Elasticity of demand Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Elasticity of demand - Essay Example e behavior of price elasticity under monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly to determine the differences in price elasticity among the economic structures. Under monopolistic competition the price elasticity is high. One of the reasons this occurs is because there are many firms competing in the marketplace. Firms can enter easily into this market structure because there are no barriers of entry. An example of a firm operating under monopolistic competition is the fast food giant McDonalds. It is clear for customer that the prices between fast food chains change a lot based on the price moves made by others. When McDonalds introduced its one dollar value menu, competitors in the industry such as Burger King and Wendy’s followed with an economical menu of their own. The intense competition in under this market structure raises the price elasticity of demand for its players. In an oligopoly market structure the price elasticity of demand is medium. An oligopoly market is one in which there are a limited number of firms participating in the marketplace. Since there is competition the price elasticity of demand is affected by others. There are barriers of entry which limit the number of participants. The price elasticity of demand is lower in monopoly than in monopolistic competition since it now in the best interest of the participants for price wars to occur. Many fluctuations in price among participant in the market can be very damaging to the entire market structure. An example of an oligopoly is the airline industry. Airlines can not go in full price wars since their activities are interconnected as far as sharing resources from airports and the firm know the aggregate demand for flying is somewhat stable, thus a price war will only lower the total profits of all the participants in the market structure. The economic profits of firms participating in an oligopoly depend on the other players which lower the price elasticity of demand. A third market

Where Should We Look to Find the Causes of Educational Inequalities Essay Example for Free

Where Should We Look to Find the Causes of Educational Inequalities Essay In this essay, I will be attempting to explain where I believe the causes of educational inequality lie. I will be focusing on 3 of the reasons that I believe there are such deep rooted inequalities in the education system. I believe that gender, ethnicity and class have the biggest impact on inequality in education. These are the issues which I will be discussing. The statistics are daunting, as Asthana, A (2010) states: boys are falling behind girls in 11 out of 13 learning categories by the age of five and Caribbean pupils are three times more likely to be excluded than any other ethnic group. I have chosen to focus on gender, ethnicity and social class in my essay, though these are by no means the only problems within the education system. I will start by discussing gender and educational inequality. Gender inequalities in education The impact on child attainment Women have always been allowed formal education, though formal education for all children has only been an ideal since about the mid-19th century. There were always a large proportion of people of both sexes who could not read or write, and many for whom formal education never went beyond basic reading and writing and simple arithmetic. Practical skills were more important for most people. Girls in ancient Greece and Rome for example, were educated, it was normal for women to be able to read and write, though most would not have had the same degree of education as boys. For girls, learning the practical skills to run a household would have been the most important part of their education. But some women did manage to make their mark as writers; Sapphos poetry was admired more than any other poet in ancient Greece except for Homer. Girls were often educated at home, though in medieval times for instance there were schools that educated children of both sexes. And upper-class girls sometimes went as boarders to nunneries. Among the upper classes it was commonplace for girls to be more literate than boys, because reading and writing were usually regarded as effeminate pursuits, a boys proper occupation was warfare. Grammar schools were normally only for boys, and in England, universities were open only to male students, though the proportion of boys who went there was tiny compared to the number who go today. Education for girls was of a fairly low standard during the 17th and 18th centuries, but from the early 19th century in America, and the mid-19th century in the UK, it was increasingly the case that all children were expected to attend school. Although boys and girls went to the same schools, they were not in the same classes and certainly were not taught the same subjects. Girls learnt subjects such as embroidery, needlework, music and writing as it was thought more important for them to study ‘accomplishments’ rather than academic subjects. Although a lot has changed regarding the differences between boys’ and girls’ education, there are still some issues that concerns us; the gender gap for example. The gender gap is the difference in attainment with boys and girls. In recent years, there has been a lot of worrying about the growing gap in attainment between boys and girls. By the age of 5, 53% of boys had reached the expected writing level compared with 72% of girls. They then underachieve at GCSE and not as many go on to university. Even once there, they are less likely to achieve a 2:1 or a first (Asthana, A 2010). Some contribute boys’ lower attainment to the changing notions of masculinity and differing attitudes to schoolwork. As Renold, E (2001) stated, many boys learnt the hard way early in their school careers that studiousness and academic success conflict with conventional forms of hegemonic masculinity. Renold (2001) then goes on to argue that as a result of the contradictory masculinities produced by the school, the boys invented an array of strategies and techniques to avoid what were