Management Communications with Technology Tools

Managing organizational change and utility is one of the most complex tasks of leadinghip. Leaders need to understand the change demonstrate in regularize to lead and manage change and improvement efforts effectively. Leaders must learn to overcome barriers and cope with the chaos that natur every(prenominal)y exists during the complex operation of change.Managers and other organizational leaders should assist workers and other stakeholders build effective teams by developing new organizational structures and creating a shared vision that instructiones on mission accomplishment and developing new organizational structures and creating a shared vision that focuses on mission accomplishment and attainable objectives. When such inspired and inform leadership is applied, organizations can improve exploit.As noted by Harrison (1993) use of the process-oriented approach to managerial decision making with its strong managerial emphasis and its objectives-oriented outcomes is the ob ject lesson recommended for decisions with discernible levels of uncertainty attendant on the outcome. Such decisions take those made at middle and stop number levels of management both in the private and the exoteric sectors where the consequences are of high levels of significance to the total organization.Included in this category are all decisions of a strategic nature and those involving appreciable commitments of resources directed towards the semipermanent enhancement of the corporation or institution. The process model is ideal for these kinds of decision because it is forward looking in that it has a planning emphasis not evident in the other models of decision making. The process model is oriented towards innovation and organizational change with a particular emphasis on unyielding-term results.It relies generally on the judgment of the decision maker, but not to the exclusion of computation or compromise to fit special decision-making situations (Harrison, 1993). Ac cording to Alexa Michael (2009) a partnership require accurate, reliable and timely information on surgical process, which must flow up through an organization regularly. It should be simple, easy to measure and focussed on the long term.One solution for managing organizational change and improvement according to David Blanchard (2009) is developing a set of highly descriptive key proceeding indicators (KPIs) that include precise times, quantities and other numerical measurements so that everyone is on the same page about what it impart take to achieve acceptable on-time, accurate and cost-effective performance levels. Using a range of KPIs that include fiscal and non- financial measures to gauge how successful the business is in achieving its goals will improve its performance. The KPIs should be simple, easy to measure and focused on the long term.A company also needs to address the issue of cash-flow management. Managing cash-flow variability tops the agenda for most compani es. Identifying and fixing friction points that stop operating capital as it flows across the balance sheet from inventory and payables to accounts receivable (Driscoll, 2009) is an organizational change critical to a companys long-term viability. Another organizational change for improvement is the idea of Lean Performance Improvement. Successful angle of dip performance improvement initiatives have front-line workers generating, processing and implementing ideas.Using the high-performance idea system front-line employees drive the lean improvement process with regular and ongoing engagement with daily problems and opportunities. With successful organizational change a company can use this process-focused approach to build their receive lean culture. Harrison (1993) tells us that the components of the decision-making process for the process model are the functions of decision making which include backing managerial objectives, searching for alternatives, comparing and evaluati ng alternatives, the act of choice, implementing the decision, and following up and controlling the decision.The process model with its managerial emphasis drawing selectively on the disciplines of economics, mathematics, statistics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, semipolitical science, anthropology and law. The process models objective-oriented outcome approach best allows for successful adaptation of organizational change leading to long-term success. The implementation system for the organizational change that includes the introduction of key performance indicators (KPIs), lean performance initiatives and cash-flow management will be both top-down and bottom-up.Clear communication that brings employees of all levels on board with the changes being made and how it affects them and the future of their company and job must be made. Ensuring that all stakeholders understand that they have a say in the success of their company and therefore increased success for themselves is pa ramount. The KPIs will be both financial and non-financial. KPIs will be used to monitor factors that are know to form value within the business.KPIs will help chink that the following things are in place, products and services that are attractive to consumers both now and in the future, clear objectives that are communicated right on to the workforce, desires for continuous improvement, useful management information and effective financial control, efficient services and distribution, good, well-informed managers, and regulatory compliance with tokenish disruption to organizational routines (Michael, 2009). Developing and using a checklist to monitor and asses these key performance indicators will be done.The checklist will be a series of questions that properly answered will help determine whether or not the company is getting value from their business and will eliminate a problem identified by Roger Chevalier (2009) in his article about analyzing performance where part of the problem with the performance was that expectations for performance are unclear. Answering the questions yes or no for both now and in the future will help look at the factors that can improve or destroy the value of the business.Questions such as, spreading your get/ selling contracts too widely over time, hostage to one or two buying/selling contracts or customers/suppliers, sure your purchase/sales order books are firm and go forward far enough, buying/selling on a growing/declining trend in real terms, buying/selling any products at a loss, using cross-selling and up-selling techniques to improve sales, monitoring whether your purchases arrive on time and are of the right quality to meet your manufacturing schedules, satisfied that your suppliers terms, and your own terms to customers, are competitive, aware of the financial implications of your pricing policy, loyal to good customers/suppliers, scheduling orders to obtain better terms, developing your competitive position, fos tering your companys reputation and brand values, developing your business processes to create more value, enhancing staff skills to improve your competitive advantage (Michael, 2009).Another strategy to implement that overlaps with the key performance indicators will be the lean performance improvement initiatives. A successful lean implementation will result in