United States as an Imperialist and Expansionist Nation Essay Example for Free

United States as an Imperialist and Expansionist Nation Essay Imperialism is the influential expansion of a country’s power through territorial invasion creating a financial and political control of other countries. Imperialism is used to refer to the period of 1880 to 1918 wherein the developed countries look for new territories to dwell in, creating their command to the African and Asian countries so that they will have the most useful location. The United States pursue an aggressive policy of expansionism during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to expand the nation’s political and economic influence worldwide. The United States general public observed the first expansion attempts as a means to help other nations for a righteous reason but as it goes by they changed their mind and viewed the United States as an imperialist nation. Manifest Destiny was created in 1845 to somewhat justify American expansionism. United States would still be the sole strong power even without expansion but it was America’s goal to reign supreme above others. In 1860’s when American Imperialism was isolated, it affected the affairs of other small countries but it had no effect whatsoever to the Great Powers which the United States has not fully reached. Initially the United States wanted expansion to be able to compete with the European markets. In The People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn commented about the demand of expansion: Appleman Williams has described in The Roots of the Modern American Empire that there were need for expansion by many commercial farmers. Populist Congressman Jerry Simpson of Kansas told Congress in 1892 that with a vast agricultural excess, farmers ‘must of necessity search for foreign market. True, he was not calling for violence or invasion but once foreign markets were seen as significant to success, expansionist procedure, even war might be appealing. The period of Imperialism began when United States helped Cuba to drive away the Spaniards and helped the Cuban gain their independence. The Americans then had a navy base in Cuba and they wanted to help the Philippines next but instead of giving them independence they build their own empire. The American people come to realized and viewed their nation as an upcoming imperialist nation because prior to the Spanish American War, the American military did not subsist. The national identity of the people of America changed significantly since they were able to show to the whole world that they can survive even without the help of Great Britain. The Manifest Destiny was created to rationalize to the citizens the expansion that was happening. The United States expansion enabled them to be competitive to the European market but later on the expansion became more of imperialism like what happened in the case of the Philippines. By becoming an imperialist nation, the United States has to build their military from scratch and the people who object their expansion was viewed as unpatriotic by the government. The United States without expansionism would be just like one of the numerous nations that is incompetent in absorbing millions of immigrants, without the ability of protecting itself against great nations and without the capacity of spreading and preserving its culture worldwide. Work Cited Zinn, Howard. The People’s History of the United States. New York: Harper Collins Publisher, 1999.

The Characteristic Of Teaching Young Learners English Language Essay

The Characteristic Of Teaching Young Learners English Language Essay The concept of learning is influenced by the psychological study of the learning process and is widely interpreted in the popular use. The psychological concept extends quite far and includes all parts of childrens development, from language acquisition to social roles and changes in their personality. Language teaching can be widely interpreted as all activities intended to facilitate and cause language learning. At the beginning of learning the new language, the learners knowledge has none or hardly any associations with the language, it is as an infant learning its first language. The lack of contact with the language and the lack of a safe reference system can give the learner an intellectual and emotional shock which can discourage from further learning. Thus, the task for the teacher is to overcome childrens disorientation which characterises the beginnings of learning, build up and associate a system of positive attitudes and feelings with the language: that is, being able to reply spontaneously and to think in the second language. In teaching of the second language, certain social strategy is also needed, so that children should feel a need of imitation and acquire the second language in the same way as their first one. (H.H. Stern Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching:397-400) Childrens world is based on games and having fun and the same should apply to their learning. Children should not be aware of learning, neither lexicon nor grammar, but the teacher can easily use these facts to teach the foreign language through games, stories and songs. In teachers work with young learners, it is important to teach them according to psychological and pedagogical rules. The amount of material which the learners can remember depends on teaching techniques and the way the material is drilled. It is important to remember that lack of stress in learning makes it more efficient and easier to use in real situations. What is more, only friendly attitude of the teacher towards a learner, teachers willingness for learning and using all methods of relaxation can protect a child from being discourages and shy in learning and using the foreign language. Any good associations with parts of the material can cause that vocabulary or grammar will be better and longer remembered. It is also important that childrens concentration span is quite short and it is crucial to use any procedures which can make the learner able to longer concentration. Student should be also involved and interested in the lesson (BrzeziÅ„ski 1987: 145-150). Childrens learning is based on imitation and having fun rather than on their awareness of learning. Imitation is the easiest way of introducing new vocabulary and its aim is to lead to correct articulation and intonation of sounds and their memorization. In teaching young learners, intonation exercises are especially useful because of childrens flexibility of larynx which disappears with time. In terms of imitation exercises, the teacher should pay attention to learners reactions determined by their age. Furthermore , the teacher should change the techniques of teaching to avoid learners getting bored (WoÃ…Â ºnicki, T./ Zawadzka, E. 1979: 60). Most activities for children should consist of movement and involve their senses. The teacher needs many objects, visuals and pictures to work with, and to create a possibility to use all of the schools surroundings. It is also important for the teacher to let the pupils play with the language, talk to themselves as much as it is possible, use songs, rhymes and tell stories. As a matter of fact, the teacher should let pupils talk even nonsense to enable them to experiment with the language. The basic principle in teaching a language is a variety of activities, pace, organisation, voice and face expressions. Nevertheless, routines in the classroom are also essential so that the children can know the rules, be able to use the mark system and complete tasks. Using familiar situations or activities creates the atmosphere of safety, especially for the shy learners. Another important criteria in making teaching a language efficient is the classroom atmosphere. During the lesson, there is s upposed to be room for shared experiences, group work, pair work; what is more, rewards and prizes should be avoided. It is much more useful for the teacher to make notes about each pupil regularly in case the teacher would like to inform the pupils parents about their progress (W. A. Scott Teaching English to Children:5-7). Theory of language acquisition in the early age From around 1975, language acquisition is contrasted with language learning. The American applied linguist Krashen uses the word acquisition to describe learning of the second language which is analogous to the way in which a child learns naturally his or her first language and does not focus on the linguistic form. The disadvantage of Krashens terminology is that it is contrasted with psychological terms. Krashen differentiates between acquisition and learning, as learning for him is more or less conscious. It is a very valuable distinction but it implies a constraint on the use of the term learning, and frequently deliberately limits it to the school-like learning (H.H. Stern Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching: 18-20). In the light of an early start of language learning, Anderson claims that the way a person acquires mother tongue still remains a riddle. Between birth and the fifth year of life, children develop their ability to speak. Children in the first stage observe adults behaviour and any noises they produce. After some time, they start understand the meaning of such noises without seeing adults movements. The next step is imitation of sounds and (partially) a creation of their own ones. Consequently, children find out that they can control adults behaviour by making certain sounds. Lonnerberg mentions that only 10% of childrens utterings is like adults ones and that 90% of such utterings is their own language production. As far as it is concerned, childrens language acquisition is a dispute between an innate, individual parole and the langue created and used by the society (BrzeziÅ„ski 1987: 22-23). A critical age for foreign language learning Regarding the age of the earliest acquisition and learning point as birth, the best moment to start teaching a child the second foreign language is the age of 4-5. This is because of childrens flexible larynx which allows for nearly ideal imitation of sounds and the most efficient brain which all together create a great opportunity for language acquisition. Nevertheless, only until the age of 12-13, children keep their flexibility and natural readiness for language acquisition. Lenneberg shows through extended case studies the stages of physiological maturity processes taking place in the brains hemispheres (especially the left one), which is dominant. What is more, if it happens that the left hemisphere is damaged before the age of 12-13, it is possible that the right hemisphere takes over the domination and speech problems can be reduced. In addition, after this age such a process is almost impossible (BrzeziÅ„ski 1987: 28-29). 1.2.2 Childrens second language acquisition The phenomenon of mother tongue acquisition is interesting for linguists, psychologists, neuropsychologists and even neurophysiologists. Furthermore, it is connected with natural bilingualism which occurs when a child learns, in a natural way, the second language. The process of the second language acquisition in natural conditions is quite similar to the first language acquisition or even identical. The only difference between those two is the fact that the second language is assimilated later and is based on experience and knowledge of the first one and, as a result, the whole process happens faster and more effectively (BrzeziÅ„ski 1987: 18). Chomsky(1964) claimed it is a common observation that a young child of immigrant parents may learn a second language in the street, with amazing rapidity, and that this speech may be completely fluent and correct to the last allophone, while the subtleties that become second nature to the child may elude his parents despite motivation and continued practice (BrzeziÅ„ski 1987: 8). The first international meeting connected with childrens acquisition and its use in teaching foreign languages took place in Hamburg in 1961. Participant tried to find out if it is right to introduce foreign languages in the primary schools, if it is true that children learn better than teenagers and adults and which techniques are supposed to be used in teaching them. After four years, the second meeting took place and the first answers were given. During many decades, lots of contrary opinions developed. As early as 1967, Corder points out: It still remains to be shown that the process of learning second language is of fundamentally different nature from the process of primary acquisition. On the other hand, in 1972, Moulton stresses that in teaching a foreign language to young children it is possible to adopt some methods and intuition procedures, used by a child during mother tongue acquisition, and weave them into learning of the foreign language (BrzeziÅ„ski 1987: 8). 1.2.3 Factors of efficient language learning In 1960s, the matter of teaching a foreign language during the early age was a topic of many discussions. After the war, in many methodological books it was said that children can easily absorb, imitate and produce the new language. Learning of languages in the early age is connected with the habit of repeating words and sentences in a foreign language and acquisition of language material with the help of various memory techniques. The technique of frequent repetition of the material, as the main key to learning a language, is also supported by many psychologists such as Watson and Thorndike. In many psychological books, it is easy to find many completely different definitions of habit. According to MaÅ‚y sÅ‚ownik psychologiczny, habit is well-practised through numerous repetitions: actions which are done always in the same way and automatically. This definition can bring one to a wrong opinion that one should always react in the same way. Lado definites habit as fluency in using units and models of a particular language in answering while attention is not paid to units but to content. There are many more definitions of habit written by A. Szulc, Lompscher or Rubinsztejn, but all these definitions come down to the conclusion that the habit is way of mechanic, unconscious repetition and conscious production leading to the conscious process where consciousness is removed so long as the automatic element is eliminated. In this case, the fact that the process of repetition is the most important comes from the opinion of psychologists based on the theory that acquiring the mother tongue comes from the imitation of adults. There are also certain reasons directly influencing and shaping the process of learning and its efficiency: age - ­ after the age of 10, language acquisition ease diminishes. Childrens minds lose their flexibility and it is not that