight eventually became known as The Ashcan School and were referred to as â€Å"the apostles of ugliness. † John Sloan (1871-1951) wandered the streets of New York observing human drama. His main focus was on the working class, which he viewed as the embodiment of the realities of life. So immersed was Sloan into his views of the working class, that he joined the Socialist party and ran for office on their ticket. His works often depicted the down trodden, prostitutes, and drunkards.Slogan's depiction of these subjects was not as one who saw these things as immoral and evil, something to be removed, like the reformers of the day, rather, he saw them as victims of an unfair social and economic system. Sixth Avenue and 30th Street (1907), depicts the street corner of this name in New York. We see the elevated train and shops of that area. A drun ken woman in a white dress stumbles toward the viewer as a pair of well dressed ladies or street walkers look on in amusement. This scene is not uplifting nor does it show the well to do. Instead it records the everyday happenings of the working class.Sunday-Women Drying Their Hair (1913), depicts three women on the roof of their tenement taking some time to dry their hair after washing it. George Bellows (1882-1925) Bellows first achieved notice in 1908, when he and other pupils of Robert Henry organized an exhibition of mostly urban studies. While many critics considered these to be crudely painted, others found them audacious and a step beyond the work of his teacher. Bellows taught at the Art Students League of New York in 1909, although he was more interested in pursuing a career as a painter.His fame grew as he contributed to other nationally recognized Juries shows. Bellows' series of paintings portraying amateur boxing matches were arguably his signature contribution to art history. These paintings are characterized by dark atmospheres, through which the bright, roughly lain brushstrokes of the human figures vividly strike with a strong sense of motion and direction. George Lukas (1867-1933) also painted scenes of urban life. He lived what he painted. He was a boxer and had a temper which often landed him in fights. It is perhaps fitting that he died in 1933 as a result of injuries sustained in a bar fight.Huston Street painted in 1917, is an example of Lukas work that demonstrates his loose, roughly painted style. Allen Street painted in 1905, is also demonstrative of Lukas' style. Everett Shin (1876-1953) created paintings which found their subject matter in the slums as well as in middle-class cafe © society and in theatrical activities. His theater scenes were usually done in oil, his slum and lower-class pictures in pastel. Unlike John Sloan, who felt a genuine reformer's commitment to lower-class urban themes, Shin viewed the entire city as a b right, glittering spectacle to savor and to enjoy until the end of his life.His art reflects the influences of Dandier, Edgar Degas, and Jean-Louis Forman. The Armory Show and Its Legacy One of the major vehicles for disseminating information about European Artistic developments in the United States was the Armory Show, which occurred in early 1913. This large scale endeavor got its name from its location, the armory of the New York National Guard's 69th Regiment. It was organized largely by two artists Walt Kuhn and Arthur B. Davies. The Armory Show contained more than 1,600 artworks by European and American artists. Among the European artists represented wereMatisse, Derail, Picasso, Baroque, Decamp, Sandusky, Kerchief, as well as Expressionist sculpture Wilhelm Lumbermen and organic sculpture Constantine Branches. This show exposed American artists and public to the latest in European artistic developments. The Show was immediately controversial. The New York Times described the show as â€Å"pathological,† and other critics demented the exhibition be closed as a menace to public morality. The work that was most maligned was Marcel Duchess's Nude Descending a Staircase. The painting suggests a single figure in motion down a staircase in a time continuum.The work as much in common with the Cubists and Futurists. One critic described the work as â€Å"an explosion at a shingle factory,† and newspaper cartoonists had a field day lampooning the painting. De Still Utopian ideals were also expressed in Holland. De Still was a group of young artists that formed in 1917. It believed that the end of World War I was the birth off new age. The group was co-founded by Piety Mandarin (1872-1944) and Leo Van Dossiers (1883-1931). They felt this time was a balance between individual and universal values, when the machine would assure ease of living.They declared, in their first manifesto, â€Å"There is an old and a new consciousness of the age. The old one is directed toward the individual. The new one is directed toward the universal. † We must realize that life and art are no longer separate domains. That is why the â€Å"idea† of â€Å"art† as