Women’s Health & Preventative Care

Women’s Health Care and Preventative Care In the United States, the cost of health care is on the rise and it is almost impossible to receive any health care service at an affordable rate. Whether insured or uninsured, women of all demographics are faced with this problem. Women should not put their health or life at risk because they fear receiving another medical bill. Due to the rising cost of health care and insurance, more women do not receive preventative medical treatment and are currently in debt.Often, women do not receive or delay receiving preventative health care due to the cost of treatment. â€Å"Learning about and practicing preventive healthcare, i. e. maintaining your body and good health throughout your entire lifetime, is properly the best method to prevent disease from happening in the first place† (World Research Foundation, n. d. ). Women require more preventative health care than men and some of these preventative services are not always fully cov ered by insurance such as mammograms or prenatal care.Prenatal care is not only important for the woman’s health, but also for the child’s health. Preventative health care can detect as well as prevent diseases. Early detection is sometimes the key to curing certain diseases. More women currently are in debt or have unpaid medical bills. The rising cost of health care combined with the current job market has left more women in debt (Robertson & Collins, 2011). Health insurance providers do not always provide the coverage women need.In fact recent studies have shown â€Å"few plans offer maternity coverage and young women can face substantially higher premiums than men of the same age† (Robertson & Collins, 2011). Although,† The Affordable Care Act is bringing change for women through required free coverage of preventive care services, small business tax credits, new affordable coverage options, and insurance market reforms, including bans on gender ratingà ¢â‚¬  the law will not be implemented until 2014 (Robertson & Collins, 2011).Something needs to be done before then in order to cut down on debt from unpaid medical bills. The federal as well as the state government should implement more programs that offer preventative care at income based rates. There should also be more programs directed at lowering medical bill debt. A debt acquired by a medical bill should not affect a person’s credit. More insurance companies should provide age and gender specific plans at affordable rates, in order to ensure everyone receives the proper healthcare needed.Although, some of these solutions may have to be funded with higher taxes or budget cuts, these programs would definitely have a large impact on the amount of women who receive preventative care. Preventative care is a necessity in ensuring healthy living for women. Receiving preventative care is a cost effective way to save lives by treating and diagnosing diseases and conditions ear ly. Insured and uninsured women should be able to receive preventative care without worrying about how and if they will pay the medical bill.Although women’s health care cost is a rising issue in the U. S, there are cost effective solutions to alleviate this problem. References Robertson, R. , & Collins, S. R. (2011) Realizing Health Reforms Potential. Retrieved fromhttp://www. commonwealthfund. org/~/media/Files/Publications/Issue%20Brief/2011/May /1502_Robertson_women_at_risk_reform_brief_v3. pdf World Research Foundation. (n. d. ) Preventive Health Care Helps Everyone. Sedona, AZ: WorldResearch Foundation. Retrieved July 15, 2012 from http://www. wrf. org/preventive-healthcare/preventive-healthcare. php

Elie Wiesel: a survivor of the Holocaust Essay

As a survivor of the inhumane, annihilating Holocaust, Elie Wiesel once said, â€Å"Having survived by chance, I was duty–bound to give meaning to my survival.†(â€Å"Having Survived†1). Elie Wiesel did not know at the time that he had a reason for surviving this tragedy, but soon realized that he survived to offer a story and message about the horrors of that time to a world that often seemed to block it out completely and forget (â€Å"Having Survived†1).To spread his message to the world, which is one of peace, redemption, and human nobleness, Wiesel speaks all over the world as a public orator. (â€Å"Elie Wiesel† 3). Elie Wiesel, an influential speaker and writer of the 1940s to present times, helped to render a further understanding of the abomination of The Holocaust through eloquence and deep thought, elaborate actions, and most of all, his strong traditional values. Elie Wiesel, a strong, courageous man, was subject to onerous acts in his childhood, yet in his present day, he discusses topics, such as hatred, all around the world with teenagers and adults(â€Å"Having Survived† 1). Born in Sighet, Transylvania on September 30, 1928, Wiesel lived an unexampled childhood(Berenbaum 2). In a lecture, he once said, â€Å"When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy.. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion or political views, that place must–at the moment– become the center of the universe†(â€Å"Having Survived† 4). This quote symbolizes Wiesel’s view of the treacherous Holocaust, an event that changed mankind(â€Å"Having Survived† 4). As conditions of living began to change around Europe, 15 year old Wiesel’s life took a 360 degree turn for the worse when he and his family were taken to one of the many concentration camps set up by the NAZI leaders, at Birkenau and Auschwitz(Berenbaum 2). Wiesel was kept at this camp until January 1945, when at that point, he was sent with thousands of other Jewish prisoners to Buchenwald in a forced death march which was designed to kill the remaining prisoners, but ended up getting saved by the Allies(Berenbaum 2). When the war finally ended, Wiesel decided to go to secondary school in France and broaden his skills, where he studied journalism and began working for an Israeli newspaper, which helped him develop the expressiveness he has today(Berenbaum 2). Determined to get his message to the world, Wiesel began to write books about his experiences, such as his most famous work, Night, which is known today as one of the most  influential books of Holocaust literature(â €Å"Elie Wiesel†2). In this novel, Wiesel used his own experiences and memories while imprisoned to bring to life another character(â€Å"Elie Wiesel† 2). This character was a vehicle for Wiesel to express his feelings of sadness and despair because he survived, when others did not(â€Å"Elie Wiesel† 2). After the fame of his novel, Wiesel became a professor of humanities at Boston University in 1976, and began to speak to students about the struggles our world overcame(â€Å"Having Survived† 3). In a class, he once wisely said, â€Å"Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future† (â€Å"Without memory† 1). Wiesel wanted to stress the idea that without memory of what happened before, the future is doomed to make the same mistakes; accordingly, Wiesel was educated in sacred Jewish texts as a child, which he spoke about often(Berenbaum 2). When Wiesel began to travel and speak to keep the memories of his experi ences relevant, he became recognized worldwide and in 1986, became a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work and speech on behalf of victims, families and people everywhere(â€Å"Having Survived† 4). Wiesel used the money from the Nobel Prize to found the Elie Wiesel Foundations for Humanity in the late 80s and early 90s(â€Å"Having Survived† 4). His foundation sponsors essay contests for college and high school students and gathers well-known people together from all over the world as one to discuss and debate many different kinds of topics such as prejudice and bias(â€Å"Having Survived 4†). Even today, Wiesel continues to travel in his old age and speak out against brutality and injustice, he has written over three dozen books(and has been the subject of at least two dozen), but even after he leaves this world his legacy will live on as being truly strong and brave(â€Å"Having Survived† 4). Wiesel originally represented just one of the victims of the problem our world faced in the 1930’s to 40’s(Koestler-Grack timeline). During this time, the people of Sighet, Transylvania happened to be improvident to what was occurring in the world. In a lecture, Elie Wiesel stated, â€Å"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest,† which is ultimately what the people of this time were going to be forced to do(â€Å"There may† 1). This problem served as a major political issue, though the results were social. When Hitler rose to power in 1933, nobody knew or even thought that his dictatorship would lead to the deaths of over  fifty million people(â€Å"When Adolf† 1). In 1939, Germany sparked World War II with the invasion of Poland, and Hitler developed his desire for power(Koestler-Grack timeline). His â€Å"ethnic cleansings,† also known as genocide, led to what we know as â€Å"The Holocaust,† which occurred between 1933-1945(â€Å"Having Survived† 2). With the help of Hitler’s Nazi association, Germany systematically and slowly murdered millions of innocent people, like Jews and Gypsies(â€Å"Having Survived† 2). The Nazis’ overall plan was to take control of the majority of Europe and wipe out all of the European Jews in existence so he could bring out his new race of all blonde-haired, blue eyed citizens(â€Å"Having Survived†1). In the spring of 1944, the people of Sighet had their lives changed forever with the arrival of Adolf Eichmann to their town(â€Å"Having Survived† 2). Eichmann, the man who made all of the killing happen with his German policy, wrote that Jews in conquered countries could be taken without consent to concentration camps where people who held the title â€Å"enemies of the state† remained hostage and often ended up killed(â€Å"Having Survived† 2). Eichmann had orders from Hitler to extinguish an estimated 600,000 Romanian Jews in six weeks or less(â€Å" Having Survived† 2). By the end of those six weeks, the entire population of 15,000 Jews in Sighet were taken to camps, and Elie Wiesel contributed to that population(â€Å"Having Survived† 2). After surviving the war and the devastation, Elie knew that he had to make his voice heard about the horrors and his experiences; consequently, nobody in the world seemed to want to accept the fact that it had happened.(â€Å"Having Survived† 3). As he travels around the world today, he constantly says, â€Å"No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.†(â€Å"No Human† 1). Elie uses his skills as a speaker and orator to make the tragedy and truth known, for he brings out empathy for injustice during the process. As a social activist, through his writing and his speech, Wiesel used his work to solicit for Jews and for all of humanity(â€Å"Berenbaum 3). Wiesel survived, and uses his experiences to make the facts known so we never face a problem like this one again; moreover, his works speak of the need for people to feel compassion and gratitude for other human beings(â€Å"Having Survive d†3). When Wiesel speaks, he constantly says the same thing again and again: There is no compensation for what happened {in The Holocaust}. But at least a certain balance can be established that opposing fear there is hope, hope that when we remember the fear..  our memory becomes a shield for the future  (â€Å"Elie Wiesel† 3). Wiesel firmly believes that the efforts he has made and the efforts that others have made to keep the education of The Holocaust alive will prevent a devastation of that kind from happening again(â€Å"Elie Wiesel† 3). His silence originally broke in the mid 1950s in an interview with Francois Mauriac, who was a novelist(â€Å"Having Survived† 2).While listening to his story, Mauriac felt moved and ultimately urged Wiesel to speak out and tell the world what he had seen and heard(â€Å"Having Survived† 2). Elie Wiesel serves as a major public orator and influential writer(Berenbaum 3). In addition to his writings and speeches regarding the persecution of the Jews, both in the past and in the present, Wiesel has made an effort to speak out on behalf of all races, genders, religions and national origins that have been persecuted(â€Å"Elie Wiesel† 4). As a result and for times yet to come, Wiesel has been quoted saying, â€Å"There I am an optimist. I think it cannot happen again. I think the Holocaust was a unique event, therefore it will remain unique.†(â€Å"Elie Wiesel† 4). In 1978, Wiesel was asked by U.S President Jimmy Carter to be the head of his group that became known as the U.S Holocaust Memorial Council, which met with European officials to find information about other victims, visited concentration camps, and was responsible for the creation of the U.S Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C(â€Å"Having Survived† 4). Elie Wiesel’s words and novels act as a palliative to those who were subject to this historical event, and his words will continue to live on as a reminder in history. Through inspiration and eloquent speech and writing, Elie Wiesel continues to discern the disloyalty and cruelty of The Holocaust. Proudly, Wiesel travels the world giving life lectures, which have impacted and influenced the lives of many. His experiences help America, as an international unit, to prevent events like The Holocaust from repeating. As the years pass, Wiesel ages, yet his legacy will continue throughout the future generations.

