Control Mechanisms: The Walt Disney Company Essay

Introduction Organizations use control mechanisms to help regulate guidelines and procedures which contribute toward effectively achieving organizational goals. The Walt Disney Company is a well known entertainment organization that has become tremendously successful both nationally and internationally over the past 70 years or so partly through successful implementation of control mechanisms throughout every aspect of the organization. The purpose of this paper is to explore four types of control mechanisms used by the Walt Disney Company: (1) budgetary, (2) financial, (3) management audit, and (4) bureaucratic through compare and contrast to determine the effectiveness of each by examining the positive and negative reactions to these control mechanisms in order to explain how the different control mechanisms impact the four functions of management throughout the organization. Budgetary Controls Budgetary controls are a well known and frequently used control measure throughout corporate America and the international business market system. Budgetary controls are used to align the various company operating costs with the company’s strategic goals and to either verify goal attainment or to plan corrective action. Throughout its existence, Walt Disney has implemented many different budgetary controls reaching across numerous and diverse product lines. With the motion picture production division, production budgets were used to limit expenses for the cost of materials and equipment, talented actors, various support staff, and the marketing and placement of movies into circulation. As Walt Disney expanded its business to include multiple elaborate theme parks, a capital budget was created to establish a threshold on the cost of real estate, buildings and equipment, and the operating and maintenance costs. When the company decided to venture into the production of toys and clothing, the management designed and implemented a sales budget to manage the increased cost of entering a new market. With the budgetary controls in place, Walt Disney has managed to keep operating costs at an acceptable level and experienced remarkable success in the entertainment industry. These budgetary controls have given the company the ability to venture into new markets, cross international borders, and bring family entertainment to the world. â€Å"Its filmed entertainment units have been riding high on a string of box office successes and its theme parks continue to draw millions of visitors each year.† (The Walt Disney Company, 2008). Along with the use of budgets, companies universally use various financial statements to put into practice financial controls. Financial Controls The Walt Disney Company’s main financial objective is to be able to generate revenue through growth and long-term shareholder values. The segments of which the Disney Company is categorized are studio entertainment, parks and resorts, media networks and consumer products. Each segment generates a different percent of the organizations profit. 42% of Disney’s income is through media networking and expends 55% operating the resource. 30% is earned from parks and resorts, while it takes 22% to operate the resource. Studio and entertainment earn 21% of Walt Disney’s revenue; however, 15% is used to operate this resource and lastly 7% is earned form consumer products and 8% is used to control this expense (Disney, 2008). The Disney Company resources are very effective to maintaining and operation of the business; however, some of the resources are costing more to operate than producing income. Therefore, the decision to keep maintaining the resources that are costing more to operate are costly for business. Planning for the future of the Walt Disney Company is a continuous process; the company strives to be the leader of the entertainment world through imaginative entertainment. Disney’s financial success is due to their efficient leaders who also employ talented individuals to help increase profitability through the company’s mission, values and goal planning. Management Audit Controls Overseeing The Walt Disney Organization is a major responsibility for Disney’s Board of Directors. Responsibilities are extensive, including the overseeing of the company’s systems of internal control, including compliance of financial reports, implementing policy and  procedures, along with adhering to the applicable laws. According to the Disney (2007)†¦ The Committee shall have responsibility for overseeing that management has implemented an effective system of internal control to promote the reliability of financial and operating information and compliance, including those related to risk management, ethics and conflicts of interest. The Committee plans periodical evaluations to discuss with management any audit findings, including management recommendations for improvement in a particular area in order to promote internal control. Having an effective internal control is extremely important in any organization, especially The Walt Disney Organization, because of the magnitude of its organization. Internal control of management audits are designed to provide reasonable assurance that goals are being achieved in all organizational areas, including effectiveness and efficiencies of operations, reliable and accurate financial reporting, and that all laws are in compliance. Bureaucratic Controls Bureaucratic control is a necessary tool used by large corporations. The Walt Disney Company is not an exception to when it comes to using bureaucracy to control the corporation. Bateman and Snell (2007) define bureaucratic control as â€Å"the use of rules, regulations, and authority to guide performance. When a person thinks of Walt Disney, the first things that may come to mind are creativity and risk taking. Walt Disney has released groundbreaking movies that are time consuming to make and have large budgets. A risk is taken every time a movie is created. The risk is that there may not be a market for the product. Walt Disney uses bureaucratic control to insure that all business units are working towards performance standards set by the leaders of the corporation. Bureaucratic control can have a stifling effect on the creativity of the persons working under the system. Robert A. Iger is President and Chief Executive Officer of Walt Disney. According to Chaffin and Waters (2006) when Mr. Iger became the CEO of Walt Disney he removed the corporation’s strategic planning committee. The move was made to loosen up the bureaucratic control that the committee had over  the corporation’s business units. The loosening of the bureaucratic control could allow for new ideas to be explored without the fear of the idea being lost in an overbearing bureaucratic system. Not going through the old system of control will also allow innovations to be quickly applied. Quickly applying innovation will help Walt Disney gain a larger market share. Free thinking and risk taking must be balanced with bureaucratic control in order for Walt Disney to remain a successful corporation. Conclusion Based on the research presented through compare and contrast one can conclude that the four control mechanisms selected: (1) budgetary, (2) financial, (3) management audit, and (4) bureaucratic each has had a profound and positive impact on the Walt Disney Company’s success from different aspects of the organization. Each of the four selected control mechanisms has impacted the four functions of management to different degrees. Planning was impacted mainly by ever changing budget, finance and management audit controls depending on the cost of production materials, equipment, staff and so forth. Organizing was impacted by each of the four controls based on the initial planning process for each division; hence, when strategic plans were altered by these control mechanisms organizing was altered accordingly. Leading was mainly impacted by management audit and bureaucratic controls through the company’s internal and external evaluations when leadership decisions lead the company in a different and more productive direction. Lastly, controlling was impacted by each of the four control mechanisms based on internal and external evaluations that lead to the implementation of each control mechanism. References Bateman T., and Snell S., (2007), Management: Leading & Collaborating in a Competitive World (7th Ed.), McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York, NY. Chaffin, J., and Waters, R., (2006). Drawing on Jobs’ judgment but harnessing talents of Pixar chief could be challenge even for Bob Iger, says Richard Waters. The Financial Times, p.29. Retrieved July 10, 2008, from General OneFile via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS Disney. (2007). Committee Charters- Audit. Retrieved July 12, 2008, from http://Corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/charters_audit.html Disney. (2008). The Walt Disney Company Reports Record Earnings for Fiscal Year 2007. Retrieved July 9, 2008, from http://amedia.disney.go.com/investorrelations/quarterly_earnings/2007_q4.pdf The Walt Disney Company. (2008). Austin, Texas: Hoovers Company Inc. Retrieved July 9, 2008, from ProQuest Central database. (Document ID: 168155651).

Invisible Man Essay

In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the character of Trueblood is unique and well developed. Trueblood is a man who impregnates his wife, and at the same period of time commits incest and impregnates his daughter. This character’s reasoning for having sexual relations with his daughter is that he was dreaming when this happened; a feat that while fantastical, could also be plausible due to Trueblood’s nature. Trueblood, while a moral character aside from his transgression, is also oblivious. A good example of this happens on page 48 when Dr.  Norton asks â€Å"You feel no inner turmoil, no need to cast out the offending eye? † to which Trueblood replies â€Å"I’m all right, suh. My eyes is all right too†. Regardless of his ignorance, Trueblood shows remorse for his actions, and believes that a â€Å"man don’t leave his family†, which attests to the morality of the character. Much like the Invisible man, Trueblood found his own morality which did not exactly follow society’s guidelines. When explaining his situation, Trueblood brings up the issue regarding awareness of reality, since according to him he has sex with his daughter during a dream state. As he describes it on page 59, the dream seems to be a metaphor for what actually happened: â€Å"I runs and runs till I should be tired but ain’t tired but feelin’ more rested as I runs†¦ Only I’m still in the tunnel. Then way up ahead I sees a bright light like a jack-o-lantern over a graveyard. It gits brighter and brighter†¦ it burst like a great big electric light in my eyes†. Trueblood comforts himself by saying â€Å"You ain’t guilty†; he does not admit his guilt since he does not see fault in what he did since he was not in control of himself. This is his perception of reality. Again, this unawareness of reality is parallel to the Invisible Man’s life, who cannot see anything as real until understanding he is invisible. The way Trueblood has been treated by the white community, however, seems to be one of the major issues. Before impregnating his own daughter, he claims his life to have been hard: â€Å"Every time I think†¦ what a hard time we was having I gits the shakes† and â€Å"it was cold and us didn’t have much fire†¦ I tried to git help but wouldn’t nobody help us†. After his sinful act, surprisingly enough, it was the white community which came to his aid. Not only are the police ssisting by giving Trueblood protection from the black community, but also assisting by giving him money. To this, Trueblood says â€Å"I done the worse thing a man could even do in his family and instead of chasin’ me out of the country, they gimme more help than they ever give any other colored man† (67). Again, morality is the theme here – the white community is treating Trueblood in a way as if rewarding him, even though his act was actually reprehensible. While this could be seen as the white community’s moral obligation to assist someone who was ostracized from their own community, it could also be seen as moral hypocrisy.

