What representation of American Social Class is there in the first four scenes of Falling Down?

The opening scene of Falling Down immediately establishes the location of the film, America; this is obvious to the audience with the American cars and yellow school bus with the stars and stripes hanging on the side. The lead character played by Michael Douglas is established as a white, Anglo-Saxon, protestant (WASP) who is supposedly the most privileged class in American society. He is meant to represent the typical American white-collar worker. The audience gets this impression of D-Fens (Michael Douglas) because he is smartly dressed with a white shirt and tie, he wears glasses, he's cleanly shaven and is driving a typical American family sedan. This first impression of D-Fens is subsequently taken apart throughout the film and the audience later finds out that he is unemployed and discontent with American society. D-Fens' car and the way he acts give the audience a early clue that he is not all that he seems. D-Fens is stuck in a traffic jam and getting more and more frustrated by the things around him, he reacts very violently to the fly in his car and thrashes around trying to kill it, this gives the audience an indication that he is quite a violent person when he gets annoyed. Another indication is when D-Fens tries to cool himself down and his air conditioning system doesn't work, so he tries to open the window but the handle is broken, the car is like a metaphor for D-Fens' life shabby, worn out and not like it used to be. There is quite a range of different social classes represented in the opening scene all seen from D-Fens' point of view. In the back seat of the car in front of D-Fens is a young Hispanic girl who is staring impassively at him watching his frustration and breakdown unfold. D-Fens seems uneasy about this maybe because it reminds him of his own daughter and he feels ashamed that he can't drive her to school anymore. This girl is shown in contrast to the children on the bus who are noisy and happy whereas she is silent. She is sad looking and the car she's in is also old these things make the audience think she also doesn't have the happy life that the American dream is supposed to offer. This immediately brings up the question of race in the film and whether people from minority ethnic groups have the same opportunities as WASP's. The camera then pans across to show another white-collar worker, a middle-aged woman putting on bright lipstick and trying to make herself look younger, this gives the impression that she feels threatened perhaps by younger women in her work place. The next vehicle that comes into shot is the typical American school bus the children are very noisy and annoying, there is also a mixture of races represented and they appear to be getting along with each other. There is a black boy that is staring at D-Fens in much the same way as the Hispanic girl and it appears that non-WASPs are more of a threat to D-Fens and this perhaps suggests he is racist. Next to the school bus is a new sporty, convertible with two yuppies in the front seats. They can be categorized like this because they have mobile phones, a nice car, and smart suits. They are represented as aggressive and impatient as the driver is honking his horn for no apparent reason. They are rude and loud on the phone and they appear arrogant because they don't feel that they should be stuck in the traffic jam with everyone else. They seem to epitomise capitalism in America and the type of people that become rich and successful in a capitalist society. There are also representations of American society shown on the three bumper stickers that D-Fens looks at. The first one says â€Å"Financial Freedom phone †¦ † this also shows capitalism in America and that fact that many people live in debt and see themselves as being trapped with only money being the way out. The next sticker says â€Å"He died for our sins† and this shows how religious orientated American society is. The last one says â€Å"How's my driving? Phone 1-800 EAT SHIT! † this just shows how uncaring American society has become with many people being stuck in poverty, whilst many others are living in luxury. The flashing ‘Delay' lights, the heat, noise and smoke all come together and the quick straight edits from each of these elements build up the sense of desperation and threat until D-Fens finally has enough and gets out of his car and tells the man behind him that he's â€Å"going home†. This phrase is repeated throughout the film and it becomes D-Fens' quest. ‘Home' is not literally his house but back to a time when D-Fens felt less threatened from foreign immigrants or non-WASPs, a time when his role in society was more defined and he was a family man and a breadwinner, a time when he felt proud of America and its people. In the next scene the second main character, Prendergast, is introduced. He also appears to be a white-collar worker and a WASP but he is slightly older than D-Fens, his reaction to the traffic jam is in contrast to D-Fens' because he is more relaxed and doesn't let it frustrate him. He is represented as a wise old cop who is from the old school of policing and he is contrasted with the young arrogant policeman on the motorbike who enjoys his power but turns out to be a less competent cop than Prendergast. There is also a smarmy salesman on the scene trying to offer the young cop help, which he rejects. He talks about his trade and how he gives discounts for officers of the law, this suggests that money can influence police and that they are corrupt. The third scene represents a single mother who turns out to be D-Fens' ex-wife, she is shown as stressed and overworked having to get the groceries, walk the dog and look after the child all at once. The house appears to be nice, quite large with a garden and white picket fence and it seems to represent the ideal American family home, although there are signs of it starting to fall into disrepair with the paint on the house peeling off and the front garden being untidy. This shows how D-Fens used to have a nice traditional family life and the suburban idyllic house that went with it, that's when it used to be ‘home'. There is also a sign of how gun culture is very much part of American society with D-Fens' young daughter playing with a realistic looking toy gun and learning from a young age the power that you can have by possessing a gun. The fourth scene represents an immigrant shopkeepers in particular a Korean man. It opens with the well dressed, white D-Fens walking into a poor area of the city, this is shown by the graffiti on the walls, the rubbish on the streets and the fact that there are metal bars over the windows to keep the small shop secure. The Korean shopkeeper is dressed in old, unfashionable clothes and he appears quite impoverished because his till is very old fashioned and he is wary of a WASP coming into his shop in this area. This shows the separation of communities in America and the lack of trust between them. D-Fens is very racist towards the shopkeeper in this scene and he shows no respect for him when he marches in and asks for change without even having eye contact with the shopkeeper. D-Fens sees himself as being dominant over the Korean man and he sets the price of 50cents for the can of Coke and he takes control. He sees the immigrant as inferior to him because he is a WASP and he still has the ideals of the time before. D-Fens is racist because he mocks the Korean mans accent and the fact that he can't pronounce the ‘V' in five, then because the man is Asian he immediately assumes that he's Chinese and this is a typical ignorant view of an American who are traditionally insular in their views. This is shown again later on in the film when Prendergast immediately assumes that his fellow Japanese cop can understand the Korean man. When D-Fens finds out the man is Korean he says about the foreign aid that his country has given to Korea and he therefore feels that this man owes him and in saying ‘my country' he implies that the Korean man doesn't belong there. The image of the American flag is used once again in this scene when the container full of flags is smashed on the floor in a struggle between the two characters. This shows how immigrants feel that they have to be visibly patriotic towards America to fit in with society. The broken glass container could also be a symbol for how communities are now broken in America. Or it could symbolise how the American dream is broken for this shopkeeper and also significantly for D-Fens. D-Fens then says that he is â€Å"going to take prices back to 1965† before violently smashing up the shop. This period of time is what D-Fens associates with â€Å"home† because at this time WASPs were the dominating group in society and there was prejudice against other ethnic groups, this was a time when he felt accepted and valued in society and he was a happy family man living the American dream and this is a time he wants to return to. The Korean shopkeeper is obviously used to violence and robberies living in the area that he does because he gets on the floor and shouts â€Å"Take the money! this is seen as a major insult to D-Fens because he sees himself as middle-class and in his opinion robbery is a thing that poor working class people do. He also feels that he is justified in terrorising this shop because all he wanted was some change for the phone. This scene has been interpreted by many people as being racist and this is an understandable view because the Korean man is represented in a negative way. He is rude and scruffy whereas D-Fens is represented almost like a hero figure with traditional Hollywood hero lines and he appears to be fighting for consumer rights.

Diversity at Barclays Bank Essay

There are four top leading Banks in UK, Barclays Bank is one of the leading banks. Barclays Bank considers honest prompting an atmosphere or environment where diversity is highly respected and accepted. Diversity as defined by (Dictionary, 2009) is said to be the reality or standard of being diverse (Rajan Amin, 2003) Says diversity contains personal individuality explained by age, ethnicity, gender, disability, religion, sexual position. These differences are established and guarded by law. Diversity in workplace can also be viewed has the difference in qualities and attributes in people working in an organisation. Diversity in workplace can have positive influence in efficient and smooth running of an organisation and can cause chaos between the employees if not administered properly. In 1963 Late President of USA, John Kennedy met with the Americans leaders to discuss about (Drachsler, 2013) the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act which was made law on June 19 of 1964 to focus on Equal opportunity commission and affirmative action and policies, which made the organisations, focus more on just complying on legislation imposed by law, it moved to another stage during the early 1980s to incorporate minors and women into workforce in the late 1980s it moved from just complying to rules and regulations and focuses more on business survival. In the late 1990s there is much shift from complying to laws and to focus on incorporating women and minors into workforce to including everyone in the workforce to know the differences in each employee in the workforce and to be sensitised about the needs and distinctions of others. Now in this century Diversity has shifted attention to inclusion and diversity to increase the efficiency, profitability, wide scope and all factors that can lead to business success. There are two types of workforce diversity Surface level diversity and deep level diversity 1. Surface level diversity as defined by (Kenneth Price H, 2002) as distinctions to each of more members of a team in an overt demographic feature. It is also said to be the different features in workforce that can be seen and observed such Age, Gender, Religion, and Ethnicity. Marital status was also listed as an factors to be considered as a surface level diversity and all these aforementioned examples of surface level diversity  are quantifiable 2. Deep level diversity is defined as distinctions between values, personality and preferences in work. It also defined by (Kenneth Price H, 2002) as the predetermined distinctions among members of a team’ personalities included psychological characteristics, values and attitudes. They factors here can only be felt and cannot be seen they are qualified they cannot be quantified. There are benefits derived from workforce diversity, In Employee management they make good utilization of talents, improved quality of team problem- solving efforts and strength to attract and retain employee’s organisations benefits. In Strategic problem solving skills such as prospective to improve sales volume and to increase market capital base of the organisation, good ethical behaviours ( knowing the right thing to do) . In Organisational Operation they derive good team spirit among the employees, good problem solving strength and lowering cost that is connected to absenteeism and law suit s. Diversity is a two edged sword (Chrobot-Mason, 2013) which means it has positive and negative advantage. There are challenges to workforce diversity such as communication in multicultural environments has mentioned by (Fatima Oliviera, july 2013) and diversity involves not only how employees see themselves but how they see others. That insight affects the way they interact. (Sreedhar, 2011) Highlighted that there is need for professionals in human resource department to consider and administer effectively with issues of change, communication and adaptability. (CHUA, 2013) Also discussed that as organisations become more culturally diverse, conflicts and tensions are bound to happen among employees or people that are from different cultural backgrounds. With all these above mentioned merits and demerits I think diversity is the management of differences in employees effectively and eliminating conflicts that might arise afterwards. Barclays has the believe that to be among the first four leading banks in the world they need a rock solid diversity and inclusion strategy programme and policy to be in place to give them a huge advantage among their rivals in the banking sector . They started by knowing that the foundation of their success is in the talented people they employ, whatsoever lifestyle, age, personality, religion, race, disability, gender or sexual orientation. Barclays focuses on six principal areas of diversity; Gender- is the most important of Barclays diversity and inclusion policy, promoted by the Barclays executive diversity group and it was aimed at increasing the number of women in the senior roles by doing all that is possible to make women in the organisation fulfil their career potential with Barclays increasing female portrayal to at least 20% by the end of last year and rising more to more than 25% by 2015 at the board level. Recruiting is based on merit, and gender diversity is considered seriously when exerting talents across the globe, from the future leader programmes to the most senior recruit and they do make sure that all those that provide recruitment support, supports the vision to lure in diverse candidates around the world. However, other banks all over the globe have innovated Women’s Initiative Networks but the Barclays Women of the year award identifies talented personal and Professional attainment from female employees globally, as well as identifying male em ployee who champion and be of support to female career development. Disability Barclays has shown commitment to being a disability self- assured organisation. Their aim is to lure more highly expertise people, aid disabilities or health defect by making available the equipment and accommodation that enable their employee to be outstanding. Awareness of employee with disability is giving the Bank to recognise modern ways of making products, service and facilities available to everyone an illustration the organisation run disability listening groups, the forum provides staffs with disability with the chance to meet with high level employee and give materials into calculated transformation to improve the working society. Generational diversity Recognising generational diversity in workplace adds cognitive capital to Barclays bank, which promotes revolutions for employees, clients and the customers of the Bank. Barclays bank manages this by supporting the recruitment process and holding firm an age diverse workforce. Creating a workforce with no age limit on each vacant position at Barclays is set as a goal achievable. Merit is the criteria for any elevation; elevation is open to all employees through a yearly achievement and development review  procedure. They are among just few organisations that have taken the proactive measures to include multigenerational diverse workforce into the employee working tactics, the age employees also believes that skill, strength, capability and accomplishment are the backbone of all good performances, which is making the bank one of the leading banks in the world. Sexual Orientation Barclays has good records to encourage their Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered employees, customers and clients and the Bank have been known worldwide by numerous external establishments, Human Rights Campaign in the US are included. Barclays was at the stonewall workplace equality index (WEI) controlled by the United kingdom’s chief Lesbian Gay Bisexual charity, and they were ranked number three in year 2011 in acknowledgment of the work been done to make sure their workplace, products and services are included. They achieved 100 percent in the 2011 Human Rights campaign corporate equality index in the USA and it 95percent in the UK. Multiculturalism This is a very important tool for organisations in the current global business world, Barclays works with a great cultural diversity sense. Barclays Employees are from all around the globe, the employees throughout the Barclays around the world set a footmark to make up a constantly changing pattern of nationalities, cultures and heritage. The distinctive approaches are immeasurable in making sure the organisation comprehend what the need of their customers and clients all around the world is, and with that they provide expert products and services to meet the needs. More to this is the Cultural Awareness Employee network which brings together employees within all Barclays to make sure the bank continue to find up to date method to examine the world with the motive of evaluating and leveraging differences. CONCLUSION Globalisation has made businesses to see diversity has a must do thing, to be successful in modern day business, diversity in workplace should not be treated as complying to law and regulations, it is now a thing of inclusion  and diversity to increase the efficiency, profitability, wide scope and all factors that can lead to business success. For Barclays Bank, Diversity and inclusion is much more than just complying with the law. It means stating and having an active policy in place to make the very best of their diverse staff to serve the clients, customers and benefit their employee to make them retain the height they are in the business world. RECOMMENDATION Having observed all the analysis of diversity and inclusion it is therefore suggested that the following be done to enjoy more benefits of diversity Minimise inequalities among employee to reduce conflicts among the employee. Training and re training programme on human relation should be put in place for employee to enable the employee to know how best to interact among their contemporary. Change is constant so therefore diversity policies and procedures guide lines should be amended yearly. Bibliography Chrobot-Mason, D. A. N. P., 2013. The psychological benefits of creating an affirming climate for workplace diversity. Professiona and management development training, 38(1059-6011), p. 31. CHUA, R. Y. J., 2013. The costs of ambient cultural disharmony: Indirect intercultural Conflicts in social environment undermine creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 56(0001-4273), p. 33. Dictionary, A. H., 2009. Mifflin Houghton. [Online] Available at: http://www.eref-trade.hmco.com/ [Accessed 21 01 2014]. Drachsler, D. A., 2013. Supreme court sets high bar for Title vii retaliation claims.. Labour law journal, 64(4-0023-6586), p. 6. Fatima Oliviera, M. d., july 2013. Multicultural Environments and Thier Challenges to Crisis Communication. Business In Communication , 50(0021- 9436). Kenneth Price H, D. H. A. J. G. H. A. F. T., 2002. TIME, TEAMS, AND TASK PERFORMANCE: CHANGING EFFECTS OF SURFACE- AND DEEP-LEVEL DIVERSITY ON GROUP FUNCTIONING. Academy of Management Journal, 45(5), pp. 1029-1045. Rajan Amin, H. S., 2003. The business impact of diversity. Business Source Premier, Issue 0959-5848, p. 1471 Words. Sreedhar, U., 2011. Workforce Diversity and HR Challenges. OB and HRM Department, IBS, Bangalore (Karnataka), INDIA, 4(0974-2611), pp. p33-36.

Barbara Goldsmith Other Powers Essay Research Paper

Barbara Goldsmith Other Powers Essay, Research Paper Barbara Goldsmith, writer of Other Powers, demonstrated many times throughout the book that sexual relationships were domains of force dealingss in which power is displayed. One such sexual relationship where there were domains of force dealingss, in which power was displayed, is the relationship between Roxanna ( Roxy ) Hummel Claflin and Reuben Buckman ( Buck ) Claflin, where Buck had great power over his married woman Roxy. Another sexual relationship in which there were domains of force dealingss, in which power was displayed, is the relationship between Josie Mansfield and Jim Fisk where the power went both ways. The relationship between Roxy and Buck Claflin began when Buck was given a room next to Roxy at John Snyder s. They married each other four months subsequently and because of Buck s wealth he was the powerful figure in the relationship. Buck had the most power because he put Roxy to work stating lucks in impermanent collapsible shelters where the land was covered with sawdust, moistness from baccy juice. ( Goldsmith 15 ) Roxy would soothe the adult females that came up to her with her visions. She ensured adult females, during a clip when many babes were deceasing, that there dead babies were happy in the bosom of the Lord. Buck used disclosures made by Roxy, about the wickednesss of her clients, in his blackmail strategies where he became even more affluent than he already was. The fact that Buck had so much power and control over Roxy he was allowed to make whatever he wanted at anytime, which is how Victoria Woodhull was conceived. When Roxy went brainsick one time while listening to a sermonizers address, Buck became angered with her and dragged her behind a bench and forced himself into her. Buck ruled perfectly over his household. His power position over the remainder of the household was obvious and non merely his childs but his wif vitamin E were simply his belongings. This proves that Buck Claflin was the more powerful figure if non the one figure who possessed all the power within his relationship with his married woman Roxy. Josie Mansfield, one time the married woman of Frank Lawlor, became highly hapless and was unable to hold more than one frock and pay her rent. In order to do money to last, she became a cocotte and while on the occupation she met Jim Fisk, who was known for giving big money parts to any reasonably cocotte who caught his oculus ( Goldsmith 160 ) . She was highly powerful in her relationship with Fisk because of her ability to decline his money and snub his progresss. She did this for three months and in the procedure inflated her worth greatly. Finally she began to accept the money of Jim Fisk and she even had a permanent consequence on Jim Fisk s physical visual aspect. He began to pare his moustache and waxed the terminals to handlebar flawlessness ( 160 ) . He began to have on Gallic Cologne and kept his boots shined. He did fundamentally whatever he could to seek and affect Josie Mansfield and because of her great power due to her difficult to acquire manner, she benefited greatl y from Jim Fisk. She even became a adult female of great manner and she neer once more had to have on the same frock twice. It was apparent that even during times when adult females were oppressed and denied many rights, there were still chosen adult females who had what it takes to be successful in a relationship with a adult male. Both of these sexual relationships illustrate ways in which domains of force dealingss were present within the show of power. Both Buck Claflin and Josie Mansfield each were the 1s in their ain relationships that had the bulk of the power over the other. With Buck, his power was fundamentally absolute. Josie Mansfield, nevertheless, although she had great power, could hold had it easy taken away by Jim Fisk.

The Globalization of the Food System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Globalization of the Food System - Essay Example The majority of the countries around the globe appear to be headed in a similar direction in terms of globalization of food (Inglis and Gimlin 110). There are different circumstances that affect the food security of different nations and in different ratios. Their impacts on the populations health also differ greatly. Many new countries are currently joining the process as a result of the fiscal and political reforms in their countries. These include nations such as South Africa, India, Columbia and many more around the globe (Ronald, 75). For example, the Colombian government eliminated tariffs on imports, which led to an increase in the nation’s imports. These imports have in turn impacted the livestock sector positively since their livestock always have enough food to eat. Since the year 1990, the supply along with the demand of food has been changing gradually. This has brought about the sprout and expansion of supermarkets across the globe, so as to supply the demands of consumers. The demand for food is increasing due to the increase in cases of urbanization around the globe along with the ease of accessibility of refrigeration facilities. The supply of food across the globe has greatly been advanced as a result of more freedoms in the market, investments from foreign nations and improvements made in technology (Behnassi, Draggan and Sanni 67). Urbanization has caused changes in the eating habits of the people along with changes in their health. By the year 2001, about 48% of the world’s population was living in urban areas, which included 76% of the people in first world countries. It is also estimated that 40% of the populations living in third world countries live in urban centers. Research from different scholars suggests that people excessively flock to urban centers due to poverty and the need to feed their families. This leads the urban centers becoming centers of scarcity since food and other resources are limited. Other researchers suggest that excessive poverty in the rural areas causes people to migrate to urban areas to have better living standards. The food situation in developing nations has worsened, and this is due to the fact that there is inequality in the trading opportunities countries get. The food situation in many developing nations is also adversely being affected by various issues. These issues include the dumping of exports in these countries by developed nations, the lack of subsidies by their governments on agricultural activities and the use of tariffs, which are unfair. Most agriculturally productive areas in the rural areas have also been destroyed thus endangering the peoples food security. This in turn reduces the people’s returns from agricultural activities (Behnassi, Draggan and Sanni123). Changes in the dietary habits of the people living in urban areas leads to poor health and nutrition among them. Previous studies carried out suggest that countries with most people living i n urban areas have greater GDP’s than those with fewer people. These issues also affect the mortality rate among the infants in a nation. Countries having greater GDP’s tend to experience greater communal and fiscal inequalities (Vaidya 157). Globalization of the food system has brought changes to the people’s diet. This has been influenced by the changes in the people’s incomes and the prices charged for the products. The prices and incomes of the people influence the availability and delivery

Compare the films dead Poets Society and Stand and Deliver from two Essay

Compare the films dead Poets Society and Stand and Deliver from two perspectives a) Educational Theories discussed in the course b) Mass Media Theories Studied in the book Four Theories of the Press - Essay Example â€Å"Literature uses the normal means of communication – language images, symbols, codes, stories – but uses them with more complexity and subtlety than is normal in everyday communication† (Lye, 2003). Films are able to employ more than mere words, however, as they also use sound, music, light and motion to make the story come to life. Responsible film makers have used films as a means of raising the social consciousness regarding a variety of issues, adopting a libertarian stance to the use of media. By studying films such as Dead Poet’s Society (1989) and Stand and Deliver (1988), one can begin to understand and appreciate the libertarian media and its benefits as it is applied to the question of educational reform. At its most basic level, the concept of the libertarian media as it is demonstrated through these two films is a concept based on the philosophy that the media should serve as a ‘check’ on the power structures of society. Although much attention in this regard is given to the media of newspapers or printed material, the theories and approaches are recognized in most arenas as being equally applicable to the other forms of mass communication, such as films. According to Siebert (1956), the libertarian philosophy is founded on the assumption that man is an end in himself. â€Å"The happiness and well-being of the individual is the goal of society, and man as a thinking organism is capable of organizing the world around him and of making decisions which will advance his interests† (Siebert 40). From this stance, the role of the government was established to be as the representative of the people with the primary duty of securing a space in which the individual could fully explore his or her own happiness and well-being. However, the individual must be aware of what the government is doing in order to make sure that it

Ethical Issues in Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Ethical Issues in Business - Essay Example The company Q seems to have three issues, first being the company’s closure of a few stores in the high crime rate areas, secondly the company sells organic products at a very high margin and thirdly the company refuses to donate the day-old products which are ultimately thrown away. The company has recently ceased operations in the high-crime rate areas due to losing money in those stores. The company adopted the policy of leaving the area where problem aroused rather making an effort to improve the situation. If the company had chosen to continue its operations it would have increased the security to deal with the losing money which would have some what affected the areas security too and might have lowered the crime rate. On the other hand by closing the store the company caused problems to the customers who might have relied on the store for easy shopping. The closure must have also impacted the overall revenues of the company. The company should have continued operating i n those areas and spent a little more on the security issues which will not only benefit the customers and the people of the locality but will also be profitable for the company. The company has recently started selling the much demanded healthy products. The company seems to take the advantage of the demand of these products and has offered very limited amount of products at very high margins. The company seems to look at its own profits and is exploiting the customers by selling the products at a very high price. This attitude is unethical and the company should sell these healthy products at competitive prices so that everyone can afford the health conscious food. By lowering prices and offering more products the company can increase its revenue and have more satisfied customers.

Terms & Conditions May Apply Movie Critique Review

Terms & Conditions May Apply Critique - Movie Review Example Notably, many citizens, especially from America have expressed concerns about the increasing spying, which have led to an increased loss of privacy. The director uses recent examples to illustrate that the terms and conditions that internet users accept when signing into sites such as Facebook, Amazon and Google may be an avenue for the government to spy on citizens. After watching the documentary a few days ago, the issues exposed by the director proved very timely because of the increased spying by the governments. The desires of many governments such as the American government to increase security in a bid to avoid terrorist attacks, governments were compelled to take stringent measures. One of the measures adopted by the Central Intellectual Agency (CIA) as revealed in this documentary is the introduction of surveillance systems that ensure a close monitoring of data from internet users and mobile phone users. According to this movie, Facebook, Google and Amazon agreed to let the CIA have access to data from their users. Therefore, the movie makes it evident that many citizens feel that they have lost their privacy to the increase spying by the intelligence unit. Using the example of Snowden, who had previously worked with the National Security Agency (NSA) in America, made a serious revelation of the extent to which spying done by the intelligence unit, the director develops his arguments. The director’s purpose of creating this documentary was to enlighten the citizens that they sho uld exercise their power and not agree to terms and conditions that promote spying. Throughout the film, the director makes it evident that people have a choice and they should voice their concerns regarding the spying issue (Abrams n.p). One of the outstanding aspects of the documentary is the character named Mark Zuckerberg. The fact that the director was able to reach the founder of Facebook and make him one of the starring characters in

Financial Systems and Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Financial Systems and Government - Essay Example Different languages are spoken. Municipalities also register an inevitable growth and they have to provide transportable roads lighting the roads, similarly and should be committed to provide amenities of international standard to Financial system and also for its sustenance. Keeping this aspect in mind the government has to take care of the Financial system activities and support all the states of the country. The role of the government is very vast in the case of the Financial system since no other private or the third part has the rights or the authority to involve itself into the Financial system. Financial system can be developed only when government takes care of the national heritage and the tourist spots. The tourists who visit the country will have faith and will come again only when government takes care of the tourists. Financial system is actually a bilateral and diplomatic relationship between the countries. Financial system can bring success and good future to the country and the role of the government is extensively needed both by the tourists and the people depending on tourists. Large number of tourists bring large foreign currency to the country and there by leveling the import and export. Financial system represents a single ... One shall meat and come across different rest of different nationals represent at one place. Different sets of different nationals represent diversified cultures; different languages are spoken at one and the same place, and at one and the same time. They come to know each other from a closer proximity. The intimacies develop; relationships pave way for greater understanding. The social pavilion of life is set to rolling. Broader outlook develop into more knowledgeable and understanding environment. There will be a great impact on the urban sociology patterns of life. This can be done only when the government initiates the Financial system and takes complete responsibility and responsibility. The world becomes a small place respectively inevitable economical growth, a pleasant knowledge based environment. The world is no bigger, thoughts of seeing the world; the globe on a huge unknown has become so small so much can be felt immensely. T third world, joyous frivolous, sensible, knowledgeable, cultured by urban socialites will cherish. The development may fold big colonies. A lot of big industries and big companies will enter into the market to cater to the needs of the conglomeration. The development shall develop many folds. The economy of the country, government organizations and private sectors will make a rudimental change. Mainly the cities will develop into a small globe with multi faced development in industries and corporate. May be the chief architect of the Financial system is to take enormous pairs to create and design the super structure of the third world. Financial system has its own effects on every aspects of technology. Financial system has changed the way

Psychology of human development (Pls refer to instructions for Essay

Psychology of human development (Pls refer to instructions for details) - Essay Example As a psychological theory to explain human development, it is certainly an improvement over Freud’s narrow thinking and provides very useful insight into the nature of human psychological problems. Erikson’s eight stages of human development patterns is a useful model to understand human development in general, and offers a remarkable and valuable insight for personal conflict resolution in particular. In the Eight Stages of Man (Erikson, 1950), Erik Erikson produced a comprehensive developmental psychology theory of human personality development covering the entire human lifespan. It was an advancement of his teacher Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, wherein Erikson also took into account the social environment besides the biological factors. The significant characteristic of Erikson’s theory is that to successfully progress from one stage to another necessitates resolution of a particular psychosocial crisis peculiar to that stage. The conflict or crises that must be resolved at each stage are the ‘decisive changes’ that must be made in order to avoid experiencing the inner conflicts. â€Å"The individual is provided with a ‘sensitive period’ in which to successfully resolve each crisis before a new crisis is presented. The results of the resolution, whether successful or not, are carried forward to the next crisis and provide the foundation for its resolution.† (Huitt, W, 2008) As opposed to ‘accidental’ or ‘unexpected’ changes that may occur at any time such as bereavement, these are developmental changes related to circumstances that are ordinarily expected to occur during the stages of life based on the experience of human psychological development. In Erikson’s theory, each of the developmental stages is associated with such development changes with respect to the conflicts or crises that must be resolved. And, these he identified as follows: Here, the child is â€Å"beginning to think of itself