perceived as ‘non-masculine’/ or ‘feminine’ classroom behaviours and to disguise both their desire for and the achievement of, academic success. As Connell (1996, cited in Renold, E 2001) claims, when he discusses ‘gender strategies for schools’, existing patterns of gender relation can only be altered or changed by paying close attention to the ‘dynamics of masculinity’, especially the means by which alternative masculinities are construed (peer support/ collectivity) and resisted (gender and sexualised bullying). Another issue is, of course the same sex school debate. I believe that Co-educational schools are better for children as it teaches them things that are not on the curriculum. It teaches kids maturity with members of the opposite sex. We can logically conclude that members from a coeducational school are generally more understanding of their opposing sex than those who are in a single-sex school. This doesn’t apply to students who have no siblings or are in relationships. It applies to the vast majority of students with any form of schooling. A sibling only has one personality, a girlfriend or a boyfriend only possess one personality. One must be able to understand and cope with members with different personality types to be counted as mature. Also, in a co-ed school, pupils form more diverse relationships. More diverse friendship types would supposedly lead to a bigger and better social life, which is important to have for school students as they progress in life. The logic behind this reasoning is that once you are in the working force, you must be able to deal with anyone that you work with, work for and assign work to. In the real world, we are not separated from the opposite sex so why are we separated in schools? Ethnicity and Inequality in education Ethnicity and inequality of education has always been, in my opinion, a delicate subject. There’s always the possibility of appearing racist or as though discriminating in some way. Rob Meyers (1994) when talking of educational inequality states; â€Å"with the passing of slavery, equality of education was one of the rights formerly held back that was now for Black people to take advantage of. With this equal starting ground, social integration would be a realizable dream. Yet after over 120 years, equality of education had been denied to Black children, thus preventing them from the amount of financial success white children have in life after school. Through benign neglect and the goal of some to find a genetic link to race and intelligence, Black students have been railroaded into low end jobs and inescapable poverty. As Bowles and Gintis have stated, the purpose of education is to preserve the existing class structure. Since the abolition of slavery, racist whites have used the educational system to keep their thrones and to keep blacks poor. Ideas of minority inferiority are spread, and the misinformed fall into the trap of believing that race determines intelligence, using skewed test data to help support their ideas. † Although I’m sure Meyers work has some implications of truth, I don’t believe that this is all about racism and it certainly isn’t all about black children. There are ethnic minorities from all over the globe who experience educational inequality and discrimination. For example, while some ethnicities like Caribbean boys receive negative discrimination I. e. teachers thinking that they won’t perform to as high a standard as the other children, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, other ethnicities such as Chinese girls receive positive discrimination; teachers thinking that they will be able to perform naturally higher than other students for example, thus putting added stress and pressure on the students. Though one could argue that the fact Asian girls excel is not due to positive discrimination but because their families, friends and societies value hard work, discipline and educational achievement. It is however, very important to maintain high expectations for all students, no matter the race, social background or ability. In the UK, there is evidence that points toward black Caribbean pupils being excessively moved into for lower tier maths and science exams at age 14. Strand (in press, cited in Twining 2012) has shown that black Caribbean students are the only ethnic group to be regularly under represented, relative to white students in entry to higher maths and science test tiers. Furthermore, this under-representation is not a by-product of their lower prior attainment; nor of variances in gender, social class, and a wide range of contextual variables. Strand concludes it is possible that teachers’ conclusions of black Caribbean students’ academic possibility may be distorted by observations of their behaviour as more challenging than it actually is. This may, in turn, lead to a inclination to miscalculate their academic capability (Twining 2012). While black Caribbean children (especially the males) have been consistently labelled as being the underachievers in secondary level education, research has shown that white working class males actually make up around half of the number of low achieving school leavers (Kingdom and Cassen, 2007; Cassen and Kingdom 2007, cited in Twining, 2012). As Asthana (2010) convincingly states, â€Å"Once it was a story of black and white, in which racial discrimination was a major driving force. But in tomorrows report, the story of ethnicity is a complicated one – in which poor black boys underachieve, as do those from Irish Traveller families, but poor Chinese girls overachieve; Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities see different outcomes to Indian ones; and there is a growing group of mixed race children who in themselves have complex outcomes. Other issues students from other cultures face is the need to conform to British culture. I believe that the classroom would be a more efficient place to learn if students were allowed to incorporate knowledge from their cultures into it. Or perhaps teachers should be trained to understand other cultures and to try to teach students by referring to things they may have learnt in their communities.

