Friday, September 6, 2019
Spirituality and Family Resilience Essay Example for Free
Spirituality and Family Resilience Essay Perhaps no other social institution has a closer link with religion than does the family. In the case where the family becomes particularly â€Å"sacred, the danger of family violence is also as real as in the various forms of the secular religion of love. When the family as such, mostly forms of marriage and children, is seen as an untouchable value by the outside world, by family members and by the church. The risk exists that family members will want to keep all injustice and violence that occurs inside the family members will want to keep all injustice and violence that occurs inside the family a secret.            A woman or a child often receives the message to sacrifice her or himself for the sake of the family: to behave in a proper way and tolerate the violence in order to safeguard the family. As child are existentially loyal to their parents (Boszormenyi-Nagy Spark, 1973)1 and partners who are beaten often lack self-confidence, most will want really to keep the family intact, because it is, in spite of the violence, valuable for them. The risks exist that religion might be used as a means to legitimize power balances in the family that can become very oppressive. The idea that the family is sacred often emphasizes the traditional, marriage-based family, which usually goes together with a pattern of traditional roles. Although sacrifice has a certain value, justice should not be overlooked. When love is only conceived of in the second person, it supposes a kind of never-ending love and devotion to the other. This can be seen as a form of self-sacrifice in spite of me. The human person has to compare and weigh goodness towards the unique other with the right of each other person.            The belief in the cross does not call people in the first place to activism, but enables a deep spiritual experience of devotion arising from belief in God. The human person can give him or herself without having to create their whole lives themselves. In these sense, the metaphor of sacrifice, within the framework of the Christian belief in God, is liberating. On the basis of Christian faith, some parents can find new hope and courage. In difficult situations parents may realize that they have done everything in their capacity and that they have to leave the rest trustingly in the hands of God. In this way, families may overcome difficult situations and achieve a high degree of resilience (Spousel, 2003).2 The cross and faith in the resurrection cannot only liberate people from the often frenetic effort to realize a perfect intimate life, but also may motivate people to protest against suffering and evil. The cross is a sign and a message never to forget the sufferings of people (Merz, 1997).3 The death of Jesus on the cross and the Christian faith signify a protest against the rhetoric of the necessity of sacrifices in the name of a higher aim. It is not God who asks for sacrifice, but people themselves who require sacrifices of others in an abuse of power.            Despite ample evidence that global indexes of religiousness are linked to a family functioning, the mechanisms by which religion uniquely influences family dynamics are not well understood or empirically documented. To advance the scientific study of religions role in families, we delineate how the construct of sanctification applies to marital and parent-child relationships as well as to the entire family systems according to diverse religious traditions. We define sanctifications as a psychological process in which aspects of life are perceived a shaving spiritual character and significance. Todays families face a myriad of problems including economic difficulties, physical health addiction problems, and many stressful work related issues. There is acceptance among many Americans that religion facilitates positive and healthy family interaction and enhances the life satisfaction of its members.            Religious affiliation and participation may provide and/or enlarge the social support system available to the family by increasing the number of friendships with other families. This social support may lead the family to believe they are cared for and loved, esteemed and valued, and belong to a network of mutual aid. Social support has also been found to be an important factor in a familys ability to overcome crises. Churches may enhance a familys social support by encouraging group activities. Religious affiliation and participation may strength families by providing enjoyable activities. Many religions provide direct education in supportive family values, attitudes, and behaviors. The themes of charity begins at home and do unto others as you would have them do unto you are supported in all of the worlds major religions. Religions assist families in formulating and maintaining moral values and ethical codes of conduct. Most religions also operate to counteract several human tendencies that hinder relationships. Religion operates against such easy solutions by encouraging families to stay together and work out their difficulties.            Religion may strengthen families is by encouraging families to believe in, and seek, personal and family assistance from God. Belief in divine intervention may be another resource providing comfort, inspiration, or guidance fro family members. The influence of God is difficult to measure, but many people perceive its very real effects in their lives. For many, God is a reality, and when God assists humankind by petition, then divine influence is another source of help to families that is encouraged by religions. It is useful to consider the role of religion in family change in the Western world within the context of the teachings and authority of the Christian Church. The Roman Catholic Church developed the view that, while marriage, pro-creation was seen as the primary purpose of sexual relations; and intentional interference with this purpose, by either contraception or abortion, was prohibited.             