Management and Co-ordination

Coordination Definition of Coordination Co-ordination is the unification, integration, synchronization of the efforts of group members so as to provide unity of action in the pursuit of common goals. It is a hidden force which binds all the other functions of management. According to Mooney and Reelay, â€Å"Co-ordination is orderly arrangement of group efforts to provide unity of action in the pursuit of common goals†. According to Charles Worth, â€Å"Co-ordination is the integration of several parts into an orderly hole to achieve the purpose of understanding†. Management seeks to achieve co-ordination through its basic functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. That is why, co-ordination is not a separate function of management because achieving of harmony between individuals efforts towards achievement of group goals is a key to success of management. Co-ordination is the essence of management and is implicit and inherent in all functions of management. Ingredient of all the Managerial Functions A manager can be compared to an orchestra conductor since both of them have to create rhythm and unity in the activities of group members. Co-ordination is an integral element or ingredient of all the managerial functions as discussed below: – 1. Co-ordination through Planning – Planning facilitates co-ordination by integrating the various plans through mutual discussion, exchange of ideas. e. g. – co-ordination between finance budget and purchases budget. 2. Co-ordination through Organizing – Mooney considers co-ordination as the very essence of organizing. In fact when a manager groups and assigns various activities to subordinates, and when he creates department’s co-ordination uppermost in his mind. . Co-ordination through Staffing – A manager should bear in mind that the right no. of personnel in various positions with right type of education and skills are taken which will ensure right men on the right job. 4. Co-ordination through Directing – The purpose of giving orders, instructions & guidance to the subordinates is served only when there is a harmony between sup eriors & subordinates. 5. Co-ordination through Controlling – Manager ensures that there should be co-ordination between actual performance & standard performance to achieve organizational goals. Differences between Co-ordination and Co-operation |Basis |Co-ordination |Co-operation | |Meaning |It is an orderly arrangement of group efforts in |It means mutual help willingly. | | |pursuit of common goals. | | |Scope |It is broader than co-operation which includes as well|It is termed as a part of co-ordination. | |because it harmonizes the group efforts. | | |Process |The function of co-ordination is performed by top |The functions of co-operation are prepared by persons at | | |management. |any level. | |Requirements |Co-ordination is required by employees and departments|Co-operation is emotional in nature because it depends on | | |at work irrespective of their work. |the willingness of people working together. |Relationship |It establishes formal and informal relationships. |It establishes informal relationship. | |Freedom |It is planned and entrusted by the central authority &|It depends upon the sweet will of the individuals and | | |it is essential. |therefore it is not necessary. | |Support |It seeks wholehearted support from various people |Co-operation without co-ordination is fruitless & | | |working at various levels. therefore it may lead to unbalanced developments. | Therefore, existence of co-operation may prove to be effective condition or requisite for co-ordination. But it does not mean that co-ordination originates automatically from the voluntary efforts of the group of members. It has to be achieved through conscious & deliberate efforts of managers, therefore to conclude we can say that co-operation without co-ordination has no fruit and co-ordination without co-operation has no root.

Nature of Accounting and the Accounting Standard

Nature of Accounting and the Accounting Standard Background Accounting is an important part for business and it is dubbed â€Å"language† of business activities conducted by firms. People think it is used to communicate business transactions per se to all stakeholders. However, some people argue that the functions of accounting are not that easy. Except the communication tool, accounting acts as many other difference roles in business. When doing accounting, different standard may be used. There are many issues about accounting standard nowadays.To getting a subjective view of accounting, it is necessary to understand how accounting is worked. This essay will analyze the application of accounting in the various situations to reach a conclusion. It will give some perspective for accounting also. Firm as an accounting object As we know, accounting was widely used in the firm. In accounting, firm means some business entity aiming at earning economic profit. In general, there are three types of firms: proprietorship, partnership and corporation. Firms are classified by the types of ownership, limitation of liability and so on.According to Scott Besley (2007), a proprietorship and partnership is an unincorporated business. Proprietorship firm owned by one individual while partnership owned by two or more people. A corporation is â€Å"a legal entity by a state†. The owners and managers may not be the same person. Corporation have unlimited life and enjoin limited liability. Owners have no responsibility for liabilities of the corporation. However, for proprietorship and partnership, owners must payback all liability of creditor. Although there are various classifications for firm, its object is quite same.The general object of a commerce firm is earning profit. However, firms cannot just focus on the financial income. There are many other aspects must consider. The firm which is just care about financial achievement will suffer form ethic dilemma. Dobs on (1997) defined the behavior that firm just consider about self-interest individualistic and opportunistic as â€Å"finance paradigm†. He criticized that it would cause another lost for people. To be an ethic firm, it should select object carefully to maximize the benefit for all relevant people.Rather than running business individually, people do commerce via firm. Firms exist because it can provide a more efficiency operation environment for people. However, even if firms can offer a better way for people doing business, we shouldn’t ignore the troubles arising from it. Accounting and transaction Transaction plays a special role in firm’s daily operation. In general meaning, transaction is exchange of goods or services between entities, as well as other events that have an economic impact on a business.It is a business’s economic record by accounting (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2011). It should be clarify that not all events generated in business proc ess can be record. Accounting must considers about what transaction should record and how it is record. There are two major assumptions about whether transaction should be record. The first one is monetary unit assumption. In accounting, we just record the transaction data which can be express in money term (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2011). Another assumption is economic entity assumption.Accountant must just account the transaction relevant to certain firm. The active of its owner or other economic entity should not be record in the firm’s account (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2011). In addition, such action must affect the component of accounting equation dually. That means it should affect assts, liability or equity. Measurement method in accounting As it mentioned before, the major object of account is identify, record and communicate the transaction. In real life, the environment for accounting is changing continuously.So, accountant should know how to record and measure transaction properly. To facing price changing, there are two major approaches to record and measure transaction: historical cost principle and fair value principle. When using historical cost principle, companies record assets as its cost (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2011). That means if the value of goods in such transaction is changing, it will keep the original record of such goods. However, we should update the record of assets value according to the market price in fair value principle.When managers decide which standard should be used, there are various factors need to be consider. Inflation is necessary for measurement method decision. Alhashim & Arpan (1992) claimed that when price is stable, the historical cost principle could provide an objective view for company’s performance. Managers may prefer this method to measure transaction. However, study also show that when it is high inflation, using historical cost principle will provide some useless information. If the price is changing frequently, the historical cost principle will not suitable.For example, in British, because it was suffer from high inflation rate in the history, the accounting standard in this country select fair-value principle. (Alhashim & Arpan, 1992) Cost measurement is an important part in accounting. Since the component of cost for business is complex, it will select material cost for example. There are two common principles for material cost evaluation. One is average value method, another is FIFO method. Company’s objective should be considered when choosing those approaches of cost measurement.When using average cost method, company’s income statement will show lower income so that company will enjoin lower tax. However, when firm choosing FIFO method, they will pay higher tax because of the high income present by income statement. When company wants to reduce tax cost, they may choose average cost method. Otherwise, they will choose FIFO method to attrac t investment by showing well performance. Except form pervious example discussed, there are many other factors could affect the measurement method.For example, David Solomons (1970) think that feasibility like objective, low cost of implementation and ease of understanding for users will affect the judgment for measurement method. In different condition, managers will choose different principle. So, it is difficult to say which principle is better. Conclusion By analyze relevant item of accounting, the perspective of accounting is more clearly now. Transaction is a vital component of accounting and there are various principles about it. However, accounting is related to other aspects also. Merely defined accounting as analyzing transaction per se is not false but not objectively.Communication is also a vital part of account. It is properly to descript accounting as a â€Å"language† of business. As mention before, there are many communicating methods and standards for account ing. Different regions may have different accounting â€Å"language† (Alhashim & Arpan, 1992). It is a challenge for current international company. To solve this problem, it is necessary to build and spread a unified standard for international accounting right now. Reference Alhashim, D. D. , & Arpan, J. S. (1992). International dimensions of accounting. Boston: PWS-KENT publishing company.Dobson, J. (1997). Finance ethics: the rationality of virtue. Cummor Hill, Oxford OX2 9JJ, England: Lanham [u. a. ] : Rowman & Littlefield. Scott Besley, E. F. (2007). Essentials of Managerial Finance. Natorp Boulevasr, Mason OH: South Westren College. Solomons, D. (1970). Assets valuation and income determination: appraising the alternative. In R. R. Sterling, Assets valuation and income determination (p. 105). 4431 Mt. Vernon, Houston, Texas: Scholar Book Co. Weygandt, J. J. , Kimmel, P. D. , & Kieso, D. E. (2011). Financial Accounting. USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

What effect does the pressure of standardized testing have on student Thesis Proposal - 1

What effect does the pressure of standardized testing have on student expectations and performance - Thesis Proposal Example oposed research will play a significant role in enabling educators to improve the process of standardized testing that may result in a positive impact on students’ performance rather than vice versa. Research Questions In order to collect data, the researcher has identified following questions that will enable the researcher in fulfilling abovementioned aims and objectives of the proposed research: You need to paste your questionnaire here LITERATURE REVIEW The statement â€Å"What effect does the pressure of standardized testing have on student expectations and performance?† has come under many studies, researches and theories since it is one of the most vital and significant subject of concern for the youth of twenty first century as they are living in the world of paramount competition. This topic has been under constant discussions and disputes with many controversial results amongst the academic researchers, professors and lecturers, and parents as everybody has a different perspective on the influence and performance on students of the standardized testing. However, the preliminary concept of standardized testing has emerged in order to assess and calculate the knowledge, understanding, and efficiency of students within the academic learning systems that comes under practice in the United States and many other countries. In addition, education systems even exercise the standardized testing with a purpose to establish, form and outline the program of study for the students according to their performance and skills level (Henningfeld, 2007).   Various educational institutions carry out numerous standardized tests as eligibility criteria of admission in the college or school all around the world includes â€Å"Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT), Graduate Management... The statement â€Å"What effect does the pressure of standardized testing have on student expectations and performance?† has come under many studies, researches and theories since it is one of the most vital and significant subject of concern for the youth of twenty first century as they are living in the world of paramount competition. This topic has been under constant discussions and disputes with many controversial results amongst the academic researchers, professors and lecturers, and parents as everybody has a different perspective on the influence and performance on students of the standardized testing. However, the preliminary concept of standardized testing has emerged in order to assess and calculate the knowledge, understanding, and efficiency of students within the academic learning systems that comes under practice in the United States and many other countries. In addition, education systems even exercise the standardized testing with a purpose to establish, form and outline the program of study for the students according to their performance and skills level (Henningfeld, 2007). Various educational institutions carry out numerous standardized tests as eligibility criteria of admission in the college or school all around the world includes â€Å"Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT), Graduate Management Aptitude Tests (GMAT), Law School Admission Testing (LSAT) and Medical College Admission Tests (MCAT) and numerous others† (Henningfeld, 2007).