The Effect Of Anxiety On An Athletes Performance Psychology Essay

The Effect Of Anxiety On An Athletes Performance Psychology Essay Competitive state anxiety is defined as a tendency to perceive competitive situations as threatening and to respond to these situations with feelings of apprehension and tension.(Martens, Vealey Burton, 1990). Competitive state anxiety can be split into cognitive and somatic components, cognitive being negative mental thoughts and concerns about ability and performance for instance indecision and loss of confidence, with somatic being the physiological responses to anxiety such as increased heart rate and muscle tension. It is important to measure both intensity and direction to determine the effect of anxiety on an athletes performance as it allows interpretation of results and can subsequently be used to assist the athlete to alter their thoughts before a competition and to improve performance. The intensity component indicates the levels of competitive anxiety in relation to factors such as situational antecedents (Woodman Hardy, 2001), and direction allows interpretation of results as facilitative or debilitative to performance (Jones, 1995). The athlete in this study is an 18 year old female triathlete. The study was conducted before and after a British Universities Colleges Sport (BUCS) national duathlon championship. The event involved a 3.2km run followed by a 16km bike ride and another 3.2km run in which she came 12th in a time of 54 minutes 52.747 seconds, which was similar to her previous best performances. Results The results for cognitive A-state and somatic A-state anxiety from the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) are indicated in the table and graph below. The scores can range from 9 (low) to 36 (high) for intensity, and from -27 (very debilitative) to 27 (very facilitative) for direction. Cognitive Anxiety Somatic Anxiety Intensity 19 14 Direction -8 0 The CSAI-2 indicated that she had low to medium intensity cognitive anxiety and that this would be slightly debilitative to her performance. In contrast, she suffered from low somatic anxiety but had a direction score of 0 signifying that the somatic symptoms she felt would affect her performance neither positively nor negatively. In the interview it was discovered that she felt that the competition was quite important but was not a main race for her although there were a lot of elite competitors in the race. She also added that as it was a BUCS race she felt pressure from her coach as well as herself to do well for the university. The pressure helped her motivation to keep going through the middle of the race, which turned out to be similar to her previous performances. Prior to the race she felt worried but as the race started she kept setting aims to keep up with people and overtake other competitors. The race started early which gave her less time to warm up after a hard training week leading up to the race. Despite the amount of training in the week before the race, she said she had high energy which was helpful to her performance. Discussion The multidimensional theory of anxiety (Martens et al., 1990) indicates that as cognitive anxiety increases, performance will drop. This theory only considered intensity, however later research led to the direction aspect (Jones, 1995) being added and anxiety considered as debilitative or facilitative. Before the race, the athlete was feeling low-medium intensity cognitive anxiety, which should result in a medium to high performance. However, the CSAI-2 results indicated that the cognitive anxiety she was feeling would have a detrimental effect on her performance. Neither somatic or cognitive anxiety were seen as facilitative to performance and research has found that males consistently report higher facilitative perceptions than females (Wiggins, 1998). If cognitive anxiety levels increase too high then, combined with elevated physiological arousal, could lead to a dramatic decline in performance as explained by the catastrophe theory (Hardy Fazey, 1987). Wiggins (1998) also discovered that cognitive intensity was higher than somatic intensity but somatic direction was higher (more facilitative) than cognitive direction. This was evident with the athlete but neither component of anxiety was considered to be facilitative. Studies have shown that athletes intensity of cognitive anxiety is highest before competition and then declines significantly from pregame to postgame (Butt, Weinberg, Horn, 2003). This was evident for the athlete as anxiety eased as the race started. Prior to the race, she was experiencing low-medium cognitive anxiety and felt moderately nervous. The main symptoms of cognitive anxiety suffered by the athlete were concern about the competition, the race result and self-doubt as well as concern that