The Effect of Media Violence On Youths Research Proposal

The Effect of Media Violence On Youths - Research Proposal Example In the year 1998, one of the faculty members of Simon Fraser University carried out a study on the teens that were interested in watching violent media. (Bryant, pp. 23-25) The results of that study showed that such media made twenty-five percent of teens addicted to it. In addition, all those teens showed great changes in their behavior, which was not in a positive manner. Furthermore, a number of studies have shown that worse academic results are shown by the youth that watch violent media according to the National Institute on Media and Family. (Gentile, pp. 39-41) It is indicated by the researches that violent media is preferred by more than seventy-five percent of teens in the United States that are interested in watching television and other available mediums. One of the schools in Texas carried out a study of adolescents that watch violent media, and it found out that teachers complained of frequent arguments from such students. In some cases, these adolescents were even involved in physical fights with their teachers and classmates that is a major concern of the schools, as well as, the parents. In specific, studies have shown that gender does not play a major role in the behavioral changes after watching violent media, which is another major topic related to the effects of violent media on youth that is not discussed in this paper. In another study, it was observed that eighty percent of adolescent girls that were involved in watching violent media argued with their teachers and classmates, as compared with the eighty-three percent of boys in the same category. Thus, it shows that gender does not play any role in such case. (Krug, pp. 45-46) The advent of violent media has prompted the researchers to go into the details of this medium of entertainment. In popular media, the topic of violence is quite controversial, as different people have provided different interpretations regarding

See attachment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

See attachment - Research Paper Example Taylor’s management theory espouses that if the amount of time and effort each worker expends to produce a unit of output can be reduced by increasing specialization and division of labor, the production processes will become more efficient (Taylor 1911). This theory assumed that employees are more motivated with more pay and confined communication to solely addressing the economic needs of a business organisation’s employees. Administrative management seeks to create an organizational structure that leads to high efficiency and effectiveness. Organizational structure is the system of task and authority relationships that control how employees use resources to achieve the organization’s goals. Among those theorists of administrative management were Max Weber (1864 -1920) and his theory of bureaucracy that espouses a formal system of organization and administration designed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. Another was Henry Fayol who espoused that management and its function can be defined and communicated and therefore can be taught. This management theory introduced the structure in an organization and differed from Taylor’s Scientific Management in a way that it views the organization as a structure rather than an impersonal machine.   Henry Fayol   played a main role in the turn-of-the-century Classical School of management theory.  Fayol   believed that techniques of effective management could be defined and taught and that managerial organization hold as much importance as management as workers organization. He was the first to identify functions of management Behavioral theory of management espoused a theme that focused on how managers should personally behave in order to motivate employees and encourage them to perform at high levels and be committed to the achievement of organizational goals. Unlike the scientific management approach which only focused on the economic

How did the economic development of the Gilded age affect American Essay

How did the economic development of the Gilded age affect American Freedom - Essay Example It entailed a notion that such approach to spontaneous progress determines allocation of power and social security. In this regard, reformists of the period were led to conceive that potential peril exists with the significant concern that as a response to it, people of the lower class may act in tumultuous aggression in exercising their democratic right over to suppress individual economic growth thinking that liberty of acquisition of rights to property (Foner), particularly with those who could afford, would only emphasize inequality among social divisions and thus create on appropriating amount of common interests. Progression of economic development enabled Americans to adapt to the concept and application of ‘Social Darwinism’ in their everyday living since the competition to acquire relative or higher advantage in upgrading social and economic status in American society had apparently become essential. With the rapidly growing rate of capital formation, GDP, and wages (Gilded), this condition concretized the effect of social freedom and transformation across vast critical regions of societies in U.S. in which most citizens began expressing individual or collective views by putting up labor unions that served to oppose severely improper conditions, shift schedules, loads, and unjust wages at work. Democracy was put in wide and intense practice of articulating protest with the desire to take part in the evolving process of industrial growth. In this endeavor, they sought to be assured as well of experiencing freedom from any form of injustice or oppression of employers who were p redictably consumed by the principle of capitalism or profit-orientation for use in business that required irrational gravity of labor at the expense of either skilled or unskilled workers (Gilded). Since Social Darwinism in human society advocates natural selection without interference from the government, the ensuing crisis with inequality due to the fast rate