Fast Food Nation

The fast food industry has been growing in America rapidly in the past decades. In â€Å"Fast Food Nation†, Eric Schlosser talks about the dangers of the fast food industry. Schlosser also explains the â€Å"distinctively American way† Americans view the world because of the fast food industry. I think the â€Å"distinctively American way† people view the world that Schlosser is trying to explain is that Americans care about money and power.Due to the growth and success of the fast food industry, the owners of these big fast food companies are starting to care more about power and they’re willing to use their power to control over Congress and their employees. Schlosser also feels that fast food companies are willing to have harsh working conditions, use cheap labor, and misuse government subsidies just for capitalism. He feels that fast food companies’ main goal is to gain profit and they’re willing to harm their employees and consumers just for the profit.Another â€Å"distinctively American way† people view the world due to fast food is that they’re starting to value convenience, speed, and cheapness. The fast food industry uses these attributes to help gain more profit because they know this will attract customers. Americans are starting to learn a new philosophy: bigger is better. Inhumane Working Conditions: Schlosser’s Argument- Schlosser argues that the fast food industry has many inhumane working conditions. In â€Å"Fast Food Nation†, Schlosser explains all the inhumane working conditions in the slaughterhouses and the effects of these working conditions.He explains the inhumane working conditions by showing his experience as he visits a slaughterhouse. As he visits the slaughterhouse, he sees the meat cutters working and how horrendous their job is. Schlosser explains the process of cutting the meat, â€Å"They stand at a table that’s chest high, grab meat off a conveyer be lt, trim away fat, throw meat back on the belt, toss the scraps onto a conveyer belt above them, and then grab more meat, all in a matter of seconds,†(170) The workers in the slaughterhouse do the same task repetitively throughout the day.Not only are the workers doing the same task repetitively, they’re working in extreme temperatures and with disgusting smells of blood and manure. The workers are also working with sharp knives that give them injuries such as lacerations. Repeating the same motion continuously also gives the workers back problems, shoulder problems, carpal tunnel syndrome, and â€Å"trigger finger†(a syndrome in which a finger becomes frozen in a curler position). The worst slaughterhouse job is cleaning the slaughterhouse at night. These workers deal with heat, fog, and fumes.The fumes make the workers throw up and they feel the fumes inside their bodies. Industry Defense- The fast food industry might defend themselves from these attacks about their inhumane working conditions by saying that they have these working conditions so production can be fast. Workers must perform the same task repetitively so that the meat could be cut as fast as possible. If production were to be slow, this will lead to less beef for the fast food industry and this will eventually harm the fast food industry.If the fast food industry is harmed this may lead to the rise of unemployment because the fast food industry will slow down and might not need as much employees working at branches. The fast food industry is one of the biggest industries and it provides the most jobs for young adults and people in the lower economic class. We need the fast food industry so there could be enough jobs for people and this will overall benefit our economy. My Argument- I agree with Schlosser about how the fast food industry does have inhumane working conditions.People are getting injuries and dying because of these horrible working conditions and that shouldnâ €™t be acceptable. Even though production will be slower if they didn’t have these working conditions, we could make it possible for the fast food industry to work without the inhumane working conditions. Slaughterhouses can hire more employees so people could get more breaks and they don’t have to continuously cut meat for hours. They could also provide air conditioning and get some ventilation for these workers so they don’t have to work in the heat and smell.There are many alternatives so these workers don’t have to suffer through these inhumane working conditions. Manipulation of Children Through TV: Schlosser’s argument- In â€Å"Fast Food Nation†, Schlosser argues that advertising companies are specifically attacking and manipulating children. After seeing the success of Walt Disney and Ray Kroc through their interest in selling to kids, advertisers started to attack children even more. The growth in advertising aimed at children h as been driven by efforts to increase not just current, but also future, consumption.Advertisers have an immediate goal; it’s to get children to ask for a specific product. Advertisers know children are easily influenced and they can easily persuade their parents to buy them products so companies’ advertisements are revolved around children. Children also have different types of nags to ask for these advertised products. Schlosser also explains how advertisers manipulate children by influencing them through advertisements, â€Å"Before trying to affect children’s behavior, advertisers have to learn about their tastes.Today’s market researchers have not only conduct surveys of children in shopping malls, they also organize focus groups for kids as young as two or three† (44). Advertisers study the lives of children so they could apply their interests into advertisements. For example, Dan S. Acuff did a study and found out that roughly 80 percent of children’s dreams are about animals. Since children seem to be interested in animals, companies such as Disney use characters based off animals such as Mickey Mouse in their advertisements.The manipulation of children through these television ads was controversial and in 1978 the Federal Trade Commission tried to ban television advertisements directed to children. The government defended the advertisement industry because different broadcasting groups lobbied the Congress to prevent restrictions on children advertisements. Industry Defense- The fast food industry might defend themselves from these attacks about their manipulation of children through TV by saying the advertisements do not make these children nag their parents for a certain product.Schlosser just assumes it does because children tend to ask for the product after seeing these advertisements; it could merely just be a coincidence. They might also say it’s the parent’s choice to let the children watc h these advertisements. The fast food industry is solely just advertising their product and it’s not the industry’s fault that children are watching these advertisements and asking for these products after watching the advertisements. If parents are so concern about they’re children wanting fast food because of these advertisements, they don’t have to let their children watch these advertisements.My Argument- I agree with the fast food industry about the manipulation of children through TV. I feel that Schlosser can’t really prove that advertising companies are really manipulating children. Even though it’s true that they’re aiming their advertisements toward children, I feel like they’re solely just doing their job of advertising. Their job is supposed to sell the product and advertisement companies are just doing what they’re supposed to do. It’s also under the parent’s control if they want their children to see these advertisements. Food Poisoning: Schlosser’s argumentSchlosser argues in â€Å"Fast Food Nation† that the fast food industry poison consumers everyday. The pathogen E. coli 0157:H7 has been one of the main pathogens that have gotten people sick. He explains how the fast food industry is poisoning consumers with E. coli 0157:H7 and other food pathogens, â€Å"But the rise of huge feedlots, slaughterhouses, and hamburger grinders seem to have provided the means for this pathogen to become widely dispersed in the nation’s food supply. American meat production has never been so centralized: thirteen large packinghouses now slaughter most of the beef consumed in the United States.The meat-packing system that arose to supply the nation’s fast food chains—an industry molded to serve their needs, to provided massive amounts of uniform ground beef so that all of McDonald’s hamburgers would taste the same—has proved to be an extre mely efficient system for spreading disease†(196) The foodborne pathogens are carried into the meat because of the way the meat is processed. These pathogens tend to be carried and shed by â€Å"healthy† animals. The food that is tainted has most likely come in contact with an infected animal’s stomach or manure during slaughter and food processing.The fast food industry is basically serving consumers food that has been in contact with shit. In â€Å"Fast Food Nation† Upton Sinclair describes a long list of practices in the meatpacking industry that threated the health of consumers, â€Å"the routine slaughter of diseased animals, the use of chemicals such as borax and glycerine to disguise the smell of spoiled beef, the deliberate mislabeling of canned meat, the tendency of workers to urinate and defecate on the kill floor†(204) The fast food industry is harming their consumers and they’re trying to hide the fact that they are.In January of 1993, children were getting food poisoning and it all traced back to the undercooked hamburgers served at Jack in the Box restaurants. This incident received a lot of attention about the dangers of these food pathogens such as E. coli 0157:H7. The meatpacking industry refused to implement an inspection system and they paid their way to cover the dangers of these meat. Industry’s Defense: The fast food industry might defend themselves from these attacks about food poisoning by arguing that these meats are inspected before serving to their customers.They might say that people could’ve gotten sick from the meat they have cooked at home. People also have a choice to eat these fast foods. If consumers feel like they’re going to get sick from the fast food they don’t have to eat it. Eating fast food is the consumer’s choice and they’re not forced to eat it. My argument: I agree with Schlosser about the fast food industry poisoning consumers. I fee l that slaughterhouses and feedlots should watch how they slaughter and process the beef to make sure they’re not mixing the meat with any type of manure.The fast food industry is also trying to hide the fact that they’re beef could be spoiled. The fast food industry should get an inspection system so that they’re meat could be fresh for consumers. This could prevent food poisoning and attract more customers because the consumers will trust what they’re eating more. Overall, I feel that the fast food industry is an industry that we need but it should be fixed.I feel that the government should take over and control how the fast food industry works. The fast food industry needs to stop caring about capitalism and start caring more about their consumers and employees. They need to change their working conditions and how they process the meat. They also need to stop using their subsidies for themselves and stop cheating the political system. We need to revolu tionize the fast food industry so that everyone could have a safer and healthier living.

Poetry essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Poetry - Essay Example Standing in the direct line of poet-critics from Philip Sydney to T.S Eliot, he hoped that literature would rise and take up the place of religion offering consolation and sustenance to man. His short poem â€Å"Dover Beach† reflects his melancholic temperament and his dismay at the retreating tide of religious faith. He extols humanity to hold fast to one another because the world is a deceptive and dangerous place, the darkness of which needs moral and spiritual enlightenment to guide people through. The poem begins with tempting description of the night-scene from the Dover Beach. The sea is described as calm, the tide full, â€Å"the moon lies fair upon the straits†, the distant lights on the French coast come on and off, the vast cliffs of England stand â€Å"glimmering†, the bay is tranquil, and the night air is sweet. The speaker invites the other to come to the window and witness the alluring scene. The poem is in the form of a talk, and there is an inevitable presence of a listener. The speaker is airing his thoughts and feelings to an intimate ‘other’ present with him. The seventh line in the first stanza of the poem marks the transition in the speaker’s mood. From the alluring description of the outside view and the invitation to share the beautiful moment with him at the window, he swiftly moves to the melancholic aspect of the repetitive sound of the waves gathering and flinging back the pebbles from the shore on their coming and retreating. He calls this â€Å"the grating roar of pebbles†. The noise is disturbing in its recurring pattern of â€Å"Begin, and cease, and then again begin†. The slow and â€Å"tremulous cadence† of the waves bring to the poet â€Å"the external note of sadness in†. Arnold uses poetic techniques like inversion to heighten the impact of his words. In the last lines of the first stanza the inversion in â€Å"with tremulous cadence slow† works wonders bringing home the

Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Business Ethics - Essay Example The present study focuses on learning about the CSR activities of Starbucks Company and the different issues that the organization addresses. Starbucks and their CSR Efforts: The Starbucks Company was initiated in the year 1971 in Seattle when three friends Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker had opened up a small coffee shop. However there have been several changes over these years where the company experienced selling out and expansion processes before the position where it has reached now (Garza). Starbucks had always considered the fact that communities should be served at their best and hence such corporate social responsibilities were performed by the company ever since their coffee shop initiated (Being a Responsible Company, 2011). The company is committed to provide â€Å"good governance, ethical conduct and social responsibility† along with maintaining relationships with the stakeholders of the company (My Starbucks, n.d., p.10). The recent reports of CSR eff orts of Starbucks Company reflect their progress in several areas of work. The company’s recent commitments also include assisting the coffee farmers, and supporting communities and environments. Other commitments also include ethical sourcing of coffee, responsibility for the environments, involvement in community development, and practices in the workplaces. As studies reveal, the company is a leader in the industry as far as ethical sourcing of coffee is concerned, where the company has accomplished sustainable coffee, higher price payments, fair trade certified coffee, and Conservation International Collaboration addressing changed in climate. The company has also proved to be a leader in environmental responsibilities trying to focus on renewable energy, and green building. Relationships with customers and neighbors are also included as major responsibilities of the company (Starbucks Makes Corporate Social Responsibility Report Public, 2008). Thus the company’s e fforts on CSR can be found to be effective on maintaining the environments and communities as well as improving the image and reputation of the company. Stakeholders of Starbucks Company and Effects of the Company’s CSR on Them: The different stakeholder groups of the company that Starbucks need to consider while planning for their CSR activities include the employees of the company, the shareholders, the partner organizations, government and non government organizations, university student organizations and academic institutions, regional community groups, and the media (Reid, 2006). Strong relationships need to be built and maintained with these stakeholders thus implying the fact that the CSR activities of the company would have significant effects on these stakeholders. The Starbucks Company considers the needs and expectations of different stakeholders and accordingly communicates the CSR activities to them. For stakeholders like the NGOs, the company tries to integrate the strategies, practices and operations focusing on a holistic approach towards solving different problems. The motives are ethical, economic, and legal. For investors or shareholders, the company has always tried to connect the values of the company with its performances, the motives being economic and ethical, also attempting to create values with the

Deer Hunting Protest Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Deer Hunting Protest - Essay Example A pilot program is planed for the deer hunting season in New York to develop the constitution of bucks inside 4 Wildlife Management Units (WMU's) which is situated mainly in Ulster and Sullivan Counties. The new set of laws require that bucks which are handed over to Wildlife Management Units 3C, 3H, 3J and 3K consist of 1 antler along with three point each one is a inch long. This limitation is can also be used in archery, regular and muzzle-loading seasons (Carson 7). For approximately 100 years, a lawful buck had been a deer having one antler which is three inches long. Other states began trails on with plans to alter the age limit of the hunted bucks, and these programs usually generate bucks that live longer and grow bigger antlers. If a hunter does hunt a deer, the law states that he has to report the kill by means of the tax free DECALS game reporting method before forty eight hours. The finding of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in the wild white-tailed deer flock a few years ago in Oneida County encouraged the DEC to accept set of laws to assist in minimizing the spread of the illness. The rules created a CWD restraint area in parts of Oneida as well as Madison Counties. Each and every one wild white-tailed deer which is killed by a hunter in a containment region in various open hunting seasons should be given in for investigation at the check station of the DEC by five o'clock in the evening on the day after it was hunted. Deer might not be skinned or slaughtered. No parts of the body of the hunted deer, apart from those removed as part of standard dressing, of the field might be removed prior to examination.It's the first time hunters have been allowed in the area, it's stirring up plenty of controversy. Some two million Marylanders use water from the Loch Raven Reservoir. The land around the water is a popular place for deer's. (http://insidecharmcity.com/2008/08/29/anti-deer-hunting-activists-propose-contraceptive-darts-at-loch-raven). Deer Hunting Season Dates for 2008 Regular Season Bow hunting Special Firearms Season Northern Zone (yellow shaded) Oct. 18 - Dec. 7 Sept. 27 - Oct. 17 Southern Zone (light blue shaded) Nov. 15 - Dec. 7 Oct. 18 - Nov. 14 Dec. 8 - Dec. 16 Westchester County (mustard shaded) Oct. 18 - Dec. 31 (bow hunting only) same as Regular Season Suffolk County (dark blue shaded) Oct. 1 - Dec. 31 (bow hunting only) Jan. 5 - Jan. 30, 2009 (Weekdays only Special permit required) ( http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/28605.html) They have been fighting against the cull for eight years they consider it to be a barbaric slaughter of harmless deer. A group animal rights group Save Our Wildlife has been the most active protester against deer hunting. They consider their protest to be the voice of the deer. As to them it is disgusting, the idea of these lovely deer being hunted. Legal Aspect In New York City, another law which is very different from the rest of the country is that bills equalize the

Media As Ideology, Culture, and colonialism Ch 2 Essay

Media As Ideology, Culture, and colonialism Ch 2 - Essay Example This is especially the case, when one considers the works of later Marxists such as Rosa Luxemburg who saw the media as a conduit through which the state attempts to mold the mind of the masses, in order to make the masses docile. This is especially applicable to state-owned media where ideas such as patriotism, diligence and religious ideals are always served to the public. This is always an artifice to stave off the revolutionary spirit from prevailing among the masses (Wasserman and de Beer, 385). At the same time, the definition and analysis of the media above warrants the rethinking of the true purpose or function of the media. While there are those who point out that the role of the media is to educate, entertain and inform, there are other thinkers in the 21st century who postulate that the role of the media is to inform, educate and to initiate and facilitate meaningful debate. While the former standpoint takes on a wider and less formal function, the latter takes on a more formal and stricter commitment to positive social change. As a side note, the passing of the media as channels through which culture and ideology are transmitted to shape consciousness specifically, in order to determine the behavior and attitude of the target population is also wide enough to include the presently online social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace and specific enough to limit the role of the media to the moderation of the target population’s behavior. The import of this is that not only is the public seen as part of the media, but personal responsibility is also invoked. This is because, since anyone can become part of Facebook, Twitter and/or MySpace (which are all part of the media), individual’s discretion goes a long way to determine how these avenues may be used to impact the target population positively or negatively. This also means that the media is seen as

A roller coaster ride Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A roller coaster ride - Essay Example This paper illustrates how the author boarded a cabin alongside a number of children and fastened the seatbelt, the ride promised to be exhilarating. He experienced both fear and excitement in equal measure. At some time, the researcher nearly jumped out of the machine. Looking straight ahead, the track rose into the sky until he could not see any more of it. On the other end, he could see the track falling into the ground and twisting right back into the sky. The author felt nauseated and nearly jumped out. However, before made up my mind, the cabin cocked into life. It hummed steadily as it began moving slowly. The cabin picked up the pace and before the author knew it he was climbing the metal hill straight into the sky at a high speed. He looked back at his father and he could see his size diminish with every inch he climbed. The other children in the cabin were screaming either in joy or in fear, a feature made the author’s experience at the cabin more uncomfortable. The cabin got to the peak of the climb and the author saw the entire horizon. The view was breathtaking though he could not describe the feeling. He enjoyed the view from the sky. However, the experience did not last for long since the cabin began falling. The cab fell out of the sky quite literally. The author could feel his body mass dragging me to the ground. The screams from the other children heightened as he sat still looking.

Organizational Behavior---Individual Assignment Instruction Essay

Organizational Behavior---Individual Assignment Instruction - Essay Example An example of an organizational conflict that I witnessed was in a company that I worked part time during the last summer. In this organization, Faith, the chief engineer in charge of new product development brought a list of items to George, the procurement officer for purchase. However, George failed to sanction the purchase claiming that the products were too expensive and did not meet the cost cutting threshold that had been imposed by the organization. However, faith believed that George did not have trust in her abilities and hence the reason why he was constantly fighting her anytime a new spare needed to be purchased. To resolve this conflict, the business unit vice president ordered the two to report to the same executive who would evaluate the purchase orders in terms of cost-effectiveness and quality. This change of structure aligned the hitherto incompatible goals. In the case of the conflict between George and Faith, it was resolved by altering the organizational structure to fit the two parties. However, I have realized that in most cases most of the organizational conflict happens in teams. Wherever such conflict happens, the easiest solution would be to change the group composition. However, there are other times when the conflict is as a result of varying styles and values among team members. Naturally, when that occurs, the first thing that comes to the leaders mind is to replace the team members that do not agree with the styles or preferences of the teams. Over the years, I have observed that removing some people from the team may not always be possible since their skills might be needed or there might not be an available replacement for them. In the event that this happens, the most sensible way to mitigate such conflict is through focusing the team’s attention on a common enemy such as the competition. When people or even departments are taught on how to focus their attention on the enemies facing them instead of

High School and Social Support Essay Example for Free

High School and Social Support Essay The purpose of the study was to determine possible differences in leadership behaviors, using the Revised Leadership for Sport Scale (RLSS), between male and female coaches and among different coaching levels. The researchers submitted two hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that male and female coaches would respond differently to the RLSS in overall leadership behaviors. The second hypothesis was that differences on the RLSS would occur among coaching levels: junior high, high school, and college. The sample was nonrandom, including 162 coaches that were chosen on a volunteer  basis. Within the sample, 118 (0. 73) of the coaches were male, while 44 (0. 27) were female. With regard to coaching level, 25 (0. 15) were junior high coaches, 99 (0. 61) high school, and 38 (0. 24) at the college level. While this is a good sample size, the problem lies with the distribution of the sample. The sample number for junior high coaches, in particular, is rather low. A larger sample with regard to all categories would have aided in the data analysis, particularly when looking for possible interactions between gender and coaching level. The instrument utilized was the Revised Leadership for Sport Scale (RLSS) developed by Zhang, Jensen, and Mann in 1996. This scale is used to measure six leadership behaviors: training and instruction, democratic, autocratic, social support, positive feedback, and situational consideration. The scale uses 60 statements, which were preceded by â€Å"In coaching, I:† A Likert scale was then given for each statement: 1 = never; 2 = seldom; 3 = occasionally; 4 = often; and 5 = always. This produced an ordinal level data set. Scales were administered in a number of environmental settings: classrooms, gymnasiums, practice  fields, and offices. The internal consistency for each section was calculated: 0. 84 for training and instruction; 0. 66 for democratic; 0. 70 for autocratic; 0. 52 for social support; 0. 78 for positive feedback; and 0. 69 for situational consideration. There was no information, however, regarding the validity of the RLSS. A MANOVA was used to analyze the data for differences between male and female coaches with regard to leadership behaviors. This is not consistent with the type of data collected. The RLSS used a Likert scale (ordinal), yet a MANOVA would be most  applicable for normally distributed, quantitative data. The analysis showed there were no significant differences between male and female coaches in overall leadership behaviors. When the six leadership styles were examined separately, there was a significant difference in social support between males and females. In general, females scored much higher than did the male coaches. A MANOVA was also used to examine the data for differences between the three levels of coaching (junior high, high school, and college) with regard to leadership behavior in general. There were significant differences between the three levels. When breaking down the six behaviors and examining them individually, an ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Again, because the data for the RLSS is ordinal, an ANOVA is not the best analysis tool. The three coaching levels scored differently on three of the six behaviors: democratic behaviors, training and instruction, and social support. High school coaches scored much higher than college level coaches in democratic behavior. Junior high coaches were significantly lower in training and instruction than either high school or college coaches. Junior high coaches also demonstrated a lesser degree of social support than either the high school or college coaches. A MANOVA was again used to analyze the data for any interaction between gender and coaching level with regard to overall leadership behavior. Once again, a better analysis method could have been chosen based on the nature of the data collected. The results indicated no significant interactions. The ecological generaliziability for the study is fairly high. The surveys were mailed out, and returned on a volunteer basis. However, due to the nonrandom nature of the sample, the results would not generalizable beyond the 162 participants in the study. There was no effect size is listed for the study. In order to reduce threats to internal validity, the participants were asked to respond honestly and confidentiality was stressed so that the â€Å"coaches might feel more at ease in responding. † No other efforts were indicated. The researchers mention that the scales were given in a variety of settings. This could present a threat to the internal validity in that participants might not have been entirely focused on completing the scale, but instead on coordinating practice, completing  paperwork, etc. There are a number of other factors that could effect the internal validity of the study, yet were not addressed by the researchers. Coaching experience would greatly effect the responses of the participants, yet this was not considered in the study. The gender of the athletes may be a contributing factor to the coaches’ responses. It is not unreasonable to suppose that coaches of female athletes, particularly at the junior high and high school levels, will demonstrate more social support than those of male athletes. The nature of the  sport could also be critical. Certain coaching styles are more applicable for individual sports (wrestling, track, and tennis) than for team sports (football, soccer, and basketball). The socioeconomics and population of the school itself could play a factor. Certain schools have better athletes and programs in a particular sport, while others may not be able to field a winning team. In addition, at the high school level, coaches are occasionally asked/forced to work with a program they have no knowledge of or desire to coach due to staffing  shortages. This could dramatically influence a coach’s response to the scale questions. The history of the program as well as the individual coach’s personal coaching history could greatly influence responses. If the program has had several losing seasons in a row, perhaps the attitude of the coach could be different than that of a coach who has recently won a state title. An additional set of questions regarding the personal history of the coach in question could have helped reduce many of these threats. With additional information, the  researchers may have been able to use a modified matching system when analyzing the results. By increasing the number of independent variables to include things such as coaching experience and gender of the athletes, the researchers could have reduced some of the potential threats to internal validity. In addition, bringing coaches together to a common setting could have reduced location threat. Coaches meet seasonally for clinics. Perhaps obtaining permission to administer the survey during these meetings would have been possible. It would have also been possible to actually go to individual  schools and meet with the coaches as a group to administer surveys. This method would have given a good cross-section of gender and coaching experience for a variety of sports. While the study has merit, the methods need to be re-evaluated. The power of the study needs to be increased by obtaining a larger sample size. The numerous potential threats to internal validity need to be addressed and minimized where possible. It would also be helpful to be given data regarding the validity of the RLSS. Without these, it is impossible to evaluate the potential meaningfulness of this study.

Implications of Internet Monitoring on Employees

Implications of Internet Monitoring on Employees By Panuganti Shiv Devara What are the legal and moral implications of internet monitoring on employees? Computers at workplace, are used by employees for their official work, companies often apply employee monitoring software that lets them track everything workers do on their systems. This is termed as internet monitoring of employees. Employee monitoring is most useful to the managers for the fact that job performance is value-added. The benefits of employee monitoring are, looking after errors, the employer can also help the organization cut on expensive inaccuracies and helps the employer mend through supervision. The employer can easily identify policy violators for disciplinary action. Employers engage in employee monitoring to track performance, avoid legal liability, protect trade secrets, and address other security concerns. This practice may some-time influence on employee satisfaction due to its impact on privacy (Ball, Daniel and Stride, 2012). As present-day businesses rely more and more on their websites, internet monitoring software guarantees a nearly uninterrupted runn ing of a companys web presence. Internet facility to the employees is an essential requirement of any employer. The provision of internet facility will enhance the work efficiency of the employees in many ways, and several benefits to the employer. The old-fashioned norms of employment law not only permit electronic monitoring but assumes the legality of its practice as one way of guiding workplace communication and online services (Eivazi, 2011). Employers control is a key feature of the employment contract where it creates employers with the power to control, monitor, and direct the work of employees at workplace. Sometimes, the pressure resulting from workplace monitoring can lead to misleading performance results. The essay is structured to delineate advantages of implementing internet monitoring on employees in workplaces, implications on productivity of organizations, and available acceptable suggestions. A study of the impact of the internet on productivity can be useful for managers by making them aware of the negative effects on productivity and problematic employee behavior (Gumbus and Grodzinsky, 2005). The employee-monitoring-software allows the employer to track everything employees do on their computers. Many workplaces rely heavily on e-mail use and internet access as chief tools of their business. The internet access allows data to be collected, stored, retrieved, and processed at remarkable speed, for businesses. Employers resort to electronic monitoring to protect their business interests and to minimize or prevent exposure to the potential risk of legal liability arising from the misuse of online services at work by employees (Cornelius and Cancer, 2014). Invasion of privacy is one of the important issues in implementing the internet monitoring on employees in business organizations (Carly, 2013) and in educational institutions (Verton, 2004). Employers have a legal right to monitor productivity of workers while workers have the right to be told how they are watched. Video surveillance is a common method used by employers to maintain employee workstations. Strategically placed video cameras can record and archive the computer usage. Video cameras are legal in the work place without notice, except for offensive locations such as locker rooms and bathrooms. While online services such as e-mail and internet access are being used as an efficient tool of communication at work to help business growth, employers cannot overlook its negative legal effects for their businesses. Employees misuse of these services can expose employers, or even themselves, to a new dimension of potential legal liability. Sophisticated monitoring and blocking tool s (filters) will continue to be used by organizations to solve productivity issues due to internet misuse (Wen and Lin, 1998). As outlined above, many of these themes map to national and international privacy frameworks and principles, which may provide additional guidance to employers as to balancing employer versus employee rights and responsibilities. There are certain suggestions for problem-free implementation of internet monitoring of employees. Tools such as InterGuard (http://www.interguardsoftware.com/news_articles.html, NetVizor (http://www.netvizor.net), SurveilStar (http://www.surveilstar.com) and RealtimeSpay (http://www. Realtime-spy.com) have been applied as internal threat solutions that contain different modules such as employee monitoring, web filtering, data loss prevention and laptop anti-theft recovery (http://www.interguardsoftware.com/news_articles.html). By recording the computer (PC/Mac) activity (file tracking, e-mails, social media activity, keystrokes, in stant messages, web activity and screenshots), these tools help protecting the internal threats and keep the contents compliance and maximize employee productivity. Internet monitoring software also provides nursing of every aspect concerning management solution. Further these tools offer bandwidth and IT traffic monitor which indicates which computer is responsible for most bandwidth consumption in the network. Thus, electronic monitoring has become the community norm and a permanent tool of our modern offices (Myria, Kasey, Stephanie and Joy, 2007; Eivazi, 2011). Hence, frame work, involving a specific structure, developed in consultation with employee representatives, delineating the acceptable use of the internet in work places, is one of the common and direct solutions to the legal and moral problems (Gumbus and Grodzinsky, 2006). Eventually, such an internet model solution that sets basic guidelines is required to be made available to all the employees in work place. Employees may also use this model for reasonable private purposes which are consistent with the acceptable use policy. It may be concluded that Internet monitoring plays a pivotal role in monitoring of the assigned duties of the employees in any business organization. This way of surveillance using modern IT tools such as e-mail communications through internet aids to the growth of companies. Although the advantages and disadvantages of employee monitoring seem to balance out, the disadvantages can easily be smoothed out through the right balance of technology and personal engagement. Therefore, the workplace privacy and employee monitoring can go hand in hand such that the employees do not feel pressured but motivated to achieve their outright best. The aspect of employee monitoring involves different areas of the law, from labor to constitutional. While introducing and adopting such procedures and techniques, certain legal and moral issues such as that need to be faced and solved by the business information system analysts and administrators, are discussed. To prevent or minimize the broad range of risk, coupled with the concealed nature of activities online, employers should take reasonable steps to ensure that workplace online services are not being misused. Taking into consideration the benefits of internet monitoring services upon which our modern workplaces are becoming increasingly dependent for their businesses, such trends need to be continued. The education of employees, as well as employers, with respect to their awareness and better understanding of the risks associated with Internet misuse at work. By considering the present-day advancements in IT, some strategic remedial measures and mitigation options like powerful software programs are highlighted. With the advent of recent cutting-edge technological and modeling tools, it is hoped that more and more fast monitoring / diagnosis techniques and cost-effective solutions to minimize the problems that are being encountered by the business establishments come into the practice, leading to substantial growth in the bu siness organization profiles. REFERENCES Ball, K., Daniel, E. M. and Stride, C. (2012). Dimensions of employee privacy: an empirical study. Information Technology and People, Vol. 25, Iss:4, pp. 376-394, http://dx.doi.org / 10.1108/09593841211278785 Carly L. H. (2013). The insider threat and employee privacy: An overview of recent case law. Computer Law Security Review, Vol. 29, pp. 368-381, www.sciencedirect.com, http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016 / jclsv.2013.05.014 Cornelius J. K. and Cancer de la Guardia, M. E. (2014). Exploring the positive side of personal internet use at work: Does it help in managing the border between work and non-work, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 30, pp. 355-360,http://dx.doi.org.ez.library.latrobe.edu.au /10.1016/ j.chb.2013.09.021 Eivazi, K. (2011). Computer use monitoring and privacy at work, Computer Law and Security Review, Vol. 27, pp. 516-523, www.elsevier.com/locate/clsr Gumbus, A. and Grodzinsky F. (2006). Ethical and managerial implications of internet monitoring, WCOB Faculty Publications. Paper 129, pp. 119-124, http://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/wcob_fac/129 Myria, W.A., Kasey L. W., Stephanie J. C. and Joy L. H. (2007). Workplace Surveillance and Managing Privacy Boundaries, Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 2, http://mcq.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com Verton, D. (2004). Email glitch exposes flaw in privacy law, Computerworld, Vol. 38, No. 28, pp. 1, https://doi.org/10.1108/09593841211278785 Wen, H.J. and Lin, B. (1998). Internet and employee Productivity, Management Decision, Vol. 36, pp. 6, doi:10.1108/00251749810204142

Feminist Theories in Social Work

Feminist Theories in Social Work This research considers the application of feminist thought in social work practise.   Specific areas of consideration include the gap from social workers’ personal acceptance of feminist constructs and their use of such constructs in daily practise, the effects of perpetuation of hegemonic gender roles by social workers, and domestic violence victims perceptions of the effectiveness of social work based on the perspectives of their social workers as considered above.   This research further describes a focus group of college social work students who are also domestic violence victims. It records their perceptions of social workers’ worldviewsand the impact of such on service.   Conclusions include that there is asignificant gap between the understanding or acceptance of feministconstructs amongst social workers and its application in daily fieldpractise, that social workers are often likely to perpetuate hegemonicgender roles, and because of such perpetuation view domestic violencesituations as individual occurrences rather than part of a greatersocietal pattern of oppression, and that domestic violence survivorsfeel best served when work with them uses a feminist theoreticalframework. INTRODUCTION Feminism and social work have been associated for many years; however,although many social workers personally espouse working from a feministperspective, the systems of social work still favour work from atraditional or patriarchal perspective.   This research, therefore,seeks to first consider findings from previous study regarding thisphenomenon and the theoretical frameworks for both social work andfeminist thought.   In this light of information gleaned from thesefindings, it became apparent that hegemonic gender roles, a commontopic of feminist research, play a relevant part in work with survivorsof domestic violence.   Specifically, domestic violence survivors areoften directed, either explicitly or implicitly, that their situationis personal and should be considered and dealt with from a personal andpathological perspective rather than applying the tenets of feministthought that view such situations as manifestations of structural andpower problems in our greater society .This study then seeks to document whether this gap between social worktheory supportive of feminist worldviews and social work application ofpractise exists, and if so, how prevalent a gap it is.   This isaccomplished through use of a focus group of college students, all ofwhom have taken at least one course in social work theory and arethemselves domestic violence survivors who have been served, towhatever level of quality, by social workers.   Discussions within thefocus group involved ideas of gender roles and social worker advocacyof hegemonic gender roles, whether explicit or implicit.   The focusgroup then built on this foundation to consider group participants’experiences with social workers and whether they presented anindividual / pathological perspective of domestic violence, or whetherthey presented a perspective that consider the wider influence ofsociety and its systems.   This was further related to the effect ofsuch perceptions on the understanding of and service to groupparticipants at the time of intervention. LITERATURE REVIEW Feminism has emerged in the past thirty years as a viableworldview.   Dietz (2000), quoting Bunch (1980), defined feminism asâ€Å"transformational politics that aims at the dismantling of allpermanent power hierarchies in which one category of humans dominatesor controls another category of humans† (372).   â€Å"In the feminist andempowerment traditions, the personal is political, and individualchange and social change are seen as interdependent† (Deitz 2000,372).   Feminism contends it is not adequate to simply include women inthe world’s political and power systems, as these were designed by andfor men and therefore favour a highly masculinised mechanism forresponding to issues and require women working within these systems todo the same (Scott 1988, Moylan 2003).   Simply including women is notenough; society must give women’s experiences equal time andconsideration, eventually recasting the very meanings of the topics itconsiders (Scott 1988) .   Rather, feminism argues women must be engagedin both the system development and decision-making processes that shapeour society (Moylan 2003).   Consequently, one area where feminism has particularly challengedtraditional views is in the area of gender roles.   For example,Dominelli and McLeod (1989) examine the way in which social problemsare defined, recognising gender as particularly important inunderstanding client groups, and stress egalitarian relationshipsbetween therapists and clients.   Gender is also an importantconsideration of social work due to the patriarchal society that stilldominates most of our world.   This power framework rests on a basis ofhegemonic masculinity (Cohn and Enloe 2003).   Connell (1995) createdthe term ‘hegemonic masculinity’ to describe the valued definition ofmanhood in a society.   He argues that whilst there are multiplepossible masculinities in a culture, only one or a few are most valuedor considered ideal (Conn ell 1995).   This gender definition isconstructed both in relation to femininity and to other, subordinatedmasculinities, and is used to justify both men’s domination of women,and the hegemonically masculine man’s power over other men (Cohn andWeber 1999).Whilst women are increasingly being included in world systems, thesystems themselves still were designed for and operate by and for men.  Therefore, women who participate within the system must do so from maleparadigm, even if it is sometimes at odds with their own preferencesfor how to go about dealing with a situation (Cohn and Enloe 2003).Feminism historically is a â€Å"critique of male supremacy, the belief thatgender order was socially constructed and could not be changed† (Cott1989,205).   Masculinity is often defined as what is not feminine, andfemininity as what is not masculine, although understanding thedynamics of one requires considering both the workings of the other andthe relationship and overlap between the two (Cohn and Enloe 2003).  Masculine definitions are often based on strength, domination andviolence, whilst feminine on weakness, nurturing, compassion andpassitivity (Rabrenovic and Roskos 2001).   The result is pressure onmen adhering to a hegemonic definition of masculinity to view forms ofaddressing conflict other than a physical or masculine response asfeminine and a threat to their manhood (Moylan 2003).   The popular concept of gender holds that masculinity and femininityare unchanging expressions based on the chromosomal male and femalebodies (Butler 1990).   â€Å"Gender is assumed to be ‘hard-wired,’ at leastin part† (Hawkesworth 1997).   Masculine actions and desires for men andfeminine actions and desires for women alone are normal, thesemasculine and feminine traits are not a matter of choice, and allindividuals can be classified as one or the other (Hawkesworth 1997).  However, whilst our society men are considered strong and dominant, andwomen passive and nurturing, â€Å"the meanings of male and female bodiesdiffer from one culture to another, and change (even in our ownculture) over time† (Connell 1993, 75).   For example, there have beenâ€Å"periods in Western history when the modern convention that mensuppress displays of emotion did not apply at all, when men wereeffusive to their male friends and demonstrative about their feelings†(Connell 1993, 75).   â€Å"Masculinities and feminities are constructed oraccomplished in social processes such as child rearing, emotional andsexual relationships, work and politics† (Connell 1993, 75).Feminism, however, contends gender is a constructed by each culture,and as a social practice involves the incorporation of specificsymbols, which support or distort human potential (Hawkesworth 1997).  Ã‚  Gender is created through â€Å"discursively constrained performative acts,†and the repetition of these acts over time cr eates gender for theindividual in society (Butler 1990, x).   People learn to â€Å"act† likewomen or men are supposed to; women are taught to behave in a femininemanner, men are taught to act in a masculine manner.   This is oftenreinforced by authority figures, such as social workers.   Barnes (2003)cites a number of studies which find social workers often assume theâ€Å"disciplinary gaze† of notions of â€Å"what and how to be woman,†perpetuating traditional gender roles (149).  Ã‚   â€Å"Armed with rigid codesof gender appropriate behaviors, social workers often sought toregulate and mediate women’s interactions with the social, economic,and political world† (Barns 2003, 149).Feminism and social work share a number of similarities.   Both believeâ€Å"in the inherent worth and dignity of all persons, the value of processover product, the appreciation of unity-diversity, the importance ofconsidering the person-in- environment, and a commitment to personalempowerment and active participation in society as a means to bringabout meaningful social change† (Baretti 2001, 266-267).   Similarly,both feminism and social work address multiple approaches to handlingsituations, challenging the institutionalized oppression common in manypower structures and supporting â€Å"the reconceptualization andredistribution of that power† (Baretti 2001, 267).It follows that one impact of feminism on social work practise is theconsideration of issues from a societal rather than personalperspective.   For example, this might include viewing a domesticviolence situation not from the perspective that the family isdysfunctional, but from the perspective of the society that created thefamily.   The psychology-based focus of clinical social work â€Å"oftenleads to individualizing social problems, rather than to viewing themas the result of relations of power, primarily oppression and abuse†(Deitz 2000, 369).   As such, individuals experiencing such difficultiesare â€Å"taught† that their particular experiences are inappropriate,rather than addressing the systems that created the difficulties in thefirst place (Deitz 2000, 369).   Dominelli and McLeod (1989) re-evaluate social work practice from afeminist perspective, considering the functions of social work such astherapy, community interaction, and policy making not from apathological standpoint but from one of defined roles endorsed bysocietal conditions.   As such, they contend that working from afeminist perspective allows the social worker to address the causes ofsocial issues, rather than the symptoms played out in individual’slives (Dominelli and McLeod 1989).One area of difference in social work practise between those operatingfrom a feminist framework and a traditional framework is the concept ofdistance.   Traditionally, the â€Å"patriarchal bias against relationalityand connection† is intended to lead to â€Å"connection without harm, lovewithout power abuse, touching without sexual abuse in psychotherapy†(Deitz 2000, 377).   Unfortunately, in practise it often results inâ€Å"power over† relationships where those receiving services feel â€Å"lessthan† those providing them.   â€Å"Healing happens when someone feels seen,heard, held, and empowered, not when one is interpreted, held at adistance, and pathologized† (Deitz 2000, 377). Deitz (2000) finds thatsocial workers often institutionalize a â€Å"power over† stance fromprofessional training and discourse that constructs the identities ofclients as somehow disordered, dysfunctional or impaired.   â€Å"Whetherbetween parents and children; physicians and patients; social workersand consumers of services; Whites and Blacks; or heterosexuals andlesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered persons, power overrelationships give the dominant partners or group the right to definethe mean ings of subordinates’ experiences (including their resistance)and thus their opportunities for self-affirmation† (Deitz 2000,373).This creates professional relationships that ignore theenvironmental, historical, and social contexts of the problem, discountpeople’s strengths and resilience in assessment and intervention, andlead â€Å"to the objectification of people as diagnoses, rather than toempowerment† (Deitz 2000, 370).   â€Å"The keys to empowerment in feministmicro practice are reconnection and transformation through politicalactivity; survivors of oppression and abuse experience reconnectionthrough relationships based on mutuality, collaboration, andtrustworthiness† (Deitz 2000, 376).Theories from social work, psychology, and particularly developmentalpsychology describe empowerment as primarily a process, with thepersonal transformation of the individual becoming empowered at itsfoundation (Carr 2003, 8).   Barriers to empowerment and problems ofdisenfranchisement caused by powerlessness are primarily political,rather than psychological.   Powerlessness is defined as the inabilityto effectively manage one’s emotions, knowledge, skills, or resources;it is â€Å"derived from the absence of external supports and the existenceof ontological â€Å"power blocks† that become incorporated into a person’sdevelopment† (Carr 2003, 13).   As such, many survivors also work toreconnect to others in their communities, often seeking politicalactivity that â€Å"emphasizes the empowerment of others, such as byorganizing Take Back the Night marches or speak-outs, volunteering forcrisis hot lines, seeking legislative changes, or becoming socialworkers or human service professionals† (Deitz 2000, 376).For example, feminist work with abuse survivors â€Å"emphasizes therelationship between abuse and oppressive social relations (Deitz 2000,374).   On the other hand, the dominant clinical socia l work approach tooppression and abuse relocates the problem of oppression in victims.Psychological theories are typically employed, which â€Å"locates pathologyin individuals, rather than in oppressive relationships and systems,and considers the long-term effects of oppression to be symptoms ofindividual pathology† (Deitz 2000, 374).   Unfortunately, whilst manysocial workers have been exposed to or even personally supportoperating from a feminist framework, the systems in which they workprevent them from actively utilising feminist insight in their dailypractise.   RESEARCH PLAN This research seeks to study the prevalence and impact of traditionaland feminist practitioner constructs from the perspective of thoseserved.   Specifically, a focus group study will be conducted with agroup of college students, all of whom are currently studying socialwork and therefore have some concept regarding social work practice,feminist and traditional worldviews.   In addition, all students in thefocus group will have experienced domestic violence and have beenprovided the services of a social worker in some form during theirteenage years.Three areas of discussion will be undertaken by the group.   These willbe provided to individual group participants in writing several daysbefore the group in order for students to have time to consider whatthey would like to share regarding their opinions and own experiences.  The first group activity will involve creating definitions ofâ€Å"masculine† and â€Å"feminine† from the perspective of a typical socialwork er based on the students’ teenage experiences.   Students will thenbe asked to discuss where, if at all, they personally feel they andtheir family members who were involved in the domestic violencesituation(s) â€Å"fit† regarding these preconceived definitions.   It isanticipated some students will have been uncomfortable with societalconstraints they or their family experienced as teenagers.   As all arestudying social work, they are also anticipated to make moreconnections between societal power issues, hegemonic gender roles, andtheir influence on domestic violence than a focus group without suchbackground.   The third area of discussion will centre on how thestudents’ perceptions of their social worker(s) understanding of genderroles influenced their and their families reception of adequateservice. The researcher will both tape record and take notes on the groupdiscussions.   Data gathered from the group will then be compiled andanalysed.   In a ddition, students from the focus group will be given theoption to write a response to the group activity, if they so desire.  These will be further included in the group data. METHODOLOGY Data collection involved four means.   Prior to the group starting,each participant was given a questionnaire (see Appendix 3) to gatherbasic demographic information.   The questionnaire also asked for abrief summary of their abusive situation.   Regarding data collection ofthe group proceedings, as described above the focus group session wastape-recorded and the researcher took notes to supplement the recordingof group discussion.   The recorded sessions were then transcribed intoprint form, with research notes added in at the chronologicallyappropriate points of the transcription to provide a more completewritten overview of the focus group discussion.   In addition, groupparticipants had an option to write a response the group to be includedin the group data.   Four participants wrote responses, which wereconsidered with the group data following analysis of the focus groupdiscussion.   Participants were provided with the three areas of groupdiscussion several days pr ior to the actual focus group meeting.   Theywere not given any directions or guidance regarding the optionalwritten responses to the group activity.Data analysis first involved dividing and coding group data.   Responsesto the first topic of discussion were divided into three categories:  those representing a traditional worldview, those representing afeminist worldview, and those that did not clearly represent eitherworldview.   From these groupings, overall findings regarding theworldviews typically experienced by the group participants weresummarised.   This was then further compared with the definitions oftraditional gender roles identified by the group.Data from the second topic of discussion were also broken down intothose representing a traditional worldview, those representing afeminist worldview, and those that did not clearly represent eitherworldview.   It was important to then note participant perceptions andemotional responses to these codings, and in which worldview groupingthey and their families were reported to feel best served andempowered.   Data from the specific discussion regarding service were then similarlyanalysed, and combined with previous findings to present a picture ofthe impact of traditional versus feminist worldviews on social workpractise, emphasising work with teenage domestic violence survivors andtheir understanding of gender roles in society.   It was anticipated at the conclusion of such research, a view could beasserted as to whether feminist perspective has a significant impact onthe practise of social work as it is currently undertaken and whetherthis impact, if any, leads to improved service.As the focus group involved a relatively small number of participants(nine total) and data from their interactions were primarilyqualitative in nature, it was decided not to perform any complexstatistical analysis on focus group data.   It was felt that such typesof analysis would neither reveal findings that co uld be consideredstatistically significant nor provide a more accurate understanding ofthe issues under consideration than a more qualitative analyticalapproach.   In consideration of space and relevance portions of thediscussion were used to support conclusions in the findings andanalysis sections of this dissertation, whilst an overall summary ofthe most relevant portions of the discussion are included in Appendix2. IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECT Nine students meeting the criteria laid out in the research planagreed to participate in the focus group.   They were primarilyorganised by one group participant, who had discovered other domesticviolence survivors through classroom discussions and throughparticipation in a survivors’ group in the local community.   All ninestudents were currently studying social work or had taken at least onesocial work course as part of a related course of study, such aseducation or criminal justice.   There were six women and three men,ranging in age from nineteen to twenty-seven.   Racially, seven wereCaucasian, one was Black, and one was Asian.   All present as comingfrom upper working class to middle class backgrounds.   All hadexperienced domestic violence as teenagers, making their experiencesfairly recent and therefore providing a relatively current depiction ofsocial work practise.   Five students (three women, two men) had beenremoved from their biological parents at s ome point during theirteenage years.   All had been involved in interventions into the familyby a social worker representing either a government organisation, or inthe case of one woman, a local church.   Some of the participants previously knew each other and were somewhataware of each other’s experiences, which should be considered in groupanalysis.   Five regularly participated in a survivors’ support group inthe community.   One man and one woman were cousins.   In addition, twoof the men had known each other as teenagers from intervention throughthe school system.Jennifer, a twenty-four year-old Caucasian woman, was chosen to be themoderator, as she had been the one who had assisted the researcher byarranging for most of the participants to become involved in thestudy.   The group then moved almost immediately into discussion of thetopics provided.   The group had been provided a whiteboard for its use,which Jennifer implemented to organise individua l comments and ideas.  It is surmised that the easy manner with which the group undertook thediscussion was based on the fact that they were all students andtherefore used to having study groups, group discussions, and the like,and that all of them had at least publicly shared their experiencespreviously, either as part of a classroom discussion or survivors’group, or both, and were therefore more comfortable in engaging in suchdiscussion than might be typical for a focus group dealing with suchexperiences. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS The first finding of this research is that the majority of socialworkers in service or domestic violence survivors to not consistentlyemploy feminist constructs in practise, despite the likelihood ofhaving been exposed to such constructs.   This manifested itself inthree significant ways.   First, families were overwhelming dealt withas individuals with problems.   That is, the abuser was described asmaking poor choices or having some type of pathological issues that ledto his or her decision to abuse (in one participant’s family, bothparents were abusive).   As such, the abuser was described from apsychoanalytical standpoint by the social worker(s), and his or herbehaviour labelled as individually deviant.   The survivors of the domestic violence situations, particularly themothers, as the majority of abusers from the groups’ experiences weremale family members or boyfriends of the mother, were also reported tobe consistently dealt with from an individual per spective.   In thissense, their behaviour was also reported to be categorised by thesocial workers involved as unhealthy, pathological, and coming fromsome sort of unresolved personal issues, such as low self-esteem.   Inthe case of only one participant did the social workers involved ineither intervention or therapy consistently relate the domesticviolence situation to broader issues of oppression, societal powerstructures and the related hegemonic gender roles, or patriarchal normsof society.   It is of note that this participant received service froma progressive women-helping-women organisation, rather than atraditional government-organised social work programme.  Group participants also repeatedly described their family situationsas unhealthy, and they certainly were, but from the perspective thatboth the abuser and abused were reacting or displaying emotioninappropriately, rather than that the motivation or norming behind thebehaviour was at fault.   For example, Tre nt described his mother asdrawn to violent, alcoholic men.   â€Å"She always seemed to go for theseguys that didn’t know how to express anything except by breaking stuff,yelling, hitting, you know.†Ã‚   His further descriptions of his mothers’boyfriends indicated an assumption that if these men had been raisedwith or taught proper means of dealing with their frustrations andemotions, the abuse to him and his mother would have been lessened oreliminated.   This idea was supported by at least one social worker, whosuggested counselling for Trent, his mother, and the then boyfriend asone possible way of addressing the abusive situation.Several participants did bring feminist theory and thought into groupdiscussion, pointing out, for example, that dominance or aggression bymen in any form was unhealthy, and questioning why it was only seen asunhealthy by most of the social workers they had encountered, and byothers they knew in the community, when physical viol ence was actuallyinvolved.   There was a related discussion, albeit brief, about the unwillingnessof neighbours, relatives, and others in the community, such as membersof the same church, to intervene in the domestic violence situation.  Participants indicated their perception that whilst this was often dueto a fear of getting involved or knowing how to help the situation,there were repeated occurrences in everyone’s experience where anunwillingness to intervene derived from others’ implications that theman of the house had some right to choose the way in which thehousehold operated, or that he had a right to discipline his wife /girlfriend and children as he saw fit.   Wendy reports hearing an auntstate â€Å"Well, its his family, their kids, she wants to stay with him,†and dismiss the ongoing violence as therefore an acceptable familylifestyle, or at least one in which none of the rest of the familyshould be expected to intervene.   Participants then a cknowledged thisand several other systemic situations that perpetuated their abuse,such as reluctance of authority figures to continue questioning wheninitially told nothing was wrong, and unwillingness of police tointervene repeatedly.   Similarly, regarding gender roles, discussion indicated a belief bymost participants that their social workers believed a traditionalstereotype of what was appropriate behaviour for a man and a woman, andthat these behaviours were different.   There were reports of acceptanceof physical response as an appropriate masculine reaction, but thelevel of physical response not being considered appropriate.   Maleparticipants were encouraged to talk about their experiences, butreport never being given permission to express fear, or an emotionalresponse such as crying.   One male participant reported starting to cryas part of a group experience, and being discouraged rather thanencouraged to continue, whilst female members of the group were allowedt o and even supported in such emotional expression.   There were similarreports of various hegemonically feminine expressions, such as crying,fear, and nurturing behaviours, being supported and encouraged bysocial workers for male family members but not female, as well as anacceptance or assumption of weakness on the part of adult females whochose to remain in an abusive situation.The discussion then moved to the effect of traditional and feministperspective on social work service.   Participants overwhelminglyreported feeling better served when social workers sought to empowerthem and their families.   This did usually involve practise of methodsderived from a feminist view, such as the use of reflective journalingand support groups, as well as encouragement from the social workers tothe mother that she could, indeed, survive and prosper outside thedomestic violence situation, that she did have the inner reserves toaddress the situation and move to a healthier lifestyle, and t hatsocietal pressure to be with a man, either as a romantic partner or asa father / father-figure for children was not necessary for asuccessful life.   Participants also report feeling personally empoweredby such encouragement, and therefore able to support their mothers inattempts to leave relationships.From their own study in social work theory, focus group participantswere able to briefly discuss the ramifications of the patriarchalsocietal power structure on a woman’s decision to stay in a violentsituation.   One issue brought up included the perception that societywill view a woman as a failure and undesirable if she does not have aromantic relationship with a man in her life.   A number of womenparticipants in the group reported feeling similar pressure to maintaina romantic relationship with a man in their life, regardless of theirother commitments or interests, and an expectation that they would notbe successful women if they did not ultimately get married and havechildren.   When questioned by other participants, the three maleparticipants reported not feeling such pressures.   Another issue raisedwas the mothers’ perception that they needed a father figure tosuccessfully raise children, particularly boys.   This was perpetuatedin the life experiences of group participants even though the menoccupying these roles were viewed by the male participants asdestructive, rather than constructive, influences.   Issues of supportin disciplining children and managing household operations were alsoindicated, as was the financial support provided by the batterer.   Thegroup indicated all these issues were societal, rather than individual,and lack of addressing of them affected the effectiveness of the socialservices they had received.Overall, the participants were generally positive about at least onesocial worker with whom they had a relationship during their teenageyears.   Participants typically felt feeling most encouraged and bestserved by those social workers who did not present themselves as beingdistant or above the participants and their families, and who did notoverly emphasise their family’s issues from a perspective of individualdysfunction.   These findings indicated that a feminist interactiveconstruct, which avoids â€Å"power over† methods and practise is perceivedto be most effective by domestic violence survivors. RECOMMENDATIONS It is recommended from findings of this study that social workersare first provided greater exposure to and training in feminist methodsand theory as it relates to their practical, day-to-day practise.   Forexample, all participants reported some positive experiences inresponse to reflective methods such as reflective journaling andsurvivor support groups.   Considerations of ways to more greatlyinclude such methods in typical practise are therefore indicated.   Of greater concern are the systems in which social workers operate.  Whilst most of the social workers in these focus group participants’experiences had some familiarity with feminist theory or methods, asindicated by their emphasis on empowerment or use of specificstrategies, there is something within the government-sponsored socialservices structure that prohibits practise truly based on feministtenets.   A sharp contrast was provided by the young woman served at aprogressive, private service, where feminis t theory was the obviousframework on which service was based.   She was by far the most positiveabout her experiences and workers, and reported insights, understandingand empowerment to change not consistently reported by other focusgroup participants.It therefore recommended that more research be pursued as to whatfactors constrain social workers from functioning from a more feministframework.   Issues such as time (many social workers have far morepeople to see and serve than they would like to have, or often feelthey can serve effectively), lack of material resources such asappropriate space, lack of effective training, or discouragement insuch regards from supervisors or others in power.   Specificallyidentifying relevant factors could then form a framework forprogressing with change in social work practise within a typicalgovernment service organisation.It is further recommended that individual social workers consider whatconstraints they persona

LBJ and the Vietnam War :: Vietnam War Essays

Thus far the Vietnam War has shown to be a highly complex situation. Many of times, I have found myself agreeing with Lyndon B. John’s decisions to escalate the war. First and foremost, the United States had made a promise of freedom and tranquility to the people (whom were not part of Viet-Cong) of Vietnam. As an American, it is my opinion that the United States had to uphold its word, essentially its credibility. Secondly, withdrawing troops from Vietnam when the situation was really out of control would make the United States appear weak. In midst of the Cold War, the one thing that was not going to prove true was that the United States was weak. Although these reasons were and are valid, the anti-war movement in conjunction with the Tet offensive required President Johnson to make a decision that changed the perception of the war; he chose to call a halt on the bombardment in Vietnam. The purpose of this essay is to further analyze how the continuing anti-war movement and the Tet Offensive were the reasons that â€Å"America’s fate was effectively sealed by mid-1968.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The antiwarriors that have been described in Melvin Small’s book have shown to be relentless. They were fighting for a just cause, or at least it was a just cause in their opinion. They were able to organize and rally others to join in their quest to end the violence that was occurring in Vietnam. Between 1967 and 1968, however, a new phenomenon was occurring, the age of the â€Å"hippies.† Small mentions, â€Å"For many Americans by 1967, antiwar demonstrators were not only unruly and potentially violent but hippies†¦serious politically oriented activists became easily conflated with hippies to the detriment of their cause.† (Small, 81) This unexpected result of the antiwar movement definitely did put a damper on the cause because hippies were perceived as these pot-smoking, disrespectful, unappreciative bunch of kids who had no idea what they were talking about because they were high all the time. This proved to be untrue. The hippies w ere just as much as a centrifugal as the other activists, and this was evident in the rally held at the Pentagon.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although only 75,000 or less activists were there, the event that occurred at the Pentagon was one of the underlying reasons LBJ had decided to end the bombing in Vietnam. What made this event stand out from the rest is that is was one of the largest, and nonetheless, it occurred â€Å"at the center of [American citizens] center of their war-making machine [which] presented a powerful image of a nation in turmoil.

How the Catholic Church Held Up During the Middle Ages Essay -- Histor

The Middle Ages was a long period of time. It started in about the 500 A.D. and ended in about 1500 A.D. Not many things can last for this long period of time, but at least one thing did, and that was the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church consists of Popes, Bishops, Clergy, and Monks, and Nuns were also part of the Church. Also during the Middle Ages, it also produced many great philosophers (Funk & Wagnall’s, 275). From the Middle Ages to the 13th century, the church played important role as authority, influence. The Catholic Church held up due to the power of the Pope, Pope Gregory’s policies, and the Church was a part of the citizen’s daily lives. In the Middle Ages houses of the poor and wealthy were often alike, except for the wealthy because they could occupy all their floors of the house. Their business would be on the first floor, living quarters on the second, and servant’s quarters on the third. If they family were poor they might have several families living under one roof, which makes the house very crowded (Gies, 243). Among the village, the only stone building was the church. The entire village was mostly made out of sticks, mud and such objects. The churches were built and paid for by the people (thinkquest). It was a nice centerpiece of a town. Inside the Church, you will not find any sort of warmth. Many people came with hand-warmers, because the church was often cool year round. Churches also did not have pews for people to sit on; they had to bring their own chairs. The church was a public building in which the town’s business life is often occurring around a town’s church (Gies, 291). The Church provided services to the poor, care of the sick, helpless, and travelers (Frem... ... new heights. Christendom to take up arms to re-conquer Jerusalem, it was urged on by soldiers, monks, popes, and others. â€Å"The Church encouraged uniformity during the Crusades and efforts to recapture territories lost to aroused and militant Islamic powers† (Funk & Wagnall’s). The Roman Catholic Church went through some tough times during the Middle Ages, but they did hold up. Each member played an important part in the Church. Each part of the hierarchy had an important role to play. They had to be a firm believer in the Church. Pope Gregory created policies, and strengthened many parts of the Church. Each Pope had the power to influence the kings that were in power. If it had not been for the people, and the hierarchy of the Church, the Church might have died. The Catholic Church did hold up during the Middle Ages due to the people and events that took place.

Imagination in Romantic Poetry Essay

A large part of those extracts on Romantic imagination – which are contained in the fascicule on pages D64 and D65 – are strictly related to an ancient theory about Art and Reality’s imitation, the Theory of Forms concieved by a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician Plato – in Greek: ÃŽ  ÃŽ »ÃŽ ¬Ãâ€žÃâ€°ÃŽ ½, Plà ¡tÃ… n, â€Å"broad†; from 424/423 BC to 348/347 BC. The Theory of Forms – in Greek: á ¼ °ÃŽ ´ÃŽ ­ÃŽ ±ÃŽ ¹ – typically refers to the belief expressed by Socrates in some of Plato’s dialogues, that the material world as it seems to us is not the real world, but only an image or copy of the real world. Socrates spoke of forms in formulating a solution to the problem of universals. The forms, according to Socrates, are roughly speaking archetypes or abstract representations of the many types of things, and properties we feel and see around us, that can only be perceived by reason – in Greek: ÃŽ »ÃŽ ¿ÃŽ ³ÃŽ ¹ÃŽ ºÃŽ ® – that is, they are universals. In other words, Socrates sometimes seems to recognise two worlds: the Apparent world, which constantly changes, and an unchanging and unseen world of forms, which may be a cause of what is apparent. This theory is proposed in different ways in Blake’s, Coleridge’s Shelley’s extracts. The former says that â€Å"This world of Imagination is the world of Eternity† (A Vision of the Last Judgement, 1810) a place which resembles to a sort of otherworldly realm where â€Å"Exist [†¦] the Permanent Realities of Every Thing (the Form) which we see reflected in this Vegetable Glass of Nature (the Apparent world)†. A similar thing is exposed by Samuel Coleridge an english romantic poet who divides Imagination in Primary and Secondary. The former is â€Å"the living Power and prime Agent of all human Perception, and as a repetition in the finite mind of the eternal act of creation in the infinite†, the latter is an echo of the former who â€Å"diss olves, diffuses, dissipates, in order to re-create† (Biographia Literaria, 1817) a thing which is totally different from Fancy. Even in Shelley the poetry is presented as â€Å"something of divine [†¦] not like reasoning† (A Defence of Poetry, 1821) which beholds as the poet, the present, the past, and the future. In Keats and Wordsworth the poetry became â€Å"the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings [originating] from emotion recollected in tranquillity† (Preface to Lyrical Ballads) and the poet â€Å"the most unpoetical of any thing in existence; because he has no Identity† (A Letter to Richard Woodhouse, October 27th 1818). So Art is imitation, a feature of both of Plato’s theories. In the Republic, Plato says that art imitates the objects and events of ordinary life. In other words, a work of art is a copy of a copy of a Form. It is even more of an illusion than is ordinary experience. On this theory, works of art are at best entertainment, and at worst a delusion. This theory actually appears in Plato’s short early dialogue, the Ion. Socrates is questioning a poet named Ion, who recites Homer’s poetry brilliantly but is no good at reciting anything else. Socrates is puzzled by this; it seems to him that if Ion has an art, or skill, of reciting poetry he should be able to apply his skilled knowledge to other poets as well. He concludes that Ion doesn’t really possess skilled knowledge. Rather, when he recites Homer, he must be inspired by a god. The Ion drips with sarcasm. Plato didn’t take the â€Å"art by divine inspiration† theory very seriously. But many ancient, medieval, and modern artists and aestheticians have found it irresistible.

Being there

Jerzy Kosinski’s Being There is the story of Chance Gardener, a man with limited mental and social potential, yet raised by his environment to the level of fame. Referred to as a â€Å"blank page† person, he is, at the same time, seen by his immediate environment as â€Å"quite a personality† mainly because of his exterior qualities: he has a â€Å"beautiful voice†, is â€Å"manly† and â€Å"well-groomed†. Not only the Manhattan society, in which Chance finds himself after being hit by a car knows nothing about Gardiner’s past: the reader is also faced with the same puzzle.The opening chapter provides only some information about the protagonist’s enclosed life in the Old Man’s house, his passion for gardening and his life reality, which is entirely formed by the pictures seen on television. We get to know that the Old Man sheltered Chance as a baby when his mother died, that his name is Chance because he was born by chanc e, that due to his mental disability inherited from his mother he could neither read nor write. The only people that Chance initially communicates with are the Old Man, who eventually dies, and the maid Louise.Louise is soon forced to return to Jamaica due to an illness and a new maid comes to substitute her. Chance the Gardener seems to lead a blissful life while watching TV or working in the garden – the only activities that form his view of reality at the onset of the narration. However, when the Old Man dies he is forced to leave the house as no will is left by the deceased and no record of Chance as either a resident or employee can be found in the Old Man’s documents. It remains a riddle for both the lawyer who comes to handle the estate and the reader why Chance was left out of the records.For all that, this riddle appears to serve as a good tool for creating suspense in the account of the hero’s changed life style after the accident. With no social and f amily connections whatsoever Gardiner becomes the center of attention among the educated high class society of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Rand. He soon meets the US President and a number of political and corporate figures, and becomes â€Å"a strong candidate for one of the vacant seats on the board of the First American Financial Corporation† (35).The developments that follow appear hilarious as none of the persons Gardiner gets acquainted with is aware of his physical disabilities. Two aspects that â€Å"save† his positive image are his interest in television and love for gardening. The first helps him think of proper ways to behave in social situations and the latter is a basis for the only factual knowledge he can refer to when participating in discussions about American economy. For instance, when engaging in conversations with Mrs. Rand â€Å"Chance resorted to repeating to her parts of her own sentences, a practice he had observed on TV.In this fashion he encourage d her to continue and elaborate† (24). Also, during a meal Chance ignored the wine because â€Å"On TV, wine put people in a state they could not control† (26). Later, when invited to participate in a TV show, Gardiner could experience the making of a program personally: â€Å"Chance was astonished that television could portray itself; cameras watched themselves†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (37). Similarly, his story about seasons and growth in the garden during his meeting with the President led to his being recognized as an expert in the field of economics.Towards the end of the novel the suspense is even greater when the President keeps demanding that his administration provides him with background information about Chance. However, they are unable to find out anything substantial. Mass media is also concerned about the lack of such information. However, Chance’s future looks positive especially with the death of Benjamin Rand. Mrs. Rand is very much in love with Gardiner a nd sincerely hopes he will stay with her after her husband’s death. Gardiner appears to also have acquired a certain image in the public eye, which will not be easily shattered in case politicians find out who he really is.On numerous occasions Gardiner was very explicit about his disabilities to write and read, but the public interpreted it in its own way, the â€Å"wishful thinking† way. The latter is, ultimately, the problem of the public – and the American society in its wider implications – that interpreted Gardiner’s words the way it wished to. Works Cited Kosinski, Jerzy. Being There Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff, 1996 Brothers Judd Daily. Ed. 23 Sep. 2000 < htttp://www. brothersjudd. com /index. cfm/fuseaction/reviews. detail/book_id/294/Being%20There. htm>