Post-War Conformity in the 1950s and the Seeds of Change Essay

Post-War Conformity in the 1950s and the Seeds of Change - Essay Example According to my grandfather who is generally quite outgoing even is his current old age, the American society at the time was quite ideal as there were numerous jobs going around and teenagers could be able to land simple jobs such as milking cattle and performing chores and errands to earn extra money to be used in attending the cinema and dances. On the other hand, my reserved grandmother attests to its having been a rather difficult time especially in light of the fact that her family was not particularly well off and had a hard time affording the latest gadgetry and clothing. Although they were not quite well off, my great grandfather struggled to raise his family and was satisfied that he was able to provide them with a house, schooling and education, which caused my grandmother to be particularly proud of him although she at times covetedthe fancy clothing and gadgetry owned by her friends and their families. Having been brought up in a society that sought a high degree of conformity, my grandparents both worked hard toenjoyed an innate sense of security when they bought and owned similar electronics to their neighbors in addition to having a house of considerable size. Both of them attribute this acquired sense of security from the traits that they developed in the highly conformed American society of the 1950s. Week 13 Response: Response on Reform and Revolution in the 1960s Living in the United States in the current day and age, there are relatively very few causes that I would have an inclination to march or protest for. However, the one thing that I happen to be particularly sensitive about generally pertains to terrorism. This is because I happened to loose a number of close family, distant relatives as well as neighbours. Most of my friends can be able to account for at least one family member of close relation that suffered either directly or indirectly primarily as a result of te rrorism. The recent attempts by the United States to engage in a number of wars such as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has severed to increase the number of families that end up suffering as a result of terrorism. I have had the experience of marching and protesting against a land grabbing case that wanted to grab one of the local playgrounds. I was still a small kid but strongly felt that it was wrong for the field to be grabbed since in my young mind, I would not have a place to go play with my friends or simply hangout. Our parents mobilized us in writing protest letters to the council and this resulted in positive developments as we managed to save our beloved playground. I would never consider engaging myself in beyond peaceful demonstrations as I strongly believe that it generally does not result in any good. I believe that violent demonstrations can at times defeat their purpose as the demonstrators gain a negative image and largely lose any support that they might potentially have accrued. Week 14 Response: Response on Conservatism and Domestic Events My grandfather has always been strongly conservative and is always slow on the uptake of any change to his established way of life. However, having a large number of African American friends, both my grandparents were quite pleased with the results of the civil rights movement in this period of history that caused them to more easily relate with their African American friends. My grandfather is particularly happy with America’s success in the space race but both of my grandparents are however critical negative aspects of this

Organizational Development in HRD Change Model Research Paper

Organizational Development in HRD Change Model - Research Paper Example harmaceutical industry is also risky because to develop a drug requires huge investments and out of the many thousands of discovered compounds, only one might be approved drug for sale with the failure rate being high and very difficult to get the return on investment. Also, the high stakes required at the organization if the research and development shows that the total cost of the project does not reach the fruition needed. The organization also is also experiencing that the costs of healthcare have consistently raised faster than the GDP thus creation of an unsustainable situation in healthcare systems, whether it is publicly or privately funded. As a result, new barriers have been erected to market entry; pressures have increased on the pricing, reimbursement, and besides customers are increasingly demanding for evidence of the â€Å"value for money†. The costs of doing research and development have risen more sharply than the rate of inflation, while the number of drugs that were reaching the market has steadily fallen. Changes will pave way for improved integration between the company’s customer service activities, underwriting, and excellence in operations Vision is the strong belief focused on the right course of action. It is the most vital component when faced high uncertainties and actions are hard to contract. The vision of the organization: provision of access to safe, effective and affordable medicines and the related health care services to the people. Mission: Our priorities are God, people, and business. The core values of the organization: Leading portfolio of products and medicines that supports , wellness and safety of the population; committed to the application of science and our resources to improve the health and well being at every stage of life by providing high quality drugs; efficiency in the provision of services; operating on transparency; working in partnership with everyone from the patients to the health care providers to world

International Accounting Standards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

International Accounting Standards - Essay Example The fair value system has all together improved the information to the individual users of the economy. International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS): IFRS is a private sector organization which is working for the interest of public. The main objectives of IFRS foundation are: 1) It creates a single set of quality which is understandable and enforceable worldwide. The standard setting body that helps in formulating the standards for the organization is the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) (IFRS Foundation. 2013k). 2) They are responsible for promoting the use and application of those standards. 3) They are accountable for reporting the financial needs of the small and medium sized companies. 4) They are also responsible for safeguarding the working of IASB thus ensuring the financing of the organization. The Trustees of the organization are accountable for Monitoring Board of the Public Authorities (IFRS Foundation. 2013k). International Accounting Standards Board: IASB is the standard setting body under the governance of IFRS Foundation. ... 2013g). There are few standard setting duties which IASB had to fulfil. In doing so, it has to go through an open and thorough process which is also transparent for public comment and discussion in papers or exposure to drafts. It connects successfully with the stakeholders worldwide. Like the analysts, regulators, investors, business leaders and accounting standard setters. Fair Value: IFRS 13 has defined fair value as the price that is â€Å"received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement dates† (IFRS Foundation, 2013e). The fair value system sets a single IFRS framework for measuring the fair value. After measuring it is disclosed to the public. Here, IFRS plays an important role in managing and measuring the fair value system. Supporting the objectives of the IFRS Foundation: The activities that are undertaken by the IFRS Foundation for fulfilling the objectives of organization are taken car e by the staffs of IFRS Foundation. Those activities included the following: 1) The important activity of IFRS foundation was to provide the worldwide capital market with a common language of financial reporting. Thus XBRL taxonomy is created by IFRS for the SMEs to facilitate electronic usage, comparability and exchange of the financial data which are prepared according to the IFRS norms. The activity is executed by the IFRS XBRL team members. They are responsible for maintaining and developing XBRL representations of IFRS which is known as the IFRS taxonomy. Taxonomies are the organized categorization schemes which are also â€Å"computer readable dictionaries† (IFRS Foundation, 2013a) 2) They are involved in production of good quality and up to dated materials which

Business Planning Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Planning - Research Proposal Example The ability of a supplier to drive up prices would depend on the extent to which Morrisons can control this supplier. So far, Morrisons has been able to control a group of farmers producing carrots, onions, potatoes and mushrooms. This view is supported by information from the website that when in season Morrisons gets 100% of its carrots from British farmers, as well as 90% of other food items like onions, potatoes and mushrooms. Harnessing the supply of such food items from British farmers means the farmers have very few markets to for their products. This therefore creates a situation whereby Morrisons can easily determine the prices at which it buys these food items. Hence the suppliers' power to influence the prices is reduced. On the other hand, Morrisons supports and controls the entire market outlet of local and small suppliers. This power exerted by Morrisons can be seen in the information that Kelly's ice cream and Sharpes Eden Ale can only be found in our Morrisons Cornish stores. It therefore shows that these suppliers have limited power to drive up the prices of their products to Morrisons. Buyer power denotes the ability of Morrisons customers to drive down prices. So far, no documented evidence exists on how customers have influenced the pricing of products at Morrisons. Given that Morrisons operates along side other chains like ASDA, Sainsbury, LIDL, TESCO, Somerfield, Waitrose, the customers have variety and choices at their disposal, and can easily switch from one supermarket to the other. However, they can rarely drive down prices. So Morrisons can only have its prices determined if they were dealing with a few powerful buyers who would dictate the terms. Competitive Rivalry The competitive rivalry surrounding the Morrisons business environment is determined by the number and capability of its competitors. Some of these competitors include: Asda, Lidl, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Netto, Somerfield, Waitrose, and others. If these competitors can offer equally attractive products and services as Morrisons, then Morrisons would most likely have little power in the market. These competitors are many and are likely to strive to provide quality products and services too, such that Morrisons hasn't the tremendous strength to control the market. Threat of Substitutes The ability of Morrison's customers to find substitute products and services from different supermarket chains would determine the level of rivalry between Morrisons and other competitors. As seen above, there are many supermarket chains trading in the same products and services as Morrisons, giving customers a host of choices at their disposal. Therefore substitution for Morrison's products is easy and viable, weakening its power to command the market. Threat of New Entrants Morrison's power in the supermarket business would be affected by the ability of other investors to enter the market. If it isn't so costly, in respect of time and money, to enter the supermarket then it is expected that more of similar businesses would be started and this would increase the strain on Morrisons to loose its leadership role in the market. Going by the number of supermarkets that have set u in the UK recently, including LIDL from Germany, one can tell that investing into the supermarket business is not so costly in terms of time or raising the venture capital. Hence Morrisons faces severe

The Design and Implementation of a Networked Technology For Distance Essay

The Design and Implementation of a Networked Technology For Distance Learning - Essay Example The Development of the Web-based communication, as well as the collaboration of other related tools, are considered as the basis for the design and implementation of a ‘Networked Virtual Classrooms’ we have today supports the flexibility in the educational and training systems.3 Over the years, there has been a constant change in the terminology used in describing the Web-based ODL. Sometimes the term ‘Networked Open Learning’ (NOL), Networked Learning (NL) or Electronic Learning (e-learning) can be used interchangeably.4, 5 The Networked Virtual Classroom functions in two ways: as a learning material database and a two-way platform for the mentors and students. According to Turoff (1995), a virtual classroom can be used as a substitute for a classroom-based teaching through the use of an electronic-based environment that incorporates the virtual working spaces with the use of communication features.6 On the other hand, McCormack and Jones (1998) describe a virtual classroom as a Web-based environment that has an organizational, communicational, and evaluation features wherein the mentors and students conducts the learning activities.7 This study will discuss the educational objectives and goals of an open and distance learning; the usual framework of information system used in a networked virtual classroom; who are the target learners as well as their unique characteristics and their role; the special role of the mentors; the activities involved in distance learning; and the materials used in distance learning. Open and Distance Learning (ODL) aims to enable the people to access the educational system by removing all barriers including time, place, and pace.