others would be disappointed with her performance. This intensity and pressure helped her feel motivated and stay strong, and any nerves disappeared once she started the race and positive thoughts helped channel her focus on the task in hand. Somatic anxiety intensity has been found to fluctuate over time but direction remains stable (Butt et al., 2003). Intensity was found to be highest before the game and declined during competition. The athlete in this study suffered from low intensity somatic anxiety before the competition but this was not facilitative or debilitative. The main symptoms of somatic anxiety were nervousness, jitteriness and increased heart rate. It was evident that the intensity decreased when the competition started as the nerves eased and she felt energetic. A study of athletes (Hanton, Wadey, and Connaughton, 2005) found that many of the debilitating symptoms remained prevalent after years of many competitions, were reported to fluctuate closer to the event and particularly at higher levels of competition. The event that the data for this study was collected from was for the triathletes first BUCS competition. This shows that even after competing in many previous events as well as internationally, anxiety was still found to be a debilitating factor towards performance. Another discovery made by Hanton et al. (2005) was that an athletes main routine before a competition is to be physically prepared over mentally prepared. Physical readiness, such as warming up and training in the build up weeks, was found to allow the athletes to compete at an elite level despite debilitating anxiety symptoms. However, when comparing athletes who mentally prepared and those who did not, performance was higher in those who had mentally prepared. A problem for the athlete in this study was that due to the race start time being moved forward, she did not have sufficient time to physically warm up let alone to mentally prepare. Failing to warm up properly may have had a detrimental effect on her performance as a warm up can increase the speed of muscle contraction and relaxation, increases heart rate and blood flow to working muscles, in addition to mentally focusing on the task in hand. The coherence between the CSAI-2 questionnaire before the event and the interview afterwards was strong. The athlete felt low-medium cognitive anxiety from the CSAI-2 including self-doubts and concern about the result, and this was backed up afterwards in the interview when she said that she was worried and feeling pressure before the race. She also stated that she was suffering from nerves before the race in both the CSAI-2 and the interview. Conclusions and Recommendations From the CSAI-2 questionnaire and interview I can construe that the anxiety suffered by the athlete did not affect her performance negatively. The intensity of cognitive anxiety was low-medium and somatic anxiety was low intensity before the race. Too much anxiety would have a detrimental effect on performance due to high pressure, negative thoughts and attentional narrowing. Too little anxiety could lead to lack of concentration, focusing on unimportant cues from the environment, external distraction. I establish that the athlete had moderate levels of anxiety which can increase effort as the athlete is not overcome by pressure. In the interview after the race she said that any pressure and negativity was focused onto a positive attitude and setting goals to improve her position. Although I consider the athlete was unaffected by her anxiety levels, if the direction aspect of cognitive and somatic anxiety can be made facilitative, it may have a beneficial impact on performance. To do this there are a number of techniques that sports psychologists can use to manipulate an individuals judgment of a competitive situation, including self talk and imagery. A consistent finding across studies is that sport performers have a stronger preference for problem-focused strategies for overcoming anxiety, and perceptions of cognitive anxiety as debilitative are associated with behavioural disengagement and venting of emotions (Ntoumanis and Biddle, 2000). Self talk can be used to help anxiety responses such as self-doubt. This can be positive, having the ability to win, or negative, not being able to lose. Self-talk can help to increase concentration on the task at hand. Imagery can be used to improve self-confidence and overcome nerves. It involves mental picturing a perfect performance or remembering a previous performance that the athlete would like to repeat. It can be used with mental rehearsal, planning the events and tactics of the event or in the case of the triathlete, the race. She had positive thoughts during the race, but if these can begin before the race then her start may improve, as the pressure and worry may be relieved.