Irony in the cask of amontillado by edgar allan poe Essay

Irony in the cask of amontillado by edgar allan poe - Essay Example There are several instances where the author uses obvious irony in the story. For instance, fatherryan.org notes that Montresor uses the word â€Å"friend† to refer to Fortunato. Ironically, he uses this term to refer to a man that he hates so much that he wishes could be dead. Another use of irony is obviously evident in the motto on Montresor’s coat of arms. Ironically the motto is an explicit warning to Fortunato, but Fortunato does not fully comprehend this fact. Other instances where the author uses irony include when Montresor toasts to Fortunato’s long life. Additionally, the masonry dialogue is obvious use of irony (fatherryan.org para.4). The author also uses subtle irony on several instances. For instance, towards the end of the story, Montresor felt his heart had grown sick. However this was not due to the remorse he felt from the cruelty of his actions, but due to the extreme dampness of the catacombs, which had become too much for him. Subtle irony is also evident almost throughout the story’s dialogue. The story’s conclusion is evidently ironic in the sense that irony fails to be possible any longer when Fortunato is finally aware of everything that is going on (fatherryan.org para.5). The author uses verbal and dramatic irony in numerous instances in the story to develop suspense, add some sense of macabre humor, and foreshadow the story’s ending. This is evident in the title, Fortunato’s name, Fortunato’s costume, and the author’s reference to mansions. The story’s title, cask, means a wine barrel. It is derived from a similar root word that forms casket, which means coffin. Therefore, the story’s title figuratively represents his casket. Another example of irony in the story is in Fortunato’s name. The name literary translates to luck or good fortune in Italian. Ironically, Fortunato is always unfortunate and headed to his death. Similarly, Fortunato’s costume is ironic because he dresses like a court jester,

Iron production in sudan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Iron production in sudan - Essay Example Providing a great opportunity for investors. According to a recent KPMG report, the continuing global urbanization is set to drive the demand of steel, effectively doubling it by 2050 and at the current level of demand the iron ore reserves in Brazil’s Minas Gerias and Australia’s Pilbara will generally be exhausted by then. It is predicted that as the world gradually runs out of hematite deposits, there will spring the need for new sources of iron. One of countries that is seen to offer an amazing opportunity for the iron ore industry. Sudan’s full iron ore production potential has never been fully exploited nor has it been completely analyzed but its location next to Congo and the iron ore reserves that are already being mined have shown promising results. By investing in Sudan’s iron ore industry, investors from the GCC stand to reap immense benefits from the virgin iron ore industry in the country Resources In a study conducted by Waldelnour, et al. (2 010), both the Western and Eastern parts of Khartoum have relatively rich iron ore deposits. The type of iron ore deposits that is seen to be available in these areas is generally found in the Mesozoic and especially so in the Upper Cretaceous. This iron ore is generally characterized by having a relatively high tonnage, in addition to its low-grade quality. However it is quite possible that if the country’s investment policy were to be reviewed so as to essentially favor investment in the iron and steel industry, this could have the potential resultant effect of entirely revolutionizing the steel industry in the country especially so in light of the fact that these deposits tend to cover vast expanses of land (Waldelnour, et al., 2010, pg. 2). Sudan’s rich mineral resources: Sudan’s rich mineral that could possibly be exploited by investors includes: According to Mann & Mendenhall, (1964), the Geological Department in Sudan published the Fodikwan Iron Deposits. Sudan’s Fodikwan group of deposits are found to be mainly located at approximately 21?-45’ N. latitude and between 36 ? -45’ E. Longitude this region is found to be in the areas around the north Red Sea Hills areas of the country, at an approximate distance of about nine miles inland from its Port Sudan-Halaiba Road. This is an estimated distance of about 167 miles from the country’s Port Sudan. The nearest harbor that can service any transportation of these iron ore resources is found to be at Marob, which is at a distance of approximately 12 miles from these deposits. It would be necessary for the country to develop a Jetty to support the loading of ships with the processed iron, steel or iron ore that has been mined from this region. The report also indicated that the iron deposits in the country can essentially be divided into the two categories of solid ore which is seen to constitute about 147,000 metric tons of relatively accessible ore containing about 60%Fe, while the mixed ore deposits were estimated to stand at 95,000 tons with an