easy to acquire a language. Younger learners have better and more specific memory but have less ability to learn and need more repetitions. Children are more willing to imitate but have a very short concentration span. Their mechanical memory is better than that of the adults, and their short memory is more dynamic and more effective. The older the child, the more specific the way of learning is. Older children have their own range of memory, their long-term memory is more developed and more logic. They can focus more easily and have wider general knowledge. Being more mature, having better learning techniques and better motivation, the young and adults can easily make up this matters, which children can reach thanks to their imitating skills and more flexible minds. attitude in learning, there are many elements which have influence on better acquisition or learning, but attitude is one of the most important because it stimulates brain to better work and makes memory work more efficiently. What is more, the lack of motivation can cause that person who is not interested in the topic or in learning itself will not remember anything. previous experience connected with the material that has to be learned the more experience the learner has, the easier and more efficient learning is for him or her. material and content there are some units of material which are more difficult to understand or remember, for example, sentences which have lots of information. Also, the size of the material, the length of sentences, the kind of material (Passive Voice sentences are harder to remember and require longer time to learn than Active Voice sentences) significantly influence the effectiveness of the learning process. way of learning Humans use mechanical or logical memory while the logical one is more preferred and a part of material learned in a logical way is not only easier to reconstruct, but also stays longer in human memory. Certain researches show that talking in a foreign language is not only a simple reproduction of material that was learned. A learner should pay attention to very basic patterns which can be modified and updated with new vocabulary and structures. Mechanical memorising of sentences can be even a quite dangerous and tricky factor because certain language elements occur in a particular arrangement, in a way they were learned and drilled by exercises. number of exercises and repetitions Psychological research shows that the long term memory is extended in proportion to the learning time. What is more, overlearning is a very important element in the memorizing process. The higher the level of overlearning, the slower is the process of forgetting. Yet, the level of overlearning is reached individually after each learner performs a number of repetitions. At the same time, mindless repetitions cannot be treated as overlearning. time spent on learning It is important how long and how often repetitions and exercises are done. Frequent and short exercises are more efficient than rare and long ones (WoÃ…Â ºnicki, T./ Zawadzka, E. 1979: 30-40). The characteristic of childrens memory Learning styles are various ways of learning. They involve education methods, characteristic for an individual, which are used by the individual to learn best. The alleged basis and efficacy for these proposals have been extensively criticized. Learning styles depend on individual preferences, and, according to Nail Fleming, such styles may be divided into four categories. The fist group is made of visual learners, who, as the term suggestsplies, receive most information visually. These learners have a tendency to do well at public schools because most of what they are taught is presented through visual teaching tools. They do well with visual aids like pictures. For visual learners, the easiest way to learn is watching and calling up visuals in their minds to remember what they studied in the past. They have a tendency toward appreciating arts: crafts, painting or drama. They tend to be creative and imaginative. The second group are auditory learners who tend to learn better through listening. They listen to instructions and follow them in such a way that they can gather large amounts of information and deal with it. Auditory learners are very good at listening to lectures and conversations for a longer time without getting bored. They are more concentrated than visual learners and may be more discerning and attentive in the class. They prefer to study with music in the background. These students may also be creative and imaginative. They are good at listening to information and reproducing it in their individual ways. Students with another style known as kinesthetic learning might be mistaken for too active in the classroom. They do not like waiting for information. They prefer to find things out for themselves without any prompts. They are the explorers who want to make new discoveries. They are quick to learn new things and do not mind being left on their own with a particular toy to find out how it works. They can be successful in practical tasks, such as carpentry and design. These children prefer doing rather than thinking. Homeschooling might be a better for these learners because regular classroom activities might not be interesting enough for them. The forth group consists of logical learners who think in a conceptual manner. They explore patterns and like to know how things work. They often ask questions and are good at puzzles, math problems, strategy games and computers. They understand abstract concepts faster than others. These students prefer inventing and building their own contraptions, for example, with toys (http://www.ehow.com/info_7881656_inventory-learning-styles-child.html#ixzz1MXMcJS9C). Initial memorisation According to many researches, children have lots of problems when trying to remember and repeat parts of material or longer sentences. In a situation when a group of kindergarten children was asked to remember and repeat, they were passive and even did not take any action to do so. 8-year-old children are a slightly better and show some will to do what they were asked, although only the 10-year-old children and older pupils are able to deal with efficient memorization, data processing and are even able to organise new information to remember it better. According to this research, one can observe that at the beginning children can use only simple techniques and just after some time those techniques develop, become more complicated and fitted to individual preferences and styles. This fact is quite disturbing because during the very early school-years children are often required to remember mane, sometimes even complicated information like lyrics, grammar rules or definitions. On the o ther hand, children can easily learn their mother tongue, they widen their knowledge about society or nature quite fast. Children are often able to repeat the dialogue of their parents even if they seem not interested in it. In their first years, they are not aware of how their memory works. The flash memory term became very popular according to the discovered phenomena that some people have perfect perception and prefer things they saw rather than those which they listened to. It is a very important fact that children use flash memory in a metaphorical way because they mechanically transfer the received information to their