Tupac :: essays research papers

Tupac Shakur was one of the most influential music artist of the 20th Century. â€Å"Murda, Murda, Murda, and Kill, Kill, Kill†¦Ã¢â‚¬  these are they lyrics to one of the songs written by Tupac Shakur. Amidst all the controversy surrounding his personal life, this artist has managed to overcome all obstacles and spread his hope/hate message to a surprisingly receptive audience. Tupac’s music is borrowed from the styles of early rap and hip-hop yet its appeal rested in Tupac himself. His persona of â€Å"Thug Poet† opened up a portal into the new genre of â€Å"Gangsta Rap.† This new style of music revolutionized the music industry and allowed several new artists to break through in Tupac’s creation, Gangsta Rap, such as; G-unit, Eminem, and many others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971 in New York City to Afeni Shakur, a Black Panther member since 1968. She gave birth to him 2 months after she was released from Women’s House of Detentions in Grenwich Village. She was charged with conspiracy to bomb several New York public locations and just had her bail revoked. In court she represented herself and won against the state of New York in a surprising turn out. In Incan dialect, his name Tupac Amaru means â€Å"shining serpent† and Shakur is Arabic for â€Å"thankful to God.† For most of his childhood his crack addicted mother shuffled Tupac between the ghettos of Harlem and the Bronx. Young Tupac began his performance career with the 127th Street Ensemble and then enrolled Baltimore School for the Arts where he was educated in ballet and acting. Tupac was forced to drop out of the school because he had to move to California with his mother, where his criminal career began. He left hi s house at the age of 17 because of the continuous fights with his mother he then began selling/doing drugs, and was homeless for about 2 years. His life was spiraling down wards at a rapid rate. Till one day he got his big break. Tupac always dreamt about being famous someday, now his dream was becoming a reality. He struck a recording deal with Interscope records. He was on his way to super stardom, but as we all know with fame comes problems. He was involved in the shooting of two off duty police officers, although the chargers were later dropped. He was also convicted of rape, and sentenced to 5 years in Clinton Correctional Facilities.

Organisational Culture- analysis of Oticon Essay

INTRODUCTION Oticon, a Danish company founded in 1904 was the first company in the world to invent an instrument to help the hearing impaired. In the 1970’s, Oticon was the world’s number one manufacturer of the â€Å"behind the ear† hearing aids. During the 1970’s and 1980’s as the market for â€Å"in the ear† hearing aid grew, Oticon’s fortune suddenly declined and they lost money and market share. The main problem for all of this was that Oticon was a very traditional, departmentalized and slow-moving company. Even though Oticon had 15 sites and 95 distributorships around the world, Oticon was operating in a market dominated by Siemens, Phillips, Sony, 3M and Panasonic and most importantly, Oticon manufactured the â€Å"behind the ear† hearing aid but its customers preferred the â€Å"in the ear† product. Oticon also specialized in analogue technology whilst its customers were moving towards digital technology. In 1988, a new President of Oticon was appointed, Lars Kolind. With his appointment, he worked hard to turn the situation of Oticon around. Kolind implemented cost-cutting measures; he pared the company down, cut staff and increased efficiency, and reduced the price of a hearing aid by 20%. Nevertheless, this still did not achieve the results he wanted. He never gave up. He had been searching for a sustainable competitive advantage for Oticon. He wanted to create a new way of running a business. One that could be more creative, faster and cost effective and also compensate for technological excellence, capital and general resources which Oticon lacked. Kolind believed that Oticon could no longer compete with its technologically advanced competitors. By reinventing itself, Oticon showed that it could. Oticon drastically changed its organizational structure, ways of working and culture to let loose the human potential of the company. Kolind created a vision of a service-based organization and pursued it to gain a competitive edge. Employee involvement is crucial to successful change; especially in situations as Oticon’s that require attitudinal and cultural change. Planned and emergent perspectives stress that this is a slow, learning process. Rapid organizational transformations can only be successful if focus is on structural as well as cultural change. Kanter _et al_ emphasized that an organization’s structure can be changed relatively quickly through a ‘Bold Stroke’ but that cultural change can only be achieved by a ‘Long March’ requiring extensive participation over time. Oticon’s transformation was that of a rapid organizational change, which was based on the vision imposed on the company in a directive fashion by the CEO. This lead to the widespread change of attitudes and behaviours. Kolind’s vision