GMO's and their negative effects Research Paper

GMO's and their negative effects - Research Paper Example GMOs are unhealthy to human’s health because they are composed of toxic substances. This is so because when they are consumed, they leave behind substances that have long term effects on human health. For instance, genes added into GM soy can shift into the deoxyribonucleic acid of bacteria existing in us. This is proved when a GM com was detected in the blood of a pregnant woman and her unborn baby. Therefore, doctors are then urged doctors to give prescription of a non-Genetically Modified diets for all that are affected (Smith and Jeffrey, 2007. Numerous health problems have also increased after GMOs were brought in. The percentage of persons with more chronic illnesses jumped from 8% to 14% in just ten years. There has been a rise in food allergies, disorders like autism, reproductive disorders, and digestive problems. Though there is no enough research to affirm that Genetically Modified foods are a adding element, doctors groups have alerted people not to wait but to start protecting ourselves and more so our children who are at a much risk. GMOS also create allergy that affects boys and adults. This causes allergic reactions in humans that usually occur when a nontoxic protein gets into the body and causes an immune response. Whenever the new protein in a Genetically Modified food gets from a host that is known to bring allergies in humans or one that has never been taken in as human food, the certain that the protein could evoke an immune response in human being increases. Though no allergic reactions to Genetically Modified food by users have been affirmed, in vitro prove indicating that some GM results could bring an allergic reaction has prompted biotechnology parties to cease their exploitation. Getting a GM food into the market is a hectic and costly process. This means most companies run at a loss is they do not carefully take this into account. This may result in other negative effects such as unemployment to many

Different Types of Narration Essay Example for Free

Different Types of Narration Essay There are a variety of ways to narrate a story, but essentially they can be broken down into two main groups: first person narrative, and third person narrative. In the use of the first person narrator, the story is told through the eyes of the I narrator. The first person narrator can only relate incidents that he or she has witnessed, and only he or she can interpreted the situation, therefore in this respect the first person narrative is limited. We must remember that a first person narrator in a novel is not the novelist but a character who sees things only in the light of his or her own point of view and coloured by his or her personality, therefore events are biased to the narrators opinion. This of course can be used to effect in books where the first person narrator is unreliable and therefore we are forced to see a false picture of events. For example in The Beach by Alex Garland, events are told by Richard, a backpacker in Bangkok. In the extract I have chosen, Richard recounts an encounter with Mister Duck, who, at the beginning of he book, commits suicide. In the extract below, it is only the second time that Richard meets Mister Duck, the first being when Richard was feverish. Therefore we can easily presume that Richard was hallucinating when he first met Mister Duck but in this extract, it is hard to tell, from the way Richard narrates it, that Mister Duck is imaginary: Mister Duck sat in his room on the Khao San Road. Hed pulled back one of the newspapers that covered the window and was peering down to the street. Behind him, strewn across his bed, were coloured pencils, obviously the ones hed used to draw the map. The map was nowhere in sight so maybe hed already tacked it to my door. I saw that his shoulders were shaking. Mister Duck? I said cautiously. He turned, scanned the room with a puzzled frown and, then spotted me through the strip of mosquito netting. Rich Hi. Of course, through first person narrative, we develop a more intimate relationship with the narrator because we have their character and way of thinking forced upon us, which in cases can make you sympathise more with this character, as you know their private emotions that they would not show openly. For example in The Remains of the Day the use of the first person narrator creates suspense and mystery over the intense relationship between Stevens and Miss Kenton. Also in this extract, we feel Stevens character imposed on the story as his unquestioning faith and dedication to his job cost him dearly his personal life. And finally Stevens unwavering sense of duty and reserve at all times leading him to deny his emotions eventually drive away the woman he loved. As demonstrated in the extract I have chosen: As I was bolting the door, I noticed Miss Kenton waiting for me, and said: I trust you had a pleasant evening, Miss Kenton. She made no reply, so I said again, as we were making our way across the darkened expanse of the kitchen floor; I trust you had a pleasant evening, Miss Kenton. I did, thank you, Mr Stevens. Im pleased to hear that. Behind me, Miss Kentons footsteps came to a sudden stop and I heard her say: Are you not in the least interested in what took place tonight between my acquaintance and I Mr Stevens? I do not mean to be rude, Miss Kenton, But I really must return upstairs without further delay. The fact is, events of a global significance are taking place in this house at this very moment. When are they not, Mr Stevens? Very well, if you must be rushing off, I shall just tell you that I accepted my acquaintances proposal. I beg your pardon, Miss Kenton? His proposal of marriage. Ah, is that so, Miss Kenton? Then may I offer you my congratulations. Thank you, Mr Stevens. Of course, Ill be happy to serve out my notice. However, should it be that you are able to release me earlier, we would be very grateful. My acquaintance begins his new job in the West Country in two weeks time. I will do my best to secure a replacement at the earliest opportunity, Miss Kenton. Now if you will excuse me, I must return upstairs. I started to walk away again, but then when I had all but reached the doors out to the corridor, I heard Miss Kenton say: Mr Stevens, and thus turned once more. She had not moved, and consequently she was obliged to raise her voice slightly in addressing me, so that it resonated rather oddly in the cavernous spaces of the dark and empty kitchen. Am I to take it she said, that after the many years of service I have given in this house, you have no more words to greet the news of my possible departure than those you have just uttered? Miss Kenton, you have my warmest congratulations. But I repeat, there are matters of global significance taking place upstairs and I must return to my post. Pages 218-219 In this extract we are frustrated by Stevens reserve and lack of emotion, and without the story being told form his side we might have felt Stevens to be cold hearted and distance and therefore dislike him. But in fact we pity his actions and feel moved. An autobiographical persona such as Pip in Dickens Great Expectations, are not to be taken as complete or even accurate portraits of their authors they are often no more than studies in self criticism: I was quite as dejected on the first working-day of my apprenticeship as in that after-time; but I am glad to know that I never breathed a murmur to Joe while my indentures lasted. It is about the only thing I am glad to know of myself in that connexion. For, though it includes what I proceed to add, all the merit of what I proceed to add was Joes. It was not because I was faithful, but because Joe was faithful, that I never ran away and went for a soldier or a sailor. It was not because I had a strong sense of the virtue of industry, but because Joe had a strong sense of the virtue of industry, that I worked with tolerable zeal against the grain. It is not possible to know how far the influence of any amiable honest-hearted duty-going man flies out into the world; but it is very possible to know how it has touched ones self in going by, and I know right well that any good that intermixed itself with my apprenticeship came of plain contented Joe, and not of restless aspiring discontented me. In the same way the innumerable portraits by artists of their friends, enemies or acquaintances are notoriously one sided, exaggerated and even on occasion, libellous. In a first person narrative, the use of interior monologue can be used where the reader is allowed inside the mind of the narrator and so we can hear their inner thought. For example in Ernest Hemingways A farewell to Arms, when Henry hears that his wife is gravely ill we receive an interior monologue: The nurse went into the room and shut the door. I sat outside in the hall. Everything was gone inside of me. I did not think. I could not think. I knew she was going to die and I prayed that she would not. Dont let her die. Oh, God, please dont let her die. Ill do anything for you if you wont let her die Please, please, please dear God, dont let her die. Dear God, dont let her die. Pleas, please, please dont let her die, God, please make her not die. Ill do anything you say if you dont let her die. You took the baby but dont let her die that was all right but dont let her die. Please, please, dear God, dont let her die. Here we feel that the character is deeply involved in his surroundings and what is happening, the events he is recounting are extremely emotional and moving, but this is not always the case. In Nausea by Jean-Paul Satre, it is the story of an observer of life in a small cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, and here the narrator is totally withdrawn from his surrounding, as though watching it on television. The narrator is distanced from events and the book is almost like a third person narrative in the sense that he is telling the story of the lives of those sitting around him, but of course true to first person narration he is interpreting the situation into how he sees it: It is half past one. I am at the Cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Mably, eating a sandwich, and everything is more or less normal. In any case, everything is always normal in cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s and especially in Cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Mably, because of the manager, Monsieur Fasquelle, who has a vulgar expression in his eyes which is very straightforward and reassuring. It will soon be time for his afternoon nap and his eyes are already pink, but his manner is still lively and decisive. He is walking among the tables and speaking confidentially to all the customers: Is everything all right, Monsieur? I smile at seeing him so lively: when his establishment empties, his head empties too. Between two and four the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is deserted, and then Monsieur Fasquelle takes a few dazed steps, the waiter turn out the lights, and he slips into unconsciousness: when this man is alone, he falls asleep. The second type of narrative is third person narration. The narrator is omniscient, that is, able to move between characters, situations, and locations at any point, and granted full access to characters thoughts, feelings, and motivation. This is the advantage that third person narration has over first person, yet a sense of intimacy with the characters is harder to achieve. Some narrators might comment on the events taking place in the novel as they unfold, and even interpose their own views; the Victorian novelists such as Charles Dickens were adept at this manner of intervention, for example in A Christmas Carol, Dickens talks directly to the reader to convey his thoughts and ideas: Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooges name was good upon Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was dead as a door-nail. Mind! I dont mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of out ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the countrys done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Alternatively, the author might limit the narrators overt presence, and recount the narratives events as directly as possible. A third-person narrator might have a limited point of view, confined to only one or a few characters, as in much of Emily Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s Wuthering Heights, where the author is wholly absent and uses the characters to tell the story. Therefore she never directly interrupts the story to make a direct comment or moral judgement on the action of the characters. We notice that Emily Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ in Wuthering Heights uses narrators that are involved in the proceedings and therefore these people try to inflict their point of view on the reader. In this case it is to emphasise the point that the relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy is unique and not something that Nelly, or Lockwood (Wuthering Heights two main narrators) will never fully comprehend as only Heathcliff and Cathy can explain their love for each other. She rung the bell till it broke with a twang: I entered leisurely. It was enough to try the temper of a saint, such senseless, wicked rages! There she lay dashing her head against the arm of the sofa, and grinding her teeth, so that you might fancy she would crash them to splinters! Mr Linton stood looking at her in sudden compunction and fear. He told me to fetch some water. She had no breath for speaking. I brought a glass full; and, as she would not drink, I sprinkled it on her face. In a few seconds she stretched herself out stiff, and turned up her eyes, while her cheeks, at once blanched and livid, assumed the aspect of death. Linton looked terrified. There is nothing in the world the matter, I whispered. I did not want him to yield, though I could not help being afraid in my heart. She has blood on her lips! he said, shuddering. Never mind! I answered tartly. And I told him how she had resolved previous to his coming, on exhibiting a fit of frenzy. In some cases the events of the story are told through an impersonal narrative. This impersonal narrator then relates the story through the senses of different character, presenting the reader with a more rounded picture. For example in The Tesseract by Alex Garland, the story is told from many points of view, quickly changing between one characters perspective to another, each time the story being told from that characters sense and feeling. In the extract below we witness the situation from three of the character point of view The telephone made for an indifferent witness. But Seans reflection in the bathroom mirror, making contact as he turned away from the vent, was less detached. Even under pressure, the sight was arresting. His face seemed to be in a state of flux. Unable to resolve itself, like a cheap hologram or a bucket of snakes, the lips drew back while the jaw relaxed, the stare softened while the frown hardened. Fear, Sean thought distantly. Rare that one got to see what it actually looked like. Other peoples, sure, but not your own. Intrigued, he leaned close to the mirror, ignoring the footsteps that were already working their way up the stairs. Aaaah, were going to be late, said Don Pepe, breaking the tense silence of the last five minutes. Jojo nodded and nervously pushed his thumbs into the padding around the steering wheel. Yes, sir, we are. Im sorry. Jojo paused a moment before saying Yes, sir again. He was leaving time for Teroy to add his own apology. After all, hed been the one who had suggested Hotel Patay in the first place. But Teroy, sitting in the passenger seat, wasnt saying a word. No sense diverting Don Pepes irritation on to him, when he could keep his head down and his mouth shut and let Jojo take all the abuse. Fair enough. Jojo would have been doing the same if their roles had been reversed. The narrator is very important in a story as the narrator is responsible for the way a story is conveyed to its reader, or its point of view. The variety of ways that the author can manipulate the narrator and his or her point of view in order to gain maximum control over the work as a whole is often the essence of whether the reader gained the desired effect set by the author.