memory. Everything seen by people is remembered for a very short time in their operation memory. For a long-term memorisation, it is useful to include various visual aids in the teaching process. Children are able to remember not only pictures but also many details from such pictures. However, sometimes a picture shown to a child may be slightly different, may h ave different colours or shapes (especially of those elements which amazed the child). Autistic children have a very efficient flash memory and after a few seconds they are able to memorise very complicated and detailed pictures; what is more, they do so without much effort. From the previously discussed research, one can deduct that only from the age of ten children can consciously memorise some facts for a longer time. More effective memory depends on which study techniques the child uses. Those study strategies consist of certain elements like: the level of consciousness and awareness of the aim the child is learning for and willingness the child hasmemorisation strategy effort used to learn a specific part of the material Sometimes it is very hard to prove which element from the ones mentioned above is used. It can be even said that children create memorization strategies in internalisation. Before a child creates its own technique of learning, a child cannot achieve better results in learning but when those strategies are already created, the child knows how to study to achieve his or her aim. Then, the process of memorisation becomes faster, easier and more efficient. After some time, children not only know how to learn faster but also can understand more and do this more freely. Nevertheless, at the age of six it is still very complicated for the young learner to organise material which has to be learnt, and this is why children start to repeat. Only nine-year-old children are consciously able to group certain pictures into categories to achieve better memorisation. To sum up, one can easily say that children develop their memorisation skills according to their age and in this process children reme mber those things which they pay attention to but it is short memory and at the same time hard memory which are used. Sensitivity on keeping memory on the alert and reaction do not depend on where this new information comes from (society, nature or their own body) but in case of children it is mainly automatically received and processed by their brain. This process happens quickly and almost without any effort and the teacher cannot see those processes and cannot stop or modify them. This process can be only stopped and controlled, but then it works much slower and requires some effort. What is more, a child has to be conscious of information and has to recognise it. To distinguish between automatic and controlled memorisation, one can distinguish three levels of the automatisation processes: the first level is dominated by the automatic use of information (also without paying attention) the second level is partially automatic when attention is not focused on information the third level is only rarely automatic but full attention is needed in this case ( E. Gruszczyk- KolczyÅ„ska, Ewa ZieliÅ„ska Wspomaganie dzieci w rozwoju zdolnoņºci do skupiania uwagi i zapamiÄâ„ ¢tywania WSiP Warszawa 2005: 52-68). The theory how media influence children Media themselves may introduce lots of positive things but also the negative ones into the human life, shape attitudes and mentality of the young people. Furthermore, especially children may be easily influenced by commercials. Media contents are brought to people through the Internet, radio or television, and such media information consists of specific stimuli which affect brain, senses and create or change attitudes and ways of looking at the reality. The good side of the media is the fact that it is created for peoples development, making life more convenient, introducing social and personal values and causing that long distances are easier to overcome. As a result, even such aspects as education or culture are closer to various and separated nations. On the other hand, mass media become a kind of of a boundary or a cage in which a person is isolated from the others, as it may create a situation of misunderstanding and limit of ones social life which is then substituted with cyber space. Needless to say, the mass media caused radical reorganisation of the social life. In terms of education and upbringing of young generation, the media are creating new types of personalities, a sort of a new civilisation. This new generation of media-people is an inextricable part of the modern life, and can be source of many good, positive and improving aspects as well as bad, demoralising, violent and the ones encouraging unacceptable deviations. Media in education The fact of striving for more effective ways of teaching is a main subject of many modern researches. Nowadays, in order to achieve the goal it is natural to use the most entertaining and universal tools like the Internet and other mass media. Thanks to these tools, learning can be more pleasant and successful for the learners and also easier and less effort-requiring for the teachers. More and more modern teaching techniques make education up-to-date and allow for leaving (old) traditional methods in education and introduce the modern model of integration of education with entertainment. In this context, education becomes a product, (almost a technological device), a source of educational tools and an incentive for the unconscious learning. Media may be easily and freely used not only in school teaching but also in private, out-school or even global, social, personal and cultural training. They can provide news, information and educational content using all possible multilingual tools. What is more, this kind of instrument has certain aspects which are singled out by Henryk GrudzieÅ„ in his work Media jako skÅ‚adnik procesu dydaktyczno-wychowawczego: direct influence this means that especially television programs and films immediately influence their audience (human emotions and intellect) building-up influence means building up information, associations and feelings connected with films or TV programs which cause some changes in the human psyche subconscious influence similar to the one above, but the audience is not conscious of changes in its attitudes because at the beginning the audience refuses the given way of thinking due to its unsuitable content and after some time its resistance disappears. Media also have a tremendous influence on the lifestyle of the young people, and they affect lots of spheres of young peoples lives, for example: the effect on the way that somebody behaves (making decisions, aggressive behaviour, social actions etc.) the effect on the level of knowledge (level of information, range of knowledge, level of communication skills etc.) the influence on attitude (believes, religion, judging of other people, etc.) the influence on physical fitness (damaging of senses, lack of motion, addiction) The processes mentioned above depend on many conditions such as age, psyche, actual situation in ones life, level of knowledge, weather, place of receiving such information or influences, company or gender. For example, the most influential may be a film watched in a cinema where the level of focus is very high, a bit weaker may be television and the weakest the