Saturday, August 31, 2019

American medical care Essay

These early immigrants survived the harsh times and difficult American climate as well as the wilderness on primitive basic instincts. The early settlements were often ravaged by starvation and disease. During the colonial era, doctors’ education was informal. Most were literate, but some who were raised outside of New England were not. A man who wanted to practice medicine did not need any type of certification. Most did have a period of apprenticeship with an established physician, but even this was not a requirement. Up until the late 19th century, very few doctors had a college education. Medical facilities were unofficial. Most patients were treated in their homes. However, even the smallest towns had poorhouses, where needy people could live and receive limited medical care. The few hospitals that opened in North America during the colonial period were opened in places like Quebec and New Orleans. Public health was unknown in North America at this time. Towns and cities did not have boards of health except during times of epidemics. Because most places did not have public water or sewer systems, most Americans got their water from pumps and used outhouses until well into the 19th century. There was no trash collection so the streets became a breeding ground for all types of disease. There were a few attempts to influence public health. For example, when smallpox vaccinations were developed in the 18th century, many small town doctors had groups of people that had to stay quarantined for a few days to make sure they only developed a mild case of smallpox. Cures may have killed more people than the diseases themselves. The public developed a very skeptical attitude towards regular doctors. In the early 19th century, the do it yourself attitude of many Americans was popular. These people freely gave medical advice, emphasized the participant of the patient in his or her own treatment. However, other â€Å"medical treatments† were available also. Probably snake oil is best remembered. Andrew Taylor Still started the practice of osteopathy. Osteopathy incorporated bodily manipulations, similar to those seen in modern chiropractics. In osteopathy, these manipulations affected the magnetic flow of energy in the body. Osteopathy discouraged use of medicines, but did not forbid them. Another reaction against heroic medicine was homeopathy. A university-trained German doctor named Samuel Hahnemann started it. Heinemann said that doctors were giving their patients too much medicine. He believed that tiny amounts of drugs should be diluted in water before being given to a patient and that practitioners should take very thorough medical histories of each patient. Quackery was a way to fool people into believing they were being cured while making money from them. Quackery had even been licensed in London, but it was completely ignored by the America government for hundreds of years. Hydropathy was another special case. The healing power of water, hydropathy indicated the value of the rest cure, importance of having like-minded people around, the usefulness of light exercise and the fact that women who wore loose-fitting clothing generally felt better and had fewer physical complaints than the ones who did. Another special case is the entire issue of faith-only healing. While empirical evidence in favor of faith-only healing is lacking, anecdotal evidence suggests that some people who pray do experience spontaneous decrease of certain diseases. The late 19th century saw major changes in medicine in the United States. Medicine went from being medieval to incorporating many elements of modern science. The advances in chemistry, and biology had major impacts on medicine. As medical practitioners began to understand that the body was comprised of basic chemicals and not mysterious humors, effective treatments for diseases and injuries were developed. As medicine became more scientific, doctors needed both training and  licensing. In 1847, Dr. Nathan Davis founded the American Medical Association (AMA) in Philadelphia to help create professional standards for doctors and set minimal educational requirements. Medical colleges opened up across the country, increasing requirements from a few months without any college background to a number of years with a college degree. However, these colleges provided an extremely unpredictable level of medical education, with some of them a diploma and others provided a to notch medical education. As American cities exploded in size during the 19th century due to immigration from Europe, public health became more of an issue. With many hundreds of thousands of people living in cities: extremely crowded, unsanitary conditions; tuberculosis was often at epidemic levels in the cities. During the 19th century, people understood that TB was not caused by miasma, but was caused by bacteria. People with TB were sometimes sent out of the city to places in the country, where the cleaner air seemed to help their recovery. It was obvious that people needed clean water for drinking, and bathing. So cities started massive sewer projects to help bring clean water into the cities while removing wastewater from the city. Dead animal remains and garbage littered the street until the late 1800s when cities started sanitation crews to take the trash out of town and dumps to move the waste to. Many cities started dispensaries so the poor could receive treatment and medications for low cost. With the urban population explosion, the â€Å"poorhouses† (probably today’s HMO ‘Urgent Care’) became even larger and harder to manage. With new medical advances, people needed to be in big cities to receive certain types of treatment. Americans began to build hospitals across the country in the 19th century.  The new hospitals were generally cleaner than the old poorhouses.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Human Resources Functions Essay

Human resources or personnel function fulfils a number of needs. It is responsible for the hiring and firing of employees, for staff training and development, and for dealing with matters relating to industrial relations. In this report I will be analysing each of the functions related to human resource and then take one of them and make an in depth analysis of it. Once I collect the information I need regarding the responsibilities of the human resources and how they should be carried out, my next step will be to compare them with a medium or large size company to see how they carrying out the responsibilities and what alterations they have made to suit their particular needs. To do this I have chosen Tesco. Below I will briefly look at the four functions of human resource and how they affect Tesco: 1. Human Resource Planning Human resource planning can be defined as: â€Å"The activity of management which is aimed at coordinating the requirements for and the availability of the different types of employee† In simplicity, this means to make sure that the organisation has the right number of employees and of the right quality. For the human resource to achieve their targets they need to have a good understating of the labour market in the local area. When planning human resources Tesco need to take into account the following factors: a) Local employment trends Local employment trends tells Tesco about the levels of employment in the area and gives them a general idea of the type of jobs people are getting and the type of jobs that there are a shortage in. b) Local skills shortages Local skills shortages is an important aspect to Tesco’s human resource because it informs them about the lack of people with certain qualities in the local area. This is important as it can be used to compare against the Tesco’s skills criteria for new employees. If they are looking for certain skills from people and theses are not available then they will either need to compromise or look elsewhere. Also, if they know the general skills of the people then when they advertising for a job, it will reduce the chance of them asking for qualities which are absent in the people, which might keep very suitable people from applying and few applicants might mean that further advertisements are needed, costing time and money to Tesco. c) Competition for employees There may be very few people with top qualities willing to work for a company like Tesco. It would be in the best interest of Tesco to seek and take theses enthusiasts on board. If they don’t, then other similar retailers will recruit them and then they will become rivals to Tesco. Competition for employees may even be on the lower skills end where there may be a shortage for cashiers, for example. Tesco will need to provide suitable incentives to attract these key people. One simple way in which to attract the mass of people is to increase their wage. This is not always the case due to the financial constraints on a business. d) Availability of labour Availability of labour is an important factor for Tesco. They need to make sure that they are aware of the quantity and quality of workers available when recruiting. This understanding will allow them to make right decision when employing people. If there are very few suitable candidates then they will have to choose someone amongst those. However, if there are many people suitable for the job then they can carry on with their search until they come across some one who fulfils all the requirements. It is important for Tesco to know the availability of workers in their locality as this will enable them to prepare and make back up plans for when there is a shortage of suitable people willing to work for Tesco. Human resource planning also involves looking at how labour is organised within a business. The factors that Tesco must take into account are as follows: a) Labour turnover This is about forecasting supply of labour. It asks the question ‘how many employees will we have in the future?’ It therefore means looking at internal and external sources of labour. When Tesco is looking at the total supply of labour in its organisation it is important for them to look at labour turnover. Below is an example of one of many ways of working out employee turnover: This is sometime called the ‘percentage waste rate’. It tells Tesco what percentage of workforce left in a year. There are also other indexes which deal with stability, which give a good idea of how long employees are staying with the organisation. If employees are not staying very long in certain departments of Tesco, then this can be pinpointed and investigated. b) Sickness and accident rates A high level of sickness absence will affect the supply of labour very badly. If genuine then Tesco can do very little in the short term. If they are bogus then moral within honest workers will be low and confidence in managers can sink. There are many ways in which the human resource team can monitor performance against: o Performance in the previous year o Trends in other organisations in the same industrial sector o National sickness absence figures Accident rates can be lowered and kept to a minimum if health and safety guidelines are followed properly. c) Age, skills and training This is also known as stock taking. It asks the question ‘what is the quantity and quality of staff available in the organisation?’ It uses the following techniques: o Job analysis involves gathering information about all employees. It collects information regarding their duties and skills required to fulfil those duties. o Skills audit is a survey of the skills, qualifications and experience of all existing staff. o Performance review involves looking at the performance of all employees in order to: o identify potential staff o identify where staff have more training needs This information will give an idea to the rest of the company about the skills and training of their employees. Weakness can be tackled using these information and strengths can be built upon. d) Succession This really only applies to employees at supervisor/line manager level and above. Succession planning enables the organisation to ensure that staff with potential to fill top jobs are given extra training or wider experience so that when the time comes they will be able to fill those positions. Without this type of planning Tesco would see good employees leaving for better opportunities elsewhere. This will make it harder for Tesco to fill gaps at a later date. Conclusion on Human Resource Planning Humans are the most important resource to Tesco and they will need to make sure that they plan properly to ensure that they employee the best people who are best suited to the job. This will ensure they have an advantage over their rivals, as rivals can copy products but not staff. 2. Recruitment and Selection Tesco recruit staff for a number of reasons. Initial recruiting is needed when a new store opens and after that there will be a constant need for recruiting due to the changing needs of Tesco and the needs of he employees. o The growth of Tesco is usually seen with the opening of new stores. The opening of stores means that they need to recruit so that the employees can run the store. o Changing job roles within the business o Resignation, retirement, dismissal also means that recruitment needs to take place in order to replace these workers and keep the business running as before o Internal promotion means that new recruits are needed when existing employees are being promoted to higher positions, which leads to vacancies which can be filled by internal candidates. Promotion usually means that there are now gaps at the lower skill level in the store and this creates jobs for external candidates with less experience. Extra costs are always frowned upon by businesses and recruitment, if not properly done can cost a business a lot of money and time. This means that it is very important for a business to recruit accurately and this will mean that the recruiting team have a clear idea of what sort of person the business is looking for and what is expected from them. The team can save the business money and time by: o Preparing person specifications and job description which clearly outline what kind of person they are looking for and with what qualifications. The job description will clearly linked with what they are expected to do once recruited and what is expected of them. o Carefully planning how, when and where to advertise as this will save time and money for Tesco. Tesco need to weigh out the costs and benefits of different methods of advertising (e.g. using internet or the local newspaper), when the best time for advertising is (in the summer holidays or beginning of the school year) and where to advertise (e.g. in the stores or at the job centre). o Identifying the strengths and weakness of job applications, curriculum vitae and letters of application. The recruiting team will need to be very experienced at electing candidates. Their experience in recruiting will be reflected in the quality of candidates they recruit. o Short-listing candidates involves selecting a small number of applicants for the next stage. This may well be training or more tasks to lower the number of people for the next stage. This selecting will carry on until the right numbers of candidates are found with the desired quality. The recruiting team need to be able to distinguish easily the strong applicants from the weak as there may be hundreds of applicants. When recruiting every applicant deserves and expects the same opportunity as their rivals. There are many legal and ethnic responsibilities relating to equal opportunities which Tesco must uphold so that they don’t break the government law and trust of the public. Below are a few acts passed by the government which will govern the recruiting method and process. o Equal Pay Act 1970, requires employers to pay same rate of pay to men and women if they are doing the same job. o Sex Discrimination Act 1975 states that employers may not discriminate on grounds of gender. This act makes it illegal to discriminate against a particular sex when: o Advertising to fill jobs available o Appointing employees for those jobs o Promoting staff into better jobs o Determining the terms and conditions of the ob o When offering employees opportunities for training and development There are Exceptions to this act where this act does not apply. However, these exceptions do not apply to Tesco and this means that the whole act is to be followed by Tesco. o Race Relations Act 1976 makes discrimination on grounds of race illegal in the same areas as the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, i.e. advertising jobs, appointing staff, promoting staff and providing staff benefits. Again there are exceptions which do not apply to Tesco which means the whole act is to be followed by Tesco. o Disability Discrimination Act 1995 updates the protection for disabled persons and places it onto a similar basis as for other forms of discrimination. Key aspects of the Act warn against discriminating when advertising jobs, appointing staff, promoting staff and providing staff benefits. It also states that reasonable steps must be taken to ensure that a disabled person can work on the premises. This act does not cover organisations employing fewer than 20 people. It is therefore correct to say that this act is to be followed closely by Tesco as their employees’ number thousands. However, Tesco only have to do what is reasonable. If modifications are very expensive then this would be deemed unreasonable. There is some government financial assistance available for modifications to buildings. To ensure that only suitable candidates are chosen and to make the selecting process easier and less time consuming, there are testing method and techniques available to the recruiting team. Aptitude tests It has become increasingly common for employers to expect job applicants to carry out tests to give a fuller picture of their ability to do the job applied for. They are appropriate or manual work where there is some skill involved and also for office work. These types of tests are appropriate for Tesco to use as they will allow them to find out more about the applicant before selecting and will allow the applicants to show their full potential. Psychometric tests These types of test assess the intelligence and personality of applicants. They are much more sophisticated then aptitude tests and Tesco must have properly trained staff to carry out and analyse the tests. The producers of such test argue that they are unbiased and that they can sow, for example, if a candidate would work well in a team. Human resources department must have good interviewing techniques and the interviews must adopt these methods and techniques when interviewing to ensure they reach out comes in the best interest of Tesco and its entire staff. Tesco must make sure that recruiters are aware of all the criteria for evaluating the recruitment process and must ensure that all the guidelines and methods are followed carefully. Many employers now use their employees in a ‘flexible’ way so that they can get the most value form them. Tesco must understand the importance of recruiting and maintaining a flexible workforce if they are to remain competitive. There are different bases for recruiting people for a flexible workforce, and below I have mentioned a few: o Different modes of employment o Different terms and conditions Just as methods of working have changed, so have the terms and conditions under which people are employed. People may be employed full-time or part-time under a number of contractual arrangements. o Core employees are highly paid workers who offer ‘firm-specific’ skills which are hard to acquire form anywhere else. Often such skills will have been acquired within the organisation itself. They provide functional flexibility because they do a range of tasks. Because they are so ‘firm-specific’ they have high job security. o Part-time, temporary and contract labour Sometimes temporary staff are required for short periods of time either to replace employees who are absent or to help out in busy times. When labour is plentiful the short-term contract enables firms to meet present staffing needs without making a long-term contract. Tesco use this type of recruitment when there is a shortage of staff or when there s a busy period (e.g. Christmas) which demands more assistants in the shop floor. Conclusion on Recruitment and Selection Tesco must ensure that their recruiting team is the properly qualified as a good team will lead to good recruits. Tesco must ensure that they use the best and fair methods suited to their environment to select the right candidates. This will ensure the best people are working for them to create the top company. 3. Training and Development A general definition of ‘training’ is: ‘the acquisition of a body of knowledge and skills which can be applied to a particular job’ Training can be divided into two main categories: ‘on the job’ training or ‘off the job training. ‘on the job’ training This means that the employees acquire their training or development in the workplace itself. An example of this in Tesco is when they recruit a school leaver who has little work experience. One of the supervisors will show the new recruit what they have to carry out and may show them how this is done. ‘off the job’ training This means attending courses which may be in a collage or training centre away from the work place. This usually applies when there are insufficient facilities or people to train the trainees. Tesco may want its entire senior staff to have a high degree of understanding in health and safety and for this they may send their seniors to a course where they would acquire this knowledge from experts. Induction This is an introduction to the organisation for new employees. It is designed to familiarise new recruits with the organisation, its rules, facilities, policies and key staff. Usually an introductory pack containing the main details will be provided. In Tesco this would be carried out once a recruit starts working or when they are being promoted and new responsibilities are put on them. The induction is very important to both Tesco and their new employee. Tesco need to ensue that they give the best possible start to the recruit and the employee needs to be satisfied that this it is in their best interest to work for Tesco. Tesco will also get their first impression of their recruit so this stage is important for Tesco. Mentoring This can take a number of forms. It may involve an experienced member of staff supporting a new recruit through initial stages after joining the organisation. The aim is to give a new member of staff a point of contact where problems can be taken and advice given. The meetings are usually informal and supportive and the mentor is often someone at the same level in the organisation as the new recruit. Mentoring will allow the new member to pick up new ideas quickly and will be more beneficial for the company. Coaching Coaching is a term which is becoming increasingly used in association with training in business. It involves an expert helping employees to develop specific skills through explanation, practice and encouragement. Coaching is becoming popular as a means of developing the skills of senior managers. This is important as it targets employees at the higher end of the chart. Their success will be passed on to the juniors and this will mean that better managers will mean better staff. Apprenticeships Traditionally, an apprenticeship involved a trainee working for a period of time with a craftsperson in order to learn a trade. In-house raining This is where employers run courses inside their own organisation. Courses run ‘in house’ will be ones where it is impractical and unrealistic to offer any other alternative – an oblivious example would be the organisation induction programme. This type of training is very useful to Tesco because this means that they can easily gather all their employees and teach them new methods or make them aware of surrounding situations. This will give them advantage over rivals as it will mean that all their staff are always up-to date with the latest knowledge, skills and methods. External training Sometimes it is necessary to send staff to do courses elsewhere. This may be at a factory of a n equipment supplier (when an organisation buys new equipment the supplier will usually run training programmes at its own factory to get employees accustomed to using it). This type of training will make the employees more efficient as they won’t be wasting valuable time on the shop floor trying to figure out what certain buttons on a machine do. Transferable skills These are skills that, once learnt, may be applied in many different situations. The key skills of Application of Number, Communication and Information Technology are transferable. This could be for example cashing up the till. Non-transferable skills These are narrow skills that are job specific; they apply only to a particular situation. This for example could be the procedure of dealing with out of date food. Conclusion on Training and Development Knowledge and skills of staff are vital to the success of Tesco. Therefore, they must ensure their employees are best trained and that they are always developing. 4. Performance Management A business needs to ensure that its employees are performing effectively. It will wish to: o Identify areas which are unsatisfactory o It may wish to find areas where employees need to be trained and developed o It may wish to encourage and reward good performance – perhaps with performance-related pay in the form of bonuses or pay increases. Performance management refers to the practice of setting targets, measuring performance against these and suggesting courses of action. A number of methods may be used to check performance the choice will depend upon the business in question. Performance reviews including appraisals An increasingly important way of getting feedback on employee performance is through appraisal. Appraisal may be closed, in which case the report remains confidential. More usually the process is open, in which case the appraisee takes an active part in the review process and discusses the results. The appraisal essentially looks at what an employee’s job is, how well it is being performed, and what action should be taken for the future. Self-appraisals Self-appraisals involves employees assessing themselves against a series of criteria. These results can then Peer evaluations This involves employees on the same level within the organisation assessing each other. This may mean that managers in different of Tesco observe each others and write a report. Target setting for individuals and groups All employees should know just what’s expected of them on the job. When setting targets the Human Resources department for Tesco must make sure that their targets meet these criteria: o They should be specific. Every person doing a job should know exactly what he or she is expected to do. o They should be measurable. Tesco should have a touchstone against which performance can be measured. o They must be attainable. Unless the targets can be met, staff will consider them unfair and Tesco may find that their staff, resist working towards them. Measuring individual and group output/production Tesco employ staff in order to help the organisation sell the products and provide its customers with quality service. The efforts of the human resources managers will be towards improving the performance of employees and thereby enabling the organisation to achieve its objectives. Performance can be measured in a number of ways: o Performance through profit This may mean comparing its profit for different years or against its other stores. o Performance through quality Today, quality is a word used in all organisations, those providing services as well as those providing goods. This means that Tesco can use methods such as suggestion box for customers to praise customer service or to make complaints against staff. This will enable management to work with the employee in question or to reward them. o Performance through productivity In Tesco, sales representatives, for example, keep records of sales they make. Tesco can for example, compare two staff at the checkouts working the same shifts to see how fast they are serving the customers, by analysing how many customers they have served. They can use this to determine training needs. After setting these performances, the staff will be monitored and their results analysed. In order for Tesco to prosper amongst their rivals they must use the performance results as a way to find and solve problems. For example, the results may show that a particular employee or a group of employee lack certain aspects of knowledge in their jobs. Using this information Tesco can target these employees and send them on training programmes so that they are more developed. Motivation It may seem obvious that staff should be motivated; however, from the point of human resources management this is only true if motivation leads to improvements in the work. Over the years a number of management theories have been put forward in an attempt to explain the nature of motivation and suggest ways in which it may be improved. Frederick Taylor’s principles of scientific management Taylor’s belief was that complex tasks should be broken into separate operations so that little could go wrong. Each operation would be performed by a separate employee. The whole job could then be completed in a series of stages by a number of employees working together. This theory can be seen if one aspect of Tesco is looked in to detail. For example, when a delivery comes one employee doesn’t unload the truck, check them off, and put them on the shelves. This process of getting goods from the truck on to the shop floor is done by a number of employees working in team so that once one stage is completed the second can be tackled by another set of employees. This way each set of employees knows exactly what they are required to do and chance of something going wrong is decreased. Fredrick Herzberg’s two factor theory Herzberg’s theories, produced in the 1950s, concern job design and satisfaction. From numerous interviews with accountants and engineers he concluded that two sets of factors are important. o Hygiene factors, which include reasonable pay, satisfactory conditions of work and benefits such as sick pay. o Motivators, which include responsibility, challenge and self-improvement. Hertzberg believed that properly designed jobs provide satisfaction and personal development for the employee. The workers become motivated, perform well and are less likely to be absent. To Tesco this theory is very important. They have taken advice from such theory and adapted their policies where possible to suit their employees. Tesco pay competitive rates, their working conditions are of top quality and they have many benefits. These are a result of understanding this theory and implementing them so that they get the desired results that all companies want. Abraham Maslow’s hierarch of needs Maslow developed his ‘Theory of Human Motivation’ in 1943. He believed that motivation comes from a desire to satisfy needs. He placed these in a hierarchy with the basic needs at the bottom of the pyramid and higher needs at the top. In practice Maslow accepted that a variety of needs will exist at the same time, but suggested that once lower needs are satisfied then higher needs become the strongest motivators. Maslows theory has the same basis of Fredrick Herzbergs’s two factor theory because they both argue that what satisfies a person is the hygiene factors and the Motivators. Fredrick just says that a combination of these two factors leads to better performance where are Maslow goes further to say that they come in a set order where once basic needs are satisfied, higher, more complicated desires will be sought. Both Maslow and Fredrick speak of the same requirements in their theory. Evidence of both these theories can be seen in the day to day running of one of the Tesco stores. One such examples is the promotion of senior managers to managerial positions. In this instance the desire of the employee in question has been fulfilled and soon their desire will advance and they may start looking for further responsibility. Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Y. In his book , The Human Side of Enterprise, he put forward two extreme views about the way in which organisations manage their employees. He called theses ‘Theory X’ and ‘Theory Y’. ‘Theory X’ states that all employees are lazy unambitious and dislike extra responsibilities. They will always resist change of any kind and are totally uninterested in the future success or otherwise of their employer. They are not interested in how the organisation works and prefer to be told what to do. ‘Theory Y’ is exactly the opposite. Employees are interested in their work and want to be asked for their opinions on how to improve things. They want to be given more responsibilities and will naturally work hard without having to be told what to do all the time. They are also prepared to accept change because they understand it is in everyone’s best interest to move with the times. In practice theses views are extreme ends of the scale and Tesco like most other organisations falls between the two. They have both employees who have the characteristics of ‘theory X’ as well as employees with characteristics of ‘theory Y’. Naturally the more characteristics an employee holds of ‘theory Y’ the more likely that that person will be promoted to higher, more responsible positions as it’s in the best interest for Tesco to make ‘theroy Y’ employees managers key workers. One reason is that ‘theory Y’ employees are more likely to have better attendance and punctuality rates because they are self motivating, and this is a great advantage to Tesco and will help Tesco move further. McGregor’s theories are similar to Muslow’s and Fredrick Herzberg’s. They are all closely related because they all base their theories on the same principle of desire. All their theories show that if a person desires for something and the condition is right then they will work towards it with all their effort. For example, if their s a managerial position and they have the ability to grasp that position then they will, but only if they have the desire to take such responsibility. If however, the conditions are right but the desire is absent then they may not try for such a position or may be promoted with no desire which could lead to chaos. On the other hand, if there is an employee with the desire and no opening is in sight then he/she may decide that the best option for them is to move to another company. Therefore, Tesco endeavours to provide eager, hardworking employees the benefits and promotions they rightly deserve. Relationship between Training & Development and Performance Management Before Tesco can give its staff advance training it needs to know what they lack. It will be very expensive for Tesco to give training to its entire staff regarding all the different aspects of the company. Therefore Tesco needs a way of knowing what their staffs lack knowledge in and which staff or group of staff in particular. As I have mentioned earlier there are many different ways of finding out the training is needs and there is a variety of training programs to suit the needs of the employees. Tesco will set training according to the needs which arise from the performance reviews. Once training is given another performance review will be done to asses its success and further training may be suggested. This cycle of training and reviews will always be part of any company due to advances in technology and constant changes in employees and the attitude of society. The training methods Tesco decide to use and they way in which they review performance will be according to the way in which the person in charge understands and evaluates the A business needs to ensure that its employees are performing effectively. It will wish to: o Identify areas which are unsatisfactory o It may wish to find areas where employees need to be trained and developed o It may wish to encourage and reward good performance – perhaps with performance-related pay in the form of bonuses or pay increases. Performance management refers to the practice of setting targets, measuring performance against these and suggesting courses of action. Conclusion on Performance Management Tesco must ensure that performance of staff are at their very best. They must use suitable methods to find weakness in staff and improve. T succeed they must make certain that the correct attitude is always emanating from their employees and that they are ready for change. Quality of information collected from recruitment documents When Tesco are recruiting people they have set procedures to deal with application forms and there are several key recruitment documents that are used by them to evaluate the quality of the person applying. Before any candidate is given the an interview they must pass the selection process. When Tesco are advertising for a recruit they will provide the person with a job description. A job description lists the main tasks required in a job. The person flicking through the newspaper for example, will decide if the tasks suit them and they will then apply if they do. Along with the Job description, Tesco will also provide what is known as a person specification. This sets out the qualities of an ideal candidate whereas a job description defines the duties and responsibilities of the job. The best-known method of drawing up person specification is based upon seven separate groups of characteristic: 1. Physique, health and appearance 2. Attainments 3. General intelligence 4. Special Aptitudes 5. Interests 6. Disposition 7. Circumstances This specification clearly sets out the description of the ideal candidate and applicants can be easily measured against this. This makes the job of the interviewer much easier and will ensure that Tesco are recruiting the right people for the right job. One a person has seen the advertisement and they want to work at Tesco, there are many ways they can apply. Below I will list them and analyse the advantages and disadvantages of each: The curriculum vitae (CV) This is the most common way in which applicants let Tesco know that they are interested to work in Tesco. CVs are very useful to Tesco as they advantages Provides an overview of the applicant Easy to produce Taught at school Can be used in the selection process Can be used to compare against requirements disadvantages May not provide vital information Not everybody has easy access to computers The letter of application This is simply a letter asking for the job and explaining why they are suitable it. Human Resources department staff may need to read hundreds of application letters so it is in the applicants interests to pay attention to doing it properly. advantages o Can be used in the sorting process o Provides an overview of the applicant disadvantages o The person taught to write letters well at school will stand out even though their other qualities might no be so good o The letter may miss out information, which is important, and conversely is likely to dwell on factors, which make them look a more attractive applicant. The application Form This is a far more commonly used method of selection. Consultants devote hours to designing a new and better forms which will extract even more accurate information from people. advantages o Specific requirements from the job and person specification can be compared with the application form o Questions, which might otherwise not be answered in CVs or letters, can be asked. o The form can act as a framework for the interviewer, making the interview easier to conduct. o Forms can be kept of all short listed candidates and drawn on them again if another vacancy arises. o The form for the successful applicant will become a very useful part of his/hers personal records. disadvantages o Costly to design and produce. The effects of I.C.T on recruitment documents The advance of I.C.T means that companies like Tecso use their web site to advertise jobs. They also have online application forms that will appeal to a wider range of audience. Their website also facilitates for C.Vs to be sent directly to Tesco. The new ways of capturing information is a great advantage to Tesco. They receive application forms and C.Vs within minutes, which saves them time and money. However initial costs of setting up the websites are very high, but the Human Resources Department doesn’t have to worry about this because Tesco will have a website whether the Human Resource department want to use it or not.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Flatlands Questions Essay

1) Which did you like better – the movie or the book, and why? I liked the movie better. I personally did not really like the ending of the book. A. Square got to see the 3rd dimension, something no one except the council knew about. I thought there was going to be a big revelation at the end of the book, but instead he gets thrown into jail and basically forgotten. It was like nothing happened. Not even his grandson found out. 2) Provide 3 major differences between the movie and the book? In the book, all women were lines. However, the women could be squares, hexagons, or even circles. There was a monument given to Flatland that no one was allowed to be around in the movie, but there was no such thing in the book. Also, A. Square actually had people thinking and rebelling against the circles because of his trial in the movie. In the book he was locked up and forgotten. In the book, A. Square’s grandson later said that what he had said about other dimensions foolish, while in the movie, A. Square’s granddaughter went to go find out about the 3rd dimension herself and was thrown into space. 3) What outstanding questions exist from the movie? If there are the 4th, 5th, 6th, etc. dimensions, what would the new direction added be? What kind of important information has a higher authority hid from us commoners? What facts that we definitely consider true are actually false?

The Ministers Black Veil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Ministers Black Veil - Essay Example Milton Stewart’s comment is remarkable in this regard, â€Å"Evil will forever reign over good, for the peccable, weak souls of todays youth are for more intelligent than any of us will ever be.† Nathaniel Hawthorne has incorporated this theme in some of his works of great significance, for instance, ‘The Scarlet Letter’ and ‘Young Goodman Brown’. Hawthorne through his work ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’ tends to identify individual flaw with universal character of mankind using a symbol, which hides the physical but reveals the abstract. The short story of Hawthorne uses the black veil as a symbol, which gains prominence in the very title of the story. The black veil predominates the very plot and theme of the story. The story initiates in front of the church where the funeral ceremony of a young maiden is being held and the minister appears with a black veil covering more than half of his face. Only his mouth and chin were visible and the onlookers search for the reason behind it. When he bends over the maiden the veil hangs such that if the corpse’s eyes are open she can see his face. This again raises a question about the reason why he is hiding his face and what his â€Å"secret sin† is. He immediately catches the veil with his hand to keep the face covered. Even his wife cannot get a definite answer and the minister declares that he is going to wear the veil throughout his life. Many critics have questioned the purpose of using the veil but according to Carnochan, the black veil serves more as a à ¢â‚¬Å"symbol of symbols† than simply a â€Å"parable of guilt†. The purpose of the veil is to reflect a meaning on one hand and on the other, hide it – â€Å"inviting speculation and resisting it† (Freedman, 354). Once the face is revealed the significance of the veil will be lost. The purpose of using the veil in the story is to initiate emotions of an individual. The plot tactfully reveals the curiosity of the townspeople,

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Premarital screening (testing) for Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease Essay

Premarital screening (testing) for Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease (CSD) - Essay Example The thalassemias are a group of heterogenous group of inherited disorders caused by genetic defects as a consequence of which decreased synthesis of either the alpha or beta chain of HbA occurs (Aster, 2007, pg.632). When deficient synthesis of beta chain occurs, it is known as beta-thalassemia and when alpha synthesis is affected, it is known as alpha-thalassemia. Sickle cell anemia is a type of disease characterized by production of defective hemoglobins because of which sickling of red cells occurs in certain conditions (Aster, 2007, pg.628). Thalassemia has a wide distribution, particularly in areas where malaria has been endemic like in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, India and China). It is most common around the Mediterranean Sea, especially in Italy and Greece (Al-Suliman, 2006). The prevalence of the ÃŽ ²-thalassemia gene is estimated to range between 0.01 to 0.15 in various areas of Saudi Arabia (Al-Suliman, 2006). Several reports from Arab countries indicate that ÃŽ ²-thalassemia carriers have common genetic abnormalities, and the frequency of this disorder varies from country to country in the Middle East and is reported as 1% to 15% (Al-Suliman, 2006). In a study by Karimi and colleagues (2002), the prevalence of beta-thalassemia trait was estimated to be 5-10%. Hemoglobin S is most common in persons of African ancestry. In some regions of Africa, it has been estimated that up to 40% of the population is heterozygous for hemoglobin S. The gene is also present in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Indian popula tions. Ten percent of American blacks are estimated to be heterozygous and 1 in 650 as homozygous (Schwarting, 2007). The normal hemoglobin of humans contains 4 globin chains. These are denoted as 2 ÃŽ ± and 2 non-ÃŽ ± chains. There are 3 normal variants of hemoglobin based on the nature of the non-ÃŽ ± chains. The commonest variant is Hemoglobin A (ÃŽ ±2ÃŽ ²2) which accounts for 95% to 98% of the total in adults. The adults

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Hexin Toy Co. Ltd Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Hexin Toy Co. Ltd - Case Study Example Selling concept go through in this cycle, that is product to selling & promotion to profit through sales volume. Selling concept was characterized by a heavy reliance on promotional activity to sell the products, the firm wanted to make. The selling stage, unfortunately overly aggressive selling the "the hard sell"--- & unscrupulous tactics was also involved at a stage. 1.3 Product concept: The product concept holds that consumers will favor those products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative features. Product also included persons, places, organization &ideas. As example; IBM PC they offer faster system, touch stone screen, ms dos operating system, first 3.5 inch floppy drive, 30%wholesale 40% margin, Hewlett- Packard discovers. This concept very the importance of product & the consumers needs & wants. Marketing Concept: The marketing concept is a simple but very important idea. The marketing concept means that an organization aims all its efforts at satisfying its customer -at a profit. Marketing concepts constitutes with four essential elements. Such as understanding customer's need, target market, profitability and above all integrated. Marketing concepts guides the whole company effort through developing long and short term marketing plan. 1.5 Societal Marketing Concept: The societal marketing concept holds that the organization's task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer's and the society's well-being. The societal marketing concept calls upon marketers to build social and ethical considerations into their marketing practices.... The product concept holds that consumers will favor those products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative features. The product also included persons, places, organization &ideas. As an example; IBM PC they offer faster system, touchstone screen, ms-dos operating system, first 3.5-inch floppy drive, 30%wholesale 40% margin, Hewlett- Packard discovers. This concept very the importance of product & the consumer's needs & wants. Marketing Concept: The marketing concept is a simple but very important idea. The marketing concept means that an organization aims all its efforts at satisfying its customer –at a profit. Marketing concepts constitute with four essential elements. Such as understanding customer’s need, target market, profitability and above all integrated.1.5 Societal Marketing Concept: The societal marketing concept holds that the organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver the desir ed satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer’s and the society’s well-being.The societal marketing concept calls upon marketers to build social and ethical considerations into their marketing practices. They must balance and juggle the often-conflicting criteria of company profits, the consumer wants satisfaction, and public interest yet a number of companies have achieved notable sales and profit gains by adopting and practicing the societal marketing concept.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Indecent Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Indecent Behavior - Essay Example 439). The attraction towards indecency through media is increasing day by day. Studies concerned with internet utilization prove that the sites which provide access to sexual materials have great popularity among the internet users. There is the great threat that the children may easily get exposed to indecent content and in order to prevent it the congress enacted the Communications Decency Act of 1996. It prohibited anyone from knowingly transmitting any indecent communication to persons under the age of 18, through a telecommunications device (Lively & Weaver, 2006, P. 149). The society is a deciding factor in determining what is right and what is wrong. Social changes occurring in one’s society can alter one’s attitude and behaviors. Say for people have different opinions about the homosexuality. Some are totally against it while the other group gives consent mentally. Certain countries’ legal systems make the particular group see themselves as wronged and pe rsecuted and it relieves their feeling of guilt. It is because of the police that homosexuals often regard themselves as unfairly treated minority group (Nardi & Schneider, 1998, p.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Industry Analysis, Target Market, and Competition Analysis of Plastic Essay

Industry Analysis, Target Market, and Competition Analysis of Plastic Surgery Center in Morris County, NJ - Essay Example Plastic Surgery Center in Morris County, NJ is one of the most well-known centers in this region. The present marketing activity of Plastic Surgery Center in Morris County profiles as well as overviews industry and situational analysis. A comprehensive overview of the SWOT and industry on the whole give insights on marketing strategy to follow in order to retain existing and attract new customers, who would become regulars. Thus, the analysis identifies marketing problem and offers marketing focus, objectives, program as well as tactics for the marketing plan implementation. The final part provides information on evaluation and control of the marketing implementation. The Plastic Surgery Center provides beauty services to men and women. The main types of services are Breast augmentation, Breast lift, Breast reconstruction, facelift, liposuction, total body lift, Botox, laser skin resurfacing, chemical peels, different types of message, etc. Plastic Surgery Center surgeons pride themselves on superb-quality services with innovative and stunning technology that provide excellent value to the customers. Plastic Surgery Center has positioned itself as a provider of superior service and products to all clients at an affordable price in convenient locations appealing to all family members. The centre has managed to position itself on the high-end of the service providing due to high standards for its customers, who are specially trained for high performance and consulting (Black 44). The strategic focus of all companies in this industry is providing hairdressing services with the superior quality and value for the customers. Efforts are aimed at providing friendly, efficient service from professional surgeons who are well-trained doctors to make the experience memorable and provide for loyal customers. The efforts are incorporated with the Centre's mission and vision as well as with the corporate culture instilled in the team, which according to the company's belief are the things that can bring a big difference (Doyle and Stern 98). The Plastic Surgery Center vision statementis to be a great business that is based on principles of: Profitability Friendliness Creativeness Consistency Great Value Cutting Edge Community mindedness ("Practice Philosophy". 2009). The Plastic Surgery Center puts emphasis on its clients receiving a service of a great value. The goal of marketing campaign, thus, is to retain existing customers and attract new customers, who would become long-term regular loyal customers, by the means of primary services as well as pleasant additional elements, which range from prices to the superior professional and products in terms of provided services. Situation analysis provides an insight on the Centre's position within the industry as well as overview of competitors, customers, industry trends. SWOT analysis outlines Plastic Surgery Center key strengths and weaknesses as well as describes opportunities and threats that its salons may face (Plastic Surgery Center in Morris County NJ 2009). Strengths Established brand equity and name in the industry Strong and business committed franchisees Well-trained medical professionals with high standard skills and creative customer-focused approaches Convenient locations and physical evidence elements in the centres, which are located

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Analytical Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analytical Paper - Essay Example 56). The question that we need to ask ourselves is, what then is the relationship between the employee and this pathological entity as depicted by Balkan? To answer this question the paper will look at the responsibilities of employees to the corporation and vice versa, how the corporation shapes identity of an employee, the ethical relationships to another and how creativity is managed. The employee and the corporation are often assumed to have a psychological contract that governs the behavior of employees and the employer. In this contract, the employee has a responsibility to the corporation in terms of what/she puts in and in return expects compensation from the employer (Bakan, 59). The employee thus gives the corporation his/her expertise, experience, education, efforts and skills and expects to receive a fair remuneration for the efforts from the employer. The corporation on the other hand, expects outcome from employee in terms of loyalty, engagement, improved performance (i.e. increased revenues and profits). A breach of contract on either side may lead to detrimental consequences such as reduced productivity or high turnover rate. This was especially so in traditional organizations where loyalty to the employer was key. What happens today where organizations have become networked and operate in different geographical areas, where there is no direct contac t between employee and employer? For today’s employees’ loyalty is of little importance as they move more towards independence and do not expect to work for one company for a long time. The employees give value to the corporation in terms of improved performance and productivity but if their efforts are not rewarded adequately, they move on to other corporations. In the other hand, the corporations have the responsibility to take care of their assets who are the employees. Today, due to increased tendency towards cost-benefit analysis corporations expect the highest

Friday, August 23, 2019

Critical Process Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Critical Process - Term Paper Example Due to this analysis the most truthful opinion is that videogames inspire and cultivate aggressive behaviour not any more or less than other forms of media like television or internet. This statement was a basis on which video games already received a First Amendment protection during the attempt of state government of California to forbid selling violent videogames to minors. Nevertheless despite the victory of videogames in that battle, though it gave them equal rights with other media, the main war is still raging on. Doctors, researchers and most of all immoderately and excessively careful and anxious parents seek to find right tactics to blame videogames in the wrong behaviour of their children. Such scenario slowly moves but still parents themselves are more responsible for any problems that they have with their children and videogames have nothing to do about it. As for the other types of media they are more independent and not so young as videogames. For those who don’t know it may be interesting that nowadays there is a serious discussion on the matter of giving videogames a status of art. This requires more significant and attentive look from the government, producers of videogames and customers. Books, movies and films are strictly categorized by the level of age and also a lot of other restrictions and requirements (for example aspersion and slander towards other person must not take place in any media). Therefore, by connecting with the world of real media and art videogames must be of a high level. The rate of the game is not similar to the rate of violence in it. Violence is just an extra option because a majority of all games need one player or a team of players to conquer, smash, beat or simply make lose the other player or team of players. Most of the games follow the jungle rule of the survival of the fittest (eat or be ea ten). Such parents` concern about the

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Cheating and plagiarism for my religion class Essay Example for Free

Cheating and plagiarism for my religion class Essay The movie we watched was very interesting. I felt like I could definitely relate to most of the situations they brought up. In particular, the point about how you felt the need to cheat nowadays to keep up with the cheaters. Their information was very accurate and it really gives you a look into what life is like as a student. When watching it I really felt like what they were saying was pro-cheater. The only problem with the movie was the give a lot of great reasons why there is such a high percentage of cheaters out there, but the never offered any ways to fix the problem. Then the movie switched to the problem of plagiarism. They addressed the issue and showed some of the difficulties of trying to detect it. They then went into the only way of detecting it and how to avoid detection. Afterward they showed an example of a class and how bad plagiarism has gotten. Still they never offered any way to solve the problem. I really enjoyed the movie we watched in class it was very interesting. Through out the movie I felt could relate to the students telling their experiences. For example, one girl talked about how she feels the need to cheat to keep up with all the other cheaters out there. From my experience, I have tried studying long hours for tests and then going in the next day, taking the test and then having the person next to me cheat and get a higher grade. I myself cheat because nowadays it is all about grades and getting into the best colleges and getting the highest grade point average (g.p.a.), and with out a good g.p.a., you cannot get into a good college. So to get into a good college and get a good paying job some people are willing to do what ever it takes and to keep up with them we have to do the same things. Through out the movie I got the sense that they were taking a pro-cheater standpoint. I noticed that they really didnt show you anyone who got anywhere in life by not cheating and so I got the feeling that they wanted us to walk away with better knowledge and methodologies on how to cheat. By the end of the movie, I really felt like cheating was no longer a bad thing and in fact it had actually become almost necessary to succeed in life and everyone is doing it. They also gave only examples of people who cheat all the time and easily get away with it. Once again, they never offered any solution to the problem. Next, they talked about plagiarism. They did an experiment with a World History class and had the kids write a paper on their favorite explorer. Then the teacher took all the papers and used the one tool out there that can check for plagiarism, turnitin.com. She submitted all the papers to this website and got them back with all the plagiarized portion of each students paper underlined. When she got the papers back, more than half the papers were plagiarized and some only had a few original sentences. It just goes to show how big of a problem plagiarism is these days. Then they said that the website only detects plagiarism if eight of the words are an exact match so to avoid detection all you have to do is change every eighth word and to be on the safe side you could play around with that number. Even though the movie never offered any way of solving either problem, they still informed you of the problem. I really enjoyed the movie. I left wanting to cheat and plagiarize. In the movie, they talked about a person who would write papers for you for $25 a page. Though I dont know anyone that would do that for me, if I did, after watching the movie, I probably would have enlisted for his help. However, I dont know anyone who would so I guarantee that this paper is completely original.

Ethics in Professionals Essay Example for Free

Ethics in Professionals Essay . Salgo v Leland Sanford University Board of Trustees notes that if the health professional do not present all the necessary facts that will form the basis for the decision of the patient, the professional has committed a violation. The patient has to undergo an operation in the heart, in his aorta. Before the operation, he is well. After the operation, the patient experienced paralysis in his lower extremities and that the condition is permanent. There has been negligence in the part of the doctors and they fail to explain to the patient all the details of the procedure (Standford 1957). 2. Arato v. Avedon states that the physicians must present the accurate statistics regarding the life expectancy of patients regarding their case so they could plan for their death. Arato was suffering from an illness in his pancreas. He was told by the doctors to undergo F. A. M. chemotherapy. The doctors have failed to give the patient the chances of recovering after the chemotheraphy (LSU Law Center 1993). 3. The Schloendorff case has been part of the history of informed consent when the concept was made upon the decision of the judge that adults and those who are capable of thinking well can determine what can be done to his body and that any professionals who work on a patient’s body without the latter’s consent is guilty of assault and is liable of any charges. It says that as long as the patient is capable of right thinking, he can give his consent regarding the operation to his body. The victim has some problems in her stomach. When she was under anesthesia, the doctor performed removal of fibroid tumor. The patient only gave her consent to have ether examination. After the operation, the patient has to be amputated because of infection and gangrene (Szczygiel). 4. Canterbury v. Spence also states that all information regarding the result, the risks, benefits of the operation must be revealed to the patient. The patient was suffering from back pains. The doctors performed an operation which resulted in paralysis. The doctors failed to disclose the risks of the operation (Stanford, 1972). 5. The Patient Self-Determination Act provides a document of the rights of the patients to participate in making decisions for their own safety and make directives. It also says that violation of it makes the health professionals ethically liable. B. Timeline Schloendorff case (1914) ? Salgo v. Leland Sanford University Board of Trustees (1957) ? Canterbury v. Spemce (1972) ? Arato v. Avedon ? Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) (1991) C. Informed Consent Informed Consent involves the participation of the patient regarding the decision to whether a procedure will be done to the patient or not. The patient has the right to give consent. Informed consent means that the patient is informed regarding all the information that is necessary for the patient to have a basis in making his decision. Information includes the status of his illness, the life expectancy, the treatment that could be done and its risks and benefits, and all other possible treatments. The patients must also be informed to the possible consequences of not performing the treatment or even the consequences if the treatment is performed Works Cited: LSU Law Center. 1993. No duty to inform patient of non-medical information ARATO v. AVEDON 858 P. 2d 598 (Cal 1993) available from http://biotech. law. lsu. edu/cases/ consent/ARATO_v_AVEDON. htm [15 February 2009] Stanford University. 1957. Salgo v. Leland Stanford etc. Bd. Trustees, 154 Cal. App. 2d 560 available from http://www. stanford. edu/group/psylawseminar/Salgo. htm [15 February 2009] . 1972. Canterbury v. Spence. , 464 F. 2d 772 (D. C. Cir. 1972) available from http://www. stanford. edu/group/psylawseminar/Canterbury. htm [15 February 2009] Szczygiel, Tony. 1914. Mary E. Schloendorff, Appellant, v. The Society of the New York Hospital, Respondent available from http://wings. buffalo. edu/faculty/research/ bioethics/schloen0. html [15 February 2009]

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Psychological Film Analysis: Silver Linings Playbook

Psychological Film Analysis: Silver Linings Playbook Hannah Altom Silver Linings and Family Pat Solitano had several tremendously difficult months under his belt when he was let go from his stay at the psychiatric hospital. He came out only to discover that his wife, Nikki, had left him leaving him with nothing but a restraining order following the acts that put him there to begin with. Now under the care of his parents, Dolores and Pat Senior they realize that they can only deal with so much of Pat’s unpredictable behavior before breaking. One would hardly call waking up their parents in the middle of the night to find their wedding video with their significant other who has a restraining order because he assaulted his wife’s other lover, a much older man. The fragile relationship between the two strengthened after the late night fight over Pats missing wedding video. Pat Seniors obsession with betting on Philadelphia Eagles on complicates their father son relationship when Pat senior attempts to make Pat join in on his crazy game day antics which includes wearing jerseys, stroking the handkerchief and not messing with the Eagles â€Å"juju† Pat thinks its just his dads form of a mental illness. Throughout the movie we see Pat struggling to search for the silver linings which he will not see until he comes to terms with his illness. With his father recently being let go from work Pat Senior is hoping to win enough money from betting on Eagles games to win enough money to open up a restaurant. Pat Senior shares an important thought telling Pat, â€Å"I’m telling you, you gotta pay attention to the signs. When life reaches out with a moment like this, it’s a sin if you don’t reach back. I’m telling you , it’s a sin if you don’t reach back, and it’ll haunt you for the rest of your days like a curse. You’re facing a big challenge in your life right now, at this very moment, right here.† I think the fact that Pat Senior shows symptoms of obsessive compulsive shows that the two are more a like than they would like to think. In one scene Pat Senior even confesses that his Philadephia Eagles ritual is the only way he can think of to involve his son in his life. I found it interesting that Pat’s mother Delores was so submissive. Anytime she would try to get involved in a situation she would back down just to keep the peace between them all. For example, the scene where Pat and Pat Senior are talking about how he is going to get the money to pay for his cheese steak restaurant â€Å" Pat Jr.: So what are you doing with yourself? Pat Senior: You know, Im gonna start a restaurant. Its gonna be a cheesesteak place. Pat: How you gonna pay for it? Pat Senior: Im gonna pay for it, dont worry about it. Pat: From your bookmaking?Pat Senior: Who told you that? Pat: Mom told me. Outside. Dolores: I did not. No, I didnt. Pat: You just told me outside, Mom, what are you talking about? Five minutes ago, we were walking up the stairs, you said, Dont say anything, but Dad lost his job and hes bookmaking. This is a perfect example of her submission and trying to keep peace. In her study, Social Support and Resilience to Stress, Dr. Faith Ozbay found that â€Å"Numerous studies indicate social support is essential for maintaining physical and psychological health. The harmful consequences of poor social support and the protective effects of good social support in mental illness have been well documented. Social support may moderate genetic and environmental vulnerabilities and confer resilience to stress.† This ties into The Silver Linings playbook because, given the situation of Pat finding his wife with a co-worker in the shower that was a very poor social situation and given the circumstances I think any person would go a little crazy to walk in on something like that. In their study, Social Support for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness: Evaluating the Compeer Model of Intentional Friendship, the authors noted that â€Å"In the general population, social support buffers against stressful life events, increases adherence to medical treatments, and improves recovery from medical illness, among other health-promoting effects. For people with Serious Mental Illness, perceptions of adequate social support are associated with several psychological benefits, including increased self-esteem, feelings of empowerment, functioning, quality of life, and recovery, while the absence of social support appears related to greater psychiatric symptoms, poorer perceptions of overall health, and reduced potential for full community integration† This is an important study because all of the factors relate to Pat and his family. If they all had supported each other more and confronted their illnesses, then possibly the bipolar outburst wouldn’t have been so strong. In her study, Mechanisms Linking Social Ties and Support to Physical and Mental Health, Peggy Thoits explains why social support and â€Å"mattering† are important to people that have mental illness.â€Å"Individuals assess the appropriateness of their own attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors against standards that are avowed and/or modeled by reference group members, usually shifting their own to match those of the group. Such influence can occur through simple observing and contrasting of self with others in the social network, without explicit discussion or attempts at persuasion taking place.† This can also tie into the Silver Linings Playbook, there are multiple scenes where a neighbor kid hangs around their house with a video camera and this negative social support from the neighbor could possibly be taking a toll on Pat Junior. Peggy also goes on to say, â€Å"Beyond behavioral guidance, I have argued that knowing who we are to others also provides purpose and mean ing in life, which in turn guard against anxiety and existential despair. A concept related to this function of role identities is â€Å"mattering†, mattering is defined as believing that one is an object of another person’s attention, one is important to that person, and he or she depends on one for fulfillment of specific needs. Because mattering refers to one’s significance to other people, it seems conceptually close to the notion of obtaining purpose and meaning in life from relationships with role partners. In sum, social ties as role identities should supply behavioral guidance and purpose and meaning in life (or a sense of mattering), which in turn should have positive effects on health habits and psychological well-being, respectively.† This theory of mattering is important in dealing with mental illness and just people in general because mostly everyone wants to know that they are wanted by others. Consider a lonely 17 year old girl in highschool constantly dealing with petty high school drama that is pondering that thought of suicide. If this poor girl had someone in her life, a teacher, coach, or even a friend that could fulfill that sense of mattering, then it could greatly change her views of the world and her views on possibly taking her life. References Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. (2013). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association. Mccorkle, B. H., Rogers, E. S., Dunn, E. C., Lyass, A., Wan, Y. M. (2008). Increasing Social Support for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness: Evaluating the Compeer Model of Intentional Friendship. Community Mental Health Journal, 44(5), 359-366. doi: 10.1007/s10597-008-9137-8 Ozbay, F. (2007, May). Social Support and Resilience to Stress. Http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2921311/. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2921311/ Stevenson, T. (2013, May 24). Mind field. Financial Times. Retrieved from http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/25391482-c2f5-11e2-bbbd-00144feab7de.html#axzz2UFE11QWW Thoits, P. A. (2011). Mechanisms Linking Social Ties and Support to Physical and Mental Health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 52(2), 145-161. doi: 10.1177/0022146510395592

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Classical vs. Operant Conditioning :: essays research papers

Learning Thoughts on Learning â€Å"Learning is not compulsory. Neither is survival.† –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  W. Edwards Demming â€Å"Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.† –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B.F. Skinner â€Å"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.† –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pablo Picasso What is Learning? A relatively permanent change in behavior that results from experience Types of Learning †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Classical conditioning †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Operant conditioning †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cognitive and social learning Classical Conditioning: Examples †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sound of a dentist’s drill: sweaty palms †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Smell of mom’s perfume: smiling †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sight of certain restaurant: nausea †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Noise of a can opener: cat comes running †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Smell of a hospital: weakened immunity Classical Conditioning †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Discovered (accidentally) by Ivan Pavlov Pavlov’s Observation †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Studied digestion in dogs Pavlov’s Experiment: Phase 1 †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Food (US): salivation (UR) –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reflexive response †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tone (CS): nothing (CR) Pavlov’s Experiment: Phase 2 †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  CS is repeatedly paired with the US –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A tone is sounded before the food is presented Pavlov’s Experiment: Phase 3 †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eventually, the CS elicits a new CR –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hearing the tone by itself causes salivation Classical Conditioning: Conditioned Emotional Response †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Avoidance learning †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Conditioned phobias –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Little Albert Classical Conditioning †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Extinction †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Spontaneous recovery Classical Conditioning †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stimulus generalization †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stimulus discrimination Higher Order Conditioning †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pair CS1 with a new CS2 †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  CS2: CR †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  But, CR will be weaker Classical Conditioning Applied †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Drug overdoses †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Smoking: environmental cues †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Systematic desensitization †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Advertising: sex appeal †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Taste aversion †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Conditioning and the immune system Types of Learning †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Classical Conditioning †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Operant Conditioning †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cognitive and Social Learning Operant Conditioning: Examples †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tantrums are punished: fewer tantrums †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tantrums bring attention: more tantrums †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Slot machine pays out: gamble more †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reward dog for sitting: dog is likely to sit Operant Conditioning †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thorndike’s puzzle box –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Law of Effect: actions that have positive outcomes are likely repeated †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Skinner box Operant Conditioning: Principles †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stimulus-Response †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reinforcement –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Positive reinforcement –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Negative reinforcement Effective Punishment †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Should be –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Swift –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Consistent –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Appropriately aversive †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Challenges –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Physical punishment may be imitated –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  May fear the person who punishes †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most effective when paired with reinforcers Reinforcement †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Primary reinforcers †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Secondary reinforcers †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Behavior modification †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Immediate versus delayed reinforcement Beyond Basic Reinforcement †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Generalization †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Discrimination –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Discriminative stimulus †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Extinction †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Spontaneous recovery

Monday, August 19, 2019

The Significance of the Townspeople and Emilys Father in A Rose for Em

A necrophiliac is described as a person who has an obsessive fascination with death and corpses (Mifflin 1). Emily, a necrophiliac in the story, â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† is a deranged, lost, and confused woman. A story filled with many symbols that help the stories meaning. The only man Emily knew growing up was her father. He taught her to trust no man, and no man would ever be good for her. He was highly favored through the town and everyone looked to him. The small town of curious and nosey people makes the story of â€Å"A Rose for Emily.† The town’s people are curious to know Emily’s every step, or wondering what she is going to do next, her appearance, and where the horrible smell in her house comes from. She meets a man in this small town and they become lovers. She then kills him with rat poisoning and sleeps with him every night until finally her time is up and everybody in her town finds out the real truth. Through out the whole story of â€Å"A Rose for Emily† no one ever knows who the people are in her town and we never find out there age, size, color, and whether or not they personally know Emily or not. They are just townspeople, townspeople who gossip. We only know what the people are saying about her and how judgmental they are being through out the whole story. According to Faulkner, in his Short Story Criticism he says, â€Å"Miss Emily constantly for fifty or sixty years; they are anonymous townspeople, for neither names nor sexes nor occupations are given or hinted at; and they seem to be naà ¯ve watchers, for they speak as though they did not understand the meaning of events at the time they occurred. Further, they are of undetermined age. By details given the story there neither older nor younger nor of the same age as Miss Em... ...again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows- sort of tragic and serene† (Faulkner 31). Emily father was highly favored in the town. Faulkner writes in his Short Story Criticism, â€Å"The Griersons have always been â€Å"high and mighty,† somehow above â€Å"the gross, teeming world†¦.† Emily’s father was well respected and occasionally loaned the town money. That made her a wealthy child and she basically had everything a child wanted. Emily’s father was a very serious man and Emily’s mind was violated by her father’s strict mentality. After Emily’s father being the only man in her life, he dies and she find it hard to let go of him. Because of her father, she possessed a stubborn outlook on life and how thing should be. She practically secluded her self from society for the remainder of her life.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Feminism: A Fight for Human Rights Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive

Abstract This essay explores the concept of feminism as a human right rather than merely a struggle of American women to achieve equal opportunity and salaries in the corporate world. Without denying the importance of such achievements, the facet of feminism that is explored for the most part is the ability for women around the world to be treated as human. Not only are women denied rights such as the opportunity to be educated or to earn money to feed their children, moreover they are considered property and subject to abuse. The central concept portrayed in this essay is that as women climb the ladder in the struggle to eliminate glass ceilings in the corporate world, we must not leave vast numbers at the bottom, still struggling to be considered human. The essay explores writings on women?s issues from sources including the Bible, Virginia Woolf, and Bell Hooks enabling observations from diverse times and cultures to be explored. Often our society is oblivious to what is happening in other countries or even other neighborhoods, this essay is a reminder. Feminism: A Human Right Feminism, as thought by many Americans, is not just a movement to create high-level jobs in the corporate world and equal salaries for women, although that component must not be disregarded. Women around the world are being treated as lower class citizens if citizens at all. Meena was a woman born in Kabul who was murdered in 1987 for her work with the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, also known as RAWA. Meena and other members of RAWA fought for the right to earn money to feed their children, the right of literacy and knowledge, the right to leave their homes without permission from their husband, let alone the rig... ...Http://www.amnestyusa.ort/news/2002/kenya03082002.html>. Marder, Herbert. Feminism and Art. Chicago: U of Chicago P., 1968. Meena. ?I?ll Never Return.? Payam-e-Zan, Issue No. 1. 1981. RAWA. 20 Oct. 2002 . ?Nigeria, Death by Stoning Upheld in the Case of Nigerian Woman Amina Lawal.? Amnesty International U.S.A. 20 Aug. 2002. Amnesty International. 15 Oct. 2002 . ?Pakistan, Tribal Councils Must Stop Taking Law Into Their Own Hands.? Amnesty International U.S.A. 5 July 2002. Amnesty International. 15 Oct. 2002 . Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One?s Own. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1929. Yoder, John Howard. The Politics of Jesus. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1994.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Assess the contribution of feminist sociologists to an understanding of family roles and relationships Essay

Assess the contribution of feminist sociologists to an understanding of family roles and relationships. In this essay I will explore the different schools of feminism such as Marxist, liberal and radical feminism, who share the view that women are oppressed in a patriarchal society but differ in opinion on who benefits from the inequalities. Each school of feminism has their own understanding of family roles and relationships which I will assess through this essay. Firstly one must look at the division of domestic labour and conjugal roles. Conjugal roles refer to the roles performed by men and women in relation to housework, childcare and paid work. Traditionally men had the instrumental ‘bread-winning’ role which the women had the expressive role (childcare and primary socialisation). Feminists say that the traditional division of labour is neither natural nor beneficial to women as their expressive role is unpaid and taken for granted. However different feminist views disagree on who benefits from this unpaid labour. Marxist feminists would argue it is capitalism that benefits most as wives keep their husbands happy and therefore they are left with a content workforce. On the other hand, radical feminists would argue that men are the main people to gain from women’s oppression as we live in a patriarchal society. A functionalist view from Wilmott and Young says that there has been a ‘march of progress’ in which the family has become more symmetrical with more joint conjugal roles (where both partners share the household labour). However feminists reject this view with Oakley arguing the family still remains patriarchal and Boulton saying the evidence to support the alleged rise in symmetry is weak, and that the responsibility for childcare still lies with women. Furthermore, Oakley describes how the housewife role has become dominant for women in a marriage since the industrialisation in the 19th century. Although women started off as part of the work force they were gradually excluded and confined to the home with housework and childcare responsibilities. This shows how the role of the housewife was socially constructed rather than being ‘natural’ as claimed by Parsons, and how it benefits both men and capitalism. Additionally, even though the 20th century saw a rise in the number of married women in paid labour, they remain in lower paid jobs and unable to climb the job ladder due the the ‘glass ceiling’ (earning just 80% of a man’s wages in the same position). Silver and S chor stress the importance of two economic developments that  reduce the burden of housework on women. The commercialisation of housework means that goods and services previously produced by women themselves are now mass-produced and supplied by shops, including freezers, microwaves, ‘ready meals’ and so on, reducing the amount of domestic labour women have to do. Additionally, the increase in women working allows them the ability to afford these goods. Silver and Schor, as a result, argue the burden on housework has decreased. However critics argue that for poorer women it is not an option to buy these expensive goods and services. Feminists also argue that even if commercialisation has reduced the amount of housework needing to be done, it does not prove that couples share the remaining chores equally. A further argument from some sociologists is that rather than a ‘new man’ who has an equal share of housework now more women are working, women have simply acquired a dual burden of both paid and unpaid work. With this view feminists say that the family remai ns patriarchal, with men benefiting from both women’s earnings but also their domestic labour. Ferri and Smith provide evidence of women’s dual burden, finding that the father taking main responsibility for childcare occurred in less than 4% of families from their sample. In addition to the dual burden, Duncombe and Marsden argue the case of the ‘triple shift’ where women do the double shift of housework and paid work, but also take up emotion work (the management of one’s own and other’s emotions). As this essay has shown so far, there is inequality in who does what in the home but there is also inequality in decision-making; in deciding who gets what and how the family resources are shared out between them. Barrett and McIntosh note that mean usually make the most important decisions, the financial support from men is often unpredictable and they usually gain more from women’s domestic labour than they give back in return. Feminist sociologists Pahl and Vogler suggest that because of men’s higher earnings women have more financial dependence on their husbands and this is why men take more control over major decisions. Edgell agrees with this view and states that women only exert some control on less important decisions such as home dà ©cor. Finch argues that wives’ lives are generally structured around the husbands’, such as if the husband had to move for work, the wives would pick up and go with them, whereas it is unlikely that the husband would follow their wife for work. Radical feminists also suggest that domestic violence is evidence of patriarchy as  men use the threat or use of violence to control women. Domestic violence is a widespread problem being a sixth of all violent crime in 2007 and the cause of over 100 deaths per year. Domestic violence is mainly perpetrated by men against women with 1 in 4 women being assaulted by their partners at some point in their lives a nd only 1 in 7 men being assaulted. However these figures may be under representative as many victims are unwilling to report these events as police investigators are unwilling to record and investigate many claims. Some feminists also say that domestic violence occurs due the dominant models of masculinity in society leading some men to use violence to assert authority when they are challenged. However, Giddens explains it through the ‘emotional intensity’ of the family and Wilkinson says it is the product of stress created by social and economic inequalities (resulting in poverty, unemployment and poor housing). On the other hand these explanations do not explain why domestic violence also occurs in the middle and upper classes as well, despite the main victims being those in lower socio-economic groups. As shown in this essay, different feminist contributions to our understanding of the roles and relationships in the family have similarities. However those perspectives examined differ in ‘solution’ to the oppression of women in our society. While liberal feminists believe that changes in the law and attitudes of people will be enough to bring equality, Marxist and radical feminists believes revolutionary changes to deep-rooted social structures are needed. Marxist feminists also argue that the family must be abolished at the same time as socialist revolution replaces capitalism with a classless society. Radical feminists also believe that the family, the root of women’s oppression, must be overturned; the difference being that they believe this can only be achieved through separatism – women must organise themselves to live independently of men. After reviewing all the feminist theories I can say that feminist perspectives of the family have moved research away from the traditional functionalist view of male-dominated society. Feminist perspectives have highlighted the negative aspects of the fa mily which the functionalists have previously ignored, however all the different feminist views assume that the nuclear family is still the norm and ignores the increasing diversity of family life. Additionally, feminism is a structural theory meaning that they assume families and their members are merely  puppets to be manipulated by society. Social action theorists and postmodernists reject this idea and argue that individuals have some choice in creating family relationship of our own and choosing our domestic set up for ourselves. In final conclusion, I believe the feminist perspectives to have helped move sociological ideas forward and take into account negative aspects of family life as well as the positives, yet at the same time they need to broaden their ideas to encompass the idea of individuals having choice to create their own family situation with diversity in families on the rise.

Friday, August 16, 2019

East Coast vs. West Coast Essay

Throughout the nineties there was an movement in hip hop, the infamous East coast rap vs West coast between rap musicians. It was a separational movement that caused both sides to end the lives of two most influential rappers in the music industry, Notorious B.I.G and Tupac Shakur. Both rappers with similar backgrounds have changed the music scene completely with one sudden movement. Known mainly for their rivalry against one another and compared because of the backgrounds, these two artist had quite a distinctiveness to one another. Notorious B.I.G and Tupac Shakur are great influential artist in the music industry and had similar backgrounds but distinctive enough to cause a separation that influenced the music industry then and now. I had watched a documentary, based off of the infamous rappers and their start up in the music industry, titled Tupac and Biggie where I got information on both sides. To begin with both rappers had similar upbringing for instance, were born in the sta te of New York, Tupac in Harlem and Biggie in Brooklyn. However, Tupac did move around growing up to Baltimore, Maryland in 1984 and finally to Oakland, California in 1988 by the age of 17. Biggie had more of an interesting beginning, unlike his soon to be rival, he had been raised by a single mother who was a teacher and had lived in a 3 bedroom apartment, not how he claimed on his song ‘Juice’ as a â€Å"one-room shack†. Meanwhile, Tupac was also raised by a single mother, however had been a part of the anti-government group the Black Panther Party, which would later be a foundation to his rap verses on political stans. Like most rappers they both would have a rough upbringing, and Biggie would start drug dealing at the age of 14 to help support his family, till discovered musically. Interestingly enough, Tupac had an interest in acting and attended performing art schools and create his passion for poetry, turned later to rap rhymes. Tupac was the fortunate one, and was able to join a music group to help his career while Biggie had to perform out in the streets, as the footage shows. Also, in the film, they discuss how both rappers dropped out of h igh school around the same age, 17,and both to pursue their music passions and help support the family they had. The upcoming of both rappers would influence each on their music that would have an impact on the top charts. Musically, both rappers had distinctive sounds, Biggie was known to have a better flow and well produced beat that  was more Top 40, while Tupac had a greater influence on lyricism because of his deep passion for poetry and political stans. Tupac was well known to speak his mind explicitly and rhymed about topics such as, women rights, african american discrimination, and police injustice. Something most seem to forget is that Biggie used to have open shows for Tupac before the notorious rapper would have his own high fame, this also showed that both rappers had a great friendship before a great dispute The documentary shows rare footage of the two hugging after Biggie’s first album release and great success. The two were loved by audiences and fans but had showed within the top charts throughout the nineties. On ratings Biggie was in the lead with fewer singles that reached higher spots on the charts. Meanwhile, Tupac delivered over 15 singles, and not as many reaching high spots as Biggie had with only 10 singles. Although, both lyrically did have similar writing, rapping about poor upbringings, whether it was an alter ego for Biggie or reality for Tupac, fans wanted more of this profound explicit music. Undoub tedly the two are compared to see which was better, personally cannot judge which was better because of the differences they had on their music, biggie flowed, but tupac spoke. Another great influence these both rappers had for their music and personal lives, was the cliques they surrounded themselves with throughout their high points in fame and fortune. The film talks about how Tupac joined a musical rap group when he had moved to California, Digital Underground, but later had gone solo and joined the record company, Death Row Records. Meanwhile Biggie was signed onto Bad Boy Records, and he had been signed onto the record company by another famous rapper Diddy. Tupac was around many people however, one of his many allegiances was Suge Knight. Suge Knight is an founder of the record company Tupac had been signed onto and was often seen with Tupac by the media in photographs and video footage. Throughout the film the audience is drawn towards the conclusion that Suge Knight was involved in both deaths of Tupac and Biggie. Aswell as Suge Knight, Diddy was also involved in the murders of both musicians, as the film goes on. The death of both rappers were similar but different from one another. The dispute between the rappers had started because of Suge Knight and Diddy, creating the West Coast vs East Coast dispute in the Hip Hop commu nity. This great dispute would have each Coast of rappers defensive over the side they were representing, and cause a huge  rivalry between everyone. From rap group NWA to rappers such as, Snoop Dogg and Nas, everyone in the Hip Hop world took a side. After releasing a record titled â€Å"Who Shot Ya?† Tupac was under the impression Biggie had been set out to kill him after a robbery at his home that nearly ended his life with the theifs holding him at gunpoint one night. This would add fuel to the burning flame that they were trying to burn out caused by the record company executives, Suge and Diddy. After one diss record after another the two rappers, Biggie and Tupac seemed to enjoy the drama but were on high alert for one another. However in the end, Tupac was shot and killed in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 13, 1996, he had been kicked out and forced to leave a casino one night after a brawl. Less than a year later, Biggie was shot and killed on March 9, 1997 in Los Angeles, California. Biggie had left a recording studio in Los Angeles, and when outside was shot in his vehicle. Both rappers had a big influence on the music industry, however the fans were left with legends gone too soon. More importantly the deaths of the rappers were a huge impact on the community they each had represented. In Brooklyn, during the funeral of the Notorious B.I.G. many fans of the community were outside in the streets showing their respect that the rapper had deserved. In the film you see footage of the funeral with hundreds of fans onlooking the hearse carrying his body throughout the streets of Brooklyn that he had onced hussled to make a living. At one point of the funeral footage, you can see fans playing one of his hit singles and dancing to the rap song, showing that no matter if dead or alive, the rapper would live on and have respect in the community and be played. However on the other Coast, only close friends of Tupac attended his funeral even though there were many candle lighting ceremonies for the rapper from fans. Tupac was cremated and his ashes were spreaded into the ocean in the West Coast, as well as a few of his favorite things such as, Hennessy liquor, cigarettes, cd’s and gold chains. The legacy of each rapper was different from one another, Tupac spoke for Afr ican American men that had been mistreated by the corrupted justice system, and also towards women, and the respect they should deserve from men. The Notorious B.I.G. left his community with aspiration on being able to succeed no matter where you came from and gave hope to many. Both of the rappers left an impact on the music industry and had different legacies for their community and fans.  Without a doubt, both rappers have had influenced many modern day rappers that are or aren’t in the industry today. The documentary shows different musicians, some that are not even in the rap genre, talking about how each rapper left an impact on their lives, A famous rapper by the name of 50 cent says in the film, that there was not going to be another rapper like Tupac and that there was not going to be another rapper like Biggie. Many artist now pay homage to both rappers to show respect on the struggle Hip Hop has had in being accepted. Now a days rappers have showed respect in many ways such as giving shout outs on songs to the rappers or sample beats from past hits of the late rappers, to even having holograms of the artist at live shows. Another sign of respect to the artist is that their music goes on, even after being gone, unreleased music of both rap pers rises to the public every now and then to remember the days the rappers held the crown. Biggie has released three albums since his death and Tupac five, music that was intended to be released at a point but after the misfortunate deaths was never completely finished. With posthumous albums being released it gives inspiration for musicians to get more of a better understanding of the rappers and pass techniques used by the rappers. The distinctiveness in each rappers work of music, left an influential aspiration for other musicians in the industry, Biggie had a better rhythm with his rhymes and Tupac was open to talk about social issues going on. In the end, both rappers were raised differently and had different backgrounds that influenced their work. Yet throughout their careers the similarities of the rappers was visible and the distinctiveness caused a barrier in their friendship. Leading to a grand movement in music history, but also the the deaths of both rappers. Tupac and Biggie are some of the greatest influentials of rap music and have caused similar aspirations for other artist. Works Cited Biggie and Tupac. Dir. Nick Broomfeild. Perf. The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Nick Broomfeild. FilmFour, 2002. DVD.