Biases and Judgment in the Hiring Process Essay

Recently, a new case manager for the radiology department in the hospital was hired. In order to maintain the good name of the hospital, our honored organization, and for it to stand for its very highly valued services and unequalled reputation, it is only inherent that we evaluate our practices. In this regard, yours truly is making a self-evaluation process as to the dignity and reasonability on the decision to hire Mr. Smith as a case manager over the rest of the eight final candidates. Deciding as to which one to choose among the many outstanding candidates was a difficult ordeal. Aside from this obvious task on selecting which, among the original seventeen (17) applicants, and narrowing them into eight (8) final candidates, is the best and the most suitable case-manager-to-be, there are other issues at hand that need to be addressed given my position. The two most dominant of these issues that yours truly needed to strongly consider are biases and egocentrism. Although Barton (2001) noted that â€Å"everyone has biases†, it is not an excuse not to minimize it or be aware of it and prevent it from happening. On the other hand, egocentrism happens when one â€Å"can only view the world from their perspective and finds it difficult to understand any other†. (Oakley 18) Biases and egocentrism are so inherent that they need to be warded off every time a major decision, such as hiring a key organization manager, is to be made. Combating one’s bias is not simple but as long as there is patience, it can at least be reduced to its minimum level. In the case of yours truly, the following major measures are applied in order to succeed in eliminating or at least minimizing bias: a. Identifying the issue at hand and getting informed as much as possible, b. Not adhering to stereotyping and discrimination (age, gender, sexual orientation, physical appearance, ethnic origin, etcetera; and c. Applying the â€Å"scientific method† Once a person has enough knowledge about something, he or she is not easy to be deceived, especially by his or her own biases. Stereotyping and discrimination is so strong in this society, thus, yours truly always make a checklist in avoiding all these types of biases or causes of biases. The â€Å"Scientific Method† always works in reducing or eliminating bias. This means that yours truly always see to it to ccollect useful data by means of observing and experimenting, then formulate and test hypothesis. Even though this may sound so technical but it can be applied on almost every situation. As for egocentrism, almost the same procedures are applied in order to eliminate it during a decision-making process. Moreover, one simple rule applies here as well: the Golden Rule while stepping into someone’s shoes. For situations where yours truly believe that egocentrism may takeover, the idea comes to mind carrying the solution. This solution is in the form of inner examining voice asking, â€Å"If I am in his or her situation, how would I like to be treated? † Thus, it is a mixed golden rule and empathy. The answer to the question always reduces/eliminates egocentricity. Decisions by expedience are considered as foundations of this organization. Decisions based on reflections give this organization its emotion and meaning. Thus, yours truly also utilize both, around 80% of decisions are expedience-based and the rest are based upon reflection. It is always important though, during the entire decision-making process to â€Å"ensure that subjective decisions about omitting some subjects from the analysis do not cause bias† (Peat, 2001, p. 200) Decision-making is difficult and determination is important in succeeding. There are also factors deterring a person to perfect his/her decision-making abilities but once these factors are identified and admitted by the decision-maker, there are various ways to combat them.

Bible Interpretation: Steps Involved in Interpretation of New Testament Letters Essay

In the book â€Å"Journey into God’s Word: Your Guide to Understanding and Applying the Bible (pp. 100-102), Duvall and Hays teach the four steps of the Interpretative Journey for the New Testament letters. These steps, when utilized properly, helps us grasp the meaning in the scriptures Galatians 5:16-18, but also gives us an understanding of how we interpret things in the modern world as opposed to those in the biblical world. Step one of the Interpretative Journey for the New Testament letters asks the reader to â€Å"Grasp the text in their town.† By this the author wants the reader to understand the difference in culture and time, as well as understand that the message Paul was trying to teach when writing that letter to the Galatians. In chapter 5:16-18, Paul states very clearly and to the point, â€Å"Let the holy spirit guide your lives, then you wont be doing what your sinful nature craves.† This powerful verse allows the reader to understand how great the fight between the flesh and the Spirit are. These three verses allowed Paul to reassure that anyone who walks in the path of the Spirit will less likely give in to the urges of the Flesh. Those who do right to fulfil their obligation to the Spirit are slowly cleansing their own soul of their sinful desires. ‘Measure the width of the river to cross’ is step two of Interpretative Journey for New Testament letters. The biblical audience and modern day interpretations of the scriptures in Galatians form the proverbial river that we must measure in order to cross. The biblical audience found themselves in a fight between the flesh and the Spirit. We in modern times also have the same battle to overcome. The river however I think was much higher in biblical times because of the constant strain for acceptance and understanding that they lacked in first-century theology. I think finding a clearer path in the Spirit in earlier times was much easier to find and hold onto since the majority of life was home and church, unlike today which many do not believe in the Spirit. Step three asks us to â€Å"Cross the Principalizing Bridge.† To give ones entire devotion to the Spirit is a very hard, daunting task that can sometimes feel like the wrong path.The theological principle is to walk in the Spirit. To give in to ones sinful desires to the flesh seems like an easier route. However the second theological principle is to Not give into the evils of the flesh, but to believe in the Spirit and walk in his light. Both biblical day Jews and modern day Christians face this decision everyday. This makes the  theological principles timeless and apparent in the text. It follows the scripture and pertains to both audiences. The final step in the Interpretative Journey for New Testament letters is â€Å"Grasp the text in our town.† This step is used t o ask oneself how modern day Christians utilize apply the theological principles by giving two real-life stories that focus on them.

Picking up the Lego pieces - Lego's turnaround or not Essay

Picking up the Lego pieces - Lego's turnaround or not - Essay Example The result was a disaster. Lego adopted the diversification strategy of expanding its market to include girls and older boys and selling new and unrelated products like clothes, watches, video games and theme parks to these new markets. Like other companies that went beyond their core competence – in Lego’s case, making toys for 5-9 year-old boys – Lego failed miserably and lost money because market share spiraled downwards as it sold lesser products to lesser customers and incurred higher costs. The CEO hired in 2004, Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, changed the corporate strategy to one of focus and product differentiation. While Lego continued to expand its market to include older age groups, differentiation is not the same as diversification, and in this sense the Economist article was not entirely correct when it claimed â€Å"bits of the diversification strategy remained.† Lego continued to offer the same focused brand of â€Å"play for all† experience – Lego comes from the Danish leg godt which means â€Å"play well† – to a larger market and aligned the rest of the company to be profitably right-sized for it. Lego’s next steps delivered positive results and showed it could â€Å"diversify† into computer based games for an older age group, staying focused and pragmatic while building on its traditional brick-based products (Watts). Its blockbuster Bionicle and Mindstorm product lines led to profitable product extensions like Star Wars and Harry Potter, capitalizing on film tie-ins, and extended market reach to more countries, especially to emerging China and Japan, acknowledged to be Lego’s top market in Asia for construction category toys (McGinn; Lego Website). Cheaper products made in Asia and sold by Tyco under the Super Block brand eroded Lego’s market share in the 1980s. While Lego enjoys first mover advantage and continues to be number one in the construction category toy market, competitors are fighting a marketing war

Choose a current trend and explain your opinion about it. The trend Essay

Choose a current trend and explain your opinion about it. The trend can be of any category, and your opinion should be clearly - Essay Example The accessibility of online dating sites are masking more sensitive issues in the society, and thus, restrictions in the member's age, purpose of signing in, and advertisements posted through a reviewed dating site rules and possibly, government intervention. Audience of Internet Dating Dating sites could provoke more sensitive issues prevailing in the society. As more people are provided with easier access to the internet, the more chances there is that discrimination would happen, may it be racial or physical. Furthermore, sexual partners from the internet, with an emphasis to those who engage to casual sex, may be an accepted societal notion and thus will have more effects towards other sectors particularly reproductive health. It is much to the interest of the dating site users which this paper explores since it deliberates on impact of such activity in a broader sense. International Marriages Through Online Dating and Its Underlying Social Implications It must be exciting to thi nk that dating sites are expanding the user’s thoughts about racial identity. In the varied selection of potential mates, Caucasians, Black Americans, Asians and all others are not classified. In other words, the internet seems to have more room of racial acceptance than racial discrimination. However, what Warchaur found out could be intriguingly opposite to this notion. According to Turkle, â€Å"interracial marriages make racial identity more subjective and multiple; the anonymous, multi-channeled communication facilitated by the Internet deepens this trend toward multiple subjective identity† (qtd. in Warchaur). In other words, the anonymity of the dating sites members would reject possible personal differences and their attitudes would be completely relying on their race. Although the internet can be a good venue for true globalization to prosper, the dating site users are not spared from subjective generalization of their race. A member may have filled out their profile honestly, but this does not mean that members as such comprise 100% of the site. The truth is, there are members who lie, and this thought is so common that no matter how well-written the profile information is, the racial background still counts (e.g. Black Americans are stereotyped as violent). Because of existing racial stereotypes and the inaccessibility of face to face encounter, dating sites are prone to discrimination. Attractiveness is also a major issue internet dating rather than focusing on abstract qualities of a person. In a research conducted by Hitsch, Hortacsu, and Ariely with internet dating site users in the United States, the attractive mate prospects get the most number of replies and views than their less physically attractive counterparts. Electronic mail responses are more frequent to physically attractive members (16). As expected, physically attractive men and women are very selective in their potential partners in the dating sites. While 40% of aver age men gets responses from average women, the contrast is true for attractive men and women. It has been found out that least attractive members are â€Å"2-4 times more likely to send a first-contact e-mail to a man than the most attractive women† (17). Racial issues, sexual abuse, and self-esteem are at stake in the growing trend of e-dating. If the restrictions should be out of hand, then the users are in danger of suffering these consequences. The leniency of the government when it comes to internet control could have been the main culprit of this