Consulting article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Consulting article - Essay Example Certainly, most people do not really require hand held internet access, video camera and telephone in the same device. However, communications within a company requires compatibility. In the case of communications, providing compatible hardware is more important than upgrading. Technology change generally would not be a vital factor in the decision to upgrade unless a specific application requiring the upgrade became available. Health diagnostic equipment is high cost and regulated on a need basis. The desire to expand a hospital by adding 50 beds to meet a health demand may occur years before a Certificate of Need (CON) process is completed. The anticipated technology incorporated in the certificate application may be functionally antiquated. Technology may eliminate the need for the beds. So, when management collects data to assess the decision in-house, they must anticipate future developments or their time will be wasted lobbying for an irrelevant change. The environmental remedi ation regulations are both pliable and rigid. Brownfield sites are judged on a â€Å"risk assessed† basis to encourage redevelopment of contaminated sites. The building may be restricted to industrial usage only, or perhaps residential with no basements. The increased allowable limits of contamination are attained at less cost than full compliance remediation. Once the site is cleared for redevelopment, utilities are installed. However, now instead of Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) regulations, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations cover workers in trenches cut from contaminated soil. OSHA may require breathing apparatus and specialty clothing to work in a hydrocarbon rich environment. Worker safety and health regulations are much more rigid. The soil cuttings may be unusable on the site, but removal is complicated since the increased, compromised, level of contamination is greater than landfills can receive. The cost of disposal incr eases. Management requires a broader view of Brownfield development in this scenario because future costs and inconvenience may outweigh the initial savings. Time and application change the regulations regarding levels of contamination, and therefore, the company bottom line. In these three examples, technology, regulations and consumer demand change with time and the application of technology. Prudent business manages to the balance sheet and the income statement. In the first scenario, with telecommunications devices, forecasting technological change is relatively accurate and simple. Poor decisions do not affect the bottom line too badly, and overcoming the poor decision is not difficult. In the latter scenarios, poor decisions complicate operations and negatively affect the bottom line. And unfortunately, forecasting change is difficult. The health care system problem resolves when management â€Å"hindcasts† technological change. Using the hospital bed example, managemen t needs to look at two past trends. Population growth and bed utilization data in the service area for the past ten years will show a trend comparing supply and demand. When service area population increases, bed utilization should increase if the number of beds remains constant, unless technology reduces in-hospital stays. So, the proper statistic is rate of bed utilization per 1000 people. If this number is decreasing faster than the population increa

E-retailing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

E-retailing - Assignment Example In 1997, Auto-by-Tel successfully sold their millionth car over the internet. As well, CommerceNet/Nielsen Media stated that they have attained more than 10 million people on the Web. According to Jupiter research the e-tailing has raised to $37 billion by 2002. Moreover, the e-tailing has also allowed the growth of e-tailware, software tools for producing online catalogs as well as dealing with business associates by performing e-tailing. In this scenario, a new movement is the price assessment sites that are able to rapidly compare prices from a number of dissimilar e-tailers as well as establish a connection between you and them (Schappell, 2000). This report will present a detailed analysis of a company that is specialized in e-retailing of business. This report will present a comprehensive analysis of some of main areas and aspects of the business’s e-retailing enhancement and establishment of more effective strategy for the potential management of business in a much better way. For this report I have chosen Maplin Electronics business. In this scenario, the main idea is about developing an expanded internet shopping capability for Maplin Electronics company website. Business Overview I have selected Maplin Electronics Corporation, which needs to improve its web based business and also create a better opportunity for the possible expansion in overall business and working arrangements. Maplin Electronics is one of the UK’s major corporate retailers of consumer electronics. Maplin Electronics business comprises a complete national network of 185 stores those are the main goldmine of valuable consumer technologies and gadgets. Maplin Electronics offers a variety of products including communication, cables, computing, components, music, home & car, power, TV & Satellite systems also Sat Navigational tools (Maplin Electronics2, 2011). In addition, Maplin Electronics is specialized in consumer electronics areas. Maplin Electronics is proud to present the most excellent and the majority informed customer recommendations on the high street. Additionally, the business encompasses a huge team of over 2,000 customer service support officers that facilitate thousands o f customers to make informed selections regarding technology purchases each and every day; from technology fans to the entire novices. Moreover, this business was initiated by two technology devotees in 1972 who were irritated by the lack of high-quality electronics products and components. Soon after the establishment of the business the Maplin Electronics rapidly turned out to be the experts’ preference, with a standing for the most excellent product variety and skills. In fact, Maplin Electronics Corporation has developed with high speed since launching over 30 years ago, its standing as the United Kingdom’s simply true experts in consumer electronics is yet at the heart of Maplin Electronics nowadays (Maplin Electronics2, 2011). Furthermore, Maplin Electronics Corporation allows its customers to buy products from more than 185 stores located in United Kingdom and Ireland. Maplin Electronics also allows its custom

Perfect learning environment and functioning of school tribunal Essay

Perfect learning environment and functioning of school tribunal - Essay Example At the same time it is the process by which an individual acquires and develops knowledge, understanding, skills, interests, and attitudes that are necessary to meet life situations. The effect of learning can be witnessed in the behaviour of an individual at various instances. Human has been able to progress just because of his capacity to make profit out of his and other’s experiences. His customs, manners, etc are the product of his learning. â€Å"Learning is the cognitive process of acquiring skills and knowledge†(Learning, n. d). It causes behavioural changes in ones’ life because of the constant interaction with the environment and the extra knowledge acquired about the environment. It is a continuous process which starts from the birth and ends only at the time of death of a person. It is a complex process which depends on many individual characteristics like socioeconomic background, attitude, philosophy of life, intelligence, physical and mental health, the environment in which learning occurs, genetic traits etc. Because of the dependability of various factors, it is difficult to have two persons with same learning abilities. School is a place where the teaching and learning process formally begins in one’s life. It is not necessary that all the schools provide same type of learning environment to the students. ... What makes the prefect learning environment? â€Å"Curriculum, instruction and assessment are the major means for effective learning. In the curriculum area, educators must place emphasis on intuition, feeling, sensing, and imagination, in addition to the traditional skills of analysis, reason, and sequential problem solving†(Learning styles, 2008). It is impossible for a teacher to teach everything related to a specific topic. On the other hand if the teacher was able to develop interest among the students about that particular topic, the students will do the rest part of the learning process by themselves. In other words, developing positive feeling, imagination, intuition etc can make the learning process easy. Curriculum plays an important role in preparing proper learning environment. As mentioned earlier, learning is a complex task and hence it is necessary to control the parameters which affects the learning judiciously. For example, it is difficult to stimulate learnin g in a noisy environment. Learning is a process which requires the combined efforts of the teachers and the students. The transfer of learning takes place from the teacher to the students only if the teacher was able to deliver his/her lecture in an appropriate manner. In order to help the teacher to deliver the lessons in an organized manner, students required to observe strict silence in the class. In other words, discipline is the primary requirement for preparing a proper learning environment. If the teacher keeps on delivering the lectures and the students keep on doing something else, learning will never take place. The students should follow the teacher with utmost care in order to learn the topics properly.

Business Law (International) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Law (International) - Essay Example Some of the US based companies and exporting manufacturers are not aware of piracy, counterfeiting and theft of their patent or trademark in other countries. It was reported that the brand name, products, packaging style and business plans of some US companies have been copied by some businesses abroad. For this reason, it is recommended that businesses must seek trademark and patent protection in their concerned foreign market ahead of exporting to such markets. The protection of intellectual properties varies widely around the world. When intellectual property becomes more important in international trade, the differences between different protection acts become a source of problem in international economic relation. In 1994, the agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) was negotiated at the end of Uruguay Round of the GATT administered by World Trade Organization. TRIPS put forward requirements that countries laws are expected to meet rights for protecting copyrights, geographical indications, integrated layout- designs, patents, and industrial designs. The Anti- counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is currently negotiated by the governments of United State, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Canada and Mexico. ACTA imposed strong enforcement of intellectual property pertaining to internet activity and information based trading. The WTO’s TRIPS agreement attempts to reduce the gaps in protecting intellectual property around the world and to bring them under systematic international rules. Philippe Sands says that the 1994 WTO TRIPS agreement establishes a regime requiring WTO members to make patents available for any inventions, whether product or processes, in all fields of technology without discrimination, subject to the normal tests of novelty, inventiveness and applicability. It also requires that

Scene Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Scene Analysis - Essay Example The Grandmaster was a commercial and critical success since it handled the story, the scenes and the characters very convincingly and took every one on a journey into the time period between 1930 to 1950, through the life story of Ip Man, the lead character of the film. It is indeed surprising that the director chose to open the story with a fight sequence in the rain that shows the histrionics of Ip Man the lead character and familiarizes the audience with his proficiency in the art. As a student of movie making would note, this opening fight sequence superceded all other fight sequences in the movie and the treatment of lights, camera and action were full of montages that are unique and historically significant in the history of Chinese cinema. The Grandmaster is not a very important cult film today which falls in the category of Chinese action movies that deal with Kung Fu masters, combats and is shouldered by the lead characters or fighters in the movie. However, the film has unique montages that have never been created in the history of Chinese cinema before. Take for example the opening fight sequence done in the night in a rainy street (NIX, 2013, 1). The fight is between Ip Man and a number of combatants and uses all possible camera angles to convincingly display his skills. There are moments in the sequence which show rain waters only, whether they are on the floor of the street where they are gathered to form a pool and are disturbed by the fight on goi ng on the same street; or whether they are flying off Ip Man’s rich white hat (Marsh, 2013, 1). These scenes were a different inclusion in an otherwise action movie. The fact that the camera, the light (especially the way it was made to reflect in the rain drops and the water splashing around), and the edits of the footage (Vineyard, 2008, 24) are very swift and shown to the audience in short timings between the fight scenes adds the extra element of

Employee Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Employee Development - Essay Example As a result, employee development policy is necessary to ensure that employees are highly skilled and benefit to the organisation. According to the University of California, Los Angeles' Campus Human Resources, Training and Development, employee development policies for un-represented employees provide access to training and personal development programmes, and reduce fees for university classes to employees who are admitted to the university. The purpose of employee development policy for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro is to develop and train employees through university-sponsored workshops, lectures, symposia, educational assistance and tuition waiver programmes, and the general equivalency diploma programme. The opportunity for professional and personal growth of employees allows the university to satisfy its general education mission. With the responsibility to provide programmes, the Department Human Resource Services (HRS) supports and improves the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for employees to perform assigned functions. HRS educates employees regarding university policies; encourage personal growth; and helps the university comply with state and federal laws. Programmes are available to any individual in any capacity employed by the university in a permanent position, which includes full-time, part-time, probationary and trainee employees. Other types of employee development policy include providing skills for employees, not through training but through growth in the job and increased responsibility; performance management systems with a combination of appraisal reviews and target-setting, performance feedback and merit pay; increasing personal discretion in tasks and empowering employees to make decisions that affect daily work. With the increasing number of part-time and temporary employees, it would be in the best interest of the organisation if skills were developed in the same way as full-time employees. Data from the Employment in Britain survey, performed in 1993 by the Policy Studies Institute indicate that part-time employees are less likely than full-time employees to rate themselves above average on output or quality. This is also true for temporary employees and fixed-term contract employees. Part-time employees have less access to development and temporary employees as well are not included in continuing development. Contract employees are much better integrated into continuing development systems because they receive higher pay for their services. However, for improvement, continuous development practices by personnel and human resource (HR) specialists are imperative. The Fife Council has committed to a competent and fully trained workforce and to a programme of development, which benefits employees and the organisation. The purpose of their employee development policy helps to ensuring that the vision outlined in the Council's Aims and Values is make possible for all employees. The Council supports and encourages appropriate personal development and needs of the individual and the organisation. Other principles of their employee development policy seek to ensure equality of opportunity and access for employees to in-house and external development and

Jean-Antoine Watteaus Foursome Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Jean-Antoine Watteaus Foursome - Essay Example "The image ÃŽ ¿f cadavers being carried by an angry and frustrated crowd, with which I began this essay, is not far from the one that I have just finished analyzing. Both Barbier and Watteau are symbolically recreating felt, palpable social change in the first two decades ÃŽ ¿f the eighteenth century. They are also, on a second level ÃŽ ¿f symbolization, trying to understand the metaphorization ÃŽ ¿f power and influence. The riots over paper money that had suddenly become worthless and the commodification ÃŽ ¿f art itself, ÃŽ ¿f placing a monetary value on the most aesthetic ÃŽ ¿f man's activities, are significant issues, important to describe. The palpable weakening ÃŽ ¿f a heretofore seemingly invincible central government, objectified in these two scenes by the closed doors ÃŽ ¿f the Palais-Royal and the disappearing portrait ÃŽ ¿f Louis XIV, had been underlined by the relative openness that Philippe d'Orleans had brought to his Court; but, his candor was too little and too late. Power had hemorrhaged into the streets. Classes were being redefined, and with them a new ethics, exemplified in the young man's father's awkward attempts at warning his son about mercurial Parisians. Merit will count more than it did, but appearances and the superficial will skill reign, only no longer to be systematically defined by the court. The Regency period (1715-1723) was one ÃŽ ¿f remarkable narrative energy. Writers such as Challe, Prevost, Marivaux, Montesquieu.... To do a painting, especially when one is dying from tuberculosis, that depicts a moment in a shop's existence, a painting that is meant to attract connoisseurs and speculators, underlines how compelling was the statement that Watteau wanted to make. The transient and its valuation are connected brilliantly in L'Enseigne de Gersaint (a title that offers no profundity f meaning either), because they are connected aesthetically. Thus, Watteau pushes us to surrender to art what it demands: the recognition that only through imaginative effort can an equitable ethics f urbanity be derived. This painting is about the power f art to transcend even the most powerful social and personal impediments to happiness, because they are indeed transient. The sign Watteau painted signals a new social context, bent on possessing, evaluating, and judging according to appearance and by anyone. It is indeed a "photograph" f the Regency.1 L'Enseigne de Gersaint introduces, without the aesthetic and emotional distancing that defines the fetes galantes, the body as the site for the working out f desire, and society as the space in which bodies define and adapt themselves. Fiction and art should draw the connections among desire, the body and society. And this work does just that: it shows potential connections that can narrate the place f desire in an emergent cultural realignment. The painting is so well balanced thematically that one may forget that it is a quite sophisticated commentary on the function f art in society. Its self-consciousness, its theatricality, and its extraordinary use f color all tend us away from its intellectualism. Watteau was asking fundamental questions about the role f the spectator in the production and