radio. The Internet in childrens education Nobody can deny that modern technology has changed and revolutionized education. Teachers have also quickly adjusted their teaching methods in a response to new technology because gadgets in the classroom can create a more interesting, interactive and entertaining environment. If schools strive to keep up with technological trends, then the learning that takes place there becomes more relevant and meaningful for the learners. The Internet and computer knowledge and literacy of major software programs is no longer reserved only for higher educational systems or special trade schools in the modern society. ( http://www.ehow.com/about_5410187_uses-modern-technology-classroom-teaching.html#ixzz1Iai4xP5X) Many children, when going to school, deal with individual difficulties on the basis of their opportunities. Nowadays, from the very early age, children get used to computers, the Internet and other modern technologies. The access and the use of the Internet fulfil many of the aims of education. What is more, it broadens childrens mind horizons, gives them a sense responsibility, builds up their self-esteem and develops their autonomy. A big advantage of the Web is its easy access and lack of duty to have a face-to-face contact. The author of the book Special educational needs and the Internet: issues for the inclusive classroom Chris Abbott claims that there are four principles and each one proves that websites and the Internet have become an influential tool for teaching as the pupils are: Informed The Internet is a source of information and news used in topic work, planning visits, web sites pictures of classmates work, connection with other pupils even outside the school, village or town and also link with past friends. Involved In the virtual tour, in preparing material, in creating and sharing their ideas; in group with the integrated activities where physical presence is not significant. Empowered enabling access for children with any physical difficulties, various tools, e-mails Recognised pictures on websites of the children and their work, whiles of the school council meeting, aiding successes and building self-esteem. (111-112) The Internet has a large part to play in the future education of the young people. In this book, the author included many useful tips when using computers in teaching young learners. For example, the page a teacher wants to use should be put on the screen before children come into the classroom. What is very important, computers should be set in a way so that the children cannot open unauthorized sites and also it is important to remind the children of behaving in a good way to prevent the pupils from running to get to the computers first. It is also useful to create a list of computer room rules. Wherever possible, there should be no more than three pupils per one computer. If children cannot see the screen, they may quickly lose interest in their school work and may not be willing to learn. All these elements can make children more concentrated and make learning more effective (C. Abbott Special educational needs and the Internet: issues for the inclusive classroom New York 2002).

Explain How Rational Organisational Design Business Essay

Explain How Rational Organisational Design Business Essay Rational organisational designs, suggested by Max Weber, rely on logic, order and authority, paying particular attention to the division of labour, promotion by merit and hierarchal control; with the belief that this provides perfection in organisations (French et al, 2009). Organisations implement this design with the optimism of increased efficiency; however, have dismissed social organisation and the impacts this can have. In this essay, rationalisation will be discussed, focusing on the effects it has on an organisation and its employees; concluding with the argument of whether a rational organisational design is desirable for Junction Hotel. Scientific management, established by Frederick Taylor, aims to simplify work by following set principles. These principles routinize work; organising it into repetitive tasks in order to achieve maximum efficiency, giving managers responsibility and a span of control, (Morgan, 2006). TAYLORISM Rational organisational designs develop depending on the size of the business they are used with in. The simple design is often used within organisations with few staff, such as small retail stores. This type of design often has one member of staff, usually the manager, in control of the majority of other employees; the hierarchy design resembling a pyramid, showing the manager has a large span of control. This span of control shifts all responsibility for the organisation of work from the worker to the manager according to Morgan (2006), meaning employees only have to implement the work which is assigned to them by the manager. BUREAUCARCY As a business grows a more complex rational organisational design has to be enforced to ensure that efficiency is still maximised. The more intricate design is known as bureaucracy. The bureaucracy design uses the same principle of the simple design, although has a larger number of managerial staff and specific working departments, developing the chain of command. Bureaucracy design uses more rules and regulations than the simple design, due to the increased number of employees which have authority over other employees. This is so that there is a clear direction of discipline, resulting in all employees knowing who is in charge. This direction is the scalar chain; showing the line of authority due to the unity of command. Also it makes clear what each worker has to achieve, due to it being established by the specific departments. This also means that training for this specific job can be completed by workers, making them more efficient. This is of importance to rational organisations ; for instance, the McDonaldization theory established by Ritzer (2008) states that efficient workers can perform their tasks more rapidly and easily. This is also achieved in bureaucracies by working like clockwork; having staff perform a predetermined set of activities, rest at appointed hours, and then resume their tasks until work is over, as described by Morgan (2006). This is a typical example of how bureaucracies are designed to function. Businesses which have these design characteristics are described by Morgan (2006) as organisations that are designed and operated as if they were machines. It is argued that rational organisational designs help to cut costs and increase control for a business, overall maximising efficiency and having a positive impact on the business; evidenced by various real-life organisations. A typical example of a business today which has used a rational organisational design to achieve this is McDonalds. Ritzer (2008) helps to highlight the effectiveness of the organisational design McDonalds has implemented by quoting Ray Krocs thoughts on the arrangement; I was fascinated by the simplicity and effectiveness of the systemà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Each step in producing the limited menu was stripped down to its essence and accomplished with a minimum effortà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ This statement from Kroc identifies that McDonalds streamlined processes and organisation has maximised efficiency. By producing limited