Argument Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Argument Analysis - Essay Example Botstein however claims that it is not the length of school days that affects the performance of the children rather; it is how the time in school is spent. He presented some statistics to point out his argument. The thesis of the article is that the solution to the improvement of the academic performance of the school children in the US is not the lengthening of the time spent in school but rather, an analysis of how the time in school is spent. Botstein’s article is targeted to every American citizen, particularly to the politicians who are moving for the extension of the number of school days. He also aims to target the parents of the school children to explain to them that it is not the number of school days that really matters. He is addressing the parents to probably put some pressure on the politicians to extensively study their proposal before making it into a law. Botstein is trying to convince his readers to believe his argument through the use of the logical appeal to prove his point. He supports his argument by comparing the number of school days in the other countries that outperforms the US’ school children. Botstein indicated that some countries have longer school days, others have less school days while others have the same school days as in the US but it was not what really mattered. What are essential are the instruction hours that are dedicated in key areas such as mathematics, science, history and literature. He mentioned that American high school students spend only 41 per cent of their time in school studying these subject areas unlike the Japanese and the French (Botstein 1). Botstein used analogy to prove his point. Another issue which Botstein identified as the reason for the poorer performance of the US school children compared with other countries is the issue on who is doing the teaching. To prove his point he presented the results of the 1996 survey of the Education

Native Americans Trailer Feather War Bonnet and Tipi Essay - 51

Native Americans Trailer Feather War Bonnet and Tipi - Essay Example There is also a window which makes it possible to think that the tip is placed inside a bigger room probably a tent, and thus maybe the structure is used to display the Native Culture. Most of the time nowadays, this kind of a war bonnet is seen by the young generations during movies, because most of these native wears are not concentrated on in today’s societies. The Indian tribes associated with such headdress and housing includes the Sioux, Crow, and Blackfeet, Cheyenne, and Plains Cree. They are commonly found in the Great Plains region, which is concentrated with tribes of the Native Americans. A war bonnet is a very important attire worn during important ceremonies by the Native American chiefs and warriors. These headdresses are only worn by men in the Native American tribes, and especially during the fighting. There are different kinds of war bonnets such as the Halo war bonnet, which is a combination of eagle feathers, spread out around the face and fashioned in an oval shape. There is another one which is known as the straight-up feather headdress; it is a taller, narrower and in this kind of headdress, the eagle’s feathers stand up straight. In the picture, the kind displayed is a trailer headdress. It is a headdress with single or double rows of eagle feathers designed in a long tail that touches the ground. The tipis are houses used by the red Indians for shelter. Every Native American tribe had a different kind of tipi that would serve their needs and especially one that would suit their particular lifestyle. It looks like a cone-shaped wooden house. It is made of a wooden frame and is covered with hiding and especially with buffalo hide. Tips are very easy to construct and also to bring down, as the tribes that use them are pastoralist, hence, they do not need permanent residence.

The Music Video Picasso Baby by Jay Z Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Music Video Picasso Baby by Jay Z - Essay Example The essay "The Music Video Picasso Baby by Jay Z" aims to analyze the album of Ja-Z and gives a review on his video. Picasso Baby, included in Jay Z’s album titled ‘Magna Carta Holy Grail’, is a music piece inspired by art-world icons and ‘high-status’ figures. The performance was with an interaction of an invited-only audience composed of a number of elites in the art world. Performance by artists like Marina Abramovic from the MoMA show-â€Å"The Artist is Present† graced the video. The lyrics and script relate to the video in that performance art, just like other types of arts, draws its influence from ‘stigmata effect.’ This means that he does not just perform in concerts for the audience, but engages the audience as a necessary and equal part of the performance. The piece takes place through the bodies of all the listeners, including the artist (Jay Z) himself. Picasso Baby’s performance is a manifestation of performanc e changes that Jay Z is trying to achieve. Depending upon individuals who present themselves before the performing artist, Jay Z acts a shiny surface that embodies and reflects his fans. Herein, the connection between ‘Picasso Baby’ and the works of famous artists he mentions in his lyrics is seen. Watching the video for the first time, I was drawn to the entire performance as a normal event. Using Pace Gallery as the setting also makes the whole performance questionable considering that Jay Z’s celebrity status is enough to grant him entry into the gallery.

'Capitalism is a force of progress for business and society'. Discuss Essay - 1

'Capitalism is a force of progress for business and society'. Discuss - Essay Example According to Potter (2008), capitalist system in the recent scenario has encouraged the businesses to become a major cause for economic, environmental and social complications. On further analysis of his views it is ascertained that modern-day companies are developing and prospering at the cost of societal degradation. The essay intends to discuss whether capitalism is acting as a force or not in the progression of business and society. Furthermore, the essay will reflect the views and theories provided by various authors regarding capitalism and its implications upon society and business. Evaluation of Capitalism as a Force of Progress for Business and Society According to Fulcher (2004), in traditional form of business the merchants used to invest money in order to get better returns in the forms of goods and monetary valuations. In the similar context, the capitalist production in the present scenario mainly depends upon the exploitation of the wage labour. In the capitalist socie ty, labour is considered to be vital as they are engaged in more work activities that facilitate to increase the production and ultimately the consumption. Furthermore, the author’s view reflects that in the market, production along with consumption frame the basis of economic activities. As ascertained by him, market fluctuations give rise to the basis of hypothetical form of capitalism that does not result in any productivity. In this regard, this mechanism of capitalism theory frames the key operational purview of the capitalist economy. According to Cammack (1998), with the advent of capitalism, the liberal democracy has been diminished. Liberal democracy represents a governmental form that operates following the principles that are implemented to protect the rights of the minorities. The domination of capitalism in the economic sector worldwide has acted as a key force to overpower liberal democracies. In recent scenario, in the midst of capitalist society, the minor sec tion in the society is being exploited with a motive to earn more profit margins. Furthermore, inequality within the capitalist society has taken a greater height as mentioned by Cammack (2009) & Guimaraes (2012). The authors highlighted the viewpoint of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that expresses views related to globalisation. In accordance with this viewpoint, globalisation has been considered as the ‘win-win’ process by the economists but public opinions regarding the concerning view was quite hostile. The trend of inequality and the above mentioned perspective relate with the capitalist society wherein most of the firms operate within competitive world economy with profit motive. In relation to capitalism in the modern era, the corporate sector has taken over a majority of the market scenario. In this regard, Crouch (2011) explores that in the midst of liberal society, capitalism is entering by the mode of two vibrant thoughts within the societal context. The group that fears expansion of the government sector within the society prepares itself to tolerate the exploitation of private sector. Whereas, the other group is ready to encourage the growth of governmental sector in order to reduce the expansion of corporate sector within the society. Furthermore, in keeping with the notion whether capitalism is facilitating the business and societal development or not, Dicken (2010)

Teenage Pregnancy Master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Teenage Pregnancy Master - Essay Example The recent decrease has been ascribed to more information on this social problem and continued work. Knowledge about this problem has been updated so it is now known that teenage pregnancy is both a result and cause of poverty. Young mothers have other problems such as low achievement and low aspirations (Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group, 2008). Despite this, there is still a deficit of knowledge about the young people's views of the effectiveness of interventions to reduce the frequency of teenage pregnancy. It has been suggested that the views of young people, specially teenage mothers may suggest ways to reduce the frequency of teenage pregnancy more effectively. One such example may be that young people emphasise on interventions being person-centred. Young mothers perceive a lack of effective communication of health and education messages. They perceive the staff to be less educated and inadequately sensitive to the needs of young people. Peer education and help and services for young men are lacking. In the youth settings, there must be sexual health services for teenagers (Chambers et al., 2002, 85-90). Researchers have pointed to the roles of socioeconomic factors in teenage pregnancy. With rise in awareness, now the trend is teenage abortion which fails the purpose of preventive services, exposing the teenage mothers to a higher degree of vulnerability. It is true that there is no concrete information as to what would constitute better outcomes when dealing with teenage pregnancy. This points to the fact that it is necessary to ask the teenage mothers whether they perceive a pregnancy to be unwanted that ends in either birth or abortion. Indeed, there is an element of lack of understanding due to broader mismatch in communication. Review of literature suggests that other nonsexual health concerns are priorities in the case of teenagers, and sexual health rates lower in priority (Jacobsen et al., 1993). The Teenage Pregnancy Report shows that the UK rates of teen pregnancy are twice as high as Germany, three times higher than France, and Five times higher than the Netherlands. It has been found that the daughters of teen mothers are twice likely to be pregnant at their teenage. It is unfortunate, as the data suggest, that 75% of the teenage conceptions are unplanned, and about 50% of these result in abortion. The inadequacy of the services is highlighted by the fact that 20% of the births to the teen mothers are second teen pregnancies. The roles played by the socioeconomic factors are further highlighted by the fact that 50% of the teenage mothers exist in 20% of the wards with the highest rates (Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group, 2008). It may be argued that this distribution has no socioepidemiologic implications. Reviews of interventions directed towards reduction of poor sexual health outcomes, which include unplanned pregnancy, show that interventions have little to no role to influence sexual behaviour and contraceptive use. This has occurred mainly due to the fact that despite increased knowledge about sexual health, knowledge does not seem to influence the decision of the teens to have safe sex practices, cautious and risk-free sexual behaviour, and contraceptive use (Levine et al., 2001). These happen due to generalisation of such interventions across a varied population. Populations are