was the reason for this rapid change in attitudes across Oticon. A more planned approach, facilitated by this change in attitudes was used to achieve this rapid structural change. This was then followed by a period of emergent change where staff had to develop and adjust to new ways of working with and behaving towards each other. Schmuck and Miles (1971) argue that the level of involvement required in a project is dependant on the impact of the change on people concerned. Building on earlier work by Harrison (1970), Huse (1980) developed this difference further. He categorized change interventions along with continuum based on the ‘depth of intervention, ranging from the ‘shallow level’ to the ‘deepest level’. The greater the depth of intervention, Huse argues, the more it becomes concerned with the psychological make-up and personality of the individual, and the greater the need for full involvement of individuals if they are to accept the changes. Therefore, linking levels of involvement to the types of change proposed is necessary. The key is that, the greater the effect on the individual, especially in terms of psychological constructs and values, the deeper the level of involvement required if successful behaviour change is to be achieved. The theory of cognitive dissonance of Burnes and James (1995) helps in seeking to understand and explain why major rapid attitudinal changes at Oticon were successful without a great deal of initial involvement. The theory of cognitive dissonance states that people want to behave in  accordance with their attitudes and usually will take corrective action to alleviate the dissonance and achieve balance. At Oticon, fundamental attitudinal change was achieved relatively quickly because management and employee recognized the need for change and saw why new vision is the only hope for the company’s survival. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE, or CORPORATE CULTURE, comprises the attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values of an organization. It has been defined as â€Å"the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization. An ORGANISATION’S CULTURE is affected by a number of factors including: The ENVIRONMENT in which the organisation operates. Internally, this is often conveyed by its physical layout which can, foe example, reflect warm friendliness or cold efficiency. The BELIEFS, VALUES AND NORMS of the employees within the organisation, particularly those communicated by top management. The formal and informal LEADERS who personify the organisation’s culture. The PROCEDURES that have to be followed and the behaviour expected of people within the organisation. The network of COMMUNICATIONS which disseminates the corporate image and culture. OTHER FACTORS could include the oeganisation’s size , history, ownership and technology. MODEL OF CHANGE- SEQUENCE OF EVENTS (SOURCE:MANAGEMENT. RICHARD L DAFT- 6TH ED.) Corporate culture is something that is very hard to change and employees need time to get used to the new way of organizing. Many people are not willing to change unless they perceive a problem or a crisis. For companies with a very strong and specific culture it will be even harder to change. Cummings & Worley (2005, p. 491 – 492) give the following six guidelines for cultural change, these changes are in line with the eight distinct stages mentioned by Kotter (1995, p. 2)3: Formulate a clear strategic vision In order to make a cultural change effective a clear vision of the firm’s new strategy, shared values and behaviours is needed. This vision provides the intention and direction for the culture change Display Top-management commitment It is very important to keep in mind that culture change must be managed from the top of the organization, as willingness to change of the senior management is an important indicator. The top of the organization should be very much in favour of the change in order to actually implement the change in the rest of the organization. De Caluwà © & Vermaak provide a framework with five different ways of thinking about change. Model culture change at the highest level In order to show that the management team is in favour of the change, the change has to be notable at first at this level. The behaviour of the management needs to symbolize the kinds of values and behaviours that should be realized in the rest of the company. It is important that the management shows the strengths of the current culture as well, it must be made clear that the current organizational does not need radical changes, but just a few adjustments. Modify the organization to support organizational change. The fourth step is to modify the organization to support organizational change. Select and socialize newcomers and terminate deviants A way to implement a culture is to connect it to organizational membership, people can be selected and terminate in terms of their fit with the new culture Develop ethical and legal sensitivity. Changes in culture can lead to tensions between organizational and individual interests, which can result in ethical and legal problems for practitioners. This is particularly relevant for changes in