number of menu choices the business is able to assign set tasks to specified departments, to be completed at a set time; routinizing work. This increases control as the higher authority staff can over-see that the departments are completing their set tasks to ensure the food is made quickly and efficiently in order for customers to receive fast food from McDonalds. Also, by off ering a limited menu, McDonalds cuts costs and as suggested by Ritzer (2008) the limited number of menu items also allows for highly efficient ordering of food and supplies; the business does not use cash buying items which will be wasted due to fall in demand from customers and there is no extension of the streamlined process meaning the employment of further staff or purchase of equipment or supplies. Hotels such as the Travelodge have used rationalisation, in terms of value engineering. Davis (2007) states that businesses, such as the Travelodge, participate in an exercise called value management to optimise their process, trim costs and enhance quality. Value engineering is a result of this activity; where businesses cut costs by taking out the frills which not all customers want. For instance Davis (2007) focuses on how Travelodges dont have shampoo in the bathroom. By following this constituent of rationalisation, the organisation cuts costs, however does not necessarily reduce value for the customer as the business, like Travelodge, will have already weighed up cost versus benefit. The above examples show how rational organisational design is present in businesses today. However, it was first derived in the 1700s by Frederick the Great. Morgan (2006) talks about how Frederick developed rational organisation to increase control amongst his military. Frederick reduced soldiers to automatons by introducing ranks and uniformsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦regulations, increased specialization of tasksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦command language and systematic trainingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ By introducing these to the army, the men were taught to fear their officers; increasing the control that the higher ranks of the hierarchy had over the lower ranks. This turned the unruly mob into machines as they now completed commands set by Frederick. This is an example of how rationalisation has increased control, even in the earliest organisations. Despite rational organisational designs evidentially showing positives for businesses, there are likewise negative impacts on both the organisation and workers. If a business implements a rational organisation design then limitations do arise. These are addressed by Morgan (2006); there is great difficulty in adapting to changing circumstances, Ritzer (2008) states that although efficiency is generally a good thing it does cause dehumanization of workers as businesses drive for increased efficiency. This is evidenced an Anonymous BBC article (2010) stating that Bureaucracy hampers social workers', with a fifth of 4,141 social workers agreeing that they had sufficient time to work effectively with the young people on their case load and 50% of those who disagreed said that their workload was simply too large. This is related to the bureaucracy that the organisation has. Staff find it harderà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦to spend time face-to-face with children and families due to the organisational design. This makes the workers feel dehumanized because they have too much paperwork, and not enough time to concentrate on the cases they should be dealing with. This is also supported by Morgan (2006) who states that mechanistic approachesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦can have dehumanizing effects upon employees, especially those at the lower levels of the or ganizational hierarchy and also that assembly-line work is simplyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦alienating. Mechanistic work, which stems from rational organisation also makes staff adopt mindless, unquestioning attitudes, which consequently results in some workers refusing job change, or a new responsibility because they have already a clear idea what is to be done by them due to the management and delegation rationalisation. Looking at this impact in the long term, it is likely that an organisation will find it difficult to change the bureaucracy it has already developed, causing changes in aims for the business also hard to achieve. This is another limitation of rational designs, which is suggested by Morgan (2006) when declaring those working in the organization take precedence over the goals the organization was designed to achieve. The theories and studies behind social organisation also show some negative impacts that rationalisation has. POSTIVE AND NEGATIVES ON BUSINESS/EMPLOYEES ARGUMENT USING SOCIAL DESIGNS IS IT DESIRABLE FOR JUNCTION HOTEL HOW? WHY? ENFORCING IT?

Grapes of Wrath Essay: Naturalism in The Grapes of Wrath :: Grapes Wrath essays

Naturalism in The Grapes of Wrath In John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family and the changing world in which they live is portrayed from a naturalistic point of view. Steinbeck characterizes the Joads and their fellow migrants as simple, instinct-bound creatures who are on an endless search for paradise (Owens 129). The migrants and the powers which force them to make their journey--nature and society--are frequently represented by animals. The Joads, when they initially leave home, are a group of simplistic, animal-like people who barely understand or even realize their plight, but as the story progresses, they begin to grow and adapt to their new circumstances. They evolve from a small, insignificant group of creatures with no societal consciousness into a single member of a much larger family--society. Steinbeck strongly portrays the Joads and other displaced "Okies" as being animalistic. They often talk about their predicament in simplistic terms that suggest that they are initially not conscious of the circumstances that force them to leave Oklahoma. Muley Graves, for instance, tells Tom Joad and Jim Casy that the rest of the Joads, whose house has been destroyed by a tractor, are "piled in John's house like gophers in a winter burrow (Steinbeck 47)." This presents the image of a family of animals that have clustered together, hoping to fend off a predator with their greater numbers. They see the societal problems around them in terms of a predator as well; on one occasion, Casy asks a man at a service station, "You ever seen one a them Gila monsters take hold, mister? (Chop him in two) an' his head hangs on. An' while he's layin' there, poison is drippin' into the hole he's made (Steinbeck 132)." This refers to the devastating, unbreakable grip of the socioeconomic forces a t work above them (Lisca 96). A particularly important element that represents the migrants on a naturalistic level is the turtle (Lisca 97). Introduced in the first interchapter, the turtle trudges along wearily but steadily on a relentless search for a better place to life. In a similar way, the Joads are constantly on the move. They do not really comprehend why they have to travel, yet they accept it (Owens 131), and are determined to reach the promising paradise of California. Neither the turtle nor its human counterparts will be stopped by any obstacle.

Great Britain and the Industrial Revolution Essay -- Essays Papers

Great Britain and the Industrial Revolution Why did Great Britain lead the Industrial Revolution? The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century changed Europe forever. At the front of this change was Great Britain, which used some natural advantages and tremendous thinking and innovation to become the leader of the Industrial Revolution. First, Britain had some tremendous natural attributes. It was naturally endowed with many deposits of coal and iron ore, which were used heavily in the early stages of factory production. In addition, Britain was situated at a critical point for international trade. Its position between the United States and the rest of Europe allowed them to have a serious impact in all matters of trade. Likewise, a multitude of navigable waterways, easy access to the sea, and a mild climate all contributed to the onset of industrialism. Britain's topography was conducive to industrialism because its diversity allowed for the production of many agricultural products, preventing any sort of shortage or famine. Evans remarks, â€Å"Each single such advantage could be replicated in other European countries and some could be accentuated, but no other nation enjoyed such a rich combination of natural bounties† (111). Furthermore, the nation was free of many trade tariffs that hampered indus try in other European nations while featuring a real opportunity for upward movement in society which provided a great incentive for acquiring wealth. Britain also experienced tremendous population growth which provided a potential workforce as well as an increase in the demand for goods. In addition to all of these natural assets, there was also great innovation and technological advance in Britain. One of the b... ...not on governments, but on men of initiative, determination, ambition, vision, resourcefulness, single-mindedness, and (not infrequently) good, honest greed† (117). The Industrial Revolution, led by Great Britain, greatly changed the existing attitude of powerlessness towards nature to one of power because now people were able to produce enough goods and food to support the expanding population. The ability to produce a surplus that arose from the ongoing industrialization meant that people no longer had to worry over nature and its effects on the economy. The Industrial Revolution led by Great Britain radically changed Europe's social and economic ways of life and provided the impetus for the tremendous progress of the 19th century. Work Cited Evans, Eric J. The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain. London and New York: Longman, 1996.

Continuity and Change over Time in Classical Civilizations

After the fall of the classical civilizations from 100 to 600 CE the world experienced many changes. China’s fall was not as drastic as Rome’s, but it was still worse than India’s. The collapse of the Han dynasty caused China to go into three centuries of unrest until the Sui and Tang dynasties came to the rescue. China had more continuities than changes after its fall, unlike the other classical civilizations.China went from a politically centralized civilization with a developed hierarchy with mutual respect of the upper and lower classes that followed Confucian ways of obedience and deference to the syncretism of Buddhism and Daoism during 100 to 600 CE because of nomadic invasions, corrupt bureaucracies, and religious fluctuations. However, bureaucracies and Confucianism remained. China’s collapse began because of outside nomadic invasions by the Huns. However, after the three centuries of unrest, the nomads simply tried to assimilate into Chinese trad itions after realizing they did not have anything better to offer.During the centuries of chaos, approximately one-half of the population was killed by epidemics. Confucianism, a large imprint of the ways of life in China, became intellectually less active. The bureaucracies became corrupt, which allowed Buddhism to expand to China and threaten its unity. After the bureaucracies corrupted, local landlords picked up power in local neighborhoods. This caused more taxes to the already heavily taxed peasants, causing further social unrest. During this time, Daoism’s appeal increased because of its healing practices and magic.A Daoist movement led by the Yellow Turbans (who promised a golden age) attacked the weak government; however, this failed and simply furthered the downward spiral of classical China. After three centuries of unrest in China, the Sui and T’ang dynasties stepped in. The T’ang dynasty is responsible for the glorious periods of China. This dynasty restored peace to China and revived much of its old ways. Because of the T’ang dynasty, China had returned to its Confucian ways as well as bureaucratic. Because of these dynasties, the bureaucratic system became more elaborate.Even though the bureaucracy declined during the pandemonium, it never did disappear. The structures of classical China were simply too strong to be completely overturned. Despite the continuities, China did exhibit changes after its political and social upheaval. Buddhism had become a major religion in the world because of the expansion eastward during classical China’s demise. Some Buddhist beliefs were syncretized into Confucian China. Despite the mark from the minor Buddhist presence, the chaos did not leave any permanent disruption like in Rome. China merely had to recover from a major setback, rather than reinvent an entire civilization.