The Protestant reformers adopted a somewhat different view of marriage but continued to hold the ideal of a lifetime marriage, although they allowed divorce for a limited set of serious causes. Celibacy was de-emphasized during the Reformation but the prohibitions against contraception remained strong. In fact, the proscriptions against divorce and birth control remained fairly monolithic in Christian churches well into the 20th century (Thornton, 1985).4 The Catholics have become less unique, fundamentalist Protestants have become more distinct. Given the historically strong interests and doctrines of the Christian churches concerning family matters, it is difficult to imagine how far-reaching family changes of the last two centuries could have occurred without provoking fundamental re-examination of theology, doctrine, and programs. Heated and extensive debates concerning family changes and appropriate responses to them are not new phenomena but have been endemic for a century in the Western world (Wilcox, 2007).5            The foundations of national morality are laid in private families. The institution of marriage played a vital role in promoting the moral health of the American republic, both by civilizing men and fostering a family environment where children were more likely to grow in virtue. They knew that the new republic’s commitment to liberty and limited government dependent in no small part on the capacity of American men and women to form and maintain families that fostered fidelity, hard work, self-control, and a measure of independence. They knew, in other words, that self-government begins at home.            Modern Americans, however, seem no longer to see as clearly the connections between our nation’s half-century retreat from marriage and dramatic declines in child welfare, as represented by marked increases in adolescent delinquency, depression, and suicide over this same period. They do not see how this retreat is implicated in unprecedented increases in the size and scope of the police state over the last half century-in, for instance, the prison-building boom of the past three decades, the responses of federal and state governments to the spiraling crime rates of the 1970’s and 1980’s. And they do not see that the poor and working classes have been hit hardest by the breakdown of marriage in America.            For the first time in history-not just American history but the history of known human society-people began to toy with the idea that children and marriage were really two discrete life phenomena. _______________ 1Cf. I. Boszormenyi-Nagy and G.M. Spark, Invisible Loyalties: Reciprocity in International Family Therapy (New York: Harper and Row, 1973. 2Cf. L.M. Spousel, ‘Spirituality and Family Resilience.’ Family and Focus 48 (2003): F5-F6, at F5: ‘Many parents have told me that it is their faith that allows them to persevere. They found relief when they acknowledged that they had done all they could do for their children and began to trust in a higher power. This process of â€Å"letting go†created hope and encouragement, not a sense of giving up. Families were able to bounce back and move on with their lives’ 3Ct. J.B. Merz, Zum Begriff der neuen Politschen Theologic 1967-1991 (Manz: Matthias-Grunewakl, 1997), 201. 4These unpublished data are derived from a panel study of women conducted between 1962 1980.Also see Thornton (1985). 5Otto, Rudolf, 1923. The Idea of the Holy. References: Boszormenyi-Nagy Spark, G.M. (1973). Invisible Loyalties: Reciprocity in            International Family Therapy (New York: Harper and Row. Merz, J.B (1997). Zum Begriff der neuen Politischen Theologic 1967-1997.            Manz:Matthias-Grunewakl., 201. Otto, Rudolf. (1923). The Idea of the Holy. Spousel, L.M. (2003). Spirituality and Family Resilience. Family Focus 48. Thornton, A. (1985). Changing Attitudes Toward Separation and Divorce:            Causes and Consequences†. American Journal of Sociology (Jan.) 856-872.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Affective And Cognitive Impulse Buying Behaviour Psychology Essay
Affective And Cognitive Impulse Buying Behaviour Psychology Essay Unplanned purchasing has been concerned by many companies as one of the most important factor which could have a big pact on customers decision making and this later contribute to their sale volume. Therefore, marketing strategies have been adjusted based on consumers preferences to grasp their attention and induce them to buy impulsively. As there were some contradictories about differences of genders associated with impulse buying behaviour, this research hence compares the affective and cognitive impulse buying behaviour on male and female at INTO pre-sessional course. A total of 20 students from Pre-sessional course were selected as sample, divided to be 10 males and 10 females. The students were asked to complete the questionnaire, which was designed to be anonymous in order to allow them to be as honest as possible in providing the actual information. The significant findings showed that both genders are susceptible to impulse buying, however, female seemed to be more affective in buying, while male tended to be more deliberative. Another remarkable point was also found that their most preference product categories could lead them to frequency of spontaneous purchasing. As the results indicate that impulse buying plays vital role on consumer, the paper concludes that further research could attempt to investigate if this behaviour could become compulsory in the future. World industries currently have moved from mass marketing strategy to penetrate in specific market segmentation (Coley and Burgess, 2003) as marketers have noticed that unplanned purchasing behaviour could have an impact on decision making of consumers which later contribute to their sale volume (Assael, 1995; Clover, 1950). As Assael (1995) and Kollat and Willett (1969) point out, supermarket, store, and retailer have been concerned to be the place where associated with consumer the most, therefore the price, promotion, shelf-position, packaging, and even store-displays become more