employee integrity, control, equitable treatment and job security. FORCES CAUSING AND RESISTING CHANGE WITHIN AN ORGANISATION (SOURCE: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO BUSINESS STUDIES- 3RD ED- BRUCE R JEWELL) NEED/ REASONS FOR CHANGE. In order to survive and prosper in a competitive and rapidly changing environment, organisations also need to change. This may be brought about by many influencing factors which may be internally within the organisation or in external environment of the organisation. EXTERNAL FORCES originate in all environmental sectors, including customers, competitors, technology, economic forces and the international arena. EXTERNAL INFLUENCES: POLITICAL factors including legislation or other government measures. Organisations are forced to change in order to meet, for example, health and safety, environmental or consumer protection requirements. ECONOMIC factors such as changes in levels of unemployment and interest rates which can have a major impact on demand. SOCIAL factors including changes in life styles and environmental issues which organisations must respond to if they are not to lose out to competitors. TECHNOLOGICAL progress such as word processing in the office or robots in the factory can change working materials, methods and practices and create the need for new skills. TRADE UNIONS can influence wage rates, working conditions and other aspects of industrial relations. COMPETITION and changes in consumer tastes and demand all impact on business organisations, making change necessary in order to respond. MEDIA reports which can influence consumers’ and employees’ perceptions of an organisation and its goods and services. INTERNAL FORCES for change arise from internal activities and decisions. If top managers select a goal of rapid company growth, internal actions will have to be made to meet that growth. New departments or technologies will be created. Demands by employees, labour unions and production inefficiencies all can generate a force to which management must respond with change. INTERNAL INFLUENCES: NEW PRODUCTS OR SERVICES which require change in order to introduce them. MANAGEMENT CHANGES, due perhaps to a merger, take over or the appointment of  new staff. This may affect the management style and culture of the organisation. QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEMS which are becoming increasingly important in organisations in order to meet changing customer expectations. PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFITABILITY IMPROVEMENTS which often require change in systems or procedures in order to control or reduce costs and/or increase output. CUSTOMER SERVICE is now more crucial than ever for organisations in competitive markets because they can only survive and prosper if they satisfy customers. After the need for change has been perceived and communicated, change must be initiated. This is a crucial stage of change management- the stage where ideas that solve perceived needs are developed. Responses that an organisation can make are to search for or create a change to adopt. IMPLEMENTING CHANGE One frustration for managers is that employees often seem to resist change for no apparent reason. To effectively manage the implementation process, managers should be aware of the reasons for employee resistance and e prepared to use techniques for obtaining employee cooperation. Employees appear to resist change for several reasons and understanding them helps managers implement change more effectively. SELF-INTEREST. Employees typically resist a change they believe will take away something of value. A proposed change in job design, structure, or technology may lead to a real or perceived loss of power, prestige, pay or company benefits. The fear of personal loss is perhaps the biggest obstacle to organisational change. LACK OF UNDERSTANDING AND TRUST. Employees do not understand the intended purpose of a change or distrust the intentions behind it. UNCERTAINTY. Uncertainty is the lack of information about future events. It represents a fear of the unknown. Uncertainty is especially threatening for employees who have a low tolerance for change and fear the novel and unusual. They do not know how a change will affect them and worry about whether they will be able to meet the demands of a new procedure or technology. DIFFERENT ASSESSMENT AND GOALS. Another reason for resistance to change is that people who will be affected by innovation may assess the situation differently. Often critics voice legitimate disagreements over the proposed benefits of a change. Managers in each department pursue different goals, and an innovation may detract from performance and goal achievement for some departments. These reasons for resistance are legitimate in the eyes of the employees affected by the change. The best procedure for managers is not to ignore resistance but diagnose the reasons and design strategies to gain acceptance by users. Strategies for overcoming resistance to change typically involve two approaches: the analysis of resistance through force-field technique and the use of selective implementation tactics to overcome resistance.