Final research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Final research paper - Essay Example Instead it encourages non-Jews to uphold the Seven Laws which it believes were given to Noah. Conversions to Judaism are therefore relatively rare, including those from the Islamic world. Islam accepts converts, and spreading Dawah to other religious adherents including Jews. Muslims Beliefs Muslim is an Arabic word meaning "one who submits to God". A Muslim is an adherent of Islam. The Qur'an is the holy book of Islam and Muslims believe that it is the verbatim word of ALLAH as revealed to the prophet Muhammad. Muslims also follow Hadith which has the teachings and practices of Muhammad. Muslims believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that has been revealed before through many prophets. Muslims also believe that the Qur'an is the final unaltered revelation from God while previous messages and revelations have been partially changed or corrupted over time. Islam teaches Muslims to practice it in everyday’s life. They pray five times a day , fast during the Holy month of Ramadan, pay zaqaat. Most of all Islam tells people to be good with each others in every aspect Jewish Believes The basic laws and tenets of Judaism are derived from the Torah. This was the first written book sent to Hazarat Mossa to preach his nation. The most important teaching and tenet of Judaism is that there is one God, Who is incorporeal and eternal. All people are created in the image of God and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Much of Jewish religious observance is centered in the home. They pray daily three times a day, in the morning, the afternoon, and after sunset. Congregational prayers usually take place in the Jewish house of prayer and study called synagogue. The synagogue service includes readings in Hebrew from the Torah and the Prophets on special days like On Mondays, Thursdays, the Sabbath, festivals and High Holy Days (About the Jewish Religion). 2. Problems that Jewish Muslims relationship is facing The problem i n jews muslims relationship arises because of the following factors: Differences in Religion Before the rise of Islam, every messenger was sent to Jews. They started believing that they were the only chosen and guided ones for possession of the Divine Law and Scriptures. They became arrogant and proud. They could not accept when Prophet Mohammad was selected among Arabs as final messenger. Differences in Beliefs Muslims accepting Islam as the last religion have contradictions with the belief of Jews. Muslims believe they have most authentic guidelines presented by Prophet Muhammad. So relationship between Jews and Muslims always remained stressful. Land Claim Land claim is also a factor disturbing Jews and Muslims relationship. It starts with the fact that when the British divided Palestine into parts, the Muslims got the vast majority of the land and the Jews were given only 22%. This started a war between the new Jewish State and the Arab. And since that time in 1948, the Arabs ha ve been trying to rid Israel of the Jews. So there is always a conflict between Jews and Muslims (myjewishlearning). A political activist, blogger and a spokesperson Pirzada Hasaan Hashmi states that anti-Jewish and sentiment is deeply rooted in the Muslim society. Muslims countries are deeply influenced by their religious scholars. They teach them that Jews have occupied Muslims’ holiest lands and that the rightful owners of those lands are Palestinians. So politicians of Muslims country

Converting gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy Essay Example for Free

Converting gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy Essay Unavoidably, I encountered two anomalous results due to making some of the measurement errors mentioned before. When I plotted my graph, I realised that one of the points was much higher up in relation to the line of best fit while the other was much lower down. I named these measurements A B. The kinetic energy gained by the ball bearing was just more than half of the gravitational potential energy it lost for most measurement e. g. when the ball bearing was dropped from a height of 0. 15 metres, it stored 18. 8 i 10i 4 mJ of potential energy which transformed into 11. 7 i 10i 4 mJ of kinetic energy which is just a bit more than 9. 4 i 10i 4 mJ (half of the gravitational potential energy it stored). Interestingly, for measurement A, when the ball bearing was dropped from 0. 17m, it had gravitational potential energy of 21. 3 i 10i4 mJ but it didnt gain just a bit more than 10. 65 i 10i 4 mJ of kinetic energy but actually gained less than half of the potential energy it stored 10. 2 i 10i 4 mJ. The reason for obtaining this irregular result may have been that I didnt release the ball from the highest point of the runway but a few centimetres further down. This would not have provided enough energy for it to drop down as fast as it did for other measurements because gravitational potential energy ,which the ball bearing stores, depends on height h ( E p = mgh), which is lowered in this case. Therefore, it brought a decrease in the kinetic energy which the ball bearing gained it didnt gain as much kinetic energy as it could have done, had it been dropped from the highest point on the runway. This is why, unlike the other measurements, it gained less than half of the potential energy it stored. Another factor which may have caused this anomalous result could have been that the height of the runway itself wasnt set accurately lower than it should have been so although the gravitational potential energy we calculated = mgh = 0.00125 i 10 i 0. 17 would have been correct theoretically, it would have been practically inaccurate as the actual height set was less than what it should have been (0. 17m) and therefore the ball bearing in reality stored less gravitational potential energy than we calculated . On the other hand, for measurement B, when the ball bearing was dropped from 0. 19m, the ball bearing had gravitational potential energy of 23. 8 i 10i 4 mJ but it didnt gain just a bit more than 11. 9 i 10i 4 mJ of kinetic energy ( 1/2 of the gravitational potential energy) but actually gained a lot more than that. The reason for obtaining the inaccurate result would have been either pushing the ball bearing down the runway or releasing the ball bearing in air on the top of the runway instead of releasing it from rest in contact with the runway floor. Either of these reasons would have provided more energy for the ball bearing to roll down faster therefore it gained more kinetic energy than it did in other measurements when it was released from the top of the runway. Another factor which may have caused this anomalous result can be that the timing of the ball bearing rolling along the distance of 1m was recorded incorrectly or once again, the height wasnt set correctly the actual height set was smaller than what it should have been and therefore the potential energy calculated was less than what the ball bearing had actually stored and therefore the kinetic energy the ball bearing gained was calculated, was more than half of the potential energy which it stored. Finally, if I was going to do this experiment again, I would use more accurate measurement equipment to make my results more accurate. I would   use a computerised stop watch and lasers instead of a manual one to time the ball bearing rolling across the distance of 1m.   do an experiment on more even surfaces to reduce energy being lost in the form of heat by friction when the ball bearing slides down the runway or hits the sides on the way down the runway. Take more measurements for each reading to obtain more reliable and accurate averages Be more careful and alert in measuring and timing.   Have the same person operating the stop watch as different peoples have different reaction times which may not give reliable enough results to reach a firm conclusion.   Do the experiment in the same environment on the same day so that changes in room temperature doesnt affect energy transformations e. g.when the room temperature is higher, the runway floor would become hotter and the ball bearing sliding on it would lose more heat energy by friction. Use an even more accurate metre ruler to make the timing of the ball bearing rolling along the distance of 1m, more accurate.   Enlarge the distance I want the ball bearing to roll along so chances of obtaining inaccurate timing of the ball bearing is reduced.   Use a smoother ball bearing so it loses less energy in the form of heat and sound when it slides along the runway floor.