Maintaining Communication in Nursery Management

Maintaining Communication in Nursery Management In this unit I will be looking at how to maintain effective communication through a nursery setting with staff, parents and children. I will be going through the importance of staff appraisals and how records of staff should be logged and the reason for this. Disciplinary and grievance issues will be discussed as it is crucial to know the procedure of these in the unfortunate circumstances that they may occur. Finally, I will evaluate the appropriate employment policies that are put in to place for the recruitment and management of the staff in a nursery organisation. Task 1.1 â€Å"Explain the process for maintaining effective communication within the setting team† We know that communication is the transfer of information between people. It can be verbal or non verbal. In a nursery we utilize constant communication between a practitioner and child, management and staff, staff and parents and many others. In a larger setting it may be a complicated process however there are many different ways of easing this process. It is essential that we know what the key factors should be in the communication process, how to improve our skills and the potential problems that exist with errors in communication and how to overcome this to have minimal faults. In order to have successful communication there are normally three major components; a sender, a receiver and a message. For example in a nursery setting the practitioner may be teaching there key child a certain colour/number and in order to do this they set an activity. In this example we have a sender (practitioner), a receiver (child) and a message (activity). For staff we frequently have a great deal of information to send within a short period of time. To do this effectively, it is important for management to know that there are factors which could influence how our message is interpreted. Breakdown of important information can help give receiver a better understanding of what is expected from them. In situations where this does not occur and important information is not conveyed, allergy advice, medicine or parents preferences for their chid may be missed. For example, in one situation, there was a member of staff from preschool that had come to cover for the toddler room leader. Unaware that one child is allergic to wheat she incorporated play doh in her activity. This error could have been prevented if the communication between staff had been complete. In my current place of employment we have a ‘communication book’ kept in each room. This book contains ALL messages from managers, staff and parents. Every member of staff should check this every time they enter the room and sign once they have read any new message. Staffs are all told verbally any messages and it is also written down in the communication book to make sure everyone has understood the message. I understand from my experience that the trust of our parents and families of children that attend nursery is an extremely important part of providing effective childcare. If they don’t trust us, any communication that we attempt to send to them may be disregarded. The first step to effective communication is honesty. It is important not to promise staff and children that we are going to do something unless it can be followed through. It has been said as much as 80% of our communication is non verbal. We need to pay attention to our body language, eye contact and tone of voice when addressing staff, parents and children. Conflict among co workers can impact the setting we work in and can prevent important communication. Also, cultural awareness can be an important part of knowledge base that we need to have when communicating as practitioners/managing staff. For example, we may want to pat the arm of an unhappy member of staff, but we need to make sure that this behaviour is acceptable and not seen as inappropriate. Regardless of how busy the day to day running of the nursery we need to ensure that each room and management has â€Å"protected† time. This allows staff to communicate about important issues such as, child protection issue, staffing levels and medical advice given by parents for a particular child. In order to have effective communication it is essential to have an active listener. To show you are an active listener it is important to pay attention, respond appropriately and provide feedback. In business there are 4C’s of communication which are; comprehension, credibility, connection and contagiousness. Starting with comprehension, it is important to see whether our message can be comprehended by staff/parents/children. If they don’t understand or it has to be repeated it is likely to be a fault in our communication. Secondly, credibility is an extremely important factor. This must be perceived in the correct way to parents what you are trying to convey as if they don’t understand they will have lost interest from the very start. Thirdly, we have connection. It is important to have a connection with everyone whether it is the staff, children or parents. It makes communicating with one another a much easier process when we have the confidence and connection to discuss openly any matters. Finally, contagiousness; this is what motivates staff. It is important for staff and managers to portray an enthusiastic working environment and to keep each other mo tivated. This action should be a result of what has been communicated. We know what needs to be done to have effective communication however 60% of business failures are because of poor communication. The 2 main types of communication we use are verbal and non verbal. Within these 2 categories we have many barriers which may affect staffs understanding or unwillingness to communicate and be active listeners. Verbal communication coexists alongside non verbal communication, which can affect people’s perceptions and exchanges in subtle but significant ways. Non verbal communication means how people read our body language such as gestures, facial expressions, eye contact and posture. The sound of our voice, including pitch, tone and volume are also forms of non verbal communication. In order to make staff comfortable and to help them understand what is being expected from them it is important to express non verbal communication in the correct manner. We use verbal communication to inform, whether it is to inform others of our needs or to impart know ledge. Verbal communication helps to clarify misunderstandings and provides missing information. The environment we are in may make communication difficult. If we are in a large nursery setting it may be harder to convey a message to all staff straight away as they may be located in different areas. It is important to be clear when giving instructions as the way some staff perceives messages may differ. There are also many other ways verbal messages can be misread. If staff are stressed, or have personal issues it can affect the way they choose to communicate. However, this should be dealt with at a separate time and should be resolved when the member of staff or manager are a lot calmer. Task 1.2 â€Å"Understand the importance of the appraisal process and how records for staff can be logged† A formal appraisal is important for professional development, to meet a goals or objectives. Other benefits that can be gained from an appraisal include enhanced communications, an opportunity to effectively address performance problems, and improved employee morale. The appraisal form should be completed during annual appraisals by both the manager and employee. It is good practice for employees to complete a self-appraisal form prior to the interview. This could identify areas where they feel they have excelled, areas they feel they need more support on, any training they have completed and any they would benefit from. The appraisal process looks at what the employer has learned over the last 6 months and they can discuss goals and targets they have achieved. The appraisal process gives a chance to employees and managers to discuss any further training they feel is necessary. When the employee is completing the appraisal form, it is important to complete this with the previous year’s appraisal to ensure that any targets which have been set in order to gain the pay rise have been reached. If they have not been reached, it gives the employee an opportunity to complete them (if this is possible) before the appraisal takes place. At my previous nursery all staff were asked to make a personal development plan at the beginning of the year so every year we were able to see what skills we had developed, what new skills we are looking to develop and what we need to improve. With this plan we used SMART targets in order to have effective goals and so that our progress can be measured. The appraisal pr ocess is very effective if carried out in the correct process. Task 1.3 â€Å"Identify the correct procedures to follow with regards to disciplinary and grievance issues† Disciplinary and grievance procedures are frameworks which provide clear and transparent structures for dealing with difficulties which may arise as part of the working relationship from either the employer’s or employees’ perspective. They are necessary to ensure that everybody is treated in the same way in similar circumstances, to ensure issues are dealt with fairly and reasonably, and that employers are compliant with current legislation and follow the ACAS code of practice for handling disciplinary and grievance issues. Disciplinary procedures are important as they help resolve any issues that have come up in the setting without needing to go to an employment tribunal. A disciplinary procedure normally consists of three stages. The first stage is a letter which tells the employee why the meeting is going to be taking place and has to be given to the employee at least 72 hours prior to the second stage. Following the letter, the employee is invited for a meeting and is able to bring along a companion to be present at the meeting. Prior to the meeting it is important for management to ensure all the facts are investigated in advance (including consulting the individual’s personal file for relevant information) and plan how the meeting is to be approached. It is also important for another member of the management committee or management team to be there to take notes and help conduct the interview. Finally management come to a decision of whether the employee should be dismissed or kept on. If t he employee feels they should not be dismissed they are able to appeal. After the disciplinary meeting there are three possible outcomes. The first one is where the manager decides not to take any actions. They may just decide to refer the employee for counselling or training. Secondly, management may decide to give the employee a formal warning. There are three different types of warnings that can be given. They can either be a written warning, or made as a general rule or employee may find they are given their final written warning. The third possible outcome is of course dismissal. However, if a manager decided to dismiss a member of staff it is important the ACAS code is followed. It is essential that grievances from employees are treated in the same fair manner and all levels of management are familiar with their organisation’s grievance procedure. Staff should be encouraged to discuss ordinary, day to day issues informally with their relevant manager. This helps concerns to be heard and responded to as soon as possible instead of turning to employment tribunal. The grievance and disciplinary issues can also be used to tackle problems such as persistent lateness, bullying, inappropriate use of the nursery resources and fighting. Task 1.4 â€Å"Evaluate relevant employment policies required for the recruitment and management of staff in the organisation† Many businesses, especially Childcare feel the staffs are the company’s greatest asset. This is because it is down to the staff on how well the children and parents are being cared for. â€Å"Employees are a companys greatest asset theyre your competitive advantage. You want to attract and retain the best; provide them with encouragement, stimulus, and make them feel that they are an integral part of the companys mission.† [Anna M Mulcahy. (2001).Assets.Available: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/annemmulc424886.html?src=t_asset. Last accessed 6 February 2015] Employing a new member of staff is a lengthy process. The company starts off by advertising the vacancy. The company should make sure that the vacancy is advertised in a variety of places and locations so that all applicants are given an equal opportunity. The advertisement should be circulated to underrepresented groups in the community both externally and internally. Which means the job role should be advertised in local job centres, colleges, schools and community notice boards. The next stage is the recruitment and selection stage. All the completed application forms are given to the nursery and the management team then score each application and select candidates that fit the job description. The manager then chooses however many candidates they feel should be invited for an interview. When the recruitment and selection process takes place two staff from management should be involved in the process, making sure they are also trained for equal opportunities to insure there is no discrimination against any candidates. After the interview process the successful candidate should be notified by telephone. However, a formal letter is then sent to the candidate containing the job offer. The three important policies when recruiting staff are induction of staff, staff development and the promotion policy. The induction of staff policy is normally carried out on the first day of the job to allow the employee to see the day to day running of the nursery. The new staff member is handed the book containing all the policies and is asked to make sure they familiarize themselves with them. At my current work place I was allocated to an existing member of staff who showed me what responsibilities I would have in the nursery. It is important to familiarize the employee about the health and safety policy, fire safety, child protection issues, arrival and departures policy, children’s medical information, and allergies children may have and how to complete sickness/injury forms, sleep and nappy charts which are required to be completed regularly. This should be done at least within the first week of employment. The second policy which is staff development is put in to place so that parents are guaranteed excellent childcare. If staffs are being trained frequently and ensuring they are stretching their personal targets and knowledge they will be able to provide a higher level of care for the children of the nursery and this can be done with management looking in to how they are able to develop staff learning. Employees can look at their personal development plans and then suggest appropriate training they would like to have. Finally the promotion policy is put in to place in order for staff to work towards personal targets so they can continue to receive professional development. It is important management carry out the appraisal process in order for staff to receive this opportunity. If the management feel there is an appropriate candidate they refer back to the selection and recruitment policy. In conclusion I feel all policies and procedures are extremely relevant as it helps the setting meet all the correct statutory requirements and have regard to the statutory guidance laid out in the EYFS. It also gives staff and parents a clear understanding of the services the nursery has to offer. It sets out rules and guidelines so everyone has equal opportunities. As a manager it is important to make sure that the company’s vision is seen through all the staff and they work according to the policies and procedures that have been set when running the day to day activities in the nursery.

Roles in ESL Education :: essays research papers

Article Review Discourse and Real-Life Roles in the ESL Classroom   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Suggestions have been made (DiPietro, as cited in DiPietro J. R., 1981) as to how the ESL/EFL teacher can provide diverse learner personalities with strategically oriented material. Students get the chance to practice discourses in classroom settings but not always in the same way that the learners will use in real-life interactions. This article proposes a categorization for different roles of English learners in the classroom. The author established three types of roles: social, emotive, and maturational. He believes that through a multidimensional model of dialogue, some exercises can be developed and implemented in the classroom to lead these second language learners to role play in simulated natural setting while acquiring knowledge of the grammatical structure of English.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The author points out three main ways to incorporate role-playing in the classroom; social, emotive, and maturational. What he means by this is that as English learners children must also learn the many different roles they will come across once they are ‘mainstreamed’. A social role for example would be that of vendor/customer, employer/employee, or taxi driver/customer, just to name a few. An example of an emotive role would be that of a friend or rival, a role that could potentially be sensitive or touchy. Finally, maturational would define those roles that we learn as we grow up or mature. Some examples of maturational roles are mother/daughter, adult/adult, or child/child.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The author’s main point is that â€Å"We teachers should provide our students with enough English (a) to recognize the role-intentions of others, and (b) either to complement those roles or to counter them with personally-desired ones†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many possible ways to incorporate these role-playing ideas into the classroom. One idea that came to mind would be to do what I call ‘ Script Mix Up’. The idea is to write up a type of script in social, emotive, or maturational style. Then mix what the characters are saying around on a sheet of paper that will be passed out to students. Have them come up to the board and write these in the correct order. This activity not only makes them have to interact with one another to come up with the right choice, but it will make students have to think about what is the right order of conversation in different situations. Another possible activity that the author states is interactional games.

Psycho :: essays research papers

In about 2 or 3 pages discuss the significance of this piece of dialogue and tell how this scene encapsulates one of the pervading themes of the film. In Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, the conversation between Marion and Norman has shown extreme importance to both the plot and the themes of the movie. As the movie shown Norman’s psychotic mind, we but give great evidence of how the environment had influence on him. With the comparison of other character’s personalities, audiences are actually persuaded back to see the similarity of his mind to normal people’s. Traps are also discussed in this significant dialogue, to show his logical thinking of his situation. As scenes of logics shown from Norman comes up one by one, Norman’s rational process of thinking give as a big question ‘Is he really a Psycho or just the smartest murderer?’ In comparison from Norman Bates’ psychotic mind to Marion Crane and Sam Loomis’s, they are very similar as shown in one of the example in the dialogue. In the dialogue, Norman’s logical explanation of his situation has shown his rational mind, as normal as any other people. He explained to Marion his loyalty to his mother which if her mother really is like described, he is the best boy a mother can have. In comparison to Marion, the psycho has actually even more logically than she is - a normal person, as he point out she can’t hide from the traps once she choose to step on them. ‘I think that we’re all in our private traps-clamped in them. And none of us can ever get out. We- we scratch for all of it but we never budge an inch.’ The logic of his mind can even explain and redirect a normal person, and therefore, the dialogue is very significant in the proving of Norman Bates is actually a very clever person. Even, after their conversation, the murder of Marion to Norman’s personality is a symbol of sexual act or rape in his psychotic mind. In comparison to Marion and Sam, his sexual desire is similar to their unrespectable affairs in hotel rooms. These shows the complication of Norman Bates mind is actually going the same way as any other normal people’s mind, but in a more extreme level. The abnormal behaviours of normal people in some time of their life are shown to be even more irrational than a so-called psycho.

Henry David Thoreau Was a Fool :: Henry David Thoreau Essays

Lincoln has been credited as being a person that fought for equality between races, when he himself believed that African Americans were inferior, the image people give him is unreal, propaganda by the Radical Republicans in the reconstruction era. Many people have ideas that do not hold up when put to the test, or even their own reasoning. Henry David Thoreau’s ideas and ideals do not hold up when compared to reality. Thoreau believed that if a man did less work, the better it would be for the man and his community. He set out to accomplish this task, and accomplished not working, but failed to prove his point. He died at age forty-five, younger then most people in his time, and although he did benefit his community, doing little labor only shortened his life, and proved no better for the community. Not only does reality disprove Thoreau’s theology, but his own words contradict him. He proclaimed â€Å"the government that governs least is the best,† (Civil Disobedience pg. 222 paragraph 1) and then says that, â€Å"We have had to agree on a certain set of rules†¦ to make this frequent meeting tolerable†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Solitude pg. 95 paragraph 3). His contradiction is evident, what is government but on how the people conduct their meetings, lacking the laws of the government, the society would collapse. He also criticizes the government for not being virtuous (Ponds pg. 119 last paragraph). The American government is controlled by the people, if he wants a government that is virtuous, he should either get elected, or try to get the non-virtuous people out of office. Further, politicians who made their name elsewhere have said things to the effect of, â€Å"either you already have a name for yourself, or somewhere along the line you sell your soul†¦Ã¢â‚¬  essentially saying that virtue and politics don’t work together. Thoreau further shows how he cannot support his own ideas when he says that he spent two years â€Å"alone, in the woods,†(Economy pg. 7, 1st sentence). He did not spend two years â€Å"alone† and a great period of the time which he was there was not â€Å"in the woods.† In fact, he had as many as thirty guests at a time (Visitors pg. 97 last line). He tries to show how he had few visitors in the winter saying, â€Å"†¦no visitor ventured near my house for a week or a fortnight at a time,† (Winter Visitors pg. Henry David Thoreau Was a Fool :: Henry David Thoreau Essays Lincoln has been credited as being a person that fought for equality between races, when he himself believed that African Americans were inferior, the image people give him is unreal, propaganda by the Radical Republicans in the reconstruction era. Many people have ideas that do not hold up when put to the test, or even their own reasoning. Henry David Thoreau’s ideas and ideals do not hold up when compared to reality. Thoreau believed that if a man did less work, the better it would be for the man and his community. He set out to accomplish this task, and accomplished not working, but failed to prove his point. He died at age forty-five, younger then most people in his time, and although he did benefit his community, doing little labor only shortened his life, and proved no better for the community. Not only does reality disprove Thoreau’s theology, but his own words contradict him. He proclaimed â€Å"the government that governs least is the best,† (Civil Disobedience pg. 222 paragraph 1) and then says that, â€Å"We have had to agree on a certain set of rules†¦ to make this frequent meeting tolerable†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Solitude pg. 95 paragraph 3). His contradiction is evident, what is government but on how the people conduct their meetings, lacking the laws of the government, the society would collapse. He also criticizes the government for not being virtuous (Ponds pg. 119 last paragraph). The American government is controlled by the people, if he wants a government that is virtuous, he should either get elected, or try to get the non-virtuous people out of office. Further, politicians who made their name elsewhere have said things to the effect of, â€Å"either you already have a name for yourself, or somewhere along the line you sell your soul†¦Ã¢â‚¬  essentially saying that virtue and politics don’t work together. Thoreau further shows how he cannot support his own ideas when he says that he spent two years â€Å"alone, in the woods,†(Economy pg. 7, 1st sentence). He did not spend two years â€Å"alone† and a great period of the time which he was there was not â€Å"in the woods.† In fact, he had as many as thirty guests at a time (Visitors pg. 97 last line). He tries to show how he had few visitors in the winter saying, â€Å"†¦no visitor ventured near my house for a week or a fortnight at a time,† (Winter Visitors pg.