How We Are Teaching Children to Think Inside the Box Essay Example for Free

How We Are Teaching Children to Think Inside the Box Essay When children come home from school, parents usually sit down with them, go through their homework folders and ask their child, â€Å"so, what did you learn at school today?† Twenty years ago, the child may have commented on what they learned in art, music, social studies or geography. Now, a child will comment only on what they learned in their reading circle or in their math book. The fault for this lies within the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Standardized testing has turned teachers into test proctors and schools into testing facilities. Students are no longer receiving a broad education that covers many subjects; instead, their learning is streamlined to fit the content that is on the standardized tests. The NCLB Act is not working as it was intended, and as a result the American children are falling even further behind other developed nations. In fact, American students are ranked 19th out of 21 countries in math, 16th in science and last in physics (DeWeese 2). The No Child Left Behind Act needs to be tossed out before we do irreversible damage to the education system. It is not too late – we can turn everything around by getting rid of costly standardized tests, ensure students receive a broad education that includes classes in arts and music, which will better prepare them for higher education, and give control back to the individual states. In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted by Congress, which was intended to close the learning gap between Caucasian students and minority students. The NCLB promised to promote accountability amongst teachers and school administrators, as well as assuring that all children would be proficient – according to standards set by the individual states – in reading and math by the end of the 2013-2014 school year (Ravitch 2). In addition, NCLB stated that by the end of the 2005-2006 school-year every classroom in America would have a highly qualified teacher (Paige 2). The most reliable way that the drafters of No Child Left Behind proposed collecting the data that they needed in order to keep track of accountability and proficiency was by mandating that each state issue their  students in grades 3 through 12 a standardized test annually that covers the subjects of reading, writing and math (Beveridge 1). The test that is issued is given to all students, whether they are Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, disabled, etc. and schools are graded based on the proficiency of their students. Each state sets a yearly goal that increases each year based on the mandates of the NCLB Act, in which all students will be 100 percent proficient in those three subjects by the year 2014 (Ravitch 2). On paper, the NCLB Act looked like a blessing to schools that are located in areas of low-income, minority areas and advocates for children with learning disabilities because these tests were meant to highlight the schools that are doing poorly and ensure they receive funding and training in order to turn the scores around (Darling-Hammond 1). In a letter that is addressed to parents on their website, the U.S. Department of Education explains that the NCLB Act provides â€Å"more resources to schools† through funding and â€Å"allows more flexibility† when allocating the funds (3). According to Linda Darling-Hammond, a Professor of Education at Stanford University, â€Å"the funding allocated by NCLB – less than 10 percent of most schools’ budgets – does not meet the needs of the under-resourced schools, where many students currently struggle to learn† (2). Another way schools get their funding is through the taxes that we pay. It makes sense that schools located in an area that has higher income would receive more funds than schools located in a low-income area. What happens is that with the limited funding, schools in low-income areas need to prioritize funding to raise the standardized test scores of their students because once a school fails to show improvement in their standar dized test scores, they are placed on probation the second year and parents are given a choice to leave the failing school, taking their child and the funding attached to that child to a school that is rated better. â€Å"In the third year of a school’s failure, students are entitled to free tutoring after school† according to Diane Ravitch, a research professor of education at New York University (2). The funding provided by NCLB is supposed to help pay for the free tutoring, but, like was stated before, the funding provided is not enough. What happens when a school is mandated by law to provide resources, but it cannot find room in their budget? That’s  right, they cut funding elsewhere. In an article written by Angela Pascopella, the Austin Independent School District superintendent Pascal D. Forgione explains that â€Å"NCLB also requires that schools in need of improvement set aside 10 percent of their local Title 1 funds for professional development †¦ this creates no flexibility in budgeting† (1). When schools need to restructure their budget in order to pay for tutoring and retraining teachers, the arts and music programs are the ones that suffer most. NCLB places so much emphasis on the outcome of the standardized tests. Can you really blame the school districts for re-emphasizing the importance of standardized tests when their funding relies on it? States were put in charge of providing their own assessment tests in order to provide a more focused education to their students and ensure that the students meet the state’s standards of proficiency. Tina Beveridge explains that â€Å"in 2007, the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) cost the state $113 million †¦ [and] many districts eliminated teaching positions as a result, despite the use of stimulus money. As budgets are cut nationwide, the funding for nontested subjects are affected first† (1). The fact that the distribution of funds is based on the outcome of the standardized test scores mea ns that we are blatantly failing the inner-city schools. A school will be placed on probation if they fail just one category ranging from proficiency of Caucasian students all the way down to the proficiency of the students who are just learning the English language. Schools located in higher income areas don’t really have to worry as much about budget cuts because those schools are located in areas that are predominately white and with parents who are active in their children’s education. On the other hand, schools in low income areas have to provide tutoring and other mandated actions in order to improve their proficiency rates, all the while their students are learning in â€Å"crumbling facilities, overcrowded classrooms, out-of-date textbooks, no science labs, no art or music courses and a revolving door of untrained teachers† (Darling-Hammond 2). After a few years of a school not showing improvement through their test scores, their entire teaching staff could be fired. We just saw this happen last year in Providence, Rhode Island. The school board terminated 1,976 teachers because of insufficient results and the need to make budget cuts (Chivvis 1). The turnover rate for  teachers is already extremely high, as much as 50 percent leave within 5 years in urban areas (McKinney et al 1) and the pressure of working in a low-income school district where schools are lacking basic teaching necessities is not all that appealing. The inability of low-income schools to offer teachers incentives because of funding, and with the added stress of job security, it makes one wonder how any highly qualified teachers are in the classroom. On top of that, the curriculum for students has gotten so narrow that it has taken a lot of the creativity and individualization that once attracted the best of the best to the teaching profession. Susan J. Hobart is an example of one of those teachers who used to love doing her job because she was leaving her mark on her students, in a positive way. In Hobart’s article, she tells of a letter she received from one of her students prior to the NCLB Act. The letter explained that Hobart was â€Å"differen t than other teachers, in a good way. [They] didn’t learn just from a textbook; [they] experienced the topics by ‘jumping into the textbook.’ [They] got to construct a rainforest in [their] classroom, have a fancy lunch on the Queen Elizabeth II, and go on a safari through Africa† (3). The student goes on to explain that the style of teaching she experienced during that time is what she hopes she can do when she becomes a teacher too. Unfortunately, that student’s dream will most likely not come true because the fact is that when schools are placed on probation, like Hobart’s school, they â€Å"teach test-taking strategies similar to those taught in Stanley Kaplan prep courses †¦ and spend an inordinate amount of time showing students how to ‘bubble up’† (1). With all the time and energy being placed on teaching children to read and write, you would think that they would be proficient by the time they enroll in college, right? Wrong. â€Å"42 percent of community college freshmen and 20 percent of freshmen in four-year institutions enroll in at least one remedial course †¦ 35 percent were enrolled in math, 23 percent in writing, and 20 percent in reading,† according to the Alliance for Excellent Education (1). Scho ols are so reliant on the standardized tests in order to gauge how students are understanding material that they have slacked-off in other areas like teaching basic study skills and critical thinking skills. When most of these kids graduate from high school and enter into a college setting, especially the ones who need to take remedial courses to catch-up to where  they should be when they graduate, they’re taken completely off guard with the course load and they will either succeed in managing it or struggle for the first few semesters, but the majority will drop out without a degree (Alliance for Excellent Education 1). High school is meant to prepare students for higher education or to enter the workforce, but the government is spending millions of dollars in order to remediate students and doing what high school teachers were meant to do (Alliance for Excellent Education 3). So, who is to blame? The supporters of No Child Left Behind acknowledge that there are some faults to the Act, but those like Kati Haycock believes that â€Å"although NCLB isn’t perfect, the Bush administration and Congress did something important by passing it. They called on educators to embrace a new challenge – not just access for all, but achievement for all †¦ there are no more invisible kids† (1). Supporters feel as though benefits such as holding teachers accountable for all students, including those with disabilities, and weeding out the schools that have a long history of doing poorly outweighs the negatives and that with time, the NCLB Act can be reformed to work as efficiently as it was enacted to work. Ravitch disagrees, stating that â€Å"Washington has neither the knowledge nor the capacity to micromanage the nation’s schools† (3). We have to agree with her as concerned citizens and parents. While the NCLB Act meant well when it was passed, it’s time to acknowledge that the government has spent billions of dollars trying to improve the education of America’s youth, yet 10 years later American students are still falling behind the mark set by other industrialized nations and the 201 3-2014 school year is quickly coming upon us. Not only are we falling behind globally, but minorities are still struggling behind Caucasian students. The gap between Caucasian students and minority students, that was intended to close through the NCLB Act, has remained just as far apart. E.E. Miller Elementary School, located here in Fayetteville, NC, just released their annual report card to parents. The chart below shows the break-down of students who passed both the reading and math tests provided at the end of the 2010-2011 school year. African American children, Hispanic children, and children with disabilities are still lagging far behind their Caucasian peers. African American children passed at 49.4 percent, 25.5 percent of students with disabilities passed and Hispanic children passed at rate of  56.9 percent. Remember that the NCLB expects this school, along with every other school in the Nation, to be at 100 percent proficiency by the end of the 2013-2014 school year. Source: Education First NC School Report Cards, E. E. Miller Elementary: 2010-11 School Year, Public Schools of North Carolina State Board of Education, Web, 26 Oct. 2011. In order to put this chart more in perspective, below is the 3-year trend for E.E. Miller. [pic] Source: Education First NC School Report Cards, E. E. Miller Elementary: 2010-11 School Year, Public Schools of North Carolina State Board of Education, Web, 26 Oct. 2011. While math scores are steadily improving, reading scores (the solid line) are declining. E.E. Miller has been on probation for at least 3 years, having provided tutoring to children who were struggling last year. Even with those efforts, the end of the year test suggests those students are still struggling in reading. These mandates are not working. States are spending millions of dollars per year to fulfill all of the required obligations without any fruition. We need to put education spending back into the hands of the states with more substantial federal funding. The federal government cannot expect every public elementary school, middle school and high school in this nation to fix a problem that has been prevalent for many, many years with this one-size-fits-all approach to learning. It will not happen with No Child Left Behind, and it definitely will not happen by the end of the 2013-2014 school year. We can no longer sit and watch while students in America struggle to compete o n a global level in nearly all subjects. Teachers are not educating our nation’s students to think critically and to form their own ideas or opinions; instead, teachers in failing schools are stuck teaching a curriculum that directly corresponds to what is being tested, and we are failing to prepare them for higher education. The future citizens we are molding will be of no use to society if they cannot think for themselves, which will happen if they remain in the current system. We need to undo this one-size-fits-all curriculum and re-broaden our children’s education to include subjects that will teach them think outside the box. Works Cited Alliance for Excellence in Education. â€Å"Paying Double: Inadequate High Schools and Community College Remediation.† Issue Brief: August (2006). All4Ed.Org. Web. 30 Oct. 2011. Beveridge, Tina. No Child Left Behind and Fine Arts Classes. Arts Education Policy Review 111.1 (2010): 4. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. Chivvis, Dana. â€Å"Providence, RI, School Board Votes to Lay Off All Teachers.† AOL News (2011). Web. 28 Oct. 2011. Darling-Hammond, Lisa. â€Å"No Child Left Behind is a Bad Law.† Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 14 Oct. 2011. DeWeese, Tom. â€Å"Public Education is Failing.† Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 14 Oct. 2011. Education First NC School Report Cards. â€Å"E. E. Miller Elementary: 2010-11 School Year.† Public Schools of North Carolina State Board of Education. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. McKinney, Sueanne E., et al. â€Å"Addressing Urban High-Poverty School Teacher Attrition by Addressing Urban High-Poverty School Teacher Retention: Why Effective Teachers Persevere.† Educational Research and Review Vol. 3 (1) pp. 001-009 (2007). Academic Journals. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. Paige, Rod. â€Å"No Child Left Behind: A Parent’s Guide.† U.S. Department of Education (2002). PDF File. 28 Oct. 2011. Pascopella, Angela. Talking Details on NCLB. District Administration 43.7 (2007): 22. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. Ravitch, Diane. Time to Kill No Child Left Behind. Education Digest 75.1 (2009): 4. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 20 Oct. 2011.

A critical review of Porters competitive strategy

A critical review of Porters competitive strategy Title: A critical review of Porter's competitive strategy in relation to his five forces model in comparison to other perspectives. â€Å"All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.† Sun Tzu, Chinese General Introduction Strategy originates from military and warfare and according to Stephen Cummings; the word itself has its origins from the Greek word ‘stratos’ which meant ‘army’ (Cummings, 1993, pp 133 – 135). A number of ancient generals and scholars have defined the character of strategy. Some famous ones are Sun Tzu, the Chinese general in the 2nd century BC and Sextus Frontinus, the Roman general in the first century AD. Frontinus has defined strategy as â€Å"everything achieved by a commander, be it characterised by foresight, advantage, enterprise or resolution† (Cummings, 1993, pp 133 – 135). Another Greek military commander Xenophon very aptly defined strategy as â€Å"knowing the business which you propose to carry out† (Cummings, 1993, pp 133 – 135). The importance of clear intent, seeking advantage over adversaries, objectives of survival and expansion, and utilisation of given resources with inherent strengths and weaknesses in a manner that successfully leverages the advantage, are as relevant to a business organisation as to military. Aligning resources to objectives to gain advantage to maximum limits requires strategic thinking. This process can be either logical or creative. Strategy formation itself can be deliberate or emergent. Strategy operates at various levels and contexts. It can operate in a combination of business level, corporate level or network level in industry context, organisational context or international context (Wit and Meyer, 2004, p.14). There are diverse models on strategy and strategic management. However all models focus on the importance of aligning the dynamics of a business system to the dynamics of its environment for meeting its long-term objectives. The goal of strategic management is to gain competitive advantage. According to Wit and Meyer, a business system is the configuration of resources (inputs), activities (throughput) and product/service offering (output) and this configuration is the cornerstone of gaining competitive advantage (Wit and Meyer, 2004 p. 231). There are two broad models on business level strategy. One involves market orientation and the other is focussed on resources. One revolves around the outside-in perspective, while the other is inside-out perspective. Both deal with the ability of a form to acquire competitive advantage (See Appendix I and II). One such prominent strategy model is Michael Porter’s Five Forces model. This assignment critically evaluates Porter’s Five Forces model and compares it with alternative models. Sustainable Competitive Advantage It is important for competitive advantage to be sustainable. But what exactly is competitive advantage and what makes it sustainable? According to Wits and Meyer, â€Å"a firm’s has a competitive advantage when it has the means to edge out rivals when vying for the favour of customers† (Wit and Meyer, 2004 p. 244). Michael Porter argues that competitive advantage is sustainable â€Å"if it cannot be copied, substituted or eroded by the actions of rivals, and is not made redundant by developments in the environment† (Porter, 1980). Wits and Meyer interpret that sustainability is determined by competitive defendability and environmental consonance. Porter’s Five Forces Model The five forces model involves market orientation and is an outside-in perspective. The model proposes that the starting point in determining an appropriate competitive strategy is to understand two dynamic factors, (1) the long-term profitability that determines the attractiveness of the industry in which the firm operates; and (2) the position that a firm occupies within an industry vis-à  -vis its competitors. Porter concludes that neither all industries are equal in attractiveness, nor are all firms equal in achieving levels of profitability with in their respective industry. But these positions change and therefore cannot fully determine competitive strategy. On the other hand, a firm can actually shape both (1) the industry attractiveness as well as (2) its competitive position. By understanding of what he calls as the â€Å"rules of competition† a firm can create an effective competitive strategy that can alter the balance in its favour. According to Porter, five competitive forces determine the rules of competition. These are: The barriers to entry for new competitors The threat of substitutes The bargaining power of suppliers The bargaining power of buyers The magnitude of existing competition As can be understood that all the above forces have a direct or an indirect impact upon how the prices and the cost that make up business operations within the industry. What’s more, the level of investment required by a new comer to get into the industry is also portrayed by these forces. The intensity as well as the importance of these forces varies from industry to industry. But irrespective of the nature of industry the collective strength of these forces â€Å"determines the ability of firms in an industry to earn, on average, rates of return on investment in excess of cost of capital† (Porter, 1985). For example, for an industry with low entry barriers, the magnitude of competition will be higher. Similarly, availability of substitutes deflates the price within the industry. Bargaining power of buyers brings down prices and as a consequence the margins for firms within the industry. Bargaining power of the suppliers has a direct impact on cost and availability of raw materials. For an industry, which is intensely competitive, the margins once again come under pressure. The UK supermarkets are clearly operating in an intensely competitive industry albeit with a certain degree of control over their suppliers. However, this is not entirely true for the airlines industry, which is not only highly competitive, but also has a low control over its suppliers, especially for its most important raw material – the petrol prices. Therefore the pressure is on both ends – the cost as well as the price. Each industry has certain economic and technical features that make up its structure. Industry structure is susceptible to change over a period of time. It is important for a firm to understand the factors that could change the industry structure. It is this understanding that can enable a firm to build an effective competitive strategy that can alter the structure of an industry. Porter argues that a successful strategy is the one that can alter the rules of competition to create a position of advantage for the firm. He states that the merit of the five-forces framework lies in the fact that it â€Å"allows a firm to see through the complexity and pinpoint those factors that are critical to competition in its industry, as well as to identify those strategic innovations that would improve the industry’s – and its own – profitability† (Porter, 1985). A strategy has a potential of altering the industry structure in a negative manner as well. It can bring about price sensitivity, competitive backlash or lowering of barriers that protect the industry and ensure its profitability. A good example of this is the low-cost airlines where pricing is treated as the strategy. ‘Smart’ companies take a long-term perspective while making strategic choices, so as not to destroy the industry structure. Industry leaders whose strategic choices can easily alter the industry structure, due to their size and bargaining power, are sensitive to the fact that an altered structure can have a negative impact on the firm’s own growth therefore a leader needs to show an approach that protects the industry structure, rather than destroy it. The importance of industry structure Two key areas are touched by industry structure. These are: Buyer needs, and Supply/demand balance Buyer needs: Serious firms treat the task of satisfying buyer needs as their core objective. The effort is always to create value for their customers. However, industry structure determines how profitable this effort turns out to be. For instance, two industries that create an equally high value for their customers may have different returns. Entry barriers, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers and suppliers as well as intensity of competition, all these forces influence industry profitability vis-à  -vis customer value creation. Supply/demand balance: This also has an impact on the industry profitability and at the same time is influenced by industry structure in the long term. Entry and exit barriers exert influence as also capacities. For example, in some industries, even a little excess capacity can lead to price wars and therefore lower the profitability. This is being witnessed in the airlines industry. Competitive strategies The objective of understanding industry structure lies in the need to build a sustainable competitive strategy which results in a position of advantage relative to its competitors. The starting point is in value chain analysis that helps a firm to determine the activities which contribute to creating superior value. The goal is to achieve profitability higher than the industry average. Porter argues that based on this analysis, a firm can have one of the three competitive strategies: Cost leadership – by which a firm leverages its scale to bring down the cost of doing business and then passes the benefit to its customers. This is achievable only for firms that display one or more of such features – (1) they operate on a large scale, serving multiple segments and perhaps even operating in complementary industries; (2) have proprietary technology; (3) have â€Å"preferential access to raw materials† (Porter, 1985). What’s more, cost leadership advantage is not at the expense of differentiation and is pursued by seeking cost advantage from multiple operational areas such as marketing, finance, human resources, in addition to production and supply-chain. Porter states that â€Å"a cost leader must achieve parity or proximity in the basis of differentiation relative to its competitors o be an above-average performer, even though it relies on cost-leadership for its competitive advantage† (Porter, 1985). An example is Tesco. Differentiation: This strategy is aimed at achieving uniqueness on attributes that determine consumer preference. According to Porter, this strategy can emerge from product differentiation, distribution system, and/or marketing approach. This allows a firm to charge premium price and can result in a loyal customer base. However care must be taken that the premium price is more than the cost of differentiation as well as is sustainable in long run. Once again, pursuing this strategy does not mean that a firm can ignore the cost element, which is a vital contributor to its bottom-line. An example of this could be Waitrose. Focus strategies – cost focus / differentiation focus: These strategic choices are for firms with narrow target segment. These are achievable only if the â€Å"target segments â€Å"either have buyers with unusual needs or else the production and delivery system that best serves the target segment must differ from that of other industry segments† (Porter, 1985). These are generic strategies across industries and the manner in which these are executed also varies for different industries. Internet and the Industry Structure In recent times, Michael Porter’s five forces model has expanded in scope to include internet and its influence industries. In his article â€Å"Strategy and the Internet† published in Harvard Business Review in 2001, Porter argues that Internet â€Å"tends to influence and alter industry structures in ways to dampen overall profitability, and it has a levelling effect on business practices, reducing the ability of any company to establish an operational advantage that can be sustained.† He states that the seemingly low cost of doing online business is actually artificially depressed as it does not account for many key activities such as inventory and warehousing which are needed to deliver value to the customer. But he also determines that internet has increased the possibilities for firms â€Å"to establish distinctive strategic positionings† that traditional information technology tools could not offer. He concludes that including internet offers a new dimension to a firm’s operations and is unavoidable as a tool in carrying out business. But if real economic value is to be created then internet initiatives must be integrated with the traditional competitive strategy as â€Å"internet per se will rarely be a competitive advantage† (Porter, 2001). Alternative model: Strategy from inside-out This perspective is exactly opposite to Michael Porter’s Five Forces model. Models based on this perspective are focussed on internal strengths and capabilities for devising a competitive strategy rather than scouring external opportunities. The starting point is an assessment of firm’s resources or competences that have been acquired over a period of time. What’s more, if one such resource is not existing within, then how to acquire it? Market positioning is sought in alignment with a firm’s resource based strategy. â€Å"Selected market positions must leverage the existing resource base, not ignore it†¦.for success resources should be leading and markets following† (Wit and Meyer, 2004, p. 252). Two main models have been proposed by leading practitioners of management: Competence based view; and Capabilities based view This viewpoint does not consider just physical resources, but also intangible resources or competences that get uniquely composed within an organisation during its operational span. These could vary from competence in Internet-driven supply-chain management to offline quality process. Firms seeking leadership position make sure that its core competences or capabilities are upgraded on a periodic basis so that competitive advantage is maintained. This is termed as the dynamic capabilities view (Teece, Pisano and Shuen, 1997). It is emphasised that a firm needs to take a long-term view of its competences and take all actions to strengthen these competences. This perspective does not advocate an ad-hoc approach that results in building up of unrelated competences. On the flip side, the challenge is in dismantling of existing competences and building of new competences as market demand changes. One good example of this is the mass-production mastered by American automobile companies could not be transformed swiftly into lean production practiced by Japanese firms such as Toyota, leading to erosion of market share and competitive advantage for giants such as General Motors and Ford. â€Å"†¦companies experience that that their core competences can be their core rigidities, locking them out of new opportunities† (Leonard-Barton, 1995). The perspective is further refined by Miller, Eisenstat and Foote (2002) as they propose the terms â€Å"asymmetries† and â€Å"capability configurations.† According to them, a firm’s asymmetries are it’s â€Å"skills, knowledge, processes relationships, proper ties, or outputs an organisation possesses or produces that its motivated competitors are unlikely to acquire or copy in a cost or time-effective way† (Miller et al 2002). However these can be of disadvantage to a firm unless â€Å"carefully fostered and directed†¦.by leveraging them via an appropriate market focus, companies may be able to aspire realistically to attain competitive advantage† (Miller et al 2002). This is the essence of â€Å"capability configuration† which is a system of reinforcing elements incorporating core capabilities and the organisational design infrastructures†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Miller et al 2002). They argue that the development process of inside-out strategy is emergent and iterative in nature and is characterised by trial and error. Three imperatives suggested by them for deriving sustainable competitive advantage out of an capabilities model are that firms need to: (1) â€Å"discover asymmetries and their potential†; (2) â€Å"create capability configurations – by design†; and (3) â€Å"pursue market opportunities that build on and leverage capabilities† (Miller et al 2002). Conclusion Both perspectives have their supporters. It is for a firm to decide the perspective that it wants to take for building its competitive strategy. It is suggested that the inside-out perspective has more depth. The argument is that although market-orientation and ability to capitalise on external opportunities are critical factors in a firm’s success, both (1) market-sensing and (2) customer-linking are distinctive capabilities that get cultivated within a firm over a period of time (Day, 1994). At the same time, Barney (1991) argues that resources become the foundation of competitive advantage only once they meet four conditions. They should be â€Å"(1) valuable, (2) rare, (3) difficult to imitate, and (4) difficult to substitute† (Barney, 1991). Appendix I: Outside-in versus inside-out perspective Source: Wit and Meyer, 2004, p.255 Appendix II References: Barney, J.B. (1991); Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage; Journal of Management, Vol. 17, No. 1, 1991, pp.99-120 Cummings, S. (1993); Brief Case: The First Strategists; Long Range Planning, Vol. 26, No. 3, June pp. 133 – 135 Day, George S. (1994); The Capabilities of Market-Driven Organisations; Journal of Marketing, October 1994, Vol. 58, No. 4, pp. 37-52 Leonard-Barton, D. (1995); Wellsprings of Knowledge; Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA Miller, Danny; Eisenstat, Russel and Foote, Nathaniel (2002); Strategy from the inside out: building capability-creating organisations; California Management Review, Vol. 33, No. 3 Porter, M.E. (1980); Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors; New York: The Free Press Porter, M.E. (1985); Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance; New York: The Free Press Porter, M.E. (1996); What is Strategy’; Harvard Business Review, Vol. 74, No. 6, November-December, pp. 61-78 Porter, M.E. (2001); Internet and Strategy’; Harvard Business Review, March; accessed from Harvard Business Publishing online http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/index.jsp Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1990); The Core Competence of the Corporation; Harvard Business Review, Vol. 68, No. 3, May-June, pp. 79-91 Teece, D.J., Pisano, G. and Shuen, A. (1997); Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management; Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 18, No. 7, August, pp. 509-533 Wit, Bob De and Meyer, Ron (2008); Strategy: Process, Content, Context – An International Perspective; Thomson, 4th Edition Brief 211514Page 1 of 8

Life Happens :: Essays Papers

Life Happens For just about every kid you really enjoy high school and really don’t think about what you are going to do after you graduate other than the fact that you know you are going to continue or to college of some kind. Well then there are the others who are not thinking about where they are going to go to college, but what job they are going to find so that they can support your child that they just found out that their girlfriend is having. You talk about an eye opener for those kids. Yes they may be eighteen years old and getting ready to move out on their own, but they are still kids getting ready to raise a kid. This is where it gets scary. It is the half way through your junior year and you have been having a great time. This is when the first slap in the face comes. You are talking to your girlfriend and she tells you that she is late. The first thing that runs through your mind is, â€Å"Late for what?† No sooner does that go through your brain and it hits you what she is late for, and that is when your heart hits the floor and like every other guy in the same situation you open your mouth, â€Å"Are you sure?† Like a girl not knowing when she is late for her period is kind of like a guy not knowing if he had an orgasm. After some guys have a few more beers and freak out for a few minutes, or hours, they think that they can not do this and that the girl should get an abortion. Sometimes the girl is right on board with this, and the baby is aborted and the teens lives go on like nothing ever happened. At least until the girl gets a conscious and starts thinking about what she has done and what could hav e been. This will bother the girl at least sometimes. It might bother the guy but not usually. Then there are other guys who after their freak out period they decide to take responsibility for their actions and tell the girl we will make it through this, we can do this. This is where the real story begins. Not only do we have two kids getting ready to leave the nest for the first time and learn how to spread their wings and fly, but they already have their own baby to teach how to do this also.

Essays --

Identity is defined as one’s personal characteristics or attributes and their membership of a social category. In today’s society it is important to note how social media impacts upon our individual identities. To begin with, we technically are not born with identity; it is a socially constructed attribute. Identity is a transient thing, which changes over time as we grow and mature. The self-concept, which is our own personal understanding of who we are, combines with self awareness to cultivate a cognitive representation of the self, called identity (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2010, p.118). In other words, who we are is controlled by internal and external factors that combine to make us who we become. Bring new media outlets into the equation, such as the internet, and media is now regarded as an "extension of everyday life and a tool of cultural change" (Singh, 2010). Thus, identity formation, as a social concept, is being transformed in new and even more global ways. When we talk about social media and identity, what comes to mind? We all know they have a pretty complicated relationship, but how exactly is social media related to identity? In exploring the connections between social media and identity, we have realised there has been a gradual but obvious transition within the social media- identity relation. Within this essay I am going to take a look at how the linkage between social media and identity has evolved over the course of my studies. Whether consciously aware of what is being displayed or not, media plays a substantial role in influencing consumption patterns and lifestyle. Researchers noted television's power to influence even people who are illiterate. Smith-Speck and Roy (2008) explained that even individua... ... by creating alternative personas –her different facebook profiles serving as a manifestation of the life she wished she could have had; media was a way out. The television series of this show â€Å"Catfish† shows us that there are many individuals out there like Angela, who create completely fabricated identities, for many different reasons. Whether it is malicious or a release for the person; It is an escape from reality in most cases. This alerts us to the dangers of social media, and makes us wary of meeting new people online, as all may not be what it seems. In a way, this creates a suspicious environment in the world of social media. If we don’t know the individuals we befriend on social media sites personally, how are we to know if they are real people or fictional characters produced out of the mind of someone else. In this way, a sense of identity is destroyed. Essays -- Identity is defined as one’s personal characteristics or attributes and their membership of a social category. In today’s society it is important to note how social media impacts upon our individual identities. To begin with, we technically are not born with identity; it is a socially constructed attribute. Identity is a transient thing, which changes over time as we grow and mature. The self-concept, which is our own personal understanding of who we are, combines with self awareness to cultivate a cognitive representation of the self, called identity (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2010, p.118). In other words, who we are is controlled by internal and external factors that combine to make us who we become. Bring new media outlets into the equation, such as the internet, and media is now regarded as an "extension of everyday life and a tool of cultural change" (Singh, 2010). Thus, identity formation, as a social concept, is being transformed in new and even more global ways. When we talk about social media and identity, what comes to mind? We all know they have a pretty complicated relationship, but how exactly is social media related to identity? In exploring the connections between social media and identity, we have realised there has been a gradual but obvious transition within the social media- identity relation. Within this essay I am going to take a look at how the linkage between social media and identity has evolved over the course of my studies. Whether consciously aware of what is being displayed or not, media plays a substantial role in influencing consumption patterns and lifestyle. Researchers noted television's power to influence even people who are illiterate. Smith-Speck and Roy (2008) explained that even individua... ... by creating alternative personas –her different facebook profiles serving as a manifestation of the life she wished she could have had; media was a way out. The television series of this show â€Å"Catfish† shows us that there are many individuals out there like Angela, who create completely fabricated identities, for many different reasons. Whether it is malicious or a release for the person; It is an escape from reality in most cases. This alerts us to the dangers of social media, and makes us wary of meeting new people online, as all may not be what it seems. In a way, this creates a suspicious environment in the world of social media. If we don’t know the individuals we befriend on social media sites personally, how are we to know if they are real people or fictional characters produced out of the mind of someone else. In this way, a sense of identity is destroyed.

Analysis of Tchaikovskys Swan Lake Essay -- Music Ballet

Tchaikovsky is one of the most popular of all composers. The reasons are several and understandable. His music is extremely tuneful, opulently and colourfully scored, and filled with emotional passion. Undoubtedly the emotional temperature of the music reflected the composer's nature. He was afflicted by both repressed homosexuality and by the tendency to extreme fluctuations between ecstasy and depression. Tchaikovsky was neurotic and deeply sensitive, and his life was often painful, but through the agony shone a genius that created some of the most beautiful of all romantic melodies. With his rich gifts for melody and special flair for writing memorable dance tunes, with his ready response to the atmosphere of a theatrical situation and his masterly orchestration, Tchaikovsky was ideally equipped as a ballet composer. His delightful fairy-tale ballets, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker are performed more than any other ballets. Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky's first ballet, was commissioned by the Imperial Theatres in Moscow in 1875. He used some music from a little domestic ballet of the same title, composed for his sister Alexandra's children in 1871. Swan Lake tells the story of Prince Siegfied, who sees the Odette, the Queen of Swans, become a beautiful maiden whilst he is out hunting wild swans. She explains that she is under the spell of the wicked magician, Von Rothbart, and is condemned to live as a swan by day, and a human by night. Only when a man swears to love her and no other, forever, the spell will be broken. Siegfried declares his love, but at a ball the following evening, he is tricked into asking Odile, the magician's daughter, to marry him. Von Rothbart makes her look like Odette, but dressed in... ...chestral introduction with an imperfect cadence. A strong rhythmic  ¾ allegro passage, with sequences and descending scales is played by the orchestra, with timpani and cymbals. The music modulates, and a short, quiet woodwind passage is then alternated with an orchestral passage with dotted rhythms, creating a `terraced dynamics' effect. Part B begins with a major clarinet melody accompanied by pizzicato strings. A minor flute sequence follows, and is followed by a repetition of the oboe melody. A string sequence is then played, imitated by the oboe. There is a crescendo, then the rhythmic orchestral melody returns, alternated with a short flute passage. There are suspensions, descending scales and a crescendo, followed by a strong rhythmic passage with the timpani playing on the beat. Imperfect cadences are played, before the piece finishes with a perfect cadence.

Objectives of Wpm

Objectives: According to Gosep, workers’ participation may be viewed as: o An instrument for increasing the efficiency of enterprises and establishing harmonious relations; o A device for developing social education for promoting solidarity among workers and for tapping human talents; o A means for achieving industrial peace and harmony which leads to higher productivity and increased production; o A humanitarian act, elevating the status of a worker in the society; o An ideological way of developing self-management and promoting industrial democracy. Other objectives of WPM can be cited as: To improve the quality of working life (QWL) by allowing the workers greater influence and involvement in work and satisfaction obtained from work; and o To secure the mutual co-operation of employees and employers in achieving industrial peace; greater efficiency and productivity in the interest of the enterprise, the workers, the consumers and the nation. The main implications of workers ’ participation in management as summarized by ILO: o Workers have ideas which can be useful; o Workers may work more intelligently if they are informed about the reasons for and the intention of decisions that are taken in a participative atmosphere.Introduction: Three groups of managerial decisions affect the workers of any industrial establishment and hence the workers must have a say in it. o Economic decisions – methods of manufacturing, automation, shutdown, lay-offs, mergers. o Personnel decisions – recruitment and selection, promotions, demotions, transfers, grievance settlement, work distribution. o Social decisions – hours of work, welfare measures, questions affecting work rules and conduct of individual worker’s safety, health, sanitation and noise control.Participation basically means sharing the decision-making power with the lower ranks of the organization in an appropriate manner. Definitions: The concept of WPM is a broad and compl ex one. Depending on the socio-political environment and cultural conditions, the scope and contents of participation change. International Institute of Labour Studies: WPM is the participation resulting from the practices which increase the scope for employees’ share of influence in decision-making at different tiers of organizational hierarch with concomitant assumption of responsibility.ILO: Workers’ participation, may broadly be taken to cover all terms of association of workers and their representatives with the decision-making process, ranging from exchange of information, consultations, decisions and negotiations, to more institutionalized forms such as the presence of workers’ member on management or supervisory boards or even management by workers themselves as practiced in Yugoslavia. Objectives:According to Gosep, workers’ participation may be viewed as: o An instrument for increasing the efficiency of enterprises and establishing harmonious re lations; o A device for developing social education for promoting solidarity among workers and for tapping human talents; o A means for achieving industrial peace and harmony which leads to higher productivity and increased production; o A humanitarian act, elevating the status of a worker in the society; o An ideological way of developing self-management and promoting industrial democracy. Other objectives of WPM can be cited as: To improve the quality of working life (QWL) by allowing the workers greater influence and involvement in work and satisfaction obtained from work; and o To secure the mutual co-operation of employees and employers in achieving industrial peace; greater efficiency and productivity in the interest of the enterprise, the workers, the consumers and the nation. The main implications of workers’ participation in management as summarized by ILO: o Workers have ideas which can be useful; o Workers may work more intelligently if they are informed about the reasons for and the intention of decisions that are taken in a participative atmosphere.Importance: Unique motivational power and a great psychological value. Peace and harmony between workers and management. Workers get to see how their actions would contribute to the overall growth of the company. They tend to view the decisions as `their own’ and are more enthusiastic in their implementation. Participation makes them more responsible. o They become more willing to take initiative and come out with cost-saving suggestions and growth-oriented ideas. Scope and ways of participation: One view is that workers or the trade unions should, as equal partners, sit with the management and make joint managerial decisions.The other view is that workers should only be given an opportunity, through their representatives, to influence managerial decisions at various levels. In practice, the participation of workers can take place by one or all the methods listed below: o Board level parti cipation o Ownership participation o Complete control o Staff or work councils o Joint councils and committees o Collective Bargaining o Job enlargement and enrichment o Suggestion schemes o Quality circles o Empowered teams o TQM o Financial participation Participation at the Board level: This would be the highest form of industrial democracy.The workers’ representative on the Board can play a useful role in safeguarding the interests of workers. He or she can serve as a guide and a control element. o He or she can prevail upon top management not to take measures that would be unpopular with the employees. o He or she can guide the Board members on matters of investment in employee benefit schemes like housing, and so forth. The Government of India took the initiative and appointed workers’ representatives on the Board of Hindustan Antibiotics (Pune), HMT (Bangalore), and even nationalized banks.The Tatas, DCM, and a few others have adopted this practice. Problems ass ociated with this method: o Focus of workers’ representatives is different from the focus of the remaining members of the Board. o Communication and subsequently relations between the workers’ representative and the workers suffers after the former assumes directorship. He or she tends to become alienated from the workers. o As a result, he or she may be less effective with the other members of the Board in dealing with employee matters. Because of the differences in the cultural and educational backgrounds, and differences in behaviour and manners, such an employees’ representative may feel inferior to the other members, and he or she may feel suffocated. Hence, his or her role as a director may not be satisfying for either the workers or the management. o Such representatives of workers’ on the Board, places them in a minority. And the decisions of the Board are arrived at on the basis of the majority vote. Participation through ownership: This involves making the workers’ shareholders of the company by inducing them to buy equity shares. In many cases, advances and financial assistance in the form of easy repayment options are extended to enable employees to buy equity shares. Examples of this method are available in the manufacturing as well as the service sector. Advantage: o Makes the workers committed to the job and to the organization. Drawback: o Effect on participation is limited because ownership and management are two different things. Participation through complete control: Workers acquire complete control of the management through elected boards. The system of self-management in Yugoslavia is based on this concept.Self-management gives complete control to workers to manage directly all aspects of industries through their representatives. Advantages: o Ensures identification of the workers with their organization. o Industrial disputes disappear when workers develop loyalty to the organization. o Trade unions wel come this type of participation. Conclusion: Complete control by workers is not an answer to the problem of participation because the workers do not evince interest in management decisions. Participation through Staff and Works Councils: Staff councils or works councils are bodies on which the representation is entirely of the employees.There may be one council for the entire organization or a hierarchy of councils. The employees of the respective sections elect the members of the councils. Such councils play a varied role. o Their role ranges from seeking information on the management’s intentions to a full share in decision-making. Such councils have not enjoyed too much of success because trade union leaders fear the erosion of their power and prestige if such workers’ bodies were to prevail. Participation through Joint Councils and Committees: Joint councils are bodies comprising representatives of employers and employees. This method sees a very loose form of part icipation, as these councils are mostly consultative bodies. Work committees are a legal requirement in industrial establishments employing 100 or more workers. o Such committees discuss a wide range of topics connected to labour welfare. o Examples of such committees are welfare committee, safety committee, etc. o Such committees have not proven to be too effective in promoting industrial democracy, increasing productivity and reducing labour unrest. Participation through Collective Bargaining: Through the process of CB, management and workers may reach collective greement regarding rules for the formulation and termination of the contract of employment, as well as conditions of service in an establishment. Even though these agreements are not legally binding, they do have some force. For CB to work, the workers’ and the employers’ representatives need to bargain in the right spirit. But in practice, while bargaining, each party tries to take advantage of the other. T his process of CB cannot be called WPM in its strongest sense as in reality; CB is based on the crude concept of exercising power for the benefit of one party. WPM, on the other hand, brings both the parties together and develops appropriate mutual understanding and brings about a mature responsible relationship. Participation through Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment: Excessive job specialization that is seen as a by-product of mass production in industries, leads to boredom and associated problems in employees. Two methods of job designing – job enlargement and job enrichment– are seen as methods of addressing the problems. o Job enlargement means expanding the job content – adding task elements horizontally. Job enrichment means adding `motivators’ to the job to make it more rewarding. This is WPM in that it offers freedom and scope to the workers to use their judgment. But this form of participation is very basic as it provides only limited freedom t o a worker concerning the method of performing his/her job. The worker has no say in other vital issues of concern to him – issues such as job and income security, welfare schemes and other policy decisions. Participation through Suggestion Schemes: Employees’ views are invited and reward is given for the best suggestion.With this scheme, the employees’ interest in the problems of the organization is aroused and maintained. Progressive managements increasingly use the suggestion schemes. Suggestions can come from various levels. The ideas could range from changes in inspection procedures to design changes, process simplification, paper-work reduction and the like. o Out of various suggestions, those accepted could provide marginal to substantial benefits to the company. The rewards given to the employees are in line with the benefits derived from the suggestions. Participation through Quality Circles:Concept originated in Japan in the early 1960s and has now spr ead all over the world. A QC consists of seven to ten people from the same work area who meet regularly to define, analyze, and solve quality and related problems in their area. Training in problem-solving techniques is provided to the members. QCs are said to provide quick, concrete, and impressive results when correctly implemented. Advantages: o Employees become involved in decision-making, acquire communication and analytical skills and improve efficiency of the work place. o Organization gets to enjoy higher savings-to-cost ratios. Chances of QC members to get promotions are enhanced. The Indian Scenario: o Tried by BHEL, Mahindra and Mahindra, Godrej and Boyce among others. o Experienced mixed results: M&M (jeep division) with 76 QCs has experienced favourable results. †¢ Technical problems got solved. †¢ Workers got to get out of their daily routine and do something challenging. Trade unions look at it as: †¢ A way of overburdening workers, and †¢ An attem pt to undermine their role. These circles require a lot of time and commitment on the part of members for regular meetings, analysis, brainstorming, etc.Most QCs have a definite life cycle – one to three years. o Few circles survive beyond this limit either because they loose steam or they face simple problems. QCs can be an excellent bridge between participative and non-participative approaches. For QCs to succeed in the long run, the management needs to show its commitment by implementing some of the suggestions of the groups and providing feedback on the disposition of all suggestions. Empowered Teams: Empowerment occurs when authority and responsibility are passed on to the employees who then experience a sense of ownership and control over their obs. Employees may feel more responsible, may take initiative in their work, may get more work done, and may enjoy the work more. For empowerment to occur, the following approach needs to be followed as compared to the traditiona l approach: Element Traditional Org. Empowered Teams Organizational structure Layered, individual Flat, team Job design Narrow, single task Whole process, multiple tasks Management role Direct, control Coach, facilitate Leadership Top-down Shared with the team Information flow Controlled, limited Open, sharedRewards Individual, seniority Team-based, skill-based Job process Managers plan, control, improve Teams plan, control, improve Features of empowered or self-directed teams: o Empowered to share various management and leadership functions. o Plan, control and improve their work. o Often create their schedules and review their performance as a group. o May prepare their own budgets and co-ordinate their work with other departments. o Usually order materials, keep inventories and deal with suppliers. o Frequently responsible for acquiring any new training they might need. May hire their own replacement to assume responsibility for the quality of their products or services. Titan, R eliance, ABB, GE Plastics (India), Wipro Corporation and Wipro InfoTech are empowering employees – both frontline as well as production staff, and are enjoying positive results. Total Quality Management: TQM refers to the deep commitment, almost obsession, of an organization to quality. Every step in company’s processes is subjected to intense and regular scrutiny for ways to improve it. Some traditional beliefs are discarded. o High quality costs more. Quality can be improved by inspection. o Defects cannot be completely eliminated. o Quality in the job of the QC personnel. New principles of TQM are: o Meet the customer’s requirement on time, the first time, and 100% of the time. o Strive to do error-free work. o Manage by prevention, not correction. o Measure the cost of quality. TQM is called participative because it is a formal programme involving every employee in the organization; making each one responsible for improving quality everyday. Financial Partic ipation: This method involves less consultations or even joint decisions.Performance of the organization is linked to the performance of the employee. The logic behind this is that if an employee has a financial stake in the organization, he/she is likely to be more positively motivated and involved. Some schemes of financial participation: o Profit-linked pay o Profit sharing and Employees’ Stock Option schemes. o Pension-fund participation. Pre-requisites for successful participation: Management and operatives/employees should not work at cross-purposes i. e. they must have clearly defined and complementary objectives.Free flow of communication and information. Participation of outside trade union leaders to be avoided. Strong and effective trade unionism. Workers’ education and training. Trade unions and government needs to work in this area. Trust between both the parties. Workers should be associated at all levels of decision-making. Employees cannot spend all the ir time in participation to the exclusion of all other work. Limitations of participation: Technology and organizations today are so complex that specialized work-roles are required. o This means employees will not be able to articipate effectively in matters beyond their particular environment. Everybody need not want participation. The role of trade unions in promoting participative management has been far from satisfactory. Employers are unwilling to share power with the workers’ representatives. Managers consider participative management a fraud. Evolution of participative management in India: The beginning towards WPM was made with the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which made Works Committees mandatory in industrial establishments employing 100 or more workers.The Industrial Policy Resolution adopted by the government in 1956 stated that there should be some joint consultation to ensure industrial peace, and improve employer-employee relations. The functions of both the se joint bodies were to be consultative and were not binding on the management. The response to these schemes was encouraging to begin with, but gradually waned. o A study team was appointed in 1962 to report on the working of joint councils and committees. The team identified some reasons for their failure.No concrete steps were taken to remove the difficulties, or change the pattern of participative management. During the emergency of 1975-77, the interest in these schemes was revived by the then Prime Minister by including Workers’ Participation in industry in the government’s 20-point programme. o The government started persuading large enterprises to set up joint consultative committees and councils at different levels. The Janata Government who came to power in 1977 carried on this initiative. In was again emphasized by the Congress government who came back n 1979.This continued in a â€Å"non-statutory vein† till the late 1980s, and the response from the employers and employees stayed luke-warm. o Then, the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution was made. Now, Article 43-A reads: The State shall take steps, by suitable legislation, or in any other way, to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings, establishments or other organizations engaged in any industry. Thus, participative management is a constitutional commitment in India. o And then, on May 30,1990; the government introduced the Participation of Workers in Management Bill in the Rajya Sabha.The bill requires every industrial enterprise to constitute one or more `Shop-Floor Councils’ at the shop floor level, and`Establishment Council’ at the establishment level. These councils will have equal representation of employers and employees. Shop-Floor councils enjoy powers over a wide range of functions from production, wastage control to safety hazards. The Establishment Council enjoys similar powers. The bill provides for the constitution of a Board of Management of every corporate body owning an industrial establishment.The bill also provides for penalties on individuals who contravene any provision of the bill. In spite of all these efforts, only the government and the academicians have been interested in participative management. But participative management is staging a comeback. o The compulsions of emerging competitive environment have made employee involvement more relevant than ever before. o Managers and the managed are forced to forget their known stands, break barriers, and work in unison. Managers and workers are partners in the progress of business.