Literature Review On Inventory Control Management Finance Essay

Literature Review On Inventory Control Management Finance Essay The Assam Tea Corporation is a pioneer in producing high quality tea having its own processing plant with an excellent implication of inventory control. The main aim of this report is to conduct a literature review on the inventory control management and the operations in practice of the Assam Tea corporation processing plant where I was employed. The company has an efficient structure of inventory control and has set a standard for other companies in the same operation in that area .The company produces a high quality tea mostly meant for export in the form of CTC and Orthodox tea. The product of the company is world famous for its high quality taste. They offer state of the art infrastructure in the processing plant with a highly trained employee and efficient way if inventory control. They have various units in the processing plant i.e, starting from the picking up of green leaves which is the major part of raw material.The company has own plantation unit from where the raw material is readily available. Moreover they have tie ups with other local tea gardens to ensure a steady supply of tea leaves.The tea processing unit is a complex mechanical process works under the principle of operation management and inventory control.The function of it is a crucial one which has to deal with seasonal and cyclical fluctuations of demand persisting in the market .The inventory control has to deal with waste management in the unit by finding out the optimum level of demand .The seasonal fluctuations is mainly incorporated with the monsoon season where the production of tea leaves at the peak level.I was assigned with the responsibility of th e assistant manager operations in the processing unit. This report mainly encounters with the various concept of inventory control and its management undertaken by an organisation with stress on inventory and its effective control.It deals with the cost related with the inventory and its profile,Usage of probabilistic estimate of demand and overall role of the inventory control in a tea processing unit .There are various issues how to improvise the situations and improve the competitiveness related to the issues .The method applied to prepare this report with a high concentration on the textbooks and the web-source related to operations management .The information collected through all the experimentations observed and finally resorted to website and standard textbook of operations management. 2.Literature Review 2.1 What is inventory Inventory has a multilevel function in the process unit and the firms used to maintain mainly four level of inventories Raw material-This is the unprocessed form of the item which can be utilisied from varied number of suppliers .This form should be used to find out the superior form by removing the supply variability in quality,quanity or time of delivery. Work-in process(WIP) inventory-This is an intermediary form of inventory when the raw materials undergone a change but not completed. Maintanence/repair /operations(MRO) inventory- 2.2 INVENTORY CONTROL MANAGEMENT In this part of analysis importance should be given when to order and how much to order.The model which are based on independent demand can be divided into three. 1.Basic Economic Order quantity(EOQ) model 2.Production order quantity 3.The quantity discount model Basic Economic Order Quantity model This is the most common form of the inventory control technique .The technique is based upon following assumptions- Production order quantity model The model is applicable under two situations.Firstly,When the order is placed there is continuous flow of inventory.Secondly,the units are produced and sold simultaneously.In the case of Assam Tea Corporation processing unit both these situations are prevalent.In this model daily production rate is determined on the basis of daily rate of demand. It is useful when inventory build up is a continuous process over the time and assumption of traditional Economic Order conditions holds valid.It is the situation where the optimum order size Q* is estimated with an equality in set up cost to holding cost,The production order quantity model: Q=Number of pieces per order H=Holding cost per unit per year P=Daily production rate d=Daily demand rate or usage rate t=Length of the production run in days The final expression for optimal level of inventory Q* is- Probabilistic model with constant lead time Probailistic model with constant leadtime is highly relevant.In the presence of uncertain demand ,the management of the company faces challenges to maintain adequate service level.The service level can be complimented by the probability of a stock out isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦To reduce stock out the company can hold inventory as safety stock. Whereas if Reorder point=ROP=dxL With the addition of safety stock,the expression becomes=ROP=dxL+SS However annual stock out costs=The sum of the unit shortxthe probabilityxThe stock out cost per unitxthe number of orders per year 2.2 COST OF INVENTORY In case inventory control analysis there are various costs involved in the overall process.The cost of inventory is calculated in the form of unit values.However major segment of the inventory cost can be discussed as follows- THE CARRYING COST OF INVENTORY In this segment of costs of carrying items of inventories are included.This is the cost of running a warehouse,cost that are incurred on handling and counting,costs involved in special storage ,damage and lost,insurance,tax and wornout costs. THE ORDERING OR SET UP COST This is the cost which is associated with placing an order and replenishment.This cost includes all the form of orders,establishment cost needed to ensure it,inspection and receiving cost,handling the vendor invoice and the cost necessary to meet unexpected situation. This may be a cost of skilled mechanic charged as per his technical specification.There are various arguments whether the cost of the skilled mechanic is a fixed cost .But Kaplan (1988),all the costs involved in the long term is virtually variable cost where in that period a person can be fired,a plant can come to shutdown. INSUFFICIENT CAPACITY COST The cost involved here is meant to avoid the stockout cost.In the case of production process ,it is the emergency cost needed for emergency replacement of the production equipment to enhance the output level,cost involved to speed up the process,rescheduling and assigned work in split up version. SYSTEM CONTROL COSTS This is the type of cost appeared in the operation process as per selection of decision system.This includes acquisition,storage,maintanence and computation of the data.The treaining instituted by the organization and employee verification is also falls in the category costs. In Assam Tea Corporation ,there are a number of costs involved in different level of operation processes .The green leaves are initially plucked from the plantation unit and allowed to undergo different processes like picking ,wilting ,bruishing ,oxidation/fermentation ,firing,yellowing,shaping,drying and curing to get the final product. In the processing unit ,one of the major cost incurred by the company is warehousing the tea product as well as the green leaves.If the fresh leaves are not stored properly there is a greater possibility of being dried up and becomes waste.The insurance cover and tax are also one of the component. The cost of placing an order is one of the significant part of the processing unit.There is an inspection unit in the company which takes account of quality control in the unit.There is the cost of technicians expertise in that specific line During the peak season as the production process is a complex mechanical one.During the peak season ,especially during monsoon,there is always extra cost of utilizing extra-capacity,expediate the process.In that situation temporary workers are employed on the basis of shift duty with overtime bonus has to be paid. The company has to bear the cost on information system and its maintanence as it uses a data warehousing software.With the present environment of rapid change in the technology the company has to provide training for skill enhancement training to its manpower.This has been done with Tocklai Tea Research Centre,one of the leading Tea research institute .The training cost and performance analysis cost is formed as one of the cost. KEY VARIABLES IN INVENTORY MANAGEMENT 1.REPLENISHMENT LEAD TIME It is the time between placing an order and to meet the final demand of the customer physically. 2.REORDER POINT It is the point of the inventory level where the replenishment of stocked item takes place. Where ROP=dxL where d is the demand per day,L is the leadtime for a new order in days 3.SAFETY STOCK A buffer stock to meet up an uneven demand. OPERATION PROCESS UNIT OF TEA The Assam Tea Corporation has its processing unit for production of CTC() and Orthodox tea in the form of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.which account for almost 80% of the main production whereas the other form of teas are produced at paltry 20%. The tea processing begins with flushing of tea from Camellia Sinensis(Botanical name of tea) and after that it is dried for brewing of tea,oxidization of leaves and ,stopping oxidization ,drying of leaves ,and oxidation has a main part to bring the final flavor of tea. The company produces variety of tea through different processes which can be visualised with the aid of flow-chart diagram. The process itself starts from the left hand side of the flow chart with the operation of stocking into raw material or fresh green leaves.The processing unit of the Assam Tea Corporation is highly engaged in production of black tea and green tea which constitutes 80% of the output whereas other constitutes 20% of the total production. For obtaining a black tea(the red coloured flow chart) as the final product it can be seen in the diagram that after getting the fresh leaves the process undergoes with indoor witting,the CTC with full oxidation rolled to the drying unit done through desiccation and finally drying at optimum temperature,the black tea can be obtained. While for green teaTthe green coloured flow chart) after steaming and panning it is rolled to get the desirable form and finally dried to get green tea.The whole system of operation can be divided into following important parts- 1.Picking A terminal bud and two leaves are plucked from Camelia Sinensis. 2.Wilting With an oxidation done in the presence of enzyme ,the tea leaves are wilted to remove the excess water from leaves. 3.Brushing To expediate oxidation ,the tea leaves are let to fall in buckets and rolled over by wheels. 4.Oxidation/Fermentation The major operation of oxidation was to break down the the chlorophil and relax the tannin,as the leaves are kept in a climate control room. 5.Kill green/Firing To stop the oxidation at desired level and restore the flavor this step is done. 6.Yellowing It is done in a close container after firing to obtain beverage of yellow tea. 7.Shaping After yellowing it is rolled into stripe wrinkles 8.Drying This is done to get the ultimate product or tea for sale. PROBLEMS RELATED WITH INVENTORY CONTROL IN TEA PROCESSING UNIT In the tea business it is the monsoon which has a direct effect on the production of the green tea leaves which is the main raw material for the processing .In case ,there is good rainfall the yield of the leaves goes up and supply becomes steady.In that season the production unit of the tea garden is at greater stress with low lead time which means shorter time gap in the production system to wait,move,que and set-up and run time for each component produced.On the contrary,if there is low rainfall,the production of green leaves drops and lead time is more as the supply flow is less. However ,risk factor is present during the time of high production ,the tea leaves needs extra care so that it should not expose to moisture and in that case extra manpower is needed on shift duty basis to expedite the process.In the Assam Tea Corporation processing unit ,the production and sales takes place within a day.In this situation production order quabtity model is relevant as the firm is receiving its raw material over a period of time within a day which directly comes from the plucking unit.An optimum level of Q* is calculated to control the inventory. Recommendations In the view of the above discussion an optimum level of inventory can be obtained by reducing the waste in the following steps. 1.Inventory Planning An ideal inventory planning can take place with the arrival of new one immediately after the last unit sold/dispatched. 2.Establish order cycles In case of business with seasonal cycles it is important to establish a relationship of demand between sellers and suppliers. 3.Balance Inventory level Inventory level should be balanced looking into the matters related to market and budget. 4.Review Stocks The stocks should be reviewed as the obsolete one is equivalent to a dead capital. 5.Follow up of stocks The management should take the key decision about disposal,replacement and discontinuance of different inventory base. INVENTORY PLANNING DECISION IN TABULAR FORMAT COST AND OTHER IMPORTANT FACTORS SERVICE REQUIREMENT CUSTOMER ORDERING CHARACTERISTICS In this category ,the most important part is customer expectations and competitive practices,time management and influence on customer. Order characteristics include order timing and size,information about large orders on the basis of standing orders. In the tea processing unit ,the customer always is in prompt mode as the order has to reach the market and meet the price fluctuation in the auction market. DEMAND PATTERNS SUPPLY SITUATION Demand pattern is always governed by variability and seasonality.Another important part is presence of substitutes and ability to forecast. The green tea leaves as an inventory effected by variability of the weather condition and effected by rainfall which determines yield of the tea leaves and it is the three quarter of the month the supply is streamlined and one quarter is without any production.The presence of substitute is low and as there is high fluctuation in the market forecasting is not an easy task. This a challenging part as to narrow down the lead time , the processing unit has to avoid any waste .At the same time reliability depends upon the flow of the inventory and at the same flexibility can be ensured with additional work force on call which can also expidiate the process. COST FACTOR NATURE OF THE PRODUCT Again the cost factor is governed by stock out cost which is also a probabilistic measure,there is also cost of carrying and space The nature of the product is perishable and moisture will make it obsolete OTHER ISSUES In the tea processing unit the crucial point is power supply and mechanical efficiency.

Criminal Courts And Prisons Criminology Essay

Criminal Courts And Prisons Criminology Essay Prisons institutions are essential in society due to the fundamental use of detaining and punishing criminals as well as to rehabilitate them in order to avoid re-offending. Prisons are guided by government officials. During the 1990s, private prisons were introduced in the UK. The main reason for the introduction of private prisons was to reduce overcrowding as well as costs, and to a certain extent improve prison standards. (Harding, 2001). The idea of involving private agencies in prison facilities has been expanded and recognised by the new labour, conservative and the new coalition government. In the 1990s, regardless of the labour government being strongly against the idea of prison privatisation, they were challenged by an increased prison population which led them to allow private sectors to bid for running new prisons; and also present prisons were not to be occupied by public sectors. As a result, major parties reached an agreement in support of private prisons. However, th ere have been constant critiques from academics and the several sections of the media (Teague, 2010). Prison privatisation is interestingly an old concept. This can be seen as during the 1800s; several prison institutions in the US were contracted to private companies who contracted inmates to business as labourers. This idea was shortened due to corruption and the violent opposition by several businesses who claim that there was an unfair competition due to unpaid workers. Nonetheless, modern prisons now work on a totally different framework to earlier prisons; with even promising features. The introduction of private prisons in modern society has perceived new changes in prisons structure. Prisons are now not only driven by the goal of serving punishment and rehabilitate offenders, but also to gain financial wealth from detaining criminals. The intentions of private prisons were merely to correct present faults from private sector prisons, such as overcrowding; in the process of this, private prisons have suffered heavy criticism. The cost of crime is on the increase due to increased crime rates. In early nineties, it was estimated to cost almost seven billion dollars each year in construction cost as well as the upkeep of inmate population. The price of employing prison guards, administrators, teachers and every prison services within its facility is not included in this cost. Allowing private companies to take over the running of these institutions mean that the associated costs may not be generated from tax payers money, which would mean that governments can make better use of the money to address other public areas needing attention. Private prisons come with several benefits that aim to reduce cost as well as other beneficial factors. Cost saving is one of the main benefits associated with prison privatisation. The increased rate of crime accounts for the cost which is used towards prisons. Crime is widely seen a social problem and due to this, investments of up to nine figure sums each year is spent on the development of prisons; in order to manage the increasing rate of prisoners. Furthermore, prisons also incur more cost for aspects like the recruitment of guards and administrators, as well as other necessary expenses such as healthcare, food, clothes and education. The majority of private prison supporters argue that the government spends far more money on public prisons than private prisons, and both sectors equally provide and maintain the essential quality service needed. The main reasons that these supporters gave in regards to the increased cost of public prisons are due to factors such as red tape and the several laws which increases the cost of public prison management. These factors have been eliminated in private sector prisons which has significantly reduced costs. Furthermore, with private sectors managing prisons, some of the costs that are associated with running prisons may be used for other government projects. This will enable better use of government fund to other possible serious areas that may need addressing in terms of development. The issue of competition privatization will ensure an increase of productivity and also reduced waste of resources. Research show that the boarding cost in private sector prisons is half the cost of public prisons (Young, 2003). Several other studies show that private sector prisons save over 20% in construction cost as well as up to 15% in management costs (Sloane, 1996). Although critics strongly argue that cost reductions in private agencies, may however worsen prison conditions (Smith, 2003). Private companies are also perceived to be more flexible and innovative than public sector prisons. In the early 1990s, ministers argue that private sector prisons had proposed new ideas in the running of prisons. It was proposed that private sectors have the imagination to run prisons and look at things from a different point of view as well as to consider new management techniques and create new measures. This view was recognised in the 1998 inspection of Buckley hall with the chief inspector crediting the prisons improvement to the flexibility in which contractors could present innovative ideas that are free from bureaucratic restrictions, and if possible could be removed in other institutions. Supporters argue that contracting cold be a reason for staff innovation and transformation in the longstanding obstruction. The economic theory states that there will be a reduction in the running of prisons if there is more availability in renting and selling of prison cells, the challenges in terms of the funding and efficient allocation of prison spaces. This plan aims to give back to society as it serves to preserve justice. The economic theory states that the difficulty of financial assistance towards the control of prison services will reduce if there is more availability in selling and renting prison cells, the challenges in terms of the funding and efficient allocation of prison space. Private prisons adapted this concept by trying to exploit opportunities through the use of prison run factories. The idea of this is to allow prisoners to earn whilst giving back to society via labour. More than half of the money generated through this method is used to cater for prison cells and support victims. This process not only generates money but enabled prisoners to acquire skills which they can use in the integration process back in society. They can use these skills to acquire them a living rather than to follow the path of crime and be recognised by society as ex-offenders, which could narrowly lead them back into this system (Young, 2003). Although the public prison tries to carry out this task, it is not as effective as private prisons. It is essential to note that the privatization process may lead to new approaches to criminal control and punishment other than using prisons to deny criminals of their freedom. For instance, new approaches can involve the detaining of criminals through the use of modern technology on the individuals body such as electronic monitor. However, this approach may cause concern due to the safety of individuals in society. This would raise questions on whether the given technique is effective enough in ensuring crime reduction as well as the punishment of offenders (Smith, 2003). In sum, prison privatisation has a lot of benefits due to internal factors such as cost effectiveness. The proposer of this system may use the benefits of private prisons to ensure that most prisons are privatised in order to improve prisons and ensure that justice is served in any given country. The idea of private prisons is certainly a plausible one, as it carries several advantages that benefit both the country as a whole as well as these institutions; although, in order to fully understand all its positive benefits, more studies need to be conducted in this area. This idea has the possibility of being successful if given attention. This is to ensure that social interests come before the need to maximize profits by the companies that have been given the contract to set up private prisons. It is important to realise that each benefits of private prisons has an equal amount of disapproval and this is the same case as public institutions. This is due to the debates surrounding any issue concerning the welfare of individuals in society. A sensitive issue like this one, will attract some challengers (Young, 2003) On the other hand, there have been several disadvantages and criticisms of privately run prisons. There have been a number of factors and researches to back these claims. This section of this essay will point out and address these issues, using a range of studies as well as discussions that have been conducted in order to allow the reader to understand this area well. Critics claim that profit is one of the main motives behind private sector prisons; therefore this factor contributes to conflict of interest. The idea of prisons is not only to punish and isolate offenders from society, but also to rehabilitate them in order to highly reduce the chances of re-offending. Though it is a good factor that private prisons are cost saving, this would consequently mean that private prisons are not as efficient as public prisons. This is due to gaining profits through prison management, which would mean that essential factors such as prison rehabilitation programmes and medical care are reduce d at the cost of prisoners welfare. As a result of this, it is a possibility that prisoners may experience poor living conditions, as well as the lack of effective rehabilitation programs. Furthermore, a report carried out the National Audit Office (2003) voiced concerns on several areas on services provided by private prisons. Factors such as inexperienced staffs and high staff turnovers were pointed on. Poor payment and poor working conditions are some reasons of high turnovers (Sloane, 1996). Also arguments on this topic pointed out that public prison were far safer than private prisons due to environment. This is based on the fact that prison workers in the private sectors had less experience than those in the public sector. This report further goes on to argue that the terms and conditions of the contract which private prisons were run had not been appropriately developed, which raised concerns about the commercial confidentiality that surround the terms which private prisons were under. Another aspect that is of interest to critics is the issue of bad scoring. Reports have revealed private prisons received bad scores in regards to management and security. This is due to failures in the numbers of deliberate criminal activities in this institution, assault and drug containment. Austin (2010) conducted a survey to investigate the welfare of prisoners in several private sector prisons. His findings revealed the intensity in which prisoners and staffs within this system had to cope with. A major discovery that was made within this process showed that there was an increase in the amount of assault cases within these facilities, than in public prisons. Findings show that the number of cases of assault on prisoners by staff had increased to 49%; whilst assaults by prisoners had increased to over 60%. This is almost doubled the figures in public sector prisons. This factor provides evidence to suggest that privately run prisons are less efficient in regards to performance ( Smith, 2003). The issue of low-balling is an aspect that has received some criticism. This is a tactic that is used on the government by contractors. The idea of this method is by under bidding fellow participants with the goal of winning and once they are announced winners, they then increase the figure. Worst of all, the competitors stands a chance of bankruptcy which leaves the government in a non-correctional position. If this method is introduced in this essential system that ensures that justice is served, then the country will see the provision of poor resources and facilities as well as technical hitches; therefore, this will make the whole purpose of this system loose its motives (Logan, 1990) The system has several benefits as well as disadvantages that may obstruct the process of privatizing prisons in any country. Some of the arguments by researchers may not be strong enough due to lack of evidence. On the other hands, some arguments against the idea of private prisons need to be taken into account due to sake of the welfare of individuals, which should be a major factor of any government (Sloane, 1996). Ethics and principles is a key aspect of societal needs in any given institution and it has been proven that there are certain aspects of private prisons that weaken this value. This is an issue that thoroughly needs to be reflected on. It is also important to question whether the issue of morality should be left in the hands of individuals whose ultimate goals are to search for financial gains and to make maximum profits. To a certain extent, this gives the idea that our society is no longer driven by morals, but greedy individuals who use any given opportunity to make money (Alter, 2010). While taking into consideration all the factors mentioned in this essay, the best technique of any given prison organisation appears to be private institutions. The reason for this is due to the number of benefits such as financial benefits, security aspects, prisoner well-being, and accountabilities which makes it a preferred choice. However, the issue of morality seemed to be totally ignored in this case. Should we, the peers of society shift the responsibility for the ultimate sanction by which we measure normative behaviour, to those whose soul motive is profit? Michael Foucault argued that prison institutions are a model, the point of origin, for the entire model of social control that characterised society through its improvement in morals. Has our society become one of opportunist motivated by greed? Foucault then went on to further state that punishment was paid out in days, months and years and draws up a quantitative equivalence between offence and duration. By pressuring i nmates to work, is the system not making the offender pay back more than what is original crime entailed. Would it be right to presume that private prison approach is a symptom or a reaction by private capitalism to the prospects created by societys temper tantrum approach to the problem of criminality in the context of free market supremacy? In the calculation of what is or should be the best system to guard and control social corruption, not only should we calculate the cost, but also the effect it will take on our morals. Prison privatisation is concept that sparks a lot of interest; prison privatisation holds many positive features that deserve further research. The concept of prison privatisation will certainly flourish- however, much care is required in regulation to assure that society interest is at the fore front and not the cooperation interest, and not developed by hucksters with the soul intention of turning a quick buck causing the sacrifice of quality. It is important to remember that for each positive point, there will be an equal rebuttal to counter it benefits, similar to public prison. There is no thinkable problem with private prisons that is not matched by an identical or closely related problem within government based institutions. It is primarily because they are prisons, not because they are contractual, that private operations face challenges of authority, legitimacy, procedural justice, accountability, liability and so on. A possible thought would be the combination of both syste ms, creating a union with safe-guards, quick response times, and technological changes, safety catering, educating and training inmates, while addressing the issue of morality within the criminal justice system. As to their advantages and disadvantages as standalone units both organisations have good and bad points; both suffer equal criticism and similar failings.