Process Costing

A process costing system is a costing system in which the cost of a product or service is obtained by assigning costs to masses of like or similar units. Unit costs are then calculated on an average basis. Process costing systems are used in industries that produce like or similar units which are often mass produced. In these industries, products are manufactured in a very similar way. The companies usually use the same amount of direct materials, direct manufacturing labor costs and manufacturing overhead costs (CliffNotes Study Guide, 1999).Industries that use process costing systems are for example: chemical processing, oil refining, pharmaceuticals, plastics, brick and tile manufacturing, semiconductor chips, beverages and breakfast cereals. The  job order cost system  is used when products are made based on specific customer orders. Each product produced is considered a job. Costs are tracked by job. Services rendered can also be considered a job. Service companies consider the creation of a financial plan by a certified financial planner, or of an estate plan by an attorney, unique jobs.The job order cost system must capture and track by job the costs of producing each job, which includes materials, labor, and overhead in a manufacturing environment (Willkommen, 2000). The difference between job costing and process costing is the extent of averaging used to compute unit costs of product and services. The cost object in job costing is a job that constitutes a distinctly identifiable product or service. The quantity of manufacturing resources is different in any job. It would be incorrect to cost each job at the same average manufacturing cost.So, when like or similar units are mass produced, process costing averages manufacturing costs over all units produced (CliffNotes Study Guide, 1999). The costs of a product are important for inventory calculations, pricing decisions and product profitability analysis. It’s also important for measuring how well the management is done and if costs are reduced effectively. A company I worked for used a hybrid system that used mostly a process costing system and certain aspects of the job order cost system. The system broke down separate material costs, overhead and labor.The system was fairly accurate and helped us maintain a healthy profit and adjust certain aspects of the business as needed. References Accounting Principles II: Job Order Cost System . (1999). CliffsNotes Study Guides . Retrieved July 21, 2012, from http://www. cliffsnotes. com/study_guide/Job-Order-Cost-System. topicArticleId-21248,articleId-21222. html Process Costing Systems. (2000). Willkommen in Ralf KA ¶nigs Netzbehausung. Retrieved July 21, 2012, from http://www. koenig-aalen. de/vorstellung/present/pcs. php

Clostridium Difficle Infection In Health-Care Workers Essay

According to Bouza (2005), Clostridium Difficile is a bacillus that is gram positive and forms spores. Its main mode of distribution is the environment whereby it also colonizes 3-5% of all healthy adults without causing any symptoms that can be noticed. At infancy, clostridium difficile colonizes between 2% and 70%, but the rates decrease with advancement in age and falling to about 6% when the infant grows to two years. Above the age of two, the rate of clostridium difficile is much similar to that of an adult, around 3% (APIC, 2008). The strains responsible for the production of clostridium difficile are characterized by their ability in the production of both toxins A and B. The most common and rampant symptom of CDI is diarrhea that is not always bloody, but can range from the soft and unformed stools to the watery and mucoid stools. Other outstanding symptoms include abdominal pains and fever and cramping in others. Clostridium difficile spores are highly resistant to destruction by most of the environmental agents and conditions. Their resistance can go as far as resisting some of the chemicals used in disinfection (Zanotti-Cavazzoni, 165). Therefore, this gives clostridium difficile the ability to survive for months or longer in the environment and even in healthcare facilities and the surrounding community. Mainly, the spread of clostridium difficile is through the transfer of spores from a contaminated environment to the patient, or perhaps through the hands of health care givers who do not follow proper hygiene and gloving practices. The only proper control measure that can be adopted is the thorough disinfection and cleaning of the patient’s environment and also through the physical removal of the spores. In recent decades, there has been a recorded increase in the number of reported rates of clostridium difficile-associated disease (CDAD). There has also been a recording in the increase in the number of outbreaks accompanied by severe disease and also an increase in mortality. The increase in CDAD is mainly characterized by the following; changes in the use of antibiotics, a change in infection control practices or the emergence of new strains of clostridium difficile that have increased virulence or antimicrobial. It is also important to comprehend the life cycle of clostridium difficile in order to understand how to control it and if possible, prevent it. Its life cycle begins in the spore form whereby they are because they are resistant to heat, antibiotics or even acid. In a hospital setting, clostridium difficile can be found in bedding, medical equipment, and furniture and on the caregivers. Upon ingestion, the spores pass through to the intestines whereby they germinate and later colonize the colon. Studies have indicated that this bacterium colonized about 21% of patients who are in the process of receiving antibiotics and at the same time admitted to a general hospital. Through the release of both toxins A and B, clostridium difficile later induces diarrhea and colitis. However, the major risk factors associated with clostridium difficile are advancement in age, hospitalization, and antimicrobials. There are two major reservoirs of clostridium difficile in the healthcare setting, which are humans (asymptomatic and symptomatic) and inanimate objects (medical equipment and furniture). The level of environmental contamination depends primarily on the severity of the disease of the patient. However the asymptomatic colonized patients should be regarded as the potential primary source of the contamination. Clostridium difficile infection is more rampant among the elderly in the society. The main reasons for this are not fully, but it can be attributed to the fact that the elderly patients have a much less effective barrier to infection. The importance of having age as a risk factor is characterized by the age distribution in lab reports as was received by CDSC during the research period of 1990-1992. Results showed that there was a bias for adults over the age of 65 and they were more susceptible to having severe cases of clostridium difficile infections. There have also been suggestions that clostridium difficile is endemic in facilities that are considered long-stay for the elderly. However, other studies indicate that the difference in the endemic nature of clostridium difficile may be as a result of case mix whereby patients are from other facilities whereby the infection rate was high. Also, clostridium difficile is endemic in many of the long-stay facilities because the elderly t end to stay longer in the acute wards than the other younger generations. Therefore, their increased risk of infection is attributed to the increased exposure to antibiotics and nosocomial pathogens. There are several patient care activities that provide a rife opportunity for the fecal-oral transmission of clostridium difficile (CDC). Such activities include; sharing of electronic thermometers that have been used for measuring rectal temperatures, oral care or suctioning whereby the hands or equipment have been contaminated, administration of contaminated food, medication or with contaminated hands and emergency procedures like intubation. Other factors like poor hand hygiene, improper environmental and equipment cleaning and disinfection have also been reported as a cause for infection and spreading of clostridium difficile. It has been rubber stamped that the environment is the major medium of spreading for clostridium difficile whereby it has been spread so widely that that it is impossible to point out a single location that has not been contaminated. However, the environment of the infected patients is rifest with clostridium difficile, for instance, the toilets, floors, si nks and linen. Despite disinfection, clostridium difficile spores are found to exist longer than five months. Prevention and control of clostridium difficile is the responsibility of every individual who is aware of its existence. Therefore, prevention measures must be endorsed by everyone, and especially in care giving facilities whereby individuals are more likely to spread the infection. Standard precautions refer to those practices at work that are applied to every person regardless of their confirmed or perceived infectious status. Standard precautions are the front line in the war against clostridium difficile. They help control the rate of infection from person to person, even in the most prolific risk scenarios. They include; hand hygiene before and after contact with the patient, the safe use as well as disposal of sharps, the use of protective equipment and the processing of reusable medical equipment. The proper handling of linen, safety in the management of waste as well as aseptic non-touch technique should also be in the standard precautions to be implemented in hospital facili ties. However, when the first line of defense does not seem to work efficiently, there should be a backup plan in place. Thus, when standard precautions do not seem to do the job, transmission based precautions should be implemented. These are additional work practices for individually identifiable situations that are put in place to interrupt the transmission of clostridium difficile. These precautions are tailored to specific infections and their mode of transmission. They include; continued implementation of standard precautions, having patient dedicated equipment, proper handling of equipment, enhanced cleaning and disinfection of the patient’s environment and the restriction of patients within the facilities. Since healthcare settings differ greatly in terms of their day-to-day functioning, it is hard to come up with a management proposal that would fit all facilities. Therefore, all healthcare facilities should conduct infection prevention risk assessment on a regular basis alongside adoption of detailed protocols and processes for infection control. In acute care setting, personal protective equipment should be provided for nurses and visitors outside the room of a patient who has confirmed clostridium difficile infection. Healthcare givers should use gloves and gowns in order to prevent further spread of infection. Conducting effective hand hygiene is necessary for limiting the spread of clostridium difficile. They should be performed frequently and with the following considerations; should be performed using the Four Moments of Hand Hygiene, should be performed at the point-of-care using a dedicated staff sink or the use of hand wipes that have been impregnated with antimicrobials or alcohol and soap. In acute care setting, especially where the elderly are residing proper care has to be considered primarily because they are more susceptible to infection (Rupnik, 2007). One such measure of preventing clostridium difficile infection is placing the suspected or confirmed patients with CDI in a confined room that has dedicated toilets, sinks and personal equipment. Moreover, there is little need for special treatment for linen in an acute setting for both confirmed and suspected patients. Linen for symptomatic and asymptomatic patients should be in the same way. The soiled linen should be carefully. For example, it should be placed in a no-touch receptacle in order to avoid contamination of both the environment and the persons around. In cases of outbreaks, routine infection control measures are of grave importance in order to prevent the spread of the clostridium difficile infection to patients who have not yet been affected. The antibiotic policies have to be monitored as well as their compliance in order to successfully control the spread of infection. Hand washing procedures should be followed to the latter by any person who is in contact with infected patients such as doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and students. Nurses present challenges in combating clostridium difficile outbreaks especially because of the necessity to create a homely environment for the patients. This means that they have to constantly check in with the patients and therefore they become constantly at risk of infection themselves in proper precaution is not taken. For patients in the elderly acute care wards, the surroundings are also tailored to ensure a comfortable stay in the hospital. Therefore, their soft furnishings and carpeted floors provide a challenge in cases of outbreaks. For instances like this, preventive methods of combating the spread of clostridium difficile have to be implemented. One such measure that should be used during cleaning is steam. Although the heat does not kill the pathogen, it helps in the containment of its spread. Patients are also susceptible to contracting infection from the care devices used in the hospital. Such devices include electronic thermometers or glucose measuring devices. These devices are in constant use and may be used by a variety of patients. These devices are with pathogens derived from body fluids. Thus it is important to have measures in place to sterilize these devices especially more thoroughly in times of outbreaks. Another piece of communal apparatus used in wards is the linen, clothing, uniforms, lab coats and isolation gowns. Because clostridium difficile is commonly in the environment and can last for more than five months, these pieces of clothing are always in contact and possible contaminations are likely (Dubberke, 17). However indirect contact of such clothing comes from bedpans, toilets and sinks of patients who are either suspected or confirmed to be infected. The presence of soiled linen is also an area of importance that should be looked into carefully. Because bed linen is in hospitals and wards, they should be cleaned and sanitized before they can be issued to a different patient. In order to help combat the spread of clostridium difficile, the CDC has come up with the Spaulding classification system, which identifies three risk levels that are associated with surgical and medical instruments (Michel, 1095). These levels are; critical, semi-critical and noncritical. Critical items include needles, indwelling urinary catheters and intravenous catheters. These are the items that normally enter the sterile tissue, the vascular tissue or through which blood flows. Based on one of the accepted sterilization procedures, the equipment has to be sterile before penetrating any tissue. Semi-critical items include thermometers, electric razors and podiatry equipment and they are as those that touch mucous or skin which is not intact. They require meticulous cleaning and thereafter followed by high-level disinfection. Disinfection is done using a chemo sterilizer agent that is approved by the FDA. In conclusion, clostridium difficile has been on the rise in recent decades and it is only through proper prevention and control measures that it can be. Since it can live in an environment in spore form for up to five months, it poses a challenge in terms of containment. On the other hand, the elderly are more susceptible to clostridium difficile primarily because of their low immunity and their prolonged stay in hospitals. However, with proper care, chances of outbreaks can be kept at a minimum and more lives can be through prevention instead of cures. References DelmÃÆ' ©e, Michel. â€Å"Clostridium Difficle Infection In Health-Care Workers.†Ã‚  The Lancet  334.8671 (1989): 1095. Print. Dubberke, Erik. â€Å"Strategies for prevention of Clostridium difficile infection.†Ã‚  Journal of Hospital Medicine  7.S3 (2012): S14-S17. Print. â€Å"Patient Cloth Chairs and Clostridium difficile Outbreak.†Ã‚  American Journal of Infection Control  37.5 (2009): E102-E103. Print. Rupnik, Maja.  Abstract book: Clostridium difficile : organism, disease, control & prevention. s.l.: [Organizing committee ICDS], 2007. Print. Zanotti-Cavazzoni, S.l.. â€Å"Analysis of an outbreak of Clostridium difficile infection controlled with enhanced infection control measures.†Yearbook of Critical Care Medicine  2010 (2010): 164-166. Print. â€Å"clostridium difficle.†Ã‚  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 Mar. 2013. Web.  30 Apr. 2014. http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/organisms/cdiff/Cdiff_infect.html Source document