important in grasping attention from customers. Stern (1962) defines unplanned buying as the general term of impulse buying occurred when a shopper experiences a sudden urge purchasing that he or she has not planned in advance, which is related to the process of affective and cognitive responds. Affective is emotional buying or sense making (Wilson and Gilbert, 2005), in the contrary, cognitive is perceptual component which using awareness to measure before making decision (Day, 1972). While several studies have explored the characteristics and important of buying impulsively, there are only a few studies which have focused on male and female behaviour and comparing these significant factors on their gender differences. Some researchers (e.g. Kollat and Willett, 1967) suggest that both men and women have the same degree in being effected by unplanned buying; however, there has been contradictory finding that women are more susceptible to spontaneous purchasing (e.g. Coley and Burgess, 2003). Therefore the purpose of this project i s to compare the cognitive and affective impulse buying behaviour in male and female students of the INTO Newcastle University 2012 Pre-sessional Course. Hopefully that a comparison of these two groups will expose the degrees in which male and female differ in their susceptibility and conditions lead to unplanned purchasing. This may help the students to understand their characteristics which could contribute them to impulse buying and to let them consider more before making a purchase in order to avoid being stated in money tension. Primary information will be gathered from twenty students at Pre-sessional Course. The size of samples will be equal in order to allow a comparison between both groups. Both closed and open questions will be applied to achieve the aim and for the students to express more ideas and provide useful details. Methodology The aim of this project attempted to compare the affective and cognitive impulse buying behaviour on gender differences. As number of researchers have suggested that women are more susceptible to buy impulsively (Coley and Burgess, 2003), therefore, it was decided to compare buying behaviours of male and female, furthermore, this impulsive buying is likely to rise in youth (Coley and Burgess, 2003 cited in Retail World, 2002), students from Pre-sessional course, hence, were considered to be appropriate sample. The students were divided into two groups based on their genders and in order to obtain accurate result of the comparison between these two groups, the size of each group would be equal. There actually should be a very large sample to gather certain and desirable results. However, it was not possible to collect all data due to time restriction. Twenty students from pre-sessional course hence became the largest accessible sample which could be obtained. A written questionnaire w as applied to execute the primary data during the fourth week of pre-sessional program. According to previous study, Coley and Burgess (2003) selected Affective and Cognitive process components which have been successfully developed and used by Beatty and Ferrell (1998). It was decided that the questions should be adapted and followed from previous research in order to allow the comparison with previous findings, therefore these components were used to create multi-item scales divided to be affective components which are irresistible urge to buy, positive buying emotions, and mood management and cognitive components which contain measurements of cognitive deliberation and unplanned buying (Coley and Burgess, 2003: 288) The students were asked to provide their general information about income and shopping frequency, and then rate the level from strongly agree (4) to strongly disagree (0) in responding to the items on the table. In additions, various types of product categories were provided and required students to choose top three they preferred the most, this helped indicated style preferences of male and female which could lead them to buying impulsively. An other category and open question were also included for the student to provide more details. In order to allow the respondents to be as honest as possible, questionnaire was designed to be anonymous. The first question requested students to specify their genders as this would be correlated with the requirement of data collection. Results Part 1: Personal Information Q1. Gender Male: 10 Students Female: 10 Students Q2. Approximate personal income per month Income per Month Male Female  £500  £1000 7 7  £1001  £1500 2 2 more than  £1500 1 1 Q3. How often do you do shopping in a month? Frequency Male Female Once in a month 0 0 Twice in a month 4 2 Three five times in a month 3 5 more than five times in a month 3 3 Part 2: Consumers expression on impulse buying Q4. Please tick à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ to the level which explains your shopping style best Figure 1: Comparing Student Attitudes towards Affective Buying Behaviour Source: adaptation from Amanda Coley and Brigitte Burgess Coley, A. (2002) Affective and Cognitive Processes Involved in Impulse Buying, unpublished Marketing dissertation, University of Georgia, Georgia. Coley, A. and B. Burgess (2003) Gender differences in cognitive and affective impulse buying. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management 7:3, 282-295 Figure 2: Comparing Student Attitudes towards Cognitive Buying Behaviour Source: adaptation from Amanda Coley and Brigitte Burgess Coley, A. (2002) Affective and Cognitive Processes Involved in Impulse Buying, unpublished Marketing dissertation, University of Georgia, Georgia. Coley, A. and B. Burgess (2003) Gender differences in cognitive and affective impulse buying. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management 7:3, 282-295 Part 3: Customers shopping preferences Q5. What product categories often have the most influence on your shopping habits? Please choose Three of the followings: Figure 3: The Most Preferable Products among Male and Female students Source: adaptation from Amanda Coley and Brigitte Burgess Coley, A. and B. Burgess (2003) Gender differences in cognitive and affective impulse buying. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management 7:3, 282-295 Q6. What other factors do you think have induced you to impulsive buying? Female: product discounts product design / creativity of product the stores service promotion, member card, member discount, discount events recommendation / persuasion from friends cheap price, big sale, good quality to experience something new Product discount is the most factor impulse me to buy the interesting products because I sometimes feel regret if I didnt buy it and there is not too much chance to buy the products with a lower price Male: price, discounts, packaging friends recommendation. earns a reward and time to replace new collections discount more than 50% quality and product usability In the previous experience, the price discount is very powerful to attract me to go to the store because I will feel like I get the quality product in the cheap price, as you know you have to snatch and fitting on those products first. Sometime, I know what I would like to buy but it has no more my size at all Summary of Results Figure 1 compares the affective buying behaviour between male and female students, the result shows that female students tended to be more emotional in buying as most of them chose I immediately buy if I really like it. However, male students tend to have more positive buying emotion according to their higher-percentage in choosing I feel very good when buying something new whereas attitude of female students towards shopping is to manage their moods reflected from a very salient percentage shown from I buy something to make myself feel better and reduce stresses (Coley and Burgess, 2003: 288). Figure 2 compares the cognitive behaviour between two groups; male students seemed to have more cognitive deliberation comparing to female students as shown from categories I make a list before shopping and buy only what is on the list and I rarely buy impulsively. In addition, female students had higher degree of susceptibility in unplanned purchased as seen from their percentage on I buy things that I had not intended to purchase and I buy it even though I went shopping for other purposes (Coley and Burgess, 2003: 288). There was a significant result correlation with these two figures. While female students were seemed to engage more with buying impulsively in figure 1 and male students are more deliberative in impulse buying as shown in figure 2. The surprising result indicated that male students tended to spend money as soon as they earn it and very distinctive percentage comparing to female students showed that they find themselves in state of tension as they buy thing they cannot afford (Coley, 2002: 88). Both groups, however, shared the same feeling in I regret buying new things and I experience mixed feelings of pleasure and guilt from buying something without considering (Coley and Burgess, 2003: 288). Another remarkable point is in figure 3, represents the most preferable product categories influencing spontaneous purchasing in male and female students behaviour. Clothing could lead both groups into impulsive buying, female students concerned more about beauty and styles with only one male chose health and beauty category, whereas electronics, or sport memorabilia could induce only male students to buy. Discussion This research has aimed to compare affective and cognitive impulse buying behaviour on the students. As Coley and Burgess (2003) argue that women have higher tendency to be involved with impulsive buying on both affective and cognitive behaviour. In addition, women are attracted by apparel, health and beauty, while electronic, technology and sports entertainment induce men more. The overall results of this research founded that women were more likely than men to make an impulsive buying influenced by their most preference products which are clothing, fashion and beauty; however, they are not deliberative when making a purchase. Some findings of the current study do not support the research of Coley and Burgess (2003) who found the women can be patient spending time on shopping and making a good selection therefore they are more engaged in cognitive deliberation. According to information about shopping frequency provided by male students, most of them go to shopping only twice a month , therefore, they probably spend more time on consideration before making a purchase, furthermore, this questionnaire only focused on the behaviour of pre-sessional students at Newcastle University and this could be the possible reasons why the findings differed. One unexpected aspect of the results was that although the male students seemed to be more deliberative in decision making, their percentage towards affective buying was quite high as well. They were likely to spend money as soon as they earn it and found themselves stated in money tension (Coley, 2002: 88) more than female students. The rational of these findings could be explained by answers provided in open question Q6 as male concerned more about product quality and usability, therefore they might suddenly purchase if they really like it without considering its price, while female concerned more on price and discount. The open question also indicated another significant aspect which could lead both genders to buy impulsively, which was the packaging and design that many companies could apply and try to develop their products in order to gain customers interest more. Conclusion This research aimed to compare the gender differences in affective and cognitive buying behaviour on the students. The results of research indicate that male and female are both susceptible to buying impulsively. Within this, their attitudes towards impulse buying are influenced by their most preference product categories. Male will be liable to spontaneous buying more when they find electronics, and technology, whereas female buy immediately when they find fashionable, health and beauty products. Furthermore, female tend to have distinctive degree related to irresistible