Issue Report on Captive Breeding and Reintroduction

Wildwood Trust is a project situated on the edge of the Forest of Blean, in Kent. Wildwood's aim is to use the facilities in the woodland and animal collection to ‘support practical conservation projects in the wild.' There are over three hundred animals, many of which are endangered, taking part in conservation projects, and living in semi natural enclosures. The woodland is managed by coppice rotation, a process that takes place every 20 years where trees such as silver birch and sweet chestnut are cut to ground level and then shoots allowed to regrow. This is an essential habitat for the hazel dormouse. The wood is a centre for captive breeding and reintroduction for native endangered species such as hazel dormice and this example will be used in this report to explain these issues. The Hazel Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) The Hazel Dormouse is native to the countryside of Britain, predominantly southern England (see figure 2), living in woodland areas and environments rich in coppice. The mice are an arboreal species; spending the majority of their life in trees or bushes and only living on ground level during winter hibernation. The mice are considered a ‘flagship species' chosen to represent an environmental cause and raise support subsequently benefitting other species contained in the ecosystem. The populations of dormice were shown to have disappeared from seven counties in England by The UK Mammal Society Dormouse Survey in 1984. The decline has been caused by human destruction of their woodland habitat through development, climate change and pressure from other species. Grey squirrels were introduced into England and ate the nuts that the dormice fed on whilst they hibernated. Climatic change caused warmer winters resulting in the early awakening of the dormice from hibernation, before the ripening of their food, and wetter summers stopped the dormice from foraging. Dormice are listed on The World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and are protected by law, under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. This act prevents the killing, injuring, disturbing or trapping of the dormouse. It also makes it illegal to possess or control the animal, damage its shelter and sell or buy the dormice without a licence. Captive breeding Captive breeding is the reproduction of animals in confinement under controlled conditions to be released into the wild. This is important for conservation of threatened species and is an example of ex situ (out of the natural habitat) conservation, but it raises implications. Captive breeding has taken place at Wildwood for dormice as part of the national dormouse captive breeding and reintroduction programme. The dormice are housed in an enclosure made of a wooden frame and mesh covering. Unlike other rodents theirs is a short breeding season having 1-2 small litters of 4-7 offspring. The young stay with the mother for 6-8 weeks, making it unlikely for more than one litter a year. In each enclosure the nest boxes are kept 1.5m off the ground with protection from water and predators, water and food are hung on the side of the cage and the floor is covered with leaves and soil. After hibernation the enclosure is filled with branches of vegetation to provide 3D space for the animals to use. This provides the ideal conditions for breeding with no stressful food finding. One enclosure can hold up to three individuals either two females and one male or one breeding pair and their offspring, under one year of age, and will be kept in the same groupings over winter. Adult males must be placed separately as they are territorial and will fight. Where do the breeding mice come from? In November nest boxes are checked and, if permission is granted from Natural England, wild dormice weighing less than 15g can be taken. As these mice are underweight they have less chance of surviving winter hibernation and can be kept indoors during this period in heated nest boxes. Other dormice are orphaned or given into rescue centres and vets. The Common Dormouse Captive Breeders Group (CDCBG) chooses which individuals breed and how many are bred annually, which also helps to prevent inbreeding. The Paignton zoo studbook keeper gives each captive born dormouse a stud book number, and their breeder will allocate each mouse a local ID number. Genetics When animals reproduce genes are passed from parents to offspring. Genetic variation is the natural differences of individuals, across a population. A characteristic that will give dormice a disadvantage, for example short teeth, could prevent them from opening nuts, so if food was in short supply these mice would die and longer teethed mice would thrive. This would cause the gene for longer teeth to become more common, which is the basis of natural selection. Natural selection, was a theory of Charles Darwin, in which better adapted animals would have more chance of survival, so becoming more predominant. Wildwood would like to preserve biodiversity which is the huge variation found within and between species and ecosystems on Earth. Offspring that are created from the same sets of genes will have similar genes to each other. Inbreeding is the breeding of animals that share more genes than the average population, they are related in some way. If inbreeding takes place the genes of their young will come from a very selective gene pool, making particular genes more predominant within a species. Inbreeding can lead to deformities and mutations as well as problems with immune systems and an increase in genetic diseases. ‘Inbreeding tends to reduce the number of alleles in a population', from source 1. A studbook for dormice was created in 2006 to keep track of mice kept by members of the CDCBG. The studbook limits inbreeding and keeps breeding to first generation or wild caught animals. Breeders can use the studbook to selectively breed, mixing mice from different collections and different families. This will stop related mice from dominating the gene pool creating healthier mice and preserving genetic diversity. Future developments could include implantation of embryos and in vitro fertilisation (IVF) of the dormice. Selective breeding could be improved and gradually undesirable characteristics or weaknesses bred out. Cloning could be developed. Captive breeding raises many ethical, environmental, social and economic issues. Ethical issues. * There are various ethical issues that need consideration with regard to captive breeding. Animals have to be removed from their natural environment and put into captivity virtually locking them up and many people feel that there should not be any interference with nature in this way even to avoid extinction. It could be the case that genetic diversity has already declined to the point where it is irreversible. * There could be a case for protection to encourage breeding in the wild, by in situ methods of conservation, within the environment. However, captive breeding is used to retain species and improve numbers and is easier to manage. * Selective breeding increases genetic variation and produces healthier populations also preventing inbreeding. This reduces deformities and mutations but should humans interfere with natural reproduction? Inbreeding would sometimes naturally occur and if the population was kept large enough this would not often happen. Economical Visitors pay an entrance fee at Wildwood and this money goes towards the captive breeding scheme. However, they do not see the programme taking place as they would disturb the dormice and interfere with hibernation and reproduction. It could be that unless the programme continues indefinitely a lot of investment may be lost if the numbers continue to decline. Environment Using dormice from different collections to breed may spread diseases to other populations of dormice. Reintroduction Reintroduction is releasing captive born animals into a particular environment to which they were once native and where they will be free from human supervision. Normally these populations experienced decline due to human intervention and will only succeed if the cause of the decline has been overcome. The reintroduction is considered successful if the animal has fully integrated into the local population and survived with no further aid or interaction from humans. Reintroduction projects must follow guidelines set out by the IUCN and Wildwood has released dormice back into their natural habitats. They use a soft release program, gradually using less human intervention. Seven weeks before release the litters are health screened at the Zoological Society and released if they pass the tests. Reintroduction is limited to once a year as criteria for suitable sites are extensive and complicated. The population densities are less than 10 adults per hectare in their best environments. What does the health screening test for? The health screening takes place to check the animals do not have any disease that could be passed onto wild populations. Scientists test for: * pathogenic bacteria * Tapeworms (cestodes) * Roundworms (strongyles) * Tubercolosis * Parasites The condition of the dormice's coat, skin, face, genitals, feet and incisor teeth are checked and their weight should be between 18-24g for summer re-introduction. 8mm Pet-ID microchips are fitted in the dormice under anaesthetic for identification in the future. Where is a dormouse released? An ideal site for the dormice†¦ would†¦ would not†¦ be an old wood with different layers of vegetation, already have a dormouse community (males may kill new dormice) have lots of undergrowth, have less than 100 nest boxes in the woodland. have deciduous trees, Place males less than 100m apart, as they are territorial. have coppicing taking place regularly, Have related dormice close by to stop inbreeding have fruiting hazel, Be at least 20 hectares, have a site management plan. Figure 4: Table showing an ideal site for dormouse reintroduction. How Wildwood release their dormice 1. Natural England is informed. 2. Pre-release cages made of wire are attached to a group of hazel trees. 3. 2-3 nest boxes placed in each cage, with a male and two females so there is more of a chance of the animals staying together. 4.Dormice then live in these whilst they acclimatise to the surroundings. 5. For 2-3 weeks humans supply fresh food everyday, during the day so the dormice are not disturbed. Also leafy branches are placed above pens to provide shade and protection from predators. 6. One week to 10 days into the three week period, a hole, less than 3cm2 is made in the top corner of the cage. The mice can then explore the area and there cage can not be invaded by birds or squirrels. 7. The frequency of feeding is reduced gradually until mid-September, when the animals should have found their own food supplies. 8. The nest boxes are checked until October, where weights and number of offspring are recorded. 9. Dormice are left to hibernate. 10. Monitoring begins in May. Figure 5: Stages of reintroduction What is monitored and when does it take place? A long term monitoring plan should be made before any reintroduction, so that the species will successfully survive in a wild environment. After release nest boxes are checked by trained and licensed volunteers, who record numbers, sex, weight, breeding condition and offspring. The volunteers monitor the nest once a month from April to October, between the 15th and 25th of each month. Data should be collected before midday so torpid dormice can be seen, and a National Dormouse Monitoring Programme Record From must be completed. Conditions of release * Winter cleaning of empty boxes. * Dormice are released in June to prepare for hibernation. Ethical There is an ethical duty for reintroduction because humans destroyed the dormice's natural habitat and caused the population decline so they should restore the population. However, should animals be returned to the wild when there are still outstanding issues that led to the original decline? Microchips are put into the necks of the released dormice which are approximately a tenth of their body length. Anaesthetic is risky for small animals and interferes with their natural state. The chips are considered important for monitoring the dormice to help with the programme. They could be eaten by a predator in the food chain and the microchip would be affecting natural processes. If the reintroduction is not successful and the mice die this could be due to human error and animals may have suffered as a result of this. Economical The scheme is expensive as the release is labour intensive, with staff needed to survey the area before and after release. This diverts resources from much more cost-effective ecosystem and habitat conservation measures. The health screening is expensive and microchips costs à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½8 per mouse on top of anaesthetic and vetinary bills. Environmental The nest boxes and cages used can intrude on the natural woodland, with the possibility of dormice causing a shortage of food for the other animals in the ecosystem. Social Some behaviour in genetically inherited but some is learnt from adults and experience. Captive bred animals do not gain this knowledge and are at a disadvantage when reintroduced. The mice might lose their ability to create their own nests. The reintroduced dormice could cause a problem to the local residents.