an illusion separate from real life must disappear. The word â€Å"Art† no longer meaner anything to us. In its place we demand the construction of our environment in accordance with creative laws based on fixed principle. These laws, following those of economics, mathematics, technique, and sanitation, etc. , are all leading too new, plastic unity.Mandarin felt that his style revealed the underlying eternal structure of existence. This style was based on a single principle. Deities artists reduced their artistic vocabulary to simple geometric elements. After his initial introduction to abstraction, Mandarin was attracted to contemporary theological drawings. Mandarin sought to purge his art of every overt reference to individual objects in the external world. This combination produced a conception of non-objective design he called â€Å"pure plastic art† which he believed expressed universal reality. â€Å"Art is higher than reality and has no direct relation to reality†¦To approach the spiritual in art, one will make as little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiritual†¦ We find ourselves in the presence of an abstract art. Art should be above reality, otherwise it would have no value for man. To express his vision, Mandarin eventually limited his formal vocabulary to the three primary colors, the three primary values, and the two primary directions (horizontal and vertical). He concluded that the primary colors and values are the purist colors and therefore the perfect tools to construct harmonious composition.Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow, is one of many paintings Mandarin created locking color planes into a grid intersecting vertical and horizontal lines. He altered the grid patterns and the size and placement of the color planes to create an internal cohesion and harmony. Mandarin worked to maintain a dynamic tension in his paintings from the size and position of lines, shapes, and colors. The Bauhaus The De Still group influenced other artists through its simplified geometric style, and its notion that art and life are one.In Germany, the architect Walter Groping (1883-1969) developed a vision of â€Å"total architecture†. This concept influenced generations of pupils through the school he directed called the Bauhaus. In 1919, Groping was appointed director of the Whimper School of Arts and Crafts. Under Groping, the school was renamed Dads Statistical Bauhaus (roughly translated as â€Å"State School of Building†) and was referred to as the Bauhaus. Groping' goal was to train artists, architects, and designers to anticipate 20th century needs. The extensive curriculum was based on certain principles.The first staunchly advocated the importance o f strong basic design and craftsmanship as fundamental to good art ND architecture. His belief that there was no essential difference between artist and craftsman, led him to place both a technical instructor and an artist in each department. Second, Groping promoted the unity of art, architecture, and design. To eliminate traditional boundaries that separated art from architecture, and art from craft, the Bauhaus offered a wide range of craft type classes in addition to the more standard courses.Third, Groping emphasized the need to produce graduates who could design progressive environments through the knowledge and need of machine age technologies and materials. This required the artist / craftsman to fully understand industrial and mass production. Groping declared, â€Å"Let us conceive and create the new building of the future, which will emphasize architecture and sculpture and painting in one unity and which will rise one day toward heaven from the hands of millions of work ers like a crystal symbol off new faith. The reference to a unity of workers reveals the undercurrent of socialism present in Germany at the time. One Bauhaus teacher who had a lasting legacy on artists was Josef Labels (1888-1976). He was a German born artist whose greatest contribution to the school as his revision of the basic design course required of all students. He required a systematic and thorough investigation of arts formal qualities; what has been termed the elements and principles of design. Labels investigated arts formal qualities in his own work.In his series, Homage to the Square, painted after he left the Bauhaus, between 1950 and 1976, encapsulates the design concepts he developed while at the Bauhaus. The series consists of hundreds of paintings, most of which were simply color variations on the same composition of concentric squares. The series reflects Labels belief that art originates in â€Å"the discrepancy between physical fact and psychic effect. Because of their consistency in composition, the works succeed in revealing the relativity and instability of color perception.Labels varied the hue (color), saturation (brightness and dullness), and value (lightness or darkness) of each square in the paintings in the series. As a result, the