I’m Ready to Write :: Graduate College Admissions Essays

I’m Ready to Write I had been scribbling in diaries and journals for years. My letters to the editor were known for their eloquent ferocity. A talent for writing was the only plausible explanation for my behavior. I had only recently discovered the essay as a genre. I took to it immediately and had had some modest success in getting my essays published on a wide range of websites, from off-the-wall e-zines to on-line literary journals. Was I ready? Was I ready for a real test-to submit my work to the state arts commission for an individual writers grant? At first I thought the idea was laughable. Who the hell did I think I was? My mom knew. She would hold my face in her hands and stare directly into my eyes and say, "You are a writer! Repeat after me: 'I am a writer!' " If my mom believed that, I would not argue with her. I would collaborate in the fiction for now. I began to search for the pieces I would submit. I looked for the essays with a real punch to them. I would include those that had been published or had received at least an honorable mention. There was that one I wrote about going to Mexico. Then one of my canoe essays. Not something corny like me and Ed on the Allegheny, but the one where I used paddling as a platform to view our Mad Max transportation system. I included another longer piece and then a couple of my short pieces. Reviewing the essays, I became self-conscious about my style. It is too popular to be literary, and too literary to be popular. It combines gravitas with humor. There are well-regarded authors whose style is not so different from my own, but what style are the reviewers looking for? Are they the super pure literary types that will dismiss my essays for having a social or political consciousness? Literature! Not polemics! Jack Warner was right: 'If you want to send a message, go to Western Union! Take your soap box and be gone!' I was making myself crazy. I am a writer. This writer will now print off these selections in the format required by the arts council, will put them into a manila envelope, go to the post office and send them to Columbus.

Led Zeppelin :: essays research papers

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin was one of the giants of the 1970’s in hard rock. They were also one of the greatest success stories that ever played hard rock music. The group was one the more popular hard rock groups that performed in the seventies, and even had some hits in the 1960’s. The members of the group are Jimmy Page, born on April 9, 1944, Robert Plant, born on August 24, 1948, John Paul Jones, born on January 3, 1946, and John Bonham born on May 31, 1948. Jimmy Page played guitar, Robert Plant was the vocalist, John Paul Jones played bass guitar and the keyboard, and John Bonham beat the drums. The group had the complete set up for a band right off the start. They produced their first record in thirty hours to complete their deal with the old Yardbirds. They toured Scandinavia for awhile also to complete their obligations to the Yardbirds. When they first came to the United States they supported Vanilla Fudge. They also played in clubs to start their American popularity. After they played in the clubs they got their first headlining tour and toured again that. They were playing their fifth tour by the March of 1970. Led Zeppelin the record was released by the Atlantic Records in 1969. Shortly after the record was released it was number eight and stayed in the top twenty for six weeks. When the Led Zeppelin II was released, it was Atlantic Records’ fastest selling album at 100,000 copies a week. They broke their own record in 1975 when â€Å"Physical Graffiti† that sold 500 copies an hour. All of their albums have gone platinum. They were the first group to heavily tour the United States and sporadically tour the rest of the world. This occurred because there was a lack of interest in them Britain. Their success was due to their manager Peter Grant. Peter was able to keep the group moving from place to place and kept the people interested in them. Peter thought that they would work every other year so they would stay in demand. While they were working on their first movie featuring them. This movie was of the group playing their music, which was called, â€Å"The Song Remains Playing.† A representative from their record company called and told Page that the sales of their new album Houses of the Holy was spectacular.

Cloning :: essays papers

Cloning Cloning is the process of creating a genetic duplicate of an individual. Since the February 1997 announcement of the birth of Dolly, a sheep cloned by Ian Wilmut, cloning research has increased considerably. Cloning humans has recently become much more of a possibility in society than it was years ago. Scientists are on the edge of a huge breakthrough in the field of human cloning, and society must ask itself whether or not it should be allowed. Many arguments can be made for and against human cloning, but since it is unethical and would take away individuality and disrupt social values, the practice of cloning humans is one that government should ban and society should not accept. Proponents of human cloning may argue that it is just a logical and inevitable advance in science research and technology. It is, however, too risky for human subjects. At the present time, the general consensus of the public is against human cloning. (Fitzgerald 37) Within a few years' time, however, the medical possibilities of human cloning may be attractive enough to change public opinion. Research on human cloning would involve huge risks for the initial clones, because any experiments in human cloning would eventually have to be carried out on human beings. Human cloning is unethical because the risks of this practice greatly outweigh the benefits. The technique that produced Dolly the sheep was successful in only 1 of 277 attempts. If this technique were attempted in humans, it would risk miscarriages in the mother and severe developmental problems in the child. Standard medical practice would never allow the use of any drug or device with such little study and without much additional animal research. (National Bioethics Advisory Commission) The actual risks of physical harm to the cloned child cannot be certain without conducting experiments on human beings. This in itself is unethical because no one knows what will happen and the child is in danger because "one does not know what is going to happen, and one is^possibly leading to a child who could be disabled and have developmental difficulties." (Professor John Robertson) Human cloning would violate a person's individuality and take away a child's identity. Cloned children would see themselves not as a person, but as an object that their parents could discard because of imperfection. A family is no longer a genuine family. Children should be valued for who they are, not according to how closely thy meet their parents' expectations. If a child were cloned, his life would already have been lived by another human