In the play Capulet wants Juliet to have a good life Essay

Romeo and Juliet is a tragic 16th century Shakespearean love story set in the Italian city of Verona. The life of a father and daughter in our lifetime at the moment would vary considerably from the one Capulet and Juliet lead in the play. In the 16th century women were expected to do many things for men. Men’s expectations for women in the 16th century were that they cleaned the house looked after the children and were treated as second class citizens. Men expected women to obey them and do anything they say if the women disobeyed the men they would subject to punishment in the version of getting hit in those days because there wasn’t strict law and order in those days. So if a women married a man they would become the sole property of their husband. In the 16th century the father was the man of the household who would finalise everything. When they’re daughter was around 14 the father would chose who she would be married to, but as in the play some daughters didn’t feel that their fathers choice was correct and if they turned down his offer they would also be subject to punishment. The rejection of their father’s choice would also make their fathers feel hurt because his daughter had rejected his offer of happiness, the father also feels that his daughter is not proud of her parents and doesn’t thank them. In the play Capulet wants Juliet to have a good life and thinks he’s chosen the right type of man for his daughter . He believes that Paris will give her a stable life. Increase the reputation of his family because Paris has class and is a well-known celebrity who when people know he is part of the Capulet clan and Capulet’s son in law they will like Capulet better. As well as that and the money that Paris earns he believes that Paris is a respectable man of society. That he will also take care of his daughter, e. g. if she is sad he will make her happy and comfort her if she is scared, he will make her feel safe and secure in her home and environment. So all in all he thinks that he has chosen a peach of a man who is respected in aspects of his criteria for his daughter. I believe that in the play Capulet wants his daughter to marry Paris because he feels out of love for his daughter that he has found the right person for his daughter who will take care of her and tend to her when she is sick. Plus love her like he does, but as well as this he also chose Paris who is a very wealthy and popular well-known business man, rather than that his family is at war with the Montague family and would like a celebrity backing to increase his chance of winning. Capulet feels it is tradition at the time for him to select supposedly the lucky man to marry his daughter and when he does this he also expects Juliet to be pleased that he has chosen her such an admirable husband. He hopes that Juliet will feel the same way he does and that it is someone who will care for her and make sure she is given the best love and affection around. In parts of Romeo and Juliet you see the examples of Capulet being a loving and caring father. One of these parts is in Act 1, Scene 2, line 7-11 when Capulet says † My child is yet a stranger in the world, she has not seen the change of 14 years, let two more summers wither in her pride ere we may think her ripe to be a bride†. This shows that he is loving because he is saying to Paris she is only young and just turned 14 give her two more years and you can marry her. Although he says this to Paris when his daughter disagrees with his choice he doesn’t accept her reason or anything he just keeps having a go at her. Whatever reason Juliet gives her father will not accept her reason and keeps forcing her to chose Paris. In conclusion I believe that in the 16th century daughter, father relationships were very different from nowadays. Nowadays the daughter has the freedom to do as she pleases apart from in some certain religions where the marriage is organised between 2 people before they can walk. So in most of the world today women have a free right but in some areas they have stuck to the old fashion way of arrange marriages.

The Role of a Manager

The Role of a Manager Running Head: Roles 3Starr L. HaywoodThe Role of a ManagerInstructor Bridgette HardyMGT/251 ManagementFebruary 22, 2014Managers are a vital part of any business or organization. Understanding the role of a manager will help not only the workers, but the manager's position also. Management expert and professor, Henry Mintzberg developed a theory based on the 10 roles that managers play. These 10 roles are broken down into three categories: interpersonal, informational, and decisional. By implementing these various roles that managers can play, and organization can strive in all aspects of company growth.The interpersonal category is broken down into the roles of a figurehead, leader or liaison. A figurehead is a person that is looked up to for authority. An example of a figurehead in an organization is the manager of supplies. This person holds authority in ordering office supplies and is the overall decision maker for that duty.English: Low resolution logo of the Documentary Or...As a figurehead one must cultivate humility and empathy for people. Next, a leader manages the responsibilities of a team (Mintzberg 2011). A leader typically inspires personnel and they are not afraid to step up to the plate to assist in organizational duties. Lastly, a liaison communicates with external as well as internal contacts in order to network for the organization. An example of this can be a Booster Club Treasurer. The treasurer works with local businesses in order to gain donations for an organizational function to give away.The informational category consists of the monitor, disseminator or spokesperson. As a monitor, a manager is constantly seeking out information related to their industry (Mintzberg 2011). A monitor is also responsible for observing team productivity and the overall well-being of the members. A disseminator communicates useful information to the team. For instance the manager of the finance department...