Middle Childhood and Adolescences

Human growth development theory is an organized statement of values and generalization that provides an outline for understanding how and why people change as they grow from infant to adulthood. Theorist tries to make sense out of observations and construct a story of the human journey from infancy through childhood or adulthood (P. H. Miller, 2002, p. 2). The theories link proofs with patterns, merging the details of life into a meaningful complete picture of human growth development. Freud and Erickson state that human beings, starting at infancy through adulthood pass a series of psychosexual and psychosocial stages of development.The stages that will be discussed will be a combination of Freud and Erickson oral, identify vs. role of confusion, and phallic stages. There are six stages that Freud elaborated on but the first six years occurs in three stages each characterized by psychosexual pleasure center on difference parts of the body. However, Erikson’s stages differ sig nificantly from Freud’s in that they emphasize family and culture, not sexual urges. He called his theory epigenetic, partly to stress that the expression of genes, as of biological impulses, is powerfully influenced by the social environment (Berger, p. 9, 2010). According to, Freud during the first stage of personality development with is the oral stage from birth to one year, the infant’s tongue, and gums are the focus of pleasurable sensations in the baby’s body, sucking, and feeding are the most stimulating actives. The mouth is an important source for feeding and eating. In addition this allows the infant to develop gratification with pleasure from oral stimulation through activities such as tasting and sucking. Therefore, the infant is completely dependent on its parent or guardian that is responsible for feeding and nurturing the infant.Freud also stated that the oral stimulation could lead to oral dependencies later in life. For example oral personaliti es such as thumb sucking, nail biting, and smoking. These behaviors are exhibit when an individual is under stress (McLeod, S. A. 2008). Phallic Stage is another stage of human growth development. According to, Freud this stage starts at three though six years of age. This stage is when children become aware of their body organs. In additional, adolescences are also aware of their parents and other children that are around them. This pleasure switches between the oral nd anal stage to the phallic stage. The pleasure is not emphasized on the genitals. Freud has stated that the male develops an unconscious desire for the mother. Therefore, the male become in conflict with the adult male or caregiver seeing him as competition for the mother affection. This fixation gives the male an Oedipus complex, which is Freud psychoanalytic theory. This theory is the desire for sexual involvement with parent of opposite sex and a sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex; a crucial stage in the normal developmental process.Girls have been known to have an attraction for their father. This is known as the Electra Complex, but Freud strongly disagreed with this theory (Britannica. com). According to Freud, because strong competition with the male figures the male eventually decide to identify with the father rather than come in conflict with him. Because of this the boy develops masculine characteristics and identifies himself as a male, and represses his sexual feelings toward his mother. A fixation at this stage could result in unacceptable sexual behavior and confused sexual identity according to psychoanalysts (McLeod, S.A. 2008). Identity vs. role confusion is the Erikson six stage of human development. This stage takes place between the ages of 13-18. This is an important stage of development for adolescence because this is the transition from childhood to adulthood. Adolescents try to figure out â€Å"who am I? † They establish sexual, political, and vocat ional identities or are confused about what role to play (Berger, p. 19). This stage of human development allows the adolescent to identify what role he will occupy as an adult.In this role the adolescents will re-examine his identify to try to figure out â€Å"Who am I? † Erickson suggests that two identities are involved. These identities involve the sexual an occupational. According to (Bee, 1992) at the end of this stage â€Å"a reintegrate sense of self, or what one wants to do or be, and of one’s appropriate sex role. † During the six stages the body image of the adolescent began to change. This stages is also were the adolescent start to feel uncomfortable about their body for a while until they can adapt and change into their new image.Based upon the outcome of their adapting the adolescent can start to begin to form their own identity. Nevertheless, the adolescent can also start to become confuse about themselves, such as what is their place in the worl d and what they want to be when that grow up. In evaluating Freud Erikson human development theories it has been learned that both saw personality developing throughout a lifecycle of each individual. Each looks at and identified the crises at each stage in development.In addition difference psychologist believe that different phases are more important than other phases, but what most psychologist do agree on it that one stage leads to the next stage. Reference Berger, K. , & S, . (2010). Invitation of the life span. Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database. McLeod, S. A. (2008). Psychosexual Stages Retrieve from simplypsychology. org/psychosexual from http://www. simplypsychology. org/psychosexual. html Bee, H. L. (1992). The developing child. London: HarperCollins. www. britannica. com