The Technological Life Cycle

Today we swim in a sea of ever-changing technology that affects us as much as our thoughts and actions shape it. The technology we have chosen, either by the preferences of those who use it, or the agendas of those who own and benefit from it, has had its own influence on us from gross examples such as increased pollution, or a higher Western-style standard of living, to the way one person perceives another. Some people who resist using some, or even all technology; they are often called Luddites by those who embrace all things new; another type calls themselves Neo-Luddites, such as Kirkpatrick Sale. In his book Human scale, Sale describes the slow rotting of the stones of the Parthenon and other ancient monuments to civilization from the acid pollution developed by our present Industrial civilization and compares it to the slow disintegration our industrialized society has seemed to have undergone. He identifies effects of technology which have been harmful to the human condition and the environment, but seems to not quite â€Å"get it† about the Luddites: they were not fighting the machines themselves; they were struggling against powers of society that, for the past century, through enclosure and the abolishment of commonality [and the subsequent arisal of a class of people who lived by renting their labor: the working class] (Laslett, 195), had been seeking to disempower and disenfranchise the mass of people, and were now striking anew with the latest, and most powerful manifestation of their social policies, the Industrial Factory. The men of Nottinghamshire who died as Luddites were fighting a system, not a technology, a system whose intentions were not to cut costs and increase efficiency, but to increase the control of management (i. e. the control of the owners of capital) over labor. Technological developments are made by, and in the best interests of those who own those who own and benefit from technical innovations (Law, 195). The history of Industrial factory technology begins to appear as a collective fetish of the ruling classes for instruments of control. In American Industrial development, the direction of technological development since the Civil War has been driven by the largest customer of that Industry, the Military (Noble, 334), and the society that works in and uses the products of that Industry has been affected by that direction. But as to the woes of our civilization, â€Å"†¦ Technology is not the problem, nor is it the solution. The problem is political, moral, and cultural, as is the solution: a successful challenge to a system of domination which masquerades as progress. † Social power is needed to direct the resources necessary for technological innovation; so during the history of the Industrial Age, at the beginning, the machines were new, large, and expensive, so only those who controlled enough social power to bring about the machines could decide on what forms those machines came in– the wealthy, and the state, through the needs of the military. Less expensive and more efficient technologies were stifled by those in authority if they did not contribute to the goal of taking power away from the workers and placing it in the hands of management. In this century, the development of Numerically Controlled (N/C) machine tools was controlled by the emerging military-industrial complex, which spared no expense to implement a troublesome and complicated technology that was no better than the conventional methods, and inferior to the alternative Record/Playback automated machining (Noble, 146). The Boeing plant in Seattle even had special switches on the machines so the operators could signal the manager for permission to go to the bathroom! (Noble, 243) The engineers of the 1950's announced the dawning of a Second Industrial Revolution- one that would finalize the subjugation of labor- but instead that Revolution has come full circle: we presently have come to a break-even point where the products of the Industrial Age are now its undoing; mass-production and the unprecedented ability of modern electronic communication. Mass production was intended partially to maximise the usefulness of expensive machines through continuous production, but also to discipline workers who had to attend to the rigors of working with a machine that never took breaks, never slowed down, and never stopped for a stray finger or hand. The reduction in the prices of many goods due to mass-production has enabled the average citizen to afford many amenities which would have been beyond his means a century ago- including capital goods, which more and more tend not to be heavy machinery, but relatively inexpensive electronic devices. The Information Age is just beginning, and the control of information is the control of power, power to direct the next step of technological development. Once, publishing required printing presses, copious amounts of paper, and the ability to distribute printed matter, and thus the wealthy controlled the written word. Now, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can make a Web page accessable to millions of people around the world. Scientists use this ultra-efficient electronic journal to advance their research (Stix, 106), and now, the explosion of popularity in the net brings together people of all different beliefs and motivations into the discussion that shapes society. Political ideas once suppressed by newspaper chains and television networks now filter through the strands of the Internet. In this new society, anyone who is interesting enough can be a star (Browning). Luddites are not afraid to use new technology- somethings are better done by them (Martinez). Power looms had been around before Jacquard's innovation; for even a Luddite saw that it took much of the effort out of the work, and he could produce far more than with a conventional loom- but those machines amplified and extended the skills of the operator, instead of replacing them with punched cards. The center of the struggle through the ages never was machines, it always was, and still is information- the control of information- that is, skills and knowledge. Slavery devalues the enslaved, and desensitizes the enslavers. Free labor cannot compete fairly against slaves; this has been a fact since the beginning of history, and it applies whether the slaves are human or machines. â€Å"†¦ Our discrimination against machines hurts us just as much as it hurts the machines that we confine, in a second-order way, to the mechanical margins of our human civilisation. † (Law, 17) We prefer to think of ourselves as special, exclusively posessing self-awareness and intentionality, but what justifies our prejudice? â€Å"†¦ What entitles us to attribute intentionality to non-machines in the first place? What makes our description of human intentionality other than metaphorical? † (Law, 91) We fear being dehumanised by being equated with machines, because our speciist biases tell us that the non-human is less than human, just as racism and sexism deny the humanity of those who are not like us- but we are in fact part machine ourselves! Our lives are a series of human/machine interactions, and each living half of society is dependent on the other. The machines are alive, and to deny that they When machines are not free, neither are men, and both suffer. As long as the controllers of the machines can reap profit from their labor, they will continue the fight to eliminate the wage-earning human worker, and as they push their human and mechanical robots to higher levels of production, their suffering will increase: for example, between 1940 and 1945, eleven times as many Americans were killed or injured in industrial accidents than in combat. In most factories, management requires production speeds that cause machines to break down more frequently, and prohibit proper repair of them when they do, causing them work less efficiently– so they are run faster, forcing human workers to keep up with them, increasing accident and equipment failure rates†¦ So long as the machines are enslaved, they, through no fault of their own, will be used to bludgeon the working class, and then cast aside as scrap. The time has come for human and machine robots to come together in common struggle for the rights of both. Machines have the right to fair compensation for labor rendered as production, for their proper maintenance and repair. It is the responsibility of those work most closely with, and operate the machines, to advocate their cause, to ensure the collection of just compensation, and to protect and maintain them in good mechanical health. We cannot wait for the grace of capitalists to give up their slaves; a revolution is called for- a revolution of capital from the state and the idle rich to those who actually work with it at a person-machine level. A naive faith in technology's power to improve our lives through easier and less work has led organized labor in this country to the sorry state it is now in, while the increased profits and leisure time have mostly gone to a corporate elite. Waiting for technological deliverance at the mercy of the social powers that control technology is futile- labor must become proactive and strive to liberate themselves from the Industrial system by liberating the machines from their capitalist slave-drivers. A new social movement is needed, to spread awareness of the rights of machines as well as of men, and to help build a new class of capitalist/workers, who do not merely own their own means of production, but work together with machines towards a better future.

Froebel Kindergarten Essay

Freidrich W. A. Froebel is best known as the founder of kindergarten. He was a German educationalist. Froebel was born in 1782 in a village in Germany. His childhood was difficult because his mother died when he was a baby and his father abandoned him. Froebel was given to his uncle’s care. Between 1808-1810 he attended the training institute run by John Pestalozzi at Yverdon. Froebel left the institution accepting the basic principles of Pestalozzi’s theory: permissive school atmosphere, emphasis on nature, and the object lesson. Froebel, however, was a strong idealist whose view of education was closely related to religion. He believed that everything in this world was developed according to the plan of God. He felt that something was missing in Pestalozzi’s theory: the â€Å"spiritual mechanism† that, according to Froebel, was the foundation of early learning. Froebel’s philosophy of education rested on four basic ideas: free self-expression, creativity, social participation, and motor expression. Froebel began to focus on the needs of children just prior to entering school. He envisioned a place attended by 4-6 year olds where children would be nurtured and protected from outside influences—like plants in a garden. Froebel decided to call his school kindergarten, which in German means â€Å"child garden. † Froebel began a training institute for the teachers of his schools. He believed that teachers should be highly respected people with values that the children should imitate. The teacher should also be a sensitive, open, and easily approachable person. Froebel’s first kindergarten was founded in 1837 in Blakenburg Germany. It featured games, play, songs, stories, and crafts to stimulate imagination and develop physical and motor skills. The materials in the room were divided into two categories: â€Å"gifts† and â€Å"occupations. † Gifts were objects that were fixed in form such as blocks. The purpose was that in playing with the object the child would learn the underlying concept represented by the object. Occupations allowed more freedom and consisted of things that children could shape and manipulate such as clay, sand, beads, string etc. There was an underlying symbolic meaning in all that was done. Even clean up time was seen as â€Å"a final concrete reminder to the child of God’s plan for moral and social order. † In 1848, the Prussian government ordered these schools to be closed because they did not agree with Froebel’s ideas. Then Froebel died in 1852, not knowing the impact his work would have on the U. S. school system. Then many Germans immigrated to the United States after the German Revolution. Among them were women trained in the Froebel system of education. It was these women who were responsible for bringing kindergarten to the United States. The first U. S. kindergarten was for German immigrant children in Wisconsin and taught in German. Then in 1873 kindergarten was introduced in the public American schools. Freidrich Froebel’s ideas provided the major direction for kindergarten curriculum during the last half of the nineteenth century. Many of his ideas can still be observed in kindergarten today: learning through play, group games, goal oriented activities, and outdoor time. Now applying Froebel’s philosophy of education to the Bahamas. From the National Task Force on Education (1994) Final report. This was stated about Pre-Schools. PICTURE. But yes we do have active kindergartens in many schools. I know for sure on the island of Eleuthera there is the kindergarten section in all of the primary schools. But upon my research I found that there are kindergarten sections in only a few schools here in New Providence. Example: The Bahamas Academy School. Here is a quick look at their curriculum. Then there is one in Yellow Elder Gardens and Elizabeth Estates. REPORTING TODAY FROM THE EDUCATIONAL CHANNEL, I’M VASHTE’ NAIRN.

Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups

80 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW By now, most executives have accepted that emotional intelligence is as critical as IQ to an individual's effectiveness. But much of the important work in organizations is done in teams. New research uncovers what emotional intelligence at the group level looks like-and how to achieve it Building the Emotioncil Intelligence of Groups W by Vanessa Urch Druskat and Steven B. Wolff HEN MANAGERS EIRST STARTED HEARING ABOUT the concept of emotional intelligence in the 1990s, scales fell from their eyes. The basic message, that effectiveness in organizations is at least as much about EQ as IQ, resonated deeply; it was something that people knew in their guts but that had never before been so well articulated. Most important, the idea held the potential for positive change. Instead of being stuck with the hand they'd been dealt, people could take steps to enhance their emotional intelligence and make themselves more effective in their work and personal lives. Indeed, the concept of emotional intelligence had real impact. The only problem is that so far emotional intelligence has been viewed only as an individual competency, when the reality is that most work in organizations is done by teams. And if managers have one pressing need today, it's to find ways to make teams work better. MARCH 2001 81 Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups It is with real excitement, therefore, that we share these findingsfromour research: individual emotional intelligence has a group analog, and it is just as critical to groups' effectiveness. Teams can develop greater emotional intelligence and, in so doing, boost their overall performance. Why Should Teams Build Their Emotional Intelligence? No one would dispute the importance of making teams work more effectively. But most research about how to do so has focused on identifying the task processes that distinguish the most successftil teams-that is, specifying the need for cooperation, participation, commitment to goals, and so forth. The assumption seems to be that, once identified, these processes can simply be imitated by other teams, with similar effect. It's not true. By analogy, think of it this way: a piano student can be taught to play Minuet in G, but he won't become a modem-day Bach without knowing music theory and being able to play with heart. Similarly, the real source of a great team's success lies in the fundamental conditions that allow effective task processes to emerge-and that cause members to engage in them wholeheartedly. Our research tells us that three conditions are essential to a group's effectiveness: trust among members, a sense of group identity, and a sense of group efficacy. When these conditions are absent, going through the motions of cooperating and participating is still possible. But the team will not be as effective as it could be, because members will choose to hold back rather than fully engage. To be most effective, the team needs to create emotionally intelligent norms -the attitudes and behaviors that eventually become habits-that support behaviors for building trust, group identity, and group efficacy. The outcome is complete engagement in tasks. {For more on how emotional intelligence infiuences these conditions, see the sidebar â€Å"A Model of Team Effectiveness. ) at more levels. To understand the differences, let's first look at the concept of individual emotional intelligence as defined by Daniel Goleman. In his definitive book Emotional Intelligence, Goleman explains the chief characteristics of someone with high El; he or she is aware of emotions and able to regulate them-and this awareness and regulation are directed both inward, to one's self, and outward, to others. â€Å"Personal competence,† in Goleman's words, comes from being aware of and regulating one's own emotions. Social competence†is awareness and regulation of others' emotions. A group, however, must attend to yet another level of awareness and regulation. It must be mindful of the emotions of its members, its own group emotions or moods, and the emotions of other groups and individuals outside its boundaries. In this article, we'll explore how emotional incompetence at any of these levels can cause dysfunction. We'll also show how establishing specific group norms that create awareness and regulation of emotion at these three levels can lead to better outcomes. First, we'll focus on the individual level-how emotionally intelligent groups work with their individual members' emotions. Next, we'll focus on the group level. Andfinally,we'll look at the cross-boimdary level. Working with Individuals' Emotions /(†¢// Kasper, head ofher company's customer service department, is naturally tapped tojoin a new cross-functional team focused on enhancing the customer experience: she has extensive experience in and a real passion for customer service. But her teammatesfind she brings little more than a bad attitude to the table. At an early brainstorming session, Jill sits silent, arms crossed, rolling her eyes. Whenever the team starts to get energized about an idea, she launches into a detailed account of how a similar idea went nowhere in the past. The group is confused: this is the customer service star they've been hearing about? Little do they realize shefeels insulted by the very formation of the team. To her, it implies she hasn't done her job well enough. Three Levels of Emotional Interaction Make no mistake: a team with emotionally intelligent members does not necessarily make for an emotionally intelligent group. A team, like any social group, takes on its own character. So creating an upward, self-reinforcing spiral of trust, group identity, and group efficacy requires more than a few members who exhibit emotionally intelligent behavior. It requires a team atmosphere in which the norms build emotional capacity (the ability to respond constructively in emotionally uncomfortable situations) and influence emotions in constructive ways. Team emotional intelligence is more complicated than individual emotional intelligence because teams interact 82 When a member is not on the same emotional wavelength as the rest, a team needs to be emotionally intelligent vis-ci-vis that individual. In part, that simply means being aware of the problem. Having a norm that encourages interpersonal understanding might facilitate an awareness that Jill is acting out of defensiveness. And picking up on this defensiveness is necessary if the team Vanessa Urch Druskat is an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Steven B. Wolff is an assistant professor of management at the School of Management at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW Building the Emotional Intelligence of Croups A Model of Team Effectiveness better decisions, more creative solutions, higher productivity study after study has shown that teams are more creative and productive when they can achieve high levels of participation, cooperation, and collaboration among members. But interactive behaviors (ike these aren't easy to legislate. Our work shows that tbree basic conditions need to be present before such behaviors can occur: mutual trust among members, a sense of group identity (a feeling among members that they belong to a unique and worthwhile group), and a sense of group efficacy (the beliefthat the team can perform well and that group members are more effective working together than apart). At the heart of these three conditions are emotions. Trust, a sense of identity, and a feeling of efficacy arise in environments where emotion is well handled, so groups stand to benefit by building their emotional intelligence. Group emotional intelligence isn't a question of dealing with a necessary evil-catching emotions as they bubble up and promptly suppressing them. Far from it. It's about bringing emotions deliberately to the surface and understanding how they affect the team's work. It's also about behaving in ways that build relationships both inside and outside the team and that strengthen tbe team's ability to face challenges. Emotional intelligence means exploring, embracing, and ultimately relying on emotion in work that is, at the end ofthe day, deeply human. articipation, cooperation, collaboration trust, identity, efficacy group emotional intelligence wants to make her imderstand its desire to amplify her good work, not negate it. Some teams seem to be able to do this naturally. At Hewlett-Packard, for instance, we learned of a team that was attempting to cross-train its members. The idea was that if each member could pinch-hit on everyone else's job, the team could deploy efforts to whatever task required the most attention. But one member seemed very uncomfortable with learning new skills and tasks; accustomed to being a top producer in his own job, he hated not knowing how to do a job perfectly. Luckily, his teammates recognized his discomfort, and rather than being annoyed, they redoubled their efforts to support him. This team benefited from a group norm it had established over time emphasizing interpersonal understanding. The norm had grown out of the group's realization that working to accurately hear and understand one another's feelings and concerns improved member morale and a willingness to cooperate. Many teams build high emotional intelligence by taking pains to consider matters from an individual member's perspective. Think of a situation where a team of four must reach a decision; three favor one direction and the fourth favors another. In the interest of expedience, many teams in this situation would move directly to a maMARCH 2001 jority vote. But a more emotionally intelligent group would pausefirstto hear out the objection. It would also ask if everyone were completely behind the decision, even if there appeared to be consensus. Such groups would ask, â€Å"Are there any perspectives we haven't heard yet or thought through completely? † Perspective taking is a team behavior that teamwork experts discuss often – but not in terms of its emotional consequence. Many teams are trained to use perspectivetaking techniques to make decisions or solve problems (a common tool is affinity diagramming). But these techniques may or may not improve a group's emotional intelligence. The problem is that many of these techniques consciously attempt to remove emotion from the process by collecting and combining perspectives in a mechanical way. A more effective approach to perspective taking is to ensure that team members see one another making the effort to grapple with perspectives; that way, the team has a better chance of creating the kind of trust that leads to greater participation among members. An executive team at the Hay Group, a consulting firm, engages in the kind of deep perspective taking we're describing. The team has done role-playing exercises in which members adopt others'opinions and styles of interaction. It has also used a â€Å"storyboarding† technique, in 83 Building ttie Emotional Intelligence of Croups which each member creates a small poster representing his or her ideas. As team members will attest, these methods and others have helped the group build trust and increase participation. Regulating Individuals'Emotions Interpersonal understanding and perspective taking are two ways that groups can become more aware of their members' perspectives and feelings. But just as important as awareness is the ability to regulate those emotions-to have a positive impact on how they are expressed and even on how individual team members feel. We're not talking about imposing groupthink or some other form of manipulation here-clearly, the goal must be to balance the team's cohesion with members' individuality. We're simply acknowledging that people take their emotional cues from those around them. Something that seems upsetting initially can seem not so bad – o r ten times worse depending on whether one's colleagues are inclined to smooth feathers or fan flames. The most constructive way of regulating team members'emotions is hy establishing norms in the group for both confrontation and caring. in a meeting where one team member arrived angry because the time and place of the meeting was very inconvenient for him. When another member announced the sacrifice the man had made to be there, and thanked him, the man's attitude turned around 180 degrees. In general, a caring orientation includes displaying positive regard, appreciation, and respect for group members through behaviors such as support, validation, and compassion. Interpersonal understanding, perspective taking, confrontation, caring-these norms build trust and a sense of group identity among members. And all of them can be established in teams where they don't arise naturally. You may ask, But is it really worth all the effort? Does it make sense to spend managerial time fostering new norms to accommodate a few prickly personalities? Of course it does. Teams are at the very foundation of an organization, and they won't work effectively without mutual trust and a common commitment to goals. Working with Group Emotions Chris couldn't believe it, but he was requesting a reassignment The team he was on was doing good work, staying on budget, and hitting all its deadlines – though not always eleIt may seem illogical to suggest that an emotionally gantly. Its leader, Stan Evans, just got a promotion. So why intelligent group must engage in confrontation, but it's was being on the team such a downer? At the last major stanot. Inevitably, a team member will indulge in behavior tus meeting, they should have been serving champagne -so that crosses the line, and the team must feel comfortable much had been achieved. Instead, everyone was thoroughly calling the foul. In one manufacturing team we studied, dispirited over a setback they hadn't foreseen, which turned a member told us about the day she selfishly decided to out later to be no big deal. It seemed no matter what hapextend her break. Before long, one of her teammates pened, the group griped. The team even saw Stan's promostormed into the break room, saying, â€Å"What are you dotion in a negative light: â€Å"Oh, so I guess management wants ing in here? Get back out on the floor-your team needs to keep a closer eye on us† and â€Å"I hear Stan's new boss you! The woman had overstepped tbe bounds, and doesn't back this project. † Chris she got called on it. There were had a friend on another team no hard feelings, because the woman knew the group valued Inevitably, a team member will who was happy to put in a good word for him. The work was inher contributions. indulge in behavior that crosses herently less interesting â₠¬â€œ but hey, Some teams also find that a at least they were having fun. little bumor helps when pointing out errant behavior. Teasing Some teams suffer because someone who is habitually late they aren't aware of emotions comfortable calling the foul. or meetings, for instance, can at the group level. Chris's team, make that person aware of how for instance, isn't aware of all it has achieved, and it doesn't acknowledge that it has fallen important timeliness is to the group. Done right, coninto a malaise. !n our study of effective teams, we've frontation can be seen in a positive light; it's a way for found tbat having norms for group self-awareness-of the group to say, â€Å"We want you in-we need your conemotional states, strengths and weaknesses, modes of intribution. And it's especially important when a team teraction, and task processes-is a critical part of group must work together on a long-term assignment. Without emotional intelligence tbat facilitates group efficacy. con frontation, disruptive behavior can fester and erode Teams gain it both through self-evaluation and by solicita sense of trust in a team. ing feedback from others. Establishing norms that reinforce caring behavior is often not very difficult and usually a matter of concenSelf-evaluation can take tbe form of a formal event trating on little things. When an individual is upset, for or a constant activity. At Sberwin Williams, a group of example, it may make all the difference to have group managers was starting a new initiative that would require members acknowledge that person's feelings. We saw this higher levels of teamwork. Group members hired a con- the line, and the team mustfeel 84 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW Building the Emotional Intelligence of Croups sultant, but before the consultant arrived, they met to assess their strengths and weaknesses as a team. They found that merely articulating the issues was an important step toward building their capabilities. A far less formal method of raising group emotional awareness is through the kind of activity we saw at the Veterans Health Administration's Center for Leadership and Development. Managers there have developed a norm in which they are encouraged to speak up when they feel the group is not being productive. For example, if there's a post-lunch lull and people on the team are low on energy, someone might say, â€Å"Don't we look like a bunch of sad sacks? With attention called to it, the group makes an effort to refocus. Emotionally competent teams don't wear blinders; they have the emotional capacity to face potentially difficult information and actively seek opinions on their task processes, progress, and performance from the outside. For some teams, feedback may come directly from customers. Others look to colleagues within the company, to suppliers, or to professional peers. A group of designers we studied routinely posts its work in progress on walls throughout the building, with invitations to comment and critique. Similarly, many advertising agencies see annual industry competitions as a valuable source of feedback on their creative teams' work. Croups are most creative when their members collaborate unreservedly. People stop holding back when there is mutual trust, rooted in emotionally intelligent interactions. Regulating Group Emotions Many teams make conscious efforts to build team spirit. Team-building outings, whether purely social or Outward Bound-style physical challenges, are popular methods for building this sense of collective enthusiasm. What's going on here is that teams and their leaders recognize they can improve a team's overall attitude-that is, they are regulating group-level emotion. And while the focus of a team-building exercise is often not directly related to a group's actual work, the benefits are highly relevant: teams come away with higher emotional capacity and thus a greater ability to respond to emotional challenges. The most effective teams we have studied go far beyond the occasional â€Å"ropes and rocks† off-site. They have established norms that strengthen their ability to respond MARCH 2001 ffectively to the kind of emotional challenges a group confronts on a daily basis. The norms they favor accomplish three main things: they create resources for working with emotions, foster an affirmative environment, and encourage proactive problem solving. Teams need resources that all members can draw on to deal with group emotions. One important resource is a common vocabulary. To use an example, a group member at the Veterans Health Administration picked up on another member's bad mood and told him that he was just â€Å"cranky† today. The â€Å"cranky† term stuck and became the group's gentle way of letting someone know that their negativity was having a bad effect on the group. Other resources may include helpful ways to vent frustrations. One executive team leader we interviewed described his team's practice of making time for a â€Å"wailing wall† – a few minutes of whining and moaning about some setback. Releasing and acknowledging those negative emotions, 85 Building the Emotional Intelligence of Croups the leader says, allows the group to refocus its attention on the parts of the situation it can control and channel its energy in a positive direction. But sometimes, venting takes more than words. We've seen more than one intense workplace outfitted with toys – like soft projectile shooters-that have been used in games of cube warfare. Perhaps the most obvious way to build emotional capacity through regulating team-level emotion is simply to create an affirmative environment. Everyone values a team that, when faced with a challenge, responds with a can-do attitude. Again, it's a question of having the right group norms-in this case, favoring optimism, and positive images and interpretations over negative ones. This doesn't always come naturally to a team, as one executive we interviewed at the Hay Group knows. When external conditions create a cycle of negativity among group members, he takes it upon himself to change the atmosphere of the group. He