Explain and evaluate the Analogical Design Argument for God's Essay

Explain and evaluate the Analogical Design Argument for God's existence - Essay Example The adapting of such ways is in resemblance to the creation of human setup, its intelligence and wisdom. Due to the similarities, it is logical to say that God, who is nature’s author, is in some capacity similar to man’s mind though He has a higher capacity (Schick and Vaughn). Just like parts of a machine, the universe parts fit together perfectly to carry out various functions. The structure of an element is an example of how the analogy works; the atom is formed from sub-atomic particles. The atoms form molecules which then from an element. Just like machines that have designers, probably an engineer, the universe has its designer who is God. Paley’s analogy revolves around a stone and a watch. He argues that in the situation of being asked to explain the presence of a stone, he would easily state that it had lain there forever. However, had it been a watch on the ground, it would raise more questions as how it had gotten there. The first answer will be that it has been dropped there; unlike the stone which was assumed to be always lying there. The difference in assumption is attributed to the fact that the watch has parts that have been framed assembled for a specific purpose (Schick and Vaughn). The mechanism is that the watch had a maker that exists or had existed and had made it for a specific purpose and understands its construction and design. Paley’s argues that the universe resembles the watch and that every watch has a designer; hence, the universe most likely has a designer who is God. The universe was intended for a purpose and the designer had a goal that he intended to accomplish. When the designer needs a universe to attain that goal, the designer fails to be all powerful (Schick and Vaughn). The analogical design says that human artifacts are the works of an intelligent design. Moreover, the universe is similar to the human artifacts; hence, the universe is also a design of an intelligent being. Proponents of the

The Sherlock Holmes Essay Example for Free

The Sherlock Holmes Essay The methods of both Conan Doyle and HG Wells are similar as the use plenty of descriptive passages, packed full of sinister adjectives. They make good use of thermal and sound imaging, adding to the increasingly tense atmosphere. In HG Wells Red Room, the descriptive passages are large, never sparse but thick with a different level of English. For example, Wells wouldnt say the bookcase was scary, the book case would be ominous shrouded in a foreboding illumination: I heard the sound of a stick and a shambling step on the flags and the door creaked on its hinges. This highlights my above points but also how Wells has taken your stereotypical haunted house commodities cold stone floors, creaky doors and placed them with the added intensity of adjectives, adverbs to aid the growing fear. This language is reflected not just in the description but the choice of nouns: There were candles in the sockets of the sconces. Nowadays I dont think anybody uses sconces but rather candle sticks but for a modern reader looking at this tale, this uncommon noun will add to the menacing mood, for the simple fact that it is not a normal, everyday word. In Sherlock Holmes the descriptive passages are just as important to building the tension however they dont come in solid paragraphs, rather placed in and around to create the effect. I think this is due to the complexity of Holmes is mystery, Conan Doyle is offering you, red herrings, misleading information whereas Wells is telling you like it is: A flickering oil lamp The clink of horses hooves An endless succession of sombre and deserted streets These are a few examples of the more simple nature of Conan Doyles description. However I feel that the two writers are building to different levels. HG Wells is quite simply trying to build fear, looking to create a spooky, eerie atmosphere, whereas Conan Doyle is not looking for fear rather suspense. You could argue that they are the same thing but I see the Red Room as plain fear, one straight path to conclusion, whereas Conan Doyle offers you many paths with no obvious sign post. Of course there must be some fear, as Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes creep through Dr Roylotts garden (past foreign beats) or through the slums of London looking for Neville St Clairs assassin, but Conan Doyle also wants in trepidation, who is the murder?, kind of attitude. This brings me onto my next point, how do the authors work with the feelings of the reader in creating these effects? The Red Room, I feel would have had a better effect on a 19 century reader for the reader will belong to a religious generation, an era of great fear of the supernatural whereas today it is accepted that there are no such things as ghosts. I think Wells worked with this audience, building on beliefs that the reader already had, aiding his creation of his desired atmosphere. Conan Doyle similarly was working with an audience gripped with fear of Jack the Ripper, a London of crime. So when Sherlock Holmes is walking through the East End of London, the reader will already experience fear in relation to Jack the Ripper, rather than any foreboding description. This is the case more so in The Man with the Twisted Lip, for the reader has more to reflect with, for practically everybody would have understood the squalor of East London but not the Mansion inhabited by Gypsies, wild animals and a passionately argumentative doctor. Another way authors choose to increase dramatic potential of their tales is to use these descriptive passages in conjunction with characters, not just setting. HG Wells has done this to an extent; I caught a glimpse of myself, abbreviated and broadened to an impossible sturdiness in the queer old mirror, My mind reverted to the three old and distorted people downstairs, their very existence spectral. Conan Doyle also chooses to embellish his story with these character references, but I feel that in comparison they go through up much more meaning. I think HG Wells barely cuts the surface of these characters but then again as a first person narrative; the association of the story with the three house workers is less meaningful to the drama. It is as though he sees the workers as objects, generating a greater spectral reference to their state, therefore creating greater fear for the reader. In comparison, Conan Doyle specifies with greater detail his characters. Dr Roylott, for instance, is a perfect example. He is an intriguing character; a original man of verve and zip, a practitioner working to cure mans ills, allows his mind to be overcome by temper. Conan Doyle builds this in to his tale, with two huge descriptive paragraphs, as told from his step daughters perspective: But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time He shut himself up in his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious quarrels. Conan Doyle then follows this on by using action. Later on Sherlock Holmes encounters Dr. Roylott for the first time. A brash of words is swiftly followed by evidence He steppes swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his huge brown hands. As a summary the authors have both made use of simple literary techniques in order to build suspense and fear. These melodramatic methods use the characters, the surrounding scenery and sounds to generate their trepidation. Having said this, they have used different strategies to work to this goal. This is not to say that Conan Doyle is rubbish, unskilled or vice se versa but the plot of the stories lays restraints on the author. For instance, I think that Wells was looking to produce a moral, an ethic which tells the reader there are no such things as ghosts. Wells has then chosen to use an uncomplicated story to convey this there is really only one character. He does not have the options of different settings or people in order to generate fear and instead to provide the suspense embellishes the story with his use of language by utilising descriptive passages throughout. On the other hand Conan Doyle is able to use the personalities of his various characters and the different situations with in the storyline to create and sustain suspense for the reader. In conclusion my favourite tale was that of The Adventures of the Speckled Band. The Red Room was me least favourite. The lack of characters, I think, meant that in order to create his suspense, Wells was forced to talk at length about the setting. These descriptive passages were written in a style, a vocabulary unused today. For me the need to read the story with the use of a dictionary breaks up any sort of hold the author might start to be taking on the reader, subsequently unable to generate the same effect the story might have done a hundred years ago. The conclusion that fear is the killer not ghosts, is an interesting twist but if were not for the need to read the story I would never have gone further than the first page. The Sherlock Holmes tales are something I find easier to read. For some reason, although written about the same time the language used by Conan Doyle is more in keeping with the language in use today. I also feel that the books offer more than one basic forward moving plot. If you look at a tale as a road and that as the author creates ideas, so turnings appear on this road. The Sherlock Holmes are the spaghetti junction compared to Wells Red Room. These red herrings make me as the reader enter more into the tale, trying to workout where this conclusion will come from. My choice of The Adventures of the Speckled Band over The Man with the Twisted Lip is due to the diversity of the tale run down mansions, gypsies, wild animals, Dr Roylott just add more interest (for me) than Hugh Boone the professional beggar. Although the likelihood of a snake making the journey described and then finding sufficient reason to murder a sleeping person is slightly unrealistic I felt that Sherlock Holmes arrived at this conclusion with more evidence (making it more likely) than that of The Man with the Twisted Lip. After having spent weeks analysing these stories I think Wells was trying to create more than a scary tale rather a scenario to persuade the reader, the public that there are no such things as ghosts. Conan Doyle, I dont think was really trying to build anything extra form his tales. I mentioned earlier the proclamation of Queen Victoria possible causing him to open with a red herring however other than that I cant think as to why he wrote that tale, what sparked the imagination to generate those ideas.

Napster and Apple’s Ipod Essay Example for Free

Napster and Apple’s Ipod Essay This paper deals with a through case study of the music industry in the face of change within the age of the Internet with the major focus on Napster and Apple’s ipod. In 2000 Shawn Fanning founded Napster – a file sharing program where people could download music for free and access the songs they have downloaded at any hour of the day. However, in 2000, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and a number of the big business recording labels argued that Napster was violating copyright laws, facilitating the illegal copying and distribution of copyrighted music. ’’ (Hill, 1) After Napster was in the lime light for allowing people to take advantage of free downloads, peer sharing technologies such as Kazaa were just coming into play where people were able to download music in a similar fashion. In very short order after Napster’s service was shut down, a number of new file sharing services started to rapidly gain users.’’ (Hill, 11) However there was one slight difference here, people were downloading through other people’s computers and not accessing the files via a central server and therefore it became difficult to stop this practice from taking place. The music industry responded as it had with Napster, filing lawsuits in attempt to shut down the services for copyright violation. But in this case it was more difficult to prove infringement.’’ (Hill, 11) Within the last 20 years since CD’s have been in vogue the music industry has changed. People have differing opinions regarding whether one is better than the other. It was Apple’s ipod and the Itunes online music service that revolutionized the music industry. These were the programs and applications that allowed you to purchase and listen to whatever you want but at the same time protect the artists that wrote and produced the music. It is important to look at the growth in the music recording industry since these changes took place and to see what the results and changes have been. There was strong growth in the music recording industry in the 90’s. However, when the 2000’s hit global sales dropped by 5% and continued to drop for the next three years. Many people have been blaming this negative trend on Napster. In 2003 sales dropped to a low of $32 billion in 2003. In the early 90’s the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) was concerned about consumers burning’’ songs downloaded over the Internet onto CD’s. This was such an easy process to do as you could download the files you wished to place on your CD from Napster and use a program by which you can copy CD’s. This concern was important to take into consideration because of the sheer amount of songs that were downloaded over the Internet for free and if people were downloading the songs they were not purchasing the CD’s from their favourite artists. There is a large cost in promoting an artist and the use of copyrighted material makes this process even more expensive for the artist as not as many people will be purchasing the CD’s. People would be more likely to download the songs instead of purchasing them because it is cheap (free) and easy. In the past, the music industry has always been concerned about the potential for piracy of copyrighted material. However, another trend that raised copyright infringement issues was MP3- compressed digital files that could be downloaded for free from the Internet. At the point where Napster was going through the courts certain lobbying groups were concerned with websites where people could download free MP3 files and in doing that listen to pirated music. The RIAA tried to shut down Napster because of piracy and the laws that the company had broken. During this time the music industry also tried to develop technology that would protect digital audio recordings from piracy and counterfeiting. The main problem in regard to Napster and the piracy issue is to do with the fact that Napster’s service was violating copyright, facilitating massive piracy of intellectual property and consequently stealing. There were talks about a paid subscription service to be created by Napster in 2001 but nothing ended up coming into fruition and on September 2, 2002, Napster announced its liquidation. It is clear to see why Napster has such an appeal to its audience given the fact that it was free and people could download any song that they wanted. In today’s environment people can still access peer-sharing websites however sometimes songs may be written down under a search engine listing and may even be a computer virus. Itunes is therefore giving users and artists the best of both worlds – consumers get to download the songs they want even if it is only one song off a particular album and the artist gets compensated for it. All in all, it is clear to see the vast changes that have taken place over the last decade or more and the fact that significant changes will take place in the future. The growing popularity and vast information available on the Internet is going to change the way people purchase and listen to music and people need to be aware of this as the world changes everyday and nothing lasts forever. References Hill, Charles W, The music industry in the age of the Internet: from Napster to Apple’s Ipod.

Leadership Style Of A Band Six Nurse

Leadership Style Of A Band Six Nurse The essay aims at giving the reader a clear definition of leadership and the relative merits and demerits of a variety of approaches to leadership from different perspectives. In the first instance it may be prudent to provide a definition of the concept of leadership and to distinguish leadership from the concept of management. Although management and leadership are often considered in the same turn of phrase and may both be requisites of a management level role, the two are quite different. On one hand, management may be seen as the activity of organisational processes, policies and physical resources to achieve a given outcome (Mullins 2009, Landy and Conte 2010), on the other, leadership considers how an individual chooses to inspire and motivate others to achieve goals and objectives (Robbins and Judge, 2007). It is important to consider the effects of leadership; the literature (Hardy 1999; Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007) does not seem to indicate that any single form of leadership or management style produces superior results in all situations and circumstances. Rather, different styles of leadership have the ability to generate differing levels of performance depending on a number of variables including: the manager, those being managed and the general environment (Northouse 2004). The NHS Leadership Council is responsible for overseeing leadership matters across healthcare (NICE 2010). To create the necessary leadership environment, Leadership Council needs to display set behaviours that break down thinking and adopt new ideas (NICE 2010). Due to organisational changes within the healthcare system, every nurse will require leadership skills as well as an understanding of the roles that these skills play in delivering good quality care to the patients. In this essay I will discuss the leadership style of a band six nurse within the ward of a local hospital trust. I will then analyse the impact the nurses style has upon the team working and multi-professional collaboration related to client care. Finally, I will discuss how my observation may influence my future management style. Throughout my essay I will refer to the nurse as Ms A to maintain confidentiality, in accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Council Code of Conduct (NMC 2008). Ms As role was to act as a team leader/ sister within the oncology ward. She has worked within her current post for one year. She had decided that oncology was her field of choice when she first started her nurse training. Her role modelling attribute was her inner passion within the oncology profession; she believed in providing her patients with the best possible care, to achieve the best possible outcome. Ms A would engage her nurses in the decision making processes and let them carry out their work in an independent manner. However, she would delegate the work according to the experience of her staff. New members of staff were given support and supervision. On arrival for handover, Ms A would be relaxed, yet professional. She would appear to focus on the abilities and commitment of her staff and this seemed to help in developing patient-nurse relationships. Although Ms A would appear to be relaxed, her knowledge, judgement, energy and motivation within the hand over of the patients would be outstanding. She discussed each patients total holistic needs, whilst empowering her staff by encouraging staff contributions within the decisions of care. Marquis and Huston (2009) suggested that by giving staff a sense of belonging and making them feel valued increases their self esteem, which are all characteristics of a democratic leader. - SECTION ONE One of the important factors in deciding the leadership style to be employed in a given circumstance may depend on the personal attitude of the manager. Macgregors X and Y theory (Hardy 1999) states that managers generally fall into two categories with regard to their beliefs about the attitudes of those who work for them: Theory X managers, who have a tendency to believe that employees would exhibit the behaviour of minimising the level of input and effort required in the workplace, and Theory Y managers, who believe that workers generally exhibit higher levels of motivation, which are only held back by poor organisational processes and practices. Ms A can be categorised as a Theory Y manager. Her predominant leadership style was democratic; as a characteristic of her style was that she focused on the growth and development of her staff, which appeared to exhibit higher levels of staff motivation (Grohar-Murray and Langan 2010). She ran her shift allowing her team members to come forth with their ideas, which appeared to give them equal say in the process of decision making (Marquis and Huston 2009). Ms A assessed the requirements of her team and developed a form of leadership that best suited them as a whole helping her to gauge the personality in every member of the staff and their level of intelligence, whilst taking into consideration the task to be completed within the group (Grohar-Murray and Langan 2010). The basic premise behind the concept of the democratic and consultative style of leadership is that individuals within the organisation all have distinct and specialist levels of knowledge (Northouse 2004). By Ms As consulting a broader range of individuals with different levels of knowledge in chemotherapy, she was well informed, was able to make better decisions and indeed empowered her workforce to make better decisions (Adair 1989). The democratic leadership style sees leaders frequently engaging their workforce both to consult for information and opinions in decision making processes (Northouse 2004). For the leader to be able to consult her employees for information she needs to have good communication skills, this is a key characteristic to maintain the democratic style of leadership. Grohar-Murray and DiCroce (2003) suggest that a democratic style is not punitive and therefore, treats staff with dignity, openness and fairness. Ms A was very considerate to the choices of her team member and adapted her communication skills to each individual member creating a sense of job satisfaction and greater levels of motivation. The democratic approaches to leadership are not without disadvantages. One of the major issues in the democratic style is that decision making can often become more time consuming (Bratton and Gold 2007). Another problem is that by the time a decision is made through the consultative process, a key opportunity within the environment may have been missed. An example of this issue in practice was one of the afternoon updates with Ms A. At 5pm, every afternoon, she would ask all her nursing staff to gather their patients files and do a ward round with her. It was a consultative process where Ms A would want to know what had happened throughout the day with the respective patients of the staff members, and then decisions would be made as to what needed to be done before the end of the shift. The key problem was that all qualified nurses would be on this round and there was only one health care assistant to meet the needs of all the patients during this hour long process. In such circumst ances, an autocratic manager would be more suited; simply by making a decision without resorting to a democratic process (Omolayo 2007). As, Schmidt and Tannenbaum continuum (Dean 1976) allows the leader to adapt their style of leadership to meet the needs of a given set of specific circumstances, Ms A assumed autocratic characteristics when it came to hygiene of the nurses entering patients rooms. ====================================================================== A consideration in the democratic approach to leadership was the classical concept that Ms As team was simply motivated by extrinsic rewards (Hardy 1999). The democratic or consultative approach to leadership is also based upon the premise that employees actually derive a benefit or reward simply from being a wider part of an organisation. Nurses within the oncology profession seem to very dedicated and motivated within their speciality and appear personally rewarded within their work. Such increasing levels of motivation are often linked to well known intrinsic theories of motivation such as Maslow (1970), who indicated that increasing levels of motivation came not from money but from fulfilling employees higher needs, such as a sense of belonging that is achieved through teamwork. From a negative viewpoint, an issue with the democratic style leadership is that it can often be difficult to build a consensus on a given issue. Where such circumstances arise, the leader will be forced to make a decision based upon a split team consensus, thus risking the belief in the minds of some that their personal opinions have been ignored. Such actions can lead to poorer levels of motivation and a general detraction from the benefits of the democratic leadership style in the first instance. An autocratic stance in such circumstances might prove to be beneficial. As Adair (1989) indicates, consultation is only beneficial from a motivation perspective, where those who are engaged in the consultation process have genuine belief that their views and opinions are being taken into account. Where, such consultations are considered to be merely a check box exercise, there is a risk that this can harm motivation and morale, rather than aiding such considerations. POWER Positive and Negative effects The democratic approach promotes autonomy within the team, which has an implication on the team, making the staff feel powerful within their positions (Daft 2007). By valuing her teams opinions, Ms A would take on board their individual viewpoints and delegate the staffs workload in a fair manner. As Ms A delegated her staffs patients according to their skill mix, there appeared to be equal job satisfaction at the end of the shift. Ward (2002) suggests that delegation is a necessary skill and argues that staff not given any responsibility through delegation, may become discouraged. However, within the practice environment some staff would work more effectively individually but others will postpone completing their tasks, which sometimes lead to negative outcomes. On the other hand, from a positive viewpoint, if your team achieves participation from the whole group, it will lead to more productive work when utilising democratic practice (Rigolosi 2005). Within practice, you can identify the members of the staff that excel from been given this increased responsibility, as they present, by wanting to give the best possible care to their patients whilst appearing satisfied, empowered and confident within their role. When the team is highly motivated and committed to the goals of the organisation, the team will deliver more effective care to their patients (Kuokkanen and Leiono-Kilpi 2000). On analysis, this highlighted how essential the implication of the leaders style has on good patient care. JOB SATISFACTION positive and negative effects At the beginning of each shift Ms A would ask all staff to come to the wipe board, where the action plan of what needed to be done for each patient was updated each morning. All the members of ward were involved including the ward clerk, who appeared to have a quite an active role within this specific task. Ms A crafted her message and was clear about her goal for each patient; however she still appeared to want other staffs constructive criticism. The characteristic of the democratic approach that Ms A was exhibiting was the involvement of the whole team within the decision making of each patients needs. The communication flowed up and down discussing each member of staffs views, whilst Ms As emphasis was on we rather than I. Each member of staffs cooperation was positive, however, another effect this process had on each individual nurse was the time it took, as every member was consulted. This, in turn, delayed the medication round and morning washes. It is the responsibility of ev ery leader, irrespective of the leadership style, to delegate work effectively to the subordinates, and at the same time take good care of them and motivate them by involving them (Omolayo 2007). Democratic type leadership is concerned with human relationships and teamwork (Omolayo 2007). Ms A valued her team members opinions that impacted within the team in a spirit of collaboration. The effect of this collective collaboration impacted on each team member resulting in increased motivation and job satisfaction. SECTION TWO Multi professional collaboration In multi-professional collaboration, the healthcare professionals look at the original goals for each patient, and with open and honest communication, work together toward fulfilling that common goal (Marquis and Huston, 2009). All members of the team will then accept mutual responsibility for achieving this goal. True collaboration requires honest communication and all decision making should be shared at all stages of the patients journey of care. It is important for the individuals in organisations to work in cohesive teams. Daft (2007) has defined team cohesiveness as the extent to which the teams members stick to each other in pursuit of a common objective. Members belonging to cohesive groups report feeling more involved in the activities; are highly committed to the goal and objectives; are happy working in a group and take joy in success of the team. The important aspect of a successful team is a potent leader. Leadership styles can govern the satisfaction of the workers and their productivity as individuals. Omolayo (2007) has enthused that teams under democratic leadership experience a better sense of community than autocratic. However, Daft (2007) has pointed out that managing teams may become difficult and the leaders may need to get out of their comfort zone and adapt to the given circumstances. Positive impact of Democratic Leadership Within the collaboration of the multi-disciplinary team the democratic approach provides a spirit of joint effort and good team work, as long as the team accept your opinion you have as an active part of the discussion (Marquis and Huston, 2009). This gives staff members autonomy to make actual decisions in the best interests of their patients. In general terms, the effect of such a democratic style of leadership on the multi disciplinary team has brought great benefits to the staff and wider organisation (Daft 2007). Principally, the benefits have been those of better decision making, based upon a wider level of knowledge obtained in the first instance. Secondly, general levels of motivation have been seen to have improved when compared to the motivation and morale of those working for managers with a more autocratic style within the organisation. Again, this has a real benefit to the organisation as a whole, such as reduced levels of absenteeism, higher rates of staff retention and generally a better performing team. What is bad about this style? Whilst the research acknowledges the superior performance of the democratic leadership style, it is worth pointing out that the style is not without its limitations and can require considerable efforts on behalf of the leader to maintain such a style effectively. A negative view of the democratic leadership style is that it appears less productive, as decisions take time. The authoritarian leaders appear more productive (Omolayo 2007), which is effective in a critical life threatening situation. Due to the fact that democratic leader always consult their teams for their views on each given situation, it can appear that these leaders are not sure about themselves and lack confidence. Mahoney (2001) suggests that leaders should give clear direction to their teams to maintain their group effectiveness. On analysis, in an ideal world these characteristics could be demonstrated, however, by asking their followers opinions, the leaders have motivational influence on their staff. We need to be aware that motivational influence is a powerful tool, as it inspires creative thinking and individual growth (Ward 2002). Indik (1965) suggests that the democratic style of leadership impacts the team members as the group sizes increase, the groups become less cohesive and the members are less satisfied (Indik 1965). Mullen (1989) discusses further that as the size of the group increases, the team members may also become less satisfied with the actual leader. This evidence suggests that leadership styles have conflicting evidence and the effect of team satisfaction within democratic style leadership may be a product of the size of the group. Within practice, I noticed that not every member of the nursing team could perform their tasks at the same level and did not respond to stress in the same way. Some staff could nurse four sick patients with ease; however, some staff was showing evidence of stress at nursing two sick patients. Ms A would notice these different levels of performance and adapted different leadership strategies appropriate to each member of staff. The effect of her democratic style helped reduce their stress and helped them achieve their goals. This exhibited Ms As democratic leadership style as she was concerned about the feelings of her staff, so shared the responsibility. - FUTURE MANAGEMENT STYLE It is important that the style of leadership taken up in healthcare should respond to the needs of the organisations consistency (Rigolosi 2005). Eagly and Johannesen-Schmidt (2001) have stated that women should use transformational style and supplement it with contingent reward to enhance organisational effectiveness. I observed that no single form or type of leadership can be deemed to be perfect or the most effective. In the field of nursing, democratic leadership style seems to be very appropriate keeping in mind the small number of nurses on every team. Ms. As use of democratic leadership was very effective in creating a feeling of work culture in the team and motivating them to work the best. But, sometimes, consulting everyone in the group becomes time consuming and may disrupt the normal flow of things and eats away from the time, which can effectively be utilised for other important things. Therefore, I personally would like to follow a more situational and environmental approach to leadership to obtain the best from my team and to achieve the best I can for the patients. This will mean that different situations will require different style of leadership. Both democratic and autocratic leadership styles will be maintained to keep a balance between humanitarian and organisational needs. The situational approach assumes that in order to achieve organisational goals, all the people can be helped and educated, and the styles of leadership should be directed towards achieving the best for the organisational needs (Rigolosi 2005). This approach will allow me to interact with the team that I am working with, and will help me to delegate the work efficiently. I can gauge the personality characteristics of all the people and occasionally indulge in team discussions and consensus over issues. This will help me create a reputation with the team and motivate them to work better without making it a routine. I would like to inculcate the sensitivity of the democratic leadership style with the effectiveness of autocratic leadership to delegate and regulate work efficiently. It is important for the leaders to provide vigilant guidance to the subordinates or the team members to keep the focus on the organisational goals and efficacy of work (Omolayo 2007). Conclusion For a leader, it is the most important to delegate responsibilities efficiently to get the work done properly and in time. Any single type of leadership styles may not be successful in achieving so in the variable situation. Therefore, it is a viable move to adopt a situational/environmental approach that lets the leader choose a leadership style according to a given situation. The case of Ms. A clearly shows the importance of democratic indulgence and at the same time, the drawbacks in the form of wastage of time. Therefore, the human element of the democratic leadership needs to be concocted with the strictness of autocratic leadership to govern a team effectively towards organisational success.

Marketing - The Pet Food Market Essay -- Business Management Studies

7. Carry out a SWOT analysis for this market with all inclusions referenced to the information source. STRENGTH: The increasing consciousness of people regarding the health of their pets leads to a focus on nutritious food which helps increasing the life span of their beloved animals. This benefits the pet food industry greatly as it leads to increased demand and allows manufacturers to set their prices for selected products at a high level. (PFMA) Increased competition has lead to greater effort for developing new products in order to meet customers demand. Therefore a lot of money has been put into Research and Development strategies, stimulating technical progress in this industry. (Mars, 2003) Scientific evidence about the increased life of pets eating healthy and high quality food is well known amongst the people. Supermarkets offering own-brand pet foods, thus contributing to competition. (Ciao, 2004) Owner of pets gain health benefits, encouraging people to hold a pet WEAKNESS: Large, established companies such as Masterfoods, Nestlà ¨ and P&G may impede competition and prevent smaller firms from entrance. Some companies are reluctant to improve packaging and introducing more environmental-friendly production processes for financial reasons. Limited advertisement on high street, where pet owners are likely to notice it and get known to the benefits of the product Limited product range, not enough variation satisfying the cus...

How to Achieve the American Dream :: Creative Writing Narrative Papers

How to Achieve the American Dream Right now, most of you reading this are twenty somethings with extremely bright futures ahead of you. Many of you were the stars of your high school, if not area, if not state, if not country. Then you got here and things changed. All of a sudden, everything was challenging. From the first moment you got here you were in competition with all the other freshmen for spots in a fraternity, sorority, independent living group, or dorm. You compared SAT scores, compared achievements, and found that they, like you, were amazingly accomplished. Many were National Merit Scholars, AP Scholars, Governor’s School participants, Math Olympiad winners, Science Fair winners, and Scholarship recipients. MIT is the premier science and engineering school in the country if not the world. Within it’s walls, minds have been coached and trained to excel in such diverse areas as film, computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, math, physics, economics, management, chemistry, architecture, and aero-space engineering. In Hollywood we are portrayed as the end all be all. In the movie Independence Day the scientist who discovers the secrets of the aliens is an MIT Ph.D. Also an MIT PhD in Physics is portrayed as a scientist in the movie Armageddon. People travel from all parts of the world to walk through our hallways and to hear MIT professors give lectures and to watch students cross at 77 Massachusetts Avenue. So you start school and soon find that the work that is assigned for the most part is busy work. Going to bed at four or five am start to seem like reasonable bedtime hours. In addition to this, you can actually count how many hours you have slept in the last three days on your hands. Suddenly, you don’t see yourself as being lucky for being so privileged as to be attending MIT. Complaining about how much work you have, how little you slept last night, and how much this place â€Å"sucks† seems to pepper all the conversations that you have during the day. Not only that, but the administration knows what it does to students so they have three-day and four-day weekends to let the students let off a little steam. The administration calls these weekends â€Å"long weekends†, whereas the students call them as â€Å"Suicide Weekends† – They are held so that students don’t become over-stressed and commit suicide.

Ital cooking - necessity or religious fervor? :: essays papers

Ital cooking - necessity or religious fervor? The party started at around 9 PM but my girlfriend and I decided to get there a few hours early to help set up. We made our way into the Bronx with my friend Leroy, a co-worker who had invited us, and reached the house at around four. We helped them string up a tarp and set up the sound system. It was a small fenced-in backyard but we stacked up the speakers and woofers seven feet high. They had apparently gotten permits earlier for the music, which was good, since I couldn’t hear myself think when the DJ was at work on his system. We had been working for a while and the yard was looking good, the woman of the house asked us if we were hungry. This was a pointless question with me since I am always hungry and we quickly followed her into the kitchen. Once inside the house, the faint smells of cooking food became much stronger while she led us into the kitchen. The kitchen was about average, just like any other person’s except there was a huge pot of soup/stew on the stove. We approached it and were offered paper cups full of delicious, hearty fish soup. This was only the beginning, as I was to discover later, the party quickly progressed and grew. Earlier in the day, there were only a few people at the house and I felt quite welcomed and comfortable. As the night went on and people continued showing up my girlfriend and I slowly became the minority. By the time the party was in full swing, the whole yard was packed and we had flowed into the neighbor’s yard to barbecue. We were two of the four white people at the party but Leroy and the hosts still made us feel comfortable. It was an eye opening experience to be the minority especially after growing up in predominantly white towns. When the guests started showing up in force Leroy, along with a few other guys, got to the business of barbecuing. The music was pumping, the red stripe was flowing and the party was going but the fire wasn’t burning. They set up a fifty-gallon-drum-barbecue in the neighbor’s yard since theirs was quickly filling and fired up the charcoal. Once the fire was good and hot, they pulled out several bags of seasoned Jerk chicken.

Childrens Day Essay

In India, Children’s day is celebrated on the 14th November every year. As a tribute Children’s Day is celebrated on the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday. Lovingly called ‘Chacha Nehru’ which means Uncle Nehru by the kids, Jawaharlal Nehru gave emphasis to the significance of giving love and affection to children, who are the bright future of India. The main purpose of this day is to encourage the welfare of children all over the country. The first ever Children’s day was celebrated in 1954. The idea of a universal Children’s Day was suggested by Mr. V.K. Krishna Menon and it adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. At first it was celebrated universally in the month of October. After 1959, November 20th was chosen as Children’s day as it marked the anniversary day when the Declaration of the Child Rights was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly. In 1989 the Convention on the Rights of the Child w as also signed on the same date. However, in India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday was declared as Children’s Day and is celebrated annually to cherish his love and attachment for children. Children are like precious gems. Understand the significance of children’s day which is celebrated on 14th November in India. Children are adorable. They are like divine gifts that parents get from the almighty. Their eyes are full of innocence. They smile when they receive love and admiration, they cry when it is their first day at school away from their parents, they giggle when they mingle with their buddies, and they signify nothing but the pure and faithful love. They truly symbolise god. 14th November is celebrated as children’s day in all over India. 14th November is also the birthday of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India. Childhood memories are sweetest of all. They can be savored for a lifetime. Children’s day celebration is fun for the little ones but it is important for the parents too. Every parent must understand the importance of the children’s day. Parents should be well aware about the little desires of t heir angels. Chacha Nehru’s love for children Do you know why Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday is celebrated as the children’s day? Pandit Nehru was a great leader. He worked passionately for the welfare of children and youngsters soon after independence. He was keen about welfare, education, and development of children in India. He was fond of  children and thus became popular as Chacha Nehru (Uncle Nehru) among his little admirers. Nehru was very particular about the progress of the Indian youth. He wanted to create responsible citizens out of young boys and girls. Under his regime he established several educational institutions including All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Institutes of Technology, and Indian Institutes of Management. He included and highlighted the point in his five years plan that every child in India would get free and compulsory primary education. Over thousands of schools were built through out the villages of India when Nehru was in power. He also brought the scheme to distribute free meals and milk to school children in India to prevent malnutrition. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru himself was destiny’s child. He struggled a lot for the welfare of India. It is believed that he admired two things a lot, red roses and children. His love and passion towards children is the reason why we celebrate Children’s Day on his birthday. Why do we celebrate Children’s Day? Children’s Day celebration is the tribute to childhood. John Kennedy, 35th US president has quoted it rightly, ‘Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.’ We cannot hide the fact that many children in India are not getting basic privileges like education. Many children are earning money instead of playing with toys. The true essence of children’s day is to understand the significance of childhood in our lives. The values and disciplines learned as a child are responsible for the kind of adulthood one has. Thus childhood is special and should be celebrated. Children’s Day is to remind all young and adults about children’s right to enjoy their childhood without any boundaries and to be educated adult in the future. Children’s Day is to revise the right methods of raising children. Children’s Day Celebration 20th November is Universal Children’s Day. In India lots fun activities and programs are organized on the children’s day. Childr en’s Day is called as ‘Bal Divas’ in Hindi. On this particular day government, NGOs (non government organisations), schools, and some private bodies conduct competitions and events for children. Various cultural programs are organized through out the schools. Special television programs for children are broadcasted on 14th November. Parents too are eager about children’s day. Some parents buy gifts for their sons and daughters. Some parents give greeting cards to their children to express their wishes on this special  day. As parents we should not let this day pass as other ordinary day. It is our duty to make children’s day special for our child. You may take your child to visit some NGO or children’s home on this day. You can imbibe some precious values in him though generous acts. Your child can give away some of his belongings to other poor children. In such a way he will get to know the real significance of this day. Make every 14th November special for your child. After all, ‘Children will no t remember you for the material things you provide them but for the feeling that you cherished them.’

Comparison of the Ethical Theories of Kant, Bentham and Mill

This paper intends to look into the theory of ethics of Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill and compare them from one another. In addition to that, it also aims to mention the uncertainty which have arisen as I tackled these theories.Immanuel Kant’s Theory of Ethics: FormalismAccording to Immanuel Kant’s Theory of Ethics, a deed is right if the acts involved in the progression are also right (Thomson Gale, 2008, n.p.). Simply put, â€Å"the end is only just if the means are as well† (Thomson Gale, 2008, n.p.).Jeremy Bentham’s Theory of Ethics: Ethical UniversalismAccording to Jeremy Bentham, his theory of ethics otherwise known as â€Å"ethical or moral universalism† is instituted upon â€Å"utility† which he categorically defines as â€Å"that property in any object, whereby it ends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness or to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness to the party whose i nterest is considered† (Bentham, 1948, p. 126). In turn, the aforesaid concept of â€Å"universalism† is established by looking into the following hypotheses/assertions/principles:1)Jeremy Bentham asserts that the following terminologies: â€Å"a) pleasure; b) happiness; c) goodness; d) benefit; e) advantage; 5) etcetera† are of the same value so to speak (Germino, 1972, pp. 235 – 236);2)Jeremy Bentham reiterates that the following terminologies: â€Å"a) pleasure; b) happiness; c) goodness; d) benefit; e) advantage; 5) etcetera† are actually gauged, thus, calculable and irrefutable as well (Germino, 1972, pp. 235 – 236);3)Jeremy Bentham argues that an individual’s act, as well as, the actions of the government ought to be founded or rooted upon the imperative which actually takes complete advantage of gratification and dwindles pain (Germino, 1972, pp. 235 – 236); and that4)Finally, â€Å"it is the greatest happiness of the gr eatest number that is the measure of right and wrong of human action in every situation, and in particular when governmental action is called for† (Germino, 1972, pp. 235 – 236).John Stuart Mill’s Theory of Ethics: Utilitarianismâ€Å"Utilitarianism†, according to John Stuart Mill, is where morals/ethics/good deeds are based/founded/instituted upon (Ebenstein & Ebenstein, 1991, p. 580). The reason behind this claim is that, deeds are only correct or proper if and only if the at the end of it happiness is achieved/felt and wrong or improper if and only if at the closing stage of the deed wretchedness   is reached (Ebenstein & Ebenstein, 1991, p. 580).That being said, happiness for John Stuart Mill is equivalent to the absence of unhappiness or any kind of negative emotion (Germino, 1972, p. 240). While, wretchedness for him, is when the occurrence of pain/ache/hurt is present at the finish of a certain deed (Germino 1972, p. 240).ComparisonImmanuel Kantâ €™s theory of ethics is known as formalism, while that of Jeremy Bentham’s is known as ethical universalism, and that of John Stuart Mill is that of Utilitarianism which differ from each other a little since Kant reiterates that an act is good only if the process utilized to reach that is ethical as well; while Bentham is based on the number of people going to benefit happiness from; on the other hand, Mill states that an act is right if one ends up being happy (Germino, 1972, p. 240).Confusion/Uncertainty which have ArisenThere is a certain concept that is a little confusing, for instance, why is it that the number of population achieving happiness is important to Bentham when it should be enough that an individual becomes happy due to an ethical act being carried out (Germino, 1972, p. 240)? It gets confusing because instead of focusing on the quality of happiness, the ethical theories were focused on the quantity (Germino, 1972, p. 240).ReferencesEbenstein, W. and Eben stein, A. (1991). Great Political Thinkers: Plato to the President.Forth Worth: Harcourt BraceGermino, D. (1972). Machiavelli to Marx: Modern Western Political Thought. Chicago:University of Chicago Press:

Pro-divorce Law Essay

People who say that divorce is not advisable for the Philippines forget or ignore our history. The ethno-linguistic communities of the Philippine archipelago before the Spanish conquest practiced divorce. We had a divorce law from 1917 until August 30, 1950, when the Civil Code of 1950 took effect. The latter law prohibited divorce for Filipinos, and the prohibition continues under the present Family Code. But Muslim Filipinos have always practiced divorce, which Philippine law allowed. Today, divorce continues to be available to Muslim Filipinos under the Code of Muslim Personal Law of the Philippines (Presidential Decree No. 1083), promulgated in 1977. In the 16th Congress, Gabriela, a women’s party-list group pursuing the passage of a divorce bill. Since the previous congress did not pass House Bill No. 1799, â€Å"An Act Introducing Divorce in the Philippines,† the said party-list group will again file the said bill. According to the group, â€Å"couples must have the option to avail of remedies that will pave the way for the attainment of their full human development and self-fulfillment and the protection of their human rights.† Upon the other hand, Marikina Rep. Teodoro has filed House Bill No. 37, â€Å"An Act Providing for the Protection of Marriage as an Inviolable Social Institution and the Family as the Foundation of the Nation and for other Purposes.† According to the proponent, ‘it ensures that absolute divorce remains unacceptable in the Philippines legal system, and maintains that legal separation can be availed of by spouses in troubled marriage, as provided under the Family Code, so they live independently of each other but without the right to remarry other persons.† Issue: Whether or not the Philippines is ready for a divorce law. Yes, the Philippines is ready for a divorce law. Some think that we do not need a divorce law because the Family Code, which applies to non-Muslim Filipinos, already provides for the termination of marriages through â€Å"annulment.† This argument misleads. Annulment is a legal term that has a specific meaning. The remedy of annulment is based on specified grounds that occurred at the time of the celebration of the marriage, such as lack of parental consent and vitiated consent (as when a person married another at gunpoint). The remedy of annulment expires, and the defect may actually be cured by ratification through free and voluntary cohabitation. When people speak of â€Å"annulment† as a means of terminating a marriage, they actually  refer to the remedy under Article 36 of the Family Code. Article 36 declares that a marriage is void from the beginning when one or both spouses are psychologically incapacitated to perform the essential marital obligations. Under Article 36, a court does not terminate a marriage but only declares it void. One must prove psychological incapacity by presenting evidence on three essential elements of the condition: that it already existed before the marriage; that it is grave or serious; and that it is incurable. To do this, one usually needs the help of a psychiatrist or psychologist to testify as an expert witness. But what if the marriage worked in the first ten years, but later the parties drifted apart for some reason or another? What if the other spouse was violent, unfaithful, indolent, or an alcoholic or a drug addict? What if one spouse abandoned the family? These may not be used for â€Å"annulment,† or for a marriage to be declared void under Article 36, unless it can be proved that these are manifestations of psychological incapacity that predated the marriage. A divorce law will provide a remedy that Article 36 does not. Divorce does not concern itself with validity or invalidity of a marriage. It terminates a marriage based on a ground that occurred during the marriage, which makes the marital relationship no longer tenable, regardless of the spouse’s psychological constitution. A divorce law will provide a straightforward remedy to a marital failure. It will benefit Filipinos wherever they are. A PETITION FOR DIVORCE MAY BE FILED ON ANY OF THE FOLLOWING GROUNDS: (1) THE PETITIONER HAS BEEN SEPARATED DE FACTO FROM HIS OR HER SPOUSE FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS AT THE TIME OF THE FILING OF THE PETITION AND RECONCILIATION IS HIGHLY IMPROBABLE; (2) THE PETITIONER HAS BEEN LEGALLY SEPARATED FROM HIS OR HER SPOUSE FOR AT LEAST TWO YEARS AT THE TIME OF THE FILING OF THE PETITION AND RECONCILIATION IS HIGHLY IMPROBABLE; (3) WHEN ANY OF THE GROUNDS FOR LEGAL SEPARATION UNDER PARAGRAPH (A) OF THIS ARTICLE HAS CAUSED THE IRREPARABLE BREAKDOWN OF THE MARRIAGE; (4) WHEN ONE OR BOTH SPOUSES ARE PSYCHOLOGICALLY INCAPACITATED TO COMPLY WITH THE ESSENTIAL MARITAL OBLIGATIONS; (5) WHEN THE SPOUSES SUFFER FROM IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES THAT HAVE CAUSED THE IRREPARABLE BREAKDOWN OF THE MARRIAGE.† Even when couples start out well in their marriage, political, economical and social realities take their toll on their relationship. Some are not prepared to handle the intricacies of the married life. For a large number of women, the inequalities and violence in marriage negate its ideals as the embodiment of love, care and safety and erode the bases upon which a marriage is founded. The marital relations facilitate the commission of violence and perpetuate their oppression. Official figures in 2009 showed that nineteen women were victims of marital violence everyday. Among the different forms of violence and abuse against women committed in 2009, wife battery ranked highest at 6,783 or 72% according to the Philippine National Police (PNP). The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) likewise recorded marital violence as highest among different forms of violence against owmen at 1,933. Previous reports of the PNP about three of ten perpetrators of violence against women were husbands of the victims. Husbands accounted for 28 percent of the violence against women crimes. Given these realities, couples must have the option to avail of remedies that will pave the way for the attainment of their full human development and self-fulfillment and the protection of their human rights. Existing laws are not enough to guarantee and protect these rights. To quote the Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc., a legal resource NGO for women: â€Å"The present laws relating to separation of couples and termination of marriage are inadequate to respond to the myriad causes of failed marriages. Particularly, the remedies of declaration of nullity and annulment do not cover the problems that occur during the existence of marriage. Legal separation, on the other hand, while covering problems during marriage, does not put an end to marriage.† â€Å"Though both divorce and a declaration of nullity of a marriage allow the spouses to remarry, the two remedies differ in concept and basis. A declaration of nullity presupposes that the marriage is valid from the beginning and the court declares its non-existence†¦ Beyond [the] grounds specified [in the law], declaration of nullity is not possible.† â€Å"In annulment, the marriage of the parties is declared defective from the beginning, albeit it is considered valid until annulled. The defect can be used to nullify the marriage within a specified period but the same may be ignored and the marriage becomes perfectly valid after the lapse of that period, or the defect may be cured through some act. The defect relates to the time of the celebration of the marriage and has nothing to do with circumstances occurring after the marriage is celebrated. In annulment, the marriage is legally cancelled, and the man and woman are restored to their single status.† â€Å"Since August 3, 1988, couples have been given a way out of failed marriages through Article 36 of the Family Code†¦ The remedy provides under Article 36 is declaration of nullity of the marriage. The article voids a marriage where one party is â€Å"psychologically incapacitated† to comply with the essentials of marital obligations. Consistent with the concept of void marriages (where the remedy is declaration of nullity), the law requires that the incapacity must have existed at the time of the celebration of the marriage†¦ In practice, Article 36 has become a form of divorce, as valid marriages are declared void every day in the guise of â€Å"psychological incapacity.† The innumerable Article 36 cases brought to trial courts is an indication of the elasticity of Article 36 to accommodate the needs of many couples desiring to terminate their marriages. It is proof that divorce is needed in the Philippines. Article 36 provides a remedy only for spouses who can prove â€Å"psychological incapacity†. The concept certainly cannot accommodate all cases where divorce would be necessary. What we need is a divorce law that defines clearly and unequivocally the grounds and terms for terminating a marriage. That law will put an end to the creative efforts played daily in courtrooms across the country to accommodate a wide range of  cases in order to prove â€Å"psychological incapacity.† (Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc., The Relevance of Divorce in the Philippines, 1998) Divorce does not concern itself with validity or invalidity of a marriage. It terminates a marriage based on a ground that occurred during the marriage, which makes the marital relationship no longer tenable, regardless of the spouse’s psychological constitution. A divorce law will provide a straightforward remedy to a marital failure. It will benefit Filipinos wherever they are. â€Å"The law should only give people a choice, to be exercised according to their own personal beliefs.†- Luzviminda Ilagan The Catholic Church need not worry. The institutions of marriage and the family have survived to this day, as they will survive a Philippine divorce law. We are a secular state, where no religious group has the right to define law or policy for the entire population. There is not one but a plurality of beliefs in Philippine society. The law should only give people a choice, to be exercised according to their own personal beliefs. Therefore, to be set free from an unhappy marriage is to allow citizens of any country to form their own lives. Freedom is something we all want. To allow a country to set the law for such freedoms is nothing more than an act which is incomprehensible. There are record amounts of unhappy marriages in the Philippines. Every day, Filipinos get married, bear children, separate and get into other relationships, regardless of what the law says. The lack of a divorce law for non-Muslim Filipinos complicates further the marital and family problems of many Filipinos. Our government has clearly failed to respond to their needs. If the country wants to move forward, it has to confront the realities of marital and family life of Filipinos in the Philippines and abroad. It has to pass a divorce law now.