The novel Lord of the Flies

Why is evil attractive? Lord of the Flies by William Golding dramatized the primordial evil that is in man’s subconscious. Although normally,   civilized human beings consider evil undesirable and therefore to be avoided, the fact is, many are drawn into it. Evil holds some kind of a seductive quality that less morally discerning people find hard to resist. Setting evil intentions in context In this novel, Golding gave life to various characters that represent the two basic types of people in this world, the good and the bad. Ralph, Piggy, and Simon were the good ones, while Jack and Roger were the evil ones.   Stranded in a deserted tropical island, Ralph and Piggy wanted to establish rules,   build shelters, secure clean water and food. But the tasks to achieve these were boring and   most of the boys wanted just to play and hunt. Jack who was the leader of the hunting party, would soon emerge as the more attractive and powerful leader. Playing and hunting are not evil   in themselves but in the novel, these were seeds of evil that would soon grow into disturbing magnitude. The boys in Jack’s group enjoyed hunting and killing the animals and eventually became obsessed with hunting and killing Ralph. This paper analyzes how evil holds some kind of attraction and why people are drawn into it. There are at least three hypotheses–   (1) Evil is attractive because it gives a pleasurable experience; (2) Evil is attractive because it satisfies bloodlust, considering the belief that there is a murderous inclination in every man; and (3) Evil is attractive because of the opportunity it provides to play God, to be in control, to be powerful. With Golding’s work as point of reference, this paper illustrates how the conflict between good and evil continues to occur in various ways, in different people.   The film by Adrian Lyne,   Unfaithful that starred Diane Lane and Richard Gere is used here as one example. In this film, all the mentioned premises above were   portrayed. Like the English boys in the novel,   Connie and Edward, the couple in the said film were decent, intelligent, and admirable. However, when thrown in a critical situation that tested their character, the evil in them triumphed over the good.   The basic assumption of course is that man is dual, both good and evil. Always man struggles with this internal conflict. Lust for flesh, blood and power In the novel, â€Å"†¦ Jack found the throat and the hot blood sprouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her.† (Golding) The imagery evoked by this description is   sexual.   A primordial bloodlust was satisfied. In the film, Unfaithful,   Connie was drawn into an affair with Paul because of the sheer pleasure of the experience, despite the fact that she had a good home and a fulfilling marriage. The film seemed to suggest that her motivation was irrational. She had an affair because a strong wind was blowing. She slipped on the road and cut her knee. The irresistible lover-to-be was passing by and offered help, invited her to his apartment to dressed her wound. Later she called to thank him. He invited her for coffee and she accepted.   From there began a series of trysts. Connie’s hubris ( Greek for sin of pride) was assuming she was in control, that she can have an affair and then forget about it and go on with her life. Unfortunately, she kept coming back to his flat and   began to neglect her duties. When Edward, her husband found out,   he also assumed he was in control and attempted to confront Paul, the lover in a civilized way.   However, when Edward saw their wedding anniversary gift in the lover’s bedroom, he lost control and   bash Paul’s head, thus killing him. Connie and Edward eventually became partners in crime as they worked to dispose Paul’s corpse and lied to the police. Connie chose not to channel her passion into something creative. She yielded to her sexual energy instead.. Her pride and   confidence, her sense of adventure overpowered her. She probably knew what she was doing was wrong but went ahead because she had not been very spiritually discerning lately.   She was young, attractive, comfortable, loved, secure. It never occurred to her to pray to be a faithful wife. She assumed she can get away with infidelity, never thought she was putting   her marriage and loved ones at great risk when she chose to give in to lust for flesh. Edward was good and tried to make things right, perhaps persuade the lover to stop seeing his wife. But in a sudden burst of insane rage triggered by the sight of   their wedding anniversary gift that found its way into Paul’s room,   Edward killed the latter..   Suddenly his lust for blood craved to be satisfied. In the end, both wife and husband wanted to assume ultimate control over the evil they have done. Instead of trying to rectify their sins,   regain their worth as human beings and pay for their crime, Connie and Edward chose instead to cover up their evil deed. They have totally given in to the machination of the devil. Man cannot just kill the beast Man, in his foolish naivete, continue to believe the devil’s lies about happiness,   knowledge, and power. In the song, â€Å"Hotel California† by Eagles, a few lines mentioned â€Å"the beast.† And in the master’s chamber They gathered for the feast But with their steely knives They just can’t kill the beast. Man can not just kill the beast in him, and so he has to be alert and spiritually discerning. The evil in man’s subconscious may surface when he least expect it and cause him   to commit a sin   that would destroy him and those around   him.   Always, the attraction of pleasure, bloodlust, and power will entice mankind to commit evil. The antidote is found in the New Testament,   in the book of Ephesians 6: 10-17, about putting on the   helmet of salvation and   the armor of God, consisting of truth as belt, justice as breastplate,   zeal to propagate peace as footgear, faith as shield,   and the word of God as sword of the spirit. Biblography Eagles. â€Å"Hotel Califoria.†   Wea International. May 2006. Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. 1954. Lyne, Adrian (Director). Unfaithful. Fox 2000 Pictures. 2002 The New American Bible. Thomas Nelson Publishers. 1971.