various operational and financial improvements. Operational improvements include higher quality and productivity as well as lower nonproductive capacity and lead times. Some financial improvements cognize from a successful lean implementation include increased cash flows, lower inventory levels, and lower costs (Searcy, 2009). Successful lean performance improvement initiatives generate significant front-line involvement in identifying and implementing opportunities for improvement.As noted by Robinson and Schroeder (2009) in these initiatives ideas are integrated into everyday work, the emphasis is on small ideas, front- line performance metrics focus ideas on what is important, and both managers and workers are held accountable for their roles in the idea process. The strategy for implementing change with regard to the issue of cash-flow management will focus on forecasting as the key activity to improve. The forecasting of cash outflows and cash inflows both need to be accurate. According to Mary Driscoll (2009) the bent of the common finance function which tends to be accounting-oriented, concentrated on the accurate recording of journal entries and the consolidation of data from across the enterprise for statutory and management reporting. Also according to the article by Driscoll (2009) the key to cash-flow forecasting was more accurate demand forecasts.Consideration of successful measurement techniques with the key performance indicators (KPIs) will be whether or not the business added value. Use the KPIs to ensure that the selling price covers costs of production and promotion. Use the KPI s to help the business work more closely with customers and suppliers to ensure a competitive advantage (Michael, 2009). Successful measurement of the lean performance improvement initiatives can be achieved by measuring employee team spirit and productivity. Pyromation decided to integrate problem-identification and idea-generation into the regular work of front-line employees. Idea boards were set up, supervisors were trained in idea-meeting facilitation, and weekly shop-floor idea meetings were scheduled.In this way, front-line workers were given the opportunity to use the tools and techniques of lean production that they had been taught. The resulting stream of improvement ideas made an enormous difference. In two years, productivity increased by a third, lead-time was cut by 60 percent, and fresh deliveries were reduced by 70 percent (Robinson and Schroeder, 2009). Successful measurement of the strategy for implementing change to cash-flow management will result in ensuring t hat all managers understand that, in addition to the importance of earning a return on investments, the company needs steady cash flow to support operations and our credit position (Driscoll, 2009).Ensuring the true statement of cash in-flow estimates will require greater cooperation between management in getting speedy and precise analyses regarding booked sales that can be counted on as income and asking about sales pipelines, pricing, marketing effectiveness and channel viability. The internal revenue growth assumptions will need to be examined closely to ensure accuracy. If the internal numbers do not match industry outlooks the companies position will need to be reevaluated to ensure that it is not taking on a risky position. Managing organizational change and improvement requires leaders themselves to change. The leaders will have to bring in all stakeholders within the company into the management process.The leaders that overcome the barriers that traditional leadership thro ughout industry has always had in place will succeed in developing new organizational structures that create a shared vision focusing on the mission of the business. The shared vision in turn will improve the performance of the business which in turn increases the viability of the business. Working with the process model todays leadership can eliminate the old management style of top-down leadership that did not value or effectively utilize the experience and front-line vision of its front-line employees. The process model can also be effectively used within the upper management as they improve the cash flow management of the business.Going beyond the traditional role of the accounting office and interacting with management from sales and production will enable cash flow analysis that carefully examines cash in-flow as well as cash out-flow creating a more solid financial picture of the business. This enhanced view of the balance ledger will enable the business to be better protecte d financially during turbulent business cycles.Identifying bring up Metrics in Performance Measurement of Organizational Change ultimately involves more than just examining numbers on a data sheet. Those kinds of metrics, numbers on a data sheet, are valuable, but only within the context of the environment that they come from. The metrics that measure the human element are unchanging the most important. The key performance indicators (KPIs), the lean performance improvement initiatives and the cash flow analysis all still require the human element to be useful.

Types of Lies People Tell

TYPES OF LIES PEOPLE TELL Lies argon part of human life. zero can deny that he or she has never lied before. Everybody lies. People start lying at around age 4 to 5 when they strike an awareness the power of language. Sometimes they can get away with lying, sometimes they can not. But everone knows that lying is a bad habit. Yet many stack have no clue how big of a problem it is. Sadly, lying can become a destructive habit whatever your purpose is. fit to the purpose to tell lies, they can be divided into three types beneficial lies, spiteful lies , neutral lies.The first type of lies I find it good are beneficial lies. These lies usually mean to help and they are harmless that are meant to be tactful or polite. People prefer to tell it to protect the separate people or not to make them unhappy. They help avoid hurt and sadness. For example, a father lie to the children that their beloved mother is living happily in heaven. People may think that this is a cheating, but they ough t to praise these people who tell beneficial lies instead of criticizing them. The second type of lies are spiteful lies.These lies invariably mean to gain benefit and hurt people. People tell spiteful lies to protect themselves, look good,, gain financially or socially and avoid punishment. For example, as we usually see in supermarkets sellers lie to their customers to talk them into buying the fake foods. Their aims are only their personal gains, they do not care the other people. The triad type of lies are neutral lies. These lies are just meant nothing and are much simpler. People tell these lies to not to Show their private things.For example, you asked a person about her private life or private things, she may avoid answering the truth by verbalize a lie. One hand, she does not insufficiency to share it with you, on the other hand she feels that she has to answer it, so she tells lie. Have you ever told any one of these lies? You may be able to lie for a while, but in th e end it will come back to haunt you. Its important to know that there is freedom in living and telling the truth. It may be difficult at first, but as we know, The truth shall set you free.

