Organisational psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Organisational psychology - Essay Example The workplace should be a place with as little conflict as possible for it to be conducive for productivity. It is important, according to the article, to interact with the employee to resolve the problems. Moreover, a list is provided for the most difficult employees, with bullies at the top, along with ways to deal with them according to the behaviour they manifest. For example, the author states that a dictator is someone who likes to take charge in everything and wants to intimidate others; therefore, to deal with such a person, it is best if one does not challenge them, but at the same time remains learns to say no to them without being intimidated. The list of difficult employees includes bullies who like to frighten and manipulate others, martyrs who crave sympathy and often crib about how they are mistreated prompting guilt and attention from others, narcissists who are only involved in themselves and do not work with the team, chatterers who love to talk, serial fault finders who, as the name suggests, only like to pick out faults in the work of others, clams who are the exact opposite of chatterers and who keep to themselves, dictators who like to run the office their own way and not accommodate others but to order them around, and finally whingers who like to complain about everything big or small. No doubt dealing with so many employees is hard on the manager as each has his or her own individual temperaments. According to research, it is important to first realise why the problem occurred in the first place, a topic dealt with in the article. It was put forward by experts that it is important to first deal with the problems that face the employee before trying to deal with the employee (Albright, 1978), so much so that it is important for the manger to be aware of the problems facing the employee and to eliminate them even before they start having an effect on the

Designing Qualitative Research for Social Science & Health Essay

Designing Qualitative Research for Social Science & Health - Essay Example deteriorating health, the sudden transition to a life of lesser financial control appears to be the underlying factor for both changing health status and limited access to the initial lifestyle. Retirement is the transition from being a working individual into not working. There are many reasons why people retire. Some of these include voluntary, sickness, incapacitation and age. Age is the most common factor for retirement. Most retirees are considerably aged by the time they make the transition (Smith and Moen, 2004). The transition is sometimes made at a point in life when the input of the individual is fading and their youthfulness has been lost. These factors, combined with the sudden transition to being non-salaried, have been known to negatively impact the inevitable transition into retirement. Psychologists postulate that retirement has adverse effects both on the psychosocial and physical wellbeing of the individual. For instance, some researchers have attributed the transition to accelerated ageing (Osborne, 2012). Many retirees have alluded to the fact that they did not make substantive decisions regarding their retirement days since they could not figure out how the transition would affect them. This implies that many retirees do not have an aforethought strategy to manage their new-found status. For this reason, they are usually met with constant challenges, both psychological and organisational. Yet retirement planning is considered an essential part of the transformation that follows ceasing employment. Planning should ideally be done before the individual crosses over to the world of retirement. The most important part of the planning is to necessitate a smooth transition into the new phase in life. However, many people attempt to develop a retirement plan after experiencing what the transition is like, and sometimes after realising that they could have made misinformed choices as they settle down. Some of these misinformed choices are likely to

Styles of Two Great American Writers Essay Example for Free

Styles of Two Great American Writers Essay A writer’s style distinguishes him from other writers. The style a writer uses to write a story clearly indicates the tone of a story,vital for the reader to understand the story. The style of a writer is made up of different traits and characteristics used to write the story. These traits and characteristics include and are not limited to symbolism, characterization, and other elements. When evaluating a literature piece for style one should analyze the following five elements: diction, images, details, language, and sentence structure. Two well-known American writers with completely different styles are Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. Hemingway and Faulkner’s similarities and differences in style become apparent when comparing and contrasting two of their famous short stories, â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† by Ernest Hemingway and â€Å"Barn Burning† by William Faulkner. Diction involve word choices a writer makes for his story. These word choices may be used to achieve an overall feeling from a reader toward a story. Diction also reflects the writer’s attitude toward his subject. Ernest Hemingway’s choice of diction in â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† are simple words that directly mean what they stand for. Hemingway uses simple, less complex words to describe both characters and setting. Examples of diction usage for setting are found in the title, â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† (Hemingway 141) and â€Å"pleasant† (Hemingway 143). The two waiters describe the customer as a â€Å"clean old man a good client† (Hemingway 141). Hemingway’s choice of diction was blunt and to the point. The diction usage does not let the reader get funny ideas or leeway to think anything other than what Hemingway says. This element of Hemingway’s style reflects when the young waiter states the old man is â€Å"drunk† (Hemingway 141). The young waiter does not suggest he was tipsy or that he seemed intoxicated, he simply meant he was drunk. Hemingway uses the Spanish word for nothing, â€Å"nada† (Faulkner 145) to substitute words from the Lord’s prayer, in the old waiter’s speech of despair and loneliness to interrelate the theme. Building a sympathetic feeling from the reader toward the character’s way of seeing his lonely world as nothing, was Hemingway’s intention in doing so. In comparison to Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner’s use of diction involves more complicated words due to the fact they’re slang and misspelled. Some misspelled words and slang are â€Å"kin hisn [and] hit† (Faulkner 145) which stand for the words can, his, and it. The reason for the use of a southern accent as diction is to set the mood of where the story takes place. Racist slurs such as â€Å"nigger† (Faulkner 146) also make up the diction of the story. Such racist slurs are used to build a certain attitude toward the character who says them. Faulkner describes Abner’s walk as â€Å"stiffly† (Faulkner 146) which also affects the reader’s feelings about a character. Sarty uses the word â€Å"bovine† (Faulkner 152) to describe his fat sisters. For many readers who are not familiar with the south or the last century the complex word usage in â€Å"Barn Burning† mean many things and nothing at times, this affects the reader’s attitude toward the story as a whole. The overall use of language in an entire story also makes up the writer’s style. Different types of language would be formal or informal, scientific or abstract, etc. There are no rules to correct language for a writer’s style. â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† uses informal and conversational overall language. Incomplete statements and fragments that cast full scenes in form of conversation create informality of the story . â€Å"‘He hung himself with a rope. ’† (Hemingway 142) Also, a device Hemingway uses when a characters pauses and then speaks again in the following line make up the informal language. ‘â€Å"He’s drunk now,’ he said. ‘He’s drunk every night. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Hemingway 142) The language used in â€Å"Barn Burning† by William Faulkner includes colloquial, informal, with some interior monologue. The southern drawl creates a particular colloquial dialect. â€Å"‘Naw,’ he said. â€Å"Hit don’t hurt. Lemme be. ’† (Faulkner 147) Interior Monologue also makes up the element of language. â€Å"I could run on and on and never look back, never need to see his face again. † (Faulkner 155) is Sarty’s interior monologue. Faulkner uses interior monologue to prove Sarty was not allowed to express himself freely out of fear. The sentence structure used in a story has an impact on the reader’s attitude. The sentences may be structured in a variety of ways to get certain points and feelings across. Types of sentence structure include short, long, simple, complex, and even interrupted sentences. Sentence structure in Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† includes regular speech patterns. This would include short, choppy, simple and direct sentences. Examples of these types of sentences include, ‘â€Å"He has plenty of money. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Hemingway 141) and â€Å"‘Nothing. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Hemingway 141) Hemingway’s sentence structure also includes long, compound but simple sentences. â€Å"In the day the street was dusty, but at night the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference. † (Faulkner 141) Formal, complex and long drawn-out sentences make up the sentence structure in â€Å"Barn Burning† by William Faulkner. Faulkner’s style, most of the time formal and excessively detailed, creates sentences extremely complicated that many times the best way to understand them is to go back and reread the sentence. â€Å"The boy, crouched on his nail keg at the back of the crowded room, knew he smelled cheese, and more: from where he sat he could see the ranked shelves close-packed with the solid, squat, dynamic shapes of tin cans whose labels his stomach read, not from the lettering which meant nothing to his mind but from the scarlet devils and the silver curve of fish-this, the cheese which he knew he smelled and the hermetic meat which his intestines believed he smelled coming in intermittent gusts momentary and brief between the other constant one, the smell and sense just a little of fear because mostly of despair and grief, the old fierce pull of blood. † (Faulkner 145) The five basic elements interrelate to create the style of a writer. After the reader understands style, the tone and the true meaning of a story become apparent. The style of both Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner are different with only a few similarities. One style (Hemingway) being simple and to the point, the other (Faulkner) complicated and full of details. Although the differences are many, one apparent similarity is the informality in the overall language of both stories. Neither style ranks better than the other. The reader changes the value of each style depending on what they appreciate reading.

Traditional Concepts To Modern Knowledge Intensive Concepts Management Essay

Traditional Concepts To Modern Knowledge Intensive Concepts Management Essay Introduction: Innovation and Change are 2 of the most used buzz words in the modern corporate era. Some industries are entirely based on innovation. The survivability of companies operating in such industries are, to a large extent, based on their ability to innovate. The electronic consumer goods industry is a great example. The frequency in which firms like Apple and Google scrap their penultimate design and go for the new one is just alarming. On the other hand, Change is another equally important concept for companies in the modern era. Change becomes inevitable for firms operating in volatile industries as they have to respond quickly to the ripples in the market and adjust their own internal processes as a reaction. This necessitates effective change management every time an organization undergoes a change initiative. As Kotter(XXXX) observed rightly; The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades. Through this piece of work, I would like to look at knowledge theory and how the concepts of innovation and change have evolved from traditional linear model to the modern knowledge intensive forms. The essay would be focusing mainly on information technology functions of firms and how they manage their innovation and change process. We would also explore the practical implications of widely used academic terms like knowledge management, knowledge workers, boundary objects, stickiness of knowledge etc with the help of some examples from the technology front. Knowledge theory: For the scope of this essay, we shall use the term Knowledge theory as the one which refers to the concepts of knowledge management and the appreciation of intellectual capital as an integral part of an organisations asset. As a broad term, this also includes the various terms frequently used in knowledge work like knowledge boundaries, boundary objects etc. During the industrial revolution, labour and capital were considered as the major resources to build an organisation. Management emphasis was on effectively handling these resources and the role of managers was limited largely to financial management and human resource management. However, with the advent of the information age, we have seen managers being increasingly aware of another major resource knowledge. This increasing importance of knowledge management is reflected in the works of several academics as well. Bell (1973) suggested that knowledge would be a central feature of post-industrial societies. The concept of knowledge management mainly revolves around 2 popular views on knowledge, the knowledge as possession view and the epistemology of practice. Knowledge as a possession considers knowledge as something that an individual/organisation can possess, and pass on to others seamlessly across different situations and contexts. However, the practice view of knowledge takes into account the importance of tacit knowledge and argues that knowledge is intrinsic to specific contexts and is created and negotiated through social interactions (Newell et al., 2009). Thus knowledge work could be defined as any work that deals with knowledge. However, for a specific spectrum of analysis, we shall limit our analysis only to the so called knowledge intensive firms. These are firms which have a high percentage of highly qualified staff who trade in knowledge itself (Starbuck, 1992). Consultancy firms like Ernst and Young or Deloitte are prime examples for knowledge intensive organisations. Co nsultants sell their knowledge to organisations or individual and organisations in need and quite evidently does knowledge work on a daily basis. Organisations like Google and Apple, where research and development is key to gaining competitive advantage over rivals are also knowledge intensive. Other examples of knowledge intensive professionals include pharmacists, educationists, doctors, accountants etc. The majority of knowledge intensive firms are under increasing pressure from the external environment in terms of staying competitive and profitable. Thus essentially, ability to innovate and change is integral to their success as organisations. We shall now briefly look at the traditional views on innovation and change through the work of some academics and the gradual shift in concept in the information era. This would set the stage for our analysis on how and where knowledge management fits in the processes of change and innovation. Definition of Innovation: Several academics have clearly differentiated the concepts of creativity and innovation. Organisational creativity refers to the generation of novel and useful ideas, whereas organisational innovation describes the realization of those ideas(Cook,1998; Jones, 1995). Thus innovation can be defined as the process by which a new element becomes available within the marketplace or is introduced into an organization with the intention of changing or challenging the status quo (King, 1995). The innovation process can be classified into 5 types (Andriopoulos and Dawson, 2009): Product innovation As the name suggests, this refers to the creation of a new product. Common examples include the ipod and the latest ipad devices from Apple, which took the market by storm. Innovative methods of computing are being released each year and this is changing the face of the IT arena. Service innovations This refers to the creation of new and improved services. Hotmail worlds first free web based email service is a prime example. Process innovations Here, the innovation is on the process rather than on the end product or service. In the United States, Netflix offers subscription based DVD rentals online. This is now the largest of its kind in the world due to several innovations in its process. The firm uses distributed warehouse system to deliver DVDs to its customers via post. The returned DVDs are scanned first if they are requested again before it goes back to the warehouse. This streamlined and fast delivery model has helped Netflix become the market leader.(Rappa, 2008) Management innovations The adoption of Japanese manufacturing techniques by American and European companies during the eighties and nineties is an example of Management innovation. Market or position innovation This refers to the creation of new markets as a result of innovation. With the advent of Second life, a whole new virtual reality market has sprung up and is fast growing. Before this, this market simply did not exist. Traditional view on innovation: The traditional view on innovation considers it as a linear process starting from creation of the innovation, going through several stages until the innovation is accepted or rejected by the adopting unit. Rogers (1995), in support of the linear approach, used the term diffusion for the process of communicating the innovation through the channels of a social system. The innovation-decision process according to this model can be depicted as below: Knowledge Persuasion Decision Implementation Confirmation Fig1.1 Innovation-Decision process (Rogers, 1995) Knowledge The manager or decision maker or more generally the adopting unit becomes aware of the innovation. Persuasion The unit develops either a favourable or unfavourable attitude towards the innovation. Decision The unit undergoes a series of activities leading to the choice of acceptance or rejection of the innovation. Implementation The unit puts the innovation to use. Confirmation The innovation is confirmed and the innovation becomes a routine if the overall feedback from the unit is favourable. Otherwise, the innovation is rejected. The traditional model also looks at innovation as a rational process in which managers use industry-wide accepted standards or best practises. This model revolves around the idea that best practises, once created, all that is left in the innovation process is the communication of this across the organisation. Thus the traditional model of innovation essentially proposed that innovation can be carried out in a linear fashion and can be overlooked with rational thinking. However, this models inability to explain the complex and dynamic innovations in the modern era has led to various criticisms, which would be discussed at a later stage in the essay. Definition of Organisational Change: Andriopoulos and Dawson (2009) define organisational change broadly as new ways of organizing and working. And more specifically(p14): Organizational change is the process of moving from some current state that, whether planned or unplanned, comprises the unexpected and unforeseen as well as the expected The definition clearly identifies 3 integral parts of organizational change (1) the as-is state, (2) the to-be state and (3) the transition path. However, the transition from as-is to to-be state, in the views of several academics, rarely takes the planned or expected path as evident from the above definition. Studies on organizational change process have been conducted extensively by academics. However, the dynamic nature of the topic itself has meant that we still dont have a prescriptive explanation in terms of theory and concept as far as the topic of Organization change is concerned, as evidently expressed by Pettigrew et al. (2003:p351): This constant process of change and renewal means that, whilst scholars and managers can take forward certain key messages, there will always be a need for more research on innovative forms of organizing Organizational change can be of varied degree and form from minor changes in the organizational processes to major organization wide re-structuring initiatives. Palmer et al. (2006) identifies 2 types of changes: Incremental adaptive change is when one firm plays catch-up in response to another firms activity in an incremental adaptive fashion. E.g Microsoft and Yahoo largely followed google applications like maps and videos. Reactive frame breaking change deals with a much larger scale of change. E.g Major restructuring and downsizing was required for investment banks like RBS as they came under increasing government and public control after the recession driven bailouts using taxpayer money. It is interesting to note that most banks havent cut down on their IT spending as they have identified IT as a tool to improve efficiency and cut costs. Outside these two more reactive changes, there is of course the strategy driven large scale operational changes that organizations undergo. Linear views on Organisational Change: The traditional theories on organisational change have been modelled mainly around the concept of unfreeze-change-refreeze put forward by Lewin (Collins, 1998). This 3-step model essentially looked at organisational change process as a linear one. In this model, Lewin(1958) also talks about the helping and restraining forces for and against the change. Unfreeze Change Freeze Fig1.2 Lewins 3-step change model (Lewin, 1958) An extended 7-step model was proposed by Lippitt, Watson and Westley (1958) which increasingly focussed on the role of the change agent than the actual change. The 7 stages were: Diagnosing the problem Assessing capacity and motivation for change Assess motivation and capacity of the change agent Choose progressive change objects Clear segregation of role of the change agent Maintain the change Termination of the change agent (Lippitt et, al. ,1958) Kotter(1995) later proposed his 8-step model for effective change management in his analysis on why most change projects fail. These change theories as we can see, largely revolves around a certain degree of predictability of the overall change process. They have invited criticism from the supporters of chaos or complexity theories as we would examine later in the piece. Criticisms on traditional views: The traditional linear view on innovation process has been fairly criticised by the advocates of process views on innovation. These academics argue that innovation is very rarely rational and linear and is in most times, a network based concept(Abrahamson, 1996; Swan and Scarbrough, 2005). The concept of best practices were deemed inappropriate by some academics as innovation is a highly context specific concept(Swan et al., 1999) Some other criticisms include: Scarbrough(2008) argues that innovation is not a linear process and that the importance of feedback into the process could not be neglected at any stage of the process. Rogers(1995) did speak about two-way communication between the original sender and receiver in a knowledge diffusion process, however, it is clear that the critics of the linear model propose a much wider network-based mesh-like communication process during innovation. Swan and Scarbrough(2005:p3) states that since knowledge is increasingly dispersed across organizational boundaries, it is at these interstices, through the operation of networks, that distributed networks can be brought together and integrated into new products, processes and services. Newell et al.(2009) observes that most innovation processes are not predictable and cannot be considered as a technical fix. Clark (2003) observed that innovation often required considerable re-engineering of the existing process and thus cannot be considered as an entity that can be used as an add-on to an organisational context. The linear freeze-change-unfreeze view of organisational change has been countered by supporters of complexity theory or chaos theory. According to the chaos theory, it has become impossible to predict the outcome of long term organisational changes as this would require knowledge of the present state at a very high accuracy (Tsoukas, 1998). Certainly, the high rate of failure of Enterprise Systems implementations (70%) reinforces the concept of unpredictable nature of change. It can also be seen from relevant literature that organisational change need not be segregated from innovation as such. Andriopoulos and Dawson (2009), maintains that there are no clear boundaries between the concepts of creativity, innovation and change as in practise, they interlock and overlap over time. Moreover, it can also be argued that their concept of process innovation is quite similar in some respects to the concept of organisational change. Thus we shall consider innovation and change as one broad area further in this work. Knowledge based innovation and change: As discussed earlier in the essay, the traditional liner view on the innovation process have been attacked and countered with the process view. The processual, network based view on innovation looks at the process as a set of iterative, overlapping and interdependent episodes rather than linear stages (Newell et al, 2009). This model as we can see, clearly addresses the unpredictability of the innovation process. The episodes overlap and iterate, leaving room for the occurrences of good or bad co-incidences and also takes into account the social and organisational factors that may affect the innovation process. The importance of knowledge work during innovation is also emphasized in this model. From agenda formation to routinization of the innovation, the success of the change lies in effective creation, diffusion, implementation and use of knowledge. Due to several reasons, we can see that such an open-ended framework is more appropriate when we look at some of the recent innovations in IT. Thus, understanding of knowledge concepts are critical to any innovation and change project in the modern era. The communication channel between the change agent and the unit undergoing a change is no longer the straightforward 2-way communication as seen in Rogers (1995). Innovation and change processes are increasingly becoming network based, spanning across practises, institutions and geographies. The success of Research in Motions blackberry phone can be hugely attributed to the innovative feature of email on a hand held. However, the product was actually just meant to be a start-up product, designed to enable the company to enter the wireless market. The huge popularity of this new way of working among its users resulted in immense pressure on the development team to refine and come up with the blackberry we know now. Thus it can be argued that the users were part of the innovation project as well. Further on this example, during the 9/11 strike on the world trade centre, there were several media reports that people trapped inside the building used their blackberry phones to keep in touch with their loved ones since all other forms of wired and mobile connectivity had gone down. Along with huge popularity, this event added even more social value to the otherwise technological product. This clearly qualifies for the external factor depicted in the Clark model. Other innovations like Open Source Software Development, Extreme programming(XP) and Agile methodologies are also examples for experimental innovation models including dynamic, planning, testing and regular releases (Beck, 2000; Highsmith, 2002). The open source developers community consists of developers from across the globe and from different functions of life. In spite of the existence of semantic, syntactic and pragmatic knowledge boundaries among them, they still manage to interact remarkable well and come up with innovative solutions. Information technology interestingly plays the role of a boundary object in the form of the Knowledge Management (KM) portal or forum. The open source KM forum is exceptionally well maintained and strictly moderated, just as well as the knowledge intensive firms, if not better. In a more organisational context, knowledge intensive firms like consulting and software services companies consider knowledge management as an integral part of innovation and change projects. The amount of money they spend on maintaining a centralised repository for knowledge management is testament to this fact. The consultancy firm Ernst and Young spends 6% of their revenue on knowledge management (HBS, 2001). It may seem that the abundance of knowledge workers and technology would automatically foster a favourable environment for KM in such companies; some academics believe that this is not always the case. Andriopoulos (2003) suggests that knowledge can be a double headed sword. Since knowledge workers in such organisations are highly specialized in their area, this may enslave them inside a pattern of thought, thus inhibiting innovation and change (Bengtson, 1982). Such a view of experts becoming not receptive to new ideas was shared by Starbuck (1992) as well. On similar lines , Carla ODell, president of American Productivity Quality Center said: The number-one reason KM initiatives may not function is that the evangelists fail to connect with the real business issues. Relevant academic literature suggest that such organizations try to work around this problem by creating a strong culture and by involving the specialists more and more in organisational dialogues (Blackler, 1995). Such enabling contexts created by the organisation would be an important factor for fostering knowledge creation for innovation and change. Google, for example, gives one day a week for its employees to work on their pet projects and ideas. The ideas can be posted by anyone on the repository via email. Rocket ride, as it is called, has also led its competitors to create similar projects like Microsofts Technorati and Yahoos Exalead (Business Week, 2005). The concepts of knowledge theory has indeed influenced the way organizations go about undertaking innovation projects as evident from the above illustrations. Conclusion: Through this piece, we have looked at knowledge theory as a term relevant to the scope of the topic. We have also looked the traditional view on innovation and change process via the works of several academics and some industry examples. Some of the criticisms against these views were also discussed. In the specific area of knowledge intensive firms, we analyzed how these knowledge theories affect the innovation and change process. Having looked at the modern unpredictable and network based modes of innovation and change, it may seem that the traditional concepts are now outdated. However, majority of knowledge management work is still based on the assumption that most forms of knowledge can be codified, stored and distributed. Change consultants still follow the step by step approach for organisational innovation and change. Thus the apt conclusion here would be one of a compromise between the two. It is imperative that organisations, especially the knowledge intensive ones cannot ignore the importance of knowledge management for innovation and change. However, the approach shall be decided upon considering the institutional context in detail.

Oppression of Native Americans Essay examples -- history, craniology,

Two-hundred years ago, there was a scientific study on the brains of Native Americans called the craniology and phrenology. The Europeans examined only indigenous people’s heads and were forbidden to use any European’s brains. The Europeans did three experiments, such as decapitating the tops of the heads and filling them with sand to see if their brains were smaller than blacks. The Europeans also looked at the bones and said that if the bones were in a certain way (such as natives cheek bones being up higher) the person was thought to be stupid. The last experiment the Europeans did to American Indians was that they had a small devise that they would put on the head and it would slice the brain open. There would be an award for retrieving a male’s brain that was five cents. By retrieving a woman’s brain the price would be three cents, and lastly a child’s brain which would be two cents. This is when the term redskin was invented (Poupart, 2014). Although we often remember First Nation communities by their history of oppression by the Europeans, as established above, present day communities are defined much differently. The Anishinabeg are an independent, non-interference sovereign nation and they follow their own rules by oral traditions. They are also a nation who were oppressed, exploited, and also misunderstood by non-Native Americans. When asked about the definition of a sovereign nation, Selma Buckwheat (September 25, 2013), elder member of the Anishinabeg tribe, explains by stating, â€Å"We govern ourselves and have our own laws† (personal communication). They have a lot of meetings that help understand most of the sovereign nations. In other words, a sovereign nation is power or a territory existing as an independent s... ...government’s policies. The changes of the 1900’s influenced many people such as historians, writers, film-makers, and other non-Native-Americans, causing them to view Indians in an increasingly sympathetic way. The non-Native Americans perceived Indians as a historically-oppressed minority who were victimized by imperial conquests and were dignified as peace-loving people in a sovereign nation. Works Cited Poupart, L. (2014, October 16). First Nations Studies: Social Justice. University of Wisconsin Green-Bay. Loew, P. (2001). Indian Nations of Wisconsin: histories of endurance and renewal. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Mihesuah, D. (1996). American Indians stereotypes and realities. Atlanta: Clarity Press. Poupart, L. (2000). Ojibwe Women of the Western Great Lakes. Retrieved from D2L. https://uwgb.courses.wisconsin.edu/d2l/

I, Too by Langston Hughes Essay -- Langston Hughes Poetry

I, Too by Langston Hughes A situation can be interpreted into several different meanings when observed through the world of poetry. A poet can make a person think of several different meanings to a poem when he or she is reading it. Langston Hughes wrote a poem titled "I, Too." In this poem he reveals the Negro heritage and the pride that he has in his heritage and in who he is. Also, Hughes uses very simple terms that allow juvenile interpretations and reading. The poem begins "I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother." From those two lines alone, one can see that he is proud of who he is and introducing himself to the reader. In the line "I, too, sing America" he is explaining that he is an American like everyone else in the country, but he is only of a darker skin color as he follows up in line two with "I am the darker brother." He says that even though he is of another color he is still an American and he should not be treated any differently from any other American. When looking at the poem, Hughes expresses the pride that he has in his heritage and in who h...

Freakonomics position paper Essay

Freakonomics is an â€Å"alternative† look at debunking some of the established wisdom as far as our ideas about life in general and economics in particular go. It is an irreverent and funny book about some of the truths that we take to be self-evident. It is one of the books in the new genre of non-fiction that attempts to question some of the academic theories that all of us take for granted. There are other books like â€Å"Black Swan†, â€Å"Undercover Economist† and â€Å"Tipping Point† that have tried to explain social phenomena in terms of going beyond the academic dogma. The topic for this essay is the â€Å"Perfect parent† hypothesis that deals with some of the myths concerning child rearing and safety that parents use in bringing up their children. The essay looks at the chapter in detail along with the material presented and then attempts to support the claims as well as present some criticism of the same. However, Freakonomics can also fall into the trap that it has laid for established theories. For instance, chapter five that deals with a â€Å"Perfect Parent† hypothesis can easily be debunked by theories that contradict the authors’ claims. Usage of Data and otherwise Freakonomics relies heavily on statistical evidence to debunk many of the â€Å"truths† and offers some data to prove some counter-intuitive truths. As the authors’ state, they want to expose â€Å"the hidden side of everything†. Towards this, the authors’ take on many established certainties and prove that we often tend to overestimate the potential risk in say, flying and under-estimate the risk associated with driving when statistical evidence clearly shows that more people die in road accidents than air accidents. The book is definitely an attempt to look for the â€Å"hidden connections† as can be seen from the linkage of abortion to the low crime. The example of Roe. vs. Wade and the resulting decrease in crime is a good example of this. While it makes sense to blame everything on our inability to measure risk or use quantitative analysis in everyday life, the fact remains that with the abundance of theories being floated on a daily basis, there is no â€Å"one correct† way to lead a life, let alone parenting. While the purpose of this essay is not to debunk â€Å"Freakonomics†, nonetheless we should remain cautious about â€Å"information overload† . This is one tendency that would make us derive some meaning out of the current age. Chapter Five: The Perfect parent hypothesis The chapter deals with the question â€Å"What makes a perfect parent? † It deals with the statistical evidence to prove that: – Though there is correlation between parents who are highly educated, kids not from single homes and their test scores, it is not enough to establish a cause and effect scenario between two sets of factors – The data also proves that black children doing badly at school most probably means that they are from a low income household rather than that they are black. An example of this would be the success of black golfer Tiger Woods. Having an upbringing that was virtually elitist, the success of Tiger Woods proves the above hypothesis. Though the authors’ have not quoted this as an example, they nonetheless state that the data from the ELCS scores is highly encouraging for anyone who wants to have a shot at the â€Å"black white† hypothesis of doing badly/well at school – The other set of data that the authors’ present relates to the child safety seats that sell in millions compared to having a child in a rear seat. This is what they call the â€Å"outrage reduction† for the obsessive parenting. This can be compared to the example of a terrorist attack like 9/11 that can be seen in terms of â€Å"sensational† value as compared to the number of people who die from gun shot wounds. Countering the authors’ claims in Chapter Five The main criticisms against chapter five are: – Overgeneralization – Attempt to dazzle – Usage of anecdote when the authors’ make claims based on data The authors’ contention that â€Å"good parenting† as the experts claim may not hold the key and their frank admission that many of the outcomes of a child’s personality cannot be measured kind of stand out against their other claims. The last point refers to the black kid who had to fend for himself at the age of twelve and the white kid who has all the advantages. The black kid turned out to be Levitt’s co-author while the white kid turned out to be the Unabomber. The point being made here is when the authors’ use so much data, what is the point of using anecdotes. The authors’ repeatedly try to discourage the â€Å"anecdotal evidence† and instead concentrate on statistics to prove their point. So, this is one trap that the authors’ laid for themselves . Also, the temptation to dazzle with â€Å"truths† sometimes is overarching and can be avoided. Conventional wisdom The books’ as well as the chapter five’s thesis is all about how conventional wisdom can often lead us wrong. And it is here that the authors’ score their best. Often, we take the â€Å"truths handed down† to us as the norm and though scholarly studies have tried correcting the myths, the authors’ deserve credit for putting out the evidence in a fashion as understood by everybody. Conclusion Though we have taken one â€Å"truth† as our thesis and provided views on both sides i. e. to support as well as debunk, nonetheless the book is an entertaining read and is a serious attempt to get past the â€Å"scholarly daze† that most of the academic journals and mainstream research provide. At times, the book might seem to be â€Å"like a journalist explaining economics† but the reason for this is that the authors’ are trying to put their point across to laypeople.