Has Our Political System Succeeded Essay Example for Free

Has Our Political System Succeeded Essay The political system began with the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1776. After that document the Articles of Confederation came out, which were adopted in 1777. The Articles of Confederation was the first attempt to set up a government in the US. Then our Constitution came out in 1787,it was made into three plans: the Virginia Plan, New Jersey Plan, and then the Connecticut compromise. Four things our Constitution accomplished were indirect democracy, limited government, checks and majority rule, and an outline of what the different branches of government do. The US two main parties are Republican and Democrat. The Democratic Party was founded in 1828, and the Republican party was founded in 1854. Our political system has succeeded in many forms. One form would be our checks and balances within the federal government and on a local level. Provisions have been improved over the years to regulate proper placement of funds and equal rights to citizens. The origin of our political system begins with congress. The main responsibilities of congress are making laws, overseeing the FBI and CIA, casework, representing their districts, setting an agenda, and conflict resolution. Our society has relied upon a bicameral system, where there have been a House of Representatives and a Senate. Some of the responsibilities of the House of Representatives include reviewing bills and beginning the impeachment process. The Senates duties include giving advice and consenting on treaties, conducting impeachment trials, and appointing upper-level judicial officers. Where I feel our political system has not done so well is with bureaucrats. Bureaucracy has some positive aspects like specialization, making sure rules and regulations are carried out, and neutrality. There are two types of bureaucrats. The first one is a civil servant who is hired based on merit, and the second one is a political appointee who is selected based on whom they know. It is a common issue that bureaucrats are given too much power and that they abuse those powers, which causes flaws in our political system. It does, however, seem that bureaucrats are vital for the functioning of any political system; they are generally not well liked, though. Several attempts to reform bureaucracy have been made, such as the Sunshine laws, which are laws that dictated that agencies have to be conducted in the public eye. Privatization is another reform where the government turns over more jobs to private sectors. A good change for our society was when the Government Performance and Results Act of 1997 were introduced. This sought to improve governmental efficiency by making agencies describe their goals and create mechanisms for evaluating their goals. Overall, our political system has proven to be stable and has succeeded. Of course, there are going to be positive and negative aspects, but, at the end, for what our nation has had to deal with in the past 228 years, we have done far better than any other country.