squares from painting to painting appear to vary in size (although they remained the same), and the sensations emanating from the paintings range from clashing dissonance to delicate serenity. Labels demonstration of the reactions of colors to one another â€Å"proved that we see colors almost never unrelated to each other. † Labels ideas about design and color were widely disseminated.In 1925, the Bauhaus moved to Odessa, Germany. Groping designed the building for the Bauhaus as a sort of architectural manifesto. The building consisted of a workshop and class areas, a dining room, theatre, gym, a wing with studio apartments, and an enclosed two story bridge housing administrative offices. Of th e major wings, the most dramatic was the Shop Block. The Nazi's tore down this building, but the main buildings were later constructed. Three stories tall, the Shop Block housed a printing shop and dye works facility, in addition to other work areas.The builder's constructed the skeleton of reinforced concrete but set these supports way back, sheathing the entire structure in glass, creating a streamlined and light effect. This designs' simplicity followed Groupie's dictum that architecture should avoid â€Å"all romantic embellishment and whimsy. † Further, he realized the â€Å"economy in the use of space† articulated in his list of principles in his interior layout of the Shop Block, which consists of large areas of free flowing undivided space. Groping believed such an open classroom approach encouraged interaction and the sharing of ideas.Groping gave students and teachers the task of designing furniture and light fixtures for the building in keeping with the comp rehensive philosophy of the Bauhaus. One memorable furniture design to emerge from the Bauhaus was the tubular steel chair crafted by the Hungarian Marcel Brewer (1902-1981). Brewer was inspired to use tubular steel while riding his bike and studying his handle bars. In keeping with Bauhaus aesthetics, his chairs have a simplified, geometric look, and the leather of cloth purports add to the chairs comfort and functionality.These chairs were also easily mass produced and thus stand as epitomes of the Bauhaus program. This reductive, spare geometric aesthetic served many purposes – artistic, practical, and social. This aesthetic was championed by the Bauhaus and De Still. This simplified artistic vocabulary was accepted because of its association with the avian-garden and progressive though, and it evoked the machine. It could be easily applied to all art forms, from stage design, to architecture, and advertising, and therefore was perfect for mass production.

Madeleine Leininger: Bridging the Cultural Divide Essay

Abstract This paper will outline Madeleine Leininger’s prominent theory, its origins, and its purpose. The discipline of transcultural nursing, its distinctive language, ethnonursing research method, and Sunrise Enabler tool will also be explored. These components equipped nurses to provide patients with individualized, appropriate care; this led to improved health outcomes. Finally, the effect of Madeleine Leininger’s contributions to nursing will be examined. Her idea of congruent care was the catalyst for a multitude of federal legislation making culture a requisite, legal consideration and convinced society of the benefits of cultural diversity. Madeleine Leininger: Bridging the Cultural Divide through Care The hallmark of a true profession is the ability to demonstrate its unique body of knowledge (Mensik, Martin, Scott, & Horton, 2011). Madeleine Leininger’s transcultural nursing discipline and its revolutionary companion theory meets this threshold. Counted as â€Å"the most significant breakthrough in nursing†¦in the 20th century,† she forever changed how nurses thought and spoke about healthcare (Leininger, 2002, p. 190). This paper will present a high-level overview of Madeleine Leininger’s contributions to nursing and their influence, as well as reveal the author’s connection to the theorist. Cultural Care Diversity and Universality: The Theory The Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality (hereinafter â€Å"Culture Care Theory†), Madeleine Leininger’s seminal work, was conceptualized in the mid-1950s and sought to describe, explain, and predict nursing similarities and differences in relation to care and its role in human culture (Leininger, 2001). To provide significant and effective care, the theorist reasonsed, a nurse had to know what various cultures valued about wellness, health, illness, etc. and use this understanding to guide their nursing tasks (Clarke, McFarland, Andrews & Leininger, 2009). Inspiration for the Theory The theory grew out of the theorist’s observations during her tenure as a staff nurse in the mid-1940s (Leininger, 2001). Numerous patients  emphasized the â€Å"nursing care† given and remarked how instrumental it was to their recovery from illness (Leininger, 2001, pp. 8, 13). This struck Leininger as curious, since the activities traditionally associated with providing care were just expected at this point in the development of nursing (Leininger, 2001). The concept of care was certainly never taught, critically explored, or given much credence (Leininger, 2001). Based on the encouraging patient feedback received, care became an integral component of the theorist’s nursing practice (Leininger, 2001). Her patients’ health flourished (Leininger, 2001). Leininger deduced that outstanding caregiving alone was not enough to facilitate positive health outcomes while working on an adolescent psychiatric ward in the mid-1950s (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). Her clinical floor was a mini-United Nations, with patients from a variety of cultural backgrounds (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). The children responded differently to her care efforts and, after a period of time, she realized their behavior followed distinct cultural patterns (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). For example, the Russian, Lithuanian, German, and Slovenian children would never admit to being in pain, though they had very obvious injuries or signs of discomfort (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). The Jewish and Italian children, in contrast, always cried fervently, at even the slightest needle prick, without solace (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). Her customary pain interventions were useless and obviously needed to be changed, but she was not sure how (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). Conceptualizing the Theory. The theorist experienced â€Å"culture shock† (a concept she introduced into common vernacular) and was concerned at being ill-equipped to respond to her patients’ specific needs even though she had obtained her master’s in nursing (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). There was no research literature available to help make sense of the incidents witnessed, and her colleagues were of limited help (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). After discussing her concerns with the renowned cultural anthropologist and provocateur Margaret Mead, Leininger obtained a Ph.D. in anthropology (Clarke, et al., 2009); she was the first nurse to do so (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). The theorist performed field studies in non-Western cultures for several years afterwards to hone her new skill-set (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). Having remedied her  cultural ignorance, Leininger formalized the Culture Care Theory, establishing the new discipline of transcultural nursing (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). Her goal was to provide knowledgeable care in an increasingly multicultural world (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). Purpose of the Theory The theory’s main purpose was to â€Å"discover and explain diverse and universal culturally based care factors influencing the health, well-being, illness, or death of individuals or groups† (Leininger, 2002, p. 190). It stressed the use of â€Å"research findings to provide culturally congruent, safe, and meaningful care to those of diverse or similar backgrounds† (Leininger, 2002, p. 190). Theory Application Tools. The theorist did not want to espouse platitudes; she wanted her discipline to empower nurses and promote their autonomy (Leininger, 2002). To this end, she outlined thirteen assumptive beliefs to explain the focus of the theory and guide nurses in their practice (Leininger, 2001). Several key beliefs are outlined below: 1. Care is the essence of nursing and a†¦ unifying focus 2. Care (caring) is essential for well being, health, healing, growth†¦or death 3. Culture care is the broadest holistic means to know, explain, interpret, and predict nursing care†¦ to guide nursing care practices 4. Nursing is a transcultural†¦care discipline and profession with the central purpose to serve human beings worldwide 5. Care (caring) is essential †¦ for there can be no curing without caring (Leininger, 2001, pp. 44-45). These assumptions formed the crux of transcultural nursing and what it was intended to do. Leininger also designed three theoretical modalities to guide culturally-based nursing decisions and actions (Leininger, 2001). The first modality, â€Å"cultural care preservation and/or maintenance,† referred to generic/folk behaviors and practices that encouraged wellness and did not need to be changed when planning nursing care (Leininger, 2001, p. 41; Literature review, n.d.). The next modality, â€Å"cultural care accomodation and/or negotiation,† involved nursing care activities which help patients of diverse cultures adapt or negotiate professional care activities (Leininger, 2001, p. 41). It encouraged the nurse to integrate generic/folk behaviors and practices when planning care to encourage healthy outcomes (Leininger,  2001). Under this modality, for example, a nurse would allow a patient to hang a healing amulet above their bed in the hospital because they believed in it and it calmed them (Literature review, n.d.). The final modality that nurses could utlize was â€Å"culture care repatterning and restructuring† (Leininger, 2001, pp. 41-42). This modality involved activities which assist with the extensive modification, change, or repattering of a patient’s unhealthy behavior while remaining aligned with their cultural values and beliefs (Literature review, n.d.). This was the most difficult of all the modalities to employ because the nurse must know a great deal about the patient’s culture to have an optimal outcome (Leininger, 2001). As with any plan of care, the nurse had to discuss their choices with the patient and obtain their agreement (Leininger, 2001). Metaparadigms of the Theory Since the introduction of Florence Nightengale’s Environmental Theory, nursing frameworks had traditionally focused on four metaparadigms: person, environment, health, and nursing (Dayer-Berenson, 2011). However, the Culture Care Theory broke with convention and selected care and culture as its foundational concepts (Leininger, 2001). Leininger found the standard four metaparadigms limited in scope and unsuitable for use in new discipline (Leininger, 2001). For instance, the theorist could not believe nursing’s pundits still refused to acknowledge the indispensible role of care, though they had obviously witnessed its successful impact on health (Leininger, 2001). She also considered the current trend of trying to explain nursing phenomenon with more nursing phenomenon a logical fallacy akin to answering a question with another question (Leininger, 2001). Further, Leininger pointed out that the Western concept of person would be problematic in transcultural nursing because many cultures focused on the family or an institution, rather than the individual (Leininger, 2001). While Leininger thought environment was important, she opted not to use it as a pillar of her theory because it was not unique to nursing or provocative enough to garner scarce research funding (Leininger, 2001). She discounted the use of health for a similar rationale, citing its commonness and the plethora of existing research (Leininger, 2001). Leininger apsired to enlighten, not emulate (Leininger, 2001). Key definitions Other nursing theorists and researchers tried to shoe horn themselves into existing medical models as a means of gaining legitimacy, prestige, and funding (Fawcett, 2002). Leininger, conversely, sought to distinguish her theory from the disease-focused philosophies of the period by not seeking input from other disciplines; it functioned independently (Leininger, 2001). Always seeking to demonstrate the skill and intellect of nurses, Leininger authored a series of definitions to provide clinicians with their own distinct language and, thus, avoid the incongruous use of medical terminology when practicing transcultural nursing (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). Several of the theory’s key explanations are highlighted below: 1. Culture Care refers to†¦culturally†¦assistive, supportive, and facilitative caring acts†¦ 2. Culture Care Diversity refers to cultural†¦differences in care beliefs, meanings, patterns, values, symbols, and lifeways†¦between cultures and human beings 3. Transcultural Nursing refers to a formal area of humanistic and scientific knowledge and practices focused on holistic culture care†¦phenomena..to assist †¦ in culturally congruent†¦ways 4. Culturally Competent Nursing Care refers to†¦culturally based care and health knowledge in sensitive, creative, and meaningful ways †¦for beneficial†¦ health and well-being†¦ (Leininger & McFarland, 2002, pp. 83-84). â€Å"Cultural diversity† and â€Å"culturally competent care†, terms so common today, were penned by the theorist over 50 years ago (Leininger & McFarland, 2002, p. xvii). Influence of the Culture Care Theory Leininger’s theory generated little interest when it was introduced in the 1950s (Leininger, 2002). Nurses’ practices had begun to shift to include more administration of medication and assistance with complex medical treatments (Leininger, 2001). Additionally, they tried to emulate physicians by wearing stethoscopes, focusing on curative measures, and being very precise in their tasks (Leininger, 2001). Nurses, during this era, were medicine’s faithful â€Å"shot givers† (Leininger & McFarland, 2002, p. 76). Needless to say, this mindset was nurtured by physicians, who wanted nurses to remain on the periphery of healthcare, subservient to them (Fawcett, 2002). Nurses, in Leininger’s opinion, willingly relinquished their power and diminished their professional value by becoming so immersed in physicians’ procedures (Leininger, 2001). With nurses so intent on obtaining  medical validation, it was no surprise they found the Culture Care Theory â€Å"soft,† â€Å"fuzzy,† and â€Å"too feminine† (Fawcett, 2002, p. 133; Leininger, 2002, p. 75). The theorist jokingly recalled thinking, â€Å"Nurses have no time to learn about care and cultures, as they must keep to medical tasks!† (Fawcett, 2002, p. 113). Patient care was not a priority (Fawcett, 2002). Making the Theory Relevant Undeterred by the initial chilly reception, Leininger resolved to make the discipline more relevant to nurses (Leininger, 2001). She knew the situation would change gradually over time and utilized the lull to increase the number of transcultural nurses in practice and cultivated the harvest of more cultural data for use in the field (Fawcett, 2002). Transcultural Programs of Study. She developed and taught courses in transcultural nursing (Leininger, 2001). Building upon this momentum, the theorist then established several degree programs of study in transcultural nursing (Leininger, 2001). She steered nurses toward graduate-level courses in anthropology as well, and served as their advisor when several of them continued on to doctoral studies (Leininger, 2001; Leininger & McFarland, 2002). Soon, she had amassed a hardy band of transcultural devotees to assist in her tireless promulgation and support of the discipline (Leininger, 2001). Ethnonursing Research Method. As her followers began to utilze the theory, Leininger was compelled to develop a natural, inducive, and open research method to help â€Å"tease out† complex, covert, elusive cultural data (Leininger & McFarland, 2002, pp. 85, 89). It was called the ethnonursing research method (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). At the time, clinicians utilized research tools and methods borrowed haphazardly from other fields (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). Enablers. The theorist worried that valuable cultural knowledge was lost, concealed, or rendered useless from the improper use of quantitative instruments to perform qualitative research (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). In response, Leininger invented five tools she called enablers to facilitate the mining of cultural data (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). Each enabler was designed to collect a different type of qualitative information (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). The most popular enabler, The Sunrise Enabler to Disco ver Culture Care, was a conceptual model of the entire theory (Appendix A). Its purpose was to  systematically guide nurses through seven areas of influence to find relevant cultural knowledge and provide a holistic view during the health assessment process (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). Qualitative Criteria. To further support accurate interpretations and credible research findings, Leininger identified six criteria by which qualitative studies, like those performed with her ethnonursing method, could be evaluated (Leininger & McFarland, 2002). The criteria â€Å"credibility, confirmability, meaning-in-context, recurrent patterning, saturation, and transferability† received the endorsement of research experts, which led to qualitative data’s acceptance as valid scientific evidence. (Leininger & McFarland, 2002, p. 88) Dedicated Resources. Leininger also established the Transcultural Nursing Society in 1974 as a forum for intelligent discussion among nurses in the discipline, as well as to aid the dissemination of transcultural information (C larke, et al.). Finally, Leininger launched the Journal of Transcultural Nursing in 1988 to serve as a dedicated publishing source for transcultural nursing research, ensuring the entire nursing profession also had access to her protegà ©s’ useful findings (Clarke, et al.). Rise of the Theory After existing in near obscurity for several decades, the Culture Care Theory was thrust into the spotlight in the mid-1980s (Murphy, 2006). Several factors prompted its emergence from the shadows. First, just as Leininger predicted back in 1950, geographic borders shrank and the U.S. became the adopted country of choice for immigrants from all over the world (Leininger, 2002). The healthcare system became innudated with people clinicians did not understand and could not effectively assist (DeRosa & Kochurka, 2006). Desparate to address patients’ needs in a culturally respectful manner, they discovered Leininger’s blueprint for congruent care (DeRosa & Kochurka, 2006). The federal mandates of the 1990s further catapulted the Culture Care Theory into prominence (Murphy, 2006). The directives were designed to resolve disparities in healthcare and ensure equitable treatment for those from diverse backgrounds (Maier-Lorentz, 2008). This meant that academic programs, clinical settings, and healthcare agencies now had to promote, incorporate, and enforce Leininger’s ideas of cultural competence (Murphy, 2006). Impact of the Theory on the Author The Culture Care Theory, developed organically from one woman’s insightful observations, has left an indellible mark on not only nurisng, but education, medicine, law, social science, religion, and so forth (Leininger, 2002). It would be far easier to name the areas of society that the theory has not impacted, for that would be a much shorter list. Amazingly, the author also owes Madeleine Leininger a tremendous amount of personal gratitude. While conducting research, the author was stunned to learn that Leininger’s theory was the motivation for her academic scholarship. The theorist’s emphasis on congruent care and its positive influence led to the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) campaign to significantly increase the number of culturally competent healthcare professionals in critical shortage areas. The NURSE Corps Scholarship Program, which offers a full tuition grant, monthly stipend, and full-time employment to intellectually out standing nursing students, was founded to accomplish this objective. Because of the theorist’s tenacity and zeal, this future clinician’s ambition to serve the underrepresented was made a debt-free reality. Leininger passed away in August of last year (Ray, 2012). Ironically, the author was awarded her scholarship during this same month. Janet Jones wrote in Leininger’s obituary guest book entry, â€Å"She truly was a visionary and her work will continue to be of great significance to many more generations of nurses† (Madeleine M. Leininger, Ph.D., 2012). The author could not agree more with this statement and, in tribute, intends to contribute to Leininger’s legacy of nursing excellence by maintaining a culturally-informed practice, performing research that offers innovative knowledge to the profession, obtaining an advanced degree, and serving as a staunch advocate for the marginalized. Similar to the theorist, the author also pledges to refuse to accept limitations as to what a nurse can accomplish. The author bel ieves Madeleine Leininger would expect no less. References Clarke, P., McFarland, M., Andrews, M., & Leininger, M. (2009). Caring: some reflections on the impact of the culture care theory by McFarland & Andrews and a conversation with Leininger. Nursing Science Quarterly, 22(3), 233-239. doi:10.1177/0894318409337020 Dayer-Berenson, L. (2011). Cultural competencies for nurses: Impact on health and illness (pp. 9-39). Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. DeRosa, N., & Kochurka, K. (2006). Implement culturally competent healthcare in your workplace. Nursing Management, 37(10), 18-18, 20, 22 passim. Fawcett, J. (2002). Scholarly dialogue. The nurse theorists: 21st-century updates — Madeleine M. Leininger. Nursing Science Quarterly, 15(2), 131-136. Jeffreys, M. R. (2010). Teaching cultural competence in nursing and health care inquiry, action, and innovation (2nd ed.). (pp. 9-10). New York: Springer Publishing Company. Leininger, M. M. (Ed.). (2001). Culture care diversity and universality: A theory of nursing. Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Leininger, M., & McFarland, M. (2002). Transcultural nursing in the new millennium: Concepts, theories, research & practice (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Leininger, M. (2002). Culture care theory: a major contribution to advance transcultural nursing and practices. Journ al Of Transcultural Nursing, 13(3), 189-192. Literature review. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/1555/02chapter2.pdf Madeleine M.Leininger, Ph.D. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.heafeyheafey.com/newobituary/display.asp?id=7022 McFarland, M., & Eipperle, M. (2008). Culture care theory: a proposed practice theory guide for nurse practitioners in primary care settings. Contemporary Nurse: A Journal For The Australian Nursing Profession, 28(1-2), 48-63. doi:10.5172/conu.673.28.1-2.48 Maier-Lorentz, M. (2008). Transcultural nursing: its importance in nursing practice. Journal Of Cultural Diversity,15(1), 37-43. Mensik, J. S., Martin, D., Scott, K. A., & Horton, K. (2011). Development of a Professional Nursing Framework: The Journey Toward Nursing Excellence. Journal Of Nursing Administration, 41(6), 259-264. doi:10.1097/NNA.0b013e31821c460a Murphy, S. (2006). Mapping the literature of transcultural nursing. Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 94(2 Suppl), E143-51. Ray, M. A. (2013). Madeleine M. Leininger, 1925–2012. Qualitative Health Research, 23(1), 142-144. doi:10.1177/1049732312464578 Sagar, P. (2011). Transcultural nursing theory and models: application in nursing education, practice, and administration. New York: Springer Publishing Company. Sitzman, K., & Eichelberger, L. W. (2011). Understanding the work of nurse theorists: a creative beginning (2nd ed.). (pp. 93-98). Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Transcultural Nursing Society. (n.d.). Theories and models. Retrieved from http://tcns.org/Theories.html Appendix A Figure. Adapted from Transcultural Nursing Society. (2013). Theories and models. http://tcns.org/Theories.html. Reprinted with permission.