The United States Supreme Court and Public Opinion

The United States Supreme Court is a unique American institution. It is unique because, unlike the individuals serving in the executive and the legislative branches of government, the nine justices serving at the highest level of the United States Supreme Court are insulated in significant ways from the public they are sworn to serve. Most significantly, the justices are provided lifetime terms following nomination and confirmation. Unlike presidents or members of Congress, for example, the justices do not have to endure initial public elections or prepare for reelection campaigns.In effect, in many ways, the members of the United States Supreme Court are insulated from the public that they serve in extraordinary and unique ways. This very insulation, in turn, has generated fierce debates among legal scholars, political scholars, and historians regarding the proper characterization of the relationship between the United States Supreme Court and public opinion and the consequences of different characterizations.This essay will argue that the justices of the United States Supreme Court are not nearly as isolated as conventional wisdom and scholarship too frequently assume, that public opinion affects the justices in a myriad of deeply significant ways, and that adopting a majoritarian model better explains the United States Supreme Court as well as better serving important public policy objectives.In order to support the argument that majoritarian framework is the preferable model, this essay will explain why analytical frameworks are especially important in this context, the consequences of the different approaches, and why a majoritarian approach is the better framework for analyzing and discussing the relationship between the United States Supreme Court and public opinion. B. Why Analytical Frameworks MatterThis debate is particularly important because these justices, serving for life terms, are elevated to the United States Supreme Court as a result of politi cal decisions rather than intellectual merit or the possession of a neutrally objective judicial philosophy. Indeed, it is commonly agreed by scholars that Judges and scholars perpetuate the myth of merit. The reality, however, is that every appointment is political.Merit competes with other political considerations, like personal and ideological compatibility, with the forces of support or opposition in Congress and the White House, and with demands for representative appointments on the bases of geography, religion, race, gender, and ethnicity. (O'Brien 33) It is this political connection that makes the relationship between the United States Supreme Court and the American citizenry such an important issue.This is because certain assumptions may encourage special interests to pursue political appointments to the Supreme Court in an effort to circumvent public opinion. For those whom subscribe to the countermajoritarian school of thought, which holds that the Supreme Court is largel y immune to public opinion and hardly influenced by public opinion, the belief is that once a nominated justice is confirmed that he or she will be able to issue rulings unhindered by the pressures of public opinion (Davis 4).As a result, this approach encourages deeply political appointments because there is a belief that minority interests can be advanced or otherwise protected by a public institution shielded from public opinion; this, in turn, encourages potential justices to refrain from expressing their intellect or their opinions honestly in order to minimize political problems.One scholar has described this dumbing down of a candidate’s merits thusly: â€Å"A fictive discourse of appointments has thus emerged: a nominee's advocates make his case in the ideologically neutral language of merit, as if the candidate's views had no bearing on his selection,† (Greenberg, n. p. ) That prospective justices of the United States Supreme Court are compelled to engage in a â€Å"fictive discourse† is both disturbing and contrary to the American ideal of open and free discourse.The confirmation battle involving Robert Bork was illustrative of this type of political battle; indeed, rather than focusing on Bork’s intellectual abilities or merits the confirmation hearings devolved into perhaps the most contentious confirmation battle in modern history. Indeed, as one leading scholar of the Bork proceedings has noted, highlighting the aforementioned dangers associated with the countermajoritarian framework,Because few knowledgeable observers questioned Judge Bork's professional qualifications, opposition to Bork quickly focused on his judicial philosophy. The focus on ideology raised a crucial issue as to whether it was proper for the Senate to reject for ideological reasons an otherwise qualified nominee. (Vieira, and Gross vii)On the other hand, for those whom subscribe to the majoritarian school of thought, an increasingly influential app roach to the relationship between the United States Supreme Court and public opinion, the belief is that the justices are not only not insulated from public opinion but that public opinion affects the justices intimately in terms of the types of cases they choose to decide each year (O'Brien 165), what legal justifications that justices choose to rely on when deciding particularly contentious cases (Waltenburg, and Swinford 242), and whether to uphold or overturn longstanding legal precedents (Norrander, and Wilcox 707).Such assumptions, that public opinion does matter and that it matters significantly, have several significant implications if they are true. First, selecting politics over merit when deciding whom to nominate to the United States Supreme Court may be overrated; more specifically, justices will ultimately be more sensitive to public opinion than the political alliances that earned them the nomination in the first place.They will, after all, be freed of the need to sus tain the political alliances after confirmation as a result of their lifetime tenure whereas they will always be judged by public opinion. A case in point was the Republican nomination of Warren Burger. He was known to have been a conservative with a strict construction approach to the interpretation of the United States Constitution. In short, from a countermajoritarian point of view, Burger had seemed an extraordinarily safe political choice for the United States Supreme Court.The reality, however, was that as the 15th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Burger began to rule in ways that shocked his initial supporters. Rather than shunning public opinion, as his supporters wanted on issues such as race, he has since become known as one of the more activist Chief Judges in the history of the United States Supreme Court. The countermajoritarian school of thought cannot account for such a shift in judicial behavior, and this is a major flaw in this particular analytical framework.Burger is much better understood, as is the United States Supreme Court more generally, by employing a majoritarian framework that accounts for public opinion in addition to underlying political alliances or political philosophies. Second, if these assumptions are true, then public opinion matters. That means that studying the United States Supreme Court in isolation, rather than in conjunction with other related social factors such as public opinion, is a flawed approach.The better analytical framework is the majoritarian approach which, though a minority approach, accomplishes two important objectives. Initially, by accounting for and analyzing more carefully the relationship between public opinion and the United States Supreme Court, courts like Burger’s can be better understood and better explained; in addition, the majoritarian approach legitimizes public opinion as a part of the national debate with respect to legal issues of public interest rather than confi ning these issues to nine distant justices in a mysterious ivory tower.If one of the main functions of the justices is to safeguard the legitimacy of the American constitution, a document conceived of and designed to protect the public generally, then sound policy demands public participation and influence. There are two main questions to be resolved. First, does the countermajoritarian or the majoritarian framework better explain how the United States Supreme Court functions? Second, and related to the first issue, which model better contributes to the legitimacy of the United States Supreme Court and its legal decisions.C. Main Questions 1. Countermajoritarian or Majoritarian: A Threshold Issue Although the United States Supreme Court is one of the most heavily studied American institutions, there remain significant differences of opinion regarding the nature of the relationship between the Supreme Court and public opinion. One of the more fundamental debates among legal scholars, political scientists, and historians centers on whether the United States Supreme Court is in essence a countermajoritarian institution or a majoritarian institution.This debate has important implications. Those that believe that the countermajoritarian model best characterizes the actual function and operation of the United States Supreme Court also tend to view the Supreme Court as being largely insulated from public opinion; on the other hand those that believe that the majoritarian framework best characterizes the Supreme Court tend to believe that public opinion, to some extant, affects the function, operations, and the ultimate legal decisions of the Supreme Court.How one resolves this debate, therefore, pervasively affects American jurisprudence; indeed, â€Å"Much constitutional discourse is predicated on the assumption that the United States Supreme Court is a counter-majoritarian institution, and normative theories supporting the exercise of judicial review are seen, by some, as having to accommodate that fact.† (Solimine, and Walker n. p). Should this fundamental assumption be proven to be incorrect, and there is a growing body of research that suggests that it may be incorrect, then the constitutional discourse and the normative theories that have flowed from the traditional countermajoritarian characterization of the Supreme Court may be similarly flawed and incorrect.In short, a threshold determination needs to be made. This threshold question, as is relevant to the relationship between the United States Supreme Court and public opinion, is whether the Supreme Court is in fact a countermajoritarian institution as scholars have traditionally assumed or a majoritarian institution as some modern scholars argue. 2. Supreme Court as Arbiter of LegitimacyIn addition and intimately related to the aforementioned characterization debate, scholars have also examined the relationship of the United States Supreme Court and public opinion in terms of legitimacy; more specifically, scholars have debated whether and to what extant Supreme Court decisions resolve contentious legal issues legitimately so far as public opinion is concerned and whether and to what extant legitimacy instead results from public opinion affecting the Supreme Court either directly or indirectly.In short, is the ultimate source of legitimacy regarding contentious legal issues the Supreme Court, public opinion, or the interplay between the two? This source of legitimacy debate is made more difficult by the fact that public opinion tends to be more responsive to a narrow range of legal issues or what has otherwise been referred to in the literature as landmark cases such as Brown v. Board of Education, Roe V. Wade, and, more recently, Bush v.Gore. If this assumption is correct, that public opinion is only concerned with landmark cases, then the scope of academic inquiry must be significantly narrowed; to this end, one scholar has noted that â€Å"if we assu me that only the huge national landmark cases affect public opinion, in essence, we are saying that the remainder of the Court's work is inconsequential, at least in terms of public opinion. † (Hoekstra 3).An additional set of threshold questions, therefore, needs to address the more precise relationship between different types of Supreme Court cases and public opinion. Is the relationship relevant only with respect to national landmark cases? Does the relationship differ between landmark and non-landmark cases? This, in turn, demands an analysis which examines both the national and local effects of Supreme Court decisions. Indeed, acknowledging that â€Å"Using national data, it may be possible to connect cases such as Bush v.Gore to changes in public opinion and support for the Court† (Hoekstra 3) one scholar has argued for engaging in a more nuanced analysis that examines localized effects as well by suggesting that beneath the noise may actually be systematic effect s–ones not easily detectable or the same for all citizens–but systematic nonetheless. If citizens learn about different Court decisions based on information available and salient to them, then looking for uniform national level effects is misguided. This does not mean that Court decisions are without national effect.If the Court's effect is more localized–either in terms of geography or some other process–we might still see the effect of Court decisions on public opinion and that Court decisions might affect support for the Court on a national level. The process is just more subtle and possibly more gradual. Another reason to look at local public opinion is that Court decisions frequently require active implementation, oftentimes by local officials. If the Court can change public opinion on the issues, or at least cast legitimacy on the policy under review, the probability of successful implementation is greatly enhanced (Hoekstra 3)Thus, in short, a seco nd threshold set of questions addresses the extant to which scholars assume that relationships between the Supreme Court and public opinion are limited to national landmark cases or whether the relationship can be extended according to local effects and conditions. C. Benefits of a Majoritarian Approach The first benefit of a majoritarian approach is rather intuitive; more specifically, because legal issues affect the public then the public’s opinion ought to be considered.Although this essay also argues that public opinion is relevant in disputes that may not be considered landmark cases, the evidence strongly supports the proposition that public opinion particularly affects national landmark cases and that landmark cases decided by the United States Supreme Court tend to affect public opinion. What complicates a proper characterization of the court derives from different historical relationships between the court and the United States Supreme Court. Traditionally, the Ameri can public did view the justices as enlightened individuals whom didn’t require public input.This sort of public trust justified, in the past, the countermajoritarian approach; indeed, with respect to general public opinion, the justices were significantly insulated. One leading scholar, writing in 1957, stated that Until recently, the attitude of Americans toward the Supreme Court recalled with singular fidelity that with which, according to Burke, Englishmen of a century and a half ago should have looked upon the institutions of their country: â€Å"We ought to understand it according to our measure; and to venerate where we are not able to understand.† (Schwartz iii). This veneration, this assumption that the public can no longer understand the legal issues presented to the United States Supreme Court, is no longer an accurate description of the American public; quite the contrary, the public regularly criticizes Supreme Court decisions, it more carefully follows po tential and actual nominations to the highest court in the land, and through a variety of groups and organization it attempts to influence the court by presenting friend of the court legal briefs on virtually every type of imaginable case.What has emerged more recently is a United States Supreme Court that is besieged by rather than isolated from public opinion; one scholar has noted that even presidents attempt to influence the justices, stating that â€Å"presidents can influence the Supreme Court beyond the appointments process. † (Martinek, n. p. ). From the unemployed mother interested in an abortion issue to competing presidential candidates seeking a favorable ruling the United States Supreme Court has become, for better or worse, America’s arbiter of last resort.This change in the way the public perceives and interacts with the United States Supreme Court is the first reason why the countermajoritarian framework is no longer the best approach for analyzing the justices or the relationship between the Supreme Court and public opinion. The detached veneration of the public is a relic of the past and has been replaced by a greater public awareness. This greater public awareness, however, cannot be overstated; to be sure, though â€Å"Shifting majorities of the public do disagree with many decisions, to the extent they perceive them, or are simply ignorant of the great mass of the Court's jurisprudence.† (Solimine, and Walker, n. p. ) There are, therefore, gaps in the public’s knowledge about the nature of the Supreme Court’s power and the underlying issues. This imperfect knowledge, however, does not render public opinion marginal or irrelevant. It simply suggests that public opinion may at times be somewhat irrational; both a rational and an irrational public opinion can affect the Supreme Court and the majoritarian approach can be adapted to account for an idealized public which possesses an advanced understanding of c omplex legal issues and an imperfect public which sometimes reacts in less than informed ways.In short, the majoritarian approach is better able to incorporate the complex interactions between the United States Supreme Court than the rigidly outdated countermajoritarian model. In addition to the fact that public perceptions and demands have changed over time, it is also evident that legal precedents have been modified or overturned in response to public opinion. Some of the more well-known cases illustrating this fact have involved controversial issues dealing with racial segregation, abortion, and civil rights more generally.A countermajoritarian framework would assume that the justices would be significantly isolated from the public in cases such as Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. Had these justices been insulated, it is entirely plausible that these cases would never have reached the United States Supreme Court, and if they had, that they would have been decided diff erently. The majoritarian model, on the other, admits that these issues were, to some extant, forced upon the United States Supreme Court and that the justices accommodated public opinion by resolving important national issues.This framework further contributes to an ultimate type of legitimacy with respect to the judicial decisions, even if the legitimacy remains challenged by some members of the public, because it treats the decision as a sort of cooperative effort between the United States Supreme Court and the American public. These decisions, in turn affected public opinion. More people accepted racial integration, more people accepted abortion, and more people came to believe that George W. Bush was entitled to the highest office in the land. In Brown v. Board of Education, for instance, the public was badly divided regarding issues of racial segregation.While it is true that the modern trend was toward integration the sad fact was that many members of the public, including st ates, resisted attempts to integrate the races more completely; as a result, pressure was brought to bear on the United States Supreme Court. On the one hand, there was a notion that the federal government shouldn’t interfere too much in state affairs; on the other hand, there was also a growing public recognition that only a decision by the United States Supreme Court, and not any actions by the executive or legislative branches alone, would settle the issues legitimately across the country (Klarman 348).A countermajoritarian framework would instead assume, and incorrectly so, that the justices themselves suddenly decided that racial segregation was unconstitutional rather than attributing a great deal of credit to the American public. The majoritarian model can both predict and explain cases such as Brown v. Board of Education. D. Conclusion In the final analysis, the United States Supreme Court is best analyzed when accounting for the influence of public opinion on its ope rational and decision-making process.This necessitates shifting toward a more majoritarian approach that also analyzes why and how legitimacy is often a function of the interaction of the Supreme Court and public opinion rather than the outdated view of the justices as isolated wise-men immune to public scrutiny or understanding. Works Cited Davis, Richard. Electing Justice: Fixing the Supreme Court Nomination Process. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Questia. 16 July 2009 . Greenberg, David. â€Å"The New Politics of Supreme Court Appointments. † Daedalus 134.3 (2005): 5+. Questia. 16 July 2009 . Hoekstra, Valerie J. Public Reaction to Supreme Court Decisions. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Questia. 16 July 2009 . 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