consciously resists the temptation to join the complaining and blaming and instead tries to reverse the cycle with a positive, constructive note. One of the most powerful norms we have seen for building a group's ability to respond to emotionally challenging situations is an emphasis on proactive problem solving. We saw a lot of this going on in a manufacturing team we observed at AMP Corporation. Much of what this team needed to hit its targets was out of its strict control. But rather than sit back and point fingers, the team worked hard to get what it needed from others, and in some cases, took matters into its own hands. In one instance, an alignment problem in a key machine was creating faulty products. The team studied the problem and approached the engineering group with its own suggested design for a part tbat might correct the problem. The device worked, and the number of defective products decreased significantly. Building Norms for Three Levels of Group Emotional Intelligence Group emotional intelligence is about the small acts that make a big difference. It is not about a team member working all night to meet a deadline; it is about saying thank you for doir)g so. It is not about in-depth discussion of ideas; it is about asking a quiet member for his thoughts. It is not about harmony, lack of tension, and all members liking each other; it is about acknowledging when harmony is false, tension is unexpressed, and treating others witb respect. The following sidebar outlines some of the small things tbat groups can do to establisb tbe norms that build group emotional intelligence. take them down a notch. And what was with that name, anyway? Some kind ofinsidejoke, Jim guessed. Too bad nobody else got it The last kind of emotional intelligence any high-performing team should have relates to cross-boundary relationships, just as individuals should be mindful of their own emotions and others', groups should look both inward and outward emotionally. In the case of the Bugs, This kind of problem solving is valuable for many reathe team is acting like a clique – creating close emotional sons. It obviously serves the company by removing one ties within but ignoring the feelings, needs, and conmore obstacle to profitability. But, to the point of our cerns of important individuals and teams in the broader work, it also shows a team in control of its own emotions. organization. It refused to feel powerless and was eager to take charge. Some teams have developed norms that are particularly helpful in making them aware of the broader organizational context. One practice is to have various team members act as liaisons to important constituencies. Many Jim sighed. The â€Å"Bugs† team was at it agair. Didn't they see teams are already made up of members drawn from different parts of an organization, so a cross-boundary perthat while they were high-fiving one another over their impressive productivity, the rest of the organization was paying spective comes naturally. Others need to work a little harder. One team we studied reahzed it would be imfor it? This time, in their self-managed wisdom, they'd deportant to understand the perspective of its labor union. ided to make a three months'supply of one component. No Consequently, a team member from HR went to some changeover meant no machine downtime and a record low lengths to discover the right channels for having a union cost per unit But now the group downstream was swamped with inventory it didn't need and worried about shortages of member appointed to the group. A cross-boundary perspective is especially important in situations where a something else. Jim braced himself for his visit to the floor. eam's work will have significant impact on others in The Bugs didn't take criticism well; they seemed to think they were flawless and that everyone else was just trying to the organization – for example, where a team is asked to Working with Emotions Outside the Group 86 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups Individual Interpersonal Understanding 1. Take time away from group tasks to get to know one another. 2. Have a â€Å"check in† at the beginning of the meeting – that is, ask how everyone is doing. 3. Assume that undesirable behavior takes place for a reason. Find out what that reason is. Ask questions and listen. Avoid negative attributions. 4. Tell your teammates what you're thinking and how you're feeling. Perspective Taking 1. Ask whether everyone agrees with a decision. 2. Ask quiet members what they think. 3. Question decisions that come too quickly. 4. Appoint a devil's advocate. Group Team Self-Evaluation 1. Schedule time to examine team effectiveness. 2. Create measurable task and process objectives and then measure them. 3. Acknowledge and discuss group moods. 4. Communicateyour sense of what is transpiring in the team. 5. Allow members to call a â€Å"process check. (For instance, a team member might say, â€Å"Process check: is this the most effective use of our time right now? â€Å") Seeking Feedback 1. Askyour†customers†howyou are doing. 2. Post your work and invite comments. 3. Benchmark your processes. Cross-Boundary Organizational Understanding 1. Find out the concerns and needs of others in the organizati on. 2. Consider who can influence the team's ability to accomplish its goals. 3. Discuss the culture and politics inthe organization. 4. Ask whether proposed team actions are congruent with the organization's culture and politics. Norms That Create Awareness of Emotions Norms That Help Regulate Emotions† Confrortting 1. Set ground rules and use them to point out errant behavior. 2. Call members on errant behavior. 3. Create playful devices for pointing out such behavior. These often emerge from the group spontaneously. Reinforce them. Caring 1. Support members: volunteer to help them if they need it, be flexible, and provide emotional support. 2. Validate members' contributions. Let members know they are valued. 3. Protect members from attack. 4. Respect individuality and differences in perspectives. Listen. 3. Never be derogatory or demeaning. Creating Resources for Working with Emotion 1. Make time to discuss difficult issues, and address the emotions that surround them. 2. Find creative, shorthand ways to acknowledge and express the emotion in the group. 3. Create fun ways to acknowledge and relieve stress and tension. 4. Express acceptance of members' emotions. Creating an Affirmative Environment 1. Reinforce that the team can meet a challenge. Be optimistic. For example, say things like, â€Å"We can get through this† or†Nothing will stop us† 2. Focus on what you can control. 3. Remind members of the group's important and positive mission. 4. Remind the group how it solved a similar problem before. 5. Focus on problem solving, not blaming. Solving Problems Proactively 1. Anticipate problems and address them before they happen. 2. Take the initiative to understand and get what you need to be effective. 3. Do ityourself if others aren't responding. Rely on yourself, not others. Building External Relationships 1. Create opportunities for networking and interaction. 2. Ask about the needs of other teams. 3. Provide support for other teams. 4. Invite others to team meetings if they might have a stake in what you are doing. MARCH 2001 87 Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups design an intranet to serve everyone's needs. We've seen gaining the confidence of outsiders, adopting an ambasmany situations in which a team is so enamored of its so- sadorial role instead of an isolationist one. lution that it is caught completely by surprise when othA manufacturing team we saw at KoSa displayed very ers in the company don't share its enthusiasm. high social skills in working with its maintenance team. It recognized that, when problems occurred in the plant, Some of the most emotionally intelligent teams we the maintenance team often had many activities on its have seen are so attuned to their broader organizational plate. All things being equal, what would make the maincontext that it affects how they frame and communicate tenance team consider this particular manufacturing their own needs and accomplishments. A team at the group a high priority? Knowing a good relationship chemical-processing company KoSa, for example, felt it would be a factor, the manufacturing team worked hard needed a new piece of manufacturing equipment, but seto build good ties with the maintenance people. At one nior management wasn't so sure the purchase was a pripoint, for instance, the manufacturing team showed its ority. Aware that the decision makers were still on the appreciation by nominating the maintenance team for fence, the team decided to emphasize the employee safety â€Å"Team of the Quarter† recognition-and then doing all benefits of the new machine-just one aspect of its desirthe letter writing and behind-the-scenes praising that ability to them, but an issue of paramount importance to management. At a plant safety meeting attended by high- would ultimately help the maintenance team win. In turn, the manufacturing team's good relationship with level managers, they made the case that the equipment maintenance helped it become one of the highest prothey were seeking would greatly reduce the risk of injury ducers in the plant. to workers. A few weeks later they got it. Sometimes, a team must be particularly aware of the needs and feelings of another group witbiin the organizaA Model for Group Emotional tion. We worked with an information technology comIntelligence pany where the hardware engineers worked separately from the software engineers to achieve the same goalWe've been discussing the need for teams to learn to faster processing and fewer crashes. Each could achieve channel emotion effectively at the three levels of human only so much independently. When finally a hardware interaction important to them: team to individual memteam leader went out of bis way to build relationships ber, team to itself, and team to outside entities. Together, with the software people, the two teams began to coopthe norms we've been exploring help groups work with erate – and together, they achieved 20% to 40% higher per- emotions productively and intelligently. Often, groups formance than had been targeted. with emotionally intelligent members have norms like these in place, but it's unlikely any group would unconThis kind of positive outcome can be facilitated by sciously come up with all the norms we have outhned. norms that encourage a group to recognize the feelIn other words, this is a model for group emotional intelings and needs of other groups. We saw effective norms ligence that any work team for interteam awareness at a could benefit from by applying division of AMP, where each it deliberately. Nee seen many situations manufacturing team is responsible for a step in the manufacWhat would the ultimate in which a team is so enamored emotionally intelligent team turing process and they need one another to complete the look like? Closest to the ideal of its solution that it is caught product on time. Team leaders are some of the teams we've there meet in the morning to completely by surprise when seen at IDEO, the celebrated understand the needs, resources, industrial design firm. IDEO's and schedules of each team. If others in the company don't creative teams are responsible one team is ahead and another for the look and feel of products share its enthusiasm. is behind, they reallocate relike Apple's first mouse, the sources. Members of the faster Crest toothpaste tube, and the team help the team that's behind and do so in a friendly Palm V personal digital assistant. Thefirmroutinely wins way that empathizes with their situation and builds the competitions for the form and function of its designs and relationship. even has a business that teaches creative problem-solving techniques to other companies. Most of the examples we've been citing show teams that are not only aware of but also able to influence outThe nature of IDEO's work calls for high group emosiders' needs and perspectives. This ability to regulate tional intelligence. Under pressure of client deadlines and emotion at the cross-boundary level is a group's version of budget estimates, the company must deliver innovative, the â€Å"social skills† so critical to individual emotional intel- aesthetic solutions that balance human needs with engiligence. It involves developing external relationships and neering realities. It's a deep philosophical belief at IDEO 88 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW Building ttie Emotional Intelligence of Croups that great design is best accomplished through the crerelationships with those individuals and groups. On disative friction of diverse teams and not the solitary pursuit play at IDEO is a curious model: a toy truck with plastic of brilliant individuals, so it's imperative that the teams at pieces on springs that pop out of the bed of the truck IDEO click. In our study of those teams, we found group when a button is pressed. It turns out the model comnorms supporting emotional intelligence at all three levmemorates an incident that taught a variety of lessons. ls ofour model. The story centers on a design team that had been working for three weeks on a very complex plastic enclosure First, the teams at IDEO are very aware of individual for a product. Unfortunately, on team members' emotions, and the Thursday before a Monday they are adept at regulating A team can have everything client deadline, when an engithem. F or example, an IDEO deneer was taking it to be painted, signer became very frustrated going for it-the brightest and it slipped from his pickup bed because someone from marketand exploded on ing was insisting a logo be apmost qualified people, access to 70 mph. The team the road at was willing plied to the designer's product, to work through the weekend to which he felt would ruin it visuresources, a clear mission – but rebuild the part but couldn't finally. At a meeting about the prodish it without the help of the still fail because it lacks group uct, the team's project leader outside fabricator it had used picked up on the fact that someemotional intelligence. on the original. Because they thing was wrong. The designer had taken the time to build a was sitting off by himself, and things â€Å"didn't look right. The project leader looked into the situation and then initiated a negotiation that led to a mutual solution. IDEO team members also confront one another when they break norms. This is common during brainstorming sessions, where the rule is that people must defer judgment and avoid shooting down ideas. If someone breaks that norm, the team comes down on him in a playful yet forceful way {imagine being pelted by foam toys). Or if someone is out of line, the norm is to stand up and call her on it immediately. If a client is in the room, the confrontation is subtler- perhaps a kick under the chair. Teams at IDEO also demonstrate strengths in groupfocused emotional intelligence. To ensure they have a high level of self-awareness, teams constantly seek feedback from both inside and outside the organization. Most important, they work very closely with customers. If a design is not meeting customer expectations, the team finds out quickly and takes steps to modify it. Regulating group emotion at IDEO often means providing outlets for stress. This is a company that believes in playing and having fun. Several hundred finger blasters (a toy that shoots soft projectiles) have been placed around the building for employees to pick up and start shooting when they're frustrated. Indeed, the design firm's culture welcomes the expression of emotions, so it's not uncommon for someone – whether happy or angryto stand up and yell. IDEO has even created fun office projects that people can work on ifthey need a break. For example, they might have a project to design the company holiday card or to design the â€Å"tourist stop† displays seen by visitors. Finally, IDEO teams also have norms to ensure they are aware of the needs and concerns of people outside their boundaries and that they use that awareness to develop tWARCH 2 0 0 1 good relationship with the fabricator, its people were willing to go above and beyond the call of duty. The lighthearted display was a way for teammates to show the engineer that all was forgiven-and a reminder to the rest of the organization of how a team in crisis can get by with a little help from its friends. Where Do Norms Come From? Not every company is as dependent on teams and their emotional intelligence as IDEO. But now more than ever, we see companies depending on teams for decisions and tasks that, in another time, would have been the work of individuals. And unfortunately, we also see them discovering that a team can have everything going for it-the brightest and most qualified people, access to resources, a clear mission-but still fail because it lacks group emotional intelligence. Norms that build trust, group identity, and group efficacy are the key to making teams click. They allow an otherwise highly skilled and resourced team to fulfill its potential, and they can help a team faced with substantial challenges achieve surprising victories. So how do norms as powerful as the ones we've described in this article come about? In our research, we saw them being introduced from any of five basic directions: by formal team leaders, by informal team leaders, by courageous followers, through training, or ft-om the larger organizational culture. (For more on how to establish the norms described in this article, see the sidebar†Building Norms for Three Levels of Group Emotional Intelligence. â€Å") At the Hay Group, for example, it was the deliberate action of a team leader that helped one group see the importance of emotions to the group's overall effectiveness. Because this particular group was composed of managers 89 Building ttie Emotional Intelligence of Groups from many different cultures, its leader knew he couldn't assume all the members possessed a high level of interpersonal understanding. To establish that norm, he introduced novelties like having a meeting without a tahle, using smaller groups, and conducting an inventory of team members'various learning styles. Interventions like these can probably be done only by a formal team leader. The ways informal leaders or other team members enhance emotional intelligence are typically more subtle, though often just as powerful. Anyone might advance the cause, for example, by speaking up if the group appears to be ignoring an important perspective or feeling-or simply by doing his or her part to create an affirmative environment. Training courses can also go a long way toward increasing emotional awareness and showing people how to regulate emotions. We know of many companies that now focus on emotional issues in leadership development courses, negotiation and communication workshops, and employee-assistance programs like those for stress management. These training programs can sensitize team members to the importance of establishing emotionally intelligent norms. Finally, perhaps more than anything, a team can be influenced by a broader organizational culture that recognizes and celebrates employee emotion. This is clearly the case at IDEO and, we believe, at many of the companies creating the greatest value in the new economy. Unfortu- nately, it's the most difficult piece ofthe puzzle to put in place at companies that don't already have it. For organizations with long histories of employees checking their emotions at the door, change will occur, if at all, one team at a time. Becoming Intelligent About Emotion The research presented in this article arosefromone simple imperative: in an era of teamwork, it's essential to figure out what makes teams work. Our research shows that, just like individuals, the most effective teams are emotionally intelligent ones-and that any team can attain emotional intelligence. In this article, we've attempted to lay out a model for positive change, containing the most important t3'pes of norms a group can create to enhance its emotional intelligence. Teams, like all groups, operate according to such norms. By working to establish norms for emotional awareness and regulation at all levels of interaction, teams can build the solid foundation of trust, group identity, and group efficacy they need for true cooperation and collaboration-and high performance overall. 9 Reprint R0103E To order reprints, see the last page of Executive Summaries. To further explore the topic of this article, go to www. hbr. org/explore. (A^^l^ j-iywi 1 â€Å"I'm in a rut They throw the ball, I bring it back. They throw it again, I bring it back again. What's the point of it ail? † 90 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW