Globalization, Gentrification and Migration Impact to New York Coursework

Globalization, Gentrification and Migration Impact to New York - Coursework Example There has been an argument as to whether the processes of gentrification, globalization, and migration lead to involuntary displacement of the low-income residents in a city. For instance, in New York City, the low-income residents are not likely to move out of a gentrifying suburb than they are to move out of a non-gentrifying suburb. On the other hand, the process of globalization in New York is explained in terms of the strategic sites where various global processes materialized and the various linkages that join them. Among the above-mentioned sites are the off-shore banking facilities, export processing areas and the global cities (Hamnet 1994, p.422). According to Sassen, the rapid growth of the global economy in New York City has led to the modern geography of marginality and centrality. The above mentioned modern form of geography causes inequalities, nevertheless, it leads to the formation of dynamic economic growth, where the city operates from the development of the employment structures to the distribution of telecommunication. New York as a global city possesses a lot of economic powers and various financial services, which offer super-profits. The level of transactions in New York specifically through the trade in services, financial markets and investments have rapidly increased, therefore, the orders of magnitude involved have also increased.

Inclusion Equal Opportunities And Diversity Education Essay Essay Example for Free

Inclusion Equal Opportunities And Diversity Education Essay Essay In 21st century classrooms, there are more and more children coming from much more diverse backgrounds. Teachers need to teach these children with effective teaching methods and must therefore have pedagogical approaches that deepen their cultural understanding. Many of these children have a range of ability in language, abilities and culture. Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (CSIE) stated that teachers must employ not only theoretically sounds but also culturally responsive pedagogy. Teachers must create a classroom culture where all children, regardless of their cultural or linguistic backgrounds are welcomed and supported and provided with the best learning opportunity. What is inclusion? Inclusive education is concerning equality and human rights. Inclusion is more than an understanding and a policy requirement. It is on the subject of respect and values which welcomes diversity in the classroom and a wider part of society. The inclusion statement n the National Curriculum (DfEE/QCA 1999) stated that differentiation from a wide variety of needs and the planning of lessons to ensure access and participation was part of normal teaching. This point was further emphasised by Overall Sangster (2007) saying that it is about meeting the different needs of as many children as possible in mainstream schooling. What are equal opportunities? Equal opportunities are about being inclusive and fair in the way you deal with all children. Treating all children the same is not enough. Overall Sangster (2007) define fair to be when the teacher meets the needs of every child as far as they can. What is diversity? Diversity is something that is becoming more and more popular in the classroom. In simple terms, diversity just means that are is a variety of different types of children in the classroom. Not only is it a professional standard to develop an understanding of the cultural diversity in their class but it is also a legal requirement (Children Act, 1989, 2004), but are these legal requirements being met? Are these evident in schools? Figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families show that last year saw the biggest year-on-year increase in pupils from ethnic minorities. Across the country, they accounted for almost 22% in 2007 compared to 20. 6% in 2006. From these figures it is clear to see that inclusion, equal opportunities and diversity are part of the ‘norm’ classroom and need to be therefore addressed appropriately. I will now discuss what it means for a school to be inclusive and if a school is ‘effective’ does it mean that it has to be inclusive as well? I will also look at barriers to learning and how they are overcome. School Inclusion It is important for schools to be inclusive. Hayes (2004) believes that inclusion is best understood as an aim, aspiration or even a philosophy, rather than as a set of techniques that can be applied to a situation. It is important for a school to aim to be inclusive to everyone in the school, whether this is towards children, teachers or other members of staff. Inclusion tends to be regarded as ‘the right thing to do’ and it is this moral imperative than often makes teachers feel guilty about saying anything negative about inclusive policies and practices. It is important to remember that a positive attitude to inclusion has an impact on the process of developing inclusive teaching strategies (Halliwell, 2003). As a trainee teacher, it is important for me to understand that inclusion is a process that is influenced by a number of different factors and has a different meaning for everyone involved. From experience, I have seen inclusion being carried out. This occurred during assembly when the whole school came together for their Friday ‘celebration assembly’. During this assembly, birthdays were announced and the children came to the front. All teachers and children joined in with singing happy birthday while as the same time signing it. This was a lovely experience to observe. The school as a whole were including everyone. Although there are many different indicators of inclusion to reflect on such as policies, practises and experiences of individuals learning, it is also my aim to carry these out. Such policies include Inclusive Schooling (DfES 2001b). This document provides practical advice to schools and LEA’s on the inclusion framework and sets out seven principles of an inclusive education service. The Every Child Matters Policy (DfES 2003, 2004a, 2004b) has according to Arthur, Grainger and Wray (2006) ‘served to set educational inclusion within the broader context of radical change in the whole system of children’s services including explicitly shifting from intervention to prevention with services working together more effectively’. The overall aim of Every Child Matters is to reduce the number of children who experience educational failure, engage in offending or antisocial behaviour, suffer from ill health or become teenage parents (DfES 2003). The Every Child Matters aims are said to be at the heart of Children Act 2004 (Arthur, Grainger and Wray 2006). Finally, according to Overall and Sangster (2007) the idea of an inclusive school is one that will meet the needs of many pupils in a variety of ways; within special classes, through support for individuals, differentiation in the curriculum and carefully thought through teaching, is an exciting idea. This is something that I should really develop as part of my philosophy of inclusive education. Barriers Inclusion is about looking for ways of reducing the barriers to learning that may exist for children who present more challenging circumstances. Prejudice and stereotyping are often significant in creating and maintaining these barriers (Overall and Sangster 2007). Within The National Curriculum (DfEE/QCA 1999) three principles were set out to develop a more inclusive education. Within these principles, the third is to ‘overcome potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and group of pupils’. These groups of pupils can range from SEN to EAL to Gifted and Talented. Overcoming barriers is further emphasised in Inclusive Schooling (DfES 2001b) with one of the principles stating ‘schools, local education authorities and others should actively seek to remove barriers to learning and participation’. Overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment is relevant to all children who have already been identified to have an emotional, mental or physical need. Teachers must plan to meet these needs and also the needs of the rest of the class at the same time. One method of doing this is to pair a pupil with EAL with a pupil who is good at English. Peer encouragement is a great way of encouraging talk. I witnessed an example with an emotionally vulnerable child. This particular child was getting frustrated and upset when they couldn’t do their times tables because other pupils around the table were counting aloud and therefore interfering with this pupil’s train of thought. To resolve this problem, the pupil was sent into a quieter room where there was full concentration of the subject. As a trainee teacher, I need to plan my lessons which overcome barriers which I may face in delivering a lesson or scheme of work. Conclusion Schools should all have an inclusion, equal opportunities and diversity policy in place and one that is being actively carried out by all pupils and members of staff. It is important that I am positive about the right for all children to be valued and to receive the best education available for them. This can be helped by implementing and receiving guidance from local education authorities or attending extra training days. From reading I have learnt to develop my own pedagogy with regard to inclusion, equal opportunities and diversity. As a training professional I have a unique opportunity to contribute to developing my own personal practice and help with developing policies with other colleagues. My aim now is to need all the needs of the children who I will be teaching both on placement now and in the future with my own class of children.

The Concept of Charismatic Leadership theory

The Concept of Charismatic Leadership theory The study of leadership has been important to humans since the dawn of civilisation, the concept of leadership; leader and follower were represented in Egyptian hieroglyphics written 5,000 years ago. Between 400 and 300BC the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle wrote about leadership and the requirements, characteristics, and education of leaders (Paul, et al. 2002). Leadership is central to the human condition (Wren, 1995) and has found to be important to all societies, although specific patterns of behaviour vary overtime and across cultures (Bass, 1990). Leadership theories have evolved in the last century to the point where they began to be the basis for models that accurately describe the activities of leaders with good correlation to their success in some situations (Antonakis House, 2002), (Yukl, 2006a). Meindl (1990) leadership can best be understood as a perception that plays a key role in peoples efforts to make sense of organisational phenomena. According to his view, organisational systems, activities, and events are hard to comprehend because they are ambiguous and complex. Nevertheless, organisational members and observers have a need to make sense of their environment to preserve an illusion of understanding and control. Because leadership provides a convenient and plausible explanation for important, but causally ambiguous outcomes, it is overused as an explanatory category. Essentially, attributers romanticise leadership as a causal determinant of organisational processes and performance. In a sense, supervisory theories of leadership are about leadership in organisations. Strategic theories of leadership are concerned with leadership of organisations, see (Hunt, 1991) and are marked by a concern for the evolution of the organisation as a whole, including its changing aims and capabilities (Selznick, 1984). Strategic leadership focuses on the people who have overall responsibility for the organisation and includes not only the titular head of the organisation but also members of what is referred to as the top management team or dominant coalition (Cyert March, 1963). As (Mintzberg, 1989) argues, strategy can be understood as a pattern, that is, consistency in behaviour over time. In the strategy process, there may be intentions that are fully realised as well as fully unrealised strategies. In addition, the strategy may emerge. 2.1 General Leadership Theories 2.1.1 Phases of leadership theories The earliest modern literature on leadership appeared in the nineteenth century. This earliest generation of leadership research was set out from the assertion that the emergence of leaders must be connected with certain inherited endowments. There was even a book named Hereditary Genius (Galton, 1970). A comprehensive review of leadership research, published in handbook form, was produced by (Stogdill, 1974). In this handbook, he provided evidence that leadership traits vary not only from situation to situation, but also from time to time. Only a few components remain comparatively consistent over time. Subsequent editions of this handbook were revised by Bass, who is Stogdills successor (Stogdill Bass, 1981) and (Bass, 1990a). In the later edition Bass drew further evidence from later research and identified traits which were steadily relevant to leadership effectiveness. These included activity level, task competence, interpersonal competence, authoritarianism, power orientation and Machiavellianism, value, needs, well-being, accorded status and esteem, and charisma. (Locke et al. 1991) produced a similar list. Since then, the pace of development has mounted as the need for its application intensified following the development of society especially in business management after World War II. In terms of classifying this evolution, a widely accepted view was suggested by (Hunt, 1999a). According to his argument, this evolution can be divided into three generations; namely: trait theory, situational-contingency theory and transformational leadership theory In all it was later accepted that the trait approach failed to prove that there was a set of gifted traits, which made people become leaders. Researchers then mostly turned to the new assumption that leadership can be taught and learned under a proper set of principles according to (Lee Thomas, 2007). Bass also added an extra chapter to the handbook, and this was dedicated to charismatic and inspirational leadership style. Charismatic leadership is actually one of the most important areas in leadership theory since it has the longest acknowledgement in the literature and actually spans across all the three generations of leadership studies. (Weber, 1924, 1947 1968) was the first to mention the concept of charisma. He saw charisma as a special kind of leadership trait that can lead organisations to get through periods of crisis successfully. Since the mid-1970s, research interest in charismatic leadership was shifted from Webers view of crisis rescuer to an emphasis on those leaders who could effect extraordinary influence continuously. It was found that charismatic leaders could usually improve organisational performance through their own behaviour and that this could have a powerful effect on the morale of their followers. This kind of leadership is referred to by the situational-contingency school of researchers as charismatic leadership e.g. (Adair, 1973), (Kets de Vries, 1984) and (Conger Kanungo, 1987a), transformational leadership e.g. (Burns, 1978a) and (Bass, 1985a), inspirational leadership e.g. (Yuki Van Fleet, 1982) or visionary leadership e.g. (Bennis Nanus, 1985a) and (Sashkin, 1988a). Later, researchers in the generation of transformational leadership also classified it as change management (Bass, 1990b). The first author to differentiate between charismatic and inspirational leadership was (Downton, 19 73). He pointed out that the followers endorsement of charismatic leaders is based on blind faith in the leaders, whereas the endorsement of inspirational leaders is based on the rationale that the followers believe and share the leaders vision and strategy. 3.1 The Concept of Charismatic Leadership (up to 1992) and how it fits in to the general leadership theories 3.1.1 Theoretical background of charismatic leadership The term charisma, whose initial meaning is a gift in Greek, has been frequently used in politics and religion to adduce legitimacy to power. (Weber, 1968) defined it as an individuals personality quality (or at least, specifically exceptional powers or qualities) by virtue of which he/she is set apart from ordinary people and which thus legitimises his/her exercise of influence. (House, 1977a) developed a theory of charismatic leadership which is among the first attempts to build a comprehensive theoretical basis for studying the topic. Leadership theory, alternatively referred to as charismatic, transformational, visionary, or inspirational, has emerged in the organisational literatures of (House, 1977b), (Burns, 1978b), (Bass, 1985b), (Bennis Nanus, 1985b), (Tichy Devanna, 1986), (Boal Bryson, 1988), Conger Kanungo, 1987b), (Kuhnert Lewis, 1987), (Sashkin, 1988b). Relating to this new genre of leadership theory, such leaders transform the needs, values, preferences and aspira tions of followers from self-interest to collective interests. Further, they cause followers to become highly committed to the leaders mission, to make significant personal sacrifices in the interest of the mission, and perform above and beyond the call of duty. Theories of charismatic leadership highlighted such effects as emotional attachment to the leader on the part of the followers; emotional and motivational arousal of the followers; enhancement of follower valences with respect to the mission articulated by the leader; follower self-esteem, trust, and confidence in the leader; follower values; and follower intrinsic motivation according to (Shamir, House Arthur, 1993a). The integration of charismatic leadership theory with the upper echelons perspective in an attempt to better understand the leadership role of chief executive officers (CEOs) was reviewed by (Waldman, Javidan Varella, 2004). They proposed that emerging charismatic leadership theory and research may provide new possibilities for the upper echelons perspective. In the past, leadership theory has been seen as the domain of organisational behaviour and micro-oriented perspectives. (House, 1999) organisational behaviourists are generally more psychologically oriented and define charisma as one of the following: a relationship between an individual (leader) and others (followers) based on deeply held shared ideological (as opposed to material) values; an individual who accomplishes unusual feats through the efforts of followers who are exceptionally loyal to the leader, have a high degree of trust in the leader, and are willing to make personal sacrifices in the interest of the leaders vision and the collective led by the leader; a complex set of personal characteristics and/or behaviours of an individual that leads to the above outcomes. The specific traits and behaviours are defined somewhat differently among the organisational behaviourists theories. Organisational behaviourists have used all three of the above definitions, none of which are incompatible with the others. Charismatic leadership is assumed to have three core components: envisioning, empathy, and empowerment according to Conger (2006), increasing attention has been directed during the past several decades toward charismatic leadership. Charisma represents a potentially key construct relevant to strategic leadership (Pawar Eastman, 1997). Apparently, a recent theoretical perspective has begun to link charisma to strategic leadership. For example (Finkelstain Hambrick, 1996) acknowledged that charismatic leadership could affect firm performance in one of several ways. First, the values of such leaders could influence strategic choices through their impact on their field of vision, their perception and interpretation of information, and their strategic decision making. Furthermore, the day-to-day actions and behaviours on the part of charismatic chief executive officers could also affect organisational functioning and performance. Unfortunately, in their view, they did not make potential linkages between charisma and performance especially clear and, indeed, devoted little attention to such linkages in their consideration of strategic leadership. Conger Kanungo (1992) developed a model that focuses on several behavioural dimensions of charismatic leadership within organisations. According to the model, charismatic leadership is an attribution based on followers perceptions of their leaders behaviour. The leaders observed behaviour is interpreted by followers as expressions of charisma in the same sense as a leaders behaviours reflect that individuals participative, people and task orientations. Charismatic leaders differ from other leaders by their ability to formulate and articulate an inspirational vision and by behaviours and actions that foster an impression that they and their mission are extraordinary. As such, individuals choose to follow such leaders in management settings not only because of formal authority but out of perceptions of extraordinariness. Thus any measurement of charismatic leadership must be based on followers perceptions of the specific behavioural attributes of the leader that engender such outcomes . The Conger-Kanungo model proposed several distinguishing behavioural components in three distinct stages of the leadership process. A number of different behaviours may lead to perceptions of charisma (Bass Avolio, 1993), (Conger Kanungo, 1987c) and (Shamir, House Arthur, 1993b). Following earlier experimental research by (Yorges, Weiss Strickland, 1999), they demonstrated that a leader making personal sacrifices to achieve the collective vision rather than personally benefiting from his or her action was perceived as more charismatic. The more recent psychological and organisational behaviour literature has dealt with these variables rather extensively, arguing that charismatic leaders strongly appeal to the values and self-concepts of followers by articulating radical solutions to their problems (Shamir, House Arthur, 1993c). 4.1 Development of Charismatic Leadership (post 1992) In the past decade, the bulk of leadership research has focused on transformational and charismatic leadership (Judge Piccolo, 2004). In sharp contrast to the rational nature of the transactional leadership paradigm of the 1960s and 1970s (Bass, 1990e), transformational and charismatic leadership theories (Bass, 1985c), (Burns, 1978c), (Conger Kanungo, 1998a) and (House, 1977c) recognised the affective and emotional needs and responses of followers performance, placing more emphasis on the emotional, inspirational, and symbolic aspects of leadership influence (Shamir, House Arthur, 1993d) and (Conger Kanungo, 1998b). Attempts to integrate the multiple theories of transformational and charismatic leadership reveal many commonalities, including leader vision and a charismatic communication style (House Shamir, 1993) and (Kirkpatrick Locke, 1996). Newer frameworks that can be applied to leadership theory include meso-level paradigms that attempt to provide an integration of micro and macro organisational behaviour (House et al. 1995) and (Hunt Dodge, 2001). Concurrent with the development of meso-level paradigms, the field of leadership has witnessed an infusion of theory dealing with charismatic and inspirational leadership. 4.1.1 Realisation of Vision content and organisational performance Drawing from the communication literatures, (Holladay Coombs, 1993 and 1994) invoked the concepts of message content and delivery to explain the two-step process whereby charismatic leaders initially craft and then articulate an idealised vision. An idealised vision is generally considered to be a prerequisite for a leader to become transformational or charismatic e.g. (Bass, 1988). Once formulated, the vision must be articulated to mobilise followers to pursue it. Studies in the past decade have identified six behaviours exhibited more frequently by charismatic leaders than by non-charismatic leaders. These include: vision and articulation; sensitivity to member needs; environmental sensitivity; unconventional behaviour; taking personal risks; and not maintaining the status quo as defined by the Conger-Kanungo scale (Conger Kanungo, 1994a). Envisioning involves creating an overall picture of a desired future state with which people can identify and which can generate excitement. In addition to formulating a vision, they are adept at communicating the vision and infusing day-to-day work with a larger sense of purpose and greater intrinsic appeal (Conger, 1989a). Most charismatic leaders, therefore, are known as persuasive speakers. They often rely on various rhetorical techniques such as metaphors, analogy, and stories to inculcate key ideas into the followers minds, so that their message would have a profound impact on followers (Conger, 1989b). (Awamleh Gardner, 1999) suggested an agenda for research to clarify. In particular, the joint effects of vision content, delivery, organisational performance cues, and generalised leadership beliefs on perceived charisma and leader effectiveness warrant empirical attention. Accordingly, in their study they projected three key objectives: to explore the combined effects of vision content and delivery on perceptions of leader charisma and effectiveness; to investigate the relative effects of performance outcomes on these perceptions; and to examine the effects of generalised beliefs about leadership (i.e., romance of leadership disposition) on leadership perceptions. To put the results in perspective, they reconsidered (Lord Mahers, 1993) definition of leadership as the process of being perceived by others as a leader. Accordingly, when people use prototypes to infer leadership, strong delivery of an idealised and well articulated vision will lead to perceptions of charisma and leader effectiveness. These perceptions, in turn, provide the leader with an attentive audience of followers who will be highly receptive to the leaders influence attempts. On the other hand, when followers use organisational outcomes to assess leadership qualities, high performance appears to similarly enhance the leaders image of charisma and effectiveness. Importantly, such perceptions will in turn provide the leader with greater leverage in influencing others. Their point is that the recognition and inferential models are not mutually exclusive. To maximise their influence potential, leaders must provide a strongly articulated and idealised vision, and successfully at tain high performance outcomes. 4.1.2 Charismatic leadership and followers outcomes (Conger, 1999a) over the last decade and a half, highlighted that the topic areas of charismatic and transformational leadership in organisational settings have undergone a significant evolution in terms of both theory development and empirical investigations. Both the greatest amount of theory development as well as empirical research on charismatic and transformational leadership has been in the area of leader behaviours and, to a lesser extent, on follower effects. This was due largely to the backgrounds of the most active researchers, almost all of whom have had a strong behavioural orientation. While there have been a number of individuals studying either transformational or charismatic leaders e.g. (Bennis Nanus, 1985c) and (Kouzes Posner, 1987).Kouzes, J.M. and Posner, B.Z., 1987. . The leadership challenge Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Three principal leadership processes are involved (Bass, 1985d)Bass, B.M., 1985. . Leadership and performance beyond expectations Free Press, New York. in achieving such outcomes: these leaders heighten followers awareness about the importance and value of designated goals and the means to achieve them; they induce followers to transcend their self-interests for the good of the collective and its goals; and they stimulate and meet their followers higher order needs through the leadership process and the mission. Bass was the first organisational scholar to operationalise the transformational leadership model into a measurement instrument. As a result, more studies employ his scale than any of the other models proposed to date. As such, today four behavioural components make up the dimensions of transformational leadership: charisma or idealised influence; inspiration; intellectual stimulation; and individualised consideration. In contrast to the other theories, charisma is a separate component and is defined in terms of both the leaders behaviour (such as role modeling) and the followers reactions (such as trust, respect, and admiration for the leaders ability) (Conger, 1999b). (Bono LLies, 2006) suggested that positive emotions play a role in the charismatic leadership process in an extensive literature linking positive affect to the same outcomes achieved by charismatic leaders (e.g., cooperation, task performance, motivation, creativity). Their aim was to examine the effects of leaders positive emotional expressions on follower mood and perceptions. They discovered that charismatic leaders express more positive emotions than do less charismatic leaders and that leaders positive emotional expressions have a direct effect on follower mood. Furthermore, they argued that both leaders emotional expressions and follower mood had independent effects on perceptions of leadership effectiveness and attraction to a leader. First, (Isen, 2004) has demonstrated that positive change is associated with task performance, particularly on creative tasks, though these effects are not universal, as (George Zhou, 2002) demonstrated that under certain conditions positive mood was negatively associated with creativity. Other studies linked group affective tone (i.e., positive group mood) to group effort and coordination (Sy, Cote Saavedra, 2005), improved cooperation and decreased conflict among group members (Barsade, 2002), and subjective assessments of performance (Totterdel, 2000) and (Fredericksons, 2003) broadened-and-built theory posits that positive emotions broaden the relationship between thought and action, leading to increased novelty and exploration of ideas on the part of employees who experience them. (Rousseau, 1998) suggested the possibility that high-quality relationships may develop even when only a few well specified and important resources are exchanged, such as hard work for high pay. In the recent work of (Cicero Pierro, 2007a), they reviewed that leadership and work outcomes are associated to social identification processes, referring both to recent developments of charismatic leadership models and to the recent developments of the social identity analysis applied to the workplace, e.g. (Abrams Hogg, 2001). Two field surveys were conducted using 200 Italian public and private sector employees (two different working organisations). Two questionnaires were designed in order to collect data. They included different measures of charismatic leadership derived by the literature e.g. the Conger-Kanungo Charismatic Leadership Questionnaire; (Conger Kanungo, 1994b and 1998), for Study 2), a scale to assess the degree of identification with the work-group (Van, K.D., Van, S.E.C.M., 2000) and some scales to measure the different outcomes considered e.g., (Brown and Leighs effort measure, 1996) and (Mobleys turnover intention measure, 1977). As they predicted, results o f Study 1 revealed that charismatic leadership was positively related to work-group identification, and employees work effort was positively related to work-group identification. Work-group identification also mediates relationship between charismatic leadership and work effort. Results of Study 2 replicated the positive association between charismatic leadership and employees work-group identification; work-group identification is also associated with their job involvement, job satisfaction, performance, and turnover intention. (Cicero Pierro, 2007b) admitted that their research has some limitations. The first one to note was that a causality relation cannot be inferred due to the cross-sectional nature of the data, although it was one of the most-used methods in applied and field psychological research. They suggested that future investigations, then, should adopt an experimental or longitudinal design. A second one was represented by the fact that the criteria variables had been assessed by paper-and-pencil self-report measures, which may reflect participants perceptions rather than objective realities. However, some of the analysed variables (e.g., work-group identification, turnover intention, job involvement, etc. pertain exclusively to individuals perceptions and feelings, so only a few of these measures (for instance leadership style and performance) should be assessed through actual behaviours and more objective measures in order to substantiate the results obtained. They concluded that their resul ts enlarged the knowledge of the dynamic that may affect work outcomes and underline the tangible relevance of social identification processes and, in particular, the relevance of employees identification with the work-group to the organisation life. 4.1.3 Concept between Instrumental, transformational and transactional leadership Research on leadership started with a concern for identification of leadership traits, so that this might be used to as a basis for management selection and training. When the relationship of such traits to organisation effectiveness proved weak, researchers sought to emphasise specific leadership behaviours, starting with participative management, and the later behavioural research on social/task and instrumental leadership behaviours, revealed the complexity of leadership and showed the futility of simple answers according to (Vasu, Stewart Garson, 1998). Current notions of leadership in particular, transformational leadership perspectives see (Hunt, 1999b), (Lowe Gardner, 2000) fail to address the strategic and task-oriented developmental functions of leaders (referred to as instrumental leadership by (Antonakis House, 2002), see also (Yukl, 1999). Theoretically, these instrumental leader functions are essential for ensuring sustainable organizational and follower performance. Instrumental leadership is not included in transformational leadership theories (e.g., the full-range leadership theory of (Avolio, 1999), (Avolio Bass, 1991), (Bass, 1985e), (Bass Avolio, 1994, 1997), an omission that might limit: the extent to which the full-range theory is able to predict effective leader functioning and our understanding of the contexts in which different types of leadership are important. (Antonakis House, 2004) defined instrumental leadership as a class of leader behaviours concerning the enactment of leader expert knowledge toward the fulfillment of organisational-level and follower task performance, see also (Nadler Tushman, 1990). Instrumental leadership is distinct from transformational (i.e., ideals, inspirationally based, etc.) and transactional (i.e., exchange-based) leadership and encompasses two subclasses of leader behaviours. Each of these subclasses, in turn, consists of two factors: strategic leadership leaders actions centered on environmental scanning strategy formulation and follower work facilitation leaders actions focused on facilitating follower performance. On the other hand, transformational leadership is associated with strong personal identification with the leader, the creation of a shared vision of the future, and a relationship between leaders and followers based on far more than just the simple exchange of rewards for compliance. The ability of the leader to articulate an attractive vision of a possible future is a core element of transformational leadership (Hartog Verburg, 1997). Transformational leadership goes beyond the cost-benefit exchange of transactional leadership by motivating and inspiring followers to perform beyond expectations (Bass, 1985f). As (Hater Bass, 1988) pointed out, contrasting transactional and transformational leadership does not mean the models are unrelated. Burns (1978d) thought of the two types of leadership as being at opposite ends of a continuum. However, here we follow (Bass, 1985g) who viewed transformational and transactional leadership as separate dimensions. This viewpoint implies that leaders could show both transactional and transformational behaviours. Bass argues that transformational leadership builds on transactional leadership but not vice versa. Thus, high-quality relationships have more in common with a transformational kind of relationship than with a purely transactional one (Gerstner Day, 1997). 5.0 Conclusions Each of the theories under consideration has evolved over time by different intellectuals and is still being studied and used today to explain modes of leader behaviour (Harris, Harris Eplion, 2007), (Yukl, 2006b), (Sagie Koslowski, 1994). Each of the theories considers both the leaders effect on followers and the interaction between leader and follower. According to (Summary Report of Accomplishments: 2003à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 2008) reported that one measure of a journals influence on a field is Impact Factor and Citation Data. To calculate the impact factor, Thomson Scientific records the number of citations in a particular year to articles published in the two previous years, divided by the number of articles in the same previous years. For The Leadership Quarterly, the Impact Factors (and ranking within the categories of Management and Psychology, Applied) for the last 5 years as reported by its publisher, Elsevier, is illustrated in Appendix 1. Another measure of journal impact is the number of full text downloads between 2003 and 2008. The number of downloads for The Leadership Quarterly increased as summarised is shown in Appendix 2. The summary of the Impact Factor, it shows there has been a substantial increase in this index between 2003 and 2007 is shown in Appendix 3. I disagree with (Houses, 1992) article that charismatic leadership was a new genre of leadership theory. For the fact that in the past and the present, several publication have shown significant contribution by scholars in the study and practice of charismatic leadership. Researchers have played a key role in shaping and nurturing the fields of leadership and management to generate new knowledge and insights into leadership theories. Appendices Appendix 1. Year Impact Factor Management Rank Psychology Rank 2007 1.763 20/81 12/57 2006 1.720 16/78 12/54 2005 1.750 9/71 7/49 2004 1.769 10/67 6/50 2003 1.315 20/67 13/49 Appendix 2. 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 *Jan-Jun 83,528 125,417 162,583 213,027 260,948 185,627 Appendix 3. 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 .511 .333 .778 .456 1.338 Source: ISI Web of Knowledge.

Cats are Better Pets than Dogs :: Cat Feline Pet

"A dog is man's best friend." That common saying may contain some truth, but dogs are not the only animal friend whose companionship people enjoy. For many people, a cat is their best friend. Despite what dog lovers may believe, cats make excellent housepets. In the first place, people enjoy the companionship of cats. Many cats are affectionate. They will snuggle up and ask to be petted, or scratched under the chin. Who can resist a purring cat? If they're not feeling affectionate, cats are generally quite playful. They love to chase balls and feathers, or just about anything dangling from a string. They especially enjoy playing when their owners are participating in the game. Contrary to popular opinion, cats can be trained. Using rewards and punishments, just like with a dog, a cat can be trained to avoid unwanted behavior or perform tricks. Cats will even fetch! In the second place, cats are civilized members of the household. Unlike dogs, cats do not bark or make other loud noises. Most cats don't even meow very often. They generally lead a quiet existence. Cats also don't often have "accidents." Mother cats train their kittens to use the litter box, and most cats will use it without fail from that time on. Even stray cats usually understand the concept when shown the box and will use it regularly. Cats do have claws, and owners must make provision for this. A tall scratching post in a favorite cat area of the house will often keep the cat content to leave the furniture alone. As a last resort, of course, cats can be declawed. Lastly, one of the most attractive features of cats as housepets is their ease of care. Cats do not have to be walked. They get plenty of exercise in the house as they play, and they do their business in the litter box. Cleaning a litter box is a quick, painless procedure. Cats also take care of their own grooming. Bathing a cat is almost never necessary because under ordinary circumstances cats clean themselves. Cats are more particular about personal cleanliness than people are. In addition, cats can be left home alone for a few hours without fear. Cats are Better Pets than Dogs :: Cat Feline Pet "A dog is man's best friend." That common saying may contain some truth, but dogs are not the only animal friend whose companionship people enjoy. For many people, a cat is their best friend. Despite what dog lovers may believe, cats make excellent housepets. In the first place, people enjoy the companionship of cats. Many cats are affectionate. They will snuggle up and ask to be petted, or scratched under the chin. Who can resist a purring cat? If they're not feeling affectionate, cats are generally quite playful. They love to chase balls and feathers, or just about anything dangling from a string. They especially enjoy playing when their owners are participating in the game. Contrary to popular opinion, cats can be trained. Using rewards and punishments, just like with a dog, a cat can be trained to avoid unwanted behavior or perform tricks. Cats will even fetch! In the second place, cats are civilized members of the household. Unlike dogs, cats do not bark or make other loud noises. Most cats don't even meow very often. They generally lead a quiet existence. Cats also don't often have "accidents." Mother cats train their kittens to use the litter box, and most cats will use it without fail from that time on. Even stray cats usually understand the concept when shown the box and will use it regularly. Cats do have claws, and owners must make provision for this. A tall scratching post in a favorite cat area of the house will often keep the cat content to leave the furniture alone. As a last resort, of course, cats can be declawed. Lastly, one of the most attractive features of cats as housepets is their ease of care. Cats do not have to be walked. They get plenty of exercise in the house as they play, and they do their business in the litter box. Cleaning a litter box is a quick, painless procedure. Cats also take care of their own grooming. Bathing a cat is almost never necessary because under ordinary circumstances cats clean themselves. Cats are more particular about personal cleanliness than people are. In addition, cats can be left home alone for a few hours without fear.

Nike Case Analysis Essay

QUESTION 1- Prior to the â€Å"Game Changing† proposal for global woman’s fitness where would you put Nike on the CSI chart? Why Prior to â€Å"Game Changing† initiative, I would categorize Nike as a scope-driven organization on the Complex Strategic Integration Chart. Generally, in a scope-driven strategy, resources are mobilized across business units to pursue major opportunities. Nike business strategy is centered on big events. Nike scope dimension indicates the magnitude to which pursuing a new business opportunity requires the collaboration of the existing business units with the corporate strategy. Prior to the â€Å"Game Change† proposal, Nike was an initiative-driven organization, product group and business units work together on major marketing events but then go back to their silos as soon as the common goal is accomplished. Nike focus on product improvement, it has organized its core business around a product orientation, with primary business units focuse d on their main competencies. In other words, Nike’s strategic integration contributes to the support of the strategic push of the company’s core business. Furthermore, Nike’s business units represented the lead dimension of the matrixed organization structure. Within Nike’s matrixed structure, the business units dominated decision-making and priority setting. Members of different business unit teams only collaborated across business unit boundaries commonly to support short-term projects as such World Cup and Olympics. The cross-communication, sharing, and transferring of resources among business units is conducted in order to meet Nike strategic desire to optimize innovation and execution around its primary products. As an example, prior Game changing, Nike ‘strategic integration did not support redirection; Nike’s marketing strategy was focus on products and product innovation. According to Nike managers, it was difficult to gain the support of all the business units in ongoing strategy preceding the Game changing initiative. To make the matter even more challenging business units were much disintegrated; each business unit had its own timelines of bringing product to market, making collaboration harder. Functional representative were not always involved in vital business activities. Nike’s structure did not support ongoing strategy. This prevented Nike from recognizing opportunities. QUESTION 2-How would you describe the new strategy for Global Woman’s Fitness? The â€Å"Game Changing† strategy is crucial in the women’s fitness segment since it focuses on  providing vertical integration of all products within the segment rather than having products developed separately without a common vision. The new strategy proposed by the â€Å"Game Change team put’s Nike in a strong position to capture significant market shares do mestically, as well as in emerging markets where women had traditionally have not been allowed to participate in sports are now finding it acceptable to do so. This new strategy gives women’s fitness its own category of focus, instead of the focus being on product divisions such as footwear and apparel. Nike had traditionally organized its business around footwear, apparel, and equipment. Integration between these three business units was inconsistent at best. The goals of the â€Å"Game Change† proposal was to reorganization and take a more consumer-oriented approach to the market to give customers holistic collections of everything they want and need in a particular sports category. This required Nike to breakdown its product-oriented silos and collaborate on a more formal, ongoing basis. The reorganization also reflected a change in Nike’s corporate strategy. The elevation of women’s fitness to a major focus for the company was a substantial victory to proponent of this initiative, those who recognized the potential of women market, and had been fighting for the increased prominence of this market segment for years. For Nike female consumers are the core of a new organizational product and marketing strategy aimed at finding ways to capture the women’s sport market after years of failure. QUESTION 3-What was the biggest external barrier facing Nike? Nike external barriers are its consumers, retailers, and competitors. Nonetheless, the biggest Nike’s external barrier was consumers, trying to be clear on what they wanted exactly, that would lead to want to buy from Nike. Nike discovered that they had to get much more specific regarding what is different about dance versus running and so forth. Nike faced off against a handful of traditional but well respected brands in the women’s footwear market, also a lot of new and smaller competitors. Nike led the market in some categories, but not other. As an example, Reebok dominated the market in women’s aerobics, but Nike led in women running from the market share and revenue perspective. Fundamentally, no firm controls the market. For this reason, Nike competitors appeared to be rethinking their positioning in the space. Retailers were also other external barrier, the retailers Nike sale to are  locked into their own of doing business. It would not be easy for them conform to Nike’s collection of creating â€Å"a store within a store† for Nike’s products. The game changing team would have to work with their supplier to make sure that they had the product available together. REFERENCE: †¢Burgelman, R, Christensen, C & Wheelwright, S 2009, 5th Ed., Nike’s Global Women’s fitness Business: Driving Strategic Integration, Mc Graw-Hill, America,pp. 1213-1234

Jury Selection essays

Jury Selection essays In order to understand how important jury selection is, one must first understand the process of the selection. 0n the day of the trial, there may be as many as one hundred and fifty jurors called for examination and selection. Out of that one hundred and fifty, twelve will be selected as the jurors to try the case, with two alternates. The hundred and fifty called, however, represented only a small percentage of the number of persons eligible for jury service. The one hundred and fifty, or smaller or greater number called for a particular case are referred to as the panel, and are selected from the jury lists of the County or Federal district in which the Court is located. Local laws, rules or regulations usually determine the number of jurors whose names are to be maintained on the jury list. The names on the jury list are usually selected from the registered and qualified voters, and the list checked at regular intervals to replace those who have died, moved away, or for some other reason become ineligible. Citizens who are selected for the jury list may be selected merely by having their names taken from the list of qualified voters, and being summoned to appear on a particular day, or they may be requested to appear at the office of the Clerk of Court to answer questions, or to complete a questionnaire. In states and localities where there is a preliminary questionnaire or inquiry any juror who is disqualified, or exempt may state his reason for being excused and thus avoid being called again. Where there is no preliminary inquiry, the notice is mailed or observed by the sheriff, and on the return day the juror may state his reason for being excused. In some states the trial of complicated or difficult cases may be held before a Special Panel or Blue Ribbon jury. In New York for example, the Special Panels are used for murder cases, and the number of names to be included on a Speci...

Jeffersons Presidency essays

Jefferson's Presidency essays Behind the Scenes: Jeffersons Presidency The Jeffersonian Republicans are typically considered to be stringent constructionists. The Federalists usually were considered to favor the broad constructionism. This is often just a stereotype, especially when the presidencies of our great, but misleading, Presidents Jefferson and Madison. The Jeffersonian Republicans, to only a small extent, represented what the party truly stood for, and the Federalists also to a small margin swayed from their partys ideas. The Republicans often stood for the idea of a weaker central government, not giving too much power to one man. This principle was sometimes overlooked by Jefferson. ...mine tells me that the civil powers alone have been given to the President of the U.S. (DOC A). Another policy that the Republicans deeply believed in, but Jefferson did not follow in his presidency, was strict constructionism. ...laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind...institutions must advance also and keep pace with the times. (DOC G). Jefferson also was quite afraid of the Government and the constitution, which led to Jeffersons Rebellion (1800). The Federalists were known for their desire for an all powerful central government, but sometimes the party members did not believe in this type of government. ...he will at any time be able to prove quite as clearly that congress has power to create a dictator. (DOC D). Even at the Hartford Convention many Republican-resembling resolutions were accepted. Congress shall not have power, without concurrence of two-thirds of both houses. (DOC E). Madison also states, in his proposal for war, that the constitution was better due to its inflexibility. Also during the Hartford there were no propositions for a change in the Constitution which is not a good representative of Federalist ideals. ...

How to Write a Perfect Receptionist Resume (Examples Included)

How to Write a Perfect Receptionist Resume (Examples Included) If you’ve been a receptionist before, you know that this can be a highly demanding position. You’re expected to be sunny, friendly, and able to manage whatever comes your way as you answer phones, greet guests, provide information, manage appointments, etc. You may also be expected to handle any number of tasks throughout the office. It’s a role that requires a lot of finesse and people skills, and great organization to boot. As a potential receptionist, you want your resume to make sure that these qualities shine through. You find receptionists in every industry and just about every company, so let’s look at three sample resumes from receptionists in different industries: one just starting out in a corporate environment, a legal receptionist, and a medical receptionist. first up is candace, who is seeking a receptionist position to boost her administration skills and experience.Download this resume in Microsoft WordCandace Jones 567 Cantwell Avenue, Apt. 4dPittsburgh, PA 74747 candacejones@emaildomain.comSeeking to support Bryant Financial Management as a receptionist with strong communication and organizational skills.Key skillsInterpersonal skills:Professional, friendly demeanor on the phone, via email, and in personDependable and punctualCustomer serviceTaking initiative to accomplish what needs to be doneProblems)How to Write a Perfect Occupational Therapist ResumeHow to Write a Perfect Physician Assistant Resume (Examples Included)How to Write a Perfect Receptionist Resume (Examples Included)How to Create a Perfect Retail ResumeHow to Write a Perfect Sales Associate Resume (Examples Included)How to Write a Perfect Social Worker Resume (Examples Included)How to Write a Perfect Truck Driver Resume (With Examples)

Is legal pluralism incompatible with the human rights An analysis of Essay

Is legal pluralism incompatible with the human rights An analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in relation to Turkey - Essay Example What constitutes an inalienable right on the part of one ethnic group might for example, be repugnant in the context of moral standards that are held to be the ideal by another cultural group. Nowhere is this more evident that Islam, where religious precepts based on Sharia may in some instances, contravene the principles underlying human rights and liberty, as conceived in the Western world. The decision of the European Court of justice in the case of Welfare Party v Turkey1 appears to support the conclusion that the protection of human rights may in some instances, take precedence over the preservation of religious and cultural diversity. The question that rises in this context is whether universal human rights are essentially incompatible with legal pluralism? The concept of universal human rights raises the issue of a controversy in the relationship between (a) institutionalization of religion in the State through religious beliefs or practices versus human rights norms.2 This st udy will examine whether universal human rights could be compatible with maintenance of religious and cultural diversity. Those advocating universality claim that international human rights â€Å"are and must be the same everywhere†, just like the rights to equal protection, physical security, rights to freedom of speech, expression and religion and the right to a fair trial3. As pointed out by Donnelly, human rights on a world wide basis are irrevocably tied to claims of universality4. Human rights, if taken literally, are understood to be the rights one has simply because one is human. On this basis, rights accruing to every individual must of necessity be equal rights, because everyone is human, and these rights would be inalienable, because they are associated with the human state. On this basis, basic human rights can be seen to be

Reading Reflection Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reading Reflection - Research Paper Example Indeed, the Count fails to define it explicitly; yet in his word choice, one can unpack the meaning and subtlety of such almost philosophical concept. In analyzing and interpreting the piece, I have used heavily the reader-response and formalist analytical approaches. As a whole, these approaches have greatly facilitated and enhanced my reading to Hemingway’s novel. The reader-response approach vitally helps me understand in greater depth pertaining to the â€Å"message† conveyed in the literary work. After reading A Farewell to Arms, for instance, I have wondered whether or not the primary factor that captivates my imagination is the sense of curiosity or inquisitiveness. Perhaps my curiosity to Count Greffi’s notion of wisdom and its philosophical implication substantially facilitates me to read and be engrossed in the novel. On the other hand, the formalist approach in considering the novel’s message substantially reinforces my initial impression or con nection to it.

Why Mixing Students With and Without Special Needs Is a Good Idea Essay

Why Mixing Students With and Without Special Needs Is a Good Idea - Essay Example In this regard, I found Vaness Romo’s article Why Mixing Students With and Without Special Needs Is a Good Idea enlightening and very interesting because she gave very good reasons for her cause. The article started with a controversial photo of a second-grade class which caused some uproar on the Internet. The photo shows a teacher with a warm smile standing beside twenty-two kids sitting on a set of bleachers. Off to the far right, a boy with a beautiful smile was sitting in a wheelchair, separated from his peers. At the beginning of the article, Vanessa discusses why that photo caused the uproar on the Internet and how it was heartbreaking for the online world that believed the picture aimed to show discrimination against people with disabilities. Then, she presents Miles, the boy in the photo, the type of his disability, and his mother’s feeling. Vanessa moved to another point, which was arguing about why mixing students with and without special needs is a good idea. First, she talked about a parent’s fear of people picking on or excluding their child, especially parents of children with special needs, and how that was the reason for the inclusive education model. Secondly, Vanessa quoted Margo Pensavalle, one of the professors at the USC Rossier School, saying â€Å"It’s a win-win situation for everybody,† in arguing that students with special needs should be placed in mainstream classrooms with children of similar ages. Thirdly, Romo also explained how regardless of the severity of a student’s disability and socio-economic status, the advantages of inclusion in the classroom has been well documented with The National Longitudinal Transitions Study showing many advantages of mixing students with and without special needs. Fourthly, Vanessa continued to argue based on Pensavalle’s statement that the two kinds of students in the inclusion model â€Å"take advantage of [the extra help] and learn more completely in a more supportive

The Rise of Capitalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Rise of Capitalism - Essay Example Smith’s theory that propagated dependence of individualism that oozed out of the nation at this time period. America’s obsession with Industrial began with Slater’s mills in which textiles became the primary market to produce. Although it may seem a new age, most workers were orphans or children who owed debt to the nation. The drive of capitalism for this country relied on many factors that included slavery, turned raw goods into products, factories, and the ability to produce such a drastic workforce. Jefferson understood and acknowledged this problem. He feared that the America could not be properly industrialized due to the fact that it would not attract workers. Hence, the need to build factories around villages became critical components towards the move to industrialize America. Moreover, the ability of the American leaders to explore the â€Å"wild west† catapulted the nation to expand and dramatically changed from an urban to a rural area. One of the most significant factors that contributed to the development expansion of the United States was the fertile land that was available in the South. The large plantations in the south gave the rise to slave labor was the fertile farmland in the Midwest enabled United States to accomplish several things. First of all, the invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin initiated the rise to slave labor in the rich land that extended beyond from Carolina to Texas, which expanded the United States border. The fertile land gave boosted the American economy, which contributed to development of United States. The south had to dramatically shift their economy to tobacco and cotton to agriculture. In the north, corn supply was enhanced along with the focus on producing textiles. Cities such as New York and Chicago became the top commerce cities that built its economic empire due to the industrial revolution. The creation of Erie Canal became the hallmark of water commerce that enabled America to lower shipping costs

English 3 literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

English 3 literature - Essay Example This proverb has a close resemblance to Franklin’s proverb; a penny saved is a penny earned. The proverb means that if persons refrain from spending the little things they have, their small savings may add up to big things in the future. The proverb is applicable in numerous business situations whereby it emphasizes on the need to save little proceeds to amass a massive capital. Both of these proverbs are emphasizing on the need to save. They discourage unplanned expenditure for little possessions that a person may have, placing in focus the future goals. Expenditure without savings can lead to bankruptcy and eventually poverty. Nevertheless, if a person denies himself or herself a chance to spend today on unnecessary things, he or she may have greater benefits in the future. The proverbs reinforce the understanding that an investment starts with saving. A wise entrepreneur saves the little he or she possesses until there is a substantial capital to start a big

Domain II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Domain II - Essay Example This does not exclude special services for children and care for elderly or the geriatric group whose demands are considered nutrition status indicators† (Hess, 2011, p.204). Populations with Special Needs: â€Å"Existing community support systems like community service agencies offering social service, religious, education, shelters, feeding and food stamp programs, among other things, must be tapped through proper collaboration.† (Hess,2011, p. 205). Nutrition Related Health Risks and Problems At Various Stages of Life: Nutritional factors such as bad nutrition and bad habits cause common health problems and group risks to pregnant women, infants and children, adolescents, adults and elderly groups, ending up with illnesses such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, malformation of teeth and bones, cancer, anemia, among others† (Hess, 2011, p. 206-207). National surveillance systems: â€Å"Surveillance is an approach for collecting data on health and nutritional status on a regular or repeated basis. National surveillance systems established include Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System (PEDNSS); Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System (PNSS), among others† (Hess, 2011, p. 210). National Surveys: â€Å"Surveys are varying techniques of collecting accurate data to draw valid analysis on the targeted problem. Mostly, food consumption surveys were conducted to evaluate the nutritional status of selected areas and populations in a given period of time† (Hess, 2011, p211-212). â€Å"National, state and local reference data derived from the conducted national and local surveys, such as: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHNES) I (1971-1975), NHNES II (1976-1980) and NHNES III (1988-1994), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), Youth Risk Surveillance System (YRSS), among others, were purposely used as reference data to do research base, community

The Rise of Capitalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Rise of Capitalism - Essay Example Smith’s theory that propagated dependence of individualism that oozed out of the nation at this time period. America’s obsession with Industrial began with Slater’s mills in which textiles became the primary market to produce. Although it may seem a new age, most workers were orphans or children who owed debt to the nation. The drive of capitalism for this country relied on many factors that included slavery, turned raw goods into products, factories, and the ability to produce such a drastic workforce. Jefferson understood and acknowledged this problem. He feared that the America could not be properly industrialized due to the fact that it would not attract workers. Hence, the need to build factories around villages became critical components towards the move to industrialize America. Moreover, the ability of the American leaders to explore the â€Å"wild west† catapulted the nation to expand and dramatically changed from an urban to a rural area. One of the most significant factors that contributed to the development expansion of the United States was the fertile land that was available in the South. The large plantations in the south gave the rise to slave labor was the fertile farmland in the Midwest enabled United States to accomplish several things. First of all, the invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin initiated the rise to slave labor in the rich land that extended beyond from Carolina to Texas, which expanded the United States border. The fertile land gave boosted the American economy, which contributed to development of United States. The south had to dramatically shift their economy to tobacco and cotton to agriculture. In the north, corn supply was enhanced along with the focus on producing textiles. Cities such as New York and Chicago became the top commerce cities that built its economic empire due to the industrial revolution. The creation of Erie Canal became the hallmark of water commerce that enabled America to lower shipping costs

Domain II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Domain II - Essay Example This does not exclude special services for children and care for elderly or the geriatric group whose demands are considered nutrition status indicators† (Hess, 2011, p.204). Populations with Special Needs: â€Å"Existing community support systems like community service agencies offering social service, religious, education, shelters, feeding and food stamp programs, among other things, must be tapped through proper collaboration.† (Hess,2011, p. 205). Nutrition Related Health Risks and Problems At Various Stages of Life: Nutritional factors such as bad nutrition and bad habits cause common health problems and group risks to pregnant women, infants and children, adolescents, adults and elderly groups, ending up with illnesses such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, malformation of teeth and bones, cancer, anemia, among others† (Hess, 2011, p. 206-207). National surveillance systems: â€Å"Surveillance is an approach for collecting data on health and nutritional status on a regular or repeated basis. National surveillance systems established include Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System (PEDNSS); Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System (PNSS), among others† (Hess, 2011, p. 210). National Surveys: â€Å"Surveys are varying techniques of collecting accurate data to draw valid analysis on the targeted problem. Mostly, food consumption surveys were conducted to evaluate the nutritional status of selected areas and populations in a given period of time† (Hess, 2011, p211-212). â€Å"National, state and local reference data derived from the conducted national and local surveys, such as: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHNES) I (1971-1975), NHNES II (1976-1980) and NHNES III (1988-1994), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), Youth Risk Surveillance System (YRSS), among others, were purposely used as reference data to do research base, community

Academic Achievement of Homeschooled Children Essay Example for Free

Academic Achievement of Homeschooled Children Essay These days many American children are schooled at home, with the number growing more and more per year; however, t the same time home schooling has received less attention than other recent changes in the educational system. It could be argued that home schooling may have a much larger impact on educational system, both in the short and long run. This research will basically provide the home school population, its growth and its characteristics. Also, with the beginning of a discussion of the data sources used in the analysis, this research examines characteristics of home schooled children and their families such as those characteristics most relevant for gauging trends in home schooling. Lastly, there will be talked about implications of home schooling for regular schools and a brief conclusion. Therefore, based on all these researches, I am going to research whether or not home-based education cause higher academic achievement than the institutional schooling in U. S. A. Proposal Methods The researchers will use quantitative research regarding the influence of the educational background of parents on the performance of their home schooled children. The performance of the home schooled children will be quantified in comparison with the public school children with also varying educational backgrounds. Survey method—using will be used in order to obtain the more generalized results of the study. Participants will be contacted first through phone to have permission or consent of being part of the study. This part will also inform the family, especially the parents about the research study that will be conducted. According to Timothy Johnson of University of Illinois at Chicago, having an informed consent of the participants is part of the ethics of conducting researches. (Johnson) If the participants agree on being part of the study, mailed questionnaires will be distributed. The group that I propose to study is 75 homeschooled eleventh (11th) and twelfth (12th) graders. The chosen sample size is a significant number in order to study the influence of the educational background of parents on their homeschooled children since 75 is not much of a high number, making it too pricey or having too much effort given on the study, or not too low of a number. Studies were also made regarding the influence of parents on their homeschooled children, but these studies were more focused on the primary education (Grades 1-4, as indicated in the Literature Review), and not on the high school level. This study will further explore if the influence of parent’ educational background will change if the students are at a higher level of schooling. This study will also be limited on eleventh and twelfth graders. The sample size 75 students will be divided into three groups. Group 1 will consist of children that have been schooled at home by parents that have less than a high school education. Group 2 will consist of children that have been homeschooled by parents that have a high school education. Group 3 will consist of 25 children that have been homeschooled by parents. Additionally, 75 public school children also in eleventh (11th) and twelfth (12th) grade will serve as the control group. Group 4 will consist of children that have been schooled in the public school system and whose parents have less than a high school education. Group 5 will consist of 25 children have been schooled in public school and have parents that have a high school education and Group 6 will consist of 25 children that have been schooled in public school whose parents have a college education. These particular groups were chosen to research two key areas addressed in the research proposal. First the area of whether homeschooled children outperform those that are educated by public school. Second this method will attempt to address if the parents education significantly impacts academic achievement in both groups. Eleventh (11th) and Twelfth (12th) grade students were chosen for this research because they are at the end of their respective high school education and one can better assess their overall education. Obtaining the data necessary to conduct the research will consist identifying the test subjects in home school by contacting a home school association within the target state(s) for a mailing list of parents. A small questionnaire will be sent out to ascertain the educational background of parents with return postage and a request that they mail the questionnaire back. This feedback will be divided into the three groups identified to study. At this point, 25 families will be randomly chosen from each group and contacted by the researcher via telephone. If a family elects not to be part of the study group, another family will be randomly chosen from that category. The researchers will continue to distribute questionnaires on families that fit the criteria, until a response is made. Once a telephone interview with the parents is conducted and they have agreed to participate, a paper assessment will be mailed to the family. A return envelope with postage paid will be sent with the assessment. This assessment will be an ACT/SAT style test addressing the four main academic components: Math, Reading, Science, and English. The child or children will have 24 hours to complete the assessment and return it to either the post office or mailbox so that the return envelope can be stamped for that day. This method will put urgency into the test being completed and sent back and may reduce some forms of cheating. While a computerized test was considered, it may not be possible for all children schooled at home to have computer access so a paper assessment was the most versatile method of data collection. The same process will be conducted for the public school children. Eligible families will be identified by contacting the target state(s) Department of Education. Again, a paper questionnaire will be sent asking for data on the parents’ education and a request to return it. These parents will also be contacted for permission. Once consent is given, the assessment will be sent to the family with the same procedure outlined above. In Groups 1, 2, and 3 we can assess the general academic achievement of children schooled at home. We can also measure, to a degree, how much the parents own education impacts the academic achievements of the child or children. The same is true of Groups 4, 5, and 6. In the case of the latter group, parents’ education may not be relevant however it is necessary for the continuity of the study. In order to obtain accurate results, these assessments should be conducted sometime within the school year after the first quarter of either the eleventh (11th) or (12th) grade. Students should be assessed after being accustomed to their routine learning guidelines in their respective schooling. Respondents will also be assured that they will be guaranteed that their responses will be confidential, as also stated in the Code of Standards of Council of American Survey Research Organizations. (Council of American Survey Research Organizations, 2009) In a working paper written for the U. S. Census Bureau, Kurt Bauman pointed out several characteristics that may determine home school trends (Bauman, 2001). However, the purpose of this study is purely to identify academic achievement within both the home school student group and public school student group. SURVEY QUESTIONS: The survey questions will be divided into three parts: basic information, performance section. These questions will be the same for Groups 1, 2, and 3, and Groups 4, 5, and 6. The first part, as the name says, contains all the basic information about the student and the parents. This part will include the educational background of the parents, the reasons for home schooling, what they know about the regulations regarding home schooling of their state, etc. The questionnaire for those that are homeschooled, in order, will provide this series of questions: name, name of parents, age, grade, educational background of parents, number of years being homeschooled, reason/s of being homeschooled, and organizations that are involved in regarding homeschooling. The questions, on the other hand, of those that are in public schools will be the same of the homeschooled questionnaire, except for the last three questions. The next part on the other hand, will include the academic test that will determine the performance of the student. The students will answer questions on subject matters like Math, Science, Reading and English, in order to at least have a grasp about their overall academic knowledge. ETHICS ON RESEARCH The researchers acknowledge the fact that the study can be a critical matter especially for parents since discrimination, especially on educational backgrounds, might be possible. However, it is also an essential for the researchers to keep in mind the ethics of conducting a research as stated by Thomas Watson. First is that the researchers will give privacy to the respondents, meaning they can willingly say or not say information that they aren’t comfortable with. Second, the researchers will ensure voluntary participation—that is, the researchers will respect if they want to be part of the research or not. Lastly, the researchers will maintain confidentiality and non-attribution. The respondents will remain to be anonymous. (Watson, 1996) References Bauman, Kurt J. , Home Schooling in the United States: Trends and Characteristics, (2001). Retrieved April 13, 2010 from the U. S. Census Bureau website: http://www. census. gov/population/www/documentation/twps0053/twps0053. html Literature Review Academic Achievement of Homeschooled Children Does home-based education cause higher academic achievement than the institutional schooling in California? Early studies as well as the more recent studies illustrate that this is indeed possible, as they examine the academic performances of homeschooled students in different locations and with various independent variables. For instance, Belfield and Levin (2005) showed that homeschooled students have better SAT verbal scores than the non-homeschooled students. Although homeschooled students have higher SAT math scores as well, the gap seems to be greater in the verbal scores (Belfield Levin, 2005). After controlling for 21 independent variables, Belfield and Levin showed that the advantage of homeschooled students over private school students was reduced, but the great gap still exists when the comparison is between homeschooled students and public schools students. Moreover, the scores of the homeschooled students and private school students in SAT are at par with each other, with no group outperforming the other (Belfield Levin, 2005). According to Basham et al. (2007), whether having at least one or no parent as a certified teacher do not significantly matter on the achievement levels of the homeschooled children, although parents who acquired university degree have homeschooled children who outperform significantly those parents who did not earned a degree. However, Bansham illustrate that regardless of these parental backgrounds, homeschooled children all scored between the range of 80 to 90 percent, as opposed to the average score of 63 percent for public school students, who have parents with university degree and average score of 28 percent of public school students who have parents with no degree. Moreover, around 25 percent of homeschooled students have academic performances better than students above their age-level studying either in public or private schools (Bauman, 2002). This can be seen in grade 1 to 4 homeschooled students. All of them perform better compared to the performance of the non-homeschooled students of at least one-grade level higher (McDowell Ray, 2000). When it comes to 8th grade, the homeschooled students have academic performances better than non-homeschooled students at least four grade levels higher. All these evidences illustrate that being homeschooled leads to better academic performances despite the children’s background, which would have played negative roles when the children were not homeschooled (McDowell Ray, 2000). Homeschooling reduce or eliminate altogether the negative effects low family income, low parental educational attainment, large family size, race or ethnicity or even gender would have played if the students were not educated in the home setting (Bansham et al. , 2007, Ray, 2000; Ray Eagleson, 2008). Not having computers or other materials required by formal schools or not having access to public libraries seems not to matter as much for homeschooled students as compared to homeschooled students as well (Bansham et al. , 2007). All these factors do not affect how the children perform academically either. The academic achievements of homeschooled children cannot be generalized. Researchers doubt generalizations because it is difficult to compare homeschooled children and those who are not. However, despite all the doubts of the generalizabilty of the better academic performance of homeschooled children, more and more studies are producing evidence that homeschooled children achieve better performance against their non-homeschooled peers on various types of tests (Basham et al, 2007). The present study will determine if in California, the same findings would emerge. the scores of the homeschooled students and certain Californian private school students in SAT will be examined to test this. Factors such as socio-economic background, gender and ethnicity will also be tested to determine whether each of them will have a significant relationship with the academic achievement of homeschooled students in California. Homeschooling laws depend on the state where the family is residing—whether be it the requirements of the parents, the testing procedure, etc. In a state like Washington, parents are required to have 45 quarter units of college level credit, complete parent qualifying course, an average of an hour a week meeting with a certified teacher, and a qualification to provide home-based teaching instruction by the superintended of the local school district. (Russell, 2008) The case is otherwise different in Michigan since no law requires for parents or teachers to have certain qualifications in order to teach. ( Home School Legal Defense Association, 2009) According to Home School Legal Defense Association, there are already 40 states that adopted the home school regulations. It is also stated in their website that â€Å"Forty-one states do not require home school parents to meet any specific teacher qualifications. The eight states which require only a high school diploma or a GED are: GA, NC, NM, OH, PA, SC, TN, and WV. DC also requires either a high school diploma or GED. (In TN, there is no qualification requirement for grades K-8 if home school is associated with a church-related school). The remaining state has the following qualification requirements: ND requires only a high school diploma or GED, provided that the parent is monitored by a certified teacher for two years. † There are three states who qualify home school teachers to be â€Å"competent† such as CA, KS, and NY. Having less than GED are considered to be competent in those three states. (Home School Legal Defense Association) References Bansham, P. , Merrifield, J. , Hepburn, C. R. (2007). â€Å"Home Schooling: From the Extreme to the Mainstream. Studies in Education Policy. † The Fraser Institute. Retrieved from http://www. netzwerk-bildungsfreiheit. de/pdf/From_the_extreme_to_the_mainstream. pdf Bauman, K. J. (2002). Home schooling in the United States: Trends and Characteristics. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 10(26). Retrieved from http://epaa. asu. edu/epaa/v10n26. html. Belfield, Clive R. and Henry M. Levin (2005). Privatizing Education Choice: Consequences for Parents, Schools and Public Policy. Boulder, C. O. : Paradigm Publishers. McDowell, Susan A. and Brian D. Ray (2000). â€Å"The Home Education Movement in Context, Practice, and Theory. † Peabody Journal of Education, 75(11), 1-7 Ray, B. D. (2000). Home schooling: The ameliorator of negative influences on learning? Peabody Journal of Education, 75(1 2), 71-106. Ray, B. D. , Eagleson, B. K. (2008, August 14). State regulation of homeschooling and homeschoolers’ SAT scores. Journal of Academic Leadership, 6(3). Retrieved from http://www. academicleadership. org/emprical_research/State_Regulation_of_Homeschooling_and_Homeschoolers_SAT_Scores. shtml Bibliography Home School Legal Defense Association. (2009). Home Schooling in the United States: A Legal Analysis. Retrieved April 30, 2010, from Home School Legal Defense Association: http://www. hslda. org/laws/analysis/Michigan. pdf Council of American Survey Research Organizations. (2009). CASRO Code of Standards and Ethics for Survey Research. Retrieved April 29, 2010, from Council of American Survey Research Organizations: http://www. casro. org/codeofstandards. cfm Home School Legal Defense Association. (n. d. ). Summary of Home School Laws in the Fifty States. Retrieved April 29, 2010, from Home School Legal Defense Association: http://www. hslda. org/laws/Summary_of_Laws. pdf Johnson, T. (n. d. ). Ethical Issues in the Conduct of Survey Research. Retrieved April 29, 2010, from College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs: http://www. srl. uic. edu/seminars/ethicsint. htm Russell, L. (2008, June 12). Washington Homeschool Law. Retrieved April 29, 2010, from Suite 101: http://homeschool-regulations. suite101. com/article. cfm/washington_homeschool_law Watson, T. (1996). Survey and Interview Ethics for Data Gatherers and Respondents. Retrieved April 30, 2010, from Independent Job Analysis: http://www. ijoa. org/imta96/paper64. html

Film Research Study: Enchanted (2007)

Film Research Study: Enchanted (2007) Introduction The topic that we chose to do a research on is a film named Enchanted. The film was released in 2007. Enchanted is a romance comedy film which contains live-action and animated fantasy. The film tells a story about a girl named Giselle. She was pushed into a magical well by her prince’s stepmother which brought her to the reality world, the modern New York City. She tried to coop with the new surroundings instead of living happily ever after in her fairytale castle with her prince. Giselle met Robert who helped her to face the reality of the world. Giselle learnt that true love is much more complicated that sharing only a â€Å"true love’s kiss† with her prince. Our targeted audience are students studying in Tunku Abdul Rahman College, Penang Campus. We decided to target 25 males and 25 females which sums up to 50 students. The age of our targeted audience are mostly from 17 till 25. The students we targeted are studying in different faculty such as faculty of accountancy, finance and business. The main reason we carry out this research is to find out if college student perceive Enchanted as children based movie or adult based movie. Literature Review Selection perceptive theory is the process where individuals perceive on what they want to see in the media while dismissing any negative viewpoints. In a broader term, it is where people tend to view things based on the concept of favoritism and their prefer frame of references. It is describe as categorize sensory information that favors one over the other, meaning selective perception is bias because we interpret message that goes against our beliefs and thoughts. Of course, this is only true when our perceive perception is counted as accurate. But if selective perception caused us to dismiss important points and information, this type of perception is highly detrimental. This theory based on human judgment and decision making that is distorted by an array of cognitive, perceptual and motivational biases. There are evidences that suggests that people tend to recognize and even overestimate the operation of bias in human judgment except when that bias is their own. Aside from the general motive to self-enhance, two primary sources of this ‘bias blind spot’ have been identified. One involves peoples heavy weighting of introspective evidence when assessing their own bias, despite the tendency for bias to occur unconsciously. The other involves peoples conviction that their perceptions directly reflect reality, and that those who see things differently are therefore biased. (Emily Pronina, Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Green Hall, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA). Another source of the bias blind spot involves the fact that others see things differently from ours. People are particularly likely to deny bias in themselves, whereas they will impute it to others, when those others have a different point of view and when they for example rebelled against their government policies and governance are then tend to imputed more self-interest biases than the government supporters. (48 G.D. Reeder et al., On attributing negative motives to others who disagree with our opinions, Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 11 (2005), pp. 1498–1510.) Of course, there are least some evidence that that people are more likely to acknowledge their susceptibility to biases that are less undesirable. (E. Pronin et al., The bias blind spot: perceptions of bias in self versus others, Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 28 (2002).) Research Research is the first management process to define the problem. The first step involves probing and monitoring knowledge, opinions, attitudes, effected by the acts and policies of an organization. In essence, this is an organizations intelligence function. It provides the foundation for all the other steps in the problem-solving process by determining, what is happening now? In this research, we used questionnaire method as our research. We chose this method because we think that it is easier to get feedback from the students. We have prepare 8 questions for the students to answer. Some examples of the questions are have you watch the Enchanted movie before, where do you watch the Enchanted movie and do you like the Enchanted movie. We then printed 50 copies to let the students answer it. We carried out the surveys in the canteen, new library and foyer in Tunku Abdul Rahman University College. FINDINGS We created a questionnaire for mass media research in order to collect data about what TARC College students think about the movie Enchanted whether it is suitable for children. 50 of students completed the questionnaire between 12 November2014 and 19 November 2014.The results are recorded as below. In this research, we asked a variety of questions in which I think would be helpful when produce a children based movie. As can be seen from the diagram above, majority of the TARUC students (100%) reported that they have watched Enchanted movie before. I was surprised that most of the TARUC students have watched Enchanted movie before. This helped us to find out more details about how do college students think about Enchanted whether it is a children based movie or adult based movie. The survey shows that the highest percentage of students (38%) who watch the Enchanted movie through DVD. 32 % of students watched the Enchanted movie through cinema. The lowest percentage is 30% of students watched the Enchanted movie through Internet. With this question, it shows that majority of TARUC students would prefer buying a DVD to watch movie. I think that watching movie through DVD are clearer and can be a collection. From the diagram above, A large proportion of students (86%) reported that they like the Enchanted movie. Minority of the students (14%) reported that they do not like the Enchanted movie. It shows that TARUC students are mostly interested in this movie. Some of the respondents said that they like the movie because they like the idea that there is an animation world that comes together with a realistic world. Some of the respondents said that they do not like the movie because it is a twisted fairytale and it is a boring movie. From the questionnaire, this pie chart shows that an overpowering percentage of TARUC students (46%) watched this movie on once, it is a disappointing finding. 32% of TARUC students watched this movie on twice. Only minority of students (22%) watched this movie more than twice. It shows that TARUC students do not like to re-watch the Enchanted movie. As is can be seen from the pie chart above, the survey shows that 64% of students think that the Enchanted movie is a children based movie. Only 36% of students think that the Enchanted movie is an adult based movie. It strongly shows that most of the TARUC students perceive Enchanted movie as a children based movie. The following answer is based on targeted audience’s choice of answers, whether they think it is children based movie or adult based movie. If their answer is children based movie, it will proceed to question 6. If the answer is adult based movie, it will proceed to question 7. As it can be seen in pie chart above, it shows that the reason why our target audiences think Enchanted movie is a children based movie. Majority of TARUC students (73%) said that the storyline is like fairytale which is the most popular answer. The next popular answer is ‘it contains traditional animation and computer-generated imagery’ from TARUC students. There is no student who choose the answer, ‘because of the stepmother’. Only 1 student chooses ‘other’, she said that the dialogue of movie is easy to understand so it is quite suitable for children. This is a surprisingly finding considering the reason why TARUC students think Enchanted movie is an adult based movie, there is two equal answer of percentage (33%) which is ‘it contains live-action filmmaking’ and ‘it contains adult contents’. 28% of TARUC students think that it is an adult based movie because it is a romance movie. The minority of students (6%) was choosing others. According to one of the student, he said that he think this movie is an adult based movie because the idea of the movie may mislead the children growth and development. According to the bar chart above, it shows that the review of the students to the Enchanted movie. 0% of student vote for 1. There is 2% of students vote for 2. 4% of students vote for 3. 8% of students vote for 4, 6 and 10 respectively. 6% of students vote for 9. 14% of students vote for 5 and 22% of students voted for 7. The highest voting is 8 which achieve 28% of students vote. Conclusion With the help of the research, we found of that students of Tunku Abdul Rahman College perceive Enchanted as a children based movie. They strongly believe that it is suitable for children. From the college students’ point of view, they believe that it is a children based movie because they think that the storyline of the movie is like a fairytale where there will always be a happily ever after ending. In our opinion, we think that both answers chosen by the college students has its different perception. According to the theory that we used, selective perception theory, it is where people tend to view things based on the concept of favoritism and their prefer frame of references. Most of the time we will never get a 100% answer as different people have different views. Some people may choose to believe it is an adult based movie and some people might choose to believe it is a children based movie. It proves to us that people view things based on their own concept and thoughts.

History Of Western Music :: essays research papers

Most of the early music that we have today still in print is primarily sacred music. This music, for the most part, is in the form of sections of the Mass, such as the Gloria, Kyrie and Agnus Dei. Most people of the Middle Ages were poor peasants who worked all day for meager wages and had no idle time lounging the way the upper classes did. Therefore, there are few extant secular compositions of music from this era. The rise of a new middle class, however, gave financial freedom for some people to spend time and money on entertainment in the form of music and dance. Thus, the rise of the middle classes also gave way to the rise in composition and performance of secular music, which became the music of choice for composers of that day. Many of the songs we have today of the Middle Ages were in Latin, and are by anonymous composers. Many were written by wandering people, many of them men and churchmen without permanent residences of their own. Men who could not obtain a position in the Church and had to drop out were called goliards. These goliards wandered around the land, composing and performing for people. Their music was mostly comprised of the "’eat, drink, and be merry’ type, appropriate to the wanton kind of life the goliards lived" (Stolba, 99). Carl Orff, the composer of the Carmina Burana, used the poems found in the largest surviving records of Latin secular music that we have today. The Codex latinus 4660 was held in the Benedictine monastery at Benediktbeurn. Many of the songs speak of love, many of them lascivious. Others speak of drinking, satires of the religious life and even liturgical plays. A few of them are even written in the vernacular of the region in that time (Stolb a, 99). Following the history of the era in literature, many authors were fascinated by the courtly tradition, chivalry and a higher love. Therefore, we have today musical compositions that speak of many of the same ideas. French composers wrote songs in the vernacular called chansons de geste . These songs spoke of the heroic acts performed by knights for their ladies in the name of love. The French have a national epic called the Chanson de Roland which related the life and death of Charlemagne’s nephew and his endeavor to rid France of the Basques.

ufo cults Essay -- essays research papers fc

The First Encounter Assignment #2 â€Å"Are we alone in the universe?† Scientists have been trying to answer this question for many years. As of now there has not been any rock solid evidence to prove that there is life outside this world, but there is an overwhelming amount of people that believe that there is life. People only believe that there is life outside earth, they don’t know there is. It is hard to know that extra terrestrials exist unless a person has an encounter with one. A person named Claude Vorilhon (Rael) had an encounter with an alien and was told that we were all experiments to the aliens. The alien insisted for him to spread the word of the encounter and build an embassy for the coming of Elohim (the extra terrestrials). This encounter was the start of a UFO cult called Raelians. This cult has spread all over the world, predominately in Europe, Japan, and Quebec. In this UFO cult, Raelians, one can wonder what’s its beliefs are, what is it about the theology of this UFO cult that could draw so many followers and how some can not accept this religion. This religion started by one man went a long way and caused many controversies along the way. The theology of the Raelians was given from Vorilhon’s extra terrestrial mentor that he met with for six consecutive days for about an hour. There are eight main beliefs of the Raelians cult. The first one being that Elohim was the creator of humanity. The alien race was way more advanced than us and they mastered genetics and cell biology well enough to create DNA. They used earth to further studies because of its isolated environment. First plants were created then animals, then humans. â€Å"These human creations of the Elohim were first housed comfortably, being fed and sheltered with no obligations, in the laboratory of the Elohim. However, humans soon proved to possess an aggressive nature, and thus, the Elohim forced the humans out of the laboratory, which was poetically referred to in the Bible as the "Garden of Eden.† The second belief is the scientific translation of the bible. â€Å"Genesis 6:1-2 "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the Earth and daughters were born unto them, that the Sons of Elohim saw the daughters of men, that they were fair; and they took them as wives..." Rael states this quote from the bible that it indicates an interbreeding of the... ... through to draw people to it. Many people have faith in a religion but once they lose it, either they lost a loved one and wonder why has God done this to them or how God allowed it to happen, they may turn to another religion such as Raelians where there is no God present but simply our creators of life, the Elohim. The Raelian religion is growing by the year drawing more and more followers but there are also many others who reject this religion because of their own beliefs. We will never know how we came to be in this world either by aliens or created by a God, either way the installment of faith has to be present to follow a religion. The choice of religion is based on the person’s beliefs. Bibliography Faye Whittermore. April 2001. â€Å"Raelians†. Available on-line: New Religious Movements: http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/rael.html Mother Site of the Raelian Religion. http://www.rael.org/ (Last visited 04/02/05). Rael. 1998. The Final Message. London: The Tagman Press. Rael. 1986. Let's Welcome our Fathers from Space. Japan: AOM Corporation. Shupe, Anson D. 1981. Six Perspectives on New Religions. New York: Edwin Mellen Press. 75-80.