urge to buy and unplanned buying while male is more organized and having positive buying emotion e.g. male feel a sense of thrill when buying something new. However, both groups shared the same level of experiencing mixed feeling of pleasure and guilt from buying something on impulse (Coley and Burgess, 2003: 288). This research was successful in examining students impulse buying behaviours based on affective and cognitive factors as it could indicate different attitudes of both genders explicitly and also obtained more information that men, sometimes, concern to the quality more than price, and this could induce them to spend more money than women even though the finding showed they are more deliberative in buying. Surprisingly it also created students awareness to purchasing deliberation as a few students informed that they have started to realize their attitudes towards unplanned purchasing which they have never thought of before after they finished answering this researchs questionnaire. The weakness of this research was the size of sample should be bigger and due to all samples were Asian, hence; there should be more nationalities of respondents in order to gather reliable and certain results in order to compare with the previous research. The questionnaire indicated that impulse buying had a vital impact on student behaviour. Previous researchers have described the characteristics of impulse buying (e.g. Kollat and Willett, 1969; Dittmar et al., 1995; Coley and Burgess,2003), future researcher could attempt to investigate if this behaviour can become compulsive behaviour in order to create awareness of buying deliberation and to prevent potential involuntary expenditures in consumers. Word Count: 1813
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
The Great American Depression of the 1930s :: American History Essays
The Great American Depression of the 1930's The economic depression that beset the United States and other countries in the 1930s was unique in its magnitude and its consequences. At the depth of the depression, in 1933, one American worker in every four was out of a job. In other countries unemployment ranged between 15 percent and 25 percent of the labor force. The great industrial slump continued throughout the 1930s, shaking the foundations of Western capitalism and the society based upon it. Economic Aspects President Calvin COOLIDGE had said during the long prosperity of the 1920s that "The business of America is business." Despite the seeming business prosperity of the 1920s, however, there were serious economic weak spots, a chief one being a depression in the agricultural sector. also depressed were such industries as coal mining, railroads, and textiles. Throughout the 1920s, U. S. banks had failed--an average of 600 per year--as had thousands of other business firms. By 1928 the construction boom was over. The spectacular rise in prices on the STOCK MARKET from 1924 to 1929 bore little relation to actual economic conditions. In fact, the boom in the stock market and in real estate, along with the expansion in credit (created, in part, by low-paid workers buying on credit) and high profits for a few industries, concealed basic problems. Thus the U. S. stock market crash that occurred in October 1929, with huge losses, was not the fundamental cause of the Great Depression, although the crash sparked, and certainly marked the beginning of, the most traumatic economic period of modern times. By 1930, the slump was apparent, but few people expected it to continue; previous financial PANICS and depressions had reversed in a year or two. The usual forces of economic expansion had vanished, however. Technology had eliminated more industrial jobs than it had created; the supply of goods continued to exceed demand; the world market system was basically unsound. The high tariffs of the Smoot-Hawley Act (1930) exacerbated the downturn. As business failures increased and unemployment soared--and as people with dwindling incomes nonetheless had to pay their creditors--it was apparent that the United States was in the grip of economic breakdown. Most European countries were hit even harder, because they had not yet fully recovered from the ravages of World War I.) The deepening depression essentially coincided with the term in office (1929-33) of President Herbert HOOVER. The stark statistics scarcely convey the distress of the millions of people who lost jobs, savings, and homes. From 1930 to 1933 industrial stocks lost 80% of their value. In the four
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Ronald Dworkins Liberal Morality Essay -- essays research papers fc
Dworkin begins by roughly defining liberalism according to the New Deal: â€Å"It combined an emphasis on less inequality and greater economic stability with more abundant political and civil liberty for the groups campaigning for these goals.†Dworkin states that such a definition is inadequate and goes on to elaborate on liberalism in more depth. The liberal, in economic policies, demands that the inequalities of wealth be reduced through social programs such as â€Å"welfare and other redistribution financed by a progressive tax.†Liberals also take a Keynesian policy toward the governments stabilizing intervention in the economy, such as controlling inflation and unemployment. And liberals support freedom of speech, racial equality and are â€Å"suspicious of criminal law.†     Dworkin states that in a society, liberty and equality, the most important political ideals, often come into conflict with one another. â€Å"In these cases, good government consists in the best compromise between the competing ideals, but different politicians and citizens will make that compromise differently.†Liberals tend to favor equality more than liberty than conservatives do. But the former statement is a tricky one according to Dworkin because liberty, unlike equality, cannot be shown because we lack a concept of liberty that â€Å"is quantifiable in the way that a demonstration would require.†Because of this, it would be mistaken of us to state that conservatives favor liberty more t...