Case study of Elextra-Quik

Case study of Elextra-Quik In Elextra-Quik, the manufacturing manager, Barbara was very happy about her job of problem-solving team leader and her team did a lot of efforts to contribute companys empowerment campaign. But when they were ready to implement the new ideas, they found not only the top manager Martin, but also the middle level managers resisted the ideas. Therefore, this case leads to questions-how a company change to be a learning organisation? What can Barbara do to continue her ideas in the company? In following part, this paper will answer these questions based on three questions. How might top management have done a better job changing Electra-Quik into a learning organisation? What might they do now to get the empowerment process back on the track? According to ECU study book (2011), learning organization is an organization in which everyone is engaged in identifying and solving problems. The characteristics of learning organization are creating shared vision, team-based structure, employee empowerment, share information, participative strategy, adaptive culture and so on. In order to build a learning organization, the whole levels of company staff need to contribute. Firstly, the top management plays the most important role for transfer organization into a learning organization. They need to do a better job on introducing the plans about changes carefully and deliberately. According to Samson Daft (2009) management is the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manger through planning, organizing, leading and controlling organizational resources. So the top management is the maker of companys strategy. They guide the direction of where should company go. When there is a change within organization, some problems can not be avoided, such as resistances from lower level staff. So top management does a good job on introducing change is necessary. They need to introduce the plan in detail to make staff and middle managers to better understand the plan. They can show the evaluation about the advantages and benefits of the change to employees. With that, the plan can be accepted by everyone in the company. In Electra-Quik, Mart in needs to keep enthusiastic all the time and support Barbaras ideas in order to make Barbaras plan can be accepted in the meeting. Secondly, in the process of building a learning organization, the middle level managers and employees also play an important role. Middle level managers are the links between top management and employees; they monitor the changes, collect the feedback of changes and report the effects of changes to the top. Employees conduct the changes and provide the feedback to tops. Generally speaking, in learning organizations, participative strategy emerges bottom up as well as top down. Top management shape the vision and direction, and middle managers and employees support and believe in. They are committed to the vision and contribute to the development of strategy (Samson Daft, 2009, p.59). In Electra-Quik, middle manager should evaluate Barbaras ideas even Martin is absent for meeting and transfer the ideas to their staffs. In order to get the empowerment process back on track, Martin needs to step first. He needs to understand Barbaras ideas again and do a personal appraisal. Then on the companys meeting, he should support Barbaras ideas and support her ideas when Barbara explaining the changes. Also he needs to consult with managers and empower employees to resolve the problem, as well as providing the training. With Martins efforts, the middle managers may change their ideas to support Barbara and conduct the changes in whole organization. Also, Martin can implement self-directed teams as the solution. Self-directed team refer to a multi-skilled cross-functional group of employees who share responsibilities for producing service of product (Rockfordconsulting, N, D). In Electra-Quik, Martin may set up some self-directed teams to conduct the empowerment process, and then they can share the responsibility to get the process back on track. Question 2: Can you think of ways Barbara Russell could have avoided the problems her team faced in the meeting with department heads? Middle management jobs have undergone dramatic changes over the last two decades (Samson Daft, 2009, p.24). Many organizations were expected to downsize their middle managers and slash management levels to become more efficient and facilitate decision-making process and to better adapt to the changing environment as well. The department heads are not favor of this empowerment campaign since they are used to managing the flow of information up and down the hierarchy. But todays middle managers should be responsible for the horizontal network for now most work is organized around teams. In addition, the trend in recent years has been towards wider span of control as a way to facilitate delegation (Samson Daft, 2009, p.37). Compared with tall structure, the flat structure has a wider span of control and is horizontally dispersed, which means it has less hierarchical levels and therefore the organization is able to better respond and adapt to change. Thats why the company initiates the empowerment campaign to let employees more involved in the decision-making process and assume more responsibility and enhance the collaboration. In such a structure, it is easier to build the self-directed teams since more authority and responsibility can be delegated to lower managers and employees. However, the department heads are likely to feel anxious and even threatened by new empowerment campaign. According to Samson Daft (2009, p.373), the attempt by the top management of the empowerment usually gets the deadlock because middle managers are unable to delegate. The possible reasons can be listed as following: They are accustomed to make familiar decisions; they feel they may lose personal status by delegating tasks; they believe they can do better job themselves and they are resistant to change because the performance of each department ultimately rests with them. For Barbara Russell, she needs to consult with each department head before the meeting so as to avoid the problems. There are a number of ways that Barbara could use to resolve the problems. The leading point is that the team must identify the problems first and give their suggestions. Therefore communication plays a significant part. She should talk with department heads to be aware of what issues they want to address and how they address them. After they get the information, they can provide their support in helping them to resolve the problems. For example, the team can come up with a reward plan to encourage each department to solve their own issues and allocate some funds to assist them. The members in manufacturing team cooperate with each other very well, but the final report they presented failed to meet the expectations of the department heads. However, Barbara Russell could have avoided the problems if the top management considered building a cross-functional team at the very beginning rather than just rely on her own manufacturing team. According to Graff et al (N, D), the diverse teams can be more innovative and can develop more precise strategies and have advantages over functional homogenous teams in introducing organizational changes. According to Parker (2003), the competitive advantages of setting up a cross-functional team can be listed as following ¼Ã… ¡they may accelerate the process of problem solving; solve complex problems; more closely to connect with customers and meet their needs; they can produce more innovative ideas; members are more able to share information and facilitate the cooperation among departments. But on the other hand, we cannot neglect the barriers in building such a team since it will increase conflict and competition within the organization with diverse team members. Therefore, the trust and open communication seems significant in a cross-functional team. Question 3: If you were Barbara Russell, what would you do now? Why? If I am Barbara Russell, I will improve own leading skills and make some changes based on six elements mentioned in Figure 1. Figure 1: The web of interacting elements in a learning organization Leadership Participative Strategy Team-based Structure Open Information Strong, adaptive culture Empowered employees Learning Organization Leadership(p534) In a learning organization, as a leader of team, Barbara should focus on using personal power and empowerment to manage the team, and try to be a democratic leader to influences and motive the employees. She should learn to share and explain the company vision, facilitate teamwork, initiate change and expand the capacity of people to shape the future. As a middle level manager, she should pay more attention to try to make the team member to understand the company objectives and goals, and be a bridge of communication between employee and top management. In a learning organization, Barbara also should be a transformational leader, who can create significant change in both followers and the organization (Samson Craft, cited in bass, 1995; Devanna Tichy, 1986; EastmanPawar, 1997). Leaders in a learning organization have three distinct roles: 1) Create a shared vision 2) Design the structure 3) practice servant leadership (Samson Craft, 2009). Barbara should work to fulfill employees n eeds and goals as well as to achieve the organizations larger mission. Communication In this case, the department heads complained that changes would destroy the carefully crafted job categories, and $500 refunds would create unethical behaviors, and industrial spy because of bad communication between top management and departments. Here, the communication means two-way communication including horizontal and vertical, exchange information between departments or team. Barbara should practice more active listening skills to interpret and feedback the information and give some suggestions or recommendations to help other departments to figure out the problems. Team work Self-directed teams are the fundamental unit in a learning organization (Samson Craft, 2009). Barbara has to her roll from a traditional manager to a coordinator or consultant to control with team members in stead of control over them. Meanwhile, Barbara should understand that the jobs and objectives are based on team-based structure instead of individual input and effort. Barbara should work with other departments and subordinates as a team. Empowerment Traditionally, managers take all responsibility for the whole departments. Now in a learning organization, all employees are authorized to participate the decision making while the leadership is changing to be transformational. Barbara should change her roll to adapt the changing situation and give all team members the power, freedom to make decision and perform effectively. Also Barbara should use more personnel power and empowerment to motivate employees. Participative strategy Learning organizations have permeable boundaries and often are linked with other organizations, give each organization greater access to information about new strategic needs and directions (Samson Craft, cited in McCune, 1997). Basically, participative strategy means organization sets up the link of the whole supplier chain to share the information internally and externally. With the globalization of business, information becomes more and more important. To some extent, successful companies depend on the most updated information like lasted technology. Barbara should share the information timely and participate the whole link to get the most updated information to achieve the company goals. Culture In this case, one of important purposes of hiring new CEO is to rebuild the company culture. Top management realized the previous culture focused on hierarchy and centralization, which did not adapt the change of environment and became an obstacle to develop the company. As a leader of manufacturing, Barbara should learn and help to build the strong, adaptive culture within the manufactory, and influence other departments as well. In conclusion, Barbara should change the leadership style into democratic and transformational leader, and self-improvement of leading skills in order to adapt the learning organization culture. She has to change her roll in new culture as well, and try to be a consultant, servant and helper within the team, and improve the skills of communication to share the information in time internally and externally. Finally, the company can be successful to transfer from the traditional organization to the learning one. Conclusion Overall, learning organization is very important for todays companies. In learning organizations, all the people are committed to a vision, learn and share information. With that, the whole company will be more efficient and effective. In Electra-Quik, the paper also provide solutions for top management and Barbara to solve the problem when they conducting the changes and empowerment process.