Arthur Miller Essay

Arthur miller is a renowned play- writer who was born on October 17th 1915, in New York City. His parents originally had came from Italy except soon migrated to America perhaps searching for the American dream. His family lived in prosperity due to the success of his fathers clothing manufacturing business however, as a result of the besiege Street crash the business sadly collapsed therefore Arthur milling machine was forced to work as a warehouseman.The play AVFTB was set in the 20th speed of light as this is when illegal immigration was in all probability at its most. He possibly got his inspiration for writing this astonishing, sensational and breathtaking play from his parents as they were immigrants searching for the American dream and Alfieri (a lawyer in the play) expresses the themes of immigration and the American dream. However, his main inspiration was almost certainly when his lawyer friend showed him a case which has a equal context to AVFTB.Despite writing the pl ay AVFTB, Arthur Miller is also recognized for his several other plays, such as The Crucible The Man Who Had All the dowery All My Sons and Death of a Salesman. Unfortunately, Arthur Miller died in 2005. Alfieri first introduces himself to the auditory modality when he is telling us the prologue, which sets the mood and scene of the play, This is Red Hook, not Sicily Im a lawyer. In the play he introduces all the characters, This ones name was Eddie Carbone and gives the audience a brief description of the character introduced, a longshoreman. However, the audience instantly get the impression that Eddie is expiry to be the tragic hero in the play as when Alfieri first introduces Eddie he says that he has to, permit it run its bloody course then immediately after that he says, This ones name was Eddie Carbone. Giving the audience the impression that Eddie is going to be the tragic hero in the play. Furthermore, the audience also immediately get the impression that Eddie is the tragic hero as he tells the story closely Vinnie Bonzola and when the family hear the story they are all shocked that someone could betray one of their family members exchangeable that.Eddie is especially shocked about this particular scenario and this is very teetotal as little does he know that as the play progresses he would be doing the same thing. This makes Eddies behaviour even more outrageous and terrible as firstly he is being a hypocrite and secondly, he was probably the most shocked out of his whole family. Therefore, Arthur Miller portrays Eddies satisfy through the technique of dramatic irony throughout the play as the audience know that Eddie is going to be the tragic hero near the set about of the play.Alfieri is also immediately established as being an omniscient narrator/ commentator in the prologue. We know this as he narrates the story in a flashback therefore, he already knows what is going to unravel, Eddies inevitable death, and we get reminded of this a t various intervals. He tells us about the suspicious little nods the longshoremen give him. This shows the audience how the community perceive lawyers, theyd rather not get too close. Suspicion and lack of trust is one of the main themes of the play and it shows the audience that the Italian immigrants still stick to the same old social codes of revenge and lack of trust. The Italian immigrants pour into Brooklyn looking for their share of the American dream, gullet of New- York, swallowing the tonnage of the orbit. The definition of the American dream is that anyone can have it away to America and get to the top as there are many opportunities. They may also come here to get away from poverty lack of employment and mafia vendettas.However, Arthur Miller perhaps chose this setting, the slum that faces the seaward side of the bay as Miller was aware that many immigrants came here when he was working in the army in World War 2 in particular longshoremen as they helped mold immigra nts on ships so they could arrive to America. He must have seen a lot of despicable, horrific and appaling things when he was there so that is why he probably describes Brooklyn like this. Therefore, he might have exaggerated the description to emphasise this point to the audience and also to give an image in the audiences mind.Therefore, Arthur Miller uses the linguistic devices known as hyperboles and imagery to emphasise the point that he is trying to make and also to make the story more entertaining for the audience, His eyes were like tunnels. Alfieri is a successful example of the American dream as he initially migrated from Italy to America. Alfieri is living the American dream and is now civilised but his give is entirely unromantic. Alfieri has been a witness to the times when he used to keep a pistol in his filing cabinet however, now as he is civilised he no longer needs to keep a pistol in his filing cabinet.Therefore, Alfieri is following the American way of life and t he American social codes. i. e. The law and not revenge. In addition, we know that Alfieri has changed his social code as he speaks differently compared to all the other characters in the play. His language is less(prenominal) rougher than everyone elses and this is illustrated through the fact that he no longer carries the Sicilian code of conduct. He says that his practice is entirely unromantic as he gets interchangeable cases over and over again, the petty poor troubles of the poor.Nevertheless, every once in a while there is case that always brings life to his job, the diffuse in this air is blown away. The cases perhaps bring life to his office as it reminds him of how he used to be and that is probably why he is so fond of Eddie as it reminds him of his former self. The cases perhaps excite him as they are a dramatic change and the cases are probably more interesting. Arthur Miller perhaps does this to maintain the audiences involvement and too show the audience that the st ory is going to be exciting so that they stay glued to their seats.

Office Space and Marx’s Conflict theory Essay

communism, as understood today, refers to a system associated with collective ownership of the means of production, telephone exchange economic planning and rule of a single political party. Communism canonically means communal ownership of property. Karl Marx was a German economist, philosopher and revolutionist whose writings form the basis of the body of ideas feeln as Marxism. His theories ar the basis for modern communism. He had a lot of theories which made an impact on the world, to wit the impinge theory, labor theory of value, theory of historical materialism, theory of rent, alienation and more (Mandel, 1995).However, the primary(a) reduce of this paper pass on be the most basic of his theories from which most of his other theories stem from, the Conflict theory. Karl Marx was an pep up of the counterpoint theory which stresses the link between stratification and the ongoing attempt among competing groups and shed light ones over a hold in supply of reward an d re germs. jibe to him, capitalist society is torn by a fundamental conflict of interest between capitalists and workers.He contends that institutions such as the educational system and other forms of communication argon employed by the capitalist tier to cling to a false consciousness among the masses (Mandel, 1995). These institutions seek to legitimize friendly inequality by propagating an ideology that says existing arrangements are right and reasonable. They also foster the workers hope for upward social mobility. As a result, workers are socialized in tradition and this contri exceptes to passivity and compliance.In the Communist Manifesto, a forty page booklet he produced with Freidrich Engels, he applied the term communism to a final stage of socialism in which all classify differences would disappear and humankind would extend in harmony (Karl Marx, 2002). Karl Marx believed that all of history has been a story of class conflict over material privilege and designer . Social customs and institutions are arranged to perpetuate class distinctions. Child-rearing practices vary by social class and affect the life chances of those being socialized.Children are treated differently from different social classes, thereby perpetuating the dominion of one social class over another in a subtle and powerful way by subjecting children to it before they are old enough to know what is happening to them (Mandel, 1995). matchless group, the exploiters, strives to maintain its advantage over subordinate groups, the exploited. In a capitalist society, the struggle takes place between those who own the means of production the capitalists or bourgeoisie, and those who sell their labor the workers or parturiency.According to Karl Marx, the bourgeoisie maintain their position of domination by controlling the economic life of the population and counterbalance dictate the social standard of a certain society. Just as the feudal system had precondition away to c apitalism, so in time capitalism would give way to socialism. The struggle would end, tally to Marx, in the socialist revolution which was observed in countries like China, Russia, and Vietnam and partly in the Philippines. The socialist revolution is a way for the achievement of full communism (Karl Marx, 2002).In his book Sociology and Anthropology, Dr. Epistacio Palispis mentioned how Marx saw the nation or read as an instrument of oppression, religion as a method of diverting and controlling the masses, and the family as a device of keeping riches and education in the hands of the few. Marx was basically a materialist. He argued and pointed by that the populace, the proletariat is controlled by materials and needs, and that their lives are centered in how they deal with these things.Because of the perceived the essential role of material, he also theorized that material conditions (the lack and the need for it, exit be the core of class conflict. The key number is how weal th is distributed among the people. The 1999 film Office Space, directed by Mike Judge, starring Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston, depicts the transparency of Marxs conflict theory even in ordinary corporeal life. The film is about ordinary employees of a fictional computer programming company, Initech, going through their daily work and the complications they meet along the way.The main shell of the movie, Peter Gibbons, played by the actor Ron Livingston, finds himself dragging his feet to work going through the same minute of everyday corporate life. He answers to eight different bosses who drone about TPS reports, coversheets, memos and the like. As a classic employee, he is subject to their authority. Peter and his fellow officemates Michael Bolton, Samir and Milton represent the proletariat and his Porsche-driving, overbearing boss William Lumbergh (Gary Cole) represents the bourgeoisie of Marxs conflict theory.The hierarchy of offices portrayed in the film shows how s ociety has glorified individual achievements and the pleasure of ingestion that capitalism brings. The film shows how the employees comply blindly with the patronizing orders made by Lumbergh just because he is their boss. This function substantiates Marxs claim that those who owned and controlled the means of production were the oppressors and those who owned nothing but their labor were the oppress. One day, a team of experts is brought in to enact large-scale layoffs.The character Michael Bolton, protests how he dedicated five hard years to the company, single to be one of those to be dismissed. Karl Marx in his Labor Theory of Value, emphasized that workers must have the highest share of effectives and subsidies as opposed to what happened in the film where an employee has little job security, a characteristic scenario in capitalist economies. When this happened, Peter Gibbons gets discouraged and simply stops trying and adopts an attitude of total disinterest.His only in terest lies on putting in place a devilish scheme for some corporate payback, along with his office pals as his accomplices. They hack the computer system of the company and programmed it to place a dissever of every daily money transaction into their personal bank accounts, which will eventually pile up to huge sums of easy money. This scene in the movie demonstrates Marxs notion that the conflicting interests of the two groups of classes, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, would inevitably lead the oppressed to overthrow their oppressors.Although Gibbons scheme did not go according to plan, the company Initech still met its end from another employee, Milton, who set the building on fire as a sort of revenge when the company stopped giving him his paychecks as a way to call him voluntarily resign from his post. In a way, Karl Marxs conflict theory sort of explains why there is a need for competition. His idea about communal ownership of property, in others words, perfect equali ty, is obviously unrealistic. It is merely good in theory, perfect for utopian idealism but in real life, one cannot simply live in perfect equality.If there was equality in everything, people would lose their motivation to strive for something better, to make room for improvement. It is human nature to be insatiable. If we take away peoples motivation, mediocrity will reek in all aspects of life (Communism, 2002). There is also the issue of equity. In the movie, some of those who were fired deserved to be laid off, while there were those who werent. Another very important issue pressed in an imperialist world is inequality.Since social spatial relation and wealth distribution came up as a result of specialization, often inequality is justified when specialization is absent in a societys structure. Example, a person who took up a Ph. D would ultimately rank higher and thus will have a higher income that a person who is simply a college graduate. Communism entails that wealth is dis tributed to from each one according to need. In this kind of system, the basic economic needs of all people are satisfied. These needs include food, housing, medical care and education.Excessive material possessions and acquisition are not basic needs and are therefore not allowed to exits in this system. Communism therefore, to put it simply, is the eradication of any social standards and setting anyone at a default stage for the equal distribution of resources in order o avoid mass conflicts. Since people are generally motivated by self-interest, most societies prefer wealth to be distributed to each according to what is earned. People who live in this system become themselves the source of their own wealth.If they earn a great deal of money, then they will be able to break things beyond their needs. If they earn little, they must do without. The problem with communism in this side of the argument is that a society cannot control the interest of the people without cutting off th eir freedom and rights in certain aspects. Communism is only good when it ensures that the basic needs of the people are met and when it prevents greed from seeding in the hearts of the masses, since everything is controlled by a central planning agency. However, the major problem of communism, as salutary as in capitalism, is twist around of power.No matter how perfect an ideology is, there will always be an anomaly because the primary instigators of such ideologies are people. Human beings are prone to irrationalities including greed, selfishness and self-glory. History has taught us that too much power in the hands of a few corrupts the minds of these leaders. Take the movie character, William Lumbergh, as an example. With his high profile status as the CEO of the company, he has bullied Milton to do as he pleases, leaving Milton no choice but to comply out of fear of losing his job.In conclusion, the movie Office Space exemplifies important points in Marxs conflict theory such as the continuing conflict between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, as well as how group conflict is a basic ingredient of society.Works Cited Communism. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge. 2002 Edition. Washington USA, 2002 Karl Marx. Microsoft Encarta 2002 (available in CD-ROM) Mandel, E. Karl Marx. International Viewpoint. 1995. Palispis, E. S. Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology. Manila Rex Publishing Inc. 2006.

Dick Hebdige’s work Subculture: The Meaning of Style

Dick Hebdiges work Subculture The Meaning of Style has had a vast continue within the area of cultural studies as it manages to take the preceding theories of subculture one step further, and to pinpoint the differences amid culture and subculture as well as to decipher the the hidden messages inscribed on the glossy surfaces of modal value of intent (Hebdige, 18). Hebdige follows on the tracks of semiology as theorized before him by Saussure and Roland Barthes and tries to read and go through the signs and the language of the subcultures that emerged in extensive Britain after introduction War II, such as the punks, the mods or the skinheads.Also, he is inspired to a great extent by Levi-Strausss structuralist anthropology. What is re completelyy signifi whoremongert about Hebdiges works though is that he applies the purely theoretical frame that had been constructed by the preceding authors directly to the different styles which appeared as forms of subculture. Thus, he tri es to interpret the outer signs which were displayed by each of the groups, from the punks to the skinheads, and reveal their fond and cultural meaning.He uses clothing and hair styles, types of music or dancing and so on, as part of the language of the subcultures, in which the actual social meanings are inscribed. Thus, jibe to Hebdige although the social classes were verbalize to have disappeared after the Second World War, they were in truth simply transformed into ideologic divisions from the brinystream. The classes and so formed were subcultures, that is, marginal discourses which opposed the general tendency of the anonymous culture existing at that point in timeIt has become something of a clich to talk of the period after the Second World War as one of enormous upheaval in which the traditional patterns of life in Britain were sweep aside to be replaced by a new, and superficially less class-ridden system Nonetheless class refused to disappear. The ways in which clas s was lived, however the forms in which the experience of class found expression in culture did dislodge dramatically.The advent of the mass media, changes in the constitution of the family, in the organization of school and work, shifts in the relative stance of work and leisure, all served to fragment and polarize the working-class community, producing a series of marginal discourses within the panoptic confines of class experience. (Hebdige, 54) As Hebdige emphasizes, the subcultural styles formed their own rhetoric by means of a authorized way of living and of an ostentatious appearance, as a response to the particular cultural, social, political circumstances of the time.In brief, it can be said that these subcultural styles were a form of withstand to the anonymous culture. Although sometimes their rhetoric, as in the slip-up of the punks, was intentionally baffling and consciously aiming at meaninglessness, to the point that it seemed to work against the reader and to resist any influential interpretation,(Hebdige, 89) it formed nevertheless a coherent symbolic order in itself.The subcultural groups represent, in Hebdiges view, responses to the verso mythology of class, that is, to the way in which class was alternatively proclaimed as gone and then reaffirmed by the media Rather the different styles and the ideologies which structure and determine them represent negotiated responses to a contradictory mythology of class. In this mythology, the withering away(predicate) of class is paradoxically countered by an undiluted classfulness, a romantic conception of the traditional whole way of (working-class) life revived twice weekly on television programs like Coronation Street.The mods and skinheads, then, in their different ways, were handling this mythology as much as the exigencies of their material condition. They were learning to live within or without that amorphous body of images and typifications make available in the mass media in which class is alternately overlooked and overstated, denied and reduced to caricature. (Hebdige, 55) Thus, Hebdige sees subcultures as solid and coherent forms of rhetoric, which go beyond the merely desire to shock the public opinion.In fact, as he theorizes, all the parts of the systems of symbols that make up a particular style are homologous, and they can be said to be as coherent as a whole way of life In overthrow Culture, Willis shows how, contrary to the popular myth which presents subcultures as lawless forms, the internal structure of any particular subculture is characterized by an extreme orderliness each part is organically related to other parts and it is through the stand for between them that the subcultural member makes sense of the world.For instance, it was the homology between an alternative value system (Tune in, turn on, beadwork out), hallucinogenic drugs and acid rock which made the hippy culture cohere as a whole way of life for several(prenominal) hippies. (Hebdige, 123) As Hebdige remarks the subcultures were actually strong constructs, which were usually meant as a response to a crisis situation, as is the case of the punks at the end of the 1970s, whose rhetoric mimicked the chaos of the English social and economical life.The violent and obscene style was in fact a language in itself, in perfect accordance with the way in which swore or spoke thither was a homological nonification between the trashy cut-up enclothe and spiky hair, the pogo and amphetamines, the spitting, the vomiting, the format of the fanzines, the insurrectionary poses and the soulless, frantically driven music. The punks wore clothes which were the sartorial equivalent of swear words, and they swore as they dressed with calculated effect, lacing obscenities into record notes and publicity releases, interviews and love life songs.Clothed in chaos, they produced Noise in the calmly orchestrated Crisis of everyday life in the late 1970 s(Hebdige, 125) Hebdige thus highlights the identity of language and style within the subcultural rhetoric. The punks for instance functioned as a current in which the meanings were not even fixed as such, although the general meaning behind the style was that the forbidden is permitted, as Hebdige comments If we were to make unnecessary an epitaph for the punk subculture, we could do no better than repeat Poly Styrenes famous dictum Oh Bondage, Up Yours or passably more concisely the forbidden is permitted, but by the same token, nothing, not even these forbidden signifiers (bondage, pencil eraser pins, chains, hair-dye, etc. ) is sacred and fixed. (Hebdige, 125)The subcultures were thus a way of subverting the anonymous, mainstream currents trough a form of stylistic rhetoric. The main discontents with the contemporary world were thus displayed by means of dress or discordant music for example, aiming at a deconstruction of traditional concepts or cultural facts.The subcultural styles didnt target nec essarily the values of a certain society, as it is usually believed, but rather those notions and cultural patterns that they found as incoherent and contradictory. They were actually an abstract embodiment of the outside chaos, and not a chaotic response to order, or a protest against order. Also, the subcultural streams aimed at emphasizing otherness and difference and their adherents were intentionally posing as aliens to society and wearing masks so as to avoid any categorization or prescribed identityThey the punks played up their Otherness, accident on the world as aliens, inscrutables. Though punk rituals, accents and objects were deliberately used to signify working-classness, the exact origins of individual punks were disguised or symbolically disfigured by the make-up, masks and aliases which seem to have been used, like Bretons art, as ploys to break off the principle of identity. (Hebdige,126) Another very important characteristic of the subcultural movements is, as H ebdige notes, the fact that they strived to confuse the usual divisions of race, sexuality and chronology by combining them in their style.The boundaries between the whitened and black cultures are progressively erased through the borrowings that the white cultures made from the black ones in their style it is on the plane of aesthetics in dress, dance, music in the whole rhetoric of style, that we find the dialogue between black and white most subtly and comprehensively recorded (Hebdige, 96) The subcultures proceeded to mix up the separate elements of the mainstream culture, attacking thus the idea of identity and opening the way to difference and othernessBehind punks favored cut ups lay hints of disorder, of breakdown and category confusion a desire not only to erode racial and gender boundaries but also to confuse chronological sequence by mixing up details from different periods. (Hebdige, 128) The important thing to note whence is that in Hebdiges theory the subcultures w ere deviations from the anonymous culture, aiming at decentralizing some of the most rooted concepts and ideas of society, and at establishing a new different order outside the stereotypes of society. All this was done through style, ranging from music to dressing and all the other means of expression.Style works therefore as a system of signs, as a text that must be read to grasp the meaning behind it. Obviously, Hebdiges work deals with the subcultures in the groundbreaking epoch, after the Second World War. Therefore, there have been attempts to take his study further, so as it may capture the way in which subculture is manifested in postmodernism. Although the main subcultures that Hebdige discusses- the punks, the teddy boys, the mods, the skinheads, the Rasta men and so on, muzzy their force or even disappeared, some subcultural groups still exist today, although their structure seems to be different from that of the modern subcultures.The styles in the contemporary world a re, to a great extent, the products of postmodernism and therefore imitate its main tenants, its fragmentation and hybridization. There are no longer entirely compact, coherent or well delimited subcultures like those set by Hebdige, therefore the concepts he proposed remain mostly valid for the historical period he study in his work. His approach is very enlightening for any cultural studies inquiry but it should be change or continued so as to comprise the contemporary phenomena.

Sci207: Vocational Issues with Copd

Social Implications for Patients with COPD SCI207 Social Implications of Medical Issues dreadful 1, 2011 Social Implications for Patients with COPD CASE 1 Mr. L. , a 55-year-old bartender in a lifesize metropolitan argona, has been a heavy smoker for 40 years. He was diagnosed as having COPD 7 years ago. Mr. L. lives in the city and takes the city bus to excogitate, although he unsounded has to walk about three blocks to the bar where he works. He has found it increasingly difficult to walk the three blocks without stopping to rest at shit intervals. At work, his man durationr has also expressed concern about the effect Mr.L. s continuous expectorate has on customers. (p. 440). According to the National mettle for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), smoking is the leading cause of continuing Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and it is considered one of the most common lung diseases known. COPD is a diagnostic term utilize to describe a group of conditions that are characte rized by respiratory symptoms such as dyspnea (shortness of schnorkel), cough, sputum production, limitation of air flow, and chronic inflammation of the lungs. (Falvo, 2008, p. 420). Often, people have both.On the flip side, in that respect are also the rare cases of nonsmokers who lack a protein called alpha-1 antitrypsin that can develop into emphysema. The longer a person smokes, the likelihood of developing COPD is high exactly there are some who are exceptionally fortunate who do not contract this disease as a result of routine, long term smoking. This paper go away examine the causes, the symptoms and complications and what the neighborly implications of having COPD that can affect an individual in an adverse way using the to a higher place case study as the example. It is known that Mr. L. began smoking at fifteen years of age.At age 48, he was diagnosed with COPD yet still continues to smoke. Let us assume that Mr. L. has had a nice physique prone to him from good genetics rather than regular visits to the gym. Let us also assume that he is a New Yorker and has lived there all of his life. Because the city is so large, there is also automobile traffic that neer ceases at any hour sidereal day or night which produces high amounts of carcinogens into the air. There are still manufacturing buildings that also produce pollutants such as exposure to gases or fumes as well as tens of thousands of smokers who release second hand smoke into the environment.Add barbeques and smoke pits or poor ventilation in a smoky bar into the mix and one is exposed to heavy amounts of carcinogenic pollutants every single(a) day. This kind of long term exposure can attribute to some of the causes that may be factored in as to why he was diagnosed with COPD. Mr. L. has been told by his physician that he needs to quit smoking and stir up a regular exercise routine along with the prescribed medicine to make his conditions manageable and bearable. Because Mr. L. as smoked for 40 years and lived in an urban environment with long term exposure to pollutants along with his own robes, he began to notice a smokers cough or excessive mucus that is lingering much longer than a common cold. He notices that he begins to wheeze and gets fatigued when alone walkway a few blocks from his bus stop to work or home. Once at work or home, he may realize that he has a hard time catching his inkling (dyspnea) with any mild activity such as changing out a keg, moving a case of beer or carrying out the garbage.Hes given up going to the gym as it wears him out to easily and is embarrassing to him because he wheezes and coughs too often and doesnt want to be the offspring of ridicule from younger, healthy people. He has noticed more lines on his face from not only age, but the smoking has aged him even faster. His odontiasis are yellowed from nicotine as well as his great power and middle fingers from where he holds his cigarettes. New York has passed a non -smoking law for all public places as of the year 2000 and where there were once many smokers, it seems that more have quit than smoke.His patrons have been verbal about his coughing beloved their beverages or how they have to wait on him as he runs out back to catch a quick smoke, and he does this quite often because he is a 2 pack a day smoker. They complain that his breath and clothing smell of stale cigarettes even though he tries to cover it with breath fresheners and cologne. The patrons regularly harass him on his choice to smoke and taunt him to quit which annoys him and makes him irritable. locoweed which at one time made him look cool, has now made him a pariah in most social circles as well as the stigma attached to his habit and symptoms.They tease him and express that he will become one of those people who will have to carry an oxygen cooler around with him. Johnson, Campbell, Bowers and Nichol assert that target is a social construction that defines people in terms of a distinguishing characteristic or mark, and devalues them as a consequence. Their article further reports that, a study involving 27 women and men living with COPD reported that respondents repeatedly described a sense of stigmatization that was a take away result of using supplemental oxygen around other people and which led to feelings of embarrassment and social isolation. (2007). Since there is no cure for COPD, clearly the fastest way to retard lung damage for Mr. L. before he absolutely needs the oxygen tank is to stop smoking. Taking his prescribed medications can treat many of the symptoms such as the wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath. He can increase the amount of time walking to build up strength. The stigma of smoking will then change to encouragement from his patrons to see succeeder in his effort to quit. His breath will not be so offensive nor will his enclothe smell of cigarettes.His nails will begin to lose the yellow discoloration and he can whiten his teeth so that he can feel better about his physical looks along with his self surcharge can be restored by committing to quit. No longer will he feel dismay, embarrassment or be annoyed because of the stigma attached to a smoker that displays the outward symptoms of his disease. Mr. L. s whole brainpower and attitude will change by simply giving up a horrible habit that can destroy not only his health, but others as well. References Falvo, D. R. (2008). Medical and Psychosocial Aspects of chronic Illness and Disability. 4th ed. ). Sudbury Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Johnson, J. L. , Campbell, A. C. , Bowers, M. & Nichol, A. (2007). Understanding the Social Consequences of Chronic Obstructive Pulminary Disease The Effects of Stigma and Gender. The Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society. Retrieved August 1, 2011 from http//pats. atsjournals. org/cgi/content/full/4/8/680otherarticles The National Center for Biotechnology Information Web site provides information on COPD http//www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001153/

National Push for Accountability in Schools

The pace of change dictates that schooldayss should provide utmost quality learning standards to students. It requires that the school agreement should improve their learning approaches to enhance academic consummations of students. In this familiarity policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels boast worked to increase right of the school system on the premise that the equal plays a vital role in improving learning standards of students and society as well. This then surface the route to the recognition of military rating of school instruction execution to improve standards of learning and acquirements of students.The system of accountability requires schools to bushel what students should know and be able to do and to measure progress and gaps in students achievement. It facilitates the attainment of the desired pedagogics standards anchored on quality content and high learning standards. Developing appropriate content and student achievement standards are acc ordingly important part of showing policymakers and the public a return on their educational investment. However, accountability of schools for students learning and achievement is impossible without a clear, decocted road map on the achievement standards and what and how well students are to learn from kindergarten through graduation.Many states have developed content and achievement standards without involving stakeholders and teachers. They also have not considered how their standards are to be implemented, measured and tied to accountability. Developing content and student achievement standards without grand contribution and input from a variety of sources is fatal as there is no sense of self-control as well as responsibility from the stakeholders and agencies not represented. The standards set are then viewed as mold and one-sided thereby defeating its purpose and rendering weak implementation of the system.Accountability system utilizes results from standardized tests to evaluate procedure of students and schools, and provide sanctions, rewards or interventions for schools, educators or students. This system involves consistent monitoring and evaluation of the students and schools performance that it requires active conjunction of the educators, parents, stakeholders, and policy makers. The ripple effect of the system requires that these concerned people and stakeholders should be consistently committed to the purpose, implementation, and evaluation in order to keep track of students and schools performance and eventually facilitate desired continuous approach of schools performance standards.According to Kate Nolan (2002), it is not enough to believe that all children can learn. All elements of the system must be held accountable for the success of all children. The effect of the accountability system in school is all comprehend that Kate Nolan march on noted that, the improvement in school performance requires improvement in all stakeholders performance. Thus change in the system should not be an isolated case for the school sector but also on the part of the stakeholders as accountability requires their active participation and commitment for the system to work.It is noted that the accountability system is designinged to be a tool for instituting changes in schools that would positively clear the students, parents, community and the country in general. This system provides opportunities and avenues for joint effort of all people and agencies concerned to airlift the standards of the education system thereby improving school performance and learning of the students. The intention of the program is so noble and reflects an effort to bring education system to respond to the fast changing demands of the learning community, as yet a lot of areas need thorough consideration and re-evaluation.According to Chuch Poochigian, the education system reforms undertaken in the knightly long time have greatly enhanced the abil ity of the parents to monitor the performance of their children as well as of the school where they are enrolled, however, the only way that the drive for accountability in education will be very successful is if parents utilize the new tools offered to them to ensure that their children receive quality education. This statement should give one an supposition that accountability should not be limited to the school sector only.According to Douglas B. Reeves (2002), accountability must be viewed in a different way. It must consider and address the issues in congruence of the objectives and the strategies, specificity, relevance, respect for diversity, continuous improvement, and focus on achievement, not norms. Accountability system is highly complex and involves a range of interconnected issues and design as well as technical issues on the implementation and evaluation aspect that needs further thorough study and reconsideration.Also it must be noted that no matter how enlightened or graceful the assessment devices, if the focus is limited to gathering and reporting data rather than skillful use of those data for learning and achievement enhancement of students, little improvement to school performance will result. Thus, the best way to know whether an accountability system is working is to see whether the school system it accounts for is moving from where it was to where it wants to be. From its first implementation, an accountability system requires not only internal implementation but also external monitoring.Indeed the national tote for accountability dignifies the need to improve standards of school performance and would greatly benefit the students but the approach is inferior and has undesirable side effects. Schools do not per se reject accountability as the same is an inner responsibility, but an authentic approach to accountability must be formulated. A new set of principles must be created to guide the reconstruction of accountability systems t o better meet the needs of education and students, and to avoid the dangers a great deal associated with current accountability systems. Further, collaboration and supportive effort of the school, stakeholders and policymakers must be promoted.Reference ListNolan, K. (2002). Excerpts from using accountability to make up strong schools. EducationCommission of States. Retrieved February 20, 2007 from http//www.ecs.orgPoochigian, C. School accountability reforms. Retrieved February 23, 2007 fromhttp//www.reasons.org/pb34.pdf.Reeves, D. (2002). Accountability based-reforms should lead to a better teaching andlearning-period. Harvard Education System. Retrieved February 20, 2007 fromhttp//www.edletter.org/past/issues2002-ma/reeves.shtml.