Monday, September 2, 2019
Club Owners Must Not Allow Underage Drinking Essay -- Argumentative Es
Prohibiting nightclubs from admitting people under age twenty-one will take some weight off of parents, club owners, drivers and innocent bystanders. With the economy sinking, many owners are making what they believe a wise financial decision by allowing eighteen to twenty year olds in their clubs. They are mixing eighteen to twenty in with the twenty-one and up crowd, as failing clubs owners only see more people more money. Every night thousands of young adults eighteen to twenty years old are let into nightclubs and everyone is at a great risk. Fewer and fewer clubs are now allowing those under the drinking age into their establishment. To eliminate a cause leading to more underage drinking, young adults eighteen to twenty should not be allowed into nightclubs serving alcohol. Throughout the course of this essay, I intend to prove that banning those under the legal drinking age from nightclubs serving alcohol not only benefits the community as a whole, but it helps each under age d rinker as well. It is often argued that young adults eighteen to twenty are financial savors to club owners. Patron’s eighteen to twenty are considered adults; therefore they are responsible enough to be allowed in clubs serving alcohol, bringing more money into the club every night. This argument does not address the fact that when people under the legal drinking age are in an environment where they have access to alcohol one of them will drink. They will become irresponsible due to the amount consumed. The club owners will then be fined, as well as their liquor license. Young adults, eighteen to twenty, are not nightclubs financial savors, under the influence they cost more money then made. Nightclubs are trying to keep their doors open and popula... ...ablishment. Owners will not have to worry about losing money, liquor license, or part of the twenty-one and up crowd. Allowing people under the drinking age limit into a club serving alcohol can result in death, rape, fights, and car accidents. Although, many club owners are worried about losing revenue they should consider the cost of just one teen caught drinking in their club. Denying entry to anyone under the age twenty one into a club not only benefit the twenty one and up crowd but also club owners, parents, and teens themselves. Works Cited "Alcohol and Development in Youth-A Multidisciplinary Overview." Alcohol Research and Health 28.3 (2005): 111-20. ProQuest. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. Wagenaar, Alexander C., et al. "Sources of alcohol for underage drinkers." Journal of Studies on Alcohol 57.3 (1996): 325. Academic OneFile. Web. 10 Mar. 2011
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Becoming a Better Negotiator
Over the past 8 weeks there has been a lot that I have learned about myself as a person with inner reflection in my negotiation style. Negotiation is a skill that I thought people have to be born with. Although people can be born better suited with negotiation skills; the skill is also a craft that can be taught and learned. People must be able to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses and build off their strengths to become a better negotiator.Lewicki, Saunders and Barry (2011) state that while some people may look like born negotiators, negotiation is fundamentally a skill involving analysis and communication that everyone can learn. I think that the questionnaires that I took really amplified what I need to work on as a negotiator. Negotiation is a part of everyday life for everyone, in home life and in personal life and becoming a better negotiator can impact our lives positively in both. This paper will reflect and summarize what I learned about myself doing both questionnair es and how I plan on improving my negotiation skills using this class going forward.QuestionnairesThe first questionnaire is called The Personal Bargaining Inventory. This questionnaire helps clarify the perceptions of one’s self on different dimensions of negotiation; from how a person should or â€Å"ought†to negotiate, power and deception, cooperation and competition, and winning and losing. The second questionnaire is called Communication Competence Scale. This scale is a diagnostic tool to help one determine their level of communication competence.Communication competence is defined as the ability to enact both appropriate and effective messages in any communication setting. The Personal Bargaining Inventory asked twenty three questions rating my own behavior and twenty seven questions rating people’s behavior in general, on a scale of 1-7, 1 being strongly uncharacteristic and 7 being strongly characteristic (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry, 2009). Both of these questionnaires make you look at yourself and gauge how we feel about our own behavior in negotiation and communication.It also makes us reflect on how we believe others should act and behave in negotiation. These are both great exercises for someone to use if they want to figure out exactly what they need to work on to become a better negotiator. Some of the questions asked about ethics; such as lying to get what we want, taking advantage of someone, and being accountable about the things we say in conversation and in negotiation. One must be completely honest when taking these questionnaires. Both of these questionnaires helped me reflect on myself and what I think of myself.About MeMargaret J. Wheatley said â€Å"without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful†. I think these questionnaires help with my own personal reflection. I have always been told that I am antagonistic and this is somethi ng that I need to work on. These questionnaires only backed up that assessment. A couple of the questions in particular stuck out to me. I had to be honest with myself, which helped opened up my eyes and helped me realize this truth. In the Personal Bargaining Inventory question number 21 was eye opening; â€Å"in any competitive situation, I like to win. Not just win, but win by the biggest margin possible†.I ranked myself truthfully at a 7, strongly characteristic. I hate to lose. I don’t know of anyone that does, but I really hate it. I get a sinking feeling in my stomach when I lose, or team I root for loses. It affects my attitude and really upsets me. I love to win. They say a win is a win, but in negotiation concessions must be made. Keeping this behavior could end up hurting my negotiation strategies in life. I must be willing to compromise more.The second question came in the Communication Competence Scale, â€Å"generally, I think about how others might i nterpret what I say†. I need to choose my words more carefully when dealing with people. I don’t usually think about what I say before saying it, and sometimes people may interpret those things negatively. These questionnaires really helped me reflect on myself as a negotiator and as a person. Everyone could benefit from using them.Get BetterAs seen above there is room for me to improve and become a better negotiator. We all should try and become more well rounded people in our lives, to become morally and ethically responsible as well as better negotiators. I believe that I can become a better leader in life and at work if I am able to become a better negotiator. I can do better for my family and I can do better for myself. There are ten best practices to use for negotiators. I will use these ten practices to improve my skills and craft my negotiation style. Those ten practices are the following:1.Be prepared. 2.Diagnose the fundamental structure of the negotiation. 3. Work the BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) 4.Be willing to walk away. 5.Master the paradoxes. 6.Remember the intangibles. 7.Actively manage coalitions. 8.Savor and protect your reputation. 9.Remember that rationality and fairness are relative. 10.Continue to learn from the experience.I have a real life experience that just happened to me that these ten practices would have helped me with. I had set up a meeting with a customer and I expected just to introduce myself to these guys and let them know that I was new to the area. I wanted to show face to them and let them know that I was here to help. Well that was part of what happened. These guys took me and put me in a conference room and asked me a million questions about my company and what I would do for them. I feel I did okay in this situation, but had I been able to prepare for this negotiation I might have done a better job.Practice 1 and 10 are what I will take away the most from this to learn from. Had I k nown that this introduction would have been more than just that, I would have prepared better for some of the questions they asked. I am new to this position and I will be able to walk away from this experience with something to work on. I tried my best to keep all questions in a positive light and try and make the meeting as personal as possible. This negotiation was not for a contract, but more or less for an opportunity that could lead to one. I laid a lot of my cards out on the table to let them know that I wanted to build trust. There were three guys in the meeting.Two of them specifically said that all they cared about was price, while the third said, â€Å"I don’t give two (curse)’s about price, all I care about is what you are going to do for me, I care about service†. This helps me in the future going forward with these guys, being able to address what is the most important thing to them when it comes to doing business with me and my company. This custo mer has all the power and they know it. All I want to go out and earn their business. I am a vendor to them and there are other vendors that can offer the same services as I can, what can I do to earn their business? I need to make my experience personal with them and try and build a personal relationship. Building trust in negotiation is one of the biggest and most important things in business.Once I get the opportunity to build this trust and earn this work I can then go into the negotiation faze of an MRO contract. MRO stands for Maintenance, Repair and Operations. We write out these contracts for loyal customers that basically take the negotiation out of our work. We set the prices and the services provided for the customer that we don’t need to earn or negotiate, we need to basically â€Å"keep them happy†until the contract runs out. They are set for 5 years and are fair and rational for both us and the customer.If I am able to get to the point of a negotiation f or a MRO contract, it would look really good to my supervisors and I could become one of the youngest managers in our company. I must take a plan of action to see things from my opponent’s perspective and keep in mind the intangibles that go into negotiation. Leaders must be credible and trustworthy (Bednarz 2011). Learning to become a better negotiator and person would definitely make me a better leader for my family and my company.In conclusion, this class has taught me a lot about negotiation and myself in the process. There are steps and processes that anyone can take that can train and help turn this into a skill. Negotiation is not the easiest thing in the world to do. No one is born with the same personality, and negotiation is a skill (like sports or music) that can be born with in certain people. But like sports and music, negotiation is a craft that can be worked, learned, exercised and honed. We must always get ready and be prepared prior to a negotiation. We must also learn from all our negotiations in life so that we can get better.
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Evolution of Hrm
History and Evolution of HRM Personnel Management Personnel departments were once called Health and Happiness departments. The people assigned to deal with personnel issues were often individuals, who were not able to do other jobs efficiently. Personnel Management’s as a corporate field developed in the early 1900s. It was seen as activity, necessary, but unimportant, part of the organization. Over the years personnel management came to focus on efficient procedures and rules for administering large numbers of employees in various firms.Its aim was to manage difficulties, introduce fair systems and reduce costs. It also tended to focus on groups rather than individuals and, incidentally, reinforced labour-management divisions. The History of Human Resource Management The field of HRM as it currently exists has got through lot of transition. Following are the phases in the transition of HRM:- (a) The Individual Revolution: During this phase machines were introduced into variou s organizations and technology made rapid progress.Due to fragmentation and specialization of work, many workers lost their jobs and many workers felt their work to be dull, boring and monotonous. Workers were treated like tools, and moreover employees were keen to increase the production targets rather than satisfy workers’ demands. (b) Scientific Management: With the introduction of Scientific Management given by F. W. Taylor, efficiency in organizations was increased . Work was rearranged according to systematic analysis into smallest mechanical elements which was mot effective combination.Taylor emphasized on the fact that the individuals selected to perform the task should be perfectly matched, physically as well as mentally. Proper training should be given to the employees so that they can do their job more efficiently. (c) Trade Unionism: As the employees become more exploitive, the workers working in the organizations joined hands to fight against injustice done to th em in the shape of Trade Unions tried to improve the problems faced by the workers through collective bargaining.They helped in resolving the grievances of the workers relating to working conditions, pay and benefits, disciplinary actions, etc. (d) Human Relations Movement: The famous Hawthorne experiments conducted by Elton Mayo during 1930s and 1940s demonstrated that employee productivity was affected not only by the way job was designed, and the monetary aspects, but by certain social and psychological factors as well. The human relations movement led to various behavioral science techniques in industry for the very first time.This movement included support for training programs, support and concern for workers, counseling programs for workers, etc. (e) Human Resource Approach: However, but during early 60s the â€Å"pet milk theory††¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. that happy workers are more productive workers as happy cow gives more milk †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Of human relations was la rgely rejected. In human resource approach it was recognized that workers are unique in their own way – having individual needs. It was recognized that each employee is a unique and highly complex individual with different wants, needs and values.Slowly but steadily, the trend moved towards treating employees as resources or assets. Evolution of the Concept of HRM The various stages or phases in the transition or evolution of Personnel Management into Human Resource Management are shown below: (a)The Commodity Concept:Labor was regarded as a commodity to a tool to be bought or sold (b) The Factor of Production Concept: labor is like any other factor of production, viz. money, materials, land etc. (c) The Goodwill Concept: Welfare measures like safety, first aid, lunch room, rest room will have a positive impact on workers’ productivity. d) The Paternalistic Concept: Management must assume a fatherly or protective attitude towards employee. It means satisfying the vario us needs of employees as parents meet the requirements of their child. (e) The Humanitarian Concept: To improve productivity, physical, social and psychological needs of workers must be fulfilled and met. (f) The Human Resource Concept: Employees are the most valuable assets in the organization. (g) The Emerging Concept: Employees should be accepted as partners of the organization.They should belong to the organization as they are running their own organization. Scope of HRM The main aim of HRM is Competitive advantage through people. It involves the following points:- (a) Change in Thinking Process: Achieving competitive success through people involves fundamentally changing the thinking of the concerns, that how they think about the workforce consisting of people an the management-employment relationship. (b) Co-operation with Employees: It means achieving success by working with people, not by replacing them or limiting the scope of their activities. c) Strategic Viewpoint: It in volves seeing the workforce as a source of strategic advantage, not just a cost to be minimized. Distinction – Personnel Management/HRM/HRD The sole purpose of personnel management was to attain advantage and best results for the organization. The individual’s interests, desires and aspirations were submerged into the organization objectives and goals. Where as, HRM projects the development of individual in accordance with his interests, desires & aspirations. So that the individuals would be motivated to make their best contribution towards the accomplishment of goals.While personnel function was designed to respond to the organization objectives like profit of maximization, HRM visualized human elements of enterprise as important resources. The term human resources at the macro level spell the total sum of all the components (like skill & creative ability) possessed by all the people, where as the term personnel even at the macro level is limited to only employees of all organization. One must not be under impression that HRM has replaced traditional personnel management rather we can say that HRM has absorbed the personnel function in its refined form.HRD is an integral part of Human Resource Management. Due to the amalgation of Personnel function in its refined way with HRM, it became necessary for every organization to develop skills, talents, potentialities, capabilities and attitude of company work to meet the emerging challenges. Hence HRD policies have been adopted. HRD strategies are supposed to bring forth necessary changes in skills capabilities and attitudes of people who are required to cope with the emerging changes. Thus HRD has become an integral part of Human Resource Management.Personnel Management Human Resource Management Personnel Management | Human Resource Management| | | Labor is treated as a tool which is replaceable| Treats people as a resource or as an asset to be issued for the benefit of an organization | Interests o f organization are upper most | A distinct philosophy aiming at mutuality of interests| A not so important function meant only to hire employees and maintain their records | Integrated into overall straight management | Precedes